Perforation-Induced Damage (1) = Crushing and packing of cement and formation in and around the the perforation tunnels results in an average loss of 80%of the formation permeability. This is why it is normal procedure to clean-up perforations Compacted & Pulverized Undamaged Formation Zone Debris from Charge, Casing, Cement & | Formation Cement Well Bore Extensive Grain Shattering Multi-Modal Size Distribution Compacted, Low Permeability Zone of Compaction Not to Scale CasingPerforation-Induced Damage (2) = It is common for a number of the perforations to be blocked by debris: they do not contribute to flow (this can be seen using a down-hole camera) « Blocked perforations must be cleaned out with an appropriate treatment « Use ball sealers to divert the fluid into the low permeability perforations « Use appropriate fluids, xylene (oil based muds), properly designed acids (water based muds) m= Depth Control: « Perforations are sometimes shot off-depth. When this happens, not all the perforations are in the reservoir zone = Depth of Perforation: ¢ Penetration should be designed to exceed the depth of drilling induced damage. This is difficult to predict KPerforation-Induced Damage (3) m= Underbalanced Perforating: + A high negative pressure differential (from the formation into the wellbore) can cause damage in formations with mobile fines and in loosely consolidated formations + High rate and/or turbulent flow in the pore system can mobilize clays and other authigenic minerals. The mobile fines act as a check valve in the pore system « Loosely consolidated formations will produce sand if the negative pressure differential is too high ¢ Perforating underbalanced in “dirty” fluids that contain solid particles can result in solids blocking ¢@ Underbalanced perforating should be undertaken using a clean, clear, filtered fluid: * Such as 2% KCl fluidPerforation-Induced Damage (4) = Overbalanced Perforating (NOT RECOMMENDED) ¢ Perforating overbalanced in mud (positive pressure differential) can cause serious problems: « introduction of solids from the perforating fluid into the formation « change in near-well bore relative permeability mu Fluid Leak-Off during Perforation: ¢ Leak-off of perforating fluids can cause adverse reactions with sensitive minerals, especially the clay minerals, resulting in formation damageGravel Pack Damage mu Gravel packs use gel systems for purposes of pack emplacement @ These gels can be very difficult to clean-up if they do not “break” completely. This can lead to a significant reduction of formation permeability (if the gel invades high permeability formation rock) and to a reduction of the permeability of the gravel pack = Improperly sized gravel packs can be inefficient: ¢ Improper sizing of the gravel can result in the migration of the formation sand into the pack, reducing the permeability. Proper size analysis of the formation sand is required to design the appropriate size of the slots in the screens. If the slots are too large will not retain the gravel. Slots that are too small will become blocked by fine grained formation sand grains KDamage During Acidizing = Reaction with HF Acid: ¢ Calcium-bearing minerals (calcite, dolomite, some siderite) and potassium-bearing minerals (orthoclase feldspar, muscovite, illite) can react with HF acid to form insoluble precipitates = Reaction with HCI Acid: ¢ Iron compounds may precipitate due to reaction of acid with tubulars and iron-bearing minerals (siderite, pyrite, chlorite, iron-oxide/hydroxide, ferroan carbonates) m Fines Release from Acidized Carbonates: ¢ Carbonates can contain significant quantities of insoluble fines (quartz, calcium, sulfate, kaolinite). Acidizing the carbonate minerals releases these fines and they can block flow channelsDamage During Fracturing m Fracture Fluid Leak-Off: ¢ This can damage formation clays, resulting in swelling or mobilization of clay fines = Change in Fracture Conductivity: Fracture conductivity can be reduced due to: % proppant crushing due to use of proppant that cannot withstand the closure stress * proppant embedment due to the use of insufficient amount of proppant (ductile rocks require a multi-layer proppant while competant rocks require a mono-layer) | m Fracture Containment: « Effective fracture treatment requires vertical fracture containment (overlying layer of rock with mechanical properties that are significantly different from those of the producing formation)Damage from Workover Fluids = Workover fluids (and completion fluids) can contain bacteria or suspended solids. In waterflood operations, injected waters may contain minute amounts of oil. ¢ Blocking of the pore system occurs when “dirty” fluids are used @ Oil in the injection water may be incompatible with formation oil « Workover fluids should always be cleaned using appropriate filtersDamage During Production a Precipitation of inorganic scales (CaCO,, BaSO,, CaSO,, FeCO,) = Wax Plugging -- Precipitation of organic scale “wax” (paraffins and asphaltic-like compounds) = Sand Control - Weakly consolidated (friable) formations can produce sand together with oil and gas, damaging the downhole and surface equipment and filling hole with sand ¢ Minimize use of acid ¢ Minimize pressure drawdowns and velocities at the formation/well interface + Use gravel pack, screens, liners # Gels used in gravel packing can cause formation damage «@ Optimum gravel pack design requires accurate grain size measurement = Solids Plugging Due to Injection Water - Suspended silts, clays, scale, oil and bacteria. Also certain injection waters may be chemically incompatible with connate water and can result in solids precipitation KGeneral Conclusions = Commonly used wellbore fluids and procedures can cause formation damage even in high permeability reservoirs = Formation damage can be cleaned-up, but only in some instances. Successful clean-up requires knowledge of the specific mechanism responsible for the damage = Some forms of formation damage cannot be corrected, due to engineering limitations on clean-up procedures and also due to poorly understood reactions = Most formation damage mechanisms can be predicted and avoided through the use of appropriate fluids and additives designed using data from petrographic analysis and capillary suction tests = Optimum, cost effective fluids and additives can be designed on the basis of laboratory flow-through and dynamic displacement tests using actual reservoir rock