One-Stage Calcium Carbonate Oil-Based Filter Cake Removal Using a New Biodegradable Acid System

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdelmjeed Mohamed ◽  
Salaheldin Elkatatny ◽  
Salem Basfar
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salaheldin Elkatatny

Removal of the oil-based filter cake is a complex task especially in horizontal and multilateral wells. The presence of oil makes the removal process more challenging because the oil coats the weighting materials and prevents acid–filter cake interaction. Therefore, different additives are required to change the wettability of the filter cake to enhance the removal efficiency. This paper introduces a new biodegradable acid system (NBAS) that can efficiently remove oil-based filter cake in horizontal and multilateral wells where calcium carbonate is used as a weighting agent. The new biodegradable acid system (NBAS) consists of 50 vol.% biodegradable acid and 5 vol.% mutual solvent, and the remaining percent is deionized water. High-pressure high-temperature (HPHT) filtration experiments were performed to evaluate the filter cake removal efficiency and the retained permeability. The filtration and removal experiments were conducted using real core samples (Indiana limestone and Berea sandstone) at a temperature of 212 °F and 300 psi differential pressure. Afterward, the NBAS was evaluated by measuring physical properties and conducting corrosion, compatibility, and thermal stability studies. The obtained results showed that the NBAS was compatible and thermally stable for more than 48 h at 212 °F and 300 psi. The NBAS has a density of 1.05 g/cm3, viscosity of 1.47 cP, and surface tension of 32 dynes/cm at room temperature. The corrosion rate of the developed system was 0.03 lb/ft2, which is acceptable according to oil and gas industry best practices. Removal experiments showed that the filter cake was completely removed from the core samples. For Berea sandstone, 100% of the permeability was regained, while the retained permeability for Indiana limestone was 122.5%, confirming the complete removal of external and internal filter cake as well as core samples stimulation. The new acid system can be considered as an efficient solution for oil-based filter cake removal that is biodegradable and cost-effective, where the reservoir permeability can be regained in one-stage only.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3427
Author(s):  
Osama Siddig ◽  
Saad Al-Afnan ◽  
Salaheldin Elkatatny ◽  
Mohamed Bahgat

An impermeable layer “filter cake” usually forms during the overbalanced drilling technique. Even though it helps in protecting the formation from a further invasion of drilling fluids, the removal of this layer is essential for a proper cement job and to avoid any reduction in wellbore deliverability. The design of the removal process is complicated and depends on the filter cake composition and homogeneity. This paper presents an experimental evaluation on the usage of a novel cake washer (NCW) in the removal of a filter cake formed by an invert emulsion oil-based drilling fluid that contains calcium carbonate as a weighting material while drilling a horizontal reservoir. The proposed NCW is a mixture of organic acid, mutual solvent and nonionic surfactant. It is designed to enable restored wellbore permeability for a sustainable production. Since the filter cake mainly consists of the weighting material, the solubility of calcium carbonate in NCW at different ranges of temperature, duration and concentration was investigated. An actual casing joint was used to test the corrosion possibility of the treating solution. High-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) filtration tests on ceramic discs and Berea sandstone core samples were conducted to measure the efficiency of the filter cake removal and the retained permeability. Ethylene glycol mono butyl ether (EGMBE) was used as a mutual solvent and the solubility was higher compared to when the mutual solvent was not used in the washer formulation. A significant increase in calcium carbonate dissolution with time was observed for a duration of 24 h. The solubility was found to be proportional to the concentration of NCW with optimum results of 99% removal at a temperature of around 212 °F. At those conditions, no major corrosion problems were detected. Permeability of the core retained its pristine value after the treatment.


2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Elkatatny ◽  
A. M. Al Moajil ◽  
H. A. Nasr-El-Din

2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (10) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Mahmoud

The well clean-up process involves the removal of impermeable filter cake from the formation face. This process is essential to allow the formation fluids to flow from the reservoir to the wellbore. Different types of drilling fluids such as oil- and water-based drilling fluids are used to drill oil and gas wells. These drilling fluids are weighted with different weighting materials such as bentonite, calcium carbonate, and barite. The filter cake that forms on the formation face consists mainly of the drilling fluid weighting materials (around 90%), and the rest is other additives such as polymers or oil in the case of oil-base drilling fluids. The process of filter cake removal is very complicated because it involves more than one stage due to the compatibility issues of the fluids used to remove the filter cake. Different formulations were used to remove different types of filter cake, but the problem with these methods is the removal efficiency or the compatibility. In this paper, a new method was developed to remove different types of filter cakes and to clean-up oil and gas wells after drilling operations. Thermochemical fluids that consist of two inert salts when mixed together will generate very high pressure and high temperature in addition to hot water and hot nitrogen. These fluids are sodium nitrate and ammonium chloride. The filter cake was formed using barite and calcite water- and oil-based drilling fluids at high pressure and high temperature. The removal process started by injecting 500 ml of the two salts and left for different time periods from 6 to 24 h. The results of this study showed that the newly developed method of thermochemical removed the filter cake after 6 h with a removal efficiency of 89 wt% for the barite filter cake in the water-based drilling fluid. The mechanisms of removal using the combined solution of thermochemical fluid and ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) chelating agent were explained by the generation of a strong pressure pulse that disturbed the filter cake and the generation of the high temperature that enhanced the barite dissolution and polymer degradation. This solution for filter cake removal works for reservoir temperatures greater than 100 °C.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaber B. Al Jaberi ◽  
Badr S. Bageri ◽  
Assad Barri ◽  
Abdulrauf Adebayo ◽  
Shirish Patil ◽  
...  

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