Drill-In Fluid Optimization for Formation Damage Control Considering Salt Dissolution in Saline-Lacustrine Reservoirs

Abstract

Summary Salt dissolution induced by drill-in fluid loss is a frequent occurrence in saline-lacustrine reservoirs, which can potentially result in serious formation damage. In light of this, an experimental study was conducted to investigate the salt mineral dissolution and dynamic damage in the rock samples collected from a saline-lacustrine carbonate reservoir and the response of pore-fracture structures using the in-situ drill-in fluids. The study further involved analyzing the formation-damage-control (FDC) ability of the in-situ drill-in fluids. The results indicated that although salt dissolution significantly increased the pore size of the tight matrix and the width of natural fractures, improving the conductivity of seepage channels, the increase in pore-fracture size may have greatly aggravated the drill-in fluid loss during the process. The continuous serious filtrate loss, lower pressure-bearing capacity of the plugging zone, and lower permeability recovery rate (PRR) of rock indicated poor FDC performance of in-situ brine drilling fluids for the salt-dissolved core samples. The FDC performance of drill-in fluids for saline-lacustrine carbonate reservoirs was optimized based on the response of reservoir pore-fracture structure to salt dissolution and the theory of slightly underbalanced activity. The experimental results showed that the optimized drill-in fluids had better FDC ability, with an average PRR increase of 14.04%. Field application indicated that the optimized drill-in fluids reduced the drill-in fluid loss by 76.48%, shortened the drilling cycle by 45.20%, and increased the initial production capacity per well by 7.70%. This study can provide insightful guidance to optimize the FDC performance of drill-in fluids for saline-lacustrine hydrocarbon reservoirs during drilling.