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Formation Damage Effects and Overview

Where is the damage? How does it affect production?

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Impact of Damage on Production


Look at Effect of Damage Type of Damage Severity of Plugging Depth of Damage Ability to Prevent/Remove/By-Pass

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Horizontal Well Formation Damage Theories


Zone of Invasion - Homogeneous Case

Is damage evenly spread out along the well path or does it go down the highest permeability streaks?
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Horizontal Well Formation Damage Theories Zone of Invasion - Heterogeneous Case

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Observations on Damage
1. Shallow damage is the most common and makes the biggest impact on production. 2. It may take significant damage to create large drops in production 3. The problem, however, is that the highest permeability zones are the easiest to damage, and that can have a major impact on productivity.

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Pressure Distribution Around a 200 md Oil Well


2800 2700

Pressure, psi

2600 2500 2400 2300 2200 2100 2000 0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
7

The pressure drop around an unfractured wellbore shows the importance of the near wellbore on inflow. If this area is significant damaged, the effect is immediately noticeable.

Radial Distance, ft
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World Oil, Modern Sandface Completion Practices, 2003

1. The most noticeable damage impacts the the well in the first 30 cm or 12 inches of the formation.

Effect of Depth and Extent of Damage on Production


100 90 80

% of original Flow

70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 1 2
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80% Damage 90% Damage 95% Damage

3
8

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George E. Damage, King Engineering Radial Extent of m

2. The effect of the damage thickness compared with the amount of damage (as a percent of initial permeability). Only the most severe damage has a significant effect in a thin layer. (Darcy law beds-in-series calculation)

Effect of Damage Layer Thickness


Productivity Ratio
1 0.1 0.01 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01" thick 0.05" thick 0.1" thick 1" thick

Damaged Perm, % of initial


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2. (continued) As the damage layer thickens and becomes more severe, the impact on production builds quickly.

Productivity Loss From Formation Damage


1 0.95 0.9 0.85 0.8 0.75 0.7 0.65 0.6 0.55 0.5 0.45 0.4 0.35 0.3 0.25 0
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Productivity as a Fraction of Undamaged Prod.

Kd/Ki = 0.5 Kd/Ki = 0.2 Kd/Ki = 0.1 Kd/Ki = 0.05 Kd/Ki = 0.02

10
World Oil, Modern Sandface Completion
10

Depth of Damaged Zone, inches


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3. Highest permeability zones are easiest to damage: Pore Size vs. Permeability
350 SDA-01 Balakhany X (SP2) Hg permeability mD SDA-01 Fasila B (SP3) Hg permeability mD SDA-02 Balakhany VIIIC Hg permeability mD SDA-02 Fasila D (SP4) Hg permeability mD K mD Power (K mD)

300

y = 1.3661x 2.4865 R2 = 0.982

250

permeability (m

200

Large connected pores and natural fractures dominate the permeability of a formation.
The size of particles that can cause damage in these larger pores is larger than 1/3rd and smaller than 1/7th. For a 8 micron pore, the small size would be 1 micron and less.

150

100

50

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 mean hydraulic radius ( m) George E. King Engineering GEKEngineering.com

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MI for BP SD field

The Effect of Damage on Production


Rate = (P x k x h) / (141.2 o o s) Where:
P k h o o s
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= differential pressure (drawdown due to skin) = reservoir permeability, md = height of zone, ft = viscosity, cp = reservoir vol factor = skin factor
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What are the variables that can be improved, modified or impacted in a positive way?

Productivity and Skin Factor


Q1/Qo = 7/(7+s)
Just an estimation, but not too far off between skin numbers of zero and about 15.

Where: Q1 = productivity of zone w/ skin, bpd Qo = initial productivity of zone, bpd s = skin factor, dimensionless

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A better presentation of the damage from increasing skin factor. Skin only has an impact if the well can really produce the higher rate and the facilities can process it.
Productivity Ratio vs. Skin Factor
250

Productivity Factor, %

200
Range of Skin Factors Associated with Frac Pack

150 100 50 0 -5
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Range of Skin Factors Associated with Cased Hole Gravel Pack Completions

15

25 Skin Factor

35

45

55
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Example
Productivity for skins of -1, 5, 10 and 50 in a well with a undamaged (s=0) production capacity of 1000 bpd s = -1, Q1 = 1166 bpd s = 5, Q1 = 583 bpd s = 10, Q1 = 412 bpd The best stimulation results are usually for damage removal and damage by-pass.
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Another way of stating damage - Damage in a horizontal well increasing skin makes the well behave like the drilled lateral was much shorter.

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Damage Causes
Obstructions in the natural flow path in the reservoir. Pseudo damage such as turbulence - very real effect, but no visible obstructions Structural damage from depletion matrix compression, etc.

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Flow Path Obstructions


Scale, paraffin, asphaltenes, salt, etc., Perforations 12 spf w/ 0.75 / 1.9 cm holes only opens 2% of the casing wall. Tubing too small - too much friction Any fluid column in the well, even a flowing fluid column holds a backpressure on the well:

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Salt water = 0.46 psi/ft Dead oil = 0.36 psi/ft Gas lifted oil = 0.26 psi/ft Gas = 0.1 psi/ft (highly variable with pressure)
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Pseudo Damage
Turbulence
high rate wells gas zones most affected

Affected areas:
perfs (too few, too small) Near wellbore (tortuosity) fracture (conductivity too low) tubing (tubing too small, too rough) surface (debottle necking needed)
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Structural Damage
Tubular Deposits
scale paraffin asphaltenes salt solids (fill) corrosion products

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Perforation Damage
debris from perforating sand in perf tunnel - mixing? mud particles particles in injected fluids pressure drop induced deposits
scales asphaltenes paraffins
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Near Well Damage


in-depth plugging by injected particles migrating fines water swellable clays water blocks, water sat. re-establishment polymer damage wetting by surfactants relative permeability problems matrix structure collapse
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Deeper Damage
water blocks formation matrix structure collapse natural fracture closing

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Other Common Damages


fines migration (increasing skin) water blocks scale emulsions paraffin and asphaltenes turbulence rate dependent skin perf debris Initial damage from mud and DIFs
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Skin Components and Determination


Total Skins (s) = So + Stp + D Q Where: So = laminar skin Stp = 2-phase skin D = rate dependent skin Q = rate

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Skin Components and Determination


Multi-rate tests => So, Stp, D B/U Test => total skin, k 2 B/U Tests => So, D, k

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Cleaning Damage
Most damage is removed by simple clean-up flow. How much drawdown? How long to flow it? How soon to flow it? To do it?

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Root Causes of Residual Damage After Clean-up Flow.


High perm formations less affected?
Major damage removers:
Flow Rate per unit area, Flow Volume per unit area, Pressure pulse?

Drawdown per unit area a control?

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First Problem
We dont understand cleanup by flow Its a matter of flow rate and volume through a given area.

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Clean-up flow is diluted by the length of interval open at once for cleanout.
A 10 ft pay in a vertical well w/ 6 diameter yields contact area of 16 ft2

For the same pay thickness, a horizontal well or a fractured well may contact 100s of times more pay zone area than a vertical well.
A 1000 ft pay in a horizontal well w/ 6 diam. yields contact area of 1600 ft2

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Now, think about the set drawdown say 500 psi - per unit area, the velocity generated, and the total volume per area.
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Which has the potential of cleaning up faster and more completely?


5000 bpd
Horiz. Well assume 5x more than vertical flow (typical) would generate 5000 bpd, but spread over 1600 ft2 and release a clean-up flow of only 3 gal per hour per ft.

1000 bpd

Vertical well - 500 psi dd and an inflow of 100 bbl/day/ft spread out over just 16 ft2 will generate a clean-up flow of 110 gal per hour per ft.
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Second Problem
We dont understand damage.
How it got there How it is removed. How to prevent it. What operations put the wells productivity at risk.

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Some examples of GOM skins versus md-ft


Note the increasing skin in higher conductivity wells why? It should be easier to remove damage in higher perm formations. The key here is that turbulent (non-darcy or non mechanical) skins are nearly always higher in high capacity wells especially gas.
Industry Frac Pack Oil & Gas Well Performance
(permeability-thickness vs. skin)
40

35

30

25

20

15

There are many Harding Appraisal GP damage MC109 Frac-Enzyme - Oil mechanisms, Pompano - Oil but few are Mars FP - Oil permanent if Mars HRWP we learn how Marathon Data to remove Oryx HRWF- HI 379 - Oil & Gas them. Elf Hylia X/L + HEC Tail - Oil
Ew ing Bank FP- Oil

Heidrun Gp

DD

FF

EE

Skin
10 5 0 -5 100

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1,000

George E. 10,000 King Engineering Permeability Thickness (md-ft) GEKEngineering.com

100,000

1,000,000

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Cleanup examples from Alaska wells high losses into high PI wells, but.

Fluid Loss Rate from Pre Workover PI - Alaska


2500

Daily Loss, bbls

2000 1500 1000 500 0 0 2 4


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8
SPE 26042
34

10

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PI, bbls/day/psi

there was actually little correlation with amount lost.

% change in PI

% change in PI on Workover

60 40 20 0 -20 -40 -60 -80 -100 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
35 George E. King Engineering Total Fluid Loss, bbls GEKEngineering.com

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Of higher importance was whether the perfs were protected or not.

PI Change, Perfs Not Protected


40 20
0.3 0.5 PI of Wells 1.1 2.1 3.1 6 18.9

% Change in PI

11

13

15

-20 -40 -60 -80


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Short Term PI Change Long Term PI Change

-100

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SPE 26042

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When perfs were protected, that was little risk of long term damage.

PI Change After Workover - Perfs Protected


50 40 30
0.3 1.2 3.1 4.6 8.4 PI of wells

% Change in PI

20 10 0 -10 -20 -30 -40 3/14/2009


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Short Term PI Change Long Term PI Change 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

SPE 26042
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When the perfs were not protected, the well was damaged.

Damage in Fractured Wells with Unprotected Perforations


0 -10 -20 1 2 3 4
PIi = 7.55 PIi = 6.21 PIi = 1.92 PIi = 7.55

% Damage

-30 -40 -50 -60 -70 -80


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PIi = 18.1

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One very detrimental action was running a scraper prior to packer setting. The scraping and surging drives debris into unprotected perfs.
Effect of Scraping or Milling Adjacent to Open Perforations
20 10
Perfs not protected by LCM prior to scraping

% Change in PI

0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 -60


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Perfs protected by 2 LCM

Short Term PI Change Long Term PI Change


SPE 26042
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Sized particulates, particularly those that can be removed, are much less damaging than most polymers, even the so-called clean polymers.

Kill Pills: Summary of Overall Effectiveness in Non Fractured Wells


10 5
Sized Borate Salts (4) Cellulose Fibers (3)

HEC Pills
Sized Sodium Chloride (12)

No Pills
No Near Perf Milling (8)

% Change in PI

0 -5 -10 -15 -20 -25


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4
No Near Perf Milling (6)

Near Perf Milling or Scraping (3) SPE 26042


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Near Perf Milling or Scraping (10)

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Third Problem
We dont know enough about timing of damage removal.
Variety of causes
Polymer dehydration Decomposition of materials Adsorption, absorption and capillary effects

Field data from Troika (100,000 md-ft) show initial flow improves PI, but later flow does not.

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Deepwater Well Cleanup Lessons


On initial cleanup, PI erratically increased as choke opened. Typical response was a decrease, as if well / flow path were loading up, then sharp PI increase, seemingly when the obstruction was unloaded. Little partly broken polymer recovered, but early load water recovery matched PI incr. Lower skins were linked to both sand flow before completion (sand surge removed damage), increased cleanup flow volumes (and drawdown) on initial cleanup, and more effective frac stimulations. George E. King Engineering
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Deepwater Cleanup Lessons


Wells cleaned up with increasing drawdown immediately following backflow start. Cleanup was increasing, measured by increasing PI, at the end of the first short cleanup periods prior to shut-in of the well. After initiation of production operations - after first cleanup flow, no further cleanup of damage was seen, regardless of drawdown. The reason is not known, but may be due to polymer adhering or cooking out?
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Fourth Problem
We dont understand how damage impacts economic return.

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Example Economics - Skin Sensitivity


170 160 40 35 30 25 130 120 110 100 0
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PV-10, $ mm

150 140

PV10 ROR

20 15 10 5 10 Skin 15 20 25
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An example of a completion method that minimizes damage.


Perforating, but with enough underbalance to create the flow necessary to clean the perforations.

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Look at some of the most common damage mechanisms. In some formations, a specific damage is very detrimental, while in another formation, the damage is insignificant.

Type of Damage

Most Probable Location Formation Face <12 Fractures and large vugs <12 into pay around perf

Mud Cake in Pay Zone Mud Filt. Whole Mud Loss

Impact on Productivity if not Removed Moderate to Severe Minor - mod. Severe

Surge Pressure Needed for Removal? Yes No Possible, Can help in few cases. No Yes

Flow Vol. Or Time Needed for Removal? Spurt Volume Depend on Cond. few cases similar

Removal Hampered by Limits on Cleanup Vol? Yes No Yes, flow combined with solvent treatment No Yes

Alternate Methods of Removal or Prevention Acids, Soaps, Enzymes Few successful whole mud removals when vol. > 200 bbls.

Cement Filtrate Perforation Crush Zone

Only if clay damage Moderate to Severe

4 to 12 gal/perf

Formation sand in perfs


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perf tunnels

Most severe

Cleanup and reperf


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Depends on initial &later actions

Surge small zones into chamber, acids, pulses, fracs Develop good perf and prepack actions
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When looking at the range of skins, it is useful to know that some wells have high skins but are really restricted by other factors such as tubing flow limits, facility limits, etc., and are not really limited by the skins.
Type of Damage Mud Cake in Pay Zone Mud Filtrate Skin range +5 to +300, +15 is typical +3 to +30 Comments Mud skin is usually shallow and has more impact when turbulence and non-darcy skin problems are most severe. Mud cake is usually by-passed by perforating. Filtrate usually recovered by steady flow and time. Related to relative perm effects. This is usually a short lived problem (1 to 3 weeks) Options depend on mud volume lost. Enzymes, solvents and acids for small volumes (<10 bbls). Sidetrack if over 1000 bbls. Low solids mud can be removed by concentrating on viscosifier destruction or dispersment. Very shallow clay problems. Perforate with deep penetrating charges to get beyond. Use leakoff control on cement. Perf small intervals underbalanced. Isolation packer breaksown, explosive sleeve breakdown (very simple) - must be accomplished prior to gravel packing. Most severe typical damage - cleanout and recompletion George E. King Engineering required 48
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Whole Mud Loss (in pay zone)

>+50

Cement Filtrate Perforation Crush Zone Formation sand in perfs 3/14/2009

+10 to +20 +10 to +20

>+50

Table 3: Completion Efficiency Factors (Stracke, SPE 16212) Shown as a percent of wells in each bracketed completion efficiency range. Factor 100-75% 75-50% 50-25% 25-0% Underbalance perf w/ surge chamber 26 26 26 23 Perforate and wash perfs 25 40 19 15 Underbalance perf w/ surge chamber + wash perfs 71 14 14 0 Surge Vol < 4 gal/ft 23 19 35 23 Surge Vol > 4 gal/ft 43 29 14 14 Surge differential < 1000 psi 27 24 24 24 Surge differential >1000 psi 19 31 27 23 Drilling overbalance <300 psi 15 48 19 19 16 Drilling overbalance >300 psi 31 31 23 Drilling overbalance >1000 psi 27 31 23 19 Completion overbalance <300 psi 25 39 25 12 Completion overbalance >300 psi < 600 psi 21 36 21 21 Completion overbalance >600 psi 47 21 5 26

This data is difficult to understand unless the attention is focused at those factors which deliver the most wells in the 100% to 75% efficiency range, e.g., underbalance perf w/surge chamber and wash perfs.
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Notice that underbalance perforating at high underbalance (which causes flow) delivers a perforation that is from 40% to nearly 300% larger than the other methods of perforating.

Table 4: Perforation Tunnel Volume Following Perforating at Different Conditions (Regalbuto and Riggs, SPE PE, Feb 1988) Pressure Differential Overbalanced, 500 psi, no surge Balanced perforated, no surge Underbalanced perforated, 500 psi Balanced perforated, delayed 1000 psi surge Underbalanced perforated, 1000 psi Hole Volume, perforated 18 cc 31 cc 20 cc 31 cc 50 cc Hole Volume, perforated/surged

42 cc 48 cc 75 cc

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Back to over-all damage What is it?


Divide the well into three parts:
Inflow: area from reservoir to the wellbore Completion potential: flow to surface Surface restrictions: chokes, lines, separators.

Basically, anything that causes a restriction in the flow path decreases the rate and acts as damage.
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Differential pressure, P, is actually a pressure balance 100 psi 10 psi 25 psi 15 psi 1000 psi

Press. Drop

Column Densities: Gas = 1.9 lb/gal = 0.1 psi/ft = 1000 1900 psi in a 10,000 ft well Dead oil = 7 lb/gal = 0.364 psi/ft = 3640 psi in a 10,000 ft well Fresh water = 8.33 lb/gal = 0.433 psi/ft = 4330 psi in a 10,000 ft well Salt water = 10 lb/gal = 0.52 psi/ft = 5200 psi in a 10,000 ft well Gas cut flowing oil = 5 lb/gal = 0.26 psi/ft = 2600 psi in a 10,000 ft well

Where does the P come from?


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10,000 ft 4600 psi

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4600 psi reservoir pressure -2600 psi flowing gradient for oil - 150 psi press drop - 100 psi through the choke - 25 psi through the flow line - 10 psi through the separator - 15 psi through downstream flow line -1000 psi sales line entry pressure ---------------------52

P =

700 psi drawdown pressure

The first step..


For the purposes of this work, consider the flow connection between the reservoir and the wellbore as the primary but not the only area of damage. Now, is it formation damage or something else that causes the restriction?

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Some sources of the damage in the reservoir-wellbore connection


Wetting phases (from injected or lost fluids) Debris plugging the pores of the rock Polymer waste from frac and drilling fluids Compacted particles from perforating Limited entry (too few perforations) Converging radial flow wellbore too small Reservoir clay interactions with injected fluids Precipitation deposits (scale, paraffins, asphaltenes, salt, etc) Note that not all are really formation damage How do you identify the difference?
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And some restrictions in very high perm wells is the casing and the very limited amount of open area that perforations create. Data comparing cased and perforated skin with skins from open hole completed wells from Algeria.
ALGERIAN GAS WELL COMPLETION EFFICIENCIES
20

Cased Hole - Vertical - 5" Tbg


18

Turbulent Skin Mechanical Skin

Open Hole - Vertical - 7" Tbg


16

14

Open Hole - Slanted - 7" Tbg


15-20 degree

12

Total Skin

10 65-75 degree 8 60-70 degree 6 65-80 degree 4 Turbulent Skins Norm alized to Rates of 100 m m scfd 50-65 degree

65-75 degree

0 Tg 308 Tg 312bis Tg 315bis Teg 15y tg 307ter Tg 305bisz

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2001

George E. King Engineering 2002 GEKEngineering.com

Teg 14z

Teg 11z

Teg 12z

Teg 10z

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Identification of Damage.
How good are you at deductive reasoning?
Identifying the cause and source of damage is detective work.
Look at the well performance before the problem Look at the flow path for potential restrictions Look to the players:
Flow path ways Fluids Pressures Flow rate

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What is Completion Efficiency?


A measure of the effectiveness of a completion as measured against an ideal completion with no pressure drops. Pressure drops? these are the restrictions, damage, heads, back-pressures, etc. that restrict the wells production.

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Look again - The Effect of Damage on Production


Rate = (P x k x h) / (141.2 o o s) Where:
P k h o o s
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= differential pressure (drawdown due to skin) = reservoir permeability, md = height of zone, ft = viscosity, cp = reservoir vol factor = skin factor
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What changeable factors control production rate?


Pressure drop need maximum drawdown and minimum backpressures. Permeability - enhance or restore k? - yes Viscosity can it be changed? yes Skin can it be made negative? These factors are where we start our stimulation design.
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Formation Damage
Impact Causes Diagnosis Removal/Prevention?

Basically, the severity of damage on production depends on the location, extent and type of the damage. A well can have significant deposits, fill and other problems that do not affect production.
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Conclusions
Damage is usually shallow. Remove it or by-pass damage if it really causes a problem. Not every damage is in the formation. Not every drop in production is caused by damage. First, remove the pressure drops, everything else will take care of itself.
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