SORAN UNIVERSITY

School of Engineering
Department of Petroleum Engineering

Well Stimulation
Dr. Muhammad Amin

Prepared by:
Rebaz Abdulqadr Hamad
Aras Bahri Salim
Dlvin Taher Abdullah
Zhidar Jargis
Rawa Asaad
Omer Muhemmed
 Well Stimulation
Some, petroleum exists in a formation but is
unable to flow readily into the well because the
formation has very low permeability.
Natural low permeability formation.
Formation damage around the wellbore caused
by invasion of perforation
fluid and charge debris.
Well Stimulation
Formation damage:
the reduction of permeability in a reservoir rock
caused by the invasion of drilling fluid
and treating fluids to the section adjacent to die
wellbore. It is often called skin damage.
Well Stimulation
anyof several operations used to increase the
production of a well or a treatment
performed to restore or enhance the
productivity of a well such as:

1) Acidizing
2) Fracturing
Well Stimulation
Acidizing
The pumping of acid into the wellbore to
remove near-well formation
damage and other damaging substances.
This procedure commonly enhances production
by increasing the
effective well radius.
Well Stimulation
The two basic types of acidizing are
characterized through injection rates and
pressures:

Injection rates below fracture pressure are

termed Matrix acidizing.
Injection rates above fracture pressure are
termed Fracture acidizing.
Well Stimulation
Matrix acidizing
Matrix acidizing is applied primarily to remove skin
damage caused by drilling , completion, workover , well-
killing, or injection fluids, and by precipitation of scale
deposits from produced or injected water.
During matrix acidizing the acids dissolve the sediments
and mud solids within the pores that are inhibiting the
permeability of the rock.
mostly used in sandstone formations.
Due to the extremely large surface area contacted by
acid in a matrix treatment, spending time is very short.
Therefore, it is difficult to affect formation more than a
few feet from the wellbore.
Well Stimulation
Fracture acidizing
Fracture acidizing is an alternative to hydraulic
fracturing and propping in carbonate reservoirs.
In fracture acidizing, the reservoir is
hydraulically fractured an then the fracture
faces are etched with acid to provide linear flow
channels to wellbore.
As such, the application of acid fracturing is
confined to carbonate reservoirs and should
never be used to stimulate sandstone, shale, or
coal-seam reservoirs.
Long etched fractures are difficult to obtain,
because of high leak off and rapid acid reaction
with the formation
Well Stimulation
Well Stimulation
WELL STIMULATION ACIDS
The basic types of acid used are:
Hydrochloric
Hydrochloric-Hydrofluoric
Acetic
Formic
Sulfamic
Fluoboric
Also, various combinations of these acids are
employed in specific applications.
Well Stimulation
ACID ADDITIVES:
Acidizing can cause a number of well problems.
Acid may :
(1) release fines
(2) create precipitants
(3) form emulsions
(4) create sludge
(5) corrode steel
Additives are available to correct these and a
number of other problems
Well Stimulation
Surfactants should be used on all acid jobs to reduce
surface and interfacial tension, to prevent emulsions, to
water-wet the formation, and to safeguard against other
associated problems.

Suspending Agents: Most carbonate formations

contain insolubles which can block formation pores or
fractures if fines released by acid are allowed to settle
and bridge.
Well Stimulation
Suspension should be differentiated from
dispersion. Dispersed particles usually settle
in a short time.

A suspending surfactant, such as

Halliburton's HC-2, in concentrations of
about five gallons per 1,000 gallons of acid
may suspend fines for more than 24 hours,
and possibly as long as seven days.
Suspending agents are usually polymers or
surfactants
Well Stimulation
Anti-Sludge Agents:
Some crudes, particularly heavy asphaltic crudes, form an
insoluble sludge when contacted with acid, with greater
problems experiences with high strength acid. Dissolved
Fe(III) in acid appreciably increases the possibility of
sludge.

The primary ingredients of a sludge are usually

asphaltenes.
Well Stimulation
Sludges may also contain resins and paraffin waxes,
high-molecular weight hydrocarbons, formation fines,
clays, and other materials.

The addition of certain surfactants can prevent the

formation of sludge by keeping colloidal material
dispersed. These sludge-preventing surfactants usually
prevent an emulsion
Well Stimulation
Corrosion inhibitors for acid are chemical
additives that reduce the rate of corrosion of
steel by acid.
There are two primary reasons for using
corrosion inhibitors:
(1) to protect the acid pumping and handling
equipment
(2) to protect well equipment.
Well Stimulation
Factors that govern the degree of acid
attack on steel are:
1) type of steel including hardness
2) temperature
3) type of acid
4) acid concentration
5) acid contact time
Well Stimulation
CARBONATE ACIDIZING
The objective of acidizing limestone and dolomite wells
is to remove
damage near the wellbore or to create linear flow
channels by fracturing and
etching.
Acid may also be used in sandstone wells to dissolve
carbonates in the form
of sand grain cementing materials, discrete particles, and
carbonate scale.
Well Stimulation
The time required for a specified volume
and concentration of HCl acid to
spend to about 3.2% in a selected formation
under given conditions is
defined as Acid Reaction Time.

A major problem in fracture acidizing of

carbonate formations is that acids tend to
react too fast with carbonates and spend near
the wellbore.
Well Stimulation
Factors controlling the reaction rate of acid
are:
area of contact per unit volume of acid
formation temperature
pressure
acid concentration
acid type
physical and chemical properties of
formation rock
flow velocity of acid
Well Stimulation
Retardation of Acid:
To achieve deeper penetration in fracture
acidizing, it is often desirable to retard
acid reaction rate. This can be done by

gelling,
Emulsifying
chemically retarding the acid
Well Stimulation
Gelled Acid:
The use of gelled acid for fracture acidizing
has increased to the point that it is now the
most used technique.
The introduction of more temperature-
stable gelling agents with ready application
up to temperatures of about 400F has been
a major factor in selecting gelled acid for
acid fracturing. Two types of gelling systems,
polymers and surfactants, are in common
use.
Well Stimulation
Emulsified Acid:
For many years the primary retarded acid for fracture
acidizing was an acid-in-oil emulsion. This type retarded
acid is very functional but is no longer the primary
fracture acid method used.
It has limited temperature range and stability, with high
viscosity and high friction loss.
It does, however, have the ability to restrict contact
between the acid and formation, to reduce fluid loss,
and to retain large quantities of the treating fluid in the
fracture.
Well Stimulation
Chemically-Retarded:
Acid-Retardation of HCl is obtained by the
addition of unique surfactants to the acid
which form protective films on the surface
of limestone or dolomite.
These films retard reaction rate in much the
same way that an acid corrosion inhibitor
protects metal.
In addition to retarding acid reaction rate,
chemical retarders tend to promote
nonuniform etching of fracture faces, thus
increasing fracture conductivity.
Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic Fracturing
The objective of hydraulic fracturing for well
stimulation is to increase well productivity by
creating a highly conductive path (compared to
reservoir permeability) some distance away
from the wellbore into the formation.
Usually the conductivity is maintained by
propping with sand to hold the fracture faces
apart.
Hydraulic Fracturing
Acid fracturing involves most of the same
considerations as hydraulic fracturing
except that conductivity is generated by
removing portions of the fracture face
with acid, leaving etched channels after
the fracture closes
Hydraulic Fracturing
During a fracture job or hydraulic fracturing, a service
company injects large volumes of fracture fluids under
high pressure into the well to fracture the reservoir
rock . Fracture jobs are done either in an open-hole or
a cased well with perforations.
Common fracture fluid is a gel formed by water and
polymers, long organic molecules that form a thick liquid
when mixed with water.
Oil-based fracture fluid and foam-based fracture fluids
using bubbles of nitrogen, or carbon dioxide can also be
used to minimize formation damage.
The fracture fluid is transported out to the fracture job
in large trailers
Hydraulic Fracturing
A fracture job is done in three steps:
First, a pad of fracture fluid is injected into the well by
several, large, pumping units on trucks to initiate
fracturing the reservoir.
Hydraulic Fracturing
Next, a slurry of fracture fluid and propping agents are
pumped down the well to extend the fractures and fill
them with propping agents. Propping agents or proppants
are small spheres that hold open the fractures after
pumping has stopped.
Hydraulic Fracturing
The propping agents are usually well sorted quartz
sand grains, ceramic spheres, or aluminum oxide pellets.
The well is then back flushed in the third stage to
remove the fracture fluid.