Abstract
This study aimed to optimize the acidizing efficiency during stimulation treatments with chelating agents. The performance of hydroxylethylethylenediaminetriacetic acid (HEDTA), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) in stimulating carbonate rocks were investigated. In this paper, the effect of injection rate, chemical type, pH, and concentration on the stimulation performance was studied. Also, the optimum treatment conditions were identified utilizing the acid volume and treatment time. Different measurements were carried out, including solubility tests, coreflooding experiments, and CT scan analysis. Solubility tests were performed to study the impact of solution concentration and pH on the performance of the chelating agent. Coreflooding experiments were carried out at high-pressure, high-temperature conditions to assess the performance of chelating agents in different treatment situations. In addition, CT scan analysis was carried out before and after the acid injections to capture the changes induced in the carbonate matrix due to the stimulation treatment. The success of acidizing treatment was identified by the creation of the dominant wormholes. The pressure-drop profiles and the CT scan analysis were used to confirm the generation of wormholes. Finally, the normalized volume and time to breakthrough were utilized to identify the optimum treatment conditions. In this work, chelating agents successfully created dominant wormholes (WHs) in carbonate rocks at different injection rates and treatment conditions. However, applying an injection rate between 0.7 and 1 cm3/min significantly improved the acidizing performance and reduced the acid volume that was required to create wormholes. EDTA and HEDTA chelating agents showed better performance at low pH. Using a solution pH of 4.5 resulted in reducing the acid volume by 30% compared to using a solution pH of 10 at the same conditions. However, DTPA chelating agent showed better performance at high pH, and dominant WHs were created at a pH of 12 using less acid volume. Finally, the optimum acidizing treatment can be achieved by using EDTA chelating agent with a concentration of 9.25 wt.% and pH of 4.5. Applying the optimum treatment parameters can reduce the acid volume by 40% and the chemical cost by a factor of 6, on average. Overall, this study indicates that chelating agents’ solution can be injected at optimum conditions in terms of chemical concentration, pH, and injection rate, to maximize the treatment efficiency and reduce the cost.
Similar content being viewed by others
Abbreviations
- \({\mathrm{Nt}}_{\mathrm{bt}}\) :
-
Normalized time to breakthrough
- \({\mathrm{NV}}_{\mathrm{bt}}\) :
-
Normalized breakthrough volume
- \({t}_{{\mathrm{bt}}_{\mathrm{min}}}\) :
-
Minimum breakthrough time
- \({t}_{\mathrm{bt}}\) :
-
Breakthrough time
- \({V}_{{\mathrm{bt}}_{\mathrm{min}}}\) :
-
Minimum volume to breakthrough
- \({V}_{\mathrm{bt}}\) :
-
Breakthrough volume
- CT-scan:
-
Computed tomography scan
- DTPA:
-
Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid
- GLDA:
-
Glutamic acid diacetic acid
- EDTA:
-
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
- HCl:
-
Hydrochloric acid
- HEDTA:
-
Hydroxylethylethylene-diamine-triacetic acid
- HEIDA:
-
Hydroxyl-ethyl-imino-diacetic acid
- NDp:
-
Normalized pressure drop
- WHs:
-
Wormholes
- PV:
-
Pore volume
References
Hofner, M.L.; Fogler, H.S.; Stenius, P.; Sjoblom, J.: Role of acid diffusion in matrix acidizing of carbonate. J. Pet. Technol. 39(02), 203–208 (1987)
Rae, P.; Di Lullo, G.: Matrix acid stimulation—a review of the state-of-the-art. In: SPE European Formation Damage Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers. The Hague, the Netherlands, May 13–14 (2003)
Muskat, M.: Physical Principles of oil production, Springer Publisher, ISBN-13: 978-0934634076 (1981)
Abrams, A.; Scheuerman, R.F.; Templeton, C.C.; Richardson, E.A.: Higher-pH acid stimulation systems. J. Pet. Technol. 35(12), 2–175 (1983)
Crowe, C.W.: Evaluation of agents for preventing precipitation of ferric hydroxide from spent treating acid. J. Pet. Technol. 37(04), 691–695 (1985)
Fredd, C.; Fogler, H.S.: Alternative stimulation fluids and their impact on carbonate acidizing. SPE J. 13(1), 34–42 (1998)
Alkhaldi, M.H.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.; Sarma, H.K.: Application of citric acid in acid stimulation treatments. In: Canadian International Petroleum Conference. Petroleum Society of Canada, January 13–15 (2009)
Mahmoud, M.A.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.: Modeling flow of chelating agents during stimulation of carbonate reservoirs. Arab. J. Sci. Eng. 39(12), 9239–9248 (2014)
Al-Moajil, A.; Caliskan, S.; Al-Salem, A.; Al-Yami, I.: Aqueous alternative system to straight and emulsified HCl acids for carbonate acidizing. In: SPE International Conference on Oilfield Chemistry. Society of Petroleum Engineers, March 9–11 (2019)
Jacobs, I.C.: Chemical systems for the control of asphaltene sludge during oilwell acidizing treatments. In: SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. Society of Petroleum Engineers. Houston, Texas, February 8–10 (1989)
Fredd, C.N.; Fogler, H.S.: Chelating agents as effective matrix stimulation fluids for carbonate formations. In: International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. Society of Petroleum Engineers. Houston, Texas, February 18–21 (1997)
Parkinson, M.; Munk, T.K.; Brookley, J.G.; Caetano, A.D.; Albuquerque, M.A.; Cohen, D.; Reekie, M.R.: Stimulation of multilayered high-carbonate-content sandstone formations in West Africa using chelant-based fluids and mechanical diversion. In: SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January 19–21 (2010)
Nasr-El-Din, H.A.; Lynn, J.D.; Taylor, K.C.: Lab testing and field application of a large-scale acetic acid-based treatment in a newly developed carbonate reservoir. In: SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2001)
Buijse, M.; de Boer, P.; Breukel, B., Klos, M.; Burgos, G.: Organic acids in carbonate acidizing. In: SPE European Formation Damage Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers, May 13–14 (2003)
Chang, F.F.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.; Lindvig, T.; Qui, X.W.: Matrix acidizing of carbonate reservoirs using organic acids and mixture of HCl and organic acids. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January 13–14 (2008)
Hassan, A.; Mahmoud, M.; Bageri, B.S.; Aljawad, M.S.; Kamal, M.S.; Barri, A.A.; Hussein, I.A.: Applications of chelating agents in the upstream oil and gas industry: a review. Energy Fuels 34, 15593–15613 (2020)
Fredd, C.N.; Fogler, H.S.: The influence of chelating agents on the kinetics of calcite dissolution. J. Collolid Interface Sci. 204(1), 187–197 (1998)
Rabie, A.I.; Shedd, D.C.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.: Measuring the reaction rate of lactic acid with calcite and dolomite by use of the rotating-disk apparatus. SPE J. 19(06), 1192–1202 (2014)
Huang, T.; McElfresh, P.M.; Gabrysch, A.D.: Carbonate matrix acidizing fluids at high temperatures: acetic acid, chelating agents or long-chained carboxylic acids? In: SPE European Formation Damage Conference. Society of Petroleum Engineers. The Hague, the Netherlands, May 13–14 (2003)
Broaddus, G.: Well-and formation-damage removal with nonacid fluids. J. Pet. Technol. 40(06), 685–687 (1988)
Clemmit, A.F.; Ballance, D.C.; Hunton, A.G.: The dissolution of scales in oilfield systems. In: Offshore Europe. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (1985)
LePage, J.N.; De Wolf, C.; Bemelaar, J.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.: An environmentally friendly stimulation fluid for high-temperature applications. SPE J. 16(01), 104–110 (2011)
Vetter, O.J.: Oilfield scale–-can we handle it? J. Pet. Technol. 28(12), 402–408 (1976)
Paul, J.M.; Fieler, E.R.: A new solvent for oilfield scales. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (1992)
Frenier, W.W.; Fredd, C.N.; Chang, F.: Hydroxyaminocarboxylic acids produce superior formulations for matrix stimulation of carbonates at high temperatures. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2001)
Barri, A.; Mahmoud, M.; Elkatatny, S.: Evaluation of rock mechanical properties alteration during matrix stimulation with chelating agents. J. Energy Res. Technol. 138(3), 1–7 (2016)
Ali, A.H.A.; Frenier, W.W.; Xiao, Z.; Ziauddin, M.: Chelating agent-based fluids for optimal stimulation of high-temperature wells. In: SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2002)
Mahmoud, M.A.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.; De Wolf, C.; LePage, J.N.: An effective stimulation fluid for deep carbonate reservoirs: a core flood study. In: International Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition in China. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2010)
Mahmoud, M.A.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.: Challenges during shallow and deep carbonate resevoirs stimulation. In: International Petroleum Technology Conference. International Petroleum Technology Conference (2011)
Mahmoud, M.A.; Mohamed, I.M.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.; De Wolf, C.A.: When should we use chelating agents in carbonate stimulation? In: SPE/DGS Saudi Arabia Section Technical Symposium and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2011)
Mahmoud, M.A.; Nasr-El-Din, H.A.: Modeling of the Flow of Chelating Agents in Porous Media in Carbonate Reservoirs Stimulation. In: North Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition. Society of Petroleum Engineers, January (2012)
Brandås, L.T.: Relating acoustic wave velocities to formation mechanical properties. Master's thesis, Institutt for petroleumsteknologi og anvendt geofysikk (2012)
Mahmoud, M.; Barri, A.; Elkatatny, S.: Mixing chelating agents with seawater for acid stimulation treatments in carbonate reservoirs. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 152, 9–20 (2017)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barri, A.A., Hassan, A.M., Aljawad, M.S. et al. Effect of Treatment Conditions on Matrix Stimulation of Carbonate Rocks with Chelating Agents. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 11055–11068 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-05633-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-05633-4