An Evaluation of the Impact of Reactive Perforating Charges on Acid Wormholing in Carbonates

Abstract

Abstract The introduction of reactive perforating systems has led to tremendous improvements in well stimulation and productivity. Reactive charges generate a secondary energy release in the perforation tunnel immediately after it is formed, breaking up and expelling debris to leave clean tunnels across the perforated interval, irrespective of formation properties. Although Bartko et al. (2007) have shown that clean perforation tunnels facilitate the evolution of a single, deeper-penetrating wormhole, there are no reported applications of reactive shaped charges in carbonates prior to acid stimulation. The present study was instigated to evaluate the impact of reactive charges on acid wormholing in representative carbonate cores. A set of oil-saturated cores have been perforated under simulated downhole conditions, using either a conventional or a reactive shaped charge of equal explosive load. After CT scanning to eliminate outlying perforations affected by rock property anomalies, the set of cores were subjected to identical acid injection treatments representative of typical carbonate reservoir stimulations. Time to breakthrough and effluent chemistry were both analyzed and recorded. Finally, post-stimulation CT scans were used to evaluate wormhole morphology. The laboratory experiments showed that reactive charges provide cleaner perforation tunnels with higher injectivity, which is beneficial for any type of stimulation job. Higher injectivity tunnels help to propagate more dominant and straighter wormholes resulting in less acid to propagate a given distance. This technology has a significant potential when perforating tight formations or heterogeneous intervals, where obtaining clean tunnels with conventional perforators is most challenging. Further research work needs to be done to evaluate if the difference in acid volume to breakthrough observed in the experiments would have a major impact in the field.