Researcher awarded by Gazpromneft for well killing projects

Junior Research Associate of the Laboratory of Enhanced Oil Recovery Aydar Mustafin received the Statuette for the Development of Science and Business from the oil company.

As Aydar Mustafin explains, well killing is a technological process involving counter-pressure on a reservoir and leading to a cessation of fluid extraction. The killing helps isolating the well from a collector and repair it.

However, working under anomalous low reservoir pressure (ALRP) is very tricky. Traditional killing fluids are ineffective under ALRP because they are infiltrated and thus decrease the filtration ability of a collector. That’s why well killing under ALRP is a pertinent research problem.

Water-swellable bridging agents have been developed within the framework of the project. These reagents are pumped into the well and, after interaction with water, begin to swell, significantly increasing in size (up to 40–50 times, depending on the conditions of a particular field). As a result, a “block pack” of swollen agents is formed, which allows to effectively kill the well without negatively affecting the reservoir.

Thus, the awardee finds swelling agents to be a promising technique for this particular process. Further testing is planned.