Background
Formation damage problems are one of the most expensive technical and operational challenges of oil and gas production. Ensuring an uninterrupted flow of hydrocarbon fluids from the reservoir into the production facilities is key for operation and profitability. Poor understanding and management of formation damage issues can result in production and process downtime, safety incidents and loss of revenue. It is estimated that just 1% of unplanned downtime or 3.65 downtime days per year can cost companies up to USD 5 million each year. Based on a global average downtime of just over 27 days per year, offshore oil and gas companies could incur a huge financial loss in the regions of USD 38 million, all things been equal. If formation damage risks are understood and addressed early, significant OPEX can be saved. Most companies have struggled to find plausible solutions to common damage challenges because they have often relied on the experience of field engineers to find temporary interventions. The FDAM project will establish a multidisciplinary team of researchers to conduct a thorough investigation of common formation damage challenges in the local oilfields and design unique mitigation options to the problems.
Objectives
- To design a synergistic research workflow for investigating and mitigating formation damage challenges in the local oil and gas industry
- To design and build an ultramodern laboratory setup for routine and special analysis of formation damage challenges
- To quantify the full damage potential of wells and predict possible forms of formation damage using a model-assisted assessment approach.
Proposed Method
Common formation damage challenges include inorganic scaling such as barite and sulphate deposition, organic deposition such as wax and asphaltene precipitation and particulate processes such as fine mobilization, migration and deposition. Every formation damage problem is unique and depends on the specific properties of the reservoir rock, fluids, operating conditions and production history. A thorough assessment and understanding of the underlying mechanisms of damage is fundamental to finding a lasting solution to the challenges. The general methodology for formation damage assessment and mitigation include:
- Thorough characterization of reservoir rocks and fluids for formation damage
- Assessment of the reservoir and its associated facilities to understand underlying mechanisms of existing formation damage challenges
- Full damage potential assessment of wells and prediction of possible forms of formation damage
- Proposal of tailored solutions to existing and potential formation damage challenges