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Wireline & Testing

B. PRODUCTION PROBLEMS

B.1 SATURATION Measuring water movements helps to detect


and survey the rise of the water/oil contact,
Saturation, as well as having a radial com-
locate water fingers which could give un-
ponent in the form of invasion has a time
component. As the reservoir is produced the wanted water production.
water moves in to vacate the space left by the
producing oil. This process continues until the
oil saturation equals the residual value.

Invaded
Virgin Zone
Zone

oil
oil

water
water

OIL
Matrix

Fig. B1: Saturation in a reservoir is broken down into


the virgin and invaded zones during the drilling and WATER
open hole phase. During production the saturation
changes reflect the movements of the reservoir fluids.
High Permeability
Layer
Many reservoirs are bounded on a portion or
all of their peripheries by aquifers. The aqui-
fers may also be so large compared with the
OIL
reservoirs they adjoin as to appear infinite for
all practical purposes, and range down to
those so small as to be negligible in their ef-
fect on reservoir performance. When pressure
decreases due to oil production, the aquifer
reacts to offset or retard pressure decline pro-
viding a source of water influx or encroache- Fig. B2: This, multiple zone reservoir, is now pro-
ment. ducting water from one layer. Water fingering in this
higher permeability zone has created the problem.
Water may be injected to supply external en-
ergy to improve the recovery of hydrocarbons. A reservoir consisting of multiple layers and
The injected water may advance evenly or completed in several together can eventually
may channel through the streaks of better give rise to a situation as pictured in Figure
permeability leaving hydrocarbons behind the B2. The high permeability layer is producing
water front. water.
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Introduction to Production Logging

B.1.1 Crossflow In some cases this could be a hydrocarbon, in


Thief zones can be defined as those zones that other cases water, but in all cases it generally
are considered open to the wellbore either by makes the surface production rates unusable
perforations or openhole completion which in predicting individual zone balance of mate-
due to zone pressure differences remove flu- rial equations. It also reduces the potential
ids from the wellbore. The pressure differ- production of the well and reservoir.
ences are caused by zones depleting faster due
to higher permeability. Hence, in the illustra- In the case of injection wells the thief zones
tion above, the middle zone may become a on an injection profile may appear as higher
thief zone as it produces. injectivity zones, depending on their relative
permeability to the other injection zones. In
most cases these thief zones will continue to
take fluid from other zones, even when the
surface injection rate is zero. This can largely
distort any balance of material calculations if
only the surface rates are applied to all the
downhole zones.

In either the producing or the injecting profile


it is important to know the dowhole profile of
the well for both the active and passive sur-
face conditions. In a producing well a thief
zone could be decreasing the overall surface
production of hydrocarbons, or downhole it
could be dump flooding a potential hydrocar-
P1 bon zone with water. In most situations the
most serious effects of a thief zone on overall
well productivity will be in those areas where
the wells are on quota and may, therefore, be
High Permeability shut in for a large percentage of the time. In
P3>>P2
Layer injection wells specific zone pressure may not
P2 be as well supported as believed if only injec-
tion profiles are monitored and no attention is
paid to the shut-in state.

B.2 CEMENTING
Cementing of the casing in place is one of the
P3
most vital operations in the drilling phase. It
is necessary to have a perfect seal between
zones to avoid unwanted fluid production or
Fig. B3: Crossflow from a lower zone to a higher one. reservoir contamination. Cement slurry is
This phenomena happens in any direction. pumped behind the casing to the required
height. It is left to set for some time before
In the case of a production well the thief any other operations.
zones are generally most noticeable when the
well is in a shut-in surface condition. In this The cement quality has to be evaluated before
condition the higher pressure zones will tend the completion and any repairs made at that
to feed fluid into the lower pressure zones.
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Schlumberger

time. It is also essential to properly evaluate life by providing a breakthrough into the
any measurement in cased hole. wrong zones.
One of the major difficulties in cementing is
the presence of gas zones. These will cause Channeling in producers can lead to the pro-
problems if precautions are not taken during duction of unwanted fluids; i.e., water from
the cement job. wet zones or gas from the gas cap or gas zone.
In some cases this unwanted production can
B.2.1 Channeling render a well totally nonproductive.
Channeling is generally defined as the ability
of fluids to move in the region of the produc- Channeling may occur in three conditions.
tion casing annulus because of a lack of hy-
draulic isolation between the casing and the These conditions are:
cement or the cement and the formation. Oil or gas well with water channeling up
from a lower zone
Oil or gas well with water channeling
down from a higher zone
Oil well with gas channeling down from a
higher zone

B.3 CORROSION
Corrosion encountered in the Oil Industry
involves several mechanisms, generally clas-
sified into three main categories:
Unwanted fluid
flow
Electrochemical Corrosion
Chemical Corrosion
Bad Cement Mechanical Corrosion

B.3.1 Electrochemical corrosion


This type of corrosion is caused by phenom-
ena that involve passage of current between
one or several metals and an electrolyte, with
transfer of ions and electron (Figure B5).

Electrochemical corrosion accounts for the


majority of observed downhole casing corro-
Fig. B4: A cement channel from the lower zone to the sion, and is mainly detected on the outer cas-
upper results in the production of unwanted fluids. ing walls. Metal is attacked in four different
ways:
In injection wells channeling can permit the
injected fluid to enter undesirable zones, thus a) Generalized Galvanic Corrosion
reducing the overall effectiveness of either b) Crevice Corrosion
secondary or tertiary recovery systems. Pres- c) Pitting Corrosion
sure maintenance and flushing will not neces- d) Intergranular Corrosion.
sarily prolong the productive life of a well;
instead, it may actually shorten the productive

(01/97) B-3
Introduction to Production Logging

Conductor
_
e

Anode Cathode

Tubing
Leak
Packer
Metal ions (M+) Electrolyte Leak

Fig. B5: General mechanism for electrochemical


corrosion

B.3.2 Chemical corrosion


This type of corrosion involves chemical re-
Fig. B6: Leaks in the tubing and packer cause
action which may not produce appreciable production problems.
voltages. Five different mechanisms are
known to contribute to chemical corrosion: The casing string(s) could leak allowing fluid
a) Direct chemical attack to escape into another layer. This not only
causes a loss in production but could con-
b) H2S attack (Sour corrosion)
taminate water zones (Figure B7).
c) CO2 attack (Sweet Corrosion)
d) Hydrogen attack
e) Bacterial attack

B.3.3 Mechanical Corrosion


There are two basic mechanisms for mechani-
cal corrosion:
a) Stress Corrosion Casing
Leak
b) Erosion Corrosion

B.3.4 Production Problems and


Corrosion
There are many potential problems caused by
the numerous corrosion mechanisms. Any of
the components of the completion string can
leak packers, tubings, etc., (see Figure B6).
This will cause mixed production which could
lead to further problems such as crossflow.

Fig. B7: Corroded casing allows fluids to escape back


into a reservoir zone.

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Schlumberger

B.4 APPENDIX: CONDITIONS PROMOTING CORROSION


The conditions of the well tubulars, together with the presence of oxygen-rich, saline and corrosive
fluids play a major role in the corrosion initiation and propagation. Figure B8 shows the conditions
that promote the various corrosion mechanisms and Figure B9 locates them with respect to a sche-
matic completion string.

DOWNHOLE Poor Single Saline/


Collars oxyg. Form. Solid
TYPE Condt. Cement Joint Move.
OF Metal Casing Casing Fluid B.H.
CORROSION Prop. Anom. Stress Corrosive
Fluids
Galvanic
Electro- Crevice
Pitting
chemical
Intergranular

Chemical
H2 S
Chemical C O2
Bacteria
Hydrogen

Stress
Mech.
Erosion

Fig. B8: Conditions promoting corrosion

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Introduction to Production Logging

B.4.1 Conditions CO2 and about 400 times more corrosive than
Poor quality cementation: In a poor ce- H2S.
ment job, casing is exposed to saline forma- Borehole corrosive fluids: Spent acids,
tion water, acting as an electrolyte. Some brines, or H2S and CO2 in the production
shallow formation waters contain dissolved stream can promote chemical corrosion.
oxygen which accelerates corrosion rates.
Non-sulfate resistant cement (construction Fluid and solid flow: Erosion corrosion is
cement) breaks down rapidly and exposes the caused by high velocity fluids, turbulence,
casing to corrosive aquifer water. sand production.
Metal properties: Most casings show Bacterial growth: Anaerobic Sulfate Re-
variation in metallic properties, from joint to ducing Bacteria synthesize H2S and promote
joint, across the same joint, and from joint to chemical and pitting corrosion.
collar. This produces galvanic cells, and is
seen on electromagnetic logs as a variation in
joint conductivity and magnetic permeability. B.4.2 Measures to prevent or remedy
corrosion
Casing anomalies: localized casing anoma- Several measures are available to prevent or
lies can promote galvanic and pitting corro- remedy corrosion in completion strings. They
sion. are listed here for information and not dis-
Corrosion at collars: collars are normally cussed in any details as each one is the do-
stressed and distorted, and present gaps. They main of specialists:
often are starting points for galvanic, pitting,
and crevice corrosion. Engineering design
Casing stress: Stressed sections of casing Selection of materials and alloys
can accelerate corrosion because of their dis- Coatings
torted lattice structure. Hydrogen cracking Good cementing
occurs when hydrogen ions diffuse into the Choice of completion fluids
stressed metal.
Inhibitors and biocides
Saline formation fluids: they act as an Cathodic protection
electrolyte and promote electrochemical and
chemical corrosion. Notice that overall corro- Run tubing and casing patches
sivity of saline solutions increases with salin- Workover to replace tubulars
ity to about 5% NaCl, and then decreases be- Tie-back liners
cause of reduced oxygen solubility. Above Changes in completion
15% NaCl, the saline solution is less corro-
sive than fresh water.
Useful elements to design prevention and re-
Oxygenated fluids: either meteoric forma- medial programs can be obtained from corro-
tion waters or injection water not treated can sion evaluation and monitoring using wireline
cause electrochemical and chemical attack. logging tools.
Notice that, for carbon steel, oxygen dissolved
in water is about 80 times more corrosive than

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Schlumberger

STRESS
ACID

OXYGENATED/
SALINE FLUIDS POOR
CEMENT

CORROSIVE
ANNULUS FLUID

BIMETALLISM
H2S CORROSIVE
CO2
FORMATION
+ FLUID
STAGNANT H2O
FLUIDS

Fig. B9: Location of Corrosion in Wells

(01/97) B-7

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