Reservoir formation damage during various phases of oil and gas recovery- an overview

Abstract

When a reservoir of oil or gas is discovered under the ground, and reservoir engineers and drilling engineers are employed to tap that reservoir, often, they inadvertently damage it. Formation damage is an undesirable operational and economic problem that can occur during the various phases of oil and gas recovery from subsurface reservoirs including production, drilling, stimulation techniques and work over operations. The formation of a reservoir can be damaged by unforeseen rock, fluid, particle interactions etc and alterations caused by reservoir fluid, flow, and stress conditions. For example, the chemicals that the engineers have injected into the reservoir, the drilling mud used in drilling, or even by stress from the drill bit itself may cause formation damage. Control and remediation of formation damage are among the most important issues to be resolved for efficient exploitation of petroleum reservoirs and cost management. Formation damage seems to be inevitable and whether formation damage can be prevented, removed economically, or must be accepted as the price for drilling and producing a well will depend upon many factors. In this paper a general characteristics of formation damage during various stages of oil exploration are discussed. © 2012 CAFET-INNOVA TECHNICAL SOCIETY. All rights reserved.