Formation Damage concepts and Mechanisms

Causes of formation damage.

Invasion of foreign liquids and / or solids into the exposed portion of
the formation.
Cement or drilling and or completion fluid.
Hydrostatic pressure of fluid column higher than the pressure in the
formation.
(Certain amount of solids and liquid are lost into the formation in
the form of filter cake or mud filtrate.)

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 1- Solids invasion

• Intrusion of solids goes hand in hand with the loss of fluids

to a production zone.
• As the fluid enters the zone, solids can penetrate a short
interval adjacent to the well bore and plug internal pores
and channels.
Entrance of these solids depends on:
1- Pressure differential.
2- Particle size.
3- Porosity and permeability of the formation zone.

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 Compressible and incompressible solids

A- Compressible solids are the more damaging, easily deform to fit

the shape of pore, Building an internal bridge to completely seal
off the flow channels.
B- Incompressible solids merely wedge in the pore openings leaving
some communication between the pore spaces.
– The depth of this solids invasion and damaged zone is referred
to skin effect.

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 2 - Filtrate invasion

• Hydration and swelling of clays in the reservoir matrix and by

particle plugging from clay dispersion.
• Fresh water invasion can restrict flow through the reservoir, by
increasing capillary pressure within the pore channels or by
forming an emulsion block.

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 Causes of formation damage Cont.
Swelling clays:
• Smectite clay capable of expanding by interlayer adsorption of
water.
• Degree of swelling is dependent on the cation or cat ions
involved in the interlayer cation or Base Exchange.
• Swelling is a major cause of permeability reduction.
• Non-swelling clays:
• Such as Kaolinite, Chlorite and Illite are loosely attached to
sand grains and can be dislodged by an invading filtrate.
These fine solids particles can be transported to pore forming
a restriction, or bridge.

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 Causes of formation damage Cont.

Emulsions:
• Are highly viscous mixtures, which result in capillary
blocking.
• Droplets of water in the emulsion act as colloidal particles,
which can wedge in the flow channels, resulting restriction
of fluid flow.
• Soluble cation in the filtrate must react with an anion either
in the formation water or in the formation itself to form an
insoluble precipitate.

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 Factors affecting on formation damage

1- Effective shot density.

2- Penetration depth.
3- Gun phasing.
4- Perforation diameter.
5- Presence of crushed and damaged zones around the
perforating.

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 Perforating Damage
• Jet perforations are damaging the formation, despite the
fact they penetrate deeply and apparently create an open
channel.
• The channel filled with gun debris and formation, casing
and formation, Casing and cement particles until a pack
flushing force moves the plug back into the well bore.
• In addition the perforating process crushed sand around the
channel, leaving a sheath of compacted, reduced
permeability.
• Plugged perforation can be cleaned by back surging.

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 Perforating Damage

Damage due to perforation

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 Factors that cause skin damage
1- Mud solids
– During drilling, mud solids, filtrate and drill cuttings are
forced into the pores of formation, by the higher
hydrostatic pressure of the mud.
2- Clay swelling
• The water filtrate lost from the mud can contaminate, and
swell water sensitive clay.
3- Cementing process
• Filtrate or cement particles can invade the formation.
• The damage can be removed with acid.

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 Factors that cause skin damage Cont.

4- Production
• Production damage results from the very action of the well flowing.
• Formation fines are draw into the area of the well bore, where they
create an area of reduced permeability.
5- Emulsion block
• During production, as oil and water flow from the well reservoir
towards the well bore.
• Increasing the velocity can increase the shear, and mixing of oil and
water.
• Causing an emulsion to form which will affect the permeability.

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 Factors that cause skin damage Cont.

6- Water block
• Water from filtrate during drilling or cementing, or from
coning of formation water, cause high water saturation near
the well bore, thus reducing effective permeability of
hydrocarbons.

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 Damage Evaluation
1- To what extent.
2- Knowledge of the mud properties.
3- Losses while drilling through the pay zone.
4- Types of formation rock.
5- Kind of fluid present during build up tests, provide more quantitative data,
regarding to the existence and extent of formation damage.
– Either stable emulsions (formation oil + mud).
– Or examinations of cores can indicate whether sensitive clay is
present.
– Flow tests can simulate damage and show the ability of various
treating agents to remove the damage and restore permeability.

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 Minimizing Formation Damage
• First objective is reduction of the volume of mud filtrate lost to
permeable formations.
• The factors which affect the loss of filtrate are:
a) Time
b) Temperature
c) Pressure
d) Mud solids characteristics (dispersion, viscosity of filtrate, etc.).
• The amount of fluid solids at any given time is directly proportional to the
square root of the time.
• An increase in temperature generally will increase fluid loss volume.
• Pressure increase would cause fluid loss to vary with the square root of
pressure.

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 Minimizing Formation Damage Cont.

• In case of non compressibility of the solids the effect of

increased pressure on fluid loss volumes is dependent
upon the type, sizes and shapes of solids available for
dispersion as filter cake.
• In practice, the control of fluid loss is necessary under both
static and dynamic conditions, since both conditions will
exist during the drilling operation.
• The dynamic filtration rate decrease as filter cake is
deposition, the deposition will continues until it reaches the
point at which erosion of the filter cake occurs at the same
rate as deposition.
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 HYDRATION INHIBITION

• To minimize damage due to hydration and dispersion of

clay within productive formations. The addition of salt is
used with good results.
• The degree of swelling of clay may be reduced by using his
technique of hydration inhibition.
• How ever, even when an inhibitive filtrate is present it may
be important to reduce the loss of filtrate to production
zones.

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 MINIMIZING DAMAGE BY SOLIDS INVASION

Solids can be classified as either compressible or

incompressible
Compressible solids:
• Are the most damaging since they can easily deformed to
fit the shape of pore restrictions.
• The reduced permeability resulting from damage caused by
this invasion is referred to as the “ skin effect”

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 MINIMIZING DAMAGE BY SOLIDS INVASION Cont.
Incompressible solids:
• Solids wedge in the pore openings leaving some communication
between the pore spaces.
• Therefore, most solids that enter the formation are clays. (Such as
Bentonite) are compressible. Result most potentially damaging.
• Damage from solids invasion does not have to be permanent.
Since solids invasion usually is limited to distance of less than 6”
from the well bore, it can be overcome by
1) Perforating
2) Fracturing
3) Back flushing
4) Acidizing.

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 SOLIDS HANDLING
• Methods of solids control can be classified into two
1) Mechanical
2) Chemical
1) Mechanical : Solids control can be achieved through the use of these
devices.
• Shale shaker: Removes solids down to 74 microns.
• Desander ( Hydrocyclone) : Removes solids down to 54 microns.
• Desilter: Removes solids down to 25 microns.
• Mud cleaner Removes solids down to 10 microns.
• Centrifuge Removes solids down to 2 microns.

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 SOLIDS HANDLING Cont.
2)Chemical:
• Minimizing damage by both filtrate and solids invasion
• Encapsulation:
• By using polymers that will encapsulate drill solids, such
as fluid loss polymers.
• This allows their transport to the surface in a drier and
firmer condition.
• Thus increasing the chances for removing them from the
circulating system before they become soft, plastic, and
dispersed as fines.

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MINIMIZING DAMAGE BY SOLIDS INVASION Cont.

Nearly balanced pressure:

• The penetration of zones with as close a balance between
formation pressure and hydrostatic pressure of the mud
column as safety will permit will minimizing solids invasion.
Under balanced pressure:
• This in the best effective method for drilling and overcome
the problem of formation damage from both solids and
filtrate

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MINIMIZING DAMAGE BY SOLIDS INVASION Cont.

Proper stimulation methods:

• Resulted increase in productivity.
Sealants ( sized carbonate):
• The proper selection of sealants has proved to be an
invaluable aid in bridging loss zones. They are acid soluble,
so their removal is possible during stimulate

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