Asphaltene-Induced Formation Damage: Effect of Asphaltene Particle Size and Core Permeability

Abstract

Phase behaviour results indicated that the mass and size of asphaltene particles precipitated from the mixtures were strongly dependent on the CO 2 concentration. Coreflood test results showed that the severity of formation damage was related to the initial core permeability as well as the quantity and size of the asphaltene particles precipitated. The damage mechanism was found analogous to the 1/3 and 1/7 rule of thumb that related the size of particulates in injected water to potential permeability reduction. It was also observed that formation damage caused by shallow solid invasion was more readily removed by crude oil injection while remediation of formation damage caused by deep solid invasion, was more difficult. ABSTRACTThe precipitation of asphaltene during CO 2 miscible flooding can lead to production losses and reduced efficiencies. Having a clear understanding of the asphaltene deposition mechanism can help the oil industry to develop effective engineering practice to minimize asphaltene deposition and develop treatment program to restore well productivity. This paper presents results of phase behavior and core flood tests conducted at reservoir pressure and temperature conditions to identify the dominating factors associated with permeability reduction during CO 2 miscible flood of a light oil reservoir.

On the application of NiO nanoparticles to mitigate in situ asphaltene deposition in carbonate porous matrix

“…To facilitate comparison, the third set of experiment was carried out under the same procedures of EXP-2, with the exception that the injecting CO 2 in this case was the carbon dioxide stream saturated with nanoparticles as opposed to the pure CO 2 case. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was used for dispersing nickel oxide nanoparticles into CO 2 , as suggested in the literature (Shah and Rusheet 2009).…”

Experimental study of permeability reduction and pore size distribution change due to asphaltene deposition during CO2huff and puff injection in Eagle Ford shale

“…Asphaltene caused permeability reduction in conventional reservoirs has been well studied. Experimental work showed permeability reduction caused by asphaltene deposition in conventional reservoir cores, and effects of factors on permeability reduction were investigated . It was found that the injection gas concentration has the most impacts on permeability reduction.…”

Asphaltene Precipitation During Different Production Operations

“…The process of accurately describing asphaltene behavior may begin at that stage. To date, tremendous efforts have been made to describe the phenomena of asphaltene precipitation (Strivastava et al, 1999;Kocabas et al, 2000;Takahashi et al, 2003;Sim et al, 2005;Papadimitriou et al, 2007). Several mathematical models have been proposed for the prediction of the rate of deposition and asphaltene solubility.…”