Formation Damage Induced by Formate Drilling Fluids in Gas Bearing Reservoirs: Lab and Field Studies

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamoud A. Al-Anazi ◽  
Mohammed Abdullah Bataweel
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Saragi ◽  
Mohammad Husien ◽  
Dalia Salim Abdullah ◽  
Ryan McLaughlin ◽  
Ian Patey ◽  
...  

Abstract A study was carried out to examine formation damage mechanisms caused by drilling fluids in tight reservoirs in several onshore oil fields in Abu Dhabi. Three phases of compatibility corefloods were carried out to identify potential to improve hydrocarbon recovery and examine reformulated/alternate drilling muds and treatment fluids. Interpretation was aided by novel Nano-CT quantifications and visualisations. The first phase examined the current drilling muds and showed inconsistent filtrate loss control alongside high levels of permeability alteration. These alterations were caused by retention of drilling mud constituents in the near-wellbore and incomplete clean-up of drilling mud-cakes. Based upon these results, reformulated and alternate drilling muds were examined in Phase 2, and there was a positive impact upon both filtrate loss and permeability, although the Nano-CT quantifications and visualisations showed that drilling mud constituents were still having an impact upon permeability. Candidate treatment fluids were examined in Phase 3, with all having a positive impact and the best performance coming from 15% HCl and an enzyme-based treatment. The interpretative tools showed that these treatments had removed drilling mud-cakes, created wormholes, and bypassed the areas where constituents were retained. The compatibility corefloods on tight reservoir core, alongside high-resolution quantifications and visualisations, therefore identified damaging mechanisms, helped identify potential to improve hydrocarbon recovery, and identify treatment fluid options which could be used in the fields.


Author(s):  
Erfan Veisi ◽  
Mastaneh Hajipour ◽  
Ebrahim Biniaz Delijani

Cooling the drill bit is one of the major functions of drilling fluids, especially in high temperature deep drilling operations. Designing stable drilling fluids with proper thermal properties is a great challenge. Identifying appropriate additives for the drilling fluid can mitigate drill-bit erosion or deformation caused by induced thermal stress. The unique advantages of nanoparticles may enhance thermal characteristics of drilling fluids. The impacts of nanoparticles on the specific heat capacity, thermal conductivity, rheological, and filtration control characteristics of water‐based drilling fluids were experimentally investigated and compared in this study. Al2O3, CuO, and Cu nanoparticles were used to prepare the water-based drilling nanofluid samples with various concentrations, using the two-step method. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) were utilized to study the nanoparticle samples. The nanofluids stability and particle size distribution were, furthermore, examined using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The experimental results indicated that thermal and rheological characteristics are enhanced in the presence of nanoparticles. The best enhancement in drilling fluid heat capacity and thermal conductivity was obtained as 15.6% and 12%, respectively by adding 0.9 wt% Cu nanoparticles. Furthermore, significant improvement was observed in the rheological characteristics such as the apparent and plastic viscosities, yield point, and gel strength of the drilling nanofluids compared to the base drilling fluid. Addition of nanoparticles resulted in reduced fluid loss and formation damage. The permeability of filter cakes decreased with increasing the nanoparticles concentration, but no significant effect in filter cake thickness was observed. The results reveal that the application of nanoparticles may reduce drill-bit replacement costs by improving the thermal and drilling fluid rheological characteristics and decrease the formation damage due to mud filtrate invasion.


Geofluids ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Xu ◽  
Mingbiao Xu

Oil-based drilling fluids (OBDFs) have a strong wellbore stabilization effect, but little attention has been paid to the formation damage caused by oil-based drilling fluids based on traditional knowledge, which is a problem that must be solved prior to the application of oil-based drilling fluid. For ultradeep fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs, the reservoir damage caused by oil-based drilling fluids is worthy of additional research. In this paper, the potential damage factors of oil-based drilling fluids and fractured tight sandstone formations are analyzed theoretically and experimentally. The damage mechanism of oil-based drilling fluids for fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs is analyzed based on the characteristics of multiphase fluids in seepage channels, the physical and chemical changes of rocks, and the rheological stability of oil-based drilling fluids. Based on the damage mechanism of oil-based drilling fluids, the key problems that must be solved during the damage control of oil-based drilling fluids are analyzed, a detailed description of formation damage characteristics is made, and how to accurately and rapidly form plugging zones is addressed. This research on damage control can provide a reference for solving the damage problems caused by oil-based drilling fluids in fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs.


Author(s):  
Carsten Freese

In view of the increasing scarcity of energy resources, wells are being drilled to progressively greater depths for the production of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons. Economical exploitation of these HT/HP reservoirs is possible only with the application of drilling and completion methods which do not damage the formation. Here, the reservoir-saving exposure of these deposits is an essential contribution. The damage potential of drilling fluids and treatment fluids is usually assessed on the basis of return permeability (RP) tests. An impairment of the effective rock permeability through appropriate candidate fluids (drill in fluids, etc.) can be measured with special laboratory tests. In addition to the RP-Tests further investigations should be made to estimate the formation damage such as high-resolution digital photography, mercury porosimetry, scanning electron microscopy as well as microsection analyses. Within the framework of the German Society for Petroleum and Coal Science and Technology a project was carried out to evaluate common formation damage test facilities and to define the “best practice” meeting the requirements of RP-measurements under borehole-like conditions. After a thorough evaluation an advanced HT/HP facility for formation damage testing was designed and built. By using of this set-up, systematic return-permeability tests were performed under dynamic conditions for temperatures up to 180 °C, for a flow pressure up to 250 bar, and a mantle pressure up to 350 bar. This paper presents results from a study on the filtration and formation damage behaviour of drilling fluids under variation of the concentration and of the weighting material particle size distribution. Furthermore, promising results from changing dynamic and static filtration experiments are discussed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edo S. Boek ◽  
Christopher Hall ◽  
Philippe M. J. Tardy

GeoArabia ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
George R. Polkowski

ABSTRACT Reservoirs in Central Saudi Arabia are important new sources of light sulfur-free crude oil. Development work on these wells has shown the adverse effect of authigenic clay minerals on their productivity or injectivity. The clay minerals may be affected during drilling of the well, during completion, during production, and/or injection. Kaolinite, chlorite, illite, and ordered and random mixed layer illite/smectite are commonly occurring authigenic clay minerals within the Permian Unayzah reservoir rock. As little as 2 weight percent clay causes permeability to be drastically reduced. Formation damage due to clay minerals results from: (1) swelling of smectite caused by injection water or drilling fluids of low salinity; (2) clay mineral migration and subsequent pore blockage; (3) precipitation of gelatinous pore-blocking iron hydroxides caused by the dissolution of chlorite by acid; (4) high water saturations; and (5) disaggregation of poorly consolidated parts of the reservoir into its component sand grains if the weak clay cements are disturbed. The implementation of clay control measures has resulted in increased production while minimizing formation damage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 41-48
Author(s):  
O.D. Naumenko

In this article the author carried out sedimentary and genetic modeling of facies parameters within heterogeneous geological bodies based on the analysis of geological and geophysical materials in the Southern Ukrainian oil and gas region. Special attention was paid to clastic facies and parameters demonstrating the degree of heterogeneity and a wide range of facial settings of the sedimentation basin. The data from lithological, geochemical, and geophysical field studies of wells was interpreted to predict hydrocarbon traps. This resulted in the facial diagnostic of the groups of geological bodies of clastic rocks coexisting with sediments of both tectonic and ridge morphological structure of the study area. Such diagnostics allowed us to build a prognostic lithologicfacial (sedimentation) section. Based on the modeling of the Vendian top (Vendian is a stratigraphic unit partially corresponding to Ediacaran) and the Jurassic base, a schematic map of the Paleozoic sediments was constructed for the first time, which made it possible to identify zones of the potential distribution of the former reef structures. The article presents the spatial forecast of hydrocarbon reservoir distribution in geological bodies of oil and gas bearing complexes within the PreDobruja Trough. The data allow forecasting a large number of traps, mainly small ones, formed by clusters of cavernous dolomites, limestones, and mixed rocks confined to certain cyclical elements and, in particular, associated with diastems. Most of such traps are caused by metasomatic dolomitization and paleokarst.


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