An analysis of rate-sensitive skin in oil wells

Conference · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1982 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5467247

Blacker, L K

This paper documents the results of the perforating program for the first forty wells in the Kuparuk River Field in Alaska. Several different types of perforating guns were used to perforate the wells at varying shot densities. Pressure transient tests were conducted on each well to measure skin damage and flow efficiency. A correlation of average flow efficiency with perforating gun type and shot density is presented. This shows that shot densities above 4 shots/ft result in less skin damage, and wells completed with 12 shots/ft have little or no damage. The effect of perforation penetration is also shown to be a factor in reducing damage, but with all other factors being equal, 12 shots/ft is shown to result in the least amount of damage. The above results are explained by a detailed analysis of multiple buildup tests at varying rates which were performed on some of the highly damaged wells completed during the early development of the field. These tests indicated skin damage to be rate sensitive with some true formation damage also present. Non-Darcy flow and gas saturation near the wellbore are shown to contribute to the rate-sensitive skin factors. A method of analysis is presented which allows non-Darcy flow skin factors to be calculated when gas saturation is also causing a skin effect. This can be accomplished without fluid property and relative permeability data, which is necessary to calculate saturation effects using standard analysis methods.

• Research Organization: ARCU Alaska Inc.
• OSTI ID: 5467247
• Report Number(s): CONF-820927-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE11187
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ALASKA
CALCULATION METHODS
DATA ANALYSIS
DRILLING
EFFICIENCY
FEDERAL REGION X
FLUID FLOW
FORMATION DAMAGE
GAS SATURATION
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NORTH AMERICA
OIL FIELDS
OIL WELLS
PERFORATION
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESERVOIR PRESSURE
RESOURCES
SATURATION
TESTING
TRANSIENTS
USA
WELL DRILLING
WELL PRESSURE
WELLS