Effects of Ion Advection and Thermal Convection on Pore Pressure Changes in High Permeable Chemically Active Shale Formations

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Wellbore instability problems are often encountered while drilling in water active shales due to changes in pore pressure. The change in pore pressure is caused by hydraulic, thermal, chemical, and electrical potential gradients. In all previous studies it has been found that the effects of ion advection and thermal convection have a negligible effect on changes in pore pressure for a range of very low permeable shale formations (>10−5 md). This is an appropriate assumption for very low permeable shale formations. For high permeable shale formations (e.g., shale with a disseminated microfissure network), however, thermal convection and ion advection can play a significant role. The authors present a hydro-chemo-thermo-electrical model based on finite element method to investigate the effect of advection on ion transfer and thermal convection on temperature and their combined effect on pore pressure in shale formations. All equations are based on the thermodynamics of irreversible processes in a discontinuous system. The characteristic Galerkin discretization method is used to stabilize the solution of advection and convection equations in the finite element approach. Results of this study revealed that ion and heat transfer are controlled primarily by permeability of the shale formations. Movement of fluid into or out of the formation is due to a combination of hydraulic, chemical, electrical, and thermal osmotic flow. Results have also shown that in high permeable shale formations the chemical potential gradient between the pore fluid and drilling fluid reaches equilibrium faster than in low permeable shale formations. This is mainly due to the advection of ion from drilling fluid to the shale formation.