Matrix Acidizing in

Carbonate Formations

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 Damage Bypass and Wormholing

damage

• Wormhole Length: 0.01 - 2 meter

• Negative skin of -3 possible
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 Wormholing Efficiency

• Surface Reaction Rate What Acid ??

• Diffusion Rate Plain, Viscosified,

Emulsified ??

• Injection Rate What Pump Rate ??

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 Wormhole Efficiency and
Acid Spending Rate
CaCO3
H+ Ca2+
CO2
Diffusion

Surface reaction
2H+ + CaCO3 => Ca2+ + H2O + CO2

Wormholing only occurs when

Acid Spending Rate is Diffusion Controlled
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 Surface Reaction Rate and Diffusion Rate
Surface Reaction Rate Diffusion Rate
Compact
HIGH HIGH Dissolution
HCl plain HCl (avoid)
High T
LOW
Wormholing
HIGH viscosified acid
OK
emulsified acid
LOW Uniform
Organic Acids HIGH Dissolution
Low Temp (inefficient)

LOW LOW Unusual

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 Injection Rate

LOW Compact dissolution

No skin reduction

OPTIMUM Deep wormhole penetration

HIGH Less efficient wormholing

Not known how to calculate optimum rate.

Best recommendation: Pump at maximum rate

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 Optimum Injection Rate in Core Flow Tests

from: Fredd, et. al., SPE 31074

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 Core Flow Test Results
Core entrance after 15% HCl flow

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 Wormhole Efficiency and
Acid Injection Rate
formation formation
radial fill

wellbore wellbore

Low Rate HCl High Rate HCl

compact dissolution
no wormholes efficient wormholing
no skin decrease skin decrease
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 Effect of Injection Rate in Core Flow Tests
Low Q Optimum Q High Q
compact dissolution few wormholes uniform dissolution

from: Fredd, et. al., SPE 31074

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 Acid Placement in Heterogeneous
Formations
High Skin Thief Low Skin
Plain HCl Zone
< 1 cp

High Skin Thief Low Skin

Emulsified HCl Zone
> 20 cp

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 Diversion with
In-Situ Crosslinked Acid

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 Carbonate Acidizing
Design Considerations
• Hydrochloric acid
– plain medium T, high rate
– viscosified medium T, low rate
– emulsified high T, low rate
• Organic acid high T, less corrosion
• Volume determines wormhole length
• Pump rate High rate most efficient
• Placement and Diversion
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