Patent ID: 8091646

Claim:
A method of removing at least a portion of wellbore reservoir damage from a subterranean reservoir containing non-polar material, the method comprising: pumping a cleaning fluid into the subterranean reservoir to contact the cleaning fluid with the non-polar material in the wellbore reservoir damage, where the cleaning fluid comprises: in situ emulsion-forming components comprising: at least one surfactant; at least one polar fluid; a co-solvent or co-surfactant selected from the group consisting of mono or poly-alcohols, organic acids or amines, polyethylene glycol, ethoxylation solvents and mixtures thereof; and an acid selected from the group consisting of mineral acids, acetic acid, formic acid, polyamino carboxylic acids, salts of these acids and mixtures thereof; forming a single phase microemulsion (SPME, Winsor IV) in situ in the subterranean reservoir, where the in situ-formed SPME is a thermodynamically stable, macroscopically homogeneous mixture of at least three components, where the three components are: a polar phase from the polar fluid, the non-polar material, and the at least one surfactant; incorporating at least part of the non-polar material into the single phase microemulsion; and removing the single phase microemulsion incorporating the non-polar material from the reservoir damage in the subterranean reservoir.