WELL STIMULATION
Delayed-Release Acid System for
Cleanup of Al Khalij Horizontal
Openhole Completions
The full-length paper describes a new
approach that uses a slow-acting stim-
ulation treatment for damage removal
and stimulation. The stimulation treat-
ment comprises a starch enzyme to
degrade the most troublesome poly-
mer and an organic compound that
reacts with the carrier brine to release
organic acid in situ over a period of
several hours. The system has been
used recently in the Al Khalij field in
Qatar with openhole lengths ranging
from 162 to 576 ft and treatment vol-
umes ranging from 125 to 725 bbl.
Introduction
The oil-bearing Mishrif reservoir
is a stratigraphic trap in the Upper
Cenomanian limestone. Laid down with
several repeating phases of deposition
and erosion, the reservoir typically con-
sists of 20- to 30-ft sequences, each alter-
nating between poor-permeability matrix
intervals and highly productive diage-
netically weathered layers. Permeability
estimated from test data ranges from
100 md to a few darcies in drain layers
and 1 to 50 md in matrix intervals.
The oil-bearing strata are at approxi-
mately 366 ft true vertical depth, and
the Mishrif formation can be as much
as 46 ft thick. The formation is nor-
mally pressured, and bottomhole tem-
perature (BHT) is 127°F.
During initial development, it was
thought that vertical or slightly devi-
This article, written by Assistant
Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains
highlights of paper SPE 98164, “Delayed-
Release Acid System for Cleanup of Al
Khalij Horizontal Openhole Drains,” by
P. Leschi, SPE, and G. Demarthon,
Total E&P, and E. Davidson, SPE, and
D. Clinch, Halliburton, prepared for the
2006 SPE International Symposium and
Exhibition on Formation Damage Control,
Lafayette, Louisiana, 15–17 February.
For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
JPT • JULY 2006
ated wells with electrical submersible
pumps (ESPs) would be used because
the naturally high permeability could
be expected to provide good produc-
tivity. However, there was a change in
plan when permeability was found to be
very irregular. This prompted the deci-
sion to develop the field with horizon-
tal wells with long horizontal sections.
Subsequent development work on this
field concentrated on optimizing the
drilling process and improving acidiz-
ing treatments for cased-hole wells.
Great success was achieved by the
combined use of retarded and emulsi-
fied hydrochloric acid (HCl) and ball
sealers for mechanical diversion.
Cased or Openhole Completions
In general, fractured reservoirs offer the
best prospects for openhole completions,
but only if there is no need for selectivity
and if wellbore damage can be cleaned
up satisfactorily. Openhole completions
offer several benefits including cost
effectiveness and ease of execution. In
limestone completions, some openhole-
wellbore stimulation usually is neces-
sary to remove drilling damage.
However, in some formations, deep
acid penetration is required. In such
cases, acid must be forced to penetrate
several feet into the rock, either by cre-
ating large wormholes or by fracturing.
Such operations require a cased-hole
completion and use of mechanical and
chemical diversion techniques. The
major disadvantage of these comple-
tions is that the extra materials and
time required for the casing, cement-
ing, and perforating operations result
in significantly higher costs.
To select the appropriate completion,
an evaluation of the need for selec-
tivity is crucial. Selective treatments
enable specific zones to be isolated or
stimulated, and selective perforation
allows production from selected reser-
voir sections. Another important factor
in the decision process is the chance
of unwanted-water or -gas influx into
the well. In an openhole environment,
there is no efficient isolation technique
to shut off any water or gas influx.
Normal practice in Al Khalij wells
has been to complete the wells with a
cased hole. Upon perforation of the cas-
ing, acid diversion is achieved by use
of ball sealers. At the current advanced
development stage, the number of
empty slots is limited, and to improve
recovery rate, it was thought that re-
entry of existing completions would be
useful. Re-entry involves milling and
opening windows in the main cased
bore, then drilling one or multiple side-
tracked horizontal legs. Because instal-
lation of casing and effective mechani-
cal junctions in these laterals would be
very difficult and expensive, openhole
completions and stimulations had to
be addressed.
Openhole Stimulation
Mud-solids and -filtrate invasion dur-
ing the drilling process is one source of
damage to the near-wellbore region. A
more potent damage mechanism is the
action of rotating drill-collars and drill-
pipe. The pounding action that these
components exert on the wellbore face
creates a crushed zone that can reduce
original permeability by a factor of 102
or 103.
Traditionally, in openhole comple-
tions, the crushed zone is removed by
acidization with the primary objective
of obtaining a mechanical-skin value
of zero to −1 along the entire length of
the openhole section. Limestone reacts
readily with strong mineral or weak
organic acid, particularly at elevated
temperatures. Problems and uncertain-
ties arise when acidizing is required
over the entire length of a long section.
The following options were consid-
57
ered to remove the drilling damage in
Al Khalij.
• Mechanical diversion techniques
including packers, straddle packers,
and openhole perforating.
• Diversion by jetting action.
• Pumping alternating acid and gel
slugs through the drillpipe or coiled
tubing.
• Bullheading batches of self-divert-
ing acid.
• Use of a system that generates acid
in situ (i.e., a fluid that when pumped
into place will generate acid over a 1- to
2-day period).
The in-situ acid system was consid-
ered to offer the most promise.
In-Situ-Release Acid Systems
Consideration initially was given to
precursors that would release acetic
acid or formic acid, but ultimately, for-
mic acid was selected as the preferred
treatment. At 127°F BHT, the acetic
acid release rate is much too slow, but
the predominant consideration was that
acetic acid dissolves calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) very inefficiently at down-
hole conditions. Formic acid is much
more efficient. The full-length paper
discusses chemical-reaction factors that
influence the relative performances of
formic and acetic acids.
Formic Acid Precursor Testing. The
drill-in fluid used in the reservoir sec-
tion would be a water-based polymer/
sized-carbonate fluid, which would
mean that the filter cake would be pre-
dominantly sized CaCO3, derivatized
starch, and drill solids. The breaker
fluid planned for use on this filter cake
comprised a combination of formic
acid precursor (FAP) to attack the
solids and a starch enzyme to assist
starch degradation.
FAP Reaction Rate. The FAP selected
reacts readily with water to release for-
mic acid; no other agents are required.
The formic acid release rate can be
described in terms of the reaction half-
life. The half-life is the time required
for half of the reactant to release the
formic acid and is independent of ini-
tial concentration. Thus, the FAP con-
centration decays exponentially.
The concentration used for Al Khalij
will provide sufficient formic acid to
dissolve approximately 132 lbm of
CaCO3 per cubic foot of fluid. Because
formic acid is a weak acid, the reaction
58
with CaCO3 produces a self-buffered
system. Hence, FAP presents a very
low corrosion risk because the fluid is
neutral when introduced into the well
and, even when completely reacted in
the presence of CaCO3, has a pH value
of 4. Another benefit of the relatively
slow acid release rate is that the breaker
fluid that leaks off into the forma-
tion will contain unreacted FAP. Thus,
some acid will be released inside the
formation and will have the potential
to stimulate internal pores.
Case Histories
A prejob risk analysis was performed
to identify the optimum placement
strategy. Appendix 1 in the full-length
paper outlines the pros, cons, key risks,
probabilities, and residual risks of each
placement option. The full-length paper
details treatment of five wells that had
been treated at the time of its writing.
ALK-101 RE. This operation was a re-
entry involving one sidetrack from the
main bore. The sidetrack, ALK-101.L1,
was planned to be openhole and stimu-
lated with FAP before production. The
plan was to drill 3,543 ft of lateral, but
because a fault was encountered at the
transition zone, the decision was made
to end drilling after 2,139 ft (maximum
inclination 91.5°). The hole remained
stable throughout the drilling stage.
Average losses of 1,321 gal/hr were
experienced while drilling the lateral,
and the decision was made to attempt
to cure these before using the FAP sys-
tem. After the hole was cleaned, three
loss-control-material pills were spotted
successively and the hole was displaced
to seawater. Loss rate was reduced to
528 gal/hr before spotting the FAP sys-
tem. The drain volume was 2,642 gal,
and an additional 2,642 gal was added
as excess for the FAP pill.
Four hours after spotting 5,284 gal of
the FAP system, losses were 951 gal/hr
and increased to 2,774 gal/hr over the
next 6 hours. The loss rate began to
increase after the formic acid half-life,
indicating the delayed-stimulation sys-
tem was performing as expected.
The principal zone of interest in
this lateral was at the heel of the lat-
eral, and because of concerns that the
excess FAP might pass this zone before
it was fully hydrolyzed, the decision
was made to perform a rig-based acid
stimulation after the FAP treatment.
A total of 5,019 gal of 23% HCl was
mixed and bullheaded into the section,
after which the loss rate increased to
more than 13,209 gal/hr.
Initially delivering 3,500 BOPD, the
well currently is producing approxi-
mately 2,100 BOPD with water cut
increasing from 12% initially to 32%
and bottomhole pressure declining.
Well productivity is estimated cur-
rently to be 5 bbl/(psi-D) compared to
4 bbl/(psi-D) before the sidetrack.
ALK-45. ALK-45 was a new well
drilled to 1,012 ft. The 9-in. casing
shoe was set at 436 ft, leaving an 8-in.
576-ft-long open hole. Considering
30% excess, the decision was made
to mix a 31,700-gal treatment volume
with a formulation identical to that
used for ALK-101.L1.
Because of the lack of downhole
losses during drilling and the appar-
ent absence of fractures observed from
wireline logs, the decision was made to
displace the well totally to brine before
spotting FAP (Option 1 in the Job Risk
Assessment Table).
The well was displaced to 1.14-specific
gravity brine. Static losses of 132 gal/hr
were observed at the conclusion of
this operation. Initially 10,567 gal of
clean brine was pumped, followed by
30,380 gal of FAP breaker system. This
was displaced at 1,900 L/min.
There were no issues while pumping
the breaker system and only 1,321 gal
dead volume of FAP breaker fluid
remained at the end of the job. The
FAP-based fluid then was displaced
with 1,981 gal of brine at 950 L/min.
A post-job flow check indicated a
317-gal/hr loss rate.
The string then was pulled to the shoe
over the course of the next 5 hours. The
loss rate during this trip was 211 gal/hr.
The well was observed for an additional
6 hours, but the loss rate remained
steady at 211 gal/hr.
No additional stimulation was attempt-
ed, and normal operations were resumed.
The completion was run in hole, and the
well turned over to production.
Over a 4-month period, oil produc-
tion increased from 1,200 to 1,800 B/D
with water cut declining from 62% to
30% and decreasing bottomhole flow-
ing pressure, until the ESP broke down.
The stimulation fluid in this applica-
tion appeared to have no significant
effect, but it is known that the reservoir
is declining in this part of the field.
Nevertheless, after two pressure-build-
JPT • JULY 2006
up measurements, the mechanical skin
was determined to be close to zero.
ALK-48. ALK-48 was a new well drilled
to 1,470 ft. The 95/8-in. casing shoe was
set at 628 ft, leaving 842 ft of 81/2-in.
open hole. The decision was made to
perform an FAP treatment on the upper
portion of the open hole from 1,021 ft
to the shoe. Caliper logs indicated that
this upper section of the open hole had
a 13,473-gal volume.
After circulation with seawater to
clean the hole, a flow check indicated
634-gal/hr static losses. Because of suc-
cess in previous wells, Option 1 of the
Job Risk Assessment was selected. The
decision was made to mix a 19,285-gal
treatment volume with a formulation
identical to that used in ALK-101.L1.
A prejob meeting was held on the
rig floor. At this time, static losses
were observed to have increased to
1,849 gal/hr. Because the system had
already been prepared, the decision
was made to proceed with the job
but to overdisplace the FAP fluid
to increase the quantity inside the
60
95/8-in. casing annulus. Furthermore,
the decision was made to reduce the
flow rate to 1,000 L/min while spotting
and displacing the FAP fluid to reduce
dynamic losses. Additionally, the deci-
sion was made to use drillwater in the
trip tank for the first 7 hours to reduce
the hydrostatic pressure once the pill
had been spotted.
Returns were monitored throughout
the FAP pumping job and appeared
to be steady. There were no issues
while pumping the breaker system,
and only 925 gal dead volume of
FAP breaker fluid remained at the end
of the job. The FAP fluid then was
displaced with 6,868 gal of brine at
1,000 L/min. A post-job flow check
indicated a 2,245-gal/hr loss rate.
The string was left in place for an
additional 90 minutes to avoid dis-
turbing the filter cake while the FAP
was hydrolyzing. The decision was
made to pull the string back into the
casing to reduce any risk of getting
stuck. The average loss rate during
this trip was 2,510 gal/hr. The well
then was observed for 2 hours, and
the average loss rate was 2,906 gal/hr.
Over the course of the initial 6-hour
observation period, approximately
16,116 gal of drillwater was added to
the annulus.
After normal operations were
resumed, stands were laid down and a
scraper run was performed. Inhibited
seawater was used in the trip tank.
Static losses were observed to increase
to 3,963 gal/hr over the next few
hours, and on resumption of circula-
tion, dynamic losses from 6,604 to
9,774 gal/hr occurred. The stimulation
treatment performed as expected. The
completion was run in hole, and the
well turned over to production.
This well currently is producing
4,400 BOPD with 20% water cut and
a stable bottomhole flowing pressure.
The well productivity index is approxi-
mately 9 bbl/(psi-D). On the basis that
the entire drain length is producing
and that permeability-thickness prod-
uct is greater than 7,500 md-ft, the
best match for recent pressure-buildup
measurements gives a slightly negative
mechanical-skin value. JPT
JPT • JULY 2006