Heat Treatment For Clay-related Near Wellbore Formation Damage

Jamaluddin, A.K.M.; Vandamme, L.; Nazarko, T.W.; Bennion, D.B.

doi:10.2118/98-01-09

Cited by 20 publications

(21 citation statements)

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“…Based on experimental results reported in the literature, various temperatures were selected to evaluate the effect of temperature on clay materials, as described in Table 1 (3,(10)(11)(12) .…”

Section: Formation Heat Treatment Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation Heat Treatment Process by Combustion of Gases Around the Wellbore

Sanmiguel

Mallory

Mehta

et al. 2002

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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Formation damage can occur at any stage during the lifetime of a well. Operations such as drilling, completion, workovers, and stimulations expose the formation to fluids that may be almost all incompatible with the formation and its original fluids. These situations can cause a reduction in the permeability of the formation around the well bore, and/or a reduction in the production of fluids. A detailed description of the formation damage mechanisms is presented in the literature (1,2) .New methods have been developed to counteract formation damage and, in doing so, improve injectivity. One of these methods is formation heating. The aim of formation heating is to increase the temperature of the formation around the well-bore in order to improve the hydrodynamic conditions in the near wellbore area. A popular field application technique of formation heating is the utilization of a down-hole electrical heater. The heater is placed as close as possible to the target zone, and an inert gas, such as nitrogen, is co-injected through the annulus. Using this method, the temperature of the injected gas may rise to as high as 800˚ C before entering into the formation (3) . The big inconvenience of this method is the large energy requirements associated with it.Another remediation technique is the use of a down-hole gas burner. Using this method, hot flue gases are injected into the formation. The main concern with down-hole gas burners is the lack of combustion control, corrosion, and the requirement of specialized and expensive equipment (4) .The utilization of a radio frequency (RF) antenna, as a heating system for enhanced oil recovery, is another remediation technique (5) . Electrical heating tools and their applications can be divided in into three categories: (1) low frequency currents are used in resistive/ohmic heating. (2) high frequency currents are used in microwave heating methods. (3) induction tools utilize electrical energy to inductively heat the reservoir through the ferro-magnetic casing (6,7) . Using these techniques, the increase in temperature of the formation is not enough to vapourize water and, as a result, their application will only result in heating the oil in the near-wellbore area.A technique called combustion stimulation was proposed and used in the 1960s (4,8,9) . Using this method, a combustion front is initiated in the well-bore by means of a heater or burner, and the front is propagated into the formation to a distance of 3 m to 6 m. As a result, the formation in this zone is reduced to clean, burned sand, offering very little resistance to fluid production.Research on the combustion of gases in porous media at the University of Calgary is being carried out with the potential of applying this concept to the process of formation heating. Gaseous combustible mixtures may be injected in a uniform distribution over the sand face, ensuring a uniform treatment, and allowing for a uniform modification of structural and fluid mechanical properties. In the field, this process can be initiated by t...

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Section: Formation Heat Treatment Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation Heat Treatment Process by Combustion of Gases Around the Wellbore

Sanmiguel

Mallory

Mehta

et al. 2002

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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“…We based the selection of our experimental temperature conditions on X-Ray diffraction (XRD) results from isolated kaolinite and smectite samples in the laboratory published earlier (27) . The spectra from a kaolinite sample treated at five different temperatures were presented (27) .…”

Section: Formation Heat Treatment (Fht) Conceptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Heat Treatment to Enhance Permeability in Tight Gas Reservoirs

Jamaluddin¹,

Bennion²,

Thomas³

et al. 2000

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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During the drilling and completion phases, the primary mechanisms of near-wellbore formation damage can be attributed to the following factors:pore throat constriction caused by clay swelling, deflocculating due to incompatible fluids or clay migration;water blocking resulting in a reduction in relative permeability to hydrocarbons;plugging with drill solids and mud products; andloading of the reservoir with drilling or completion fluids. In tight reservoirs, phase trapping and water-blocking are believed to be the primary causes of near-wellbore formation damage, resulting in very low productivity. Clay swelling and phase trapping in tight gas reservoirs during drilling and completion have long been identified as major problems. Preventive measures have been discussed in literature; however, prevention of clay damage and phase trapping is not always possible or effective and curative measures may then become necessary. Several curative methods have been attempted and presented in literature with mixed success. A formation heat treatment (FHT) process has been developed in the last four years and initial field test results showed promise. The primary mechanisms of the FHT process are to vaporize blocked water, dehydrate clay-bound water, destroy clay lattices and possibly create micro fractures due to thermally induced stresses, with the objective of removing near-wellbore drilling induced skin damage. The objective of this laboratory study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying the formation heat treatment process on cores taken from a tight gas reservoir. The results indicate that the FHT stimulation at 649 ° C resulted in a 210% improvement in permeability from the baseline undamaged value and 675% improvement from the damaged (water-trapped) value. The post FHT waterflooding of the core still showed 50% improvement in permeability from the baseline value and 275% more than the watertrapped value. Laboratory results along with the field logistics are presented in this paper. Introduction Formation damage can occur at any time during the history of a well-from the initial drilling and completion of the wellbore through to the depletion of the reservoir during production. Operations such as drilling, completion, workovers, and stimulation, which expose the formation to a foreign fluid, may cause formation damage because of adverse wellbore-fluid to formation interactions. Such damage is usually severe in horizontal wells, because of the longer exposure of the wellbore to the offending fluids(1 – 7). During the drilling and completion phases, the primary mechanisms of near-wellbore formation damage can be explained by the following factors:Pore throat constriction, caused either by clay swelling due to incompatible fluids or by clay migration,Water blocking due to reduction in relative permeability to hydrocarbon,Plugging with drill solids and mud products,Loading of the reservoir with drilling or completion fluids. In tight gas reservoirs, formation damage, due to phase trapping and water blocking, has long been identified as a major problem. Preventive measures against this type of damage are not always possible or effective, and curative measures may then become necessary. Several curative methods have been attempted and presented in the literature(8–15).

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“…A series of bench scale heating tests was carried out on sandstone cores taken from both oil-and gas-bearing formations (Jamaluddin et al, 1995). Sample cores taken from actual formation displayed an 84% reduction in permeability following water exposure.…”

Section: Formation Heat Treatment (Fht) Process Logisticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A new matrix stimulation concept, called formation heat treatment (FHT), was tested in the laboratory and in the field (Jamaluddin and Nazarko, 1994;Jamaluddin et al, 1995Jamaluddin et al, , 1996a. The FHT process involves the application of heat for the treatment of near wellbore damage.…”

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confidence: 99%

Mathematical modelling of formation heat treatment process

1997

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A novel matrix stimulation concept, formation heat treatment (FHT), which involves the application of intense heat around the near-wellbore region for the treatment of water blockage and clay related formation damage in water sensitive formations previously was developed and presented in the literature. The FHT process involves the application of intense heat around the wellbore using a downhole heater. The heat is conveyed to the near-wellbore region using an inert gas flowing through a downhole heater.To understand the heat transfer and fluid-flow characteristics of the FHT process, a transient two-dimensional mathematical model has been developed and is presented in this paper. The model is based on coupling the momentum and energy-balance equations for the wellbore gas with the surrounding porous formation. The presence of the heater across the net pay (sandface) is taken into account in the energy equation as a localized volumetric heat source. A control-volume based finite-difference scheme is used to solve the model equations on a staggered grid. Parametric studies indicate that by injecting a suitable quantity of gas through the tube and annulus, and by adjusting the power input to the downhole heater, the temperature near the wellbore can be favourably controlled.On a mis au point et presente anterieurement dans la litterature scientifique un nouveau modele de simulation matricielle pour le traitement de chaleur de formation (FHT), base sur l'application d'une chaleur intense autour de la region du puits de forage pour le traitement du blocage des pores et des dommages a la formation lies a I'argile dans les formations sensibles a I'eau. Le procede FHT utilise pour ce faire une chaudiere a orifice descendant. La chaleur est conduite a la region du puits a I'aide d'un ecoulement de gaz inerte dans la chaudiere a orifice descendant.Afin de comprendre les caracteristiques du transfert de chaleur et de I'ecoulement des fluides du procede FHT, on a mis au point un modele mathematique transitoire bidimensionnel. Ce modele s'appuie sur le couplage des equations d'equilibre de conservation de la quantite de mouvement et d'energie pour le gaz du puits de forage avec la formation poreuse environnante. La presence de la chaudiere dans la production nette (cbte sable) est prise en compte dans I'equation d'energie c o m e source de chaleur volumktrique localisee. On utilise un schema de differences finies base sur les volumes de contrble a grille decalee. Les etudes parametriques indiquent qu'en injectant une quantite adequate de gaz dans le tube et I'espace annulaire, et en ajustant la puissance dans la chaudiere a orifice descendant, on peut contrbler favorablement la temperature pres du puits de forage.

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Heat Treatment For Clay-related Near Wellbore Formation Damage

Abstract: FIGURE 2: X-ray diffraction spectra of smectite at various temperatures.

Cited by 20 publications

References 8 publications

Formation Heat Treatment Process by Combustion of Gases Around the Wellbore

Formation Heat Treatment Process by Combustion of Gases Around the Wellbore

Application of Heat Treatment to Enhance Permeability in Tight Gas Reservoirs

Mathematical modelling of formation heat treatment process

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