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Perforated Wells
Turhan Yildiz, SPE, Colorado School of Mines
pointed out that sp only accounts for the flow convergence around Eq. 15 has been used widely owing to its simplicity.
the perforations in an ideal perforated well without formation dam-
age and a crushed zone around the perforation tunnels. Karakas and Tariq Method. Based on the results from a finite-
In the perforation process, the rock around the perforation tun- element simulator, Karakas and Tariq (1991) developed empirical
nels is compacted. The compaction around the perforation tunnels equations to predict the total skin factor in a fully perforated ver-
decreases the permeability, causes additional pressure drop, and tical well. The core of their study is the equation for perforation pseudo-
reduces the well productivity. The impact of reduced permeability skin. For the sake of completeness, the Karakas-Tariq method is
in the crushed zone is formulated in terms of crushed-zone skin summarized briefly here. The original work of Karakas and Tariq
factor, scz. Besides the perforation pseudoskin and crushed-zone should be consulted for additional information and details.
skin factor, perforated-well performance is also influenced by the Ideal Perforations. For ideal perforations influenced by neither
formation damage around the wellbore. The interaction between the crushed zone nor the formation damage, their equation for
the ideal perforation pseudoskin, crushed-zone skin factor, and estimating perforation pseudoskin has the following form:
skin factor due to formation damage may be quite complex. The
combined effects of ideal perforations, permeability reduction in sp = sH + sv + swb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (17)
the crushed zone around perforation tunnels, and formation dam-
age due to drilling/production operations around the wellbore will The first term represents the flow convergence in the horizontal
be represented in terms of perforation total skin factor, spdc. Once plane. The second term accounts for the flow convergence in the
the spdc value is available, the additional pressure change resulting vertical plane. The effect of the cylindrical wellbore itself is con-
from the combined effect of formation damage, perforations, and sidered in the last term. Karakas and Tariq presented simple ex-
the crushed zone can be expressed as pressions for sH, sv, and swb.
Perforations With Crushed Zone Only. To account for the
141.2 qsc Bo pressure losses in the compacted zone around the perforations,
ppdc = spdc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13) Karakas and Tariq used an expression similar to Eq. 16.
kh
k
k spd = sd + s + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (20)
spd = sd + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14) kd p x
kd p
For most cases, the sx term is negligible. The second procedure is
Eq. 14 is accurate for perforations terminated inside the damaged for deeply penetrating PEBDZ. To compute the total skin factor
zone (PTIDZ). Eq. 14 could be derived analytically if it is assumed resulting from formation damage and ideal perforation pseudoskin
that (1) all the perforations are terminated inside the damaged owing to long perforations, Karakas and Tariq defined effective
zone, (2) perforations do not disturb the radial-flow geometry in perforation length and effective wellbore-radius terms and sug-
the undamaged portion of the formation, and (3) the flow conver- gested to replace the actual perforation length and wellbore-radius
gence toward the perforation tunnels completely takes place inside terms with the effective ones in the calculation of sH, sv, swb, and
the damaged zone. However, the applicability of the method put sp terms in Eq. 17. The effective perforation length and effective
forward by Jones and Slusser to the perforations extending beyond wellbore radius are defined below.
the damaged zone (PEBDZ) is questionable.
Jones and Slusser (1974) have suggested using the results pre- Lp = Lp 1 kd k rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (21)
sented by Harris (1966) to compute perforation pseudoskin sp.
rw = rw + 1 kd k rd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (22)
Hong and Locke Nomographs. Hong (1975) and, later, Locke Perforations With Both Formation Damage and Crushed
(1981) presented nomographs to estimate sp. These two nomo- Zone. When it comes to the combined effects of formation damage
graphs also account for skin factors owing to formation damage and compacted zone, Karakas and Tariq (1991) suggested a pro-
and rock compaction around the perforation tunnels. The results cedure for the PEBDZ only. For this case, Karakas and Tariq
from these nomographs may be digitized, tabulated, and integrated proposed to replace the perforation length and wellbore radius with
into well-performance models. Thomas et al. (1992) used a table effective perforation length and effective wellbore radius not only
lookup procedure to incorporate the results from Lockes nomo- in the calculation of sH, sv, swb, and sp in Eq. 17 but also in the
graph into their well-performance software. calculation of scz in Eq. 18 and spc in Eq. 19.
3D Semianalytical Method. In all the previous methods described McLeod method (Eq. 15). The sp value used in the McLeod model
above, it is assumed that all perforations are equivalent and are is calculated with the Karakas-Tariq model instead of Hongs or
distributed uniformly. In Yildiz (2002), a general 3D semianalyti- Lockes nomograph, as suggested by McLeod. As can be observed
cal model considering arbitrary and nonuniform perforation pa- in Fig. 4, the McLeod method markedly overestimates the well
rameters and distribution was developed. The 3D semianalytical productivity for the PTIDZ. On the contrary, for the deep penetrat-
model considers flow convergence toward perforations, formation ing PEBDZ, the productivity ratios are substantially underesti-
damage, and compacted zone around the perforation tunnels. Ad- mated. A comparison of Eqs. 15 and 24 identifies the reason for
ditionally, the model can handle selective perforating at multiple the overestimated well productivity. The McLeod model down-
open segments. However, the 3D semianalytical model also has plays the effect of formation damage and underestimates perfora-
several limitations. For additional information, the reader is re- tion total skin for the PTIDZ. It should be reiterated that the
ferred to Yildiz (2002). McLeod method is implicitly limited to short perforations placed
inside the damaged zone. However, this implicit assumption has
Hybrid Method for Perforation Total Skin. The hybrid method not stopped others from using the McLeod method for the long
is obtained by modifying the Jones-Slusser method in two man- perforations piercing through the damaged zone. The McLeod
ners. First, perforation pseudoskin sp is computed with the Kara- model should not be expected to give good productivity estimates
kas-Tariq algorithm. The Jones-Slusser method does not include for the PEBDZ to start with.
the effect of the crushed zone around the perforation tunnels. Here, The hybrid method for perforation total skin has also been
it is proposed to add the crushed-zone skin factor to Eq. 14 and tested against the experimental data. The comparison is shown in
modify it as below. Fig. 4. As it can be observed in the figure, the calculated results
from Eq. 24 agree well with the experimental results, but when the
k perforation pseudoskin (sp) term is negative, the results calculated
spdc = sd + s + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (24)
kd p cz from Eq. 24 deviate from the measured data. Eq. 24 is not recom-
mended for perforation designs yielding a large negative sp value.
It should be emphasized that Eq. 24 could be analytically verified
Eq. 24 could be derived analytically for the PTIDZ. However,
only for the PTIDZ. Additionally, Eq. 16 has to be used to calcu-
the applicability of Eq. 24 to the PEBDZ is questionable. In the
late the scz term. The hybrid method is not expected to be accurate
experimental data, the crushed zone contributes the most to the
for perforation designs resulting in large negative sp values.
total skin; the perforation pseudoskin and formation damage skin
are small compared to the skin due to the crushed zone. This is
Accuracy of Perforation Total Skin Models. Pan and Tang
basically the reason for the good agreement between the results
(1989) constructed an electrolytic model to simulate the effect of
from the hybrid model and the experimental data belonging to the
perforating on well productivity. They measured the well produc-
PEBZD. The impact of the crushed zone is not influenced by the
tivity under the influence of perforation pseudoskin, formation
extent of the perforations relative to the damaged zone. If there had
damage, and rock compaction around the perforation tunnels. Both
not been the overwhelming crushed-zone effect in the experimen-
the PTIDZ and PEBDZ were experimentally investigated. Their
tal data, the calculated results from Eq. 24 would have deviated
miniaturized electrolytic model was intended to represent realistic
from the measured data for the PEBDZ. The hybrid method is not
field cases in terms of the length dimensions. The representative
recommended for the PEBDZ.
field dimensions were scaled back with a factor of 0.1158. Addi-
The comparison of the experimental data against the simulated
tional details on the experimental work may be obtained from Tang.*
results from the Karakas-Tariq method is displayed in Fig. 5. In
To investigate the accuracy of the skin-factor models for per-
Fig. 5, the solid lines represent the results from the Karakas-Tariq
forated wells, the models described above are compared with the
method. The results from the Karakas-Tariq model are signifi-
experimental data collected by Pan and Tang (1989).
cantly lower than the measured values for both the PTIDZ and
Fig. 4 compares the results simulated using the McLeod model
PEBDZ. It should be reiterated that, for the PTIDZ, Karakas and
with the experimental data. The solid symbols represent the mea-
Tariq did not clearly describe a procedure to estimate the perfo-
sured data; the dashed lines show the results computed from the
ration total skin, including the effects of perforation pseudoskin,
formation damage, and rock compaction. However, Bell et al.
(1995) have used the Karakas-Tariq algorithm for the PTIDZ by
* Personal communication with Y. Tang, Chevron EPTC, Houston (2005). replacing the sp term in Eq. 20 with the spc predicted from Eq. 19,
resulting in Eq. 23. This approach overestimates the perforation values from the McLeod method is lower for the PTIDZ and
total skin factor. On the other hand, an algorithm to compute the higher for the PEBDZ.
perforation total skin factor for the long perforations passing
through the damaged zone has been proposed by Karakas and Partially Perforated Vertical Wells
Tariq (1991). Unfortunately, the results from their PEBZD algo- Many previous studies (Vrbik 1991; Thomas et al. 1992; Pen-
rithm deviate substantially from the experimental data. The Kara- matcha et al. 1995; Golan and Whitson 1991; Samaniego-V. and
kas-Tariq method was scrutinized further by comparing it with Cinco Ley 1996; Economides and Boney 2000; Elshahawi and
SPAN 6.0 and the 3D semianalytical model. It has been observed Gad 2001; Beggs 1984, 1991) have focused on quantifying total
that the Karakas-Tariq method accurately predicts the value of skin factor in partially perforated vertical wells. In some publica-
perforation pseudoskin itself. The algorithm also works fine as far tions (Beggs 1984, 1991), the pseudoskin due to partial completion
as the perforation-pseudoskin/crushed-zone combination is con- and the pseudoskin due to perforations are completely mixed up.
cerned. The Karakas and Tariq method also yields reasonable es- Beggs (1984, 1991) suggested using Saidikowskis (1979) equa-
timates for the combined effects of formation damage and perfo- tion for partial-penetration pseudoskin as an alternative to using
ration pseudoskin. However, when both the formation-damage and the Hong (1975) or Locke (1981) nomographs for perforation
rock-compaction effects are compounded with the perforation pseudoskin. The exact forms of the equations to compute the total
pseudoskin, the Karakas and Tariq method calculates unreasonably skin factor in partially perforated wells can be seen in Table 1.
high perforation total skin factor. This is true for both the PTIDZ The flow convergence around a partially perforated vertical
and PEBDZ. well differs from that around a partially penetrating well and that
Fig. 5 also depicts the comparison of the results simulated from about a fully perforated vertical well. As depicted in Fig. 8, there
SPAN 6.11 against the experimental data. The dashed lines on Fig. are two scales of flow convergence in the near-wellbore region of
5 correspond to the results from SPAN 6.11. As stated before, a partially perforated well. At the far field away from the wellbore,
SPAN 6.11 uses the Karakas-Tariq method (Eq. 23) for the PTIDZ; flow is approximately radial and 1D. As fluid approaches the
hence, SPAN 6.11 and the Karakas-Tariq model yield identical re- wellbore, it first sees the effect of partial completion and starts to
sults for such perforations. For the PEBDZ, SPAN 6.11 uses a modi- converge toward the completed interval without feeling the impact
fied version of the Karakas-Tariq method. The modifications improve of perforations. This flow convergence is 2D and practically iden-
the predicted results to some degree. However, even with the modi-
fications, there are significant deviations between the SPAN 6.11
results and the experimental data for the PEBDZ.
The comparison of experimental data against the simulated
results from SPAN 6.0 and the 3D semianalytical model is dis-
played in Fig. 6. In Fig. 6, the symbols, dashed lines, and solid
lines show the measured data, SPAN 6.0 results, and the 3D semi-
analytical model results, respectively. Both SPAN 6.0 and 3D
semianalytical model replicate the experimental data very well. It
should be restated that SPAN 6.0 uses a modified version of the
Karakas-Tariq method for both the PTIDZ and PEBDZ.
Besides being tested against the experimental data, the methods
to compute the perforation total skin are also compared for a
representative field case. The data set used in the comparison is
given in Table 2. Additionally, nspf8 and p90 are specified.
The results for all the methods are shown in Fig. 7. As can be seen
on the graph, the results from the 3D semianalytical model and
SPAN 6.0 agree well. The hybrid method gives good results as
long as the perforations are terminated inside the damaged zone, Lp
< rd. The Karakas-Tariq method and SPAN 6.11 deviate sub-
stantially from the 3D semianalytical model and SPAN 6.0. Com-
pared to the 3D model and SPAN 6.0, the perforation total skin
a deviated well with formation damage. If a radial-flow regime Inclined wells may be partially or selectively completed. If the
normal to the inclined-well axis emerges before the fluid enters the inclined well is partially completed, then the analytical models
damaged zone, then the additional pressure drop due to formation presented by Cinco-Ley et al. (1975b) and Ozkan and Raghavan
damage may be expressed as follows: (2000) may be used to estimate the compounded pseudoskin factor
due to partial completion and inclination. Let spp represent the
141.2 qsc Bo skin factor accounting for both the well inclination and partial
pd = sd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (27)
k Lw completion. Once spp is available, then the additional pressure
change caused by the combined effect of inclination and partial
It should be noted that the effective length involved in Eq. 27 is the
completion may be expressed as
length of the inclined well.
The total additional pressure change resulting from the com-
141.2 qsc Bo
bined effects of inclination and formation damage is the sum of the ppp = spp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (30)
pressure changes given in Eqs. 26 and 27. This leads to kh
pd =
141.2 qsc Bo h
kh
s + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (28)
Lw d
During the early-time flow period in partially completed and in-
clined wells, a pseudoradial flow develops only around the open
segment length, Lwpc. If the partially completed inclined well is
Hence, the total skin factor owing to well deviation and formation damaged and the damage zone is thin, then it is likely that a
damage can be expressed as below: pseudoradial flow normal to the axis of the completed interval
h develops before fluid enters the damaged zone. In such a case, the
st = s + s = cos w sd + s , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (29) effective length affecting the additional pressure drop caused by
Lw d formation damage is the length of the completed segment. Thus,
where w is the inclination angle measured with respect to the the additional pressure drop caused by formation damage may be
vertical axis. quantified as
Fig. 9Comparison of total skin calculation methods for a par- Fig. 10The effect of perforated segment length on total skin
tially perforated well. Perforated segment at the top. for several perforation lengths.
141.2 qsc Bo approaches the wellbore, it starts to see the effect of well inclina-
pd = sd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (31) tion, and all the fluid streamlines gradually converge and become
k Lwpc
perpendicular to the wellbore axis. A pseudoradial flow appears
The total additional pressure change resulting from the combined around the inclined wellbore before fluid reaches the vicinity of
effects of partial completion, well inclination, and formation dam- the perforated well. The pseudoradial flow is characterized by the
age may be obtained by adding the pressure changes given in Eqs. actual inclined well length, Lw. Once the fluid arrives in the near-
30 and 31. wellbore region, its streamlines are influenced by the formation
damage and perforations. In the near-wellbore region, a 3D flow
141.2 qsc Bo h
pppd = s +s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (32) convergence takes place around the perforations. Similar to the
kh Lwpc d pp partially perforated well case, two different scales of flow conver-
Therefore, the total skin factor in a partially completed, inclined, gence may happen at different locations. In other words, the flow
and damaged well is convergence caused by well inclination may not interfere with the
flow convergence caused by perforations and formation damage.
h It is hypothesized that, in a perforated inclined well, formation
st = s + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (33) damage is mostly interrelated to the 3D fluid convergence around
Lwpc d pp
the perforations and across the crushed zone. The formation dam-
Now, a fully perforated inclined well is considered. Similar to the age, ideal perforations, and crushed zone all should be considered
partially perforated well case, there may be two scales of flow as near-wellbore phenomena; thus, their combined effect should be
convergence around a fully perforated inclined well, as illustrated formulated as independent of the flow convergence caused by
in Fig. 12. At farther distances away from wellbore, fluid flows well deviation.
radially toward the wellbore, as in the case of a partially perforated If the inclined well is fully perforated, then perforation total
vertical well. At these locations, fluid streamlines are influenced skin (spdc) should be computed for a representative unit-thickness
neither by the well inclination nor by the perforations. When fluid segment of wellbore. As in the case of partially perforated vertical
In the partially perforated inclined well example, only a half-
length of the well is perforated. The perforated interval is at the top 141.2 qsc Bo re h
of the formation. Total skin factors estimated from some of the pt = ln + sh + spdc . . . . . . . . . . . . . (41)
kh rw Lh
available models are compared in Fig. 15. Pseudoskin due to in-
clination and partial completion, calculated from the Ozkan- Eq. 41 indicates that total skin factor in perforated horizontal
Raghavan (2000) model, is also displayed in Fig. 15. For w0, wells is
the Vrbik (1991) model is used to compute the partial-penetration h
pseudoskin. SPAN 6.0 and SPAN 6.11 run only for the inclination st = sh + s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (42)
angles less than 60. A comparison of the results depicted in Figs. Lh pdc
14 and 15 indicates that total skin factors for partially perforated As a final example application, total skin factor in a perforated
inclined wells are significantly higher than those for fully perfo- horizontal well is calculated as a function of well length. The data
rated inclined wells. The hybrid and 3D approximate models agree set given in Table 1 applies. nspf8 and p90 are specified.
well in the case of partially perforated inclined wells. The results Total skin factor predicted from Eq. 42 is presented in Fig. 17. The
from all the other models substantially disagree with those from results indicate that longer well length could neutralize the harmful
the hybrid and 3D models. effect of high perforation pseudoskin and eventually generate
It should be noted that total skin factors in perforated inclined negative total skin factors.
wells may be reduced considerably by increasing the inclination
Conclusions
This study examines the methods used to predict the total skin
factor for perforated and damaged wells. Some of the methods
were compared against the experimental data on the basis of fully
perforated vertical wells. Later, the study was extended to cover
partially perforated vertical wells, fully and partially perforated
inclined wells, and perforated horizontal wells. The following con-
clusions have been reached. It should be noted that the conclusions
listed pertain to the range of data considered. Some of the conclu-
sions may not apply to perforated wells with substantially different
data sets.
1. The perforation total skin equation given by McLeod does not
replicate the experimental results. The McLeod method down-
plays the effect of formation damage. For the PTIDZ, the
method underestimates the perforation total skin. On the other
hand, for the PEBDZ, it overestimates the perforation total skin.
2. The Karakas-Tariq method has been compared against the ex-
perimental data and the other models. The algorithm works fine
for ideal perforation tunnels and perforations with a compacted
zone around them. However, the Karakas-Tariq method does
not work when the effects of ideal perforations, formation dam-
age, and rock compaction around the perforations are com-
Fig. 15Comparison of total skin calculation methods for a pounded. For such cases, the Karakas-Tariq algorithm overpre-
partially perforated inclined well. Perforated segment at the top. dicts the perforation total skin factor.
3. The Jones-Slusser method has been modified to account for the combination of long wellbore length and perforations bypassing
rock compaction around the perforations, and a hybrid method the damaged zone could overcome the effect of severe forma-
is obtained. The hybrid method has been tested against the ex- tion damage around the wellbore and increase the well produc-
perimental data. It has been observed that the hybrid method tivity significantly.
compares very well with the experimental data when perfora-
tions are terminated inside the damaged zone. Nomenclature
4. SPAN 6.0 software, using a modified version of the Karakas- Bo formation volume factor, dimensionless, res bbl/STB
Tariq algorithm, has been tested against the experimental data. h formation thickness, L, ft
The results from the software and the experiments agree well. hp length of the completed interval, L, ft
However, SPAN 6.11, using the original Karakas-Tariq method Jc productivity of completed well, STB/D/psi
for the PTIDZ, generates perforation total skin values deviating Jvoh productivity of open hole, STB/D/psi
significantly from the experimental results. k formation permeability, L2, md
5. Some of the total skin-factor models for partially perforated
kcz permeability of crushed zone, L2, md
vertical wells are compared with the 3D semianalytical model.
The simple hybrid model and SPAN 6.0 agree well with the 3D kd permeability of damaged zone, L2, md
model. It has been shown that the total skin-factor equations kr horizontal permeability, L2, md
based on the addition of individual components do not work in kz vertical permeability, L2, md
the case of partially perforated vertical wells. Lh horizontal-well length, L, ft
6. The 3D semianalytical model has been modified to approximate Lp perforation length, L, ft
the flow into perforated inclined wells in isotropic formations. Lw fully completed inclined-well length, L, ft
Additionally, a simple hybrid model is presented. The hybrid Lwpc partially completed inclined-well length, L, ft
model for perforated inclined wells agrees well with the ap- np number of perforations
proximate 3D model. nspf number of shots per foot
7. Most of the available models to calculate total skin factor in
p pressure, m/Lt2, psi
perforated inclined wells treat the total skin factor as a sum of
the individual skin factors. It has been demonstrated that such qsc flow rate at surface, L3/t, STB/D
models result in incorrect total skin-factor values. rcz radius of crushed zone around perforation, L, ft
8. Limited sensitivity studies conducted in this paper indicate that re reservoir radius, L, ft
larger inclination angles may offset the negative impact of high rp perforation radius, L, ft
perforation total skin factors and substantially improve the per- rw wellbore radius, L, ft
formance of perforated inclined wells. scz skin due to rock compaction around perforations in the
9. A simple model is presented to estimate total skin factors in presence of formation damage
perforated horizontal wells. It has been demonstrated that a scz skin due to rock compaction around perforations in the
absence of formation damage
sd skin due to formation damage/stimulation
sf completion pseudoskin due to hydraulic fracturing
sp pseudoskin due to ideal perforations
spc total skin combining flow convergence toward
perforations and crushed-zone skin
spd total skin combining flow convergence toward
perforations and formation damage
spdc perforation total skin including ideal perforation
pseudoskin, formation damage, and rock compaction
around perforation tunnels
spp pseudoskin due to partial penetration
s geometrical pseudoskin due to well inclination
spp pseudoskin combining the effect of well inclination
and partial penetration
st total skin factor
sx boundary skin in Karakas-Tariq model
Fig. 17The effect of horizontal-well length on total skin for viscosity, m/Lt, cp
several perforation lengths. pd additional pressure change due to skin, m/Lt2, psi