Formation Damage

Mechanisms

FARUK CIVAN, Ph.D.

Alumni Chair Professor
Mewbourne School of Petroleum and Geological
Engineering
The University of Oklahoma

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Presentation Outline
† How is formation damage defined?
† What does formation damage do?
† How does formation damage occur?
† What are the common formation
damage mechanisms?
† How can we control formation
damage?

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Formation Damage
†An expensive headache
(Amaefule et al. 1988)

†Requires interdisciplinary
knowledge and expertise

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Damage Mechanisms
(Butler et al., 2000)

†Formation damage:
Impairment of reservoir permeability
by adverse processes
†Completion damage:
Hinderence of well productivity by
deposition and flow modification at
and around well bore

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Mechanical Skin (Formation
Damage (Yildiz, 2003)

Porosity and permeability variation by

„ Fines migration and deposition
„ Mud filtrate and fines invasion
„ Rock compression
„ Scales
„ Acidizing

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Near Wellbore Damage

Damaged Region Non-damaged Region

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Effect of Anisotropy and Stress on
Damage Zone
KH > KV KH < KV

Well

Invasion Zone

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Formation Damage
Indicators

†Permeability impairment
†Skin damage
†Decrease of well
performance.

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Pressure Profile and Skin

t >0,s<0
t = 0, s = 0
P Pw
t >0,s>0

Pwo
Pw

rw ro
r
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 Formation Damage
Measure- Skin Factor
−s
(rw ) apparent = e (rw ) actual
re

Damaged Non-
Region rw rd
Damaged
Region

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Consequence of
Formation Damage

†Reduction of reservoir
productivity
†Non-economic operations

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Formation Damage
† “Not necessarily reversible”
(Porter, 1989)
† What gets into porous media does
not necessarily come out” (Porter,
1989)
† Avoid formation damage than to
restore it
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Potential Sources of Formation
Damage During History of Well

1. Drilling (emulsion block,

wettability change, mud
damage, mechanical damage)
2. Cementing (pH change, scale
formation)
3. Perforating
4. Completion
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Potential Sources of Formation
Damage During the History of
the Well…
5. Workover
6. Gravel packing
7. Production
8. Stimulation
9. Fluid injection
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Common Formation
Damage Mechanisms
(Bennion, 1999, Bennion and Thomas, 1991, Bishop, 1997)

1. Fluid-fluid incompatibility
(emulsion generation, etc.)
2. Rock-fluid incompatibility (clay
swelling, etc.)
3. Fines invasion and migration
(particles, etc.)
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Common Formation
Damage Mechanisms
(Bennion, 1999, Bennion and Thomas, 1991, Bishop, 1997)

4.Phase trapping and blocking (water

entrapment in gas reservoirs)
5. Adsorption and wettability alteration
6. Biological activity (bacteria, slime
production).

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What do Rocks contain?
(Bucke & Markin,1971, Ezzat,1990, Mancini,1991)

1. Mineral oxides (SiO2, Al2O3, etc.)

2. Swelling and non-swelling clays
(detrital and authigenic)
3. Other substances (mud, cement,
and debris)

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Clay Minerals
Crystalline minerals described
as hydrous aluminum silicates
1. Kaolinite group (breaks apart
into fine particles)
2. Smectite or montmorillonite
group (water sensitive and
expandable)
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Clay Minerals…
3.Illite group (plugs pore throats)
4.Mixed-layer clay minerals
(breaks apart in clumps and
form bridges across pores)

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Extraneous Materials
Foreign materials introduced
during:
†Drilling and completion of
wells
†Workover operations
†Enhanced recovery processes

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Externally Introduced
Particles
† Fluid loss control materials
„ Bentonite
„ Clays
† Mud weighting materials
„ Calcium carbonate
„ Barite
„ Hematite

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Externally Introduced
Particles
† Pore bridging materials
„ Fibers
„ Resins
„ Silica
„ Calcium carbonate
† Injection water materials
„ Bacteria
„ Sand, clay, silt, asphaltene, wax, polymers
„ Materials produced by corrosion of tubing
† Particulate matter produced by drilling
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Porous Media Realization
Leaky-tube Model
Network Model (Civan, 2003)

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Bundle-of-Leaky-Capillary-
Tubes Model of Porous Media

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Porosity-Permeability Alteration
1.0E-11

1.0E-12

1.0E-13
Permeability, K, mD

1.0E-14

1.0E-15

1.0E-16

1.0E-17

1.0E-18
0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20
Porosity, φ, fraction

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Formation Damage Causing
Rock-Fluid Interactions
(Bennion and Thomas, 1994)

1. Mobilization, migration, and

deposition of fine particles
(internal or external)
2. Alteration of porous media and
particle surface (absorption,
adsorption, wettability change,
and swelling)
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Formation Damage Causing
Rock-Fluid Interactions…
(Bennion and Thomas, 1994)

3. Other processes (mud fluid

imbibition, grinding and mashing
of solids, surface glazing)

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Deposition Within Porous
Formation

DEPOSITION FLOW
ENTRAINMENT

TYPICAL HYDRAULIC TUBE

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Shock Phenomena Causing Particle
Detachment and Mobilization

Three Important Criteria:

† Critical salt concentration

† Critical interstitial fluid velocity
† Critical temperature

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 Salinity Shock
CSC : Critical salt concentration (Khilar and Fogler, 1983)

Basal Spacing
Salt
Civan (2000, 2001) Concentration
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Particle swelling

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Critical Mobilization Velocity

Gruesbeck and Collins (1982)

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Particles experience more fluid shear
in tortuous paths (Civan, 2006)

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 Temperature Shock

Gupta and Civan (1994)

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Small Particles
Deep-bed Filtration
Fluid velocity
decreases with
radial distance

Well Critical
velocity
Hydraulic Tortuous
fracture flow path
Reservoir
region of
well
influence

Suspended Immobile
particles particles
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Particle Deposition
Mechanisms

Pore filling
Surface Pore throat and internal
deposition plugging cake formation

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Valve effect of pore throats

Chang and Civan

(1997) and Ochi and
Vernoux (1998)

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Pore Throat Plugging
Deposition

Dp Dt
Non-bridging
Dt
β=
Dp

( )+C
Bridging
− B Re p
β cr = A 1 − e 0 c p uD p
Re p =
(µφ )
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Dislodgement/deposition
at Pore Throats

Flow Reversal

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Particle aggregation kinetics

† Diffusion-limited
† Reaction-limited

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Medium to Large Particles
External Cake Formation

Large
particles
(Screening)

Medium
particles
(Bridging)

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Filter Cake
Distribution
r, radial direction
Vertical Well
•Radial filter cake
•Homogeneous thick

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Filter Cake
Distribution…
Horizontal Well
•Rotation effect
•Gravity effect
•Non-uniform thick

Gravity direction
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Perforated Wells
y
Uninvaded Zone
Invade
d Zon
Filter e
Cake

Perforation
x
Wellbore

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 Hydraulically-Fractured
Wells
y Uninvaded Zone
Invade
d Zon
e

Perforation
x
Wellbore

Filter cake

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Conditions Favorable for
Sand Production
(Hayatdavoudi, 1999)

1. Lack of cementation and loss

of mechanical integrity
2. Small grain size
3. Weak consolidation and
compaction
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Conditions Favorable for
Sand Production
(Hayatdavoudi, 1999)

4. Rising water table

ƒ Higher water cut
ƒ Petrophysical alteration
5. Grain buoyancy effect
6. High flow rate and low
pore fluid pressure
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Sand Liquefaction Criterion
(Hayatdavoudi, 1999)

Friction shear-stress > Critical-shear-stress

y

τ
θ

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Massive Sand
Production…
(Geilikman and Dusseault, 1994, 1997)

Yielded Intact
Zone Zone

rw R(t) re

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 Practical Results

Fluid
Sand
Production
qf Production
Improvement

qs Rate
qo
1.0 qo = flow rate without
sand production
qf = flow rate with
sand production
0 0
0
t 0
t
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Sand Control Methods
(JPT, 1995)

1. Sand control is necessary for

weak formations and high
water influx.
2. Hydraulic fracturing reduces
the flow rate and pressure
gradient to prevent sanding.
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Sand Control Methods
(JPT, 1995)

3. Zone perforation and frac-

packing (gel or water packing)
4. Resin injection for chemical
consolidation
5. Gravel packs, screens, and
slotted liners to filter sand.

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Sand Control Methods
(JPT, 1995)

6. Dropping the water level by special

completion techniques
(Hayatdavoudi, 1999):
a) Horizontal wells
b) Water production from below
the oil/water contact
c) Reducing water-coning.
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Wettability
Definition:
1. Preferential affinity of solid to
fluid phases
2. Tendency of fluids to spread
over solid surface

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Contact Angle

θ < 90o, strong wettability

θ > 90o, weak wettability
θ ≈ 90o, intermediate wettability
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Wettability Effect
(Durand and Rosenberg, 1988)

Water-wet Oil-wet
(Clay/Oil) (Clay/Oil)
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Wettability Alteration
Oil-wet Water-wet
Site Site
Water
adsorbed
WI
Oil
adsorbed Pore Space
Oil Adsorption
(mg/g)

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Wettability…
†Wettability alteration can be
detected by capillary pressure
measurement
250oF
Pc 0
100oF

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Particle Migration in Multi-phase Flow

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Formation Damage Causing
Fluid-Fluid Interactions
(Amaefule, 1988, and Masikewich and Bennion, 1999)

„ Emulsion blocking
„ Inorganic deposition
„ Organic deposition

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Liquid Phase Entrapment
† Filtrates
„ Water based
„ Oil based
† Condensates
„ Water
„ Hydrocarbon

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Phase Entrapment
(Bennion, 2003)

Wetting
phase Wetting
phase

Wetting
phase

Non-wetting
phase

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Relative Permeability
Alteration and Liquid Block
(Keelan and Koepf, 1977)

Before damage After damage

Kr vs. Sw Kr vs. Sw

Shrinking of mobile
fluid saturation range

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 Natural and Induced
Scale Damage
(Shaughnessy and Kline, 1983)
2+ −
Ca + 2 HCO ↔ CaCO3( s ) + CO2 ( g ) + H 2 0(l )
3
Add incompatible fluid

Induced
Dissolved

al
tur
HCO-3
mol/lt Na

0
Dissolved Ca2+

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Calcite solubility in water
(Segnit et al., 1962)

2+ −
Ca + 2 HCO3 ⇔ CaCO3( s ) + H 2O + CO2 ( g )

150 oC
Calcite
200 oC
Solubility
g/kg solution
pCO2
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Saturation Index
(Schneider, 1997)

 K ap 
SI = log10  
 K sp 
Supersaturated
SI > 0
Saturated
SI = 0 C, Concentration of
aqueous solution, mol/L
SI < 0
Undersaturated

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Organic Deposition

1. Paraffins (dissolved in oil)

2. Asphaltenes (undissolved, but
suspended as a colloid in oil)
3. Resins (peptizing agent,
dissolved in oil, help suspend
asphaltene in oil)
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Organic Deposition…

4. Wax: A combined deposit of

paraffins, asphaltenes, resins,
mixed with clays, sand, and
debris (dissolved in oil)

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 Asphaltene and Wax
Phase Behavior
(Leontaritis, 1996)

Liquid+Solid Region
(Mostly pressure Upper deposition
boundary Liquid
dependant)
tion ne
Pressure

u r a
Sat oint Li
-P
Bu bb l e

Liquid + Vapor
Lower deposition
boundary
Liquid+Solid+Vapor
Temperature
Region (Pressure and Copyright 2006 by Faruk Civan - 69
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 Electrokinetic Effect
(Mansoori, 1997)

Pipe or Capillary Tube

Streaming Potential
Negative Positive
Difference
Charge Charge
Asphaltene deposits

•Asphaltene is positively charged

•Oil phase is negatively charged
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Evaluation of Common
Formation Damage Problems
(Keelan and Koepf, 1977)

† Pore blocking by drilling,

completion, workover, and
injection fluids
† Clay hydration, swelling,
dispersion, and pore blocking
resulting from clay-water
reactions

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Evaluation of Common
Formation Damage
Problems…
(Keelan and Koepf, 1977)

† Liquid block resulting from

extraneous water
introduction during drilling,
completion, and workover
† Caving and sand production
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Analysis of Core
Damage Data

Permeability

uµ L
L

K=
∆P
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Constant-Pressure
Difference Test
1.0

Permeability ∆P-small
ratio,
K/Ko
∆P-large

0
0
PV-injected
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Core Plugs Wafers
(Acid soak Experiments)

1-inch diameter
0.25-inch thick
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A Simple Linear Core Flow
Testing Set-up
(Doane et al., 1999)

Pressure
Transducer
Core Holder
Fluid Effluent
Reservoir Core

Displacement Annulus
Pump Fluid collector
Pump

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Annular Flow Tester
(Saleh et al., 1997)

Effluent

Fluid
Reservoir Radial Outward
Flow Fluid collector

Pump
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Drilling of Wells
(Yao and Holditch, 1993)

Mud In Mud Out

Mud
Invasion Uninvaded
Zone
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Depth of Filtrate
Invasion
Water mud

Depth of Low-colloid
oil mud
Invasion Oil mud

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Time 79
Saturation Profiles for Mud
Filtrate Invasion
(Yao and Holditch, 1993)

Wellbore
Sw = Swc

Mud Filtrate t1 t2 t3
Cake
Sw = 1- Sor

rw Radial Distance re
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Dynamic Mud Tester
Mud Mud
Pump
Reservoir
Filtrate

Linear
Core
Flow

Effluent

Fluid collector
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Hydraulic Fracturing
Fluids
(Keelan and Koepf, 1977)

†Water-block
†Solids invasion
†Leak-off and spurt loss
†Clay hydration
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Fracture Flow Tester
(Doane et al., 1999)

Fracture

Flow

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Mitigation Methods
(Masikewich and Bennion, 1999)

„ Emulsion blocking: Apply demulsifier

„ Precipitates: Apply wax, scale, and
alkaline control
„ Migrating clays: Apply cation
„ Swelling clays: Apply cation or
polymer

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Mitigation Methods
(Masikewich and Bennion, 1999)

„ Phase trapping and blocking: Apply alcohol,

oil, and interfacial surface tension (IFT)
reducer
„ Wettability alteration: Apply surfactant
„ Solid invasion: Apply cake inducing agent

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 Treatment
Fluids
(Thomas et al., 1998)

Major  Proper Additives 

Treatment     
  = Treating  +  to control 
Fluid  Chemical   
  further damage 
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Treatment Fluids
(Thomas et al., 1998)

Additives can control:

† Corrosion
† Sludge formation
† Emulsion formation
† Organic and inorganic
precipitation

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Treatment Fluids
(Thomas et al., 1998)

Additives can control…

† Homogeneity
† Clay stabilization
† Interfacial tension
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Fracture
Stimulation
(Keelan and Koepf, 1977)

† Hydraulic fracturing
† Bypass damaged region

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Bypassing Damage by Hydraulic
Fracturing

z
y

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Completion Techniques
† Open-hole completions
† Cavity completions
† Hydraulic fracturing
† Frac-and-packs
† Horizontal wells

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Reservoir Fluid Pattern- Open Hole
vs. Perforated Cased Hole

Perforation
Well

Invasion Zone

Fluid goes through Fluid bypasses

damaged zone damaged zone
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Perforated Well Flow Efficiency
(Chen and Atkinson, 2001, Yildiz, 2002)

† Wellbore radius
† Shut density
† Shut angle
† Perforation depth
† Perforation diameter
† Crushed zone thickness
† Damaged zone thickness Crushed
† Reservoir anisotropy zone

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Partial Completion and Deviation
(Al Qahtani and Al Shehri, 2003)

Perforated
Zone
hc

Elevation
zc to mid
point

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Horizontally Fractured Well

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Vertically Fractured Well

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Frac-and-Pack Completion

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Multi-lateral Wells Completion

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Damage Tolerance of Completion
Techniques from Most to Least
(Jahediesfanjani and Civan, 2005)

† Long horizontal wells

† Short horizontal wells
† Horizontally fractured wells
† Cavity completions
† Vertical wells
† Frac-and-Pack completions
† Fractured wells
† Vertical wells
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Final Remarks
† Formation damage mechanisms vary
depending on the well operation
types and reservoir and fluid
conditions.
† Oil and gas recovery can be enhanced
by minimizing and controlling of
formation damage.

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Thank you for your attention
† Questions?
† Discussions?
† Comments?

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