The lower oil price has had a profound impact on the global energy industry.
Operators are under intense pressure to control and reduce operating expenditure, while at the same time increase efficiency and maximise production to ensure fields’ commercial viability.
Optimising hydrocarbon recovery and production rate from existing wells
One of the largest sources of added-value in operations is to optimize hydrocarbon recovery from existing wells.
Yet even with proactive maintenance the productivity of wells deteriorates with time. Financial viability is dependent on being able to efficiently and effectively intervene and rectify addressable downhole issues that may further limit production rates and reduce field life.
The significant cost implications of well intervention mean it is imperative that intervention plans are balanced against the oil price; the reservoir characteristics and other operating liabilities. For example, many types of well intervention or stimulation treatment need coiled tubing to place treatment fluids to improve reservoir permeability or remove scaling that negatively impacts production. In the current market this type of work-over is often not cost effective.
That said, if appropriate intervention is not carried out, production rates are likely to continue to fall, meaning operators ultimately might have to intervene at a higher cost.
DEEPA – cost effective production enhancement and remedial clean-up
Cleansorb’s high performance, proprietary DEEPA uniform deep matrix in-situ acidizing technology helps operators potentially avoid costlier well interventions while minimizing non-productive time .
Sustained production increases of up to 200% have typically been achieved in deep matrix acidizing work-overs in North America.
The technology may safely maximize hydrocarbon production through:
• Increasing the permeability and porosity of underperforming carbonate formations.
• Increasing the permeability and porosity of sandstone formations cemented with carbonate.
• Dissolution of carbonate scale in sandstone or carbonate formations.
• Increasing the conductivity of natural fracture systems in carbonate formations.
The effectiveness of DEEPA for these applications is based on its ability to deliver acid in a very uniform way, not achievable with conventional reactive acid treatments which react at the wellbore face or “wormhole” into the formation. DEEPA is field proven in all of the above applications.
The chemistry is simple to use, mix and pump with standard equipment significantly reducing pumping costs. It does not require high pump rates for effective acid placement. In many cases, bullheading of the treatment fluid can be very effective with downhole pumps and production tubing/packers left in place. DEEPA is also non-hazardous, reducing the HSE risk and protecting the asset, company and contractor personnel, as well as the environment.
Securing long term viability
As operators seek to strike the best balance between intervention cost and potential increases in production, or recovery factor; safely securing long-term operational efficiency through robust asset management is key.
In-situ organic acid production consistently achieves high performance results that cannot be obtained with conventional acidizing. Field results and laboratory data continue to confirm that DEEPA can provide uniform delivery of acid, far more so than with hydrochloric acid or other fast-reacting acids.
The use of relatively inexpensive and proven production optimization technologies, such as DEEPA in well stimulation and intervention strategies, has the potential to drive long-term operational and production efficiency.
