OTC 19599

Improving Productivity of Hydraulically Fractured Gas Condensate Wells

by Chemical Treatment
Vishal Bang, The University of Texas at Austin; Chengwu Yuan, The University of Texas at Austin; Gary A. Pope,
The University of Texas at Austin; Mukul M. Sharma, The University of Texas at Austin; Jimmie R. Baran, Jr., 3M;
John D. Skildum, 3M; and Harold C. Linnemeyer, The University of Texas at Austin

Copyright 2008, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 5–8 May 2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC 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 Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference 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 OTC copyright.

Abstract
Most gas condensate wells, including hydraulically fractured wells, are operated at pressures below the dew point pressure of
the reservoir causing condensate to drop out and accumulate near the wellbore, thus blocking the gas production. Even for
very lean gas condensate fluids, once the bottom hole flowing pressure falls below the dew point pressure, the condensate
bank forms in a matter of months and leads to a rapid decline in production from these wells. In hydraulically fractured gas
condensate wells, condensate can build up to very high saturations in and around the fracture which significantly reduces the
productivity of these wells. Two-phase gas condensate flow measurements have been conducted under reservoir conditions in
a propped fracture to study the damage caused by condensate blocking in fractures. An in situ chemical treatment has been
developed to reduce the damage caused by liquid blocking of hydraulically fractured wells by altering the wettability of the
proppants to neutral wet, thus reducing the residual liquid saturations and increasing gas relative permeability. A fluorinated
surfactant in a glycol-alcohol solvent mixture was found to improve the gas and condensate relative permeabilities measured
on propped fractures by a factor of about 2 under reservoir conditions.

Introduction
In gas condensate reservoirs, when the bottomhole pressure in flowing wells falls below the dew point pressure of the fluid, a
liquid hydrocarbon phase commonly referred to as condensate is formed and is subsequently trapped by capillary forces. The
liquid condensate, along with the connate water that is present, continues to accumulate in the rock pores thus impeding gas
flow, until a critical liquid saturation is reached that is similar to the residual oil saturation that would form in the same rock
under the same flow conditions. Once the critical liquid saturation is exceeded, both the condensate and gas flow towards the
wellbore. The liquid continues to accumulate until a steady-state saturation is reached that is somewhat higher than the
critical liquid saturation. Condensate banking can reduce the well productivity significantly, in several instances by a factor
of 2 to 4. Afidick et al. (1994), Barnum et al. (1995), Engineer (1985) and Ayyalasomayajula et al. (2003) have reported field
data that show significant productivity loss due to condensate accumulation.
Since the reduction in well productivity is primarily associated with the reduction in gas relative permeability, a great deal
of effort has gone into measuring and modeling the relative permeability of gas-condensate fluids. Initially, the studies were
done at low pressure and temperature (Ham and Eilerts, 1967). Later studies were done at reservoir conditions with synthetic
fluids (Kumar et al., 2006; Ayyalasomayajula et al., 2003; Henderson, 1998) as well as with reservoir fluids (Nagarajan et al.,
1998). Various parameters such as interfacial tension (Haniff and Ali, 1990), high flow rates (Henderson et al., 2000; Kumar,
2006), non-Darcy effects (Henderson et al., 2000; Bang, 2007), fluid composition (Bang et al., 2006) and rock type (Bang et
al., 2006) have been investigated.
Several strategies have been tried and tested for stimulating gas-condensate wells with limited success (Anderson, 2005).
Gas cycling (Aziz, 1983; Harouaka and Al-Hashim, 2002) allows the pressure to be maintained above the dew point but may
not be economical, especially late in the life of the reservoir when large quantities of injected gas are required to maintain the
pressure above dew point.
Hydraulic fracturing is the most commonly used approach to enhance productivity from gas condensate reservoirs
(Mohan, 2005; Kumar, 2000; Settari et al., 1996; Barnum et al., 1995). In many wells it is possible to reduce the drawdown,
2 OTC 19599

i.e. increase the flowing bottomhole pressure by inducing a hydraulic fracture that significantly increases the area available
for production. This allows the well to be produced for longer periods of time before the onset of condensate formation
around the wellbore. However, once the well pressure falls below the dew-point pressure, significant condensate saturation
can build up within the fracture itself and cause a significant reduction in gas productivity.
Li and Firoozabadi (2000) investigated changing the wettability of Berea sandstone. They measured the imbibition of
water and oil at room temperature on chemically treated Berea sandstone. Tang and Firoozabadi (2002, 2003) measured the
effect of chemical treatment on the water and oil relative permeabilities of Berea sandstone. Both of these studies used
chemicals in water as the treatment solution. They did not use gas-condensate fluids at reservoir conditions. Fahes and
Firoozabadi (2005) measured a strong reversal of wetting for gas and water at 284 °F, but the treatment was less successful
for gas and oil.
Kumar (2006) and Kumar et al. (May 2006; September 2006) evaluated several fluorosurfactants at reservoir conditions
and found significant improvements in gas and condensate relative permeabilities after chemical treatment in both Berea and
reservoir sandstones. The steady state gas and condensate relative permeabilities at 145°F, 250°F and 275°F using different
synthetic gas-condensate fluids increased by a factor on the order of 2.
Bang (2007) used a fluorinated material from 3M Co. in solvent mixtures of 2-butoxyethanol/ethanol or propylene
glycol/isopropanol for removing the damage caused by condensate and/or water blocking on outcrop and reservoir sandstone
rocks at reservoir conditions. The chemical treatment improved the gas and condensate relative permeabilities by a factor of
about 2 over a wide range of conditions.
This new experimental study demonstrates the effect of condensate buildup on gas relative permeability in a propped
fracture before and after the chemical treatment. Very little if any two-phase relative permeability data for gas condensate
fluids in propped fractures under reservoir conditions and flow rates have been reported in the literature.

Experimental Apparatus and Procedure

Coreflood Apparatus. A schematic of the laboratory setup for steady state gas-condensate relative permeability
measurements at reservoir conditions is shown in Fig. 1. A positive displacement Ruska pump was used to inject fluid at a
constant rate. Two back-pressure regulators were used to control the flowing pressure upstream (BPR-1) and downstream
(BPR-2) of the core. The flow is downward through a vertical core. A high-pressure Phoenix core holder, Temco back-
pressure regulators and high-pressure Temco accumulators are placed inside a temperature controlled oven.

Gas-Condensate Mixture. A synthetic hydrocarbon fluid mixture was designed to exhibit retrograde gas condensate or dew
point fluid behavior under the experimental conditions. The composition of the gas mixture is given in Table 1. The fluid
PVT properties were calculated using the Peng-Robinson equation of state with Peneloux volume corrections. Figure 2 and
Table 2 give key fluid property data for the fluid.

Treatment Solution. 2 wt% of fluorinated surfactant in a mixture of propylene glycol and isoproanol available from 3M Co
as L19945. was used in these experiments. The selection of an appropriate solvent mixture is an important part of the
chemical treatment and is based on phase behavior studies of the treatment solution and the reservoir brine at reservoir
temperature.27 In Experiment 29, the solvent ratio was a 70/30 (by weight) mixture of propylene glycol and isopropanol. The
ratio of the solvent mixture was changed to 80/20 in Experiment 31.

Preparation of Propped Fractures. To study the fluid flow through propped fractures, proppant packs were designed and
prepared to closely represent the actual fractures. Figures 3 through 5 show the steps involved in preparing laboratory analogs
for propped fractures. Preparation of the propped fractures involved the following three main steps:
1. Cut a cylindrical core into two equal halves along its length. Place two spacers of the required fracture width
between the two halves of the core.
2. Put the two halves of the core together with the spacers between them and wrap them with a Teflon tape. This
provides the void space between the rock matrix, which represents the fracture.
3. Fill the void space with the required proppant. Shake the core and withdraw the spacers gradually while pouring in
the proppant to uniformly distribute proppant throughout the void space. Proppant filled void space between the two
halves of the core represents the propped fracture. Propped fractures were not saturated with any kind if fracturing
fluid to avoid complications. A 100-mesh size screen was put at the outlet end of the core to prevent any kind of
proppant migration from the fracture into the flow system.
Propped fractures were prepared using F35 Ottawa sand and 30/50 Bauxite. Berea sandstone and a reservoir core were
used as the matrix rock in the coreflood experiments. The cores were wrapped with a layer of Teflon® tape followed by
aluminum foil and Teflon® heat shrink tube. The Teflon® tape was used to prevent contact of brine with the aluminum foil.
Aluminum foil and Teflon® heat shrink tube prevent diffusion of gasses and interaction of fluids with the Viton® rubber
sleeve.

Coreflood Procedure. The single-phase gas permeability for each dry core was first measured using methane or nitrogen.
Initial water saturation was then established and gas relative permeability at initial water saturation was measured. A dynamic
OTC 19599 3

flashing method (also called pseudo-steady state method in the literature) was used to measure the steady-state gas and
condensate relative permeabilities. The upstream back-pressure regulator was set at a pressure above the dew point pressure
of the fluid and the downstream back-pressure regulator was set at a pressure below the dew point pressure corresponding to
the bottom hole flowing well pressure. Therefore, the single-phase gas mixture flashes into two phases (gas and condensate)
as it flows past the upstream back-pressure regulator. This dynamic flashing method is similar to the condensate
accumulation process around production wells. The mixture was injected until steady state was reached at a given flow rate
and the pressure drop measured. The flow rate was then increased and the measurements repeated at each flow rate. 40 PV of
the treatment solution was then injected. The core was then shut-in for 15 hours followed by the post treatment two-phase
gas-condensate flood under the same conditions as the initial two-phase gas condensate flood.
In these experiments, the fluids including treatment solution were injected into both the propped fracture and the rock
matrix, but because the fracture permeability is much larger than the matrix permeability, a majority of the fluid
preferentially flows through the fracture and thus for all practical purposes the results represent the effect of chemical
treatment on proppants only. The effect of chemical treatment was evaluated by comparing the steady state pressure drop for
the two-phase gas condensate flood before and after the treatment under the same conditions.
The variation of single phase permeability of propped fractures with the net confining stress has been well studied and is
known to decrease with increasing net-confining stress. The two-phase relative permeability measurements are however
relatively insensitive to the net-confining stress. This is because the effect of net-confining stress appears in both the
numerator (gas permeability at Sw+So) and the denominator (single-phase gas permeability) while calculating the gas
relative permeability and therefore it cancels out (Bang, 2007). The single-phase and two-phase measurements presented in
this work were conducted at a net confining stress of 2000 psi.

Results and Discussion

For single-phase gas flow at high flow rates through propped fractures, the effect of non-Darcy flow can be extremely
important. For two-phase flow, the reduction in fracture conductivity due to non-Darcy flow is even greater than for single
phase flow and is also a function of capillary number. Bang (2007) described the combined effect of non-Darcy flow and
capillary number on two-phase flow. Mohan (2005) showed that the productivity of hydraulically fractured gas condensate
reservoirs can be over estimated by about 3 times if non-Darcy flow is not taken into account. Bang (2007) described an
approach for correcting the gas relative permeability for non-Darcy flow and calculating the true gas relative permeability at
high flow rates. In this work, the gas relative permeability data are presented after correcting for non-Darcy flow as described
by Bang (2007).

Reduction in Gas Relative Permeability Due to Condensate Buildup in Propped Fractures. These experiments were
conducted at 279°F and at a core flowing pressure of 1500 psig. Ottawa F35 sand was used as proppant to fill the fracture.
This sand has an average mesh size of about 35 corresponding to an average grain diameter of 0.02 cm. The porosity of the
proppant filled fractures was measured from the mass of sand used and its grain density. Table 3 summarizes the
experimental conditions and propped fracture properties.
Experiment 29 was performed with a low permeability reservoir core (1 to 2 mD) as the matrix rock. Initial water
saturation was established by injecting 100 pore volumes (propped fracture pore volumes) of synthetic brine (composition
given in Table 4) followed by a nitrogen flood to reduce the water saturation to residual. Gas permeability decreased by
almost 50% due to residual water trapped in the sand proppant. A two-phase gas condensate flood was conducted using
synthetic fluid mixture. Table 5 summarizes the two-phase gas condensate flow measurements at 279°F and 1500 psig.
Measurements were conducted at multiple rates to capture the effect of both capillary number and non-Darcy flow on gas
relative permeability. Table 5 presents gas and condensate relative permeabilities after correcting for non-Darcy flow.
A Berea sandstone core was used as the matrix rock in Experiment 31. An initial water saturation of 20% was established
using 3% (30,000 ppm) NaCl brine. A two-phase gas condensate flood was conducted using synthetic fluid mixture. Table 6
summarizes the two-phase gas condensate flow measurements at 279°F and 1500 psig.
Figures 6 and 7 show the variation of gas relative permeability with capillary number. No significant change in gas
relative permeability was observed with increasing velocity or capillary number. This shows that these measurements were
conducted below the critical capillary number. Some noise was observed in the measured gas relative permeability and that is
because of some uncertainty involved in measuring extremely low pressure drops across the core at low flow rates. Thus,
within the uncertainty of these measurements, the gas relative permeability during two-phase flow is approximately 0.08 - 0.1
over this wide range of capillary number for a PVT ratio of 2.38. These values are similar to those obtained for gas relative
permeabilities measured on consolidated Berea and reservoir sandstone cores for the same PVT ratio (Bang, 2007).
Gas relative permeability decreased by 90% or more due to condensate blocking in these high permeability propped
fractures. Since high conductivity fractures are typically needed for reasonable production in wells in low permeability
formations, condensate blocking is expected to significantly reduce the productivity of such wells. Reduction in gas relative
permeability in these high permeability propped fractures is about the same as that observed in outcrop and reservoir cores
(Bang et al., 2006; Kumar, 2006; Bang, 2007). These results show that the damage caused by condensate dropout is as
pronounced in high permeability propped fractures as it is in low permeability outcrop and reservoir cores.
4 OTC 19599

Chemical Treatment to Improve Two-Phase Flow Conductivity of Propped Fractures. A chemical treatment of propped
fractures was conducted to reduce the damage caused by condensate accumulation and thus improve the two-phase flow
conductivity of fractures. The objective of this chemical treatment is to increase the relative permeability by altering the
wettability of proppants (sand) from strongly water-wet to intermediate-wet using the L19945 treatment. 40 PV of treatment
solution was flowed through the core at 279°F and 1500 psig in both the experiments (29 and 31). The cores were then shut-
in for 15 hours followed by the post-treatment gas condensate flood under the same conditions as the initial gas condensate
flood. Tables 7 and 8 summarize the results of post-treatment two-phase gas condensate flood with the improvement factor
due to chemical treatment for experiments 29 and 31, respectively. In this work the improvement factor has been defined as
the ratio of gas relative permeability after the chemical treatment to that before the chemical treatment measured under the
same conditions. The improvement in gas relative permeability due to the chemical treatment over a wide range of capillary
number for experiments 29 and 31, is shown in Figs. 8 and 9, respectively.
An average improvement factor of about 1.5 was obtained after the chemical treatment for Experiment 29. A higher
improvement was observed at the lower flow rates, but the uncertainty in the measured pressure drop at the lowest rates is
highest due to extremely small values. In experiment 29 a solvent pre-flush was conducted using a 70/30 mixture of
propylene glycol and isopropanol before the initial gas condensate flood to flush out the high salinity brine from the fracture
and avoid any kind of precipitation of the surfactant or the salt in the fracture. The improvement factors listed in Table 7 are
based on the comparison with the gas relative permeability after the preflush, so they underestimate the improvement that
might be obtained by removing the high initial water saturation. The preflush removes the water and thus could increase the
gas relative permeability by a factor on the order of 1.4 (depending on the initial water saturation). Thus, the most
conservative interpretation of these data is an improvement factor of 1.45. If we adjust the values for the effect of the water
saturation, then the improvement factors range from about 2 to 2.4, so that the most optimistic interpretation is an
improvement factor of 2.4.
In Experiment 31 the improvement factor after chemical treatment varied from about 1.53 to 2.53 with an average of
about 1.8 to 1.9. Again, a higher improvement factor was observed at the lowest flow rates where the uncertainty in the
measured pressure drop is highest due to extremely small measured values.
The analysis of improvement factor after chemical treatment based on corrected/true gas relative permeability does not
take into account the improvement in gas relative permeability that can be obtained by reducing the damage caused by non-
Darcy flow. Noh and Firoozabadi (2006) showed that the non-Darcy flow coefficient can be significantly reduced for gas-
water flow by altering the wettability to neutral wet. To get a more direct comparison of the chemical treatment on gas
condensate flow, the improvement factor can be calculated by taking the ratio of the steady-state pressure drop during two-
phase flow before and after chemical treatment. This will thus account for the improvement in gas relative permeability that
can be obtained by reducing the damage caused by non-Darcy flow due to higher water saturation before the chemical
treatment. An improvement factor varying from 1.74 to 2.54 was observed based on the measured steady state two-phase
flow pressure drop for Experiment 31. No change in the highest improvement factor is observed as that corresponds to the
lowest rate at which the contribution of non-Darcy flow is negligible. Thus, the improvement factor based on corrected gas
relative permeability and steady-state pressure drop data are the same. At higher rates, where the non-Darcy flow effects
become more significant, an increase in improvement factor from 1.53 to 1.74 was observed. This increase shows the
additional benefit obtained in gas relative permeability by reducing the non-Darcy flow coefficient.

Numerical Simulation
Numerical simulations were done to assess the potential of the treatment of a propped fracture in the field based upon the
laboratory data. CMG's compostional simulator GEM was used for this purpose. The main input data are listed in Table 9. As
shown in Fig. 10, local grid refinement was applied to model the propped fracture at the scale close to its estimated physical
width or aperture.
The simulated condensate saturation in the reservoir after several years of production is shown in Fig. 11. The
accumulation of condensate in the propped fracture significantly reduces the fracture conductivity.
Figure 12 shows the improvement in the gas production after chemical treatment is a factor of about 1.5. The incremental
gas and oil production is shown in Figs. 13 and 14, respectively. This result shows the potential for significant benefits from
treating only the small pore volume of the propped fracture.

Conclussions
Experiments were conducted on laboratory analogs for propped hydraulic fractures using fractured cores and gas condensate
fluids at reservoir pressure and temperature Results demonstrate that the gas relative permeability is significantly reduced due
to condensate accumulation and blocking in propped fractures. The reduction in gas relative permeability due to condensate
blocking in propped fractures is of the same order as that observed in outcrop and reservoir cores. The gas relative
permeability values in the propped fracture are approximately 0.1 for a PVT ratio of 2.38 and for capillary numbers below the
critical capillary number. Thus liquid (condensate + water) blocking can be a significant problem in propped fractures even
though they have a very high permeability.
A chemical treatment using a fluorinated material was conducted and shown to improve the multi-phase conductivity of
propped fractures. An improvement in gas relative permeability on the order of 1.5 to 2.5 was observed due to chemical
OTC 19599 5

treatment of sand-filled propped fractures. At high flow rates an additional benefit of reduction in non-Darcy flow is obtained
by chemical treatment. The numerical simulation of a propped fracture based upon the measured laboratory data indicates a
very significant potential for chemical treatments to improve fracture conductivity with only small volumes of treatment
solution needed to fill the fracture pore volume.

Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Tony Bermudez, Glen Baum and Bob Savicki for their help with the experimental apparatus. We
would also like to thank the sponsors of the gas-condensate research project in the Center for Petroleum and Geosystems
Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin: Chevron, Saudi Aramco, BP, Shell, PDO, 3M, Schlumberger, Total and
Petrobras.

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6 OTC 19599

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Table 1—Fluid Composition of Synthetic Gas Mixture

Component Mole %
Methane 95
Propane 1
n-Heptane 1.25
n-Decane 1.25
n-Pentadecane 1.5

Table 2—Synthetic Fluid Properties at Experimental Conditions

Pressure, psig 1500
Temperature, °F 279
Fluid Properties Gas phase Oil phase
ρ, g/cc 0.057 0.630
μ (cp) 0.0165 0.3112
Volume fraction 0.9782 0.0218
IFT (dyne/cm) 2.416
PVT Ratio 2.39

Table 3—Core and Fracture Properties

Experiment 29 Experiment 31
Matrix Rock Reservoir Core Berea Sandstone
Proppant Ottawa F35 sand Ottawa F35 sand
Fracture Appeture, cm 0.22 0.24
Length, cm 4.66 20.32
Fracture width, cm 2.47 2.48
Porosity, % 36.07 36.66
Pore Volume, cc 0.91 4.43
Swi, % - 25
Fracture permeability (kg), Darcy 23.4 37.78
Kg (Swi) 11.51 33.02

Table 4—Composition of Synthetic Brine

Component ppm
NaCl 225.2
CaCl2 1.5
KCl 3.1

Table 5—Results of Two-Phase Flow Measurements on Sand Filled Propped Fracture at 279°F and 1500 psig (Exp#29)
Total Flow rate, cc/hr Capillary Number Pressure drop, psi krg kro
-4
514 2.68*10 0.19 0.069 0.028
-4
815 3.67*10 0.26 0.08 0.032
-4
1631 7.76*10 0.55 0.078 0.03
-3
2899 1.69*10 1.20 0.065 0.025

Table 6—Results of Two-Phase Flow Measurements on Sand Filled Propped Fracture at 279°F and 1500 psig (Exp#31)
Total Flow rate, cc/hr Capillary Number Pressure drop, psi krg kro
-5
205.93 5.34*10 0.23 0.054 0.022
-5
411.86 6.87*10 0.30 0.086 0.034
-4
823.72 1.03*10 0.45 0.122 0.046
-4
1647.44 2.20*10 0.96 0.127 0.043
-4
2883.03 5.81*10 2.53 0.092 0.028
OTC 19599 7

Table 7—Results of Post-Treatment Two-Phase Flow Measurements at 279°F and 1500 psig (Exp#29)
Total Flow rate, cc/hr Capillary number Pressure drop, psi krg kro Improvement Factor
-4
514 1.55*10 0.11 0.119 0.048 1.74
-4
815 2.40*10 0.17 0.124 0.049 1.54
-4
1631 5.22*10 0.37 0.117 0.045 1.50
-3
2899 1.18*10 0.84 0.095 0.035 1.45

Table 8—Results of Post-Treatment Two-Phase Flow Measurements at 279°F and 1500 psig (Exp#31)
Total Flow rate, cc/hr Capillary number Pressure drop, psi krg kro Improvement Factor
-5
205.93 2.10*10 0.09 0.135 0.056 2.52
-5
411.86 3.05*10 0.13 0.188 0.077 2.19
-5
823.72 5.51*10 0.24 0.214 0.086 1.75
-4
1647.44 1.26*10 0.55 0.194 0.075 1.53
-4
2883.03 2.84*10 1.24 0.157 0.058 1.71

Table 9—Input Data for Simulation of Fractured Well

Formation properties
Drainage radius (ft) 7000
Initial reservoir pressure (psia) 7500
Reservoir temperature (°F) 279
Matrix permeability (md) 1
Matrix porosity (fraction) 0.1
Initial water saturation (fraction) 0.25
Height of pay zone (ft) 50
Fracture properties
Fracture half length (ft) 280
Fracture permeability (ft) 5454
Fracture porosity (fraction) 0.2
Fracture width (ft) 0.037
Fracture conductivity (md-ft) 200
Width of fracture grids (ft) 0.037

Temp erature-Controlled Oven

BPR-1
Pressure Transducers

Cap illary
Viscom eter

Core BPR-2
Holder
RUSKA
Pump

Effluent
Fig. 1—A schematic of experimental setup for coreflood experiments.
8 OTC 19599

5
4.5
4
Liquid Dropout, V/Vt%

3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Pressure, psig
Fig. 2—Liquid dropout of the fluid mixtures for constant composition expansion.

Fig. 3—Step 1 of the preparation of propped fractures. Place spacers of the required fracture width between two halves of the core.
OTC 19599 9

Fig. 4—Step 2 of the preparation of propped fractures. Put the two halves of the core together with spacers between them and wrap
®
them with a Teflon tape.

Fig. 5—Step 3 of the preparation of propped fractures. Fill up the fracture space with proppant. Then wrap the core with a heat
shrink tube.
10 OTC 19599

0.20

0.18

0.16
Gas Relative Permeability, k rg

0.14

0.12

0.10

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00
1.E-04 1.E-03 1.E-02
Capillary Number
Fig. 6—Effect of condensate accumulation on gas relative permeability over a wide range of capillary numbers (Exp#29).

0.30

0.25
Gas Relative Permeability, k rg

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
1.E-05 1.E-04 1.E-03
Capillary Number
Fig. 7—Effect of condensate accumulation on gas relative permeability over a wide range of capillary numbers (Exp#31).
OTC 19599 11

0.20

0.18
Before Treatment
0.16 After Treatment
Gas Relative Permeability, k rg

0.14

0.12

0.10

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0.00
1.E-04 1.E-03 1.E-02
Capillary Number
Fig. 8—Improvement in gas relative permeability due to chemical treatment (Exp#29).

0.30
Before Treatment
After Treatment
0.25
Gas Relative Permeability, k rg

0.20

0.15

0.10

0.05

0.00
1.E-05 1.E-04 1.E-03
Capillary Number
Fig. 9—Improvement in gas relative permeability due to chemical treatment (Exp#31).
12 OTC 19599

1,044.00
-1,043.30

-1,043.20
-1,043.50

-1,043.40
-1,043.70

WELL1

-1,043.60
-1,043.90

-1,043.80
-1,044.10

0.00 0.50 1.00 foot

-1,044.00
0.00 15.00 30.00 cm

1,044.00

Fig. 10—Multiscale grid refinement for simulation of chemical treatment in fractured well.

0.4

0.3
Oil Saturation

0.5 year
0.2
1.0 year
2.0 year
0.1 4.0 year

0
0 20 40 60 80
Distance in Fracture,meters
Fig. 11—Condensate accumulation in fracture before chemical treatment.
OTC 19599 13

2.00

1.90
Gas production index ratio:PI/PI o

1.80

1.70

1.60

1.50

1.40

1.30

1.20

1.10

1.00
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
Time, days
Fig. 12—Gas rate improvement factor after chemical treatment of propped fracture.

600
Incremental Gas Production, MMSCF

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Time, days
Fig. 13—Incremental gas production after chemical treatment.
14 OTC 19599

20000
18000
Incremental Oil Production, STB

16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
0 60 120 180 240 300 360
Time, days
Fig. 14— Incremental oil production after chemical treatment.