SPE 152400

Formation Damage Modeling Improves Well Candidate Selection and

Stimulation Treatment Design in Western Area of Putumayo Basin,
Colombia
C.A. Franco, SPE, C.C. Garca, SPE, W.A. Henao, SPE, J.F. Zapata, J.C. Ortiz, SPE, J.G. Gonzales, SPE,
J.I. Bahamon, SPE, K. Madera, SPE, Ecopetrol
Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference held in Mexico City, Mexico, 1618 April 2012.

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


Abstract
A special engineering methodology was developed to understand the complexity of formation damage mechanism currently
affecting the well productivity of the oil fields being operated by SOP (Superintendencia de Operaciones Putumayo)
Ecopetrol.

The initial stage of this study involved the characterization and analysis of reservoir fluids samples taken along the time
during different exploitation stages. The analyzed data was processed through specialized software to identify formation
damage associated with both organic and mineral scales. Simultaneously a second stage was developed to determine and
quantify the influence of production parameters on both fines migration and water production.

The data obtained during the previous stages were properly combined to generate a comprehensive formation damage
model. Nodal system analysis, material balance, reservoir fluids characterization, and mineral/organic scale models and
correlations were finally combined to identify and quantify the main formation damage mechanisms taking place in SOPs
fields.

Once the main formation damage mechanisms were identified and quantified then an extensive lab job was performed.
This lab study determined the Best In Class (BIC) fluids required to dissolve and mitigate the formation damage.

The combination of formation damage model with lab data allowed designing an optimized treatment schedule by each
well producing in SOP fields. Finally, an economical study was involved in the study in order to help in well prioritization to
start the stimulation and inhibition campaign for SOP field.

A 3D simulation of certain formation damage mechanism was included as the final stage in this study. It was very
important, especially when optimizing the stimulation-inhibition designs in those wells in which local grid refinement is
required to better understanding of certain critical formation damage parameters.

The final list of well prioritization was optimized and stimulation-inhibition campaign for SOP fields was finally outlined
to be started during the second semester of 2011.

Summary
The evolution of skin damage has been the main source of loss of productivity in all the wells producing in the western area
of Putumayo Basin. Although some stimulation jobs have been tried in the past, the poor results obtained have shown that
even both reservoir and formation damage mechanism have been poorly understood.

The well production performance is characterized by high oil rate decline which in some cases is also associated with the
unexpected increasing in water production. The analysis of liquid samples taking in surface have showed the presence of
fines, mineral scales and organic scales, also emulsion and increasing in oil viscosity have been observed in routine
2 SPE 152400
production tests operations. The poor performance observed after stimulation jobs indicate that probably the old stimulation
packages were not well designed. It is very clear that several factor are playing together reducing well productivity, also a
better understanding of the reservoir itself is required to understand important issues associated to water performance, flow
assurance and reservoir control. An important amount of additional oil can be produced if an effective field development is
designed; better undersating of reservoir stratigraphy, identification and quantification of formation damage factors, lab test
to determine effective stimulation package fluids, and adequate design of stimulation and inhibition jobs are the key elements
to reach the aggressive production targets fixed by Ecopetrol.

A technical strategy focused on specialized studies was conducted to get better reservoir understanding, improve reservoir
description, identify and quantify formation damage, optimize stimulation designs, and include design of inhibition jobs. The
study related with reservoir stratigraphy and petrophysical re-evaluation was performed by an external company, the
formation damage study was performed simultaneously by Ecopetrol and external company, the stimulation and inhibition
fluids package were selected by ICP under the modality of BIC, the stimulation and inhibition designs were carried out by
using in-house and specialized software.

The formation damage analysis showed the presence of a multi-variable sources of damage, a static grid was completed for
one of the fields of the western area (the rest of static grids are being generated but still they are not available for simulation
proposes), a full stimulation program was generated for each one of the producer wells according to a prioritization table also
generated during the study.

The study showed that the best stimulation alternative for western area should include dissolution and inhibition jobs, this
combination of jobs ensure that high percentage of total damage is removed and production after dissolution is protected.
Lab evaluation demonstrated the negative impact that dissolution fluids type HCl exerted on the system (destabilize
asphaltene, promotes fines migration, promotes and hardens emulsion, dissolved material can easily be re-precipitated).

This paper summarizes the methodology implemented by Ecopetrol to identify the main sources of formation damage, how
the damage is quantified and which of them can be monitored using 3D simulation. This methodology was key to optimize
the dissolution and inhibition designs due to the magnitude of information that can now be acquired to feed the stimulation
software.

Introduction
The western area of Putumayo Basin being operated by Ecopetrol comprises the following production oil fields: Churuyaco,
Sucumbios, San Antonio, Sucio, Caribe and Quriyana (Fig. 1).


Fig. 1 Production Fields Located in Western Area of Putumayo Basin.

The western area is located on the border between Colombia and Ecuador in Putumayo and Nario Colombian south
states. The Churuyaco and San Antonio fields are located 40 Km southwest of the Orito oil field; Sucumbos field is located
17 Km southwest of Churuyaco field.

SPE 152400 3
The exploitation of western area was started by Texaco in 1968, at this time the well Churuyaco-1 was completed as oil
producer in Caballos formation. The additional development performed by TEXACO included the completion of four wells
in Caribe, two wells in Sucio, four wells in San Antonio and two wells in Sucumbos. The Caballos formation was the main
objective while limestone and sands of the Villeta formation was the secondary target. The commercial exploitation of the
area was started at early 70s, at that time the average production was 2500 BOPD with an average API gravity of 32.

Ecopetrol assumed the field operation in 1979 and additional development wells were drilling in the area. The total drilled
wells were 33, currently 19 wells are active and 14 wells are inactive, from active wells three are in natural flow, 8 flowing
through sucker rod pumping and 8 flowing through electric submersible pump. A summary of western area wells is
presented in Table 1.

Table 1- Summary of Western Area Active and Inactive wells



Geologically, the Putumayo Basin is a foreland type with two different structures; the first one is located east of Orito-
Loro and Hormiga faults system which is characterized by small displacement and low deformation (Eocene age) associated
with tectonic inversion and preferential direction NNE-SSW (North-North East, South-South West). The second zone
corresponds to the western sector of the basin; this area suffered more active tectonics where reverse faulting occurred with
several pulses and/or fault reactivation. This area was affected during the andian orogeny being this place in which the largest
number of fields are located. A mainly structural type entrapment characterizes the area in which Sucumbios and Churuyaco
fields are located; also the stratigraphic component is very important in this area. The main rock is Caballos while the basal
shale of Villeta formation is the caprock (Serna 2009).

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Stratigraphically, the Putumayo Basin in Colombia is part of the great Basin of the East. The tertiary and sedimentary
cycle has been well studied, little attention has been given to the Jurassic cycle and Pre-Jurassic is completely unknown.
Under the point of view of oil exploration only main interest has been focused in cretaceous and Tertiary cycles. The current
stratigraphic column information for tertiary and cretaceous is detailed in Fig. 2 (Serna 2009)


Fig. 2 Stratigraphic Column for Tertiary and Cretaceous Cycles.

The Caballos formation, which is the main objective in this paper, can be split in four deposition cycles from base to
ceiling as following (Serna 2009).

U1 or Lower Caballos: It marks the beginning of the Cretaceous sedimentation on an erosional surface, which represents a
hiatus of 30 to 40 My (million years), consisting of a stack of distributary channels, dominated by coarse-grained sediments.
According to their petrophysical properties, porosity of about 12 to 15% and permeabilities between 200 and 300 md, is
considered a good hydrocarbon reservoir.

U2 or Lower part of Middle Caballos Formation: It is a unit where there is an increase of fine-grained sediments, have
been recognized in various types of environments such as: distributary channel deposits of coastal plains, river deltas, bay,
central bay. In this range the petrophysical characteristics decrease, in the sandstone diagenetic effects occur that damage the
porosity, the porosity values are in the range of 5 to 12%, meanwhile the permeability is between 50 and 150 md, it is an
interval considered as fair to poor reservoir. Often the presence of dead can be observed oil in some sandy intervals.

U3 or upper part of Middle Caballos Formation: It is a unit where sandstone content increases, and is also remarkable
the presence of shale. Have been recognized several depositional environments such as: distributary channel deposits of
coastal plains, deltas, bays, central bay, but with greater abundance of sandy sediments compared to U2. The petrophysical
characteristics increase, porosity values are between 12 to 16%, meanwhile permeabilities are between 200 to 280 md. This
interval is considered as good reservoir.

U4 or Upper Caballos Formation: It corresponds to a purely transgressive deposition, it is glauconite sandstone, slightly
calcareous, bioturbated, deposited in a marine environment on an erosional surface and end at a flow surface located in the
Villeta Formation. Its potential as a reservoir is unknown, at least in the area of Putumayo (Texaco has obtained production
from this interval in fields located in Ecuador).

SPE 152400 5
The reservoir properties vary from field to field, it is important to mention the high amount of CO2 present in the reservoir
gas. The table 2 summarizes the main reservoir properties collected in each one of the production fields.

Table 2 - Reservoir Properties for Fields Located in Western Basin Putumayo



The production performance monitored in all fields is very similar, there is a high initial oil rate production that falls
rapidly and tends to be stable over time. The period in which an increasing in oil production is observed is due to stimulation
jobs or new wells but the oil rate production performance is always the same (Fig. 3).

Early stimulation jobs were based on the injection of aromatic blends to dissolve organic scales and sometimes acid blends
type 7.5% HCl were also injected to dissolve mineral scales. The last stimulation attempts were focused on the injection of
HCl-HF blends to dissolve and mitigate fines migration. The well response to all the treatments was always the same, high
oil rate post-stimulation followed for a rapid oil rate decline, there was not observed oil rate sustainability after any of the
dissolution jobs.

Apart of the formation damage problems associated with fines and mineral and organic scales, the water production rapidly
appeared exacerbating the damage mechanisms. The special study performed on formation damage (Ohen 2011), showed
that several mechanism are acting together to increase continuously the skin damage, the main damage mechanism found out
in this technical study were the following: Mud solids plugging and mud filtration interaction, inorganic scale precipitation
and corrosion, fines migration and redeposition/bridging, reduced relative permeability, secondary mineral precipitation, clay
swelling, emulsion block and organic scaling.

An additional technical job was development by the Ecopetrol stimulation team, supported by reservoir and field operation
teams, focused on quantifies the current skin damage and defines the best stimulation strategy. A list of prioritized wells
should be generated to start the stimulation strategy in the first quarter of 2012.

An especial lab job was also performed by ICP parallel to the previous technical job. This lab job was focused on
determining the best in class (BIC) fluids packages to mitigate the problems associated to dissolution and inhibition of
mineral and organic scales, dissolution and inhibition of fines, clay stabilizer, and the corresponding fluids to be injected as
preflush, spacer and overflush stages.

6 SPE 152400

Fig. 3 Oil and Water Production History by Field

Development of the Technical Study to Quantify and Monitor Skin Damage Evolution

Although several damage mechanism have been identified, the technical study was focused on quantify the severity of the
main damage mechanisms that cover the largest percentage in the overall skin damage value, that means mineral and organic
scales, fines migration and water production mechanisms. For the rest of formation damage mechanisms following
considerations were recommended:

The use of most friendly mud system when drilling Villeta and Caballos formations.
The use of surfactant tested in other fields being operated by Ecopetrol in which a very low interfacial tension has been
reached (ICP reported a value of 0.0023 dynes/cm for blends used in Cupiagua field to dissolve organic scales).
The reservoirs producing in western Putumayo basin are all oil wet then a RPM was discarded to be implemented as part
of the stimulation package.
EDTA type fluids instead of HCl fluids was recommend to mitigate the high reprecipitation observed in common acid
treatments.

Data Collection. Five fields were finally chosen to conduct the formation damage technical evaluation: Sucumbos, San
Antonio, Churuyaco, Caribe, and Quriyana. After a well pre-selection meeting performed together with reservoir and field
operation teams, following wells were chosen to be the candidates to perform the 2012 stimulation campaign in Western
Putumayo Basin: Suc-1, Suc-2, Suc-3, Suc-5, SA-2, SA-5, SA-7, SA-13, Chu-5, Chu-7, CA-2, CA-5, CA-7, and Qur-1.

The formation damage evaluation requires the execution of multiple technical software, some of them process production,
petrophysical, and thermodynamic data whose results feed the main software (material balance, reservoir simulator and
stimulation software) to complete the full analysis.

For each of the producing wells was necessary to collect a significant amount of technical data which covered:
petrophysical, reservoir, PVT, fluid properties, production history, well completion, well history, and artificial lift data.

The well Sucumbios-5 is used in this paper as the model well to illustrate the full procedure followed in this engineering
job. A final table showing the global results for all wells is presented at the end of the paper.
SPE 152400 7

Well Productivity Evaluation. This section covered the generation of production history based on field data base, the
preliminary analysis based on curve performance, the calculation of average oil rate decline and current oil rate decline, the
nodal system analysis to verify the maximum well potential, and estimate a value for skin damage. A drawdown curve is also
calculated over the entire period of time, this data is required to perform the final differential pressure balance (pressure drop
due to the different formation damage mechanism detected in the production wells).

Production History. The production histories for candidate wells were plotted and a quick analysis was done. This part
included the calculation of average oil and water decline and the current oil and water decline. The production history for
well Sucumbios-5 is illustrated in Fig.4.


Fig. 4 Sucumbios-5 Well Production History

The well starts to produce under artificial lift (ESP) on February-24-2010, the measured initial oil rate was 188 BOPD
with a high water cut of 77%, the high water production correspond to the cleaning out period after performed hydraulic
fracturing in U4 and U3 sands. The well reaches its maximum oil rate production on May-2-2010, at that time the measured
oil rate was 960 BOPD and water production was 6 BWPD. A stable period of production was monitored between May-
September 2010 in which the average production of oil and water were 920 BOPD and 6 BWPD respectively.

The frequency of ESP pump was increased from 47 to 52 Hz in September-2010 trying to increase the well production.
The well response increasing the oil rate up to 1162 BOPD but also the water is increased up to 10 BWPD. The well starts to
decline at rate of 7.1 %/month once the maximum rate was reached keeping constant the water production.

A new mechanical change in artificial lift system was performed in December-2010 (well head pressure was increased from
115 to 135 psig), at this time the change increased the oil rate production from 900 to 1100 BOPD but also de water rate was
increased from 10 to 50 BOPD. After performed this change in artificial lift conditions, the well started to decline in oil
production at a rate of 7.5 %/month while the water rate started to decline at a rate of 24.9 %/month.

The well Sucumbios-5 shows the typical performance observed in the majority of the wells producing in Western
Putumayo Basin, initial induced damage (drilling, completion, stimulation), a period of cleaning whose duration depends on
the type of the field operations performed previous to put the well on production. The negative impact on production exerted
8 SPE 152400
by the injection of water based fluids like those used in hydraulic fracturing operations (reservoir is oil-wet), and the reservoir
plugging by fines or scales or both and water blocking induced by the induction of high drawdowns.

Pressure History. This part of the study involves the calculation of reservoir pressure, flowing bottom hole pressure,
and the corresponding drawdown pressure profiles over the entire period of production.

The reservoir pressure is calculated by running the 3D simulator (material balance was used in those fields in which there
is not available static and dynamic models).

The bottom hole flowing pressures are calculated using nodal system analysis. For Sucumbios-5 case, the input node was
located at pump depth where the input pressures are known, the output node (or solution node) was located at middle of
perforated interval. The nodal system analysis model was run for each production data available and a profile of bottom hole
flowing pressure over time was generated. The bottom hole flowing pressure profiles obtained from material balance or 3D
Simulator were used in those wells in which there are not enough production data (well head pressures or fluid levels or
pump inlet pressures are not available). The complete pressure profile for well Sucumbios-5 is illustrated in Fig. 5, this
pressure profile was calculated by running the nodal system analysis option.



Fig. 5 Pressure Profile for Well Sucumbios-5

The previous graph shows three periods well defined. Early period in which the well is cleaning and bottom hole flowing
pressure (Pwf) is declining. Among the other factors, the reduction in Pwf is the well response to the reservoir pressure drop,
reduction on level of water, and removal of heavy and viscous material pumped during hydraulic fracturing operations.

A middle period in which the well shows a suddenly positive response to an increasing in Pwf because pump frequency
was increased, further increasing in drawdown (DD) executed in this period of time showed the opposite effect, reduction in
oil production when DD was increased (oil production restricted by fines or solids plugging and water blocking).

The late period shows an additional increasing on DD due to increasing in output pressure of artificial lift system. This case
shows a drastic reduction in Pwf which was kept during this period. Although there was a positive increasing in production
(oil and water), the fluids production started to decrease together showing signs of reservoir plugging, it is very probable that
the drastic changes in DD destabilized and moved fines and solids close to the wellbore area. The higher increase in skin
damage was observed in this last period of the production history.


Maximum Rate Potential (Skin zero) and Initial Skin Damage. The nodal system analysis is used again to
estimate the maximum well potential and the most probable initial skin factor. For Sucumbios-5 case, there was a great
expectative regarding the potential expected in this well, upper zones were hydraulic fractured and permeabilities in bottom
sands were estimated as 10.0 and 64.3 md for U2 and U1 respectively.
SPE 152400 9

The nodal system analysis for this well was performed by making sensibility on tubing head pressure (Fig. 6). The analysis
was performed by assuming a skin damage of zero, under this assumption we can see an excellent well than can flow at high
oil rates even at high well head pressures. We know that the real performance is below expectations indicating the existence
of high induced formation damage.


Fig. 6 Nodal System Analysis at Initial Conditions For Well Sucumbios-5

The most probable initial skin damage (induced damage) was calculated by matching the maximum oil potential observed
during the cleaning out period. The match was performed by varying the skin damage for each one of the sands and
matching the corresponding Pwf already calculated and reported in Fig. 5. The previous procedure shows that all formations
were highly damaged during drilling, completion, and stimulation operations, the estimated skin factors were 77.3, 71.6,
75.4, and 43.4 for U4, U3, U2, and U1 sands respectively (Fig. 7). Under the point of view of skin damage, the well
Sucumbios-5 appears to be a good candidate for stimulation.


Fig. 7 Estimating the Skin Damage For Well Sucumbios-5

10 SPE 152400

Mineral Scales

Simulation of Mineral Scale Environment. There is a reasonable set of water samples taken at surface conditions for
all production wells. Although the water samples taken at bottom hole conditions are the most representative samples to
perform mineral scale analysis, the use of surface samples can give us reasonable idea about the mineral scale environment
that is taking place inside the entire production system.

Representative water samples for all wells were analyzed using specialized software already tested satisfactory in Ecopetrol
to simulate the mineral scale performance. The water samples were analyzed by varying the pressure and temperature
between the maximum and minimum observed in the entire production system (reservoir conditions to well head conditions).
For Sucumbios-5 case the pressure and temperature ranges were 50! P !5000 Psig and 80! T ! 240 F respectively (ranges
above initial conditions for comparative proposes).

The full simulation of the mineral scale environment can be seen in Fig. 8. The left spider graph shows ions concentration
plotted in Meq/lt, the type of water is Sodium-Chloride in which significant amount of calcium, sulfate, bicarbonate, iron and
potassium are present. The quick analysis on spider graph infers an important presence of carbonate scales. The right graph is
Fig. 8 confirm the presence of carbonate scales (calcite and siderite) along the entire production system. Also the presence of
sulfate scales (barite) was detected along the production system.

Deposits of Calcite (CaCO
3
) scales can be found at any part in the production system, these are the main scales being
precipitated in the reservoir (700 mg/lt is the deposition rate calculated at reservoir conditions).

Siderite (FeCO
3
) is the second mineral scale in importance, also can be found at any part in the production system (56
mg/lt is the deposition rate calculated at reservoir conditions)

Barite (BaSO
4
) is the third mineral scale detected over the entire production system but its precipitation rate is very low
(0.7 mg/lt is the deposition rate calculated at reservoir conditions).

A similar mineral scale environment was detected for the rest of the candidate wells, Celestite (SrSO
4
) was detected in
Caribe wells instead of Barite (BaSO
4
) but also at low precipitation rates. This information was transferred to ICP in order to
prepare the lab protocols required to design the best package fluids to be implemented in both mineral dissolution and
mineral inhibition stages.


Fig. 8 Simulation the Most Probable Mineral Scale Environment in Well Sucumbios-5

Skin Damage Evolution and Permeability Reduction. Once the mineral scale environment is known then the
corresponding evolution of skin damage and permeability reduction are calculated. To perform this part several assumptions
were specified.
SPE 152400 11

30% of the calculated deposition rate is the maximum amount of scales being deposited in the reservoir, the rest flow
together with liquid stream. This value is currently being tested in lab to verify its exactitude but it has been used in
other fields in Colombia with reasonable good results.
The amount of deposited mineral scales and the penetration radius can be calculated by using equations (1) and (2).

!
!
! !"#! !
!
! !
!
! ! .... (1)


!
!
!
!!!"!#$!!"
!!
!
!
!
!
!
!!
!
!!
!!!
! !
!
!
(2)


Where M
s
Mass of scale (Kg)
,
"
w
is water density (gr/cc), W
p
is water volume (Bbls), C is scale concentration (mg/lt), "
s
is
scale density (gr/cc), # is porosity (fraction), h is net interval (ft.), r
s
is radial scale penetration radius (ft.) and r
w
is well
radius (ft).

The candidate wells meet the fundamental and general assumptions considered in Fadairos model (Fadairo et al. 2009).
The pressure drop, skin evolution and permeability reduction can be calculated by using the respective equations from
the predicted damage oilfield scale deposition model (Table 3).

Table 3 Equations to Predict Damage Due to Oilfield Scale Deposition
(Fadairo et al. 2009)


Previous equations were applied over the entire production period history for each one of the producer sands that are and
were in production. The mass of precipitated mineral scales, the calculated skin damage evolution and the permeability
reduction for U1 sand in well Sucumbios-5 is illustrated in Fig. 9.


Fig. 9 Mass of Scale Deposited in Reservoir, Skin Evolution and Permeability Reduction Calculated for U1
Sand in Well Sucumbis-5
12 SPE 152400
Calcite is the most abundant mineral scale plugging the reservoir, at end of July-2011 a total of 176.5 Kg of mineral scales
had been deposited in the well (92.4% calcite, 7.5% Siderite, and 0.1% Barite). This amount had reduced the reservoir
permeability in a factor of 0.9998 and had reached 0.5 ft. of penetration in the wellbore. The value for skin damage due to
presence of mineral scale deposits was calculated in 32.

A new nodal system analysis performed at end of July-2011 showed that the value for total skin distribution for sands U4,
U3, U2, and U1 was 45.9, 78.4, 75.4, and 82.4 respectively. The values calculated for U1 sand are indicating that mineral
scales are contributing with 38.8% of the total damage, this high value indicates a high probability to increase well
production if at least all damage due to mineral scales is removed from U1 sand.

Organic Scales

Specialized reservoir simulator modeling near wellbore effects was used to determine the organic scale performance. The
solubility curves required to run the simulator were calculated using available PVT data and running in house software.

It was not expected to have high amount of organic deposits as per SARA analysis in some water samples taken in surface.
Because, there was not available bottom hole samples, the 3D simulation was performed to corroborate the results obtained
from SARA analysis.

The reservoir simulator was run to simulate the organic scale performance during the entire production history period in
well Sucumbios-5, as expected no problems with organic scale deposition were noted (Fig. 10). The analysis performed for
the rest of the wells was also similar.

Lab analysis performed in ICP has showed that the asphaltene present in this area is highly stable but it can be destabilized if
crude is contacted by low pH acids. Although the performance of CO
2
on asphaltene stability has been not well studied in
this area, we are suspecting that CO
2
probably is destabilizing this organic scale specially in those wells in which CO
2

content is above 70% (some samples of organic scales has been obtained during workover operations also an emulsion is also
noted). For this reason, an organic stage to dissolve and inhibit organic scales was included in the overall stimulation
proposal.


Fig. 10 Simulation of Organic Scale Deposition in Well Sucumbios-5

Fines Migration
Fines migration is probably the major formation damage mechanism taking place in Western Putumayo Basin reservoirs.
Along with mineral scales cover the higher percentage of formation damage in all production wells. Different types of
migratory and swelling clays have been detected, kaolinite is the most abundant mineral found in clays, other components are
SPE 152400 13
illite, chlorite, carbonates, and quartz. The rock and clay composition measured for well Sucumbios-5 can be seen in (Fig.
11).


Fig. 11 Reservoir Rock and Clay Composition Measured in Well Sucumbios-5

Although several models have been tested to simulate fines migration performance, do not satisfactory results have been
obtained yet, in fact, we are actually working together with Universidad Nacional de Colombia to understand the fines
migration phenomena and build a proper mathematical model.

The critical rate required to promote fines movement around the wellbore was measured in lab and scaled to field units as
121 BPD. This critical value was used to estimate fines movement. If liquid rate is less or equal to critical value then no
formation damage mechanism is associated with fines, the opposite is also true, the skin damage start to increase when liquid
rate is above of critical rate and is most severe as long as the production liquid rate moves away from the critical rate.

The well Sucumbios-5 has been in production above critical rate during its entire production life (Fig. 12), the average
liquid production (calculated as Wp/t) for U4, U3, U2, and U1 sands are 16.9, 132.2, 74.1, and 688.3 BFPD respectively.
The production history and the average liquid production are indicating that fines migration has been promoted in U3 and U1
sands, skin damage should be higher in U1 than in the rest of the sands.

It is clear that scale dissolvers and fines control fluids are the main objectives in the BOC process performed in ICP. It is
also clear that any stimulation job dedicated to increase production should be focused mainly in the mitigation of fines and
mineral scales. The mitigation of these damage mechanisms should be supported for a well-defined inhibition, stimulation
based only in dissolution options is not the best way to keep high levels of production.



Fig. 12 Liquid Rate Production Distribution by Sand vs. Critical Rate in Well Sucumbios-5

14 SPE 152400

Water Production Mechanism

The water production has been one the main problems found in Western Putumayo oil fields, this formation damage
mechanism exacerbate other damage mechanisms. Water control diagnostic plots (Chan 1995; Seright et al. 2001) were
implemented for prediction of water breakthrough sources in all candidate wells (water coning, channeling, cusping, breaking
through the formation layers, behind the casing, nearby fractures, pay zone).

The water breakthrough is a result of water coning and cusping in Sucumbios, Caribe, and San Antonio fields; and
predominantly coning in Churuyaco and Quriyana fields. The Chan, and Seright diagnostic plots built for well Sucumbos-5
are illustrated in (Fig. 13).


Fig. 13 Water Control Diagnostic Plots in Well Sucumbios-5 (U4 Sand)

Stimulation Design
The stimulation design for each well was finally determined by suggestion the injection of two stages. The first one includes
only all the packages identified in ICP to dissolve organic scales, mineral scales and fines. Once this stage is pumped enough
period of soaking time will be allowed to ensure properly well cleaning out. The second stage includes the injection of
inhibition packages focused to mitigate fines migration and avoid the occurrence of mineral scales, especially carbonate
scales.

Well Candidate Prioritization
A final table prioritizing the candidate wells was finally built. The most important variables calculated during the previous
process finally defined the order in which the fourteen candidates should be stimulated. Completion, reservoir, production,
forecasting, economical, and calculated damage formation data using previous procedure were mixed in lineal equations to
get the final score for each well (Fig. 14).


Fig. 14 Final List of Candidate Wells.
SPE 152400 15


Conclusions

A new strategy for well stimulation has been designed for Western Putumayo Basin Fields being operated by Ecopetrol.
The new stimulation strategy integrates technical information with specialized software to perform a complete analysis
related to formation damage mechanism.
Mineral scales, organic scales, fines, and water production were the most important formation damage mechanism taken
into account in this study.
Fines migration and plugging are the main formation damage mechanism identified in this study. Kaolinite, Illite, and
Chlorite are the main clays found in reservoir rock.
Mineral scale is the second formation damage mechanism in importance. The calcite is the most common mineral scales
found in the entire production system at high precipitation rates, it is also probable to find siderite, barite and Celestite
but at low precipitation rates.
SARA analysis and 3D simulation showed that organic scales are not an important formation damage mechanism. There
are some evidences of asphaltene destabilization when reservoir oil contact low pH fluids or under reach CO
2
environments (which is the case of western Putumayo Basin).
Complete packages of dissolution and inhibition fluids were identified in ICP under BIC process. These new fluids are
complementing the technical study performed for this area.
The final stimulation design includes two big stages. The first one is focused on the dissolution of scales (organic and
mineral) and fines, the second stage is focused on stabilization of fines and inhibition of mineral scales.

Nomenclature
ESP = Electrical Submersible Pump
NF = Natural Flow
BP = Beam Pumping
My = Million years
ICP = Instituto Colombiano del Petrleo
RPM = Relative Permeability Modifier
Pwf = Bottom hole flowing pressure

SI Metric Conversion Factors
Atm x 1.013250 E+05 = Pa
Darcy x 1.0 E-03 = md
Psi x 6.984757 E+00 = Kpa

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Ecopetrol for granting permission to present and publish this paper. The authors thank
Adriano Lobo, Jaime Castaeda, and ICP for their important support, and the technical people working in field for the
assistance getting all the technical data required to write this paper.


References
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