Fines Migration in Two-Phase Flow

Fines migration is a recognized source of permeability reduction and productivity decline in consolidated and unconsolidated cores. Previous investigations have shown that salinity, flow rate, pH, and temperature significantly affect the process. The presence of residual oil saturation (ROS) , fractional flow of oil and water, polarity of oil, and core wettability are other factors whose effects have not been studied systematically. This experimental study investigates the effect of these factors. Both oil saturation and the wettability condition of the core are shown to afect the extent and rate of permeability impairment significantly. Wettability, determinations made from endpoint relative permeabilities clearly show that oil-wet cores sustained slower and less damage than water- wet cores.