This paper was prepared for the 48th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Las Vegas, Nev., Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1973. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.
Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.
Many currently accepted drilling and producing practices cause appreciable formation damage. Major changes in field operations are required to prevent or alleviate this damage.
In planning a coordinated attack on formation damage, the Creative Task Force offers a proved approach to bring about desired results. Case histories of major task force projects relating to formation damage are presented. presented. Because of the potential economic impact on the oil and gas business, an all out attack on formation damage should be solidly supported by Management of the various oil and gas producers, service companies, drilling producers, service companies, drilling contractors, and workover contractors on a worldwide basis.
Formation damage causes significant loss of both short and long term profits in the Petroleum Industry, and probable loss of millions of barrels of recoverable oil and billions of cubic feet of gas.
Many currently accepted drilling and producing practices introduced during the era of abundant reserves and excess producing capacity in the U.S. cause appreciable formation damage. major changes in field practices are required to prevent or alleviate this damage. Needed changes have probably been delayed for some 25 years because of poor producing economics related in a large degree to low prices for oil and gas. However, there also appears to be the lack of appreciation of the magnitude and widespread extent of the damage problem.
