US 11,807,807 B2
Selective and on-demand near wellbore formation permeability improvement with in-situ cavitation of nanobubbles
Amr I. Abdel-Fattah, Dhahran (SA); and Nan Shi, Dammam (SA)
Assigned to SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed by SAUDI ARABIAN OIL COMPANY, Dhahran (SA)
Filed on Jan. 26, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/648,976.
Prior Publication US 2023/0235211 A1, Jul. 27, 2023
Int. Cl. C09K 8/518 (2006.01); C09K 8/506 (2006.01); E21B 49/08 (2006.01); E21B 37/00 (2006.01); C09K 8/504 (2006.01)
CPC C09K 8/518 (2013.01) [C09K 8/506 (2013.01); C09K 8/5045 (2013.01); E21B 37/00 (2013.01); E21B 49/081 (2013.01)] 10 Claims
 
1. A method for treating a reservoir with a damaged near wellbore region (NWR), the method comprising:
introducing a liquid foam treatment into a wellbore proximate to the damaged NWR, where the liquid foam treatment comprises a solution medium and nanobubbles, where the nanobubbles are configured to migrate from a lean medium in the wellbore to a rich medium in the NWR using a concentration gradient, and where the introduction of the liquid foam treatment into the wellbore promotes formation of the concentration gradient;
maintaining the wellbore such that at least a portion of the nanobubbles migrate into the damaged NWR from the wellbore; and
transmitting an acoustic wave towards the damaged NWR such that the nanobubbles affected by the transmission in the wellbore and in the damaged NWR collapse, causing fluid flow pathways to form through the damaged NWR, where the formed fluid flow pathways provide fluid connectivity between the wellbore and the reservoir sufficient for hydrocarbon production.