Papers by Musaed N. J. Al-Awad
AI-Awadand El-Sayed temperature. Low temperature oxidation is found below 500° С and is character... more AI-Awadand El-Sayed temperature. Low temperature oxidation is found below 500° С and is characterized by different products such as oxygenated hydrocarbons like aldehydes, alcohol, ketones, acids and hydro-peroxides with carbon oxides. Light oils were found to ...
Journal of King Saud University - Engineering Sciences, 2020
Rock mechanical properties are essential input in many design applications in petroleum, mining, ... more Rock mechanical properties are essential input in many design applications in petroleum, mining, environmental and civil engineering. The most reliable source for these properties is the laboratory tests. Among these important rock mechanical properties are the tensile strength. Tensile strength can be measured directly and indirectly. For rocks, the indirect tensile test is the most convenient in terms of samples preparation, testing requirements, and availability of appropriate standards. The most common experimental method used to indirectly estimate tensile strength of rocks is called Brazilian indirect tensile test. It is well documented in the literature that the Brazilian indirect tensile test provides over estimated tensile strength values compared to the direct tensile test. The objective of this work is the investigation of potential modification of the Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula by the analysis of the relevant published laboratory data. Based on the analysis performed in this study, using published laboratory measurements, the conventional Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula has been modified by the incorporation of Poisson's ratio effect (BTS = 2(1Àm)L/pDt). The modified Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula was validated using another set of published laboratory data for various rocks and rock-like geomaterials other than that used initially in the modification process. Direct tensile strength values have been estimated; for various types or rocks; using the modified Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula with an average error of estimate as low as 8% compared to 32.6% before correction. Therefore, the modified Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula (BTS = 2(1Àm)L/pDt) is very promising and suitable for most rocks and rock-like geomaterials having Poisson's ratio value lies between 0.10 and 0.45.
Proceedings of SPE Technical Symposium of Saudi Arabia Section, 2005
Predicting sand production accurately is a difficult task; many techniqueshave been previously in... more Predicting sand production accurately is a difficult task; many techniqueshave been previously investigated such as production history, mechanicalproperty analysis using electrical log data, laboratory testing and computermodeling. In this study, the mechanism of sand production problem in an oil reservoirproducing medium oil (30o API) from a weak sandstone formation wasinvestigated. An analytical model is elaborated based on linear-poroelasticsolution of stress state around circular openings as well as Mohr-Coulombfailure criterion and Darcy's equations for fluid flow through porous media invertical and horizontal wellbores. In this study, a new important factor necessary for the estimation of themount of free sand generated between sheared planes caused by the fluiddrawdown was introduced. This factor is called sand production capabilityfactor. Sand capability factor was evaluated experimentally for the studiedreservoir. Observations of sand production in the studied oil reservoir were utilizedto tune and verify the model used in this study. For open-hole completion, itwas found that; free sand ready to move into the wellbore is inverselyproportional to radial distance. Furthermore, free sand ready for productionfrom the yielded zone around vertical wells is higher than that in the case ofhorizontal wells. The predicted free sand in all studied cases is in accordancewith field observations. Selection of borehole and perforation orientation (in case of perforatedcasing completion) with respect to the maximum horizontal principal in-situstress has a great effect in reducing the potential free sand amounts ready tomove into the wellbore along with the producing reservoir fluids. Horizontalwellbores oriented at 45o produce minimum sand compared with otherhorizontal orientations for the studied reservoir. Similar effect is found forperforations phased at zero angular position. Introduction Sand production can be defined as the production of sandgrains detached from the reservoir sandstone formation along with the producedhydrocarbon to the surface. Sand production is an exceedingly complex problem, which has troubled the oil industry worldwide. Every year, the petroleumindustry spends millions of dollars on cleaning out sand from wells andrepairing problems associated with the sand production such as boreholeinstability, casing collapse, wear of downhole and surface equipment, etc.
Journal of King Saud University - Engineering Sciences
Abstract To achieve fast, safe and economical drilling operations through formations containing n... more Abstract To achieve fast, safe and economical drilling operations through formations containing natural fractures or vugs, all fractures and vugs must be perfectly sealed using proper fractures seal materials in a process called wellbore strengthening. Wellbore strengthening may elevate the overall tensile strength of the treated formation to a value approaches the intrinsic tensile strength of unfractured rock. Numerous studies have been conducted for testing fractures seal materials suitability for wellbore strengthening application in various formations. However, there is no solid and simple theoretical explanation on how wellbore strengthening process can recover the tensile strength and hence the fracturing pressure of the treated naturally fractured formation. In this study, test specimens cored from an artificial (building) sandstone bricks were used to measure the unconfined compressive strength (UCS), Brazilian indirect tensile strength (BTS), and establishing the multi-stage triaxial compression (MS-TCS) test. Core samples from the same sandstone were previously used for wellbore strengthening studies using crushed dates palm seeds. Crushed dates palm seeds succeeded to completely stop mud losses at a pressure equal to 6.9 MPa. Data obtained from unconfined compression, multi-stage triaxial compression, Brazilian indirect tensile, and wellbore strengthening tests were collectively used to develop a clear theoretical understanding of the mechanism of tensile strength recovery caused by wellbore strengthening effect. It was found that wellbore strengthening effect in sealing natural fractures and vugs is similar to the confining pressure effect in closing the induced shear fractures in the test specimen during a multi-stage triaxial compression test. For the tested sandstone, using crushed dates palm seeds as a fracture seal material has improved wellbore strengthening from zero tensile strength (complete loss of mud circulation) to 2.56 MPa tensile strength at which there was a complete fracture seal (zero mud loss). The recovered tensile strength (2.56 MPa) is approaching the intrinsic tensile strength (BTS = 2.7 MPa) of the same sandstone in its initial unfractured state.
Journal of King Saud University: Engineering Sciences, 2020
Rock mechanical properties are essential input in many design applications in petroleum, mining, ... more Rock mechanical properties are essential input in many design applications in petroleum, mining, environmental and civil engineering. The most reliable source for these properties is the laboratory tests. Among these important rock mechanical properties are the tensile strength. Tensile strength can be measured directly and indirectly. For rocks, the indirect tensile test is the most convenient in terms of samples preparation, testing requirements, and availability of appropriate standards. The most common experimental method used to indirectly estimate tensile strength of rocks is called Brazilian indirect tensile test. It is well documented in the literature that the Brazilian indirect tensile test provides over estimated tensile strength values compared to the direct tensile test. The objective of this work is the investigation of potential modification of the Brazilian indirect tensile strength formula by the analysis of the relevant published laboratory data. Based on the analy...
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Technical Symposium of Saudi Arabia Sect... more This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Technical Symposium of Saudi Arabia Section held in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 14-16 May 2005. This paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Symposium Program Committee following review of information ...
The significance of permeability sensitivity to changes in pore pressure (i.e., to change in effe... more The significance of permeability sensitivity to changes in pore pressure (i.e., to change in effective overburden stress) has been examined using t hree Saudi oil reservoir rock samples as well as Berea sandstone. All of these cores were free of microfractures. The relationship between the overburden pressure and absolute permeability of these samples were determined at several levels of confining pressure at which the permeability was calculated. The experimental work performed in this study showed that reservoir rocks of high initial porosity and permeability are highly affected by reservoir (pore) pressure drop and resulting increase in the effective stress. For example, the production rate from sandstone sample N3 decreased 25% of its initial value when the pore pressure decreased by 25% of its initial value, whereas the production rate from carbonate sample N4 decreased 8% for the same pore pressure decrease. Moreover, it was observed that, the reservoir rock permeability under...
Journal of King Saud University - Engineering Sciences
Abstract Expenses for drilling represent 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling fl... more Abstract Expenses for drilling represent 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling fluids represent 15–18% of the total cost of well petroleum drilling operations. The main drilling fluids problem is the loss into fractured and vugs. Prevention or mitigation of severe lost circulation is a main challenge while drilling in fractured formations where conventional lost circulation materials (LCM) will not cure these losses. Therefore, specialized treatment is required when drilling fractured formations. In this study, a superior LCM made from crushed date palm seeds was tested at laboratory for its ability to seal artificially fractured cores under High Temperature High Pressure (HT-HP) conditions. For this purpose, the conventional 500 ml HT-HP filter press was modified to accommodate a fractured core plug of length and diameter equal to 38.1 mm (1.5 inch) instead of the ceramic disc. Using the modified HT-HP filter press, crushed date palm seeds proved its ability to completely seal the artificially made fracture in the test core samples at overbalance pressures up to 1000 psi and temperatures up to 90 °C. The optimum mud composition was fresh water, 7% by weight bentonite, 3.5% fine crushed date palm seeds, and 3.5% coarse crushed date palm seeds in weight bases. In addition to its superior ability to seal fractured formation, the crushed date palm seeds material is cheap, locally available in commercially quantities, and environmentally friendly material.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Technical Symposium of Saudi Arabia Sect... more This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Technical Symposium of Saudi Arabia Section held in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 14-16 May 2005. This paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Symposium Program Committee following review of information ...
Expenses for drilling represent 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling fluids repr... more Expenses for drilling represent 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling fluids represent 15–18% of the total cost of well petroleum drilling operations. The main drilling fluids problem is the loss into fractured and vugs. Prevention or mitigation of severe lost circulation is a main challenge while drilling in fractured formations where conventional lost circulation materials (LCM) will not cure these losses. Therefore, specialized treatment is required when drilling fractured formations. In this study, a superior LCM made from crushed date palm seeds was tested at laboratory for its ability to seal artificially fractured cores under High Temperature High Pressure (HT-HP) conditions. For this purpose, the conventional 500 ml HT-HP filter press was modified to accommodate a fractured core plug of length and diameter equal to 38.1 mm (1.5 inch) instead of the ceramic disc. Using the modified HT-HP filter press, crushed date palm seeds proved its ability to completely se...
The drilling operation cost represents 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling flui... more The drilling operation cost represents 25% of the total oilfield exploitation cost. Drilling fluids represent 15 to 18% of the total cost of well petroleum drilling operations. The main drilling fluids problem is the loss into fractures and vugs. Mitigation of severe lost circulation is a main challenge while drilling in fractured formations where conventional lost circulation materials (LCM) will not cure these losses. Therefore, specialized fracture seal material (FSM) is required when drilling fractured formations. In this study, a promising FSM made from shredded waste car tyres was tested at laboratory for its ability to seal artificially fractured cores under High Temperature High Pressure (HT-HP) conditions similar to wellbore conditions. For this purpose, the conventional 500 ml HT-HP filtration cell was modified to accommodate a fractured core plug of length and diameter equal to 38.1 mm (1.5 inch) instead of the ceramic disc. Moreover, the cell outlet channel located below the fractured plug was increased from 1.0 mm diameter to 5.0 mm, easily allow the passage of the FSM in none effective fracture seal tests. Using the modified HT-HP filtration cell, shredded waste car tyres proved its ability to perfectly seal the artificially made fracture in the test core samples at overbalance pressures up to 900 psi and temperatures up to 80°C. The optimum mud composition was fresh water, 7% by weight bentonite, 7% shredded waste car tyres (a mixture ranging between 2.3 mm and less than 0.45 mm granule sizes) in weight bases. In addition to its great ability to seal fractured formation, the shredded waste car tyres material is cheap and locally available in commercially quantities. Additionally, the utilization of waste car tyres in drilling operations and other industrial applications can protect the environment from many hazards.
Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology, 2016
MusaedN. J. Al-Awad porosity, permeability and mechanical properties. Mechanical and physical pro... more MusaedN. J. Al-Awad porosity, permeability and mechanical properties. Mechanical and physical properties of subsurface rocks in the earth which are not subjected to tectonic forces are influenced by two basic stresses. These are grain-to-grain rock stress caused by the total weight of ...
AI-Awadand El-Sayed temperature. Low temperature oxidation is found below 500° С and is character... more AI-Awadand El-Sayed temperature. Low temperature oxidation is found below 500° С and is characterized by different products such as oxygenated hydrocarbons like aldehydes, alcohol, ketones, acids and hydro-peroxides with carbon oxides. Light oils were found to ...
SPE Saudia Arabia Section Technical Symposium, 2008
Oil & Gas Science and Technology, 2001
Le mécanisme de production de sable provoqué par des fluctuations de la pression de pore -Des éch... more Le mécanisme de production de sable provoqué par des fluctuations de la pression de pore -Des échantillons sableux, issus d'une couche de surface d'un réservoir saoudien, ont été testés sous des conditions similaires à celles existant dans le réservoir afin d'étudier l'accroissement de la production de sable avec la fluctuation de pression. L'état de contrainte en fond de puits a été simulé en laboratoire à l'aide d'une presse équipée d'une cellule haute pression Hoek, avec contrôle de la pression de confinement, de la pression de pore et du système d'injection. On a pu ainsi mesurer l'écoulement du fluide dans les conditions in situ. Dans cette étude, une eau salée à 3 % et du pétrole léger de faible viscosité (1,5 cP) ont été utilisés comme fluides de remplissage et fluides de déplacement. Le fluide déplacé et le sable ont été collectés à la sortie de la cellule de Hoek (diamètre = 4,25 mm). On obtient que la production de sable augmente lorsque le processus de production est stoppé pendant 24 h puis redémarré ; elle augmente avec la répétition de l'ensemble de ce processus. Par ailleurs, la quantité de sable produite diminue lorsque la pression de fluide se rapproche de la pression initiale : ce déclin est attribué à la hausse de la pression effective de confinement, qui a tendance à contenir les grains sableux et à contrebalancer ainsi les dommages causés au ciment. Les essais de compression indiquent que la résistance du grès est réduite de 8 à 15 % par la succession de trois cycles de production utilisant eau salée et huile légère. Cette réduction de la résistance de la roche est due aux fluctuations de la pression de pore pendant le processus de production de sable.
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Papers by Musaed N. J. Al-Awad