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1 Advances in Carbonate Stimulation
1 Advances in Carbonate Stimulation
Copyright 2005, CIPM. Este artculo fue preparado para su presentacin en el cuarto E-Exitep 2005, del 20 al 23 de febrero de 2005 en Veracruz, Ver., Mxico.
El material presentado no refleja necesariamente la opinin del CIPM, su mesa directiva o sus colegiados. El artculo fue seleccionado por un comit tcnico
con base en un resumen. El contenido total no ha sido revisado por el comit editorial del CIPM.
SUMMARY
Carbonate acidizing continues to be a vital process
for improving the production of oil and gas wells.
Laboratory studies and field evaluations of
carbonate acidizing during the past 30 years have
shown a continually improved understanding of the
fundamental issues. This paper discusses the
current state of the advances in carbonate
stimulation. Average reactivity data for several
limestones and dolomites are presented and can be
used as improved default values for simulators. The
three fundamental issues of fracture acidizing are
addressed and are considered to be reactivity
control, fluid-loss control, and conductivity
generation. Synthetic polymers for acid gellants
have made reactivity control easy, which usually
makes fluid-loss control the most dominant issue to
be addressed in fracture acidizing. Wormhole
development and structure during matrix acidizing
are viewed as symmetry-dominated processes
controlled by fluid flow that obeys the native
permeability contrasts within the matrix. The
resulting simplification allows for rational treatment
designs for matrix acidizing of carbonates. Zonal
coverage of long carbonate sections, whether
vertical or horizontal, remains a challenge.
However, using the 75-25 rule for horizontal wells,
creating a thief zone at the bottom or toe of the
well, and utilizing the top decade of permeability
rule can aid in achieving reasonable designs for
maximizing productivity.
CARBONATE REACTIVITY
Several models are used to predict the spending of
acid on carbonates. Some models calculate the
spending during fracture acidizing while others
calculate the spending during matrix acidizing and
wormhole generation. The earliest spending tests
were simple spending-time experiments in open
beakers. However, it soon became clear that this
was an inadequate procedure since mass transport
definitely plays a role. Experiments conducted on
Reactivity Control
The first fundamental issue involved in successful
fracture acidizing is reactivity control. Dissolution of
carbonate is the means by which conductivity is
generated. The dissolution is controlled by
reactivity, which is affected by both carbonate
composition and temperature. An improper
understanding of reactivity may lead to a choice of
fluid that is inappropriate for the reservoir
conditions. Therefore, it is very important to
understand the issues of reactivity discussed
earlier. There was a time when almost everyone
considered reactivity control to be the single-most
important issue in providing effective fracture
acidizing treatments. This assumption was based
on an improper understanding of both limestone
reactivity and the lack of effective fluid-loss control
measures provided by synthetic polymer gelled
acids. Currently, reactivity control has been
sufficiently achieved such that fluid-loss control has
been clearly exposed as the next dominant barrier
to effective fracture-acidizing treatments.
Guidelines have been developed for choosing an
appropriate method for achieving reactivity control.
Low-reactivity carbonates at cool reservoir
conditions require acid systems that will not further
lower the acid reaction rate constants. Foamed acid
and surfactant gelled acids are examples of
systems known to be quite effective in low reactivity
carbonates.
Moderate reactivity carbonates can also be treated
with foamed acid and surfactant gelled acids, but
synthetic polymer gelled acids provide a level of
reactivity control and fluid-loss control that makes
them widely applicable.
Treatments on high-reactivity carbonates, or
moderate-reactivity carbonates at high temperatures, should generally employ acid systems using
synthetic polymers to viscosify the acid. These
systems provide excellent reactivity control and
mass transport control.
Fluid-Loss Control
The second fundamental issue of successful
fracture acidizing is fluid-loss control. This issue is
perhaps the primary cause of failure for many
fracture-acidizing treatments. In sand fracturing,
excessive fluid loss can result in screen-outs and
a premature shut-down of the treatment. In acid
MATRIX ACIDIZING
In 1979, SPE published Monograph Volume 6 of the
Henry L. Doherty Series entitled Acidizing
Fundamentals, which was coauthored by Bert
Williams, John Gidley, and Robert Schechter.8
Matrix acidizing of carbonates is extensively
discussed
in
the
Acidizing
Fundamentals
Monograph. A method is given for calculating the
spending of acid down a dominant wormhole in
either turbulent or laminar flow. Calculations of acid
spending lengths can be performed with or without
fluid leakoff. Unfortunately, three fundamental
questions remained unanswered at that time that
prevented use of the published concepts:
1) How many dominant wormholes are generated?
10