Acidizing a Sandstone Formation

Successfully in the Gulf of Cambay

his paper describes a matrixacidizing campaign executed

successfully in the Gulf of Cambay
on the west coast of India. In initial
laboratory tests and during simulation
runs, the goal was to design a preflush/
acid/post-flush system to best suit
challenging reservoir conditions while
also considering offshore logistics. After
pumping the system in one well, the
system design, pumping procedures,
and volumes were modified to improve
results further in the next well.

Introduction

The offshore field, located in the Arabian Sea off the western coast of India, has
been on production since 1997 (Fig. 1).
The field covers an area of 1471 km2 and
lies 160 km north/northwest of Mumbai.
The reservoir consists of a stacked series
of sands deposited in the Lower Miocene
and Oligocene. The field has up to 13 different Olio-Miocene gas-bearing sands
separated by shales. Reservoir-sand permeability ranges from 100 md (in shaly
beds) up to 5,000 md in clean sand beds.
Because of the unconsolidated nature of
the reservoir sands, gravel-pack screens
are a typical well completion in the field.

Mineralogy

The formation can be described as ironrich sandstone, with average iron-bearing

chlorite content across 20 samples of
18%. Chlorite is a ferrous-
dominant,
minor ferric mineral and is partially soluble in hydrochloric acid (HCl). Acid dissolution of chlorite, an iron-bearing mineral, could create pore-plugging iron

Pakistan
India

Gujarat

Gulf of Kutch

Arabian Sea
Gulf of Cambay
Fig. 1Gulf of Cambay.

hydroxide precipitates. In the presence

of chlorite clays, an increase in the ironcontrol-additive concentrations in the
HCl preflush is recommended. Previous
guidelines suggest using 5% HCl or 5%
acetic acid as a preflush for sandstone
matrix acidizing in chlorite-rich formations. On the other hand, this rock type
contains a significant amount of hematite that occurs as the oxidation product
of iron-rich detrital grains. Acidizing the
ferric iron-rich hematite with HCl-based
blends should be expected to generate
ferric hydroxide gels, which could plug
reservoir pores and pore throats, thereby
lowering productivity.

Choosing the Right Acid

Many gravel-packed wells suffer production loss as a result of fines migration

and precipitation of inorganic scales,
presumably calcium carbonates (CaCO3).
The most-effective means of removing
CaCO3 scale is with acid (HCl or acetic
acid, or less commonly with phosphoric

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 164631, Overcoming Challenges While Acidizing Sandstone Formation
Successfully in the Gulf of Cambay, Offshore India, by Sergey Stolyarov and Anwar
Alam, Baker Hughes, prepared for the 2013 SPE North Africa Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Cairo, 1517 April. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

acid) or calcium-chelating agents (carboxylate salts). Chemical treatment combined with coiled-tubing/nozzle injection
can augment the scale-removal process,
especially for very hard wellbore scale.
The only method available for removing clay and non-clay siliceous formation
fines without rig involvement is the use of
hydrofluoric-acid (HF) -based acid systems. Because of complex field mineralogy, this rock is susceptible to damage during acidizing with conventional HF/HCl
mud acid. Conventional mud-acid systems will preferentially attack the clay
particles, resulting in precipitation of
secondary- and tertiary-reaction products. This precipitation will cause severe
reduction of permeability and well productivity. Another aspect of these inherent problems is that the formations
themselves are unconsolidated or poorly
consolidated and therefore require gravel
packs and screens for sand control. The
action of mud-acid systems can result in
further weakening of theformation.
A modified HF system using an organophosphonate acid (HV) has been
proposed. The new system (HF/HV) is
designed to use less HCl to convert all
the ammonium bifluoride (ABF). The HCl
concentration in this system is approximately 0.73% before it reacts with ABF.

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
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HCL/Acetic Acid
HF/HV

Fig. 2Production increase after acid

stages.

The system has sufficient acetic acid to

convert the ABF, leaving approximately 3
to 4% acetic acid. Organic acid also slows
down the development of the full HF.
The unconverted ammonium fluoride
would be converted deeper into the formation. The idea in using the new system
is to minimize the risk of overacidizing
the near-wellbore region and to extend
the reaction for deeper penetration. The
HF/HV acid system was mixed so that the
equivalent strength of the HF was 1.5%.

Core Testing

A formation-core-flow study was performed to evaluate the regained permeability after HF/HV stimulation. A core
pack of 1.5-in. diameter and 2.0-in.
length in a core sleeve was used for the
core-flow test. The test-fluid procedure
was to first inject 5 pore volumes (PV)
of the 5% ammonium chloride (NH4Cl)
preflush water and then measure initial
permeability; then, 5 PV of the HF/HV
was injected, and then the final permeability was measured. Results of flow testing indicate that the HF/HV treatment
improved permeability by 44.4%.

Acidizing History

From 2006 to August 2010, seven HF/HV

acid treatments have been pumped, and
in one well (x-07), only 500 gal of 10%
HCl was pumped to remove carbonatescale precipitation. Post-treatment production showed a 70% production increase after HCl/acetic-acid stimulation
and an additional 30% after the HF/HV.
This probably means that HCl-soluble
scales are the predominant problem in
the field, compared with fines migration (Fig. 2). There is no carbon steel in
the well completions, and pickling (rustremoving) treatment is not required.
The HCl stage has been applied before
the HF/HV to remove acid-soluble scales
inside the tubing string and in the near-

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MS164631.indd 90

wellbore region. The following acidizing

procedure proved successful:
1.(carbonate-scaling-removal stage):
7.5% HCl+ 10% acetic acid
2.Main acid (formation-finesremoval stage): HF/HV
3.Overflush: NH4Cl
4.Tubing displacement: nitrogen
(N2)
One well did not show any production
improvement after the treatments; Well
x-08 experienced gravel-pack failure. We
have divided six HF/HV jobs into two categories: the best performers (initial production increase of greater than 100%)
and the worst performers (initial production increase of less than 100%). Only
one well, Well x-04, was treated without a
NH4Cl spacer between the spearhead and
main acid stages. This well is one of the
three best HF/HV performers. This indicates that the spacer does not affect postacid productionperformance.
HF/HV Jobs. All wells (except for Well
x-08) have responded favorably to
HF/HV matrix-acidizing treatments, with
a minimum 50% production increase.
The treatment effect lasts for at least 18
months. The difference in production
response between the best and worst
wells could be caused by the higher positive skin before the treatment in the
case of the best performers. The average
gal/ft and net pay are the same for both
categories: 75 gal/ft and 15 m of net pay
perwell.
10%-HCl Job. The job was pumped in
Well x-07. 500 gal of 10% HCl was displaced with N2. The post-pickling production of Well x-07 is comparable with
the worst HF/HV wells. Six months after
the treatment, the gas production was
still 50% higher than before the treatment job. The fact that production increased after pumping a relatively small
amount of HCl indicates the wells proclivity to form HCl-soluble (carbonate)
scales inside the tubing and in the nearwellbore region (gravel-pack screens).

Nitrified Acid Treatments:

Acidizing Pressure-Depleted
Wells

Several nitrified acid jobs were pumped

in a late-December 2010 acid campaign,

in addition to the previously mentioned cases. Wells with depleted reservoir pressure were chosen for this campaign. Additionally, these candidates
suffered from liquid loading, and no
separator was available on an offshore
platform for unloading these wells. A
pressure-buildup test was performed on
each well to identify stimulation candidates, and, in all cases, wellbore damage
was indicated. The atomized-acid technique has been proposed to avoid water-
loading problems and to eliminate the
skin. The acid was injected as a fine
mist of droplets in the continuous nitrogen phase. A 2:1 nitrogen/liquid ratio
was used.
Well x-10. This well is a cased-hole
gravel-pack completion with net pay
greater than 400 m. A sudden drop
in production was observed in 2009.
Coiled-tubing intervention was performed to restore production in late
2009. An obstruction was encountered
at the top of the gravel-pack screen
(2677 m). Attempts were made to clear
the obstruction by pumping 15 bbl of
7.5% HCl. Though the obstruction
could not be cleared, there has been a
gain in production; original production
level was restored after the intervention
(38MMscf/D). A similar drop in production was observed in April 2010. Average initial rates dropped to 20 MMscf/D
in June 2010 and to 4.3 MMscf/D in
September 2010. Taking into account
the previous success with 7.5% HCl,
it was decided to pump the same acid
formulation again. It was believed that
the tubing and gravel-pack screens were
plugged with HCl-soluble CaCO3 scales.
Again, an atomized acid treatment was
pumped, with 7.5% HCl dispersed in
nitrogen (70:30 nitrogen/acid ratio).
The well started to flow almost immediately after the treatment was completed. Several weeks after the job, the
well was producing at 35 MMscf/D. Preand post-treatment production is shown
in Fig. 3.
Well x-11. This is a fracture-pack completion with net pay greater than 30m. The
well showed the first sign of water breakthrough in January 2008. The water/gas
ratio has increased to 80 bbl/MMscf as
compared with an earlier water/gas ratio

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Gas Production, MMscf/D

40

age mechanisms limiting production in

this field.

35

35
30
25
20

15

15
10
5

4.3
0

0
before

after

before

x-10

after
x-11

before

after
x-12

Fig. 3Nitrified-acid-job well performance.

of 2 to 33 bbl/MMscf. From a pressurebuildup survey, a skin factor of +17.2 was

obtained. The atomized HV/HF treatment was proposed to target damage incurred during production, such as fines
migration and damage associated with
CaCO3 scales.
The atomized HV/HF treatment was
performed as follows:
1.Spearhead (carbonate-scalingremoval stage) 7.5% HCl +10%
acetic acid (10 gal/ft)
2.Spacer: NH4Cl (500 gal)

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MS164631.indd 91

3.Main acid (formation-finesremoval stage): HF/HV

(20 gal/ft)
4.Tubing displacement: N2
The acid stage was nitrified to a
70:30 ratio for better coverage and fluid
recovery. The treatment was successful
and nearly doubled the pretreatment
production rates from 8 to 15 MMscf/D.
This increase provided data that further proved that fines migration and
CaCO3 scales were the primary dam-

Well x-12. This well is a gravel-pack

completion in 7-m sand. The initial production was 11.47 MMscf/D with 20%
water cut through a 90/64-in. choke.
The reservoir pressure recorded in October 2012 was only 745 psi, significantly
below hydrostatic pressure (3,000 psi).
As a result, the well was unable to flow
through 3-in. tubing with a backpressure of 400 psi. Before the stimulation
treatment, the well production dropped
to zero. It was recommended that the interval be treated with 50 gal/ft (screen
length) of the HF/HV system mixed so
that the equivalent strength of the HF
was 1.5%, plus a spearhead of 7.5% HCl
+10% acetic acid and an NH4Cl spacer
between the stages. All fluids were nitrified to a 70:30 ratio. The well, which
had been virtually dead, started to flow
almost immediately after the stimulation treatment. Two weeks after the job,
the well was producing 5 MMscf/D of
gas (Fig. 3). The post-treatment production suggests that the HF/HV system removed the damage. JPT

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