Question:medium

A circular shaped reservoir has an external radius \(r_e\). A well of radius \(r_w\) lies at the centre of the reservoir. The part of the reservoir around the wellbore, up to a radius \(r_s\), is damaged due to drilling and completion operations, where \(r_w < r_s < r_e\). This formation damage causes an additional pressure drop, \(\Delta p(r)\), that varies with the radial distance \(r\) from the well. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the additional pressure drop at the radial location \(r_s\) due to the formation damage?

Show Hint

The additional pressure drop caused by damage is confined entirely within the damaged ring and dies out at its outer edge, \(r_s\).
Updated On: Jul 28, 2026
  • \(\Delta p(r_s) = \Delta p(r_w)\)
  • \(\Delta p(r_s) = 0\)
  • \(\Delta p(r_s) = 2\,\Delta p(r_w)\)
  • \(\Delta p(r_s) = 4\,\Delta p(r_w)\)
Show Solution

The Correct Option is B

Solution and Explanation

Approach using the pressure vs ln(r) profile:
A convenient way to picture near wellbore damage is to plot flowing pressure $p$ against $\ln r$ for steady radial flow. Without any damage, this plot is a single straight line all the way from $r_w$ to $r_e$, because the slope of $p$ versus $\ln r$ depends only on $q\mu/(kh)$, which stays constant when the permeability is uniform.
Introducing the damaged ring:
When the zone from $r_w$ to $r_s$ has reduced permeability $k_s < k$, the actual pressure profile has two straight segments on the $p$ versus $\ln r$ plot. The segment from $r_s$ to $r_e$ has the normal (shallow) slope set by the undamaged permeability $k$, exactly as if there were no damage at all. The segment from $r_w$ to $r_s$ has a steeper slope, since it is controlled by the lower permeability $k_s$, so the pressure falls off faster per unit of $\ln r$ inside the damaged ring.
Reading off the additional drop $\Delta p(r)$:
If we extend the undamaged (shallow slope) line backward from $r_s$ down to $r_w$, it gives the pressure that would have existed at the well with no damage. The additional drop $\Delta p(r)$ at any radius $r$ inside the damaged ring is simply the vertical gap between the actual (steeper) profile and this extended undamaged line. At $r = r_e$ down to $r = r_s$, the actual profile and the extended undamaged line are identical by construction, so the gap is zero all along that stretch, including right at $r_s$.
Growth of the gap inside the damaged ring:
Moving from $r_s$ inward to $r_w$, the actual (steeper) line drops faster than the extended undamaged line, so the vertical gap widens continuously and reaches its maximum value, equal to the classical skin drop $\Delta p(r_w) = \dfrac{141.2\,qB\mu}{kh}S$, exactly at the wellbore face.
Final Answer:
\[ \boxed{\Delta p(r_s) = 0} \]
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