Special Issue

Abstract

Formation damage refers to the impairment of petroleum-bearing formations by various adverse phenomena occurring in a manner to reduce the recovery of oil and gas from petroleum reservoirs. Evaluation and mitigation of formation damage in petroleum reservoirs are among the issues of primary interest for the operators in order to accomplish the economically effective production strategies during the productive life of petroleum reservoirs and to maximize the ultimate oil and gas recovery. However, circumventing the formation damage problems is a highly challenging undertaking because the formation damage phenomena involve many inherently complex interaction processes between the operation conditions and configuration of wells, the reservoir and externally-introduced fluids and particulate matter, and the constituents and conditions of the petroleum-bearing formations. This special issue presents ten papers providing information on the recent advancements made in the experimental, theoretical, and field understanding of the practical formation damage issues and the optimal measures and strategies considered for controlling and minimizing the reservoir formation damage.