Week 9

Well Problems (I)

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Outline
• Production decline due to Problems in Reservoir
• Low reservoir Pressure, Low reservoir quality (poor permeability)
• Water coning
• Gas Coning
• Sand production
• Formation damage source (during drilling, completion, production and injection phase)

• Production decline due to Problems in well

• Well restrictions
• Mechanical failures
• Cement failures
Production decline due to Problems in Reservoir
• Low Reservoir Pressure:
The reduction in reservoir pressure and hence flow rates is particularly acute in dissolved gas
drive reservoirs. In gas cap and water drive reservoirs, pressure maintenance techniques can
often offset the reduction in pressure due to depletion.

How to Solve it:

– Recomplete the well with either smaller tubing or some form of artificial lift.
– Injection

• Poor Permeability:
Fields with low reservoir permeability suffer a rapid decline once the fluids near the wellbore
are produced. Matrix acidizing is only effective in this situation if formation damage is also
present.

How to solve it:

– The most effective method of improving productivity in these types of reservoir is to utilize
a large hydraulic fracture treatment.
• Formation Damage Sources
a. Drilling Damage
The most common source of formation damage in wells is the drilling process itself. Drilling damage
results from the invasion of the formation by drilling fluid particles and drilling fluid filtrate.

The deposition of drilling mud particles in the formation around the wellbore can severely reduce
the permeability in this critical region; fortunately, however, the depth of particle invasion is usually
small, ranging from less than an inch to a maximum of about 1 ft. To minimize this damage, the mud
particles should be larger than the pores; Abrams (1977) suggests that having 5 vol% of the mud
particles with a diameter greater than one-third of the mean pore size will prevent significant
particle invasion. Since the invasion depth is small, it is often possible to overcome drilling mud
particle damage by perforating through the damaged region or by acidizing.

Drilling mud filtrate will invade the formation to a greater depth than drilling mud particles, with
depths of invasion of 1 to 6 ft being common (Hassen, 1980). Drilling fluid filtrate can damage the
formation by fines movement, by precipitation or by water blocking. Fines migration and
precipitation damage can be minimized by tailoring the ionic composition of the drilling fluid to be
compatible with that of the formation. If water blocking is a serious problem, water-based muds
may have to be avoided.
b. Completion Damage
Damage to the formation during well completion operations can be caused by invasion of completion
fluids into the formation, by cementing, by perforating, or by well stimulation techniques.

Since a primary purpose of the completion fluid is to maintain a higher pressure in the wellbore than in
the formation (overbalance), completion fluids will be forced into the formation. Thus, if the completion
fluids contain solids or are chemically incompatible with the formation, damage can result similar to the
damage caused by drilling mud. It is recommended that completion fluids contain no more than 2 ppm of
solids (Millhone, 1982).

Cement filtrate is another potentially damaging fluid when it enters the formation. Since cement filtrate
will usually contain a high concentration of calcium ions, precipitation damage may occur. Perforating
will inevitably result in some crushing of the formation in the immediate vicinity of the perforation. This
damage is minimized by perforating underbalanced, that is, with the wellbore pressure lower than the
formation pressure. Guidelines for the amount of underbalance needed in gas and oil zones are given in
King et aL, 1985.

Well stimulation fluids, though intended to increase the productivity of a well, can cause formation
damage themselves by solids invasion of the formation or precipitation. The potential for damage from
stimulation fluids is discussed in the chapters on well stimulation.
c. Production Damage

Formation damage during production can be caused by fines migration in the

formation or by precipitation.

Numerous studies have shown that a critical velocity exists, above which formation
damage by particle migration occurs (Schechter, 1992). Unfortunately, this critical
velocity depends on the particular rock and fluids in a complex manner; the only
means of determining the critical velocity is through laboratory coreflood tests.

Fines may be mobilized in the vicinity of a production well when water production
begins. Fines are most likely to move when the phase they wet is mobile, and since
most formation fines are water-wet, the presence of a mobile water phase can
cause fines migration and subsequent formation damage.

Precipitation of solids, either inorganic material from the brine or organic solids
from the crude oil, may occur near a production well because of the reduced
pressure in the near-wellbore region. These sources of formation damage can often
be overcome with occasional stimulation treatments (e.g., acids to remove
carbonate precipitates or solvents to remove waxes) or can be prevented with
chemical squeeze treatments using sequestering agents.
d. Injection Damage
Injection wells are susceptible to formation damage caused by the injection of solid particles, by
precipitation due to incompatibility of injected and formation Water, or by the growth of bacteria, Solids
injection is always a danger if the injected water is not well filtered;

Damage by precipitated solids can occur whenever mixing of the injected water with the formation water
leads to supersaturation of one or more chemical species. The most common problem of this type is the
injection of water with relatively high concentrations of sulfate or carbonate ions into formations with
divalent cations, such as calcium, magnesium or barium present. Because cation exchange with clays in the
formation can release divalent cations into solution when a water with a different ionic composition is
injected, precipitation may occur in the formation even when the injected water is apparently compatible
with the formation water, In other words, the fact that no precipitation occurs when a sample of formation
water is mixed with a sample of injection water is not sufficient to guarantee that no precipitation will occur
in the formation. Dynamic processes such as cation exchange must be considered.

Injection water may contain bacteria, which can plug the formation just like any other solid particles.
Injected bacteria may also grow in the near-wellbore vicinity, causing severe formation damage. Injection
water should be tested for the presence of bacteria, and bactericides should be added to the water if the
potential for formation damage is indicated.
 Water Conning
– water is drawn up from the aquifer
• Control of Water Production: either across bedding
planes leading to coning.
Excessive water production can lead to a number of production
problems including
– loss of production and eventual well death
– expensive treatment and disposal costs,
– corrosion and scaling.

Recovery from water drive reservoirs, significant increase in

water production Water Fingering
– rise in water/oil contact as a result of reservoir depletion – Water migrating along a high
permeability streak.
How to solve it:
– Reduce off take from wells
– Squeeze cementing
– plugging back and re-completion
• Control of Gas Production:
- Excessive gas production from a well can result from solution gas in the oil evolving as the
pressure declines, or as a result of gas encroachment from the gas cap.
- With pressure decline in saturated oil reservoirs, the gas evolved across the reservoir may
migrate to the gas cap.
- However, the gas evolved near the wellbore as the oil is produced causes an increase in
gas saturation and allows the gas to be produced with the oil.

How to solve it:

– High gas/oil ratios (GORs) in this case are a function of the reservoir drive mechanism and
cannot usually be remedied by a workover.
– An increase in GOR can also occur from a lowering of the gas cap into the producing zone
and through channels in the cement or casing leaks. This increase in GOR can be temporarily
remedied by squeeze cementing and lowering the perforated interval.
• Control of Sand Production:
Failure of reservoir formations and subsequent sand production from wellbore can cause
- Erosion of tubular and components
- Productivity impairment
- Clogging of separators

How to solve it:

Mechanical sand control
– Screens
– Gravel pack
– Frac pack
– Expandable tubular

Sand Management
– reservoir pressure maintenance
Production decline due to Problems in Wells
• Mechanical Failures:
Mechanical failures of tubing, casing and downhole equipment often require a workover to fix the
problem.
Typical problems would include
– casing leaks, either as a result of corrosion or collapse,
– tubing failures, packer failures and downhole safety valve failures.

How to solve it:

– Replacement of downhole components by work over units
– Expandable tubular

• Primary Cement Failures:

A poor primary cement job which leaves channels behind the casing can lead to the influx of
unwanted fluids and in certain instances casing collapse.

How to solve it:

– Squeeze cementing
– Expandable tubular
• Wellbore Restrictions:

Typical causes of restrictions include scale, sand, paraffin and asphalt etc. Many of these problems
may not be apparent during early field life but can become a significant problem as the field matures.

How to solve it:

– A number of techniques, both mechanical and chemical, exist to remove the restriction.
– However, these workover techniques are remedial techniques and consideration should always be
given to the prevention of the problem.
Additional notes:
• Check how Expandable tubular works on links below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUJRbn2qMHk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke3_tPxwzNU
Questions?