Acid Fracturing Shales: Effect of Dilute Acid on Properties and Pore Structure of Shale

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiwei Wu ◽  
Mukul M. Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Pore Structure ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
Petrophysical Properties ◽  
Acid Dissolution ◽  
Eagle Ford Shale ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Fracturing ◽  
Microstructure Changes ◽  
Fracture Surfaces ◽  
Closure Stress

Abstract Many microfractures created during hydraulic fracturing are too small to be filled with proppants and are likely closed during production. However, for some shales that are rich in calcite (calcareous mudstones), such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford shale, dilute acids can be used while fracturing to maintain the conductivity of these microfractures under closure stress by non-uniformly etching the fracture surfaces. The mineralogy and pore structure of the shale and their evolution during acid fracturing are critical factors on the surface surface etching profile and the fluid leakoff. Therefore, understanding how acid dissolution changes the microstructure, petrophysical properties and pore structures of shale is essential in the design and application of acid fracturing in shales. In this paper changes in shale properties and pore structure by acid fracturing were demonstrated and visually observed for the first time with a scanning electron microscope. Acidized sections of a shale core sample were carefully isolated, and its microstructure, pore structure and petrophysical properties were systematically studied and compared with non-acidized sections of the core. Microstructure changes were found to be strongly dependent on mineral distribution, and several patterns were identified: channels developed in carbonate-rich regions; cavities or grooves formed in carbonate-rich islands or carbonate rings; and surface roughness was created in mixed zones of scattered carbonate and inert minerals. Inert minerals such as clay, organic matter stay relatively undisturbed in the structure, while some mineral grains can be dislodged from their original locations by dissolution of the surrounding carbonates. Many macropores with size up to 120 µm were created and mesopores mostly associated with clay gained more accessibility. Significantly increased permeability and porosity was measured in an acidized shale matrix. Brinell hardness measurements show that, as expected, the hardness of the shale was reduced by acidizing. This means that for acidizing to work effectively, it is important to not etch the fracture surfaces uniformly. Doing so will result in a reduction in the fracture conductivity under stress. The microstructure changes introduced by acid fracturing demonstrated in this study will result in the formation of surface asperities which is likely to improve the fracture conductivity of induced unpropped fractures. The acidized shale matrix close to the fracture surface with increased abundance of macropores and accessibility to mesopores may serve as a preferred pathway for fluid flow as well.

Modeling Acid Fracturing Treatments with Multi-Stage Alternating Injection of Pad and Acid Fluids

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rencheng Dong ◽  
Mary F. Wheeler ◽  
Hang Su ◽  
Kang Ma
Keyword(s):  
Viscous Fingering ◽  
High Viscosity ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Acid Etching ◽  
Fracture Geometry ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Fracturing ◽  
Fracture Surfaces ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Multi Stage

Abstract Acid fracturing technique is widely applied to stimulate the productivity of carbonate reservoirs. The acid-fracture conductivity is created by non-uniform acid etching on fracture surfaces. Heterogeneous mineral distribution of carbonate reservoirs can lead to non-uniform acid etching during acid fracturing treatments. In addition, the non-uniform acid etching can be enhanced by the viscous fingering mechanism. For low-perm carbonate reservoirs, by multi-stage alternating injection of a low-viscosity acid and a high-viscosity polymer pad fluid during acid fracturing, the acid tends to form viscous fingers and etch fracture surfaces non-uniformly. To accurately predict the acid-fracture conductivity, this paper developed a 3D acid fracturing model to compute the rough acid fracture geometry induced by multi-stage alternating injection of pad and acid fluids. Based on the developed numerical simulator, we investigated the effects of viscous fingering, perforation design and stage period on the acid etching process. Compared with single-stage acid injection, multi-stage alternating injection of pad and acid fluids leads to narrower and longer acid-etched channels.

Acid Fracture Conductivity Behavior of Tahe Carbonate: High Closure Stress, Long-Term Conductivity, and Composite Conductivity

2014 ◽  
Vol 1042 ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
Jia Nye Mou ◽  
Mao Tang Yao ◽  
Ke Xiang Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Creep Deformation ◽  
Contact Time ◽  
Carbonate Reservoir ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Rock ◽  
Acid Fracturing ◽  
Closure Stress ◽  
Composite Conductivity ◽  
Conductivity Behavior

Acid fracture conductivity is a key parameter in acid fracturing designs and production performance prediction. It depends on the fracture surface etching pattern, rock mechanical properties, and closure stress. The fracture surfaces undergo creep deformation under closure stress during production. Preservation of fracture conductivity becomes a challenge at elevated closure stress. In this paper, we investigated acid fracture conductivity behavior of Tahe deep carbonate reservoir with high closure stress and high temperature. A series of acid fracture conductivity experiment was conducted in a laboratory facility designed to perform acid fracture conductivity. Gelled acid and cross linked acid with different acid-rock contact times were tested for analyzing the effect of acid type and acid-rock contact time on the resulting conductivity. Closure stress up to 100MPa was tested to verify the feasibility of acid fracturing for elevated closure stress. Long-term conductivity up to 7-day was tested to determine the capability of conductivity retaining after creep deformation. Composite conductivity of acid fracture with prop pant was also carried out. The study shows that the fracture retained enough conductivity even under effective closure stress of 70MPa. The gelled acid has a much higher conductivity than the cross linked acid for the same contact time. For the gelled acid, contact time above 60-minute does not lead to conductivity increase. Acid fracture with prop pant has a lower conductivity at low closure stress and a higher conductivity at high closure stress than the acid fracture, which shows composite conductivity is a feasible way to raise conductivity at high closure stress. The long-term conductivity tests show that the acid fracture conductivity decreases fast within the first 48-hour and then levels off. The conductivity keeps stable after 120-hour. An acid fracture conductivity correlation was also developed for this reservoir.

Acid-Etched Channels in Heterogeneous Carbonates—a Newly Discovered Mechanism for Creating Acid-Fracture Conductivity

SPE Journal ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 404-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianye Mou ◽  
D.. Zhu ◽  
A.D.. D. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
Fracture Surface ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Core Sample ◽  
Acid Etching ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Rock ◽  
Fracture Surfaces ◽  
Surface Etching ◽  
Fracturing Process

Summary In the acid-fracturing process, the fracture conductivity created by acid etching of the fracture walls is because of the surface roughness created by the acid's nonuniform dissolution of the fracture surfaces. The acid-fracture conductivity is dependent on surface etching patterns, which are determined by permeability and mineralogy distributions. That is, the spatial distribution of fracture roughness affects the fracture conductivity, which cannot be considered in laboratory measurements of acid-fracture conductivity, which use core samples that are too small to observe such macroscale heterogeneities, or in typical acid-fracture simulators, in which the gridblock size is much larger than the scale of local heterogeneities. An accurate prediction of acid-fracture conductivity necessitates the detailed description of the acid etching profiles on the fracture surfaces, which depend on acid transport in the fracture, leakoff because of local permeability, and acid/rock reactions. In this paper, we developed a 3D intermediate-scale acid-fracture model with gridblock sizes small enough (gridblock sizes comparable to the core-sample size in experiments) and total dimensions large enough (the total dimensions comparable to a gridblock size in an acid-fracture simulator) to capture local and macroscale heterogeneity characteristics. The model predicts the pressure field, the flow field, acid concentration profiles, and fracture-surface profiles as functions of acid injection volume. In the model, we use a front-fixing method (Crank 1984) to handle the irregular, moving boundaries in numerical simulation. Spatially correlated permeability and mineralogy distributions were generated by using a semivariogram model. The model was validated by comparing simulation results with experimental results from an acid-fracture conductivity cell. With the model, by extensive numerical simulation, we analyzed the relationship among fracture-surface-etching patterns, conductivities, and the distributions of permeability and mineralogy. We also illustrated the formation characteristics necessary for acid to create channel-caused high acid-fracture conductivity. We found that a fracture segment with channels extending from the inlet to the outlet of the segment has high conductivity because fluid flow in deep channels causes a very small pressure drop. Such long and highly conductive channels can be created by acids if the formation has heterogeneities in either permeability or mineralogy or both, with high correlation length in the main flow direction, which is the case in laminated formations.

Modeling Acid Fracturing Treatments in Heterogeneous Carbonate Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rencheng Dong ◽  
Mary F. Wheeler ◽  
Hang Su ◽  
Kang Ma
Keyword(s):  
Reactive Transport ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Viscous Fingering ◽  
Carbonate Reservoirs ◽  
Acid Etching ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Fracturing ◽  
Fracture Surfaces ◽  
Etching Pattern ◽  
Viscous Fingers

Abstract The goal of acid fracturing operations is to create enough fracture roughness through non-uniform acid etching on fracture surfaces such that the acid fracture can keep open and sustain a high enough acid fracture conductivity under the formation closure stress. A detailed description of the rough acid-fracture surfaces is required for accurately predicting the acid-fracture conductivity. In this paper, a 3D acid transport model was developed to compute the geometry of acid fracture for acid fracturing treatments. The developed model couples the acid fluid flow, reactive transport and rock dissolution in the fracture. We also included acid viscous fingering in our model since the viscous fingering mechanism is commonly applied in acid fracturing to achieve non-uniform acid etching. Carbonate reservoirs mainly consists of calcite and dolomite minerals but the mineral distribution can be quite heterogeneous. Based on the developed model, we analyzed the effect of mineral heterogeneity on the acid etching process. We compared the acid etching patterns in different carbonate reservoirs with different spatial distributions of calcite and dolomite minerals. We found that thin acid-etched channels can form in carbonate reservoirs with interbedded dolomite layers. When the reservoir heterogeneity does not favor growing thin acid-etched channels, we investigated how to utilize the acid viscous fingering technique to achieve the channeling etching pattern in such reservoirs. Through numerical simulations, we found that thin acid-etched channels can form inside acid viscous fingers. The regions between viscous fingers are left less etched and act as barriers to separate acid-etched channels. In acid fracturing treatments with viscous fingering, the etching pattern is largely dependent on the perforation spacing. With a proper perforation design, we can still achieve the channeling etching pattern even when the reservoir does not have interbedded dolomite layers.

A new method to improve long-term fracture conductivity in acid fracturing under high closure stress

2018 ◽  
Vol 171 ◽  
pp. 760-770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lufeng Zhang ◽  
Fujian Zhou ◽  
Jianye Mou ◽  
Guoqing Xu ◽  
Shicheng Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Method ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Acid Fracturing ◽  
Closure Stress

scholarly journals Multifractal Analysis of Pore Structure and Evaluation of Deep-Buried Cambrian Dolomite Reservoir with Image Processing: A Case from Tarim Basin, NW China

Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Xiaojun Zhang ◽  
Haodong Han ◽  
Jun Peng ◽  
Yingchun Gou
Keyword(s):  
Pore Structure ◽  
Thin Section ◽  
Tarim Basin ◽  
Clustering Analysis ◽  
Multifractal Analysis ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Tectonic Activity ◽  
Petrophysical Properties ◽  
Nw China ◽  
Crystalline Dolomite

Reservoir pore space assessment is of great significance for petroleum exploration and production. However, it is difficult to describe the pore characteristics of deep-buried dolomite reservoirs with the traditional linear method because these rocks have undergone strong modification by tectonic activity and diagenesis and show significant pore space heterogeneity. In this study, 38 dolostone samples from 4 Cambrian formations of Tarim Basin in NW China were collected and 135 thin section images were analyzed. Multifractal theory was used for evaluation of pore space heterogeneity in deep-buried dolostone based on thin section image analysis. The physical parameters, pore structure parameters, and multifractal characteristic parameters were obtained from the digital images. Then, the relationships between lithology and these parameters were discussed. In addition, the pore structure was classified into four categories using K-means clustering analysis based on multifractal parameters. The results show that the multifractal phenomenon generally exists in the pore space of deep-buried dolomite and that multifractal analysis can be used to characterize the heterogeneity of pore space in deep-buried dolomite. For these samples, multifractal parameters, such as αmin, αmax, ΔαL, ΔαR, Δf, and AI, correlate strongly with porosity but only slightly with permeability. However, the parameter Δα, which is usually used to reveal heterogeneity, does not show an obvious link with petrophysical properties. Of dolomites with different fabrics, fine crystalline dolomite and medium crystalline dolomite show the best petrophysical properties and show significant differences in multifractal parameters compared to other dolomites. More accurate porosity estimations were obtained with the multifractal generalized fractal dimension, which provides a new method for porosity prediction. The various categories derived from the K-means clustering analysis of multifractal parameters show distinct differences in petrophysical properties. This proves that reservoir evaluation and pore structure classification can be accurately performed with the K-means clustering analysis method based on multifractal parameters of pore space in deep-buried dolomite reservoirs.

A Theoretical Study of Acid-Fracture Conductivity Under Closure Stress

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (01) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayao Deng ◽  
Alfred D. Hill ◽  
Ding Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Study ◽  
Fracture Conductivity ◽  
Closure Stress
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