AUTOMATING SANDSTONE

ACIDIZING USING A RULE BASED SYSTEM

Ali A. Garrouch
Haitham M. Lababidi
AbAllah Ebrahim

Kuwait University
 REFERENCE

 Ebrahim, A., Garrouch, A.A., and

Lababidi, H. 2014, Automating sandstone
acidizing using a rule-based system,
Journal of Petroleum Exploration and
Production Technology, v. 4, no. 4, p. 381-
396.

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 Outline

 Purpose of Acidizing Oil an Gas Fields

 Sandstone Acidizing Stages
 Causes of Failure of Sandstone Acidizing
 Challenge/Study Objectives
 Expert System Development
 Expert System Validation
 Conclusions
 Reference
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 Damage Types - Considered

1. Particle damage from drilling

2. Fines migration
3. Clay swelling
4. Polymer residue from drilling
5. Bacterial infestation
6. Surfactant stabilized emulsions
7. Water blocks

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 Zone of altered permeability ks, near a well.
rs
pe

rw
h ks
Zone of
altered
permeabilit
y

re e
Near well-bore zone: ideal, real and stimulated
bottom- hole pressures.
rw
rs
k
ks Reservoir
Pressure

Stimulated well
ps (due to
pw stimulation) Undamaged
(Ideal) well
ps (due to
damage)
Damaged (Real)
well
How Does a Well Produce?
pwh
pR

Natural flow-rate
Pwf
pflowline

qo

p Nodal
Analysis
pwf
,
,
,
Types of Damage

Begin by estimating the damage skin (Sd) from the

total skin:

Evaluate single skin ( Spp , Sp , S , SG, Sf)

 Openhole and GR, API
0 20 40 60 80 100
Production log 4250

Traces Oil
MG Well 4300

4350
Depth 3,750
STB/D
ft 4400

0.1
4450
p/q 0.01
psi/STB/D
0.001 4500
1 10 100 1000
0.0001
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
Rt, ohm-m
t, hr
 Sandstone Acidizing Stages

 Pre-flush
 Main Acid: 12% HCl-3% HF
 Over-flush

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 Pre-flush Stage

 Usually HCl (5-15% in strength)

 Displaces water, minimizing contact of
HF acid with Na+ and K+ ions.
 HCl removes CaCO3 cementing material

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 Main Acid Stage

 Usually 12% HCl-3% HF

 HF reacts with clays, fines, drilling mudcake, and
silica to improve near-wellbore permeability.
 HCl keeps pH low and helps to prevent
secondary HF reactions.

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 Traditional Guidelines

Condition Acid
HCL Solubility > 20% Use HCL only
High Permeability (100md plus)
High Quartz (80%), low clays(<5%) 10% HCL-3% HF (1)
High Feldspar (>20%) 13.5% HCL-1.5% HF (1)
High Clay (>10%) 6.5% HCL-1% HF (2)
High Iron Chlorite Clay 3% HCL-0.5% HF (2)
Low Permeability (10 md or less)
Low Clay (<5%) 6% HCL-1.5% HF (3)
High Chlorite 3% HCL-0.5% HF (4)
Notes:
(1)Preflush with 15% HCL
(2)Preflush with sequestered 5% HCL
(3)Preflush with 7.5% HCL or 10% acetic acid
(4)Preflush with 5% acetic acid
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 Overflush

 Displacement of acid flush away from wellbore

area
 Oil wells: NH4Cl/Weak HCl/mutual solvent (if
necessary)
 Surfactant/Mutual Solvent:
 Leave formation water-wet
 Facilitate flow-back
 Nitrogen: Promotes flow-back in low pressure wells
 Results are not always as expected.

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Causes of Failure of Sandstone Acidizing

The global success rate for sandstone acidizing is

generally about 30%.

A quote by a Leonard Kalfayan

“With acidizing, there are many more exceptions to
the rules than there are rules. In fact, true success in
acidizing is associated with the better
understanding of the exceptions.”

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Causes of Failure of Sandstone Acidizing

 poor candidate selection.

 lack of mineralogical information
 wrong acid design,
 use of inappropriate acid additives,
 insufficient iron control.
 Formation of emulsions
 Formation of asphaltene sludge

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Effect of HCl:HF Acid Strength on Sludging
Effect of HCl Strength on Sludging
Causes of Failure of Sandstone Acidizing

The major defects of HF are the formation of by-products

like:

• calcium fluoride (CaF2), with calcareous material

• sodium hexafluorosilicate (Na2SiF6)
• hydrated silica (SiO2.2H2O)
• potassium hexafluorosilicate (K2SiF6)

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Causes of Failure of Sandstone Acidizing

The major defects of HCl is the formation of

precipitates

•Ferrous Hydroxide (Fe(OH2), if HCl is

neutralized and pH~7
•Gelatinous precipitates in contact with
Zeolites (natrolite, analcime)
•Ferric Hydroxide (Fe(OH3),
•Iron sulfide scale (FeS), if do not use a
reducing and a sequestering agent.
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 Challenge/Study Objectives

 Design a sandstone acidizing job that is damage

type specific, taking into account acid-mineralogy
interaction and acid-crude interaction.
 Multiple damage types may be suspected, and all
should be considered in designing the treatment.
 This is a very perplexing task to the practicing
engineer.

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 Expert System Development

The acidizing advice must account for the following variables:

 Damage Type
 Rock Mineralogy
 Reservoir Temperature
 Rock Permeability
 Formation fluids
 Amount, type, distribution of clays
 Degree of rock consolidation
 Presence of sour gas 22
 Expert System Development
Methodology
The treatment design will include the following stages:

1. Formation oil displacement stage

2. Formation water displacement stage
3. Acetic acid stage
4. HCl pre-flush stage
5. Main acid stage
6. Over-flush stage

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 Expert System Development
Acid Types Expanded
 Fluoboric acid: a clay acid

 Phosphonic acid blends

 Acidic chelant-based blends

 Mud acids

 EDTA (Ethylene diamene tetracetic acid)

 HCL/Acetic acid/Citric acid/Formic acid

 Erythorbic acid 24
 Fluoboric Acid

 Fluoboric acid is recommended when the sandstone

contains potassic minerals to avoid damaging
precipitates and in the case of fines migration owing
to its fines stabilization properties.

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 Acid – chelant blends

Acidic-Chelant based blends: are obtained by

mixing a chelating agent with an acid based salt.
Boric acid, or ammonium bifloride are examples of
acid based salts.

Examples of a chelating agent: EDTA, HACA

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 Acid-chelant blends

 The advantage of chelant based fluids is their ability

to

Dissolve both calcium and aluminosilicates

Prevent the possible precipitation of reaction by-products
by sequestering many of the metal ions present in the
aqueous solution: ca2+, Fe2+, Al3+ ions.
Treat formations with low clay content.
Treat formations with high calcite content
Treat formations with high iron content.
Treat formations with Zeolite bearing minerals.
 Treatment restricted for high temperature formations
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 Phosphonic acid blends

 The phosphonic acid formulation offers the

following benefits:
 Retarded reaction rate, hence the ability to get the
acid deeper into the formation before becoming
completely spent.
 No risk of insoluble precipitates such as CaF2,
Na2SiF6, K2SiF6 and SiO2.2H2O.
 The ability to leave the formation water-wet.

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 Expert System Structure

Stage 1
Formation Oil Displacement

Stage 2
Formation Water Displacement

Stage 3
Acetic Acid Pre-Flush

Type of Damage

Stage 4 Damage Types

HCL Pre-Flush 7, 11, 12, 13 & 14

Damage Types Damage Type Damage Types Damage Type

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 15 8, 9 & 10 17

Stage 5a Stage 5b Stage 5c Stage 5d

Main Acid Chloride Scale Sulfate Scale Water Blocks

Stage 6
Over-Flush

Stage 7
Diversion Selection 29
Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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Stage no. 2: Formation Water Displacement Stage

Inject water with ammonium

chloride (NH4CL) at concentrations
between 3% and 8% depending on
the formation water salinity
 Stage no. 3: Acetic Acid Pre-flush Stage

Are there any iron compounds

in the formation: Yes
- pyrite, or
- siderite, or
- hematite, or
- Magnetite, or
- Antcerite ?

No

Inject 3% to 10% acetic acid

according to Table below:
Yes CaCO3 Acetic acid volume
Are there any (gal/ft
- chlorite clay, or 0-5 25
- mixed layer clay, or 5-10 50
- Illite 10-15 75
15-20 100

Are there any zeolites

No like Yes
- analcime, or
- natrolite ?

No

No action needed
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Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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Expert System Development – Decision Trees

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 Expert System Log in Details

http://lababidi.chemeng.kuniv.edu/WBES/

Username: KCUser88
Password: KC@q88

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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Graphical User Interface

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 Field Case I: Niger Delta Region (Nigeria)

 Low pressure SS oil producer

 Mineralogical makeup of the rock shown in Table (next)
 Permeability ranges from 100 md to 5000 md
 Crude downhole specific gravity = 0.663
 Reservoir temperature = 188 oF
 Water cut about 60%
 Pay thickness = 21.7 ft
 Presence of zeolites, feldspars, and clays
 Mud reports indicate mud losses
 Water-Based mud
 Crude is paraffinic
 Iron-rich minerals exist as authigenic
 Feldspars exist as detrital
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 Field Case I: Niger Delta Region (continue)

Location Niger Delta

 Intermediate matrix treatment is needed Depth (ft) 6230

Quartz 73.2
 N2 is required for diversion K-Feldspar 13.6
 Main problem: Fines Migration Plagioclase
4.1
(Calcium-Sodium Feldspar)
Illite/Smectite 0.7
Mica 0.0
Kaolinite 6.3
Chlorite 0.0
Dolomite 0.0
Calcite 0.0
Siderite 1.4
Pyrite 0.7
Hematite 0.0
Zeolite 0.7
TOTAL 100.0

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 Field Case I: Niger Delta Region (Solution)

 Stage One: inject a mixture of diesel and toluene at 75:25

ratio. Soak overnight and flow back. Inject a mutual
solvent.
 Stage Two: inject water with ammonium chloride at
concentrations between 3% and 8%
 Stage Three: Acetic acid preflush: no action is needed.
 Stage Four: HCl preflush: inject HCl 3% + Fluoboric
acid+Erythorbic acid + EDTA.
 Stage Five: inject phosphonic acid, 50-150 gal/ft.

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 Field Case I: Niger Delta Region (Solution)

 Stage Six: Over-flush stage: inject 8% NH4Cl.Stage Two:

Formation water displacement stage: inject water with
ammonium chloride at concentrations between 3% and 8%,
depending on the formation water salinity.

 Stage Seven: Diversion: inject foam.

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 Conclusions

 We developed an web-based expert system for

designing matrix acidizing of sandstones.
 The system helps automate a very perplexing
designing task.
 The system can be easily upgraded with new scientific
advances in the area.
 The expert system accounts for compatibilities
between crude, mineralogical composition, reservoir
properties, and acid types.
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 REFERENCE

Ebrahim, A., Garrouch, A.A., and Lababidi, H.

2014, Automating sandstone acidizing using a
rule-based system, Journal of Petroleum
Exploration and Production Technology, v. 4, no.
4, p. 381-396.

THANK YOU

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