Qing Wang

Summary: During an acid fracturing treatment, the preflush and spent acid injected by multistage alternate injection will enter the matrix; this part of the aqueous phase entering the matrix will cause serious water blocking damage during crude oil production, hinder the migration of crude oil in the matrix, and reduce the well productivity. There is a large amount of small-sized pore throats in low-permeability bioclastic limestone reservoirs. The small-sized pore throats are important channels for hydrocarbon flow and are more vulnerable to water blocking under the effect of capillary pressure. The multistage alternating injection of microemulsion acid is a key technology to unlock the commercial potential of low-permeability porous limestone reservoirs, which has the advantages of high acid conductivity, long action distance, less solid residue, and low water blocking damage. This technology has demonstrated good usability in field tests, and the relevant laboratory studies mainly focus on understanding the stimulation effect of microemulsion acid through macroscopic core experiments. But there is still no clear explanation at the microscopic level for why this system can expand its invasion range and mitigate the water blocking damage. To evaluate the effect of microemulsion acid in limestone reservoirs and provide a reference for its application, the properties and mechanism of this system are studied in this paper, while the systems commonly used in the acid pressing process (spent acid without cleanup additive, spent acid added with cleanup additive, and spent emulsified acid) are selected as the control group. According to the characteristics of multimode pore throat in limestone reservoir, a special micromodel with CaCO3 coating is developed. The microfluidic research is carried out to visually present the dynamics of multiphase flow during different spent acids invasion and flowback processes. The cleanup mechanism of microemulsion acid was revealed, while highlighting its application advantages through comparative analysis.

Multi-stage acid fracturing can boost productivity in low-permeability limestone reservoirs, with success hinging on differential etching and the strength of undissolved regions to keep fractures open. Traditional rock strength test methods have strong randomness and error. This study explores the influence of four acid systems (hydrochloric acid, single-phase retarded acid, gelled acid, and emulsified acid) on fracture surface strength based on a new continuous strength test method. The rock strength weakening variation under different acid types and injection conditions was quantified, and the mechanism of single-phase retarded acid slowing down rock strength reduction was revealed. The results indicated that the fracture surfaces were reduced to a lesser extent than in traditional rock mechanical failure studies. Hydrochloric acid caused up to 28% of rock strength depletion, followed by 23% for gelled acid, 18% for emulsified acid, and 11.8% for single-phase retarded acid. Adjusting the acid injection parameters revealed that longitudinal leak-off at the fracture surface changes the rock's strength failure tendency. The microscopic results confirmed that the appropriate acid-rock reaction rate and viscosity are beneficial in reducing strength by forming the dominant wormhole that “siphons” the subsequent acid more profoundly into the formation, thereby reducing the reaction of the acid with the fracture surface. This study can help to understand better the mechanism by which acid reduces the strength of fracture surfaces and can provide guidance for selecting appropriate acid fluids for acid fracturing in low-permeability limestone reservoirs.

The economic development of tight carbonate reservoirs requires hydraulic or acid fracturing stimulation. Acid fracturing better activates natural fractures, resulting in increased stimulated reservoir volume and improving oil and gas flowability. In order to solve the problem of excessive acid-rock reaction due to high temperature, this paper screened four kinds of solid forms of acid with the maximum quantity of acid and reaction rate as the index and formed a high temperature-resistant mixed solid acid system with solid organic acid as the main part and inorganic solid acid as the auxiliary part. The maximum quantity of acid produced and effective acid concentration of the system were greater than 50%, and no residue was precipitated after the complete reaction. Dynamic acid-rock rate tests were performed on different types of retarded acid at 140 °C. The test results show that the solid acid dissolves to form a low-viscosity acid solution, and the reaction rate is one order of magnitude lower than that of gelled and cross-linked acids at the same hydrogen ion concentration, and it is little affected by temperature. Moreover, the paper compares the treatment effect of micro-proppants and solid acids on micro-fractures. The results show that the core permeability improvement multiples up to 900 times under low dissolution of solid acid and the formation of oil and gas flow channels with the same scale as micro-proppants. The experimental results demonstrated the ability of solid delayed acid to transport the fracture leading edge at high temperatures and effectively activate micro-fractures.

Acid fracturing is one of the effective techniques for developing low-permeability carbonate reservoirs economically. With the increasing reservoir depth, the reservoir temperature and closure pressure increase, posing new challenges to the acid system. In this paper, a high-temperature-resistant cross-linked acid system is selected, which maintains a viscosity above 80 mPa·s in the temperature range of 120 °C to 140 °C and can effectively reduce acid leak-off. The acid system can not only open the reservoir and ensure the extension of the fracture, but also reduce the reaction rate between the acid and the reservoir and increase the etching distance. The rock slab acid etching and conductivity tests show that the optimum injection rate is 50 mL/min, the rock etching morphology is channel type, and the conductivity remains above 110 D·cm. However, as the acid concentration decreases, the rock slab conductivity decreases considerably, especially at 10% acid concentration, where the closure pressure rises to 15 MPa, and there is almost no conductivity. In particular, after the acid system is broken, the reacted acid can form a filter cake on the core surface, hindering further intrusion of the residue into the core and reducing reservoir damage. The study shows that high-temperature-resistant cross-linked acid systems can effectively improve the stimulation of deeply fractured carbonate reservoirs at high temperatures.