Conformance While Fracturing: Technology Used to Reduce Water Production in North Mexico

Ortega, Aaron Torres; Peano, J.; Lopez, Elias; Ramirez, Raul E.; Dalrymple, Eldon Dwyann

doi:10.2118/104053-ms

Cited by 18 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…On the other hand, the adsorption and physical gel properties of HMWSPs have been proved to be industrially useful when applied to water-shutoff, conformance-control, and acid-diversion well-treatment operations. Detailed reports can be found, in particular, in the works of Eoff et al (2005), Jaripatke et al (2009), Shahan et al (2005), and Torres et al (2006), but also in Al-Taq et al (2007) and Zhao et al (2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow of Hydrophobically Modified Water-Soluble-Polymer Solutions in Porous Media: New Experimental Insights in the Diluted Regime

et al. 2010

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The specific molecular structure of hydrophobically modified water-soluble polymers (HMWSPs), also called hydrophobically associative polymers, gives them interesting thickening and surface-adsorption abilities compared with classical water-soluble polymers (WSPs), which could be useful in polymer-flooding and well-treatment operations. However, their strong adsorption obviously can impair their injectivity, and, conversely, the shear sensitivity of their gels can be detrimental to well treatments. Determining for which improved-oil-recovery (IOR) application HMWSPs are best suited, therefore, remains difficult. The aim of this work is to bring new insight regarding the interaction mechanisms between HMWSPs and rock matrix and the consequences concerning their propagation in reservoirs.A consistent set of HMWSPs with sulfonated polyacrylamide backbones and alkyl hydrophobic side chains together with an equivalent WSP was synthesized and fully characterized. HMWSP and WSP solutions were then injected in model granular packs. As expected, with HMWSPs, high resistance factors (or mobility reductions, R m ) were observed. Yet, within the limit of the injected volumes, the effluent showed the same viscosity and polymer concentration as the injected solutions.A first significant outcome concerns the specificities of the R m curves during HMWSP injections. R m increases took place in two steps. The first corresponded to the propagation of the viscous front, as observed with WSP, whereas the second was markedly delayed, occurring several pore volumes (PV) after the breakthrough. This result is not compatible with the classical picture of multilayer adsorption of HMWSPs but suggests that injectivity is controlled solely by the adsorption of minor polymeric species. This hypothesis was confirmed by reinjecting the collected effluents into fresh cores; no second-step R m increases were observed.Brine injections in HMWSP-treated cores revealed high residual resistance factors (or irreversible permeability reductions, R k ), which can be attributed to the presence of thick polymer-adsorbed layers on the pore surface. Nevertheless, R k values strongly decreased when increasing the brine-flow rate. This second significant outcome shows that the adsorbed-layer thickness is shear-controlled.These new results should lead to proposing new adapted filtration and injection procedures for HMWSPs, aimed, in particular, at improving their injectivity. IntroductionSpecific attention currently is devoted to the development of innovative polymeric systems for IOR applications. The corresponding goals are, in particular, to lower the costs by reducing the quantities of chemicals needed; to broaden the range of suitable application cases (wells or reservoirs) for polymer technologies and, specifically,

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flow of Hydrophobically Modified Water-Soluble-Polymer Solutions in Porous Media: New Experimental Insights in the Diluted Regime

et al. 2010

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“…As Table 1 illustrates, the addition of the RPM polymer to the fracture-stimulation design helped reduce the amount of water produced in the Cuenca de Burgos field, in addition to improving gas production compared to typical average production numbers. The effectiveness of the RPM included in the fracture stimulation designs was long-lasting, exhibiting more than one year of stability at elevated temperatures up to 222°F (Torres et al 2006). Post-frac production numbers after one year of production.…”

Section: Combination Of the Rpm With Hydraulic Fracturing Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field Implementation of a Relative Permeability Modifier during Stimulation Treatments: Case Histories and Lessons Learned After More than 3,000 Treatments

Vasquez

Eoff

2013

All Days

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Relative permeability modifiers (RPMs) have been used by the oil and gas industry for more than two decades to selectively help reduce excessive formation water production. RPM systems are appealing to operators because their deployment simplicity requires no zonal isolation (i.e., bullhead-type treatments). This paper discusses the application of a novel RPM system that was originally developed for water control; however, its application was extended to hydraulic fracturing, acid stimulation, overbalanced workover interventions, and waterflooding.This RPM system is based on a hydrophobically modified water-soluble polymer that, once adsorbed to the surface of the rock, selectively reduces the effective permeability to any aqueous fluid with little or no damage to oil or gas production in both injection and production modes. The hydrophobic modification to the base polymer chain adds unique associative properties to the system that allow multiple novel applications. The following applications are discussed in this paper: (1) the combination of the RPMs with hydraulic fracturing stimulation treatments in intervals previously bypassed because of their proximity to mobile water zones; (2) the combination of RPMs with acid (matrix and non-matrix) stimulation treatments used as a diverting and water control agent; (3) RPMs during overbalanced workover interventions (i.e., wellbore cleanouts, tubing-conveyed perforating (TCP), and gravel packing) used as a fluid-loss control agent; and (4) RPMs during waterflooding for improved profile modification as a diverting agent. Because this RPM does not affect hydrocarbon permeability, this system does not require the use of breakers or a cleanup stage, eliminating possible negative impacts on post-stimulation well productivity.To date, more than 3,000 treatments have been performed with this RPM system. This paper discusses the RPM performance testing and a wide variety of case histories detailing the applications described in different types of reservoirs and wellbore completions.

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“…For these situations, the use of a RPM chemical placed in a separated step or in the prepad stage of a fracture stimulation to control the unwanted water production was considered. Torres et al (2006) document this type of treatment in hydrocarbon producing reservoirs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrocarbon Recovery Maximization in Reservoirs Located Close to Potential Water Producer Horizons: New Proposed Methodology to Combine Water Control and Fracture Stimulation Processes

Sierra

Eoff

2015

SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference

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Hydrocarbon production and recovery maximization can be a challenging task in some specific areas or reservoirs. Specifically, in low permeability environments, hydraulic fracturing is a necessary step to improve the wells productivity and it can be easily justified or applied in reservoirs where a nearby water bearing zone is not present or the water bearing zone is far away from the productive horizons.When bottom water or water bearing zones are located near the oil producer layers, hydraulic fracture stimulation is normally aborted or the potential layer is abandoned or not completed; unfortunately, the luxury of stimulation or completion abortion is not really the best decision because a large amount of hydrocarbons is located in such complex environments.For the situations where the fracture stimulation could not be avoided, the industry has used different alternatives to minimize water production. These include selective perforation and controlled fracture stimulation, selective water control treatment into the water producer layer followed by fracturing, or combining the water control and fracture stimulation in one. For the latter methodology, the water control chemical is squeezed first into the fractured interval or the chemical is added into the fracturing fluid pad to minimize water mobility. However, this methodology relies on the compatibility of the fracturing fluid and the water control chemicals or the migration of the water control chemical from the fracturing fluid system to the water source layers to be effective. This paper proposes a new methodology to minimize water intrusion in cases where fracture stimulation is necessary in areas with bottom water or water bearing zones near the oil producer layers by performing on-the-fly coating of proppant with a relative permeability modifier (RPM) chemical. In the new proposed methodology, water mobility in the water producer layer will be controlled by the proppant bed coated by the RPM.

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Conformance While Fracturing: Technology Used to Reduce Water Production in North Mexico

Cited by 18 publications

References 16 publications

Flow of Hydrophobically Modified Water-Soluble-Polymer Solutions in Porous Media: New Experimental Insights in the Diluted Regime

Flow of Hydrophobically Modified Water-Soluble-Polymer Solutions in Porous Media: New Experimental Insights in the Diluted Regime

Field Implementation of a Relative Permeability Modifier during Stimulation Treatments: Case Histories and Lessons Learned After More than 3,000 Treatments

Hydrocarbon Recovery Maximization in Reservoirs Located Close to Potential Water Producer Horizons: New Proposed Methodology to Combine Water Control and Fracture Stimulation Processes

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