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SPE 94712

OBM's Filtrate Damaging Effect on Gas Wells


C.N. Emiliani, G. Ripa, and M. Sportelli, Eni E&P, and S. Cobianco and L. Del Gaudio, EniTecnologie

Copyright 2005, Society of Petroleum Engineers


Introduction
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE European Formation Damage During drilling and completion many factors concur to induce
Conference held in Scheveningen, The Netherlands, 25-27 May 2005.
severe formation damage, especially in low performance wells
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in a proposal submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
producing from depleted reservoirs. A representative case for
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to mature basins is the Adriatic Sea, whose reservoirs present
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at problems and constraints related to the particular formation,
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
characterized by interlayers of overpressured shales and
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is depleted sands. In order to take into account for this
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to a proposal of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The proposal must contain conspicuous differential depletion, drilling mud must be over weighted
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
causing the filtrate to enter the producing sand so deeply that
perforations are not able to bypass the filtrate invaded zone.
While drilling formation fluids (gas and connate water) and
Abstract
OBMs filtrate invasion may interact giving rise to mechanism
Formation damage of gas wells can occur during drilling and
that alters the pay zone permeability through wettability
completion operations causing a first sensible impairment of
change. When perforating, if tunnels do not bypass the near
the potential productivity.
wellbore invaded zone, as previously seen, additional damage
When drilling gas wells in low permeability reservoir with
may negatively affect rock permeability, through mechanisms
strongly inter-layered formation, as in the Adriatic Sea, oil
related to completion brine and OBM filtrate incompatibility1.
based muds (OBM) are often used in order to minimize
When the completion brine enters the porous media contacting
differential sticking and clay destabilization problems. The
the filtrate front, a blocking and high viscous two phases
OBMs filtrate generates through the mud filter cake, when
system (probably an emulsion) may form (Fig. 1), with strong
exposed to completion brine may form emulsion droplets that
impact on well cleanup efficiency and therefore on
are not easily and fully removed during production, causing a
productivity.
permanent damage to rock permeability.
The objective of this paper is to design and select an additive
This paper presents the study carried out to understand the
able to prevent emulsion from forming, especially when
damage mechanism which gas wells undergo when drilled
perforating a well in brine previously drilled with OBM.
with OBMs and the results obtained in engineering a system
Additives selection criteria were fundamental for engineering
able to enhance production recovery for new wells.
an effective and efficient system, guaranteeing the selected
Bulk experiments and coreflood tests have been performed
additive to be:
both to investigate the interaction effect of OBMs filtrate with
- soluble in brine;
high density water-based pill and to assess its impact on the
- not affected by brine salinity;
well deliverability. In bulk conditions, viscosity and
- not temperature dependent;
microscopy characterization of tight w/o emulsions (up to 99:1
- environmental friendly;
W/O) highlighted that low shear rate and very low emulsifier
- operationally feasible.
concentration in the mud filtrate promote very viscous and
thermally stable emulsion. Besides linear coreflood tests
Successful field applications of one of the selected products,
proved dramatic permeability impairment when flushing
as prevention jobs, will be presented in this paper to prove that
CaCl2 brine through a mud filtrate saturated core, confirming
what experienced during lab testing has been also confirmed
the formation of a blocking phase in the porous media.
through operative procedure in terms of feasibility, efficiency
A prevention system has been engineered as a peculiar
and last, but not least, in terms of costs. Moreover these
surfactant to be added to completion brine, able to prevent
positive results push on for future study addressed to tailoring
emulsions from forming instead of simply breaking it up.
a system, not just for prevention purposes, but also for
Surfactant selection guidelines have been provided as result of
remedial jobs.
various additives screening being focused on the main
characteristics affecting the surfactant efficiency, like HLB
and solubility in brine. State of the art
Emulsions and Emulsifiers. An emulsion is a dispersion
between two immiscible liquids (oil and water). To make an
emulsion we need a third component (emulsifier) that lowers
2 SPE 94712

the interfacial tension between oil and water. The emulsifier, Lab Instruments. An analytical radiometer CDM 230 with
commonly referred to as surfactant, is a molecule with partial micro-electrode CDC 749 has been employed to measure
solubility in both phases with a polar head and a hydrophobic emulsions conductivity. An optical microscopy Leica DM
tail. One of his main properties is the Hydrophilic-Lypophilic 4000 was used to characterize the emulsions morphological
Balance index (HLB) that represents the ratio between his structures. The rheological properties were measured
polar head and hydrophobic tail. The HLB value indicates implementing a controlled stress rheometer (Rheometrics
where, on scale of 0-20, the relative hydrophilicity of a RFII) with couette geometry at room temperature.
particular surfactant lies. Higher HLB values correspond to
stronger hydrophilic characteristics of the surfactant and tend Coreflooding tests. In order to reproduce down hole
to form oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion, while lower HLB values conditions when putting back on production a well, porous
correspond to stronger lipophilic characteristics and tend to media tests are run in a Hassler cell on low permeability Berea
form water-in-oil (W/O) emulsion. In the O/W emulsion the cores (Fig. 3). The tests were carried out at room temperature
oil phase is dispersed as fine droplets in the continuous water (similar to down hole conditions) according to the following
phase, while in the W/O emulsion the aqueous phase is the procedure:
dispersed phase and the continuous phase is oil phase. - saturation of the core with FS;
W/O emulsions, as well known, compose the OBM drilling - initial permeability to FS (Ki(FS) = 7 mD)
fluids formulation, that indeed is characterized by surfactants measurements (production side);
contents at low HLB (from 4 to 8)2-3. When drilling the OBM - injection of CaCl2 brine (d=1.25 sg) at constant
filtrate passes through the filter cake into the formation, this differential pressure (P= 70-90 bar), (injection side)
filtrate is composed by the oil phase and by the excess of to verify the emulsion formation (reference test);
OBM surfactants4-5. During completion, brine may enter the - or injection of CaCl2 brine charged with the DE
formation and thus contact the filtrate, in this case the two additive to prevent the emulsion formation.
phases could interact causing a W/O emulsion to form.
Results and Discussion
The first issue is to reproduce in lab the down hole conditions Effect of oil and water contact. From the bottle test each
to verify whether or not this emulsion forms. Bulk and core sample (25:75, 50:50, 75:25) stabilizes as emulsion (Fig. 4)
flooding tests are indeed performed to define the that comes to be W/O since conductivity values (Table 1)
phenomenology of the problem and to assess chemical and address them as oil external phase systems. In fact the
physical properties of the obtainable system. conductivity values are lower than 0.1 S/cm indicating that
the continuous phase is not CaCl2 brine, which is conductive
Experimental at 180 mS/cm. Several investigations are performed on
Materials. A representative synthetic OBM filtrate (FS) has emulsion samples to better characterize the kind of colloidal
been prepared in lab by mixing an oil phase (low toxicity oil) system. Shear dependence have been investigated preparing
and the two emulsifiers commonly used in OBM formulation. the mixtures at two shear rates (500 rpm and 5000 rpm). From
The emulsifiers concentration was 0.46% v/v, about as ten the microscopy analysis (Fig. 5) two different morphological
times less as the one used in the OBM. This concentration has structures descend. Fig. 5 shows how emulsion at high shear
been reduced to simulate the free surfactant contents present in rate is characterized by a narrow droplets size distribution
OBM. centered around 10 m, while the low shear rate emulsion
Three additives, here named A,B,C, are used to prevent the shows a broader droplets size distribution and a foamy
emulsion formation6. They wereemployed at 0.4 % and 1% morphological structure. These water droplets are surrounded
v/v concentration in brine. by a thin oil film. The major effect of different shear rates is
on different emulsion viscosities. Mixing at high velocity
Bulk experiments. The risks of water-in-oil emulsion made smaller water droplets and we know that , a small
formation are firstly evaluated by using classical bottle tests. droplet exhibit a higher surface area than a big droplet. As the
These tests were performed mixing CaCl2 brine at density 1.25 interdrop friction effect is related to the surface area of
sg with the synthetic OBM filtrate at three different volume the droplets, we can expect an increase in viscosity decreasing
ratios (25:75, 50:50, 75:25). Tests were carried out at room droplet size[]. The rheological behavior of the emulsions
temperature, at low shear (500 rpm) and high shear rates (5000 prepared at low shear rates is showed in Fig.6. Even if we
rpm) using a Silverson homogenizer stirring for 15 min. (Fig. have obtained this emulsion at low shear rates the viscosity
2). These mixtures were poured in lab bottles and allow to rest varies among quite high values (from 102 cp to 106 cp), and
at room temperature and at 90C. Phase separation volume particularly the curves trend that shows a yield stress
was measured as a function of time. behauvior of the colloidal systems, to indicating strong
The two phases system that formed was characterized by restriction to motion onset in porous media. The same yield
rheological measurements, electrical conductivity and optical stress behavior is not observed for low brine content (25%
microscopy analysis. brine) emulsions as evident in Fig. 6. Besides a brine titration
To evaluate the capability of additives to prevent emulsion was carried out to estimate the maximum amount of water that
formation, the same bottle tests were performed considering may be stably entrapped in such emulsions. The titration up to
0.4% and 1% v/v additive in brine. 95% (Table 2), water in oil, has detected emulsions
characterized by high viscosity values as shown in Fig.6.
SPE 94712 3

However we obtained very stable emulsions only up to 90% In fact after core saturation with FS, CaCl2 was injected at a
water, and in these cases none separation of phases (Fig. 7). differential pressure of 75 bars. A poor and fast spurt loss was
Stability dependence on time, temperature and surfactants first observed and after that the injectivity was totally
concentration has been also evaluated. Fig. 8 shows that even impaired. Even an attempt of increasing P up to 90 bars did
after a month the emulsions keep on being stable. Temperature not give any injectivity improvement, indicating a permanent
is not an issue for stability since it is maintained up to 90C, blockage of the porous matrix due to emulsion formation.
value much higher than the average temperature met in the Coreflooding tests have been next performed to verify the DE
Adriatic Sea. In order to verify the minimum surfactants additive effectiveness also in porous media under downhole
concentration that enables emulsion to be stable, values down conditions. The experiment procedure replicates the one
to 0,001% v/v have been tested. The experiment showed that previously followed, except for the brine injection step, where
already at 0.003% v/v a very stable emulsion forms. now the optimal C concentration (1%) is being added to CaCl2
brine.
Theory and criteria selection for emulsion prevention
system. The lab testing results have demonstrated, as In this experiment, where C is added to brine, none damage
previously described the formation of a stable and viscous was observed since injectivity was maintained through all the
W/O emulsion, even at very low emulsifiers concentration. In steps of the followed procedure. These data clearly
order to prevent the formation of these colloidal systems when demonstrate that the selected additive works pretty efficiently
completing wells previously drilled with OBM, a simple and in preventing the emulsion from forming even at very low
economical field treatment has been designed based on the concentration, thus guaranteeing a good return permeability in
implementation of a completion brine charged with a the rock. In other words the simple addition of C to
customized surfactant. The objective is destabilize the W/O completion brines means reasonable well clean up timing and
emulsion or invert it into a lower viscosity O/W emulsion. In mainly the prevention of the producing formation from
this last case, infact, the emulsion is a much less viscous permanently got damaged by emulsion, with sensible impact
system and indeed it is much easier to be removed from the on production.
producing formation when cleaning up a well. What renders
O/W emulsions more acceptable systems is the less viscous Field Case Histories
aqueous continuous phase. The Adriatic Sea basin is characterized by strongly inter-
layered formation of shales and silty sands. This structure has
Screening criteria in surfactants selection has been a key point naturally induced a differential depletion of the reservoir,
to discriminate the right additives among a wide range of which has ended up in an alternation of depleted sands and
products, currently available on the market not only of the oil over-pressured shales. When drilling such a formation, hole
business. The SAD (Surfactant Affinity Difference) map7-8 bore stability problems represent an issue that is prevented by
reported in Fig. 9 is qualitatively used to understand the implementing high weight oil based drilling mud. As a
characteristic of the better agents that either destabilize the consequence of drilling depleted zones with an over weighted
W/O emulsion or invert it in to a lower viscosity O/W OBM, filtrate invasion gets so deeply into the formation that
emulsion. perforations are not long enough to bypass the invaded zone.
We have seen that the tested emulsions are stable at very high Besides, when perforating, completion brine enters the
water concentration (there is a delay on the phase inversion formation getting mixed with the OBM filtrate and inducing a
(Fig.10), have high viscosity (near the phase inversion we viscous emulsion to form (it has been proved in lab testing)
have the higher viscosity) and are characterized by the that permanently damages the rock permeability. This damage
presence of low HLB surfactants (we can rapresent this kind has had extreme consequences on production and wells
of emulsion with the red dot in Fig. 10). In order to get an management since it forced to shut in many levels still
emulsion very instable that easily separes into oil and water productive. The application of completion brine conditioned
immiscible phases (SAD=0 in Fig. 10), or to invert it into a with C on two wells (X1 and X2) gave outstanding results
low viscosity emulsion (O/W, blue zone in Fig. 10), the since they were producing, after a fairly short cleanup period,
overall HLB value of the colloidal system must be increased. along with the expectation. In detail, after drilling with OBM
Many products at high HLB value have been tested in bulk, (1.25 sg), perforations were performed overbalance in CaCl2
preparing, as before, FS/brine/emulsifiers solutions and adding brine (1.27-1.3 sg) added of 3%C, and nitrogen was then
the selected additives to each sample at different percentage. injected to energize the perforated intervals. The wells were
Table 3 shows the conductivity values measured for some of opened to cleanup and an OBM filtrate and water flowback to
the products analysed to evaluate the best surfactant. The 1% surface confirmed that the two liquid phases remained
C product turns to be the best one (Fig. 12) since brings the separated in the formation and that no emulsion formed. Table
emulsion to the more favorable zone in the SAD map (see 4 summarizes the obtained data: the three levels present
yellow dot in Fig. 11). The presence of the C additive in brine similar formations and permeability values, besides gas rate
induces emulsion breaking (if any were performed). values, even though quite different among themselves, are
consistent with the bottom hole pressures of each pool and
Coreflooding tests. After verifying in bulk the W/O emulsion with the estimated values. These results clearly demonstrate
formation due to brine/FS contact, the same was to be proved the effectiveness of using C in preventing emulsion formation
in porous media considering down hole conditions. From the in porous media, positively affecting production efficiency in
reference test severe permeability impairment was measured. terms of cleanup timing and recoverable gas. Last, but not
4 SPE 94712

least, the implementation of C does not represent an issue in The authors wish to thank the management of Eni E&P
terms of costs and operational procedure, rendering the Division and EniTecnologie for the permission to public this
additive even more attractive for further improvement and paper.
investigation.
References
Conclusions 1. Salazar, A. et al.; Application of propellant high-
It emerges that OBMs damaging effect on gas wells may be energy gas fracturing in gas-injector wells at El
prevented by simply adjusting completion brine formulation. Furrial field in Northern Monagas State
This turns to be an effective and cheap technique, widely Venezuela, SPE 73756, SPE International
applicable where W/O emulsion is met as a formation Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage
impairment issue. The selected C additive represents a step Control, Lafayette, Feb. 2002.
improvement toward drilling/completion fluids performance, 2. Arvind, P. et al.: New opportunities for the drilling
since it is the result of a methodological approach based on industry through innovative emulsifier chemistry,
HLB system. As conclusion to this study it is useful to SPE 80247 paper, SPE International Symposium and
highlight the following points: Oilfield Chemistry, Texas, Feb. 2003.
1. viscous O/W emulsions form when OBM filtrate, 3. Audibert, A. et al.:Special non polluting emulsifier
at low HLB value and at low surfactants for non aqueous drilling fluids in deep offshore
concentration, mixes with completion brine even drilling, SPE 89989 paper, SPE Annual Technical
at low shear rate; Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Sep. 2004.
2. these emulsions are stable at every W/O ratio 4. Evans, N. et al.: High Performance emulsifiers
(25:75, 50:50, 75:25, 95:5). This fact supports designed for synthetic based muds, SPE 63101
what is supposed to take place downhole: a large paper, SPE Annual Fall meeting, Texas, Oct. 2000.
amount of brine enters the formation encroaching 5. Green, T.C. et al.: Minimizing formation damage
a residual OBM filtrate spurt. with a reversible invert emulsion Drill-In fluid, SPE
3. a representative emulsion for downhole 72283 paper, IADC/SPE Middle East Drilling
conditions is reproduced in the lab based on shear Technology Conference, Bahrain, March 2002.
rates. Infact these ones correspond to the 6. Dalmazzone, C. et al.: Optimizing filtrate design to
filtrate/brine impact experienced in the formation minimize in-situ and wellbore damage to water-wet
when shooting the producing pay (high shearing) reservoirs during drill-in, SPE 86498 paper, SPE
and when cleaning up a well (low shearing); International Symposium and Exhibition on
4. the emulsion formation is indicated as one of the Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, Feb. 2004.
most severe permeability damage mechanisms in 7. Salager, J.L. Microemulsions, Handbook of
depleted reservoirs that are first drilled with OBM detergents-Part A: Properties, G. Broze ed., Surf.
and next completed in brine; Science Series, M. Dekker vol. 82, 1999, 253-302.
5. to avoid very viscous W/O emulsion to form, an 8. Salager, J.L., Rev. Inst. Mex. Petr., vol 11, 1979, 59.
additive at high HLB value is to be added to brine
in order to induce much less viscous O/W
emulsion formation;
6. the selected C surfactant is compatible to brine
salinity, works at very low concentration (1%)
and at good phases separation kinetic;
7. the two field cases have demonstrated the C
efficacy and easiness in well treatment
applications, confirming lab results and
highlighting the benefits derived from its
implementation on productivity.

Nomenclature
FS: synthetic filtrate;
Ki(FS): initial permeability to synthetic filtrate;
Kf(FS): return permeability to synthetic filtrate;
OBM: oil based mud;
O/W: oil in water;
W/O: water in oil;
HLB: Hydrophilic Lypophilic Balance;
s.g.: specific gravity;

Acknowledgement
SPE 94712 5

Brine/FS Conductivity
ratio
Well X1 X2
25/75 0.07 S/cm selective selective double
single conventional
Completion
conventional completion
50/50 0.07 S/cm
completion
Pool PL2-J PL2-A PL2-C
75/25 0.09 S/cm Net Pay 4.5 m 4m 3m
Permeability 15 mD 15 mD 15 mD
100/1 180 mS/cm SBHP 65 Kg/cm2 106 Kg/cm2 280 Kg/cm2
OBM -1.25 OBM -1.25
Mud OBM-1.25 sg
sg sg
Table 1 Conductivity values at different brine /FS ratio CaCl2 1.27 sg CaCl2 1.3 sg CaCl2 1.3 sg
Brine
+ 3% DE +3% DE +3% DE
Brine Lamium Conductivity Cleanup 16 hrs 15 hrs 4 hrs
microS/cm 33500 42100 99000
Q_gas
Sm3/d* Sm3/d ** Sm3/d ***
75 25 0,09 * FTHP = 13,2 Kg/cm2
80 20 0,1 ** FTHP= 65 Kg/cm2
*** FTHP= 179 Kg/cm2
85 15 0,9
Table 4 Case Histories
90 10 0,5
95 5 1
97* 3 0,8

100 180
milliS/cm
* Water separates
Table 2 Titration: conductivity values

Additive Conductivity

A 1% 135 micro S/cm W/O

B 1% 120 micro S/cm W/O

C 1% 173 milliS/cm O/W


0,4% 180 micro S/cm W/O

Brine tq 180 milliS/cm O/W

Table 3 Conductivity values for different additives


6 SPE 94712

Damage induced during perforating microscopy

OBM FS:brine 25:75


high shear low shear
filtrate

gun

contact front
between OBM
filtrate and
brine perforation

brine

Figure 1 - Damage mechanism during perforating Figure 5 Shear dependence emulsion viscosity

10000
95:5 W/O from 500 rpm to 5000 rpm

FS/brine 95:5 W/O from 5000 rpm to 500 rpm


1000
25:75 W/O from 500 rpm to 5000 rpm
75:25
25:75 W/O from 5000 rpm to 500 rpm
50:50 100
75:25 W/O from 500 rpm to 5000 rpm
25:75

Viscosity [Pa.s]
75:25 W/O from 5000 rpm to 500 rpm
10
FS
Lamium
Brine 1
amides/polyamides
CaCl2 (d=1,25 sg)
lowHLB 0.1

0.01
Inverted emulsion W/O 0.1 1 10 100

0.001

Figure 2 Bulk preparation of emulsion Stress [Pa]

T e T e
Figure 6 Emulsions Rheology
r r
a a
s s
d d
u u
t t
t t
o HASSLER o
r r
Carota berea
diametro 1'
lunghezza 7.5 cm

caricati ml 45 di CaCl2 d=1.25

Pressione a 70- 90 bar

Figure 3 Hassler Cell

Figure 7 Titration: sample at 90:10

25% brine 50% brine 75 % brine 25% brine 50% brine 75 % brine

25% brine 50% brine 75 % brine

Figure 4 Emulsion Samples: 25:75; 50:50; 75:25 after a month


Figure 8 Time emulsion stability
SPE 94712 7

low
C C

high
mediium
medium low
low
low

high
Phases inversion medium
low
W/O low
HLB

SAD>0
Formulation Variable

SAD=0

SAD<0 O/W

% oil % water
Composition
Composition

Figure 9. SAD Map [7, 8] Figure 12 C effect on emulsion

Phases inversion
W/O
HLB

SAD>0

Inversion line
Formulation Variable

SAD=0

SAD<0 O/W

% oil % water
Composition

Figure 10 Emulsion position (red dot) on the SAD Map

W/O
HLB

SAD>0

Inversion line
Formulation Variable

SAD=0

SAD<0 O/W

% oil % water
Composition

Figure 11 Emulsion position (yellow dot) on the SAD Map


with C additive

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