Recent investigations have established the fact that authigenic clays may be dislodged during the enhanced oil recovery operations. However no mechanical stabilization of these clays along with chemical treatments has been fully used or investigated. The mechanical unstability of the clays is due to stress variation at the pore surfaces of the reservoir rock during the flow of pseudoplastic fluid such as polymer, etc. An equation has been derived which shows the relationship between the stress developed and the radial distance from the well bore at constant injection pressure.

The analysis of this equation shows that the stress is maximum near the well bore and decreases rapidly with distance. Graphs have been plotted to show further the effect of flow rate and power law coefficient on the stress.

Keywords:
enhanced recovery, upstream oil & gas, reservoir characterization, production logging, power law coefficient, relative shear stress, porous media, reservoir surveillance, shear strength, drilling fluid chemistry
Subjects:
Drilling Fluids and Materials, Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring, Reservoir Characterization, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Formation Evaluation & Management, Drilling fluid selection and formulation (chemistry, properties), Production logging
Copyright 1982, Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME
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