MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

PETE 434 Fall 2010

Design Procedure for Matrix Acidizing of Sandstones

Step 1. Calculate maximum allowable bottom hole pressure (formation fracture pressure), pfr

p fr = g f D (1)

Where
gf : fracture gradient, psi/ft
D : formation vertical depth, ft
pfr : maximum allowable bottom hole pressure

Step 2. Calculate maximum possible Injection rate without fracturing, qm

4.917 × 10−6 khp ( p fr − pR )

qm = (2)
µ[ln(re / rw′ ) − 0.75]

rw′ = rw exp(− s ) (3)

Where
hp : perforated interval, ft (use pay zone thickness for open hole completion)
k : average permeability, md
pR : reservoir pressure, psi
re : drainage radius, ft
rw : wellbore radius, in.
’
rw : effective wellbore radius, in.
s : skin factor
µ : acid viscosity, cp

The injection rate (qi) to avoid fracturing must clearly be lower than qm (qi<qm). As a practical matter, a
rate 10 percent lower is suggested.

qi = 0.9qm (4)

Where qi: safe injection rate, bbl/min.

Step 3. Estimate the preflush volume, Vpf

Preflush is an important feature of sandstone acid treatment. The main purpose of the preflush are to
remove those formation materials which will react to a significant extent with HCl, to displace those
+ ++
formation waters containing ions (Na , Ca , etc) which will tend to precipitate with HF, and to cool the
formation thereby permitting deeper acid penetration.

7.5 or 15 wt% HCl is used frequently as preflush. If corrosion is a substantial problem, preflushing with
formic acid is acceptable. Because of incomplete reactions, higher molecular weight organic acids are
not recommended.

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 MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Removal of HCl soluble minerals:

V pf = VC / X (5)

VC = 0.16319(rC2 − rw2 )(1 − φ )h p f C (6)

Χ = βa ( ρa / ρr ) (7)

β a = β 100 wHCl (8)

M wr Csr
β100 = (9)
M wa Csa

Where
Csa : stoichiometric coefficient of mineral, Csa=1 for HCl reaction with limestone and dolomite
Csr : stoichiometric coefficient of acid, Csr=2 for Limestone+HCl; and Csr=4 for dolomite+HCl
fC : wt% of acid soluble minerals
Mwa : molecular weight of acid (Table 1)
Mwr : molecular weight of mineral (Table 1)
NPe : Peclet Number
rC : radius of zone containing acid soluble mineral, in
VC : volume of carbonates in formation, gal
Vpf : preflush volume, gal
wHCl : HCl acid concentration, wt%
X : Volumetric dissolving power of acid
βa : gravimetric dissolving power of “a” wt% acid (mass of rock dissolved per unit mass of
“a” wt% acid reacted).
β100 : gravimetric dissolving power of 100 wt% acid (mass of rock dissolved per unit mass
of 100 wt% acid reacted).
ρa : acid density, g/cc (Table 2)
ρr : rock density, g/cc, ρr=2.71 g/cc for limestone and ρr=2.87 g/cc for dolomite
φ : porosity

Table 1. Dissolving power of HCl acid.

Mineral β100 5% 10 % 15 % 30 %

Limestone, CaCO3 1.37 0.026 0.053 0.082 0.175

Dolomite, CaMgCO3 1.27 0.023 0.046 0.071 0.152

Step 4. Estimate acid temperature at the end of treatment, Ta

Assume an injection time, usually t= 1 hr.

Ta ( z ,t ) = g T D + Tes − g T A + ( Tas + g T A − Tes ) e − D / A (10)

A = 336.9 Fq i (11)

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 MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Table 2. Specific gravity of aqueous HCl acid solution.

wt% HCl Sp Gr wt% HCl Sp Gr

1 1.0032 22 1.1083
2 1.0082 24 1.1187
4 1.0181 26 1.1290
6 1.0279 28 1.1392
8 1.0376 30 1.1493
10 1.0474 32 1.15.93
12 1.0574 34 1.1691
14 1.0675 36 1.1789
16 1.0776 38 1.1885
18 1.0878 40 1.1980
20 1.0980

1 + Bf (t )
F = 7.094 ρ a (12)
B
d tiU
B= (13)
33.6
1 1 d ce + d te − d ci − d ti d ci − d te
= + + (14)
U h 600 8.304
0.8
(q ρ )
h = 4778.8 1i .8 a 0.4 (15)
dt, µ
log f (t ) = 0.31333 log Y − 0.06(log Y ) 2 + 0.006666(log Y ) 3 (16)
t
Y= (17)
2.609d ce2

where
A : function defined by Eq. 11, ft
B : function defined by Eq. 13
dce : casing OD, in.
dci : casing ID, in.
dte : tubing OD, in.
dti : tubing ID, in.
2
F : function defined by Eq. 12, hr/ft
f(t) : transient heat-conduction time function defined by Eq. 16
gT : geothermal gradient, °F/ft
2
h : film coefficient of heat transfer, Btu/hr-ft -°F
Tes : earth’s surface temperature, °F
Tas : temperature of acid at surface, °F
2
U : overall heat transfer coefficient, Btu/hr-ft -°F
t : injection time, hr
Y : function defined by Eq. 17
ρa : acid density, g/cc (Table 2)

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 MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Step 5. Determine mud acid volume, VA:

3h pη rs + rw
Va = (18)
wHF rs − rw + 6

η = 140 + C1 + C 2 x + C 3 y + C 4 x 2 + C 5 xy + C 6 y 2 + C 7 x 3 + C8 x 2 y

+ C 9 xy 2 + C10 y 3 + C11 z + C12 zx + C13 zy + C14 zx 2 + C15 zxy (19)

+ C16 zy 2 + C17 zx 3 + C18 zx 2 y + C19 zxy 2 + C 20 zy 3

x = rs − rw − 4 (20)

y = log(q i / h p ) (21)

z = (Ta − 175) / 100 (22)

Where :
C1–C20 : constants of Eq. 19 (Table 3)
rs : radius of damaged zone, in.
x : function defined by Eq.17
y : function defined by Eq.18
z : function defined by Eq.19
η : specific mud acid volume, gal/ft

Table 3. Constants of Eq.19.

C1 -88.836 C6 21.975 C11 -15.226 C16 -14.834

C2 18.72 C7 1.3124 C12 6.0995 C17 0.3812

C3 0.67336 C8 -9.473 C13 -62.05 C18 -0.84504

C4 4.4285 C9 6.8514 C14 6.051 C19 -3.8846

C5 -22.83 C10 1.511 C15 -24.813 C20 -0.99883

Step 6. Determine injection time, tp

V
tp = (23)
42qi
V = V pf + V A (24)

Compare tp with initial guess t. Repeat Steps 4 through 6 taking t=tp as necessary until the calculated
injection time does not significantly change.

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 MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Step 7. Calculate maximum surface injection pressure, psi

psi = p p + p fr + p f − ph (25)

0.2369q 2p ρ a
pp = q p = qi / n (26)
d p4α 2

ph = 0.052 ρ a D (27)

where

dp : perforation diameter, in.

n : number of open perforations
pp : friction pressure drop through perforations, psi
pf : friction pressure drop in tubular goods, psi
ph : hydrostatic head of acid, psi
q : total injection rate, bbl/min
qp : specific injection rate, bbl/min-perforation
α : discharge coefficient, usually 0.9
ρa : density of acid, lb/gal

Step 8. Calculate stimulation ratio, Js/Jo

J s ln(re / rw′ ) − 0.75

= (28)
J d ln(re / rs ) − 0.75

Step 9. Calculate after flush volume, Vaf

In oil wells, inject a volume of afterflush of diesel oil or HCl acid equal to the mud acid volume. In gas
wells, the afterflush is normally 15w% HCl acid. Diesel oil is not to be used in gas wells because of its
adverse effect on the relative permeability to gas. Put the well on production as soon as possible.

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