A Novel Approach to Model Fines Migration as a Formation Damage Mechanism

Fines migration is a formation damage mechanism that results in permeability reduction and production problems due to the alteration in electrostatic and hydrodynamic forces in porous media. Fine migration is mainly caused by changes in the attractive and repulsive surface forces, which are triggered by mud invasion during drilling activity, the utilization of completion fluid, acidizing treatment, and water injection into the reservoir during secondary and tertiary recovery operations. Hence, estimation of water critical salt concentration and critical injection rate is essential to control and overcome this damage mechanism. In this study, a modified model based on DLVO theory is presented to predict the effect of ions present in porous media, injection velocity, and injection strategy on the initiation and extent of fines migration. Different experiments such as core flooding, Zeta potential measurement, and surface studies were conducted to verify the model and study different approaches such as the application of nanofluid injection to control the fines migration. This study showed that the presence of divalent ions significantly affects the electrostatic force, and their presence in the formation water and injection water is beneficial to control fines migration even at low salinity of the injection water. Model and experimental results confirm that the application of nanoparticles increases the attractive force and helps to mitigate the fine migration problem