Hydrajet (Abrasive) Perforating Can Improve Success of Fracturing Stimulations

At least as early as the 1960s, many well operators knew that hydrajetting perforations, or slots through cemented casing,<br>could often “bail-out” a problem well that otherwise seemed completely resistant to hydraulic-fracturing attempts. However,<br>for more than 50 years of fracturing applications, there was insufficient demand for this process to make it a commodity<br>service, especially before the advent of coiled tubing (CT) services in the 1980s. With very sporadic use, this type of well<br>service was costly because abrasive mixing and high-pressure pumping were both needed, and efficiencies of repetitive use<br>were not developed. Conventional explosive shape-charge perforating was usually lower-cost and seemed sufficient for most<br>wells.