Skin due to fines mobilization, migration, and straining during steady-state oil production

Abstract

Permeability decline during core floods with high rates has been widely reported in the literature. It has often been explained by the lifting, migration, and subsequent plugging of pores by fine particles, which has been observed in numerous core flood tests. The phenomena have been connected to well productivity impairment during fines production that also has been widely observed in oilfields. The authors derive a formula for skin factor based on the modified particle detachment model with maximum retention function. The mobilized fines capture by the rock is assumed to be instant at the large reservoir scale, so skin factor drops at the beginning of production and remains constant. The fines migration induced skin is shown to increase with increase of rate and initial attached fines concentration.