Copyright 2007, , All rights reserved

Formation Damage
Types of Damages and Origins, Skin Factor and Productivity
Index, Flow Efficiency
Copyright 2007, , All rights reserved 2
Origin of Formation Damage
Formation damage
Types
Origin
Location
Diagnosis
Removal and Prevention
Methods
Chemistry
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Formation Damage Characterization
Fines Migration
Swelling Clays
Scale Deposits
Organic Deposits
Paraffins
Asphaltenes
Mixed Deposits
Bacteria
Induced Particles
Solids
LCM/Kill Fluids
Precipitates
Oil Based Mud
Emulsion Block
Wettability Changes
Water Block
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Swelling Clays: Smectite
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Migrating Clays: Kaolinite
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FINES MIGRATION MECHANISM
fines
wetting phase
non wetting phase
non wetting phase
non wetting phase
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Scale
Inorganic mineral deposits.
Formed due to supersaturation at wellbore conditions or
commingling of incompatible fluids.
Form in the plumbing system of the well, in the
perforations/near wellbore formation.
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Drilling Fluid Damage
Mud filtrate
invasion
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RDF (STARDRILL) Filter Cake
Filter cake Formation
Drilling Damage
Filter cake should prevent extensive
damage to formation during drilling
Low permeability (~ 0.001md) filter cake
may be damaging during production
formation permeability may be impaired
potential plugging of screen/ gravel pack
Openhole completions do not have
perforations or fractures to bypass any
damage
Filter cake removal maybe a necessity!
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Drilling Damage
Drilling Mud Solids
Particle Size vs. Pore
Size/Fissures
Filtration - 3 inches
Poor Mud Cake
Overbalance
Drilling Mud Filtrate
Formation Sensitivity (pH,
salinity, scale)
High Penetration Capillarity
Fines Dispersion
Additive Residues
Cooling
Oil Based Muds
High Solids Oil
Invasion/Relative Permeability
Cationic Emulsifiers

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Perforations
Debris
Compacted Zone
R
a
d
i
a
l

D
i
s
t
a
n
c
e

(
m
m
)
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Completion Fluids Damage
Suspended Solids
Polymer Residue
Fluid Loss Control
Formation Sensitivity
Clays
Wettability
Scales
A (2.5 ppm)
C (94 ppm)
D (436 ppm)
P
e
r
m
e
a
b
i
l
i
t
y

(
m
d
)
Volume Injected (gal/perf)
500
100
50
10
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.10
(A) Bay Water Filtered
Through 2um Cotton Filer
(B) Bay Water
Through 5um Cotton Filter
(C) Produced Water Untreated
(D) Bay Water Untreated
B (26 ppm)
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Water Block Damage
A reduction in effective or
relative permeability to oil due to
increased water saturation in
the near wellbore region.
Favored by pore-lining clay
minerals (Illite)
Treatment Reduction of
interfacial tension using
surfactants/alcohol's in acid
carrier
1 1
K
ro
K
rw
0
0 1
S
wc
1-S
or
S
w
Water Wet
Oil Wet
K
ro
K
rw
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Damage due to Production
In an oil reservoir, pressure near
well may be below bubblepoint,
allowing free gas which reduces
effective permeability to oil near
wellbore.
In a retrograde gas condensate
reservoir, pressure near well may
be below dewpoint, allowing an
immobile condensate ring to build
up, which reduces effective
permeability to gas near wellbore.
p < p
b

p > p
b

The main Production damage is due to Fines Migration
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Damage Quantification
The Damage is quantified by the Skin Factor and the
Productivity Index
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Reservoir Model of Skin Effect

Bulk
formation
h
r
w

k
a

r
a

Altered
zone
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Reservoir Pressure Profile
Distance from center of wellbore, ft
500
1000
1500
2000
1 10 100 1000 10000
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
,

p
s
i

Ap
s

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Skin and Pressure Drawdown
k = Permeability, md
h = Height, ft
q = Production, STB/D
B = Oil Volume Factor, bbl/STB
Aps = Pressure drawdown, psi
= Oil Viscosity, cp
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Radial Production and Skin
q = Production, STB/D
k = Permeability, darcy
h = Height, ft
P
r
= Reservoir Pressure, psi
P
wf
= Bottomhole Flowing
Pressure, psi
= Oil Viscosity, cp
B
O
= Oil Volume Factor, bbl/STB
ln = natural logaritm
r
e
= drainage radius, ft
r
w
= wellbore radius, ft
s = skin factor
(Darcys Law)
( )
(

+
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
s
r
r
ln B 141.2
P P h k
q
w
e
O
wf r

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Skin Factor and Properties of the Altered Zone
If ka < k (damage), skin is
positive.
If ka > k (stimulation), skin is
negative.
If ka = k, skin is 0.
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Effective Wellbore Radius
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Geometric Skin Converging Flow to
Perforations
When a cased wellbore is perforated, the fluid must converge to the
perforations to enter the wellbore. If the shot spacing is too large, this
converging flow results in a positive apparent skin factor. This effect
increases as the vertical permeability decreases, and decreases as the
shot density increases.
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Geometric Skin - Partial Penetration
When a well is completed through only a portion of the net pay interval,
the fluid must converge to flow through a smaller completed interval. This
converging flow also results in a positive apparent skin factor. This effect
increases as the vertical permeability decreases and decreases as the
perforated interval as a fraction of the total interval increases.
h
h
p

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Partial Penetration
h
p

h
t

h
1

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Geometric Skin - Deviated Wellbore
u sec h u
h
S
u
< 0
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Geometric Skin - Well With Hydraulic Fracture
r
w
r
w
s
w w e r r

= '
For example,

r
w
= 0.4 ft
s = -3

r
w
= 8 ft
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Completion Skin
r
dp

L
p

k
R

k
dp

k
d

r
p

r
d

r
w

After McLeod, JPT (Jan. 1983) p. 32.
s
p
- geometric skin due to converging flow to
perforations
s
d
- skin due to formation damage
s
dp
- perforation damage skin
k
d
- permeability of damaged zone around wellbore,
md
k
dp
- permeability of damaged zone around
perforation tunnels, md
k
R
- reservoir permeability, md
L
p
- length of perforation tunnel, ft
n - number of perforations
h - formation thickness, ft
r
d
- radius of damaged zone around wellbore, ft
r
dp
- radius of damaged zone around perforation
tunnel, ft
r
p
- radius of perforation tunnel, ft
r
w
- wellbore radius, ft
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Gravel Pack Skin
L
g

Cement
Gravel
s
gp
- skin factor due to Darcy flow through gravel
pack
h - net pay thickness
k
gp
- permeability of gravel pack gravel, md
k
R
- reservoir permeability, md
L
g
- length of flow path through gravel pack, ft
n - number of perforations open
r
p
- radius of perforation tunnel, ft
Does not include effects of non-Darcy
flow (high-rate gas wells)
Copyright 2007, , All rights reserved 29
Productivity Index
The productivity index is often used to predict how changes
in average pressure or flowing bottomhole pressure p
wf
will
affect the flow rate q.
The productivity index is affected by
Reservoir quality (permeability)
Skin factor
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Flow Efficiency
We can express the degree of damage on stimulation with the
flow efficiency.
For a well with neither damage nor stimulation, E
ff
= 1.
For a damaged well, E
ff
< 1
For a stimulated well, E
ff
> 1
wf
s wf
ideal
actual
ff
p p
p p p
J
J
E