SPE 150237

Using Microemulsion Technology to Remove Oil-based Mud in Wellbore

Displacement and Remediation Applications
Jonathan Brege, SPE, Wael El Sherbeny, SPE, Lirio Quintero, SPE, Tom Jones. SPE, Baker Hughes

Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the North Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt, 20–22 February 2012.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Formation damage is a by-product of the drilling, completion, and production process and can be attributed to many factors.
In openhole (OH) and cased-hole (CH) wells, hydrocarbon flow may be impeded by various damaging mechanisms caused by
drilling and completion fluids, in-situ emulsions, water block, organic deposition, and oily debris left downhole.
Microemulsion fluids have been successfully developed to effectively resolve the persistent problem of near-wellbore
damage. The physical-chemical properties of these microemulsion systems include high oil solubilization, high diffusion
coefficients through porous media, and the reduction of interfacial tension between organic and aqueous phases to near zero,
making them excellent candidates for removing formation damage. The chemistry of microemulsion fluids make these systems
excellent choices for superior synthetic or oil-based mud (S/OBM) displacements in casing and for OBM filter cake cleanup in
openhole completion applications. Formulations have also been developed for casedhole perforation applications as well as
post-perforation remediation treatments to remove the formation damage around the perforation or fracture zones.
This paper presents a technical overview of microemulsion technology and a review of the test protocol used to qualify
treatment solution designs for S/OBM displacement/cleanup and removal of formation damage in openhole and casedhole
wells. Challenges and results from numerous field applications are presented that demonstrate the efficiency of microemulsion
fluids for removing S/OBM debris and filter cakes, reducing near-wellbore damage and improving well productivity.

Introduction
Prevention of formation damage is a major consideration when designing fluid systems for reservoir drill-in and completion
projects.1-3 From a fluids perspective, special emphasis is placed on developing systems that impart minimal damage to the
rock matrix and leave the wellbore as clean as possible. The three primary cleaning activities target: (1) casing displacement
clean-out, (2) filter cake removal in OH completions that use sand control techniques and (3) the clean-out of perforation
tunnels in the near-wellbore region.
Significant advancements in OBM reservoir drill-in fluid design for OH completions have been made in recent years4;
however, in most operations, damage is still common. Other than poorly designed drill-in fluids, other major factors
influencing the degree of residual damage from OBM include variations in reservoir quality, permeability, pore-size
distribution, lithology, reservoir depletion and the complexity of the completion.
In conventional completions, such as in standard CH and perforated wells, near-wellbore damage may result from a
number of downhole conditions.5 Damage may originate from fluid invasion during the drilling phase, or in some projects the
damage may be caused from incompatibility between in-situ reservoir fluids and the completion fluids. In addition, further
damage may be caused by poorly designed stimulation chemicals. In both OH and CH completions, using optimized
displacement spacers to remove all OBM debris and drilling fluid solids reduces the likehood of plugging completion screens
or perforations.
Accepting the notion that even an optimized fluid design may have some negative effect on production, to some extent,
advanced planning and laboratory testing to remove a significant portion of the damage before the production phase would be
a prudent approach. In OH completions, removal of the OBM filter cake debris using carefully designed treatment fluids,
either during the completion stage or in the remediation phase, has proven successful in restoring the production potential in
several high-profile projects. In a similar manner, near-wellbore damage in perforated wells may be removed if the treatment
fluid selected is fit for purpose.
2 SPE 150237

A relatively new treatment solution for removing S/OBM filter cakes in OH completions has been the application of
microemulsion technology.6 Likewise, in wellbore displacements and CH remediation applications, similar technology has
been successfully applied to clean oily debris from casing and treat damaged perforation zones, particularly when these zones
resist hydrocarbon flow due to emulsions caused by fluid-fluid incompatibility. Properly formulated microemulsion treatment
fluids impart ultra-low interfacial tension (IFT) properties between the damaging fluid and the treatment fluid, facilitating the
removal of OBM and other emulsion damage. The ultra-low interfacial tension phenomenon significantly speeds up the
diffusion rate of the treatment fluid to correspondingly improve the rate of oil solubilization into the treatment fluid. As oil is
solubilized and removed from casing, S/OBM filter cake, completion screens and the rock matrix those surfaces become
water-wet and residual solids become dispersed and mobilized. In addition to the removal of oil from those surfaces and the
dispersion of solids, microemulsion treatment fluids may be supplemented with organic acids to remove acid soluble particles
and further enhance the damage removal process.
When using a microemulsion treatment to remove OBM completion screen damage or when a microemulsion remediation
treatment is used for a perforated well, the process of solubilizing a fraction of the crude oil or S/OBM base oil increases the
mobility of the in-situ fluid and restores a major portion of a well’s productivity. This paper presents laboratory results and
field applications based on microemulsion technology that demonstrates its ability to remove various types of skin damage and
to significantly increase hydrocarbon production or to enable higher rates of water injection.

Microemulsion Technology
Microemulsions are thermodynamically-stable, optically transparent solutions composed of two immiscible fluids. They differ
from ordinary emulsions in that they can be prepared with little or no input of mechanical energy. They are typically composed
of a non-polar or oil phase, an aqueous phase, surfactant(s) and an optional co-surfactant. Depending on how they are
formulated, they can exist in one single-phase or in a three-phase system, in which the middle-phase microemulsion is in
equilibrium with excess water and oil. The formulation characteristics, phase type, and ultimately the cleaning efficiency of a
microemulsion is dictated by the hydrophilic-lipophilic balance between the surfactant(s) and the physico-chemical
environment.7, 8 The microemulsions described in this study are single-phase in which oil and water are co-solubilized by the
surfactant(s) and co-surfactants. The water/oil interface has a zero or near-zero curvature, indicative of the bicontinuous phase
geometry that produces very low interfacial tension and the rapid solubilization of oil upon contact.9
The formation of a microemulsion itself does not ensure the fluid will solubilize oil effectively to leave surfaces water-wet.
The microemulsion phase behavior and cleaning efficiency can be altered by salinity, surfactant, co-surfactant, oil type,
temperature, and particulates. No two wells are identical and the physical and chemical conditions can vary greatly depending
on the application. As a consequence, robust, optimized formulations are needed and validation testing is required to determine
the efficacy of a microemulsion for a specific application, i.e., OBM displacement/cleanup and removal of formation damage
in openhole and casedhole wells.

Laboratory Validation Tests

Microemulsion technology can be effective for S/OBM displacements or remediation of formation damage. Even though the
applications are different, the end goal of solubilizing oil and transforming surfaces to a water-wet state remains constant.
Thus, standard laboratory validation tests consisting of sleeve cleaning tests, contact angle measurements, dynamic interfacial
tension measurement, and core flow tests have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of microemulsions for the various
applications. While the setup of the tests may vary depending on the application, the fundamental design of each remains the
same. A general description of some of these tests and representative results are described in the following text.
Sleeve Cleaning Test
A sleeve cleaning test is performed to simulate the cleaning and water-wetting ability of the microemulsion spacer under low-
shear conditions. A carbon steel sleeve was custom made to represent metallurgy present during the displacement (pipe,
casing, etc.). A standard stainless steel sleeve may be used; however, the carbon steel with some oxidation is more
representative of field conditions. The sleeve is pre-weighed and then rotated in synthetic or oil-based mud (S/OBM) at
100 rpm for 15 minutes at 150°F. The carbon steel sleeve coated with SBM is shown below in Fig. 1a.
The sleeve was carefully removed and weighed again to quantify the amount of oily residue to be removed. The sleeve
was then treated with successive spacers indicative of how the microemulsion fluids would be pumped in the field. The sleeve
was first placed in the weighted microemulsion displacement spacer at 150°F and rotated at 100 rpm for 10 minutes of contact
time then into the microemulsion cleaning spacer at 150°F and rotated at 100 rpm for 10 minutes. The last spacer is a viscous
tail spacer in which the sleeve is rotated for 10 minutes as well, followed by a 10-minute rotation in a clear brine fluid
representing the final fluid transition. The sleeve was air dried and re-weighed. Visual inspection of the sleeve in Fig. 1b
provides an indication of the cleaning effectiveness of the microemulsion spacers. The results indicate greater than 99.5 % of
the SBM was removed and the carbon steel is rendered water-wet. The dark brown color is not residual mud; but rather from
the pitting and oxidized surface that is representative of field pipe. Despite the metal being a non-uniform, rough surface, the
microemulsion diplacement spacers cleaned all oily residue in a single pass.
A good laboratory test should predict how a treatment fluid will perform in the field. Fig. 2 shows a drillpipe covered in
SBM before a displacement, which closely resembles the carbon steel sleeve prepared in Fig. 1a. Fig. 2 also shows the
SPE 150237 3

drillpipe after a single displacement using the microemulsion technology. The pipe is very similar in appearance and is water-
wet like the sleeve in Fig. 1b. The laboratory sleeve cleaning test provides the same results as displacement personnel observe
in the field.

Fig. 1- The carbon steel sleeve after (a) exposure to SBM and (b) treatment with the microemulsion spacer train.

Fig. 2- Drillpipe before and after diplacement with the microemulsion displacement spacers.

Contact Angle
The wettability of a surface is an important parameter that affects oil-water relative permeabilities, fluid movement, cleaning
effectiveness and solids mobilization. The contact angle of a water droplet on a surface before and after exposure to different
fluids is an important consideration in validating a wellbore cleaning fluid. Contact angle measurements can and should be
conducted for any treatment fluid whose purpose is to clean oil from a surface. Contact angle measurements are used to
evaluate the ability of a spacer or remediation fluid to change the surface wettability from oil-wet to water-wet. The first part
of the contact angle test procedure is to detrmine the native wettability of a glass slide. Fig. 3a shows that the untreated glass
slide used has a contact angle to the water of 28°. To simulate contact of S/OBM or other non-aqueous fluid exposure, the
glass slide is exposed to a base oil containing oil-wetting agents for ten minutes. The contact angle to the water, now 83° (Fig.
3b), is much higher than the native surface, thus proving that the previously water-wet surface has been transformed to an oil-
wet state after exposure to the non-aqueous fluid. Finally, the oil-wet surface is exposed to the microemulsion treatment fluid
for ten minutes, resulting in a contact angle to the water of 25° as observed in Fig. 3c. The surface has returned to its initial
water-wet state, much like reservoirs or formation faces upon treatment with microemulsion technology. In order for a spacer
or remediation fluid to pass a contact angle validation test, the fluid must be able to return the surface to a water-wet state, as
observed in this test.
4 SPE 150237

Fig. 3- The contact angle of (a) native glass slide, (b) the slide treated with OBM, and (c) the slide after microemulsion treatment.

Dynamic Interfacial Tension

To predict the efficacy of a fluid to remediate wellbore damage, dynamic interfacial tension (IFT) measurements can be
used. Microemulsions exhibiting ultra-low interfacial tension have the potential to quickly solubilize oil, remove water
blockage, and mobilize particulates to increase well productivity. To validate that a microemulsion can restore reservoir
permeability or to compare the potential efficacy of one treatment fluid versus another, dynamic IFT measurements are
conducted. A Model SVT20 Dataphysics Spinning Droplet Tensiometer is used to measure the IFT over a period of 16 hours.
In this method, two immiscible fluids (aqueous and non-aqueous) are in contact with each other. The aqueous solution is the
microemulsion treatment fluid and the non-aqueous fluid should be the damaging oil of interest that needs to be removed,
either OBM filtrate or crude oil. The IFT changes with time until equilibrium is reached or if the treatment fluid has a high
propensity to clean, the oil droplet will be solubilized entirely.
Fig. 4 shows the interfacial tension of three microemulsion formulations that were evaluated as potential treatment fluids
for remediation of a wellbore damaged by OBM invasion. A combination of base oil and oil-wetting agents was used as non-
aqueous phase in these tests. Originally, the three formulations exhibit an IFT of approximately 0.65 mN/m, a good IFT for
cleaning as the fluid initially contacts the S/OBM. However, the dynamic interfacial tension of the three fluids indicate that
Formulation 1 and Formulations 2 are much better than Formulation 3 because the IFT decreases with time and the
solubilization of the oil increases until the oil disappeared at about 16 hours in the case of Fomulation 1 and about 11 hours in
the case of Formulation 2. Low IFT is an indicator of the ability of the fluid to solubilize oil; therefore, one may conclude that
Formulations 1 and 2 would be successful at restoring permeability in a remediation application.

1.0000
Interfacial Tension (mN/m)

0.1000

0.0100

Formulation 1
0.0010
Formulation 2
Formulation 3

0.0001
0 4 8 12 16 20

Time (hours)

Fig. 4-The dynamic interfacial tension of three microemulsion formulations with base oil + oil wetting agent.
SPE 150237 5

Core Flow Testing

The dynamic interfacial tension tests use fundamental principles to observe the propensity of a treatment fluid to solubilize
oil in evaluating treatment options. Core flow testing can supplement the dynamic IFT test by looking at the flow of fluids
though a simulated reservoir, before and after S/OBM damage, and after remedial treatment. Testing should be conducted as
close to the anticipated well parameters as possible. For this study, it was requested that a microemulsion fluid be designed to
remediate OBM induced damage at 230°F over a time period of three days (72 hours) with 100 psi of overbalance pressure.
Two treatment options were evaluated, Formulation 1 and Formulation 3, which were also used in the IFT study mentioned
above.
To begin the test, a 35-micron aloxite core was soaked in seawater for 24 hours. The initial permeability was measured
with seawater at the flow rates of 16, 20, and 48 ml/min. Next, the core was damaged with OBM containing a high percentage
of low-gravity solids by applying pressure for 3 hours at temperature. The excess mud was removed, leaving the induced
filtrate and mud invasion into the core. The microemulsion Formulation 1 (treatment fluid) was added and allowed to soak for
72 hours with 100 psi of overbalance pressure. A sufficient volume of treatment fluid was available such that the core never
dried out. The excess treatment fluid was pumped through the core and the final permeability was measured with seawater at
the flow rates of 16, 20, and 48 ml/min. The procedure was repeated for the second treatment fluid (Formulation 3) and
relative permeability increases are shown below in Fig. 5.

Permeability Increase After Treatment

140%

120%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%
16 ml/min 30 ml/min 48 ml/min
Formulation 1 Formulation 3
Fig. 5- Core flow testing results of microemulsion Formulations 1 and 3 used in IFT measurements.

The dynamic interfacial tension testing showed that both Formulation 1 and Formulation 2 exhibit low IFT, making them good
candidates for remedial applications. The core flow testing with Formulations 1 and 3 agrees with the IFT observations as
Formulation 1 treatment fluids restored the permeability to greater than 100% of its initial flow. The treatment with
Formulation 3 showed the higher IFT at the end of the test, and showed less return of permeability than found with
Formulation 1, as it was expected.
A return of permeability test with Formulation 2 was also performed. As expected, microemulsion Formulation 2 shows a
much greater return of permeability after treatment than obtained with Formulation 1. Recall that Formulation 2 solubilized the
oil drop in less time than the other two microemulsion formulations evaluated. The three microemulsion formulations are very
similar in composition, but Formulations 1 and 2 were optimized to most efficiently solubilize oil and change the rock surface
to maximize fluid flow through the reservoir, resulting in much greater increase in permeability. When optimized for the
intended application and validated using a laboratory test protocol, microemulsion technology can remediate wellbore damage
to maximize well productivity.

Field Applications
To illustrate the efficacy of the microemulsion technology in field applications, the following case histories are presented.

Case 1. In the gas fields of the Nile Delta, an operator drilled a calcareous, cemented sandstone reservoir with an OBM.
While drilling, the operator entered a high-pressure zone and a saltwater influx occurred. During efforts to kill the well, 1,100
6 SPE 150237

bbl of OBM was lost across the lower productive sand interval. As a result of a drop in hydrostatic pressure, the hole
collapsed, forcing the customer to drill a sidetrack 4.5 meters away from the original hole. The sidetrack was drilled safely and
when the well was brought on line, the lower zone did not contribute in the production.
The lower gas zone, where the losses occurred, is calcareous cemented sandstone with permeability values ranging from
200 to 400 md. Stimulation using acid was restricted to avoid communication with the original wellbore and losing the well
completely. The short horizontal distance between this well and the original wellbore also restricted a hydraulic fracturing
solution. The high concentration of bridging materials, such as sized salt and sized calcium carbonate and the poor injectivity
index, required a chemical stimulant that could diffuse into the rock matrix without applying high pressures.
After reviewing all available drilling and completion fluid data, it was concluded that the salt water and lost OBM created
an emulsion and was the cause of the lost production. After reviewing solutions from various vendors, the microemulsion
treatment technology was chosen, primarily based on the oil-solubilizing and self-diffusion characteristics afforded by the
ultra-low interfacial tension properties. The other treatment proposals submitted were conventional surfactant/acid treatment
designs that required energy force diffusion into the rock matrix.
Due to placement restrictions, the microemulsion treatment was bullheaded down the tubing, gently squeezed into the rock
matrix and allowed to soak overnight. Table 1 shows the production data before and after the well was brought back on line
and resulted in a 64% restoration of the expected gas production.

Table 1-- Production data, before and after treatment

Expected Pre-treatment Post-treatment
Zone
Production Production Production
RL1 Abu Maadi 10 mmcfpd 10 mmcfpd 10 mmcfpd
RL2 Abu Maadi 10 mmcfpd 0 mmcfpd 6.4 mmcfpd

Case 2. A major JV operator in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt drilled a low-pressured, 400-md reservoir with a 0.93-SG OBM.
While drilling the well, there were occasional minor losses of circulation. The standard procedure used by this operator to
initiate production was to put the well on a vacuum to dislocate the filter cake from the wellbore face. After running the
standalone screens into the openhole and bringing the well on line, there was no production. The operator decided to use the
microemulsion technology on a trial basis to remediate the near-wellbore region damaged by a combination of blocked screens
from the drilling fluid filter cake and an emulsion formed between OBM and the crude oil.
To ensure the damage would be removed in a single application, the recommendation was to clean out the inside of the
screen annulus by circulating a microemulsion spacer system (10 bbl) to remove any incumbent fluids. The microemulsion
remediation fluid (16 bbl) was squeezed into the reservoir to clean the perforation paths and the near-wellbore pore matrix, and
to mobilize perforation debris and accumulated cuttings or agglomerates adhering to the screen. An additional 14 bbls of
microemulsion fluid was spotted inside the screens to provide additional volume for diffusion during the soak period. To
maximize the effectiveness of the remediation process, a soak period of ~8 hours was allowed before bringing the well on line.
After the soak period elapsed, the initial production was 472 bopd (75 m3/day) where before the treatment, the production
was 0 bopd. After the well stabilized, the production stabilized to 314 bopd (50 m3/day), which was the expected production
based on other non-damaged wells in the field.

Case 3. An operator in the Gulf of Mexico drilling a well with a synthetic-based mud performed a clean-out operation before
running completion screens. On this competitor well, initially a conventional solvent/surfactant spacer train was used to
prepare the openhole and casing for the screen placement.
After this first attempt to clean the wellbore, the BHA was pulled out of the hole. When the BHA reached the surface, it
was covered with a viscous emulsion, Fig. 6. After repeating the clean-out a second time with the conventional spacer train,
the BHA was again covered with the viscous emulsion. The operator requested the microemulsion spacer system be pumped
on third clean-out attempt to remove the damaging emulsions from the wellbore. Predicting that the bottom interval might
also be contaminated with sludge, additional microemulsion treatment fluid was sent to the rig to remove the sludge deposits
and filter cake from the openhole section of the wellbore.
As can be seen in the Fig. 6, the first attempt to remove the sludge from the BHA using microemulsion technology was
very successful. In addition, due to the well producing 3,000 bopd through the completion screens, it was assumed that the
remediation treatment was also successful in removing the sludge in the openhole.
SPE 150237 7

Fig. 6- Failed displacements using conventional spacer technology versus the successful microemulsion displacement.

Conclusions
1. The laboratory test protocol used to qualify microemulsion treatment designs for S/OBM displacement/cleanup and
removal of formation damage in openhole and casedhole wells proved that the results of the sleeve cleaning test, contact
angle measurements, dynamic IFT and core flow testing accurately validate the treatment fluids.
2. The various microemulsion formulations used for wellbore cleanup and formation damage removal were shown to be
effective in the field through a series of case histories.
3. The field case histories discussed in this paper prove that:
• Microemulsion-based cleaning spacers work well to remove emulsion damage after failed displacements and can be
use used to remove induced emulsion damage in the openhole.
• Microemulsion-based remediation treatements can perform effectively to clean up near-wellbore damage in casedhole
completions by removing emulsions and mobilizing viscous fluids and solids.
• Microemulsion-based treatment fluids can remove blockage in openhole wells where completion screens are blocked
by immobile solids and viscous emulsions by dispersing the solids and reestablishing fluid mobility.

Acknowledgements
We thank the management of Baker Hughes for allowing us to publish this paper. We are also grateful for the contributions
and insights of Gianna Pietrangeli and Katrina Schultz.

Nomenclature
OBM = oil-based mud
SBM = synthetic-based mud
S/OBM =synthetic- or oil-based mud
mN/m = milli Newton per meter
°F = temperature in Fahrenheit
BOPD = barrels of oil per day
PI = productivity index

References

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SI Metric Conversion Factors

°F (°F-32)/1.8 = °C
mN/m x 1.0 E +03 = kg/s2
BOPD x 5.4 E +05 = m3/s
3
m /d/bar x 8.6 E +09 = m4s/kg