Improving well performance Minimizing the formation damage has a great impact on improving well performance.

Any phenomenon that causes a distortion of the flow lines from the perfectly normal to the flow direction or a restriction to flow would result in positive skin effect. Positive skin can be created by Mechanical causes (partial completion, inadequate number of perforations , Phase changes (reduction of relative permeability of the desired fluid , !urbulence and damage to the natural reservoir permeability. "egative skin denotes that the pressure drop in the near#wellbore zone is less than would have been from the normal undisturbed reservoir flow mechanisms. $auses of negative skin% Matri& stimulation 'ydraulic fracture 'ighly inclined wellbore Formation Damage: (ormation damage refers to the decrease in permeability that can occur in the near wellbore region of a reservoir. !his represents a positive skin effect. !he three main sources of formation damage are%

A rule of thumb is that one half of the pressure drop between the drainage pressure and the wellbore (the drawdown pressure should occur no less than )* feet of the wellbore. Drilling Fluid: +rilling fluid (mud is used during drilling to remove cuttings from the well. !he fluid is pressurized in the well to help prevent formation fluids (gas, oil, water from escaping during the drilling. ,t is typically a mi&ture of clay and water with

chemical additives which are used to control fluid properties such as viscosity. !he drilling fluid flows through the well and back to the surface where cuttings are removed in gravitational settlers. !he fluid is then recirculated back to the well. As a result, the drilling fluid has a very high solids content. -ecause it is pressurized, the drilling fluid filtrate (fluid and fine particles can flow radially into the formation (typically up to ./ . A filter cake or mud cake forms typically within the first twelve inches of the wellbore radius.

Causes of Formation Damage: !he main causes of formation damage are%

Pore Obstruction: Pores within reservoir rock represent pathways which vary greatly in shape and orientation. !he basic model of a pore is%

!he throat of the pore causes the most significant restriction to the flow of fluid and is therefore an important determinant of the permeability. (ine particles can be transported within the network of pores. ,f the particles deposit near the throat of the pore, they will significantly restrict the flow. ,n some cases particles can bridge the opening at the throat, blocking the flow. !he finest particles in the vicinity of the pores are clay particles, which typically have diameters less than )0 m. $lay particles have negatively charged surfaces (anions and adsorb positively charged species (cations . $ations can have one or more positive charges, for e&ample% monovalent (12, "a2 , divalent ($a32, Mg32, -a32 . $lay particles can be found in e&ternal fluid mi&tures which enter the formation during completion and stimulation including drilling filtrate. $lay particles are also naturally dispersed on the pore surface of the reservoir rock. A change in the salt concentration (salinity or p' of the reservoir fluid can liberate these clay particles. A change in salinity can also cause the clay particle to swell. !he degree to which salinity affects the permeability is known as 4water sensitivity4.

$lay particle dispersion (release and entrainment can be limited by controlling the composition of the e&ternal fluids% +esired% 5hat we need to do%

Chemical Precipitation: $hemical precipitation causes the formation of fine solid particles. !he particles can act to restrict or block the flow of fluid through the pores of the reservoir rock. Precipitation will occur when the reservoir fluid comes in contact with foreign fluids or through changes in temperature and pressure. !he precipitates can be inorganic (e&. $a$67 or organic (e&. wa&es or asphaltenes .

Fluid Damage: (luid damage refers to the reduction in permeability that occurs with a change in the character of the fluid as opposed to a change in the reservoir rock. 8eduction in permeability through fluid damage can occur through three main mechanisms% ). ,ncrease in 5ater $ontent (rom (oreign (luid%

3. (ormation of 5ater in 6il (596 :mulsions

7. ,ncrease in (ree 5ater $ontent from $hange in 5ettability%

,t is important to test the drilling mud, cementing fluids and stimulation fluids for compatibility with reservoir fluids and rock to reduce the risk of chemical precipitation and fluid damage. ,n addition, the effects of temperature and pressure on the reservoir fluids must be tested to determine the level of precipitation that will occur. !his information is used to define the optimum operating conditions. Mechanical Damage: Mechanical damage results from physical compaction or pulverizing of rock. !he collapse of a weak formation is considered mechanical damage but the damage associated with perforation represents the most significant cause. :ven though perforation damage is associated with a small region near the wellbore, it can cause a significant restriction to flow.

Perforation% Perforation creates a flow path for fluids from the reservoir through the cement and casing to the wellbore. !here are four main methods of perforation%

;et Perforation :quipment% !he gun is inserted into the well either through a hollow steel carrier (for a larger casing gun or through production tubing (through#tubing gun . !he guns are either detonated through an electrical cable originating at the surface or by a detonator attached to the bottom of the gun that is initiated on impact with the bottom of the well. !unnels which are 0.3* to 0.<04 in diameter and . to )34 in length are typically created by =et perforation guns. !he performance of the =et perforation guns is affected by%

$ontrolling the pressure in the reservoir ) 6verbalanced Perforating (Pwellbore > Preservoir % 'ere the primary concern is the selection of clean (and in some cases acidic fluid in the wellbore to ensure minimal perforation plugging. !he higher wellbore pressure ensures that no reservoir fluid flows to the well.

?nderbalanced Perforating (Pwellbore @ Preservoir % !his method is not as safe as

overbalanced perforating since reservoir fluid can flow to the well and cause blowout. +ifferential pressures are maintained at a low value (300 to <00 psi to reduce the fluid flow from the reservoir. !he advantage of underbalanced perforating is that the amount of shrapnel and other materials entering the reservoir is minimized. !he additional resistance associated with perforation may be treated as a separate skin factor rather than part of the skin factor associated with formation damage.

Components of the Skin ffect: Previously, all of the aspects associated Akin :ffect and non#+arcy flow were lumped together using two coefficients, A and +. ,t is often more useful to look at the specific components that make up the skin effect. !he most significant components include%

,n a well with a large skin effect, it is important to determine the most significant contributors to the restriction before action is taken. $onsider the following two cases% $ase )% A B !otal Akin B 2*% Ad B 0C Ap B 2*C ,n this case the restriction to flow is due to the perforations and not to formation damage. !he most effective action is to improve the perforations.

$ase 3% A B !otal Akin B 2*% Ad B 2*C Ap B 0C ,n this case, the same total skin is observed but the restriction is the result of formation damage and no contribution from the perforations. !he most effective action is to consider stimulation.

Perforation Skin: !he perforation skin (Ap is a function of perforation length (l , perforation diameter (d , spacing in shots per foot (AP( , and phasing angle ( .

O!" # COMPO$ $!S OF S%I$: Formation Damage: 6ne method of representing this term is through 'awkins formula (as discussed earlier %

!urbulence &$on'Darc() Skin:

Partial Completion and Slant:

!hese two skin effects can be determined using the method of $inco#Dey et al. ()EF* using the dimensionless parameters h+ B h9rw% zw9hC hw9h and GdegreesH where h is the height of the reservoir, hw is the height of the perforation interval, zw is the elevation of the midpoint of the perforations relative to the formation base, and is the slant angle relative to the vertical a&is (more information on p. II of $ourse !e&t .