Scribd
Upload
128 views3 pages

Skin

Skin is a measurement of how drilling, completion or workover operations impact the permeability near the wellbore, known as the "skin zone". Positive skin factor (s>0) indicates wellbore damage from reduced permeability in the skin zone (kskin < k). Negative skin factor (s<0) shows wellbore improvement from increased permeability near the wellbore (kskin > k). Zero skin factor (s=0) means no change to permeability. Hawkins proposed that skin factor is calculated based on the permeability in the skin zone versus the formation permeability, and the radii of the skin zone and wellbore. The shape of the pressure profile curve changes based on whether the wellbore is damaged or stimulated.

Uploaded by

Maisam Abbas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
128 views3 pages

Skin

Skin is a measurement of how drilling, completion or workover operations impact the permeability near the wellbore, known as the "skin zone". Positive skin factor (s>0) indicates wellbore damage from reduced permeability in the skin zone (kskin < k). Negative skin factor (s<0) shows wellbore improvement from increased permeability near the wellbore (kskin > k). Zero skin factor (s=0) means no change to permeability. Hawkins proposed that skin factor is calculated based on the permeability in the skin zone versus the formation permeability, and the radii of the skin zone and wellbore. The shape of the pressure profile curve changes based on whether the wellbore is damaged or stimulated.

Uploaded by

Maisam Abbas
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Skin:

Skin is measurement of formation damage (or in case of stimulation, measurement of


stimulation).
Skin Factor
It is not unusual during drilling, completion, or workover operations for materials such as
mud filtrate, cement slurry, or clay particles to enter the formation and reduce the
permeability around the wellbore. This effect is commonly referred to as “wellbore
damage” and the region of altered permeability is called the “skin zone.” This zone can
extend from a few inches to several feet from the wellbore. Many other wells are
stimulated by acidizing or fracturing, which in effect increases the permeability near the
wellbore. Thus, the permeability near the wellbore is always different from the
permeability away from the well where the formation has not been affected by drilling or
stimulation. A schematic illustration of the skin zone is shown in Figure 1.26.
The effect of the skin zone is to alter the pressure distribution around the wellbore. In
case of wellbore damage, the skin zone causes an additional pressure loss in the
formation. In case of wellbore improvement, the opposite to that of wellbore damage
occurs. If we refer to the pressure drop in the skin zone as Δpskin, Figure 6.27 compares
the differences in the skin zone pressure drop for three possible outcomes.

• First Outcome: Δpskin > 0, indicates an additional pressure drop due to wellbore
damage, i.e., kskin < k.
• Second Outcome: Δpskin < 0, indicates less pressure drop due to wellbore
improvement, i.e., kskin > k.
• Third Outcome: Δpskin = 0, indicates no changes in the wellbore condition, i.e.,
kskin = k.
Hawkins (1956) suggested that the permeability in the skin zone, i.e., kskin, is uniform and
the pressure drop across the zone can be approximated by Darcy’s equation. Hawkins
proposed that skin factor, s, is:
k rskin
s=( − 1) ln ( )
k skin rw
This equation provides some insight into the physical significance of the sign of the skin
factor. There are only three possible outcomes in evaluating the skin factor s:
• Positive Skin Factor, s > 0 When a damaged zone near the wellbore exists, kskin is
less than k and hence s is a positive number. The magnitude of the skin factor
increases as kskin decreases and as the depth of the damage rskin increases.
• Negative Skin Factor, s < 0 When the permeability around the well kskin is higher
than that of the formation k, a negative skin factor exists. This negative factor
indicates an improved wellbore condition (well stimulation).
• Zero Skin Factor, s = 0 Zero skin factor occurs when no alternation in the
permeability around the wellbore is observed, i.e., kskin = k.
You can observe the relative change of pressure profile in figure 6-27, that:
1
𝑘𝛼
𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑝 𝑣𝑠. 𝑞
Stimulation is enhancement, losses will reduce and curve will rise.
Lec: 12 december, 2017
MCQ test was conducted. Some mcqs were discussed before actual topic, which are as
follows:
1. Flowrate at external boundary:
• It is 0 if reservoir is closed. Closed reservoir means reservoir boundary is not felt
(re = ∞). That is, production is from a constant area of boundary and flowrate at
boundary is 0.
• If steady state condition, the reservoir boundary will ultimately be felt and aquifer
puts power to reservoir, so flow will occur at boundary and it is not 0.
2. Relation between radius of investigation with time, permeability, porosity and total
compressibility:
We know:
kt
ri = √
948φµct

If ri=re ;

kt
re = √
948φµct

948φµct re2
t=
k
Now, porosity is directly to elapsed time t. This is because with increase in porosity, the
fluid will rise vertically as well, which in turn will cause the fluid to take longer time to
propagate laterally. Φlow=>invasion deep.
You can observe that there is no flowrate in the formula, so r is independent of q. This
means, time for fluid to reach the boundary will remain same despite production at
different flowrate; it will remain constant.
Shape of the reservoir also influences rinv. If well is not central, but near the boundary
then it will hit the boundary first (shorter relative time).
Well flowing pressure pwf will be less for the well which is near boundary, relative to a
well which is at center of reservoir.

You might also like