Formation Damage Mechanisms and Their Phenomenological Modeling—An Overview

Abstract

fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractA review and phenomenological modeling of the various processes causing reservoir formation damage are presented. The mechanisms involved in the migration, deposition, and mobilization of the fine particles and inorganic and organic precipitates are described physically and mathematically. The various problems created by fine particles at the pore surface, clogging and dislodgment of the pore throats, aggregation, and interface particle transfer processes in multi-phase fluid systems flowing through porous media are described. The implications of the various mechanical, chemical, and thermal processes on the behavior of the particles are discussed. The various types of shock phenomena and their effects on the particulate processes are explained. The alteration of the pore connectivity, preferential hydraulic paths, permeability and porosity of porous media as a result of the various particulate processes are formulated. The phenomenological modeling of the particulate processes in single-and multiple-porosity reservoir formations is presented. The applications may concern with the damage by particles, injectivity decline in waterflooding wells, formation damage by drilling mud invasion, formation damage in naturally fractured reservoirs, asphaltene deposition, and sand production and gravel pack damage.

Permeability Impairment Study Due to Asphaltene Deposition: Experimental and Modeling Approach

“…The properties of porous media undergoing various types of particulate processes affect the particulate processes [16]. Therefore, a dynamic description of porous media flow capability is required.…”

An Analytical Model to Predict the Effects of Suspended Solids in Injected Water on the Oil Displacement Efficiency during Waterflooding

“…Statistically, around 20% of waterflooding projects do not reach planned effects due to the injected water quality and associated formation damage that causes reduction of formation permeability and injectivity [5]. Impairment of permeability was observed in many laboratory experiments and is associated with the plugging of pore space with suspended solids in injection water [6][7][8][9]. Suspended solids in injection water originate from silts, clays, different types of scales, products of bacterial activity, or erosion of rock during oil production.…”

“…During waterflooding, when injection water that contains suspended solids enters into a porous media, smaller solids will flow through the pore system and form an internal filter cake, while larger particles will deposit on the surface and form an external filter cake. Both internal and external filter cakes affect water injectivity and cause an increase in injection pressure [7,[14][15][16]. Pore size distribution (PSD) is one of the parameters governing reservoir performance during the waterflooding process.…”

Disaggregation and discretization methods for formation damage estimation in oil and gas fields: an overview

“…In this sense, the planning and design of field test procedures from the use of mathematical models are vital [12,15]. Once a model has been validated, it can be used to simulate with great precision the formation damage and the effectiveness of treatments for its inhibition and remediation.…”