Petroleum Production Operations-1

Topic 6
Well Stimulation

BY:
Mr. SUMIT KUMAR
PEG Point Academy, Roorkee
1
PEG Point Academy
 Definitation..
Well stimulation is the process by which the productivity of a well is increased.
Stimulation is done to
1. To improve productivity
2. To decrease oil viscosity.
3. To reduce skin effect.
4. To increase the natural K of homogenous sandstone or limestone reservoir.
5. To improve drainage efficiency.
6. To increase the conductivity of the formation.

WELL STIMULATION: NITRO SHOOTING

• Liquid explosive called nitro-glycerine was pumped down hole & detonated. This
results in to high pressure gas which shatters rock around bottom hole resulting in
increased permeability. The only problem is that the whole process is
uncontrolled. This method has been discontinued.
 DEPARAFFINATION
• Removal of wax or paraffin deposits from the bore hole or the down
hole equipment is known as De- paraffination.
• Primary cause is cooling of oil due to expansion of gas or oil, loss of
heat etc.
• Paraffins can precipitate from crude on changing the equilibrium
conditions
• Asphaltenes, fines and corrosion products present in the system act as
nucleating materials and increase the binding force of solid to get
deposited.
• Deposition of asphaltenes on the formation sand grains near the well
bore that is oil wet zone causes the plugging the permeable zone and
reduces the production
 DEPARAFFINATION
• The most common methods of removing paraffin deposits form wells
are
i. Mechanical removal: use of scrappers and cutters. Soluble plugs of
microcrystalline wax or insoluble plugs of hard rubber or sharp edged
plastic spheres have been found useful in removing deposits.
ii. Use of solvents: Chlorinated Hydrocarbon such as Carbon Tetra
Chloride, Carbon di-sulphide are the various solvents to remove the
deposits.
iii. Use of dispersants: Water soluble dispersants in the concentration
of 2 – 10% have been found effective
Types of Well Stimulation

Hydraulic
Acidizing
Fracturing
 Acidizing
Acid is used to remove damage near the well bore in all type of the wells. In carbonate
formation acid may be used to create linear flow systems by acid fracturing. Acid fracturing is
not applicable in Sand stone wells.
Fracture acidizing is performed above
Matrix acidizing is performed below fracturing rate fracturing rates and pressures. Etching of
and pressure. Acid flow is through the matrix with the created fractures provides well
reactions being in existing pores and natural stimulation.
fractures
In fracture acidizing, the reservoir is
Principles hydraulically fractured and then the
The well known, steady state, radial-flow equation fracture faces are etched with acid to
describes the well inflow provide linear flow channels to the well
bore

An increased well inflow (Q), or well stimulation, can be achieved by:

(i) increasing the factor {k.h} or
(ii) decreasing one of the factors S or re/rw or μ.
 Well Stimulation Acids
1.HCL- Used in the field and is 15% by weight. However the acid concentration may vary from 5-
35%. HCL can dissolve limestone ,chalk, dolomite and other carbonates.
Hydrochloric acid is only used for acidization in carbonates.

For carbonate (Limestone & Dolomite) formation 10 – 15% HCl is used.

2.HF- HF is used in oil, gas or service wells in normally 3% HF combined with 12% HCl also called
as Mud Acid. It is employed exclusively used in Sandstone rock matrix treatments to dissolve
either natural clays or clays which have migrated into the formation.

For sand stone formation, a combination of 12% HCl + 3% HF called mud acid is used.
Communication between reservoir and well bore created by
Dissolving the formation rock minerals
Dissolving clay minerals
Dissolving external agents invaded into the pores
 Well Stimulation Acids
HCl can not dissolve clay or sand but can dissolve carbonates present in sand stone formation.
HF acid reacts with lime stone and precipitates calcium fluoride an insoluble fine white powder.
CaCO3 + 2HF  CaF2 + H2O +CO2
Precipitate
3.Acetic Acid- It is a weakly ionized slow reacting organic acid. Acetic acid is relatively easy to
inhibit against corrosion and can usually be left in contact with tubing or casing for days without
danger of serious corossion. Can be use in high temp.

4.Formic Acid- It is a weakly ionized slow reacting acid. And properties is just same as acetic acid.
Formic acid is used at low temperature. does not have widespread acceptance.

5. Sulfamic Acid- It is a granular powder materials reacts about as fast as HCL. The primary
advantage of sulfamic acid is that it can be hauled to the location as dry powder and then mixed
with water.

6.Fluoboric Acid- It is an organic acid which hydrolyses to generate HF.

 Types of Acid
• Hydrochloric Acid (HCl) - Limestone reservoir
• Mud Acid
(mixture of 12% HCl & 3% HF) - Sandstone reservoir
• Acetic Acid (CH3COOH)
• Formic Acid (HCOOH)
 Acidizing in Sandstone Reservoirs
It is done in 3 steps.
1.Pre-flush- A preflush of HCL(10%) is normally used to ensure that all
carbonates get dissolved. Sometimes CaCl2, NaCl or KCl is used ahead of
HCL to water wet sands or clays which reduce the tendency to emulsify
HF. If no carbonates is present , Kerosene , diseal oil can be used as
preflush.

2.HF-HCL- This combination of 3%HF +12%HCL is called as Mud Acid. This

pad fluid will reacts with the formation to reduce the skin effect.

3. After Flush- The pad volume is followed by a spocer flush or after flush
of 5% HCl.
 Steps of acidization
• Pre-flush Stage (5% - 10% HCl)
• 50 to 100 gal/ft of formation in general
• To remove carbonates
• To push NaCl or KCl away from wellbore

• Acid Stage
• HF to dissolve clay sand
• HCl to dissolve carbonates

• After-flush stage
• To make the formation water wet
• To displace acid away from wellbore
 ACID ADDITIVES
i. Sequestering Agents: to inhibit precipitation of iron as hydrochloric acid spends.
Acetic acid, Citric acid/ oxalic acid and lactic acid are common sequestering
agents.

ii. Anti Sludge Agents: To prevent sludge formation by keeping colloidal materials
dispersed.

iii. Corrosion Inhibitors: To slow down the rate of corrosion. arsenic acid is more
effective inhibitor than organic inhibitor.

iv. Surfactants: To reduce surface / interfacial tension to prevent emulsions to

water wet formations. Surface tension of 15% HCl is 72 Dynes/cm that can be
reduced up to 30 Dynes/cm by addition of the additives.
 Reaction Kinetics of Acids
Dissolving Power of Acids
A more convenient way to express reaction stoichiometry is the dissolving power. The dissolving
power on a mass basis is called gravimetric dissolving power and is defined as
where
β= gravimetric dissolving power of acid solution, lbm-
mineral/lbm-solution
Ca=weight fraction of acid in the acid solution(Ca =0.15)
νm= stoichiometry number of mineral(Used as 1)
νa= stoichiometry number of acid(taken as 2)
MWm= molecular weight of mineral(100.1)
MWa=molecular weight of acid.(35.6)
The dissolving power on a volume basis is called volumetric dissolving power
where
X =volumetric dissolving power of acid solution, ft3 mineral/ft3 solution
ρa=density of acid, lbm/ft3
ρm= density of mineral, lbm/ft3
 Acid Volume Calculations
The required minimum acid volume is expressed as
Va= the required minimum acid volume, ft3
(1) Vm=volume of minerals to be removed, ft3
Vp= initial pore volume, ft3
ra= radius of acid treatment, ft
rw= radius of wellbore, ft
φ=porosity, fraction
Cm= mineral content, volume fraction
Problems
Q-1. A sandstone with a porosity of 0.2 containing 10 v% calcite (CaCO3) is to be acidized with
HF/HCl mixture solution. A preflush of 15 wt% HCl solution is to be injected ahead of the mixture
to dissolve the carbonate minerals and establish a low pH environment. If the HCl preflush is to
remove all carbonates in a region within 1 ft beyond a 0.328-ft radius wellbore before the HF/HCl
stage enters the formation, what minimum preflush volume is required in terms of gallon per foot
of pay zone? Acid SG=1.07 and ρm= 169pcf
 Design Step For Sandstone Acidizing
1. Determine the Fracture gradient of the well

[or we can use ben Eaten method also]

1. Determine of maximum possible INJECTION rate without fracturing(Assuming pseudo–

steady-state flow)
 Design Step For Sandstone Acidizing
3. Prediction of Maximum surface pressure Psur= (gf – acid hydrostatic gradient)Depth

Questions-
It is planned to carry out a matrix acidizing job for carbonate formations having the following
characteristics.
Formation Depth=7500ft
Perforated Interval=20ft
Formation Permeability=10md
Frac gradient at initial pressure of 3075psi=0.7psi/ft
Overburden Gradient=1psi/ft
Current Reservoir pressure=2000psi (re=660ft/rw=0.25in)
Acid Viscosity at reservoir temperature =0.4cp
Acid hydrostatic gradient=0.43psi/ft
1. Calculate the frac gradient at current reservoir pressure would be
2. The maximum injection rate would be (bbl/min)
3. The maximum surface injection pressure would be
Acid Additives
1. Surfactant
2. Suspending agent(to suspend the insolubles from acid)
3. Anti-sludge agents(to dissolve paraffin, asphaltenes)
4. Sequestering Agents(To prevent ferric ion deposition by maintaining
the ph)
5. Fluid Loss Control agent(To react slowly with the formation)
6. Diverting Agent-to sweep the least permeable path.
 Hydraulic Fracturing
Hydraulic fracturing is a well-stimulation technique that is most suitable to wells in
low- and moderate-permeability reservoirs that do not provide commercial
production rates even though formation damages are removed by acidizing
treatments.
A hydraulic fracturing job is divided into two stages:
the pad stage and
the slurry stage
1. Pad Stage- In the pad stage, fracturing fluid only is injected into the well to break
down the formation and create a pad. The pad is created because the fracturing
fluid injection rate is higher than the flow rate at which the fluid can escape into
the formation. After the pad grows to a desirable size, the slurry stage is started
 Hydraulic Fracturing
2. During the slurry stage, the fracturing fluid is mixed with sand/proppant in a
blender and the mixture is injected into the pad/fracture. After filling the fracture
with sand/proppant, the fracturing job is over and the pump is shut down.

The objectives of the propping is to maintain desired fracture conductivity

economically.
 Fracture Orientation
1. Overburden Pressure > Frac pressure.
If in such case if the vertical pressure is more it is hard to lift the earth geometry
but parting is obtained as stress is more in vertical direction. This leads to
vertical fracture.
This is the case in deep reservoirs where vertical fractures are generated.

2. Overburden pressure < Frac Pressure.

If in such case it is possible to lift the earth structure which initiates the
horizontal fracture later on some secondary vertical fractures may generated.

This is the case in shallow reservoirs

 Determination of Formation Breakdown Pressure
1. Calculate the vertical/ overburden /insitu stress

2. The overburden stress is carried by both the rock grains and the fluid within the pore space
between the grains. The contact stress between grains is called effective stress.
 3. Once effective vertical stress is determined calculate the effective horizontal stress.

4. Calculate the total horizontal stress

Because of the tectonic effect, the magnitude of the horizontal stress may vary with
direction. The maximum horizontal stress may be
Based on a failure criterion, Terzaghi presented the following expression for the breakdown
pressure:

1. A sandstone at a depth of 10,000 ft has a Poison’s ratio of 0.25 and a

poro-elastic constant of 0.72. The average density of the overburden
formation is 165 lb/ft3. The pore pressure gradient in the sandstone is
0.38 psi/ft. Assuming a tectonic stress of 2,000 psi and a tensile strength
of the sandstone of 1,000 psi, predict the breakdown pressure for the
sandstone.
How to fracture
Fluid is pumped/ forced into the reservoir under high pressure
Formation collapses
Subsequently proppants pumped keeps the fracture open
Bigger area for fluid flow results into improved productivity
 1. Minifracs :- PROCESS
 pre-frac operations conducted in the well and the purpose is to determine or
confirm certain information for the design of the treatment.
 The information that can be obtained from a minifrac are
• Closure pressure and time
• Fracture Gradient
• Near wellbore pressure losses
• Fluid leakoff
2. Fracturing
A) Pad fluid : It is pumped to breakdown the formation and initiate fracture.
• The pumping rate must exceed leak-off into the formation in order to propagate the
fracture.
• It also extends or propagates the fracture and develops width required for proppant.
• Usually, it’s a linear or crosslinked gel
B) Sand Slurry :-
• This immediately follows the pad. It is ‘clean’ fracturing fluid mixed with
proppant - referred to as ‘dirty fluid’.
• It allows continuation of growth in fracture length and width.
• The proppant concentrations are slowly increased, as per the pumping schedule.

C) Flush :
• It immediately follows the proppant stages
• where clean fluid (like linear gel or KCl water) is
pumped to displace the proppant
• Used to clean the tubing
 Design Considerations
• Fracture permeability/ Conductivity
• Fracture geometry
– Height
– Width
– Length
• Selection of fracturing fluid and propant
• Well completion

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 FRACTURING FLUID
Desired Properties
• Low (or controlled) fluid loss
• Low friction in pipe
• Sufficient viscosity to transport proppant
• Clean breaking
 Break after desired time at temperature
 Break to low viscosity and no yield-point
• Non-damaging
 Leave no residue behind
 Do not cause capillary or phase trapping
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 Type of Fracturing Fluid
Base Fluid Main Merits Demerits
Fluid type Composition
Linear Guar, HPG, Short Fractures
HEC, CMHPG, (WaterFrac), Low
CMHEC etc temperatures Thinning of fluid with
Wate
temperature, High
r Cross X-linker + HPG, Medium to Long polymer loading
based linked HEC or CMHEC Fractures, Medium needed
etc to High
temperatures
Linear Oil, Gelled Oil Water sensitive
formations, short Not Eco-friendly,
Fractures Expensive,
Oil
Operationally
based Cross X-linker + Oil Water sensitive difficult to handle,
linked formations, High Gelling time is more
Fractures 33
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Base Fluid type Main Composition Merits Demerits
Fluid

Poly External Emulsifier + Oil + Useful for High Fluid loss wells, High friction pressure, limitations
emuls- Water Water Less formation damage in high temperature wells
ion

Acid based Acid + Foamer + Useful for Low pressure and

N2 Water sensitive wells

Additional Pumping systems

needed, Erosion, Suitable only for
Foam
Lower proppant concen-trations,
based
Acid based is much expensive and
poses Fluid loss problem
 Additives
BREAKERS
• Controllably degrades viscous
gelled fluids back to thin base
fluids
• Attack the polymer backbone
and break it into smaller
molecular weight fragments
Fluid loss additives
• Mechanical bridging agents
(eg silica flour)
• Plug the formation fracture
face to minimize fluid loss
into the formation
• 10-fold reduction in fluid
loss for 5- to 100-mD rock
with silica flour
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 Other additives
• Gel Stabilisers Clay Stabilisers

• Methanol and sodium thiosulfate • Minimises permeability

(Na2S2O3) impairment from clay swelling
• Act as oxygen scavengers and • May control migrating clay
prevent the rapid gel degradation • Normally 2% KCl used
caused by dissolved oxygen
• Increases viscosity at elevated
temperatures by a factor of 2 to
10, depending on temp. and time
of exposure to temp.

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A proppant is a material that will keep a induced
hydraulic fracture open, during or following a
fracturing treatment, while the fracking fluid itself
varies in composition depending on the type of
fracturing used, and can be gel, foam or slickwater-
based

•Light
•Strong
•Cheap
•Readily available
Types of proppants
•Sand
•Ceramic
 Proppant

Proppants are Must have Must have

high strength sufficient high
granular strength permeability
materials
designed to
keep the Frac
“propped”
open
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 Types of proppants
Low Strength Intermediate High Strength
Proppant Strength Proppant Proppant
• • •
• Brady, Ottawa, • Carboprop, • Superprop,
Jordan, InterProp, Ultraprop,
• Indigenous sand, Versaprop • CarboHSP,
• Carbo-Lite, • Resin Coated Sintered Bauxite
Econoprop Proppant
•

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 Proppant Selection Criteria
Magnitude of closure stress Proppant to be strong enough to withstand closure stress.

Proppant pack conductivity

Tortuosity
Proppant Flow-back Control

Compatibility with fluids / formation

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 Proppant Selection
Proppant type Max. Closure stress, psi
Low strength Proppant Upto 6000
Intermediate Strength proppant Upto 10000
High Strength proppant Upto 20000
However, the shape of the fracture varies as predicted by different models.
• Breakdown Pressure: the pressure required to break down the formation and initiate fracture.
• Propagation pressure: the pressure required to continually enlarge the fracture.
• Instantaneous Shut-in Pressure: the pressure that is required to just hold the fracture open.

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 Fracture Geometry
Various models are available that can predict the geometry of the fracture. The most common two-dimensional
models are the KGD (Khristianovich Geertsma de Klerk) and the PKN (Perkins Kern Nordgren) models.

Three models:
1. Radial Fracture Model:-
A simple radial (penny-shaped) crack/fracture was first presented by Sneddon and Elliot (1946).
This occurs when there are no barriers constraining height growth or when a horizontal fracture
is created. Geertsma and de Klerk (1969) presented a radial fracture model showing that the
fracture width at wellbore is given by
w w = fracture width at wellbore, in.
μ= fluid viscosity, cp
qi= pumping rate, bpm
R=the radius of the fracture, ft
the average fracture width may be expressed as E= Young’s modulus, psi.
 KGD MODEL
Assuming that a fixed-height vertical fracture is propagated in a well-confined pay zone. (i.e.,
the stresses in the layers above and below the pay zone are large enough to prevent
fracture growth out of the pay zone), Khristianovich and Zheltov (1955) presented a fracture
model. Later on a simplified model was presented by Geertsma and de Klerk (1969) where he
assumes the fracture is of wider aperture and shorter length.

height much greater than its length.

where
w= average width, in.
qi =pumping rate, bpm
μ= fluid viscosity, cp
G =E/2(1+ ν), shear modulus, psia
hf=fracture height, ft
 PKN MODEL
It is important to emphasize that even for contained fractures, the PKN solution is only valid
when the fracture length is at least three times the height. The average width of the PKN
fracture is expressed as (ϒ=0.75)

The KGD and PKN models assume respectively

that the fracture height is large or small
relative to length, while the radial model
assumes a circular shape.
the PKN solution is only valid when the
fracture length is at least three times
the height.
fracture propagates in a particular direction (perpendicular to the minimum stress).

Hydraulically created fractures gather fluids from reservoir matrix and provide
channels for the fluid to flow into wellbores. Apparently, the productivity of
fractured wells depends on two steps: (1) receiving fluids from formation and (2)
transporting the received fluid to the wellbore. Usually one of the steps is a limiting
step that controls the well-production rate. The efficiency of the first step depends
on fracture dimension (length and height), and the efficiency of the second step
depends on fracture permeability. The relative importance of each of the steps can
be analyzed using the concept of fracture conductivity
defined as– (see next slide)
 Fracture Conductivity

A high dimensionless fracture conductivity indicates that flow through the fracture is much easier than flow into the fracture

The ratio of the ability of a fracture to carry flow to the ability of the formation to feed the
fracture is said to be as Fracture Conductivity.
Fcd= fracture conductivity, dimensionless
Kf = fracture permeability, md
w =fracture width, ft
xf= fracture half-length, ft.
 Fracture Conductivity
Q-5 A gas reservoir has a permeability of 1 md. A vertical well of 0.328-ft
radius draws the reservoir from the center of an area of 160 acres. If the
well is hydraulically fractured to create a 2,000-ft long, 0.12-in. wide
fracture of 200,000 md permeability around the center of the drainage
area, what is the fracture conductivity of the aperture?
 Hydraulic Fracturing
Three pressure generally termed in Fracturing
1. Breakdown pressure= It is the pressure required to breakdown the formation and initiate the
frac.
2. Propagation Pressure –The pressure required to continuously enlarge the frac.
3. Instantaneous Shut in Pressure- Pressure required to just hold the frac open.

PBISIP
PBISIP  PISIP  Phyd Fracture Gradient(FG)=
D
Q-6 A mini-frac was performed using a 8.34lb/gal frac fluid at a pump rate of 30bpm. The
treatment interval had an initial reservoir pressure of 3000psi and a depth of 6000ft. The
following wellhead pressure were obtained during the mini-frac test
Pre-job pressure= 402psi
Average Treatment Pressure=2110psi
Maximum Treating Pressure= 2238psi
Initial shut in pressure= 1710psi
Calculate the frac gradient (psi/ft) is most nearly-