Well Stimulation

Fundamental of petroleum Engineering course

Peyman Maroufi
Petroleum Engineering department
LOGO
Soran
university

Well Stimulation

Some, petroleum exists in a formation but is unable to flow readily into the
well because the formation has very low permeability.

Natural low permeability formation.

Formation damage around the wellbore caused by invasion of perforation
fluid and charge debris.

Well Stimulation
 Formation damage:
the reduction of permeability in a reservoir rock caused by the invasion of drilling fluid
and treating fluids to the section adjacent to die wellbore. It is often called skin damage.

Well Stimulation

Well Stimulation:
any of several operations used to increase the production of a well or a treatment
performed to restore or enhance the productivity of a well such as:

1) Acidizing
2) Fracturing

Well Stimulation

Acidizing
The pumping of acid into the wellbore to remove near-well formation
damage and other damaging substances.
.

This procedure commonly enhances production by increasing the

effective well radius.
 The two basic types of acidizing are characterized through injection rates and
pressures:
 Injection rates below fracture pressure are termed Matrix acidizing.
 Injection rates above fracture pressure are termed Fracture acidizing.

Well Stimulation

Matrix acidizing
 Matrix acidizing is applied primarily to remove skin damage caused by drilling,
completion, workover, well-killing, or injection fluids, and by precipitation of
scale deposits from produced or injected water.
 During matrix acidizing the acids dissolve the sediments and mud solids within
the pores that are inhibiting the permeability of the rock.
 mostly used in sandstone formations.
 Due to the extremely large surface area contacted by acid in a matrix treatment,
spending time is very short. Therefore, it is difficult to affect formation more than
a few feet from the wellbore.

Well Stimulation

Fracture acidizing
 Fracture acidizing is an alternative to hydraulic fracturing and propping in
carbonate reservoirs. In fracture acidizing, the reservoir is hydraulically fractured
an then the fracture faces are etched with acid to provide linear flow channels to
wellbore.
 As such, the application of acid fracturing is confined to carbonate reservoirs and
should never be used to stimulate sandstone, shale, or coal-seam reservoirs.
 Long etched fractures are difficult to obtain, because of high leak off and rapid
acid reaction with the formation

Well Stimulation

WELL STIMULATION ACIDS
The basic types of acid used are:
Hydrochloric
Hydrochloric-Hydrofluoric

Acetic

Formic

Sulfamic
Fluoboric

 Also, various combinations of these acids are employed in specific applications.

Well Stimulation

ACID ADDITIVES:
Acidizing can cause a number of well problems. Acid may :
(1) release fines
(2) create precipitants
(3) form emulsions
(4) create sludge
(5) corrode steel
 Additives are available to correct these and a number of other problems.

Well Stimulation
 Surfactants should be used on all acid jobs to reduce surface and interfacial
tension, to prevent emulsions, to water-wet the formation, and to safeguard against
other associated problems.
 Suspending Agents: Most carbonate formations contain insolubles which can
block formation pores or fractures if fines released by acid are allowed to settle
and bridge.
 Suspension should be differentiated from dispersion. Dispersed particles usually
settle in a short time.
 A suspending surfactant, such as Halliburton's HC-2, in concentrations of about
five gallons per 1,000 gallons of acid may suspend fines for more than 24 hours,
and possibly as long as seven days. Suspending agents are usually polymers or
surfactants.

Well Stimulation
 Anti-Sludge Agents:
 Some crudes, particularly heavy asphaltic crudes, form an insoluble sludge
when contacted with acid, with greater problems experiences with high strength
acid. Dissolved Fe(III) in acid appreciably increases the possibility of sludge.
 The primary ingredients of a sludge are usually asphaltenes.
 Sludges may also contain resins and paraffin waxes, high-molecular weight
hydrocarbons, formation fines, clays, and other materials.


The addition of certain surfactants can prevent the formation of sludge by

keeping colloidal material dispersed. These sludge-preventing surfactants
usually prevent an emulsion

Well Stimulation
 Corrosion inhibitors for acid are chemical additives that reduce the rate of
corrosion of steel by acid.
There are two primary reasons for using corrosion inhibitors:
(1) to protect the acid pumping and handling equipment
(2) to protect well equipment.
 Factors that govern the degree of acid attack on steel are:
1) type of steel including hardness
2) temperature
3) type of acid
4) acid concentration
5) acid contact time

Well Stimulation
 CARBONATE ACIDIZING
 The objective of acidizing limestone and dolomite wells is to remove
damage near the wellbore or to create linear flow channels by fracturing and
etching.
 Acid may also be used in sandstone wells to dissolve carbonates in the form
of sand grain cementing materials, discrete particles, and carbonate scale.
 The time required for a specified volume and concentration of HCl acid to
spend to about 3.2% in a selected formation under given conditions is
defined as Acid Reaction Time.
A major problem in fracture acidizing of carbonate formations is that acids tend to
react too fast with carbonates and spend near the wellbore.

Well Stimulation
 Factors controlling the reaction rate of acid are:
 area of contact per unit volume of acid
 formation temperature
 pressure
 acid concentration
 acid type
 physical and chemical properties of formation rock
 flow velocity of acid

Well Stimulation
 Retardation of Acid:
To achieve deeper penetration in fracture acidizing, it is often desirable to retard
acid reaction rate. This can be done by
 gelling,
 Emulsifying
 chemically retarding the acid.

Well Stimulation
Gelled Acid:
 The use of gelled acid for fracture acidizing has increased to the point that it is now the
most used technique.
 The introduction of more temperature-stable gelling agents with ready application up to
temperatures of about 400F has been a major factor in selecting gelled acid for acid
fracturing. Two types of gelling systems, polymers and surfactants, are in common use.

Well Stimulation
Emulsified Acid:
 For many years the primary retarded acid for fracture acidizing was an acid-in-oil
emulsion. This type retarded acid is very functional but is no longer the primary
fracture acid method used.
 It has limited temperature range and stability, with high viscosity and high friction
loss.
 It does, however, have the ability to restrict contact between the acid and formation, to
reduce fluid loss, and to retain large quantities of the treating fluid in the fracture.

Well Stimulation
Chemically-Retarded:


Acid-Retardation of HCl is obtained by the addition of unique surfactants to the acid

which form protective films on the surface of limestone or dolomite.

 These films retard reaction rate in much the same way that an acid corrosion inhibitor
protects metal.


In addition to retarding acid reaction rate, chemical retarders tend to promote

nonuniform etching of fracture faces, thus increasing fracture conductivity.

Hydraulic Fracturing
 Hydraulic Fracturing
 The objective of hydraulic fracturing for well stimulation is to increase well
productivity by creating a highly conductive path (compared to reservoir permeability)
some distance away from the wellbore into the formation.


Usually the conductivity is maintained by propping with sand to hold the fracture
faces apart.

 Acid fracturing involves most of the same considerations as hydraulic fracturing

except that conductivity is generated by removing portions of the fracture face with
acid, leaving etched channels after the fracture closes.

Hydraulic Fracturing
 During a fracture job or hydraulic fracturing, a service company injects large
volumes of fracture fluids under high pressure into the well to fracture the reservoir
rock . Fracture jobs are done either in an open-hole or a cased well with
perforations.
 Common fracture fluid is a gel formed by water and polymers, long organic
molecules that form a thick liquid when mixed with water.
 Oil-based fracture fluid and foam-based fracture fluids using bubbles of nitrogen, or
carbon dioxide can also be used to minimize formation damage.
 The fracture fluid is transported out to the fracture job in large trailers .

Hydraulic Fracturing
A fracture job is done in three steps:
 First, a pad of fracture fluid is injected into the well by several, large, pumping units
mounted on trucks to initiate fracturing the reservoir.


Next, a slurry of fracture fluid and propping agents are pumped down the well to
extend the fractures and fill them with propping agents. Propping agents or
proppants are small spheres that hold open the fractures after pumping has stopped.

 The propping agents are usually well sorted quartz sand grains, ceramic spheres, or
aluminum oxide pellets. The well is then back flushed in the third stage to remove
the fracture fluid.

Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing