Modeling and Optimization of Matrix Acidizing in Horizontal Wells in Carbonate Reservoirs

In this study, the optimum conditions for wormhole propagation in horizontal well carbonate acidizing was investigated numerically using a horizontal well acidizing simulator. The factors that affect the optimum conditions are rock mineralogy, acid concentration, temperature and acid flux in the formation. The work concentrated on the investigation of the acid flux. Analytical equations for injection rate schedule for different wormhole models. In carbonate acidizing, the existence of the optimum injection rate for wormhole propagation has been confirmed by many researchers for highly reactive acid/rock systems in linear core-flood experiments. There is, however, no reliable technique to translate the laboratory results to the field applications. It has also been observed that for radial flow regime in field acidizing treatments, there is no single value of acid injection rate for the optimum wormhole propagation. In addition, the optimum conditions are more difficult to achieve in matrix acidizing long horizontal wells. Therefore, the most efficient acid stimulation is only achieved with continuously increasing acid injection rates to always maintain the wormhole generation at the tip of the wormhole at its optimum conditions. Examples of acid treatments with the increasing rate schedules were compared to those of the single optimum injection rate and the maximum allowable rate. The comparison study showed that the increasing rate treatments had the longest wormhole penetration and, therefore, the least negative skin factor for the same amount of acid injected into the formations. A parametric study was conducted for the parameters that have the most significant effects on the wormhole propagation conditions such as injected acid volume, horizontal well length, acid concentration, and reservoir heterogeneity. The results showed that the optimum injection rate per unit length increases with increasing injected acid volume. And it was constant for scenarios with different lateral lengths for a given system of rock/ acid and injected volume. The study also indicated that for higher acid concentration the optimum injection rate was lower. It does exist for heterogeneous permeability formations. Field treatment data for horizontal wells in Middle East carbonate reservoirs were also analyzed for the validation of the numerical acidizing simulator