Quantitative Modeling of Acid Wormholing in Carbonates- What Are the Gaps to Bridge

Abstract

Carbonate matrix acidization extends a well's effective drainage radius by dissolving rock and forming conductive channels (wormholes) from the wellbore. Wormholing is a dynamic process that involves balance between the acid injection rate and reaction rate. Generally, injection rate is well defined where injection profiles can be controlled, whereas the reaction rate can be difficult to obtain due to its complex dependency on interstitial velocity, fluid composition, rock surface properties etc. Conventional wormhole propagation models largely ignore the impact of reaction products. When implemented in a job design, the significant errors can result in treatment fluid schedule, rate, and volume.

A more accurate method to simulate carbonate matrix acid treatments would accomodate the effect of reaction products on reaction kinetics. It is the purpose of this work to properly account for these effects. This is an important step in achieving quantitative predictability of wormhole penetration during an acidzing treatment.

This paper describes the laboratory procedures taken to obtain the reaction-product impacted kinetics at downhole conditions using a rotating disk apparatus, and how this new set of kinetics data was implemented in a 3D wormholing model to predict wormhole morphology and penetration velocity. The model explains some of the differences in wormhole morphology observed in limestone core flow experiments where injection pressure impacts the mass transfer of hydrogen ions to the rock surface. The model uses a CT scan rendered porosity field to capture the finer details of the rock fabric and then simulates the fluid flow through the rock coupled with reactions. Such a validated model can serve as a base to scale up to near wellbore reservoir and 3D radial flow geometry allowing a more quantitative acid treatment design.