Results of Using a Relative-Permeability Modifier with a Fracture-Stimulation Treatment

Abstract

Abstract When stimulation treatments are performed on oil- or gas- producing zones with high-permeability streaks that produce water or that feature water influx, these water-producing zones are often unintentionally stimulated along with the productive zones. In such instances, water production from the formation may be excessive, requiring expensive separation and water disposal. After a stimulation treatment has been performed, a water-control operation may be performed to reduce water production, but the remedial treatments are expensive and are not always successful. Furthermore, the process can result in a plugged formation and lost production. This paper discusses field results from the combination of a relative-permeability modification (RPM) agent with a fracture- stimulation treatment. The design objective was for the modification agent to be leaked off into portions of the created fracture during the stimulation treatment, thereby alleviating water- production problems. The treatments were performed in April 1997 in the Brushy Canyon formation in southeast New Mexico, a Delaware sand reservoir. Previous fracture treatments in this interval had resulted in water cuts greater than 60%, and the continued production of these wells had been deemed uneconomical because of the presence of damaging scale and a subsequent decline in total fluid production. (The water cuts would remain at 60 to 70%, but the total volume of fluid would decline.) As a result of the combination of the relative-permeability modifier with the fracture-stimulation treatment, the wells averaged a 65% increase in oil production, a 122% rise in gas production, and a 60% decline in water flow compared to wells stimulated without the RPM agent. P. 285