116 Acid Fracturing and Stimulation

relatively straightforward as the exposure time is short. A worst-case scenario is

pumping acid and, for whatever reason, not being able to pump the acid to the
formation. The acid remains in the well and heats up to the geothermal gradient.
Note that acid is heavier than fresh water (28% HCl has a density of 1.14 s.g.) and
removing it from low spots in the completion will be limited by diffusion and a
heavier fluid may be required.
2. Emulsion and sludge prevention. Stable emulsions are a potential problem with
acids and crude oil. Stability tests should be performed under shear and
temperature. Demulsifiers can be added and tests repeated.
3. Iron precipitates. Iron from the reservoir or tubulars can be precipitated by acid.
Iron sequestering agents may be required.
4. Friction reducers. These enable high pump rates, but can also reduce turbulence
in the fractures. Turbulence is good for removing solids such as non-acid soluble
lost circulation material and effectively etching the fracture face.
5. Surfactants. Surfactants can also be added to the acid (at the risk of forming
emulsions). Surfactants are particularly useful for naturally fractured carbonates
where the drilling losses block the fractures. The surfactants help maintain solids
in suspension and push them away from wellbore (Lietard et al., 1998).
These additives can potentially interfere with each other and if back produced to
the facilities can cause problems such as separation and oil-in-water problems.
Pumping acid into the formation below the fracture pressure will dissolve the
matrix. It generally does this unevenly. This creates dendritic (branching) pathways
into the rock. This wormholing is beneficial as it increases the leak-off and
generates correspondingly enhanced near-wellbore permeability. This is the basis
behind many matrix acid treatments where fracturing might risk contact with
nearby water or gas intervals.
Acid fracturing creates enhanced productivity by first fracturing and then
pumping acid down the fractures. The acid etches (dissolves) the walls of the
fracture. Raw acid (especially hydrochloric acid) reacts very quickly with the
fracture walls and is quickly consumed. Alternatively, the acid leaks off into
the formation (accelerated by up to a factor of ten by wormhole formation). It is
thus quite possible to propagate a long fracture, but for acid to only contact a small
part of it (Figure 2.88).

Acid leak off accelerated by wormholing

Live
Spent acid
acid

Figure 2.88 Acid displacement and leak-o¡.