New blasting methods improve oil recovery

While explosives have been used in the oil fields almost from the beginning of oil production in Pennsylvania, new explosives and more efficient placement techniques have revitalized interest in this old method of stimulation. Examples of these new processes ranging from huge 80,000,000-lb equivalent of TNT at Project Rulison to liquids which detonate in thin fracture sections are given. The newly developed slurry explosives presently commercially available, have been adapted to oil-field usage. Placement, initiation, and containment techniques are described. Test data from many dry-hole experiments are given. A fracture distance propagation equation was developed by correlating this data and the work of others and by the use of elementary rock mechanics. The results of field applications in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma are given.