About impact of clogging phenomena on well productivity

Abstract

"During the opening of a productive formation by drilling, penetration of clay particles from the drilling fluid into the leading filtration channels of the rock occurs. As a rule, productive formations are opened at pressures that are significantly higher than the formation pressure. The amount of hydrostatic repression depends on the density of the drilling fluid, the height of the liquid column, and the reservoir pressure. A classic example of the latter is the problem of studying changes in reservoir properties that occur at the drilling stage, where relatively small particles of drilling fluid penetrate along with the flow into the pore space. A decrease in the bottomhole zone permeability in oil wells leads to a significant decrease in oil production rates, and sometimes to their complete stop, which ultimately significantly affects the total oil recovery and economic indicators of the oil fields’ development. The decrease in permeability can be caused by many factors: – clogging of the bottomhole zone of the productive formation in the process of drilling a well; – formation of a crust in perforated channels during cumulative perforation; – colmatation of the bottomhole zone of the productive formation during the operation of the well; – clogging of perforated channels during well killing and subsequent clogging; – formation of deposits of paraffins and asphaltenes in the pores of the rock of the bottomhole zone of the well. Bottomhole zone damage (clogging) significantly affects the productivity of wells, and the permeability of the formation, determined by the results of hydrodynamic studies. At the same time, clogging is understood as damage of the bottomhole zone with drilling fluid when opening the productive formation, and deterioration of the properties of the bottomhole zone during cementing, perforation of the productive interval, swelling of clays, etc. This paper presents an analysis of laboratory and field studies of the influence of clogging on the productivity of wells when opening layers with different capacitive and filtration properties, and also provides an analytical estimation of this effect, both for vertical and horizontal wells."