Acoustic Stimulation: Mitigating Near Well Bore Damage and Improved Oil Recovery

Abstract

Reduced well productivity or injectivity is often caused by near-wellbore formation damage in most of the existing oil and gas wells. The formation damage is caused by the invasion of fluids during the drilling and completion process and in a later stage by the deposition of particles (fines, scale, asphalthenes, etc) due to production. The conventional technique to remove these types of damage is the technique of hydraulic fracturing and matrix acidization. A promising new technique to remove the near-wellbore damage is high-frequency acoustic stimulation. It has the potential for being a relatively low-cost procedure for enhancing oil recovery in depleted fields, or returning some shut-in wells to production. This paper reviews acoustic stimulation technology. Commercially available acoustic stimulation tools are comprehensively described along with their field testing and future research directions are proposed. Application of seismic stimulation for enhancing environmental remediation effect is also briefly discussed.

Comparison of Acidizing and Ultrasonic Waves, and Their Synergetic Effect for the Mitigation of Inorganic Plugs

“…Ultrasonic waves have promising results in the removal of inorganic plugs in comparison to traditional chemical methods. In addition, ultrasonic waves have been the active and nontrivial part of seismic and logging services since the beginning of oil and gas exploration . Conventional well stimulation techniques, particularly acidizing, require the preparation of design fluid or acid for specific well jobs which make this technique unattractive in comparison with an acoustic technique .…”