SE7 (Formation Demage)

Formation Damage
Examples
Scale
Emulsions
Paraffin
3/14/2009
George E. King Engineering

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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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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 reservoirwellbore 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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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:
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Flow path ways

Fluids
Pressures
Flow rate

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Completion Efficiency
What is it? 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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The Effect of Damage on Production

Rate = (P x k x h) / (141.2 o o s)
Where:
P
k
h
o
o
s
3/14/2009
= 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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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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Observations on Damage
Shallow damage is the most common and
makes the biggest impact on production.
It takes a lot of damage to create large drops
in production
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Effect of Depth and Extent of Damage on

Production
100
90
% of original Flow
80
70
60
80% Damage
90% Damage
95% Damage
50
40
30
20
10
0
0
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Radial Extent
ofE.Damage,
m
George
King Engineering
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3
12
Productivity and Skin Factor

Q1/Qo = 7/(7+s)
Where:
Q1 = productivity of zone w/ skin, bpd
Qo = initial productivity of zone, bpd
s = skin factor, dimensionless
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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
s = 50, Q1 = 123 bpd
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Improvements
For s = -1 (1166), -2 (1400), -3 (1750), and -4
(2333) ..
Why have we seen better results in field?
Fracturing past damage!
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Damage By-Pass
For 1 well producing 1500 bpd with a skin of
50, what would frac with s=-2 yield?
Qo = 12,214 bpd to get to s = 0
Qimproved = 17,100 bpd at s = -2
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Causes
Pseudo damage - very real effect, but no
visible obstructions
Structural damage
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Pseudo Damage
Turbulence
high rate wells
gas zones most affected
Affected areas:
perfs (too few, too small)
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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Horizontal Well Formation Damage

Theories
Zone of Invasion - Homogeneous Case
50423009
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Horizontal Well Formation Damage

Theories
Zone of Invasion - Heterogeneous Case
50423010
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Clay like smectite may have a major effect on damage in some cases, none in others.
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Narrow (<0.1 wide) natural

fracture in dolomite formation
Natural fractures, like this one from

a downhole camera, dominate the
permeability and ability to produce
fluids from a formation.
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Wide, often cavernous fractures are present in some rocks,

particularly limestones. These types of fractures can take
whole mud, making cleanout and effective restoration of
permeability nearly impossible. Air drilling is often the only
practical approach to prevent excessive damage.
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Mud Damage
Common problems
fines in the mud - physical plugging
wetting of formation by mud surfactants
Emulsions from formation fluids and both oil
based mud (OBM) and water based mud (WBM)
reactions with the formation fluids
reaction with the formation clays
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One common and severe problem is the creation of a

rigid sludge (extremely viscous emulsion) from mixing
the heavier ranges of oil based muds (typically over 12
lb/gal) with some brines and most acids and/or spent
acids. The emulsion is stabilized and its viscosity
significantly increased by the cuttings in the oil based
mud. The result is a nearly solid sludge when the oil
based mud emulsifiers react with the low pH acid or
high chloride brines.
Testing with laboratory samples of OBM and acid will
not predict this problem it usually only occurs with
field samples of the OBM (containing the cuttings) and
the field samples of acid and spent acid, which contain
iron.
To prevent the problem, overflush OBM in the well
with xylene or a suitable safe substitute and backflow
before acidizing. Jetting the solvent assists in OBM
removal. Apply the solvent before acidizing and use a
mutual solvent in the acid
To clean up a sludge, a strong OBM solvent (xylene is
usually the best) is soaked for several hours before
flowing back and then acidizing with acid and a
suitable mutual solvent. Test on field samples.
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50/50 mixtures of a field sample of

14.5 lb/gal OBM and acid produced
this solid sludge. The sample was
stable for months.
The well it was from was expected to
come in a 12 mmscf/d but the flow
was too small to measure after the
well was perforated and acidized with
straight 12%/3% HCl/HF.
The well was treated with high quality
xylene (soaked for 12 hours), before
circulating the solvent and mud out of
the well. After acidizing with HCL and
a mutual solvent, the rate increased to
12 mmscf/d within 24 hours.
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Another sample of OBM that was

treated with acid.
In the sample on the left, a field
sample of OBM was mixed directly
with acid. The sample was stable for
three months until discarded.
In the sample in the left, the OBM was
mixed with xylene and allowed to
soak. The water in the OBM is the
darker brown and the cuttings that
have dropped out are at the bottom of
the cylinder.
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Deposits
Paraffin - precipitated by:
loss of temperature in the tubing
loss of light ends of the liquids such as ethanes,
propanees and butanes by venting (pressure
reduction)
mixing with cool fluids (acids, frac, kill, etc) that
reduce the oil temperature below the cloud point.
flood front breakthrough that cool the oil (water
or CO2 expansion) or by dry gas stripping that
removes the light ends.
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Paraffin Location
Deposit first appears at or near the surface
Location moves downhole as field is produced
and pressure drops reduce the light end
concentrations)
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Paraffin Composition
C18 to C60+ straight chain hydrocarbons
C18
C23
C32
C42
C60
82F melting point

122F melting point
158F melting point
181F melting point
211F melting point
Paraffin deposits are never pure (pure paraffin is

white).
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Deposition Location
Top 5 joints of tubing

Downstream of pressure drop
Sea floor flow lines, wellheads, risers
Gas breakout points
On old paraffin deposits
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Paraffin Removal Methods

Hot Oiling better for surface lines and the very top tubing joints.
Dont expect to get heat deep in a well by circulating hot fluids its
a shell-and-tube heat exchanger.
Solvents good but need heat at the reaction site to be about
130oF (54oC) and add jetting or agitation to speed the removal
process.
Dispersants water based with additives designed to disperse
paraffin and hold it in suspension works only where lab and field
testing are coordinated to develop the best product and approach.
Scraping a short term fix - turns loose a lot of debris and leaves
paraffin on the tubing, which serves as a growth site for more
paraffin.
Heating cables good but often expensive to install and operate.
Plastic rod guides can be effective in rod pumped wells, if area of
contact overlaps other guides.
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Paraffin Prevention Methods

Crystal modifiers that prevent wax deposition.
Need by careful selection and a consistent
method of application.
Heating cables expensive?
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Asphaltene Sources
Dispersions - kept suspended by micelles
Soluble in oil (very limited)
Additives to muds (gilsonites)
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World Wide Crude Oil Chemical Compositions (SARA)

Field
Athabas ca
Wabas ca
Peac e Rive r
Cold Lake
E. Ve ne zue la
Average on
46 Heavy Oils
PB HOT (EOA)
PB HOT (WOA)
W. Ven. (ne ar
HOT)
Co nve ntio nal
Normal Oils
PBU Normal
Oil
S c hrade r Bluff
3/14/2009
As phaltene
(Wt %)
23.3
21.6
48.7
20.6
12.6
22.9
14.13
10.38
13.2
Hydroc arbon
Re s in Aro matic Saturated
Total
(Wt %)
(Wt %)
(Wt %)
(Wt %)
28.6
32.1
15.9
48.1
30.6
32.1
15.6
47.7
23.2
20.5
7.6
28.1
28
30.5
20.9
51.4
32.4
36.4
18.6
55
30.6
30.4
16.1
46.5
13.37
20.42
12.9
28.1
28.23
38
44.4
40.97
35.9
72.5
69.2
73.9
28.6
57.2
85.8
1.9
31.93
49.67
81.6
29.0
24.7
41.5
66.2
14.2
16.52
18.42
4.9

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Numbe r
of
Sample s
15
7
3
7
5
46
517
15
41
Asphaltenes
precipitated by:
CO2
acid
pH
turbulence
chemical shift that upsets micelle
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Asphaltene Stability
Maltenes and resins form the micelle
Asphaltene is the small platelet (35A) held in
the middle of the micelle
Dispersed platelets are not usually a problem
although the oil may have a high viscosity
When micelles are upset and broken, the
platelets coagulate and form a mass.
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Scales
calcium carbonate - upset driven

calcium sulfate - mixing waters, upset, CO2
barium sulfate - mixing waters, upset
iron scales - corrosion, H2S, low pH, O2
rarer scales - heavy brines
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Calcium carbonate scale, note the layers.
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An unusual form of calcite scale in the

form of 1 to 2 mm diameter pellets
where the calcite layers formed
around a grain of silt and grew until
the were too heavy to be suspended
in a well with very strong water drive
(E. Texas circa 1975).
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Scale Location
at pressure drops - perfs, profiles

water mixing points - leaks, flood breakthru
outgassing points - hydrostatic sensitive
shear points - pumps, perfs, chokes,
gravel pack - formation interface
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In one case, scale was forming at

the interface of a gravel pack and
formation sand in an extremely fine
and poorly sorted sand. The
formation water was high in
bicarbonate ion and calcium.
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Scale Prediction
Chemical models - require water analysis and
well conditions
Predictions are usually a worst case - this is
where the upset factor comes in.
added shear - increased drawdown, choke
changes, etc.
acidizing
venting pressure
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Polymer Damage
From: muds, pills, frac, carriers
Stable? - for years
location - depends on form polymer was in
dispersed properly - surface to deep in formation
in pills and mass - right in perfs
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Using dry polymer

mixed into cold
water, a crust of unhydrated polymer
formed and
separated to the
top of the tank. If
this layer were
drawn into the
pump as the tank
level dropped, the
polymer mass could
be displaced into
the perfs and would
be a significant
barrier to
production for
years. Acid has
little effect on this
type of deposit.
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Even pre-mixed polymer has un-hydrated gels or fish-eyes after mixing

with water. Shearing and filtering the gel through a six to eight gauge
screen is the fastest way to remove the plugging debris. Incidentally
the sales representative said this would never happen with their product.
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BP
52
Particles in the Fluid

Solids from tanks, lines and fluids
Severe problem, but often ignored
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Much of the debris

that is pumped down a
well comes from debris
left in the water and
mix tanks.
If you think tank
cleaning is too time
consuming, you will
live with the
production decrease in
your well.
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Will the same

truck be used
to haul mix
water to your
next job?
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Cartridge filters before use.
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Afterwards
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Downhole camera
picture of a perforation
completely filled with
debris after displacing a
few loads of dirty fluids.
What is the cost in
production?
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Migrating Fines
Sources
kaolinite - not really that likely!
Smectite - very likely, but clay is rare
zeolites - common in younger sands, GOM area
weathered feldspar - older sands
micas, silts, drilling additives
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Area of Clays
Sand Grain
Kaolinite
Smectite
Illite
Chlorite
0.000015 m2/g
22
82
113
60
The areas for clay are highly variable and depends on

deposit configuration.
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Many chemical
reactions are
surface area
dependant. The
more area, the
faster the
reaction.
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The surface area of clay compared to the volume of reactive fluid in contact drives the reaction.
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Fibrous or spider web

Illite is actually low
reactivity in most cases
but serves as a trap for
migrating fines.
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Migrating Clay Catalysts
water salinity changes

surfactants and mutual solvents
overburden increases
wettability changes
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Other Migrators
The following are dwarfs compared to the problems
with smectite.
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Zeolites - (common in young marine sands) - clintoptolite

Weathered or altered feldspars
one very rare form of chlorite
a few loosely attached kaolinite bundles
broken illites (and mixed layers)
silt and other grains (<5 microns)

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Is Clay a Problem?
Usually not.
Very few formations are water sensitive to a
degree that will affect production.
Clay is a problem when it is in contact with a
reactive fluid and the effects or the reaction
significantly lower permeability (30% or
more?).
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Microporosity
Refers to the very small (non flowable?)
volume between clay platelets that can trap
and hold water.
May explain non recovery or slow recovery of
load fluids
May explain errors in log calculations involving
high Sw prediction and subsequent dry
hydrocarbon flows.
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In some forms,
particularly the
weathered and loosely
attached forms,
kaolinite has been
known to migrate, but
very little reactivity has
been seen in most
instances that have
been investigated by
flow.
Kaolinite (left) and Chlorite (right) are

two common clays found in pore
throats. Reactivity is low, but some
caution is needed.
Chlorite is usually
strongly attached and
most forms of the
mineral are non
reactive with water. It
does contain ferrous
iron, but tests have
shown only slow
reactivity with the
concentrations and
volumes of acid that
are likely to come in
contact with Chlorite
in the pores of a rock.
Rare examples are
known of free
standing chlorite rims
these are unstable
and can break during
flow.
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Migrating???
Because fines are there means nothing
What turns the fines loose?
Velocity - unlikely
salinity change in fluids - very common
wetting change
cleaning agents
solvents (and mutual solvents)
shock loads (perforating for example)
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Damage from clays?

The potential for clay damage depends on clay
type, form, location and presence of reactive
fluids.
In hundreds of sensitivity tests, most cores
containing clays are not highly sensitive (>30%
permeability reduction) to changes in fluid
salinity.
The question is how representative the clays in
the core being tested are to the higher
permeability sections of the reservoir.
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Preventing Clay Damage

Unless the clays in the higher permeability
sections of the rock are sensitive to the fluids that
will actually contact them, any type of clay
control treatment will likely be unnecessary and
potentially damaging.
When clay damage is possible, test for the best
fluid and monitor performance in the field.
In practice, fluids with 2% to 3% KCl are common.
These may be effective, unnecessary or
ineffective depending on the clay.
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Removing Clay Damage

Shallow (to a depth of about 6 inches or 15
cm), 1%HF and 9%HF may be effective in some
cases.
Deeper damage usually requires fracturing to
bypass the damage.
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Emulsions
Multiple phases that do not separate quickly.
Creating an emulsion generally requires an energy
source.
If oil and water do not separate quickly, then look for
the stabilizing mechanism
Surfactant either added or natural
Silt from the formation or from drilling
Viscosity high viscosity emulsions often require thinning
to break.
Charge even weak electric charges can be stabilizers but
are more common in water-in-gas emulsions (clouds).
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Changes in Fluid Viscosity with Change in Internal Phase of Dispersed or Emulsified

Flow
Deformation
Widely
Dispersed
Contact
Inverted
Viscosity
52%
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Increasing internal

fraction
of the emulsion
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74%
96%
77
Energy Sources
lift system
gas breakout
shear at any point in the well
choke
gas expansion
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Common Stabilizers in Oil Production

surfactant (film stiffeners)
solids (silt, rust, wax, scale, cuttings)
emulsion or component viscosity (prevents
particle or droplet contact)
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Iron Problems
Precipitates - usually with acid spending - not
typically a problem
Sludges - more of a problem than we realize can be controlled with iron reducer and antisludge
Solid particles - multiple problems
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Bacterial Problems
Aerobic - lives only w/ oxygen
Anerobic - lives w/o oxygen
Facultative - w/ or w/o, but better one way
Problems Caused
eats polymer
causes formation damage and corrosion
SRBs may sour reservoir
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Bacterial Populations
Free Floating - easy to kill, not that plentiful
Sessile (attached colonies)
100,000 x free floating populations,
very difficult to kill,
live in densly matter layers
protected by slime layer
highly accelerated corrosion underneath
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Bacterial Sources
Some small populations dormant in reservoir? Probably.

drinking water < 1000 cells/ml
sea water - high populations of SRBs
brackish waters - very high populations
river/pond - moderate to high populations
concentrated brines - very low concentrations
acids - very low to almost none
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Bacterial Control
Acids - kills free floating, little effect on sessile
colonies
Bactericides - (same as acid) kills free floating, little
effect on sessile colonies
Bleaches and Chlorine - (3% to 8%) strips slime layer,
dissolves cell wall, cant remove biomass. Watch
corrosion!
Bleach, followed by acid - good removal history.
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Relative Permeability Damage

Mechanisms
Wetting surface wetting
Water blocks trapping water some effects
of capillary pressure in small pores in wells
with low differential pressures.
Condensate banking and retrograde
condensate a phase drop-out that decreases
perm to a single fluid.
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Controlling Relative Permeability

Mechanisms
Water blocks reduce the interfacial and
surface tension of the intruding fluid and reestablish the connate fluid saturation.
Wetting can modify by cleaning, but the
natural surfactants ultimately will define the
wetting of the rock.
Condensate drop-out increase the flow area
by fracturing to negate the effects of lowing
the permeability of the formation.
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SE7 (Formation Demage)

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SE7 (Formation Demage)

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Formation Damage

George E. King Engineering

Damage What is it?

Basically, anything that causes a restriction in

George E. King Engineering

The first step..

George E. King Engineering

Some sources of the damage in the reservoirwellbore connection

George E. King Engineering

Flow path ways

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

The Effect of Damage on Production

= differential pressure (drawdown due to skin)

What changeable factors control

George E. King Engineering

Basically, the severity of damage on production

George E. King Engineering

Impact of Damage on Production

Look at Effect of Damage

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

Effect of Depth and Extent of Damage on

Productivity and Skin Factor

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

debris from perforating

George E. King Engineering

Near Well Damage

in-depth plugging by injected particles

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

Horizontal Well Formation Damage

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

Horizontal Well Formation Damage

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

Narrow (<0.1 wide) natural

Natural fractures, like this one from

George E. King Engineering

Wide, often cavernous fractures are present in some rocks,

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

One common and severe problem is the creation of a

George E. King Engineering

50/50 mixtures of a field sample of

George E. King Engineering

Another sample of OBM that was

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

82F melting point

Paraffin deposits are never pure (pure paraffin is

George E. King Engineering

George E. King Engineering

Top 5 joints of tubing

George E. King Engineering

Paraffin Removal Methods