Formation Damage Prevention and

Well Stimulation

Acidizing Overview and Applications Summary

Learning Outcome
At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:
Name and describe type of acidizing methods used for
sandstone and carbonate
Use Hawkins formula to calculate skin factor due to
formation damage or permeability impairment
Illustrate with an example on how acidising can greatly
improve the productivity of a damaged well

Acidizing Treatments Overview

Two types of acidizing treatments:

Matrix Acidizing
Acid Fracturing

Matrix acidizing aims at removing or bypassing

formation damage

Acidizing has limited benefit in formations without

damage
(exception high productivity carbonate formations)
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Matrix Acidizing Treatment

Injection of an acid solution at pressures below formation

parting pressure to improve near-wellbore flow capacity

Significant productivity enhancement when near-wellbore

formation damage exists, not due to mechanical aspects

Sandstone formations: maximum of 1 ft penetration as acid

dissolves formation damage material to enlarge pore spaces

Carbonate formations: deeper penetration as acid creates

new conductive channels that bypass damage
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Sandstone Acidizing versus Carbonate Acidizing

Sandstone

Carbonate
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Acid Fracturing Treatment

Injection of acid solution at pressures above the fracturing

pressure to create a highly conductive hydraulic fracture

Opening

Differential
etching

Closing

Alternative to use of proppants to create fracture conductivity by

differential etching of fracture faces

Application to carbonate formations only

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Example 1: Benefits of Matrix Acidizing

Treatment in a Well with Formation Damage
A well is on a 40-acre spacing (re = 745 ft) with wellbore radius,
rw = 0.328 ft. The well is producing at steady state from an
undersaturated reservoir. The formation has a damage region
extending 1 ft beyond wellbore (rs = 1.328ft). The damage is not
due to mechanical effects.
Calculate and plot the ratio of productivity index after removing
this damage with matrix acidizing to the productivity index of the
damaged well for a damaged zone permeability ranging from
5% to 100% of the undamaged reservoir permeability.
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Example 1: Solution
Damage characterized by skin factor:
k
rs

s
1 ln
k s rw

For acidized well since damage is removed,

k s k hence, s 0

For damaged well of permeability 20% of original permeability,

k
1.328
k s 0.20k hence, s
1 ln
5.59
0.20k 0.328
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Example 1: Solution
Productivity index of this well (using oilfield units):
J

q
kh

pe pwf 141.2 B ln re rw s

Ratio of productivity index of acidized well (Ja) to damaged well (Jd):

J a ln re rw s ln 745 0.328 5.59

1.72
Jd
ln re rw
ln 745 0.328

For a damage permeability of 20% original permeability (a typical amount

of damage from drilling), the damage skin is about 5.6 and removal of
damage by acidizing results in about 72% increase in productivity.
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Example 1: Solution
Similarly for other damage permeability values, ratio of productivity index
of acidized well to damaged well are calculated and plotted:
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J a /Jd

4
3
2
1
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

ks/k

For severe damage with damage permeability 5% of original permeability,

skin of damaged well is 26 and removal of damage by acidizing results in
increase of productivity index by a factor of 4.5.
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Example 2: Matrix Acidizing of Undamaged well

A well is on a 40-acre spacing (re = 745 ft) with wellbore radius,
rw = 0.328 ft. The well is producing at steady state from an
undersaturated reservoir. A matrix acidizing treatment is applied
that increases permeability in a 1 ft region around the wellbore
up to 20 times the original reservoir permeability.
Calculate and plot the ratio of acidized productivity index with
stimulated permeability ranging from 1 to 20 times the original
permeability to the productivity index of the undamaged well.

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Example 2: Solution
For undamaged well,
k s k hence, s 0

For acidized well with acidized permeability 10 times the

original permeability,

k
1.328
k a 10k hence, s
1 ln
1.26
10k 0.328

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Example 2: Solution
Ratio of productivity index of acidized well (Ja) to undamaged
well (J):

ln re rw ln 745 0.328 1.19

Ja

J ln re rw s ln 745 0.328 1.26

Increasing the permeability around a undamaged well to 10
times the original undamaged permeability improves the
productivity index only about 19%.

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Example 2: Solution
Similarly for other stimulated permeability values, ratio of
productivity index are calculated and plotted:
1.30
1.25

J a /J

1.20
1.15
1.10
1.05
1.00
0

10

15

20

25

ka/k

For this undamaged well, increasing permeability by a factor of 20

in a 1-ft radius around the well increases productivity index by only
21%.
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Example 2: Solution
Bottomline
Potential benefit of an acid treatment must
be weighed against

the cost

the risk of failure

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Question ??

THANK YOU

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