The Role of the Service Company in Minimizing and Reducing Formation Contamination
Authors: Leon Leonard 
Published: December 2007

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

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.

The responsibility of a service company in the design and technique for well treatment and well completion has been an evolutionary process. One of the difficult problems has been that of reducing or eliminating the contamination of the producing reservoir by the various processes and materials that have proliferated over the years. The service companies have invested proliferated over the years. The service companies have invested heavily in research, equipment and manpower, with a great deal of effort focused on the formation damage problem. The research effort is oriented toward continually seeking and upgrading chemicals and materials that do a more effective job. The design of service equipment is constantly being improved to reduce the probabilities of errors and to allow easier cleansing. The probabilities of errors and to allow easier cleansing. The training of personnel continues at a constantly increasing rate as the techniques grow more complicated and well problems become more severe. Field employees operating independently all over the world not only require sophisticated training and experience to function efficiently, but also must have a highly motivated attitude to protect the wellbore from unnecessary damage. The education process continues with the well owner and communication between service companies and the owner is an important factor. More knowledge about formation characteristics is needed which can be obtained by coring producing formations.

Introduction

The procedure of drilling and completing hydrocarbon producing wells is by its nature a contaminating process. The producing wells is by its nature a contaminating process. The service company is deeply involved in many phases of drilling and completion and performs a major role in reducing formation contamination. As with most engineering problems, there are mutually antagonistic factors that interplay, such as safety factors versus the desirability of minimizing contamination. The primary responsibilities of the service company have been to primary responsibilities of the service company have been to develop materials, techniques and hardware to effectively perform a great variety of services with an acute awareness that the benefits of the service will outweigh the inevitable formation damage. Finally, and probably the most important factor in the equation, is the performance of the service crews.