WELL STIMULATION

ZOSIMO F. SARMIENTO
 Stimulation Methods

Hydrofracturing (with and without proppants)

Thermal fracturing

Acidizing
Acidizing

The process of injecting a

reacting fluid into the wells to
dissolve mud, the secondary
minerals scaled on the casing or
sealing fractures, to increase the
permeability.
 Acid Stimulation Objectives
Enhance capacity of wells damaged
by mud during drilling
Dissolve carbonate/silica deposited
outside wellbore during discharge

Dissolving mineral deposits beyond reach

of mechanical workover to augment
capacity of injection wells
Stimulate wells with low permeability
 Candidate Selection

Mud Damaged Well

Mineral Deposition
Inherently Low Permeability
After Fajardo and Malate 2005, WGC
 Candidate Selection
Drilling Data
Loss circulation
Geology and Petrology Data
Structures
Mineralogy
Welltest Data
Injectivity
Pressure Transient Data
Improved Welltest Interpretation
 Treatment Design
Acid mixture volume
Preflush
Mainflash
Overflush

Target zone
Use of electronic pressure, temperature and spinner (PATS) tool

Welltest analysis
Use of Transient Pressure Analyses software (Saphir)
Staged injection
Maximize injection rates
Chemical diverters
Concentrate treatment on the main target
 Evaluation of Results
Downhole Measurement
Payzone thickness
Injectivity Index
Welltest parameters (ie. skin)
Reduction in wellbore pressure
Well Measurement
Injection capacity tests
Discharge tests
 ACIDIZING

Well Name Injection Capacity/Output Improve

(kg/s) or (MWe) ment (%)

PRODN WELLS (MW) (1) (2) (3)

PN-32D 2.2 2.2 4.1 86

110D 4.1 4.1 12.4 202
MG-29D ND ND 7.3
MG-27D NC NC 8.9
MG-30D 4.3 4.3 14.7 242
MG-31D ND ND 19.6
MG-28D 5.9 5.9 8.2 39
MG-24D 3.8 3.8 5.6 47
MG-26D untested untested 2.4
OP-5DA 1.5 1.5 4.1 173
OP-3D 2.6 2.6 5.5 110
REINJEC-TION WELLS
(kg/s)

PN-2RD 60 40 187 367

2R4D 90 *18 *182 911
TC-2RD 146 57 97 70
1R10 35 *30 *48 60
4R-7D 70 36 91 153
4R12D 149 149 264 77
KL-2RD 56 134 139
KL-1RD 103 133 29
OP-1RD 30 70 133
OP-2RD 70 137 96
TIGHT WELLS kg/s
MG8D 10 22 120
MN-1 20 39 95

Notes: 1: Before Drill Out, 2: Pre-Acidizing 3: Post Acidizing

* Calculated Max. Results
 Pre/Post acid Injectivity Data
40
INJECTIVITY DATA COMPARISON
Pre-Acid Comp Test
35 Post-Acid Com. Test

Noticeable decline in 30

pressure after

PUMP RATE (l/s)

25

acidizing job 20

Linear correlation on 15

the injectivity line

10

More or less similar

MEASURED
injectivity index 5
ZERO FLOW
PRESSURE
EXTRAPOLATED
ZERO FLOW
PRESSURE
(12 MPa) SKIN PRESSURE
0 (14 MPag)

10 12 14 16 18

DOWNHOLE PRESSURE (MPag)

After fajardo and Malate 2005,
WGC)
 Well Name : 4R7D Pre-acid PATS data (u101c.dat) Well Name : 4R7D Post-acid PATS data (u201b.dat)
Date Surveyed : 06 August 1996 Pumprate = 12.2 BPM Date Surveyed : 12 August 1996 Pumprate = 12 BPM
Spinner, rps Spinner, rps

0 P, MPa 25
Temperature, C
0 P, MPa 25 Temperature, C
DEPTH DEPTH
mMD, CHF mMD, CHF
0 Pressure, MPa 50 0 Pressure, MPa 50
900 RPS 0 RPS
Pressure Temperature 100
1000
200
300 Spinner
TOL (7-5/8 Liner)
1100
PCS (9-5/8 csg) Pressure 400
Spinner
1200 500
600
1300
700
1400 800
900
1500
1000

1600 TOL (7-5/8 Liner) 1100

PCS (9-5/8 csg)
1200
1700 1300
1400
1800
1500

1900 1600
1700
2000
1800
1900
2100
2000
2200 2100
Line Speed 2200
2300 Temperature
Line Speed
2300

2400 2400
0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 0 60 120 180 240 0 -15 -30 -45 -60 0 60 120 180 240
Line Speed, m/min Temperature, C Line Speed, m/min Temperature, C
PAD MGDL, MAHANAGDONG B

CTU (2)
Drilling
Rig Discharge
2-phase line
construction

Acidizing equip

CTU (1-1/4)
PAD MGDL, MAHANAGDONG B
 Practices in The Philippines

Chemical treatment of heavily damaged wells

Conducted only after discharging or producing the well,
Acidize reinjection wells with reduced capacities of
about 60-75% or as may be required if the equivalent
spare capacity has been reached
No substantial improvement on wells with inherently low
permeability
Success ratio very high due to better selection of wells
Hydraulic Fracturing
Process of injecting viscous fluids at
sufficiently high rates and pressures
such that formation must fracture to
accept the fluids
When fluid injection ceases, fracture
will begin to close, hence propping
agents are mixed with the fracture
fluid to prop open the fractures.
In the Philippines, this method is usually
applied without the use of propping agents,
mainly because of its costs and uncertainty
on the sustainability of the capacity
improvement gained in the in test. Instead,
HF is applied in wells immediately after
drilling once the completion test results
indicate that the well has poor permeability,
i.e., when the well has high WHP during
pumping. A series of pumping test consisting
of injecting water from from minimum to
maximum pump rate is introduced into the
well until the permeability improves.
Otherwise, the test is stopped after 24 hours.
Improvement is attained if injection
pressure drops significantly up to the
operating injection WHP of the field if
not to zero or vacuum conditions
A propant fracturing job in the
Philippines was successfully done in
an injection well, but improvement was
not sustained, pmost lieklt because of
silica deposition taking place within
the propped areas and the formation.
In crystalline rock it is common
practice to inject only water without
proppants, but much larger volumes
than in sedimentary rock are pumped.
Large fracture areas are required in
crystalline rock , whereas
enhancement of near wellbore region
is required only in sedimentary rocks
Hydraulic Fracturing set up
 Well Name : 5R3D TPS data before frac job
Date Surveyed : 10 March 1995
Spinner Response, rps
@ 8 BPM
0 250 @ 16 BPM
P, ksc
DEPTH @ 30 BPM
mMD, CHF 0 50
1100 RPS

1200
TOL

PCS
1300
pressure

1400
temperature
1500

1600

1700

1800

1900
zones based
on original
2000 completion test

2100
line speed major zone
2200

2300

2400

2500

2600

2700
0 -10 -20 -30 -40 -50 0 10 20 30 40 50
Line Speed, m/min zones based T, C
on TPS data
Thermal Fracturing
Process of injecting cold
water into the well for a
certain period, followed by
shut-in and thermal recovery
to induce thermal cracking
forces and pressure impulses
that can increase permeability
and possibly create new
fractures or conducting pores.
An example of a thermal fracturing job
is that of pumping cold water into a
relatively hot formation for a long time
whereby formation is allowed to
contract and thus create thermal
stresses
This technique has been proven in
steam condensate injection in the
Philippines and at Coso in the USA
(Rose et al, 2005, SGP-TR 76).
In New Zealand, improvement in
capacities of wells were observed after
pumping cold water especially in wells
where there were observed drilling
losses but damaged by or blocked by
mud or other debris. (Siega, 2009,
EDC Conf.)
 CALCITE INHIBITION SYSTEM

Injection of chemical, an aqueous

solution of an acrylate polymer,
that inhibits calcite deposition and
allow the well with calcite scaling
tendency to be utilized
uninterrupted for a long period
without workover

Inhibitor prevents precipitated

scale crystals from adhering to
surfaces
Inhibitor distorts the scale crystal
structure so that the crystal is
prevented from growing
Calcite Inhibition System (CIS) in
production wells

Set-up eliminates repeated

workover and acidizing of
production wells with calcite
scales formation

Photo at right: Chemical dosing unit in

background, wellhead injection system in
foreground
 30

STEAMFLOW (kg/s)
25
0.67 kg/s-month
20
15
0.16 kg/s-month
10
0.6 kg/s-month
5
0

1 3 5 7

Years
 Calcite Inhibition Sstem (contd)

30
STEAMFLOW (kg/s)

25
0.67 kg/s-month
20
15
0.16 kg/s-month
10
0.6 kg/s-month
5
0