Hydraulic Fracturing - A stimulation treatment routinely performed on oil and gas wells in low-permeability reserviors.  Specially engineered fluids are pumped at high pressure and rate into the reservoir to be treated, causing a vertical fracture to open.  The wings of the fracture extend away from the wellbore in opposing directions according to the natural stresses within the formation.  Proppant, such as grains of sand of a particular size, are mixed with the treatment fluid, keeping the fracture open when the treatment is complete.  Hydraulic fracturing creates high-conductivity communication with a large area of formation and bypasses any damage that may exist in the near-wellbore area.

Acidizing - The pumping of acid into the wellbore to remove near-well formation damage and other damaging substances.  This procedure commonly enhances production by increasing the effective well radius.  When performed at pressures above the pressure required to fracture the formation, the procedure is often referred to as ACID FRACTURING