Because of its great financial and operational impact, the fracturing community has always been very interested in the assessment of the reliability and performance of the downhole tools.  This is particularly critical for multi-stage fracturing of horizontal wells.  By necessity, the background technical data for the performance of these tools usually come from backyard and laboratory tests which are conducted under ideal conditions and often do not reflect the real world.

This presentation has two main parts: demonstrating how downhole pressure data in multi-stage fracturing treatments can be used for tool reliability assessment, and presenting the results of a study performed on actual hydraulic fractures conducted in multiple cemented and openhole liner completions.  The presentation focuses specifically on the performance of downhole isolation tools (openhole packers and liner plugs).  It shows the consequences of the absence of isolation on the created hydraulic fractures.