SPE Formation Damage Mitigation and Remediation

The PetroWiki defines formation damage as “the impairment of the unseen by the inevitable, causing an unknown reduction in the unquantifiable. In a different context, formation damage is defined as the impairment to reservoir (reduced production) caused by wellbore fluids used during drilling/completion and workover operations. It is a zone of reduced permeability within the vicinity of the wellbore (skin) as a result of foreign-fluid invasion into the reservoir rock.” This definition must also encompass geochemical as well as mechanical damage that occurs during the production of a well, like paraffin, asphaltene and scale precipitation, wettability and saturation effects, fines migration and pore throat collapse. In any case, whether it is a damage caused by the injection of foreign fluids into the reservoir or the production of naturally occurring fluids, the end result is the area of reduced permeability. The near wellbore area (3 to 5 feet) is normally the most critical area where the damage causes significant reduction in production. This workshop will focus on the various ways of prevention, mitigation and remediation of formation damage. This is a very topical workshop as formation damage occurs in just about every well. As an industry we have many tools to prevent and battle formation damage; we just need to learn to use them wisely.