Relative-Permeability Modifiers Used in Conjunction With Hydraulic Fracturing Can Increase Hydrocarbon Production and Reduce Water Production

Curtice, Richard; Carlson, Carl E.; Stahl, Michael

doi:10.2118/117603-ms

Cited by 13 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…High water cut largely affects the economic life of producing wells and is also responsible for many oilfield-related damage mechanisms, such as scale deposition, fines migration, asphaltene precipitation, corrosion, etc. (Shafian et al 2010;Curtice et al 2008;Smith and Ott 2006). This also leads to increased operating costs to separate, treat, and dispose of the produced water according to environmental regulations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of an Environmentally Acceptable Colloidal Silica- Based Conformance System

Patil¹,

Boye²,

Murugan

2011

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Excessive water production greatly affects the economic life of producing wells. Though a variety of chemicals are used by the industry to control water production, most of them are not accepted in the regions with strict environmental regulations. Based on this background information, a new, green, environmentally acceptable conformance sealant has been evaluated for its performance. This conformance sealant is a two-component system that incorporates colloidal silica and an activator.This work presents the results of laboratory experiments conducted to select an appropriate activator that could provide adequate gelation times. Sodium chloride brine with a specific gravity (SG) of 1.04 was identified as a better activator than the others considered. Static and dynamic gelation times were evaluated at different temperatures up to 150°C. The effects of pH and temperature on gelation times of the new conformance system were also studied. In the pH range of 5 to7, particle collision predominates and leads to faster aggregation and formation of gel. Hence, the gelation time is minimized in this range. At pH above 7, silica particles exhibit charge repulsion resulting from surface ionization in alkaline solution, which leads to longer gelation times. An increase in temperature causes an increase in the particle collision, leading to shorter gelation times.Carbonate core tests and dynamic sandpack-flow experiments were conducted to evaluate the treatment effectiveness and thermal stability of the system due to ageing. Results showed that this system can provide effective permeability reduction in sandpacks for extended periods of time. The conformance sealant forms a gelled mixture while passing through a carbonate core, plugging the pores and voids. Laboratory experiments also proved that the sealant can be easily and effectively viscosified using a xanthan-based polymer. This viscosified version could help in providing viscous diversion to cover longer intervals.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of an Environmentally Acceptable Colloidal Silica- Based Conformance System

Patil¹,

Boye²,

Murugan

2011

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…9 illustrates. Gas production per barrel of water was significantly higher for the wells in which the RPM was included in the fracture stimulation treatment (Curtice et al 2008). Case History 4 (North Africa).…”

Section: Combination Of the Rpm With Hydraulic Fracturing Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 98%

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

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…During well completion, water can increase the chances of corrosion to the surface and downhole tubulars, and increase the chances of scale formations that can be very difficult to remove once formed (Curtice et al 2008). One challenge is that unwanted water production normally accompanies the hydrocarbon production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relative Permeability Modifier Fracturing Technique Inhibits Post-Fracturing Water Production: Case Histories From Egypt

Salem¹,

Yassine

Waheed

et al. 2010

Proceedings of North Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Hydraulic fracturing has been extremely successful in the western desert of Egypt, with approximately 85% of the production resulting from the use of this stimulation technique. However, in many cases, the proximity of producing zones to underlying (or overlying) water zones can be a deterrent to fracturing. In the absence of geological barriers, the fracture height can grow uncontrolled during a fracturing treatment into the water-bearing interval and cause unwanted water production. By shortening the well's production life and increasing disposal and lifting costs, excessive water production can be extremely detrimental in marginal fields.This paper presents case histories in which wells were hydraulically fractured using conventional techniques, resulting in higher than 60% water cut, and even as much as 100% in one case. While using the conformance-while-fracturing (CWF) method, the water cut was as low as 4%, even when the adjacent water zones were within 20 ft of the perforations. This technique provides a tremendous boost to the economics and an effective solution to a field otherwise plagued with water overproduction. The CWF technique incorporates a relative permeability modifier (RPM) in the fracturing-fluids design. The RPM results in a reduction of effective permeability-to-water without significant changes to the relative permeability-to-oil. This paper discusses the properties of the RPM, the CWF job-design considerations, its field applications, and post-fracturing results in comparison to offset wells fractured conventionally. These techniques might be beneficial to other companies faced with similar water-production challenges.

show abstract

Relative-Permeability Modifiers Used in Conjunction With Hydraulic Fracturing Can Increase Hydrocarbon Production and Reduce Water Production

Cited by 13 publications

References 9 publications

Evaluation of an Environmentally Acceptable Colloidal Silica- Based Conformance System

Evaluation of an Environmentally Acceptable Colloidal Silica- Based Conformance System

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

Relative Permeability Modifier Fracturing Technique Inhibits Post-Fracturing Water Production: Case Histories From Egypt

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About