Scribd
Upload
83 views2 pages

How Formation Damage Affects The Skin Factor of Your Reservoir

Formation damage occurs when drilling and completion fluids impair the permeability of the reservoir rock near the wellbore, potentially reducing hydrocarbon production rates. Operators can minimize formation damage through awareness of how different operations may impact the skin factor and by implementing assessment, control, and remediation techniques such as acid stimulation. Specialized formation damage analyses on reservoir core samples can help engineers optimize fluid design and mitigate damage risks.

Uploaded by

Ansell Eweme
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
83 views2 pages

How Formation Damage Affects The Skin Factor of Your Reservoir

Formation damage occurs when drilling and completion fluids impair the permeability of the reservoir rock near the wellbore, potentially reducing hydrocarbon production rates. Operators can minimize formation damage through awareness of how different operations may impact the skin factor and by implementing assessment, control, and remediation techniques such as acid stimulation. Specialized formation damage analyses on reservoir core samples can help engineers optimize fluid design and mitigate damage risks.

Uploaded by

Ansell Eweme
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/ 2

HOW FORMATION DAMAGE AFFECTS THE SKIN FACTOR OF YOUR RESERVOIR

Formation damage is defined as the impairment to reservoir caused by wellbore fluids used during
drilling/completion and work over operations. It is a zone of reduced permeability within the vicinity
of the wellbore as a result of foreign fluid invasion into the reservoir rock. Typically, any unintended
impedance to the flow of fluids into or out of a wellbore is referred to as formation damage.
Ability to recover fluids from the reservoir is affected very strongly by the hydrocarbon permeability in
the near wellbore region. Thus, we can make operational changes and minimize the extent of
formation damage induced in and around the wellbore and have a substantial impact on hydrocarbon
production. Being aware of the formation damage implications of various drilling, completion and
production operations can help in substantially reducing formation damage and enhancing the ability
to produce fluids.

Formation skin damage

Although formation damage may affect only the near-wellbore region of a well—reaching only a few
centimeters from the rock face of the bore-hole wall—it can also extend deep into the formation. The
damage may be caused by solids that migrate and block pores or by drilling fluids that alter the
properties of reservoir fluids. Reservoir engineers must be vigilant about the potential for formation
damage and they can mitigate the impact of formation damage by understanding its mechanisms and
how various types of damage might impact production. Assessment, control and remediation of
formation damage are crucial to ensuring efficient use of the world's hydrocarbon resources.

If a well is producing at lower rates than expected, the source of the reduction must be determined
before corrective measures can be attempted. If production engineers determine that formation
damage is responsible for reduced productivity, several techniques can be used to verify the cause of
the problem. Permeability impairment, skin damage and decrease of well performance are all
indicators of formation damage. Skin damage—a measurable reduction in permeability in the vicinity
of the wellbore—can occur for a variety of reasons, for example, incompatibility of the workover fluid
with the native formation fluids. The incompatibility leads to chemical reactions and scale deposits
precipitate, depending on fluid compositions and wellbore pressure. Scale precipitation, or skin,
reduces permeability near the wellbore and creates what is referred to as skin effect. If the skin is not
removed by remedial measures, such as acid stimulation and carbonate stimulation, it will reduce well
productivity.

Reductions or changes in well productivity can be identified through well tests such as pressure
transient analysis and productivity index measurements during flow. Laboratory tests can identify
damage mechanisms and aid in determining options for avoiding or removing the damage. Drilling,
completion and workover data help engineers devise laboratory tests to assess potential damage
arising from fluid-to-fluid or fluid-to- formation incompatibilities. For situations in which formation
damage has been detected and defined, laboratory tests are used to model the effectiveness of
remedial treatments. Because some types of formation damage can be difficult or impossible to
reverse, avoidance may be the best approach.

Specialized formation damage analyses can be performed on reservoir rock samples after cores have
been extracted from the formation. Formation damage specialists measure permeability changes by
testing cores before and after they have been exposed to drilling and completion fluids. The cores are
tested at representative downhole temperature and pressure conditions to evaluate the formation
damage potential of a specific fluid. After testing, analysts inspect the cores and measure fluid
invasion. Data collected from these tests help engineers optimize fluid design and ascertain what
measures can be taken to minimize the risk of formation damage.

A commonly used measure of well productivity is the productivity index, J, in barrels per pounds per
square inch:

The most commonly used measure of formation damage in a well is the skin factor, S. The skin factor
is a dimensionless pressure drop caused by a flow restriction in the near-wellbore region. It is defined
as follows (in field units):

You might also like