Petrotech-2010

31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India

Paper ID : 20100232
Formation Damage and Return Permeability Studies
Optimization of Drilling Fluids for Sandstone Formations

for

MS Rautela, D. Mondal*, DC Tewari* ,T.R. Misra*

Institute of Biotechnology and Geotectonic Studies Jorhat, Assam,India
*Institute of Reservoir Studies, ONGC, Ahmedabad-380005, India
E-mail: rautela_ms@ongcl.com
Abstract
Drilling fluid is not only factor during drilling for formation damage as widely thought of. When we drill
the hole a lot of cuttings are generated simultaneously. Sizes of these cuttings vary in wide ranges.
Some act as bridging particles, some as fine particles may penetrate into the formation and damage
it. About 5% of clay stone is usually found in the producing formation. This clay and other fines might
play vital role in impairing the formation when the Bit just cuts the formation. A well designed and well
maintained Drilling fluid protects the producing formation from damage as a good mud cake acts as a
Kavach.
But a well designed but poorly maintained drilling fluid would not serve our purpose. Even well
maintained conventional drilling fluids give return permeability of 90%-95%.
Drilling fluids having solid and liquid can be made least damaging to the formation during spurt loss
period. It better to choose appropriate drilling fluid for drilling the well as preventive measures to
formation damage.
The paper presents the results of laboratory studies for assessing the effect of drilling fluid systems
PHPA-Polyglycol, CL-CLS, IDMOL,Clay Free Saturated Salt Drill-in Fluid in terms of degree of
formation damage induced by each system on sand stone formations of Linch Pay ( Jotana # 99 ) and
Sand- 24 ( Vijayapuram # 6 ) during drilling operations.
A concept is also put forward to assess the depth of damage by solid particles, correlating spurt loss
volume to pore volume of the core plug.

Introduction
Drilling fluid is the first fluid that comes in contact with formation. Therefore it may affect and alter the
wellbore properties. The degree of alternation, generally called formation damage, depends upon a
large number of parameters such as the nature and characteristics of the mud, formation properties
and operating conditions. Solids present in the drilling fluid as designed and solids produced during
drilling, block the pores of formation during drilling. At mud spurt loss stage, these particles penetrate
into the formation. But, after formation of mud cake, the probability of these particles entering the
formation is bleak as the permeability of filter cake is of the order of 10-3 mD 1. Formation damage
causes substantial reductions in oil and gas productivity in many reservoirs. The damage might occur
at any stage of well life. The economic impact of poor productivity has emphasized the need in recent
years to improve laboratory test methods for assessing drilling and completion-induced formation
damage.
Experimental Procedures:Four core samples belonging to different pay sands were cut parallel to
the bedding plane and then cores were cleaned, dried and air permeabilities and porosity were
measured. The sample plug saturated with 3% KCl brine was loaded in a hydrostatic core holder at
confining pressure of 1500 psig. The plug was then flooded with light paraffin oil. It was then flooded
with heavy paraffin oil for six hours followed by light paraffin oil flooding to achieve irreducible water
saturation stage. The sample plug at irreducible water saturation inside was then heated to reservoir
temperature for 4 hours and then back pressure of 500psi was applied at well bore face of the core.
About 15 pore volumes of light paraffin oil was then flowed in the formation to well bore direction of
the core and initial oil permeability (Koi) is measured.
After determining initial oil permeability, the drilling fluid is heated to reservoir temperature and
circulated across the well bore face of the sample for 6 hours (dynamic) at 500 psi overbalance. The
mud is then maintained at the well bore face with 500psi overbalance for further 6 hours static period.
Throughout the mud application, fluid loss from the mud is measured at the formation end of the plug.

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
The core is carefully removed from test apparatus and thickness of the mud cake is measured. The
sample is then loaded after removing filter cake and brought to irreducible water saturation using the
same technique as before. The sample is then elevated to reservoir temperature and return oil
permeability (Kor) is measured from formation to the well bore direction. The results are then reported
as Percent Return Permeability (Koi x100) / Kor.
Results and Discussions:Four representative core samples of Linch and Sand-24 paysands were
selected for return permeability studies. In Linch Pay of Jotana # 99, the porosity values were
observed as 24.14%, 24.88% and 28.88 % with corresponding air permeability values as 86.27mD,
231.73 and 223.62 mD respectively . In Sand -24 of Vijayapuram porosity and permeability were
determined 32.09% and 271.53mD Table-1.
Initial Core Flooding Results:The irreducible water saturation values of four core plugs have been
determined in the range of 35.81% to 39.14 % for Linch pay and 32.0% for Sand-24. The initial oil
permeabilities were determined in the range of 42.83-97.69 mD for Linch pay and 124.98 mD for
Sand-24.
iltration Characteristics:or studying the filtration properties of several mud systems under
evaluation, the well known square root of time model was used. This models a linear cake growth
and takes into account both the invasion and the filtration front displacement. The trend and the shape
of the curves obtained by plotting cumulative filtrate volume versus the square root of time will
strongly depend on the characteristics of porous medium used in the test and on particle size
distribution of the solids present in the mud. Further as soon as this curve approaches a linear trend
an efficient mud cake has been deposited at that moment. The square root of time model also helps
to identify the best systems as far as spurt loss characteristics. Curve can be used to quantify the
mud spurt loss. The results of mud exposure test performed on four mud systems considered in the
present study are summarized in Table 2 with intercept and slope values of filtration curves. In terms
of total cumulative filtration loss; Clay free Saturated salt Drill in Fluid has shown maximum volume
(19.10 ml) and minimum in IDMOL system (11.20 ml ), Clay free Saturated salt Drill in Fluid system
has minimum volume of (intercept X slope) and produc ed minimum intercept on the volume axis.
This indicates that only external plugging with minimum solid particles invasion. The other two mud
system has moderate values of these parameters while IDMOL system has relatively high value of
spurt loss. PHPA-Glycol system makes thinner mud cake compare to other muds ( 2.0 mm).
Final Permeability Measurements:After back flooding with oil and estimating cake clean up
efficiency along with permeability recovery, the mud cake was physically removed from well bore face
of the core in case of silicate mud. In other mud systems mud cakes were detached instantaneously
from the core face. Afterwards, the core plugs were brought to irreducible water saturation by flushing
with paraffin prior to final oil permeability measurement. The final oil permeability values obtained are
tabulated in Table 3. All the muds showed the damage in the range of 4.39-18.13% .
Evaluation of individual drilling fluid systems
PHPA-Polyglycol:This drilling fluid system showed a fluid loss of 12.20 mL over the test period with
2.20 ml of dynamic spurt loss. The slope of filtration curve is 0.40 (Fig 1). The mud cake has been of
2.0 mm thickness and has good lubricity. During back flooding, this cake was detached from core
face at 106.07 psi differential pressure. About 5.20 pore volume of oil was required to stabilize the oil
permeability and permeability was returned to the tune of 62.29% showing permeability impairment of
37.71%. After mud cake was physically removed from core face, this impairment was reduced to
9.45%. This suggests that after removing mud cake from well bore face of the plug the back flooding
with oil was effective in returning the maximum permeability.
CL-CLS This system showed a fluid loss of 13.20 ml over the test period with 0.8 ml of dynamic spurt
loss. The slope of the curve is 0.48 (Fig 2). The mud cake of 3.50 mm thickness had been good in
shape. During back flooding, this cake was detached from core face at 57.39 psi differential pressure.
About 5.50 pore volume of oil was required to stabilize the oil permeability and permeability was
returned to the tune of 74.98% showing permeability impairment of 25.02%. After removing the Cake
from the core face final oil permeability was measured. The return permeability was 92.17% with
7.83% impairment. This proves that the back flooding with oil was effective in returning the
permeability.

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
Clay Free Saturated Salt Drill in Fluid :This mud system showed a fluid loss of only 19.10 ml over
the test period with dynamic mud spurt loss of 0.3 ml with a value of 0. 70 for slope of filtration curve
(Fig 3). The mud cake has been of 4.00 mm thickness and has good lubricity. During back flooding,
this cake was detached from core face at 193.25 psi differential pressure. About 5.30 pore volume of
oil was required to stabilize the oil permeability and permeability was returned to the tune of 88.04%
showing permeability impairment of 11.96%. After mud cake was physically removed from core face,
core was brought to Swi condition and final oil permeability was measured. The return permeability
was 95.61% with 4.39% impairment. Therefore, the back flooding with oil had increased the
permeability by about 7%.
IDMOL: This mud system showed a fluid loss of 11.20 ml over the test period with 5.80 ml of dynamic
spurt loss and 0. 20 of slope value (Fig 4).. The mud cake has been of 4.0 mm thickness. During back
flooding, this cake was detached from core face at 20.49 psi differential pressure. About 5.0 pore
volume of oil was required to stabilize the oil permeability and permeability was returned to the tune of
79.22 % showing permeability impairment of 20.78%. After mud cake was physically removed from
core face, the return permeability was 81.87% with 18.13% impairment. This shows that the back
flooding with oil has increased permeability only by 2.65%.
2
Drilling Fluid and Drill Cutting: Kenneth E. Porter Says that he has found many cores with filter
cakes composed of largely of drill cuttings,( 95%+ ), with polymers, bentonite and fluid loss additives
making up the final coating on the surface. As the shear rate at Bit nozzles is of the order of 100000
1
second , At this stage, it is possible that drill cuttings with drilling fluid play a significant role in spurt
loss and cake build up processes. The reduced spurt loss results in less visible drill-cutting debris in
the pores. A good mud cake acts as a fine down hole filter and conventional mud systems with
stabilizing chemicals can achieve least damaging objective.
Spurt loss and depth of solid invasion: Considering the Irreducible water saturation (Swi ), and
residual oil saturation (Sor) of the core plugs the calculated depth of solid invasions for the drilling fluid
systems having spurt losses 2.20 ml, 0.80ml, 0.30ml and 5.80ml comes to be 2.01 cm, 0.58cm,
0.29cm and 5.72 cm. The depth of solid invasion is calculated by correlating pore volume with spurt
loss. At the initial spurt loss period fluid velocity becomes high compared to the later stage of filtration.
In all probability, solids carried out in spurt loss period may restrict further invasion of solid particles. In
permeable sands the initial damage is mainly caused by solid invasions and sometimes solids may be
transported in the deeper regions. But for a good approximation, the spurt loss based damage depth
gives good criteria for characterizing the drilling fluids. The results are in agreement when we slice off
the well bore face of the selected core plugs and determining the oil permeability.
For the better results a thin, tough and impermeable mud cake is desired for successful drilling and
controlling of formation damage.
Conclusion: A Well designed & maintained conventional drilling fluid can give good results and
return permeability which is comparable with new generation of drilling fluids.
Acknowledgement
The authors are grateful to Dr. C.S. Jain, Ex Head- IRS, ONGC for encouragement and guidance
during the course of the study and Shri S. Choudhury, GGM-Basin Manager, A & AA Basin Jorhat
and Dr. Subir Kumar, DGM(Chem.)-Head INBIGS,Jorhat for encouraging to publish the R & D work.
Thanks are also due to shri Rakesh Tripathi,R.Subramanian & S.P.Agrawal for their help. and
Chemistry Section, IDT, Dehradun for suggesting the problem and providing the drilling fluids. We are
also thankful to Shri J. R. Patel Supdt.(Chem.) for his cooperation.
References
1. H C H Darley and George R. Gray, Composition and properties of drilling and completion fluids.
Gulf publishing company, Houston,Texas. Fifth edition, March 1988
2. Kenneth E Porter, an overview of formation damage , JPT, August 1989, pp 780-786.
3. Roland A Krueger, an overview of formation damage and well productivity in oil field operations,
JPT, February 1986, pp 131-151
4. M.S.Rautela et al Return permeability studies for drilling fluid optimization- A case study in
Gandhar field . Oil Asia Journal, October December 2002, PP 62-65

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
Basic Core Parameters
Table 1
Sample No

Porosity
(%)

Permeability
(mD)

Grain Density
(gm/cc)

Swi ( % )

WELL: Jotana#99 Formation: Linch

1

28.88

223.62

2.714

37.32

24.88

231.73

2.681

39.14

24.14

86.05

2.603

35.81

WELL: Vijayapuram # 6 Formation: Sand-24

4

32.09

271.53

2.737

32.00
TABLE 2

FILTRATION PROPERTIES OF MUD SYSTEMS

Experimental Conditions
Confining Pressure: 1500 Psi
Exposure Period: 12 Hours

Mud System

Cum. Filtrate loss, Q (ml)

Dynam Static
Total
ic
(6hrs) (12hrs)
(6hrs)

Well No.: Jotana # 99

Mud Overbalance Pressure: 500 Ps

Intercept on
Q vs t Plot
or Spurt Loss
(ml)

Paysand: Linch Pay

Slope on
Q vs t
Plot
(ml/ min)

Intercept
x
Slope

Mud cake
Thickness
(mm)

Reservoir Temperature: 100 0 C

PHPA Polyglycol

9.90

2.30

12.20

2.20

0.40

0.88

2.00

CL - CLS

10.30

2.90

13.20

0.80

0.48

0.38

3.50

Clay free
saturated salt
drill-in fluid

13.80

5.30

19.10

0.30

0.70

0.21

4.0

Well No.: Vijayapuram # 6

IDMOL

9.70

1.50

Paysand: Sand 24 Reservoir Temperature: 87 0 C

11.20

5.80

0.20

1.16

4.00

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
TABLE 3

POST-MUD EXPOSURE CORE FLOODING RESULTS

Initial
oil perm.
(mD)

Mud System

Apparent
MudCake
Lift-Off
pressure
(psi)

Oil perm
with mud
cake not
removed
(mD)

Well No.: Jotana # 99

%
of initial
oil perm.

Final Oil
perm with
mud cake
removed
(mD)

%
of initial
oil perm.

Paysand: Linch Pay

PHPA - Polyglycol

97.69

106.07

60.85

62.29

88.46

90.55

CL - CLS

70.86

57.39

53.13

74.98

65.31

91.11

Clay free saturated salt drillin fluid

42.83

193.25

37.71

88.04

40.95

95.61

102.32

81.87

Well No.: Vijayapuram # 6

124.98

IDMOL

Paysand:Sand-24

20.49

79.22

99.01

Fig 1

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS VS TIME

WELL NO. JOTANA#99

PAYSAND: LINCH

MUD SYSTEM: PHPA-POLYGLYCOL

14

y = 0.40x + 2.2

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS (mL)

12

10

Static filtrate loss

8

Dynamic filtrate loss

6

0
0

10

15

20

SQUARE ROOT OF TIME (MINUTES )

25

30

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
Fig 2

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS VS TIME

WELL NO. JOTANA#99 PAYSAND: LINCH
MUD SYSTEM : CL-CLS
16

y = 0.48x + 0.8

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS (mL)

14
12
10

Static filtrate loss

Dynamic filttrate loss

8
6
4
2
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

SQUARE ROOT OF TIME (MINUTES )

Fig 3

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS VS TIME

WELL : JOTANA#99 PAYSAND: LINCH
MUD SYSTEM: CLAY FREE SATURATED SALT
25

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS (mL)

y = 0.698x + 0.3
20

15

Dynamic filtrate loss

Static fitrate loss

10

0
0

10

15

20

SQUARE ROOT OF TIME (MINUTES )

25

30

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India
Fig 4

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS VS TIME

WELL NO. VIJAYAPURAM#6 PAYSAND: SAND-24
MUD SYSTEM: IDMOL

12

CUMULATIVE FILTRATE LOSS (mL)

y = 0.20x + 5.8
10

Dynamic filtrate loss

Static filtrate loss

0
0

10

15

SQUARE ROOT OF TIME (MINUTES )

20

25

30

Petrotech-2010
31 October-3 November 2010, New Delhi, India