Damage evaluation on oil-based drill-in fluids for ultra-deep fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs

• Main Authors: Jinzhi Zhu, Lijun You, Jiaxue Li, Yili Kang, Junjie Zhang, Dujie Zhang, Chao Huang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2017-07-01
• Series: Natural Gas Industry B
• Subjects: Ultra-deep; Fractured; Tight sandstone gas reservoirs; Oil-based drill-in fluids; Lost circulation; Loading capacity; Formation damage; Evaluating methods; Tarim basin; Cretaceous
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352854017301079

In order to explore the damage mechanisms and improve the method to evaluate and optimize the performance of formation damage control of oil-based drill-in fluids, this paper took an ultra-deep fractured tight gas reservoir in piedmont configuration, located in the Cretaceous Bashijiqike Fm of the Tarim Basin, as an example. First, evaluation experiments were conducted on the filtrate invasion, the dynamic damage of oil-based drill-in fluids and the loading capacity of filter cakes. Meanwhile, the evaluating methods were optimized for the formation damage control effect of oil-based drill-in fluids in laboratory: pre-processing drill-in fluids before grading analysis; using the dynamic damage method to simulate the damage process for evaluating the percentage of regained permeability; and evaluating the loading capacity of filter cakes. The experimental results show that (1) oil phase trapping damage and solid phase invasion are the main formation damage types; (2) the damage degree of filtrate is the strongest on the matrix; and (3) the dynamic damage degree of oil-based drill-in fluids reaches medium strong to strong on fractures and filter cakes show a good sealing capacity for the fractures less than 100 μm. In conclusion, the filter cakes' loading capacity should be first guaranteed, and both percentage of regained permeability and liquid trapping damage degree should be both considered in the oil-based drill-in fluids prepared for those ultra-deep fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs.