Novel Treatment for Mitigating Condensate Bank Using a Newly Synthesized Gemini Surfactant

Abstract

<jats:p>Condensate accumulation in the vicinity of the gas well is known to curtail hydrocarbon production by up to 80%. Numerous approaches are being employed to mitigate condensate damage and improve gas productivity. Chemical treatment, gas recycling, and hydraulic fracturing are the most effective techniques for combatting the condensate bank. However, the gas injection technique showed temporary condensate recovery and limited improvement in gas productivity. Hydraulic fracturing is considered to be an expensive approach for treating condensate banking problems. In this study, a newly synthesized gemini surfactant (GS) was developed to prevent the formation of condensate blockage in the gas condensate reservoirs. Flushing the near-wellbore area with GS will change the rock wettability and thereby reduce the capillary forces holding the condensate due to the strong adsorption capacity of GS on the rock surface. In this study, several measurements were conducted to assess the performance of GS in mitigating the condensate bank including coreflood, relative permeability, phase behavior, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) measurements. The results show that GS can reduce the capillary pressure by as much as 40%, increase the condensate mobility by more than 80%, and thereby mitigate the condensate bank by up to 84%. Phase behavior measurements indicate that adding GS to the oil–brine system could not induce any emulsions at different salinity levels. Moreover, NMR and permeability measurements reveal that the gemini surfactant has no effect on the pore system and no changes were observed in the T2 relaxation profiles with and without the GS injection. Ultimately, this work introduces a novel and effective treatment for mitigating the condensate bank. The new treatment showed an attractive performance in reducing liquid saturation and increasing the condensate relative permeability.</jats:p>

Gas Condensate Wells: Challenges of Sampling, Testing and Production Optimization

“…There are several methods, which may help to overcome the condensate banking effect in well. Some approaches include the injection of solvents and chemicals to alter formation wettability to minimize condensate blockage [17][18][19]. A recent study [19] showed that developing a flowback system based on the formation of physical properties differentiation to control water phase invasion, and changing wettability or injecting thermochemical fluid to control condensate blocking are feasible methods to relieve liquid phase blockage damage in tight condensate reservoirs.…”

“…These methods will lower the rate of pressure drop and permit the production of a single-phase gas. The most effective techniques for combatting the condensate bank are hydraulic fracturing and pumping the formation with dry gas [17,21] and chemical treatment with methanol [22] or novel developed surfactants [17,18].…”

Experimental Investigation of Magnetorheological Behavior of Fe3O4@PVP@OA Ferrofluid for Potential Application in Gas Condensate Blockage Reduction

“…In fact, when the pressure of the reservoir falls below the dew point pressure, condensation starts, resulting in the formation of two phase profiles consisting of liquid and gas near the well bore zone . As a result, gas mobility reduces significantly compared to liquid condensation subsequently leading to less productivity in the gas condensate fields. − To mitigate this problem, there are several approaches divided into the following three major techniques: The injection of chemicals such as solvents, inhibited diesel, inhibited dry gas, and wettability alteration chemicals can serve to reduce the effect of gas condensate blockage on the productivity of well. Gas recycling and the injection of carbon dioxide and nitrogen known as pressure maintenance techniques are implemented to increase the pressure of a reservoir (above the dew point) and enhance liquid recovery with the reduction of liquid dropout. Drilling horizontal wells, hydraulic fracturing, and matrix acidizing coupled with the mentioned former techniques improve the productivity of wells. …”

“…Nonetheless, the generated fractures in turn cause a major problem. Actually, it is possible for the condensate to develop near the wellbore zone after a while of production . Restrepo et al conducted a trial study to apply chemicals in order to investigate the effect of fluorinated polymer on the rock wettability with the aim of enhancing both oil and gas permeabilities.…”