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Formation Damage and Well Completion Technology

Technical Report · April 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.3239.9768

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 2015

Formation Damage
and Well Completion
Technology

PETE302-WELL COMPLETION TERM PROJECT

MUHAMMAD SAID ABDALLAH (201265340)

KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & MINERALS | Department of Petroleum Engineering

 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion

Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1
Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 1
Objective/Purpose ......................................................................................................................... 1
Decreasing Formation Damage with New Completion Methods in Daqing Oilfield (Zhu et
al.) .................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 2
Problems associated with the Daqing Oilfield ................................................................................ 2
Characteristics of the present completion process ........................................................................... 3
Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 3
Improve Well Performance by Reducing Formation Damage (Goldstein et al.) ....................... 4
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 4
Problems with conventional frac fluids .......................................................................................... 4
Advantages of the new self-suspending proppant polymer ............................................................. 4
Methodology.................................................................................................................................. 5
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 5
References ....................................................................................................................................... 6

i
 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion

Introduction
Formation damage has been a major issue in the field of Petroleum Engineering for many
decades now. Research is still underway to properly understand the effects of formation
damage on the productivity of the well. However, despite all of the research that has been
conducted, much of this topic still remains more of a mystery. Studies have shown that the
reduction in permeability around the wellbore due to formation damage can severely reduce
the productivity of the well. From studies of the skin effect we also know that the near
wellbore region is extremely crucial since most of the pressure drop occurs in this region1.
Formation damage can be defined as the impairment of the permeability of petroleum-bearing
formations by a variety of different processes. It can occur during any phase of oil and gas
recovery which include drilling, production, hydraulic fracturing and workover operations2.

Moreover, according to an article found on PetroWiki, the two primary reasons for studying
formation damage are:

 The hydrocarbon permeability of the near-wellbore region greatly affects the recovery
of the fluids as we mentioned before.
 Presently we don’t have the technology to alter reservoir rock properties and fluid
properties, we can however control drilling, completion and production operations to
minimize damage to the formation3.

Formation damage is a combination of several damage mechanisms including:

 Fluid-fluid incompatibilities
 Rock-fluid incompatibilities
 Solids invasion
 Phase trapping/blocking
 Chemical adsorption/wettability alteration
 Fines migration
 Biological activity 4

Scope
This term paper aims to discuss new developments in the area of reducing formation damage
through new completion practices and use of self-suspending proppant polymers, it shall not
however quantify the damage by the use of empirically or semi-empirically derived formulas
like what has been discussed in the classroom.

Objective/Purpose
The purpose of this term paper is to shed some light on the new developments in this topic.
Two research papers were selected from the literature and we shall briefly summarize the
contents of these papers. Furthermore, we shall draw up conclusions after discussing the
results/findings of this research.

1 PETE302-Well Completion Lecture Slides, Lecture 6 ‘Inflow Performance Relationship (IPR)’, Slide 11.
2 PETE302-Well Completion Lecture Slides, Lecture 11 ‘Formation Damage’, Slide 3.
3 http://petrowiki.org/Formation_damage
4 PETE302-Well Completion Lecture Slides, Lecture 11 ‘Formation Damage’, Slide 6.

1
 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion

Decreasing Formation Damage with New Completion Methods

in Daqing Oilfield (Zhu et al.)
Introduction
The first research paper I got my hands on discussed how formation damage can be reduced
by introducing new completion methods. The paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE
European Formation Damage Conference and Exhibition held in Noordwijk, The Netherlands
on the 5th-7th of June 2013. However, as pointed out in the original paper, the formation has to
satisfy certain criteria in order for the completion methods to be successful. The study was
limited to the Daqing Oilfield which is located in the northern part of China5. The results
however are still significant and can be generalized to other reservoirs of similar properties.
The Daqing Oilfield is characterised by multiple layers some of which have very low thickness
(0.5 m) and low permeability (less than 50 md). Due to the low permeability of the layers,
traditional perforation bullets could not meet the completion requirements without severely
damaging the productivity of the well. The paper introduces two methods to combat this
problem:

 A negative pressure perforation method is utilized in order to reduce stemming6.

 A compound high energy perforation method is used to penetrate the compacted
zone around the channel thus increasing the conductivity.

Problems associated with the Daqing Oilfield

As we mentioned earlier the Daqing Oilfield is characterised by layers of extremely low
permeability, this calls for new completion methods to be applied to account for how
susceptible the formation will be to damage. Some of the problems pointed out by the authors
are listed below:

 Flooding7 communication is not easily formed for remaining oil scatters over the
horizontal space. This is due to the heterogeneity of the reservoir disturbing the
distribution of the oil.
 There is a great variation between the permeability 8 of target zones and interlayer
interference9 is easily formed.
 There is variation between the pressures of the interlayer which would cause a major
headache to the drilling engineer when designing a drilling program.
 The deep-penetration bullet easily damages the formation around the perforation
tunnel due to the high amount of energy it transfers into the formation. The compacted
zone produced by the bullet would further decrease the permeability of the formation,
which would restrict the fluids from flowing from the reservoir into the perforation
tunnel.

5 http://dqyt.cnpc.com.cn/dqen/HoDO/dqen_common.shtml
6 To restrain or stop (the flow of something) by or as if by damming up (www.thefreedictionary.com).
7 A method of secondary recovery in which water is injected into the reservoir formation to displace residual oil

(Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary).

8 Variation in reservoir properties is also known as reservoir heterogeneity (Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary).
9 The change in pressure at one well caused by production from one or more other wells (Schlumberger Oilfield

Glossary).

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 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion
 Fracturing some of the layers near the high water-out zones, in order to retrieve any
oil remaining there, can cause the well to produce at excessive water production rates
which may lead to early abandonment of the well.
 Generally the physical properties of the target beds are unfavorable for oil recovery
and have a low natural productivity10.

Characteristics of the present completion process

 Limited entry fracturing technology: In this type of fracturing process the flow-rate
of the fluid that is used for fracturing is controlled by varying the number of and size
of the perforating holes. The YD-73 bullet is used instead of the 67-1 type bullet. The
YD-73 bullet produces a larger hole and is able to penetrate deeper into the perforation.
This completion method makes the reservoir more homogeneous and improves oil
recovery rates.
 YD-89, 127 and 1 M series perforating bullets are new types of bullets that have been
developed recently. They also help to improve productivity by producing larger holes
and deeper penetration depths.
 Energy enhanced perforation completion technology is a completion method
whereby, the perforation is done by the perforating bullet aided by a solid propellant11.
By combining the two energies a fissure12 can be produced which helps to remove the
low permeability compacted zone13 created by the perforation bullet.
 Negative pressure perforation technology: By decreasing the pressure in the wellbore
the differential pressure between the wellbore and the formation will aid the formation
fluid to enter the well bore. The formation fluid will travel with higher speed due to
the large pressure drop, hence, it would also help in removing any debris that settled
in the perforation tunnel.

However, as we mentioned in the introduction to this section, there are certain circumstances
where these completion methods can be applied depending on the condition of the formation.
This is explained in detail in pages 4 and 5 of the original paper.

Methodology
The authors compared well productivity in different well patterns whilst using the same
bullets, they compared the FP Intensity14 of the under pressure (Negative pressure)
completion and the traditional completion, and finally they compared various completion
patterns such as Limited Entry Frac., YD-89 Negative Perforation, YD-127 Negative
Perforation, Limited Shot Density + Enhance, Energy Enhance, and Hydraulic Slotting. The
results are summarised in Tables 1 to 3 in page 6 of the original paper.

10 The ability of a reservoir to deliver fluids to the wellbore (Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary).
11 A chemical substance used to propel the bullet.
12 A long, narrow opening or line of breakage made by cracking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.
13 Area between the crushed zone and the perforation tunnel.
14 Fluid Producing Intensity (t/d.m).

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 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion

Improve Well Performance by Reducing Formation Damage

(Goldstein et al.)
Introduction
The 2nd paper I read discussed how well performance can be improved by reducing formation
damage through the use of self-suspending proppant15 transport technology. The paper was
prepared for presentation at the Unconventional Resources Technology Conference (URTeC)
held in San Antonio, Texas, USA on the 20th-22nd of July 2015. This special proppant swells
when it comes into contact with water, as the volume of the proppant increases its effective
specific gravity decreases. By using this proppant the negative affect on the proppant pack
conductivity can be reduced as well as the reduction in the formation permeability. The paper
also discusses how this technology can boost productivity by lessening formation damage
around the wellbore.

Some of the properties of the proppant include:

 Does not leave residue in the formation (residue-free)

 Swells when it comes into contact with water (water-swellable)
 Stable against shear (shear-stable)

Problems with conventional frac 16 fluids

There are several problems encountered when using conventional frac fluids. The proppant
in these fluids tend to remain in the formation, thus, clogging up the pore throats and
decreasing the effectiveness of the hydraulic fracturing processes. The problems the industry
has faced with hydraulic fracturing include:

 Proppant falling out of the frac fluid which would cause the viscosity off the fluid to
decrease. To counter this the engineers may choose to up the pumping rate which may,
in turn, damage the equipment.
 Any additives added to the fluid to support the transport of the proppant can reduce
pack conductivity and the formation permeability.

Advantages of the new self-suspending proppant polymer

This new technology offers several advantages as compared to the conventional frac fluids.
Firstly, the self-suspending proppant polymer does not require any fluid additives. Secondly,
since this polymer leaves no residue it does no damage to the proppant pack or the formation.
Since the formation suffers less damage, better rates of hydrocarbon recovery can be achieved
and less remedial work needs to be done to improve formation conditions. Operators are thus
able to efficiently reduce the cost of producing oil and, hence, maximize profits.

15 A proppant is a solid material, typically sand, treated sand or man-made ceramic materials, designed to keep
an induced hydraulic fracture open, during or following a fracturing treatment.
16 Fracturing is usually abbreviated as ‘frac’ in the Oil & Gas Industry.

4
 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion
Methodology
The new polymer has been tested in the laboratory as well as on the field to compare it with
conventional frac fluids. Some of the tests include:

 Settled Bed Height Testing

 Supernatant17 Fluid vs. Self-Suspending Proppant Fluid Viscosity Testing
 Breaker Evaluation with Pressurized Viscosity Testing
 Breaker Evaluation with Static Pressure Vessel Testing

The procedures and results of the tests are illustrated in detail in the original paper.
Nevertheless, the tests showed positive results and proved that the self-suspending proppant
hydrogel polymer either leaves small traces of residue or none at all.

Conclusion
Whether it be by improving completion practices or by enhancing the properties of frac fluids,
it is technology such as those presented in this term paper that the industry needs to make
haste in adopting in order to trim down on formation damage. Not only will it reduce
environmental impacts but it will also help an operator to cut down on costs and invest the
excess revenue in R&D that will further benefit the industry and the society as a whole. Below
we summarize what we have discussed thus far:

 Limited entry fracturing has high potential to improve formation productivity.

 Negative pressure/Under pressure completion can reduce formation damage caused
during the perforation process by removing any debris remaining in the perforation
tunnel.
 The troublesome low permeability compacted zone can be removed with the help of
energy enhanced perforation.
 Optimizing the completion pattern can reduce reservoir heterogeneity and thus
improve well productivity.
 Self-suspending proppant technology leaves no residue in the formation thus
improving recovery rates.
 Self-suspending proppant polymers require far less fluid additives which may
damage downhole equipment if the fluid is pumped at high pumping rates.

17Denoting the liquid lying above a solid residue after crystallization, precipitation, centrifugation, or other
process.

5
 King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals
Department of Petroleum Engineering
PETE302-Well Completion

References
Formation damage. (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from
http://petrowiki.org/Formation_damage

Gajbhiye, R. (2015). Formation Damage. Lecture presented at King Fahd University of

Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran.

Gajbhiye, R. (2015). Inflow Performance Relationship (IPR). Lecture presented at King Fahd
University of Petroleum & Minerals, Dhahran.

Goldstein, B., Josyula, K., VanZeeland, A., Aboushabana, M., Tran, T., Santrol, F., Lisa, O.,
Conway, M. (2015). Improve Well Performance by Reducing Formation Damage.
Retrieved December 5, 2015, from OnePetro.

History of Daqing Oilfield. (2009). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from

http://dqyt.cnpc.com.cn/dqen/HoDO/dqen_common.shtml

Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from

http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/

TheFreeDictionary (n.d.). Retrieved December 5, 2015, from

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/

Zhu, G., Sui, X., Liu, B., Xu, B., Wang, M., Xiang, W., & Liu, L. (2013). Decreasing Formation
Damage with New Completion Methods in Daqing Oilfield. Retrieved December 5,
2015, from OnePetro.

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