Cla-Sta® clay damage control additives

Stabilize water-sensitive clays and minimize issues

During hydraulic fracturing, water sources of different salinities may contact the formation. This can result in an equilibrium disruption, which may lead to water-sensitive clays causing fracture instability issues. If clays are not appropriately managed, they can swell, disperse, or migrate and create fracture degradation, leading to a reduction in permeability, which limits the production of hydrocarbons.

Our portfolio of Cla-Sta clay damage control additives stabilizes water-sensitive clays by minimizing issues such as fines migration, clay swelling, and blockage.

These additives can be used to prevent permeability damage caused by fines migration in the formation and around the wellbore. The Cla-Sta additive is a polymer that stabilizes mineral fines by adsorbing on formation surfaces, altering the surface properties of particles, and reducing their interaction with flowing fluids, even at high flow rates. These clay control additives provide substantial, long-term stabilization of clays, such as smectite, illite, chlorite, and kaolinite.

Cla-Sta Clay Control

Features and benefits

Offers permanent clay protection that is more effective and longer lasting than temporary inorganic salts and semi-permanent clay stabilizers
Effective at lower concentrations on low and moderate clay content reservoirs, compared to competition
No shut-in time required because it adsorbs rapidly onto formation fines
Effective at high temperatures
Batch on-the-fly as a liquid additive to save time

Halliburton lab technicians — Cla-Sta clay damage control additives

Reduce

Minimize clay damage caused by fines migration

Custom

Advanced chemical testing

Stable

Clay swelling and mechanical stability

Rapid

Absorbs onto formation fines quickly

Control fines migration with long-lasting stabilization

Migrating fines can substantially reduce permeability in the vicinity of the wellbore, which greatly reduces well productivity or injectivity. This fines migration is often caused by rapid fluid movement through a formation. In addition, fines can be produced through fractures or from poorly consolidated formations. Produced fines can cause erosion of tubing and surface equipment, as well as create disposal problems.

The Cla-Sta additive is a polymer that can be used to stabilize several types of mineral fines commonly produced from formations, including fines that do not respond to treatment with conventional clay stabilizers. It is readily adsorbed on formation surfaces, reducing migration or movement, even when exposed to very high rates of fluid flow. By substantially stabilizing mineral-fine particles, solids production and permeability impairment caused by fines migration can be greatly reduced.

Prevent clay swelling to maintain permeability

Clays, especially those with high swelling potential, can absorb water when contacted by low-salinity waters. This can lead to the expansion of the rock matrix, which can obstruct fluid flow pathways and reduce the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing. Swelling clays can also result in the release of fines; both swelling and fines release can reduce formation permeability.

The Cla-Sta portfolio is highly effective in preventing clay swelling and fines migration and is the preferred chemical treatment for many different formations and applications.

Minimize fines migration in several applications

Our Cla-Sta additives can be used to help minimize permeability damage caused by fines migration in several situations occurring in oil, gas, and water-injection wells, including:

Gravel packing: Can be used as a pre-flush before gravel packing to help minimize formation damage and, later, fines migration into the gravel pack.
Sand consolidation: Sand-consolidation treatments stabilize clays and most of the fines in the near-wellbore region. Use of the Cla-Sta additive in conjunction with a sand-consolidation treatment helps stabilize fines to reduce fines migration into the consolidated sand zone.
Before water breakthrough: Fines are most readily produced when the flowing fluid is rock wetting. A water-wet formation often will not exhibit fines production or productivity decline resulting from permeability damage caused by fines migration until the well begins producing water. Timely well treatment with the Cla-Sta additive before the onset of water production could reduce the need to acidize the well later.
Injection wells in waterflood: The Cla-Sta additive can be used to prevent permeability damage caused by fines migration around the injection wellbore in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects or chemical-disposal operations. This allows operators to maintain higher fluid-injection rates and consequently higher rates of oil production.
Acidizing: The Cla-Sta additive can also substantially reduce permeability damage caused by fines migration in acidizing operations. The additive can be used in a flush after the acid injection as a permeability-damage prevention treatment. Unlike acidizing, it will not repair permeability damage that has already occurred.

Ready to take the next step?

Talk to a Halliburton clay control expert

Get in touch