Real-Time Monitoring of Matrix Acidizing Including the Effects of Diverting Agents

Abstract

Summary Real-time monitoring of the injection rate and pressure during matrix acidizing provides operators with a way to determine the changing skin factor as stimulation proceeds. Current methods are based either on the assumption of steady-state flow in the region around the wellbore affected by acid injection or on computer solution of the transient flow equations describing the unsteady reservoir flow process occurring during acidizing. In this paper, a new method for real-time monitoring of matrix acidizing, the inverse injectivity vs. superposition time function plot, is presented. This new method can be applied with a spreadsheet computer program or a programmable calculator and accounts for the transient flow effects occurring during matrix acidizing at multiple rates and injection pressures. The evolving skin factor during a matrix treatment is readily obtained from the diagnostic plot. Hypothetical examples show how the inverse injectivity plot can be used to assess the efficiency of stimulation and diversion. Comparisons with previously presented field cases show the new method to be a simple and accurate means of monitoring the evolving skin factor during matrix acidizing.