Wave Methods for Oil Extraction Enhancing: Theoretical Support, Safety Issues, and Prospects

According to the experience of oil and gas extraction, it is observed the essential reduction of the wells’ production rate during their operation. This can occur due to depletion of mineral raw materials or general deterioration of filtration conditions associated with a change in the formation properties or degradation of the permeability of near-wellbore zones. In order to maintain the well’s production rate at an optimal level and extend the period of its stable operation, as a rule, various methods of production intensification are used. In this research, we are interested in the acoustic methods of formation stimulus. A review of the variety of acoustic methods, especially little-known research of these issues, is given in the report. Special attention is paid to the physical mechanisms underlying the technology development. We also present the mathematical models for acoustical stimulation of porous formation, when non-equilibrium effects in filtration flows, described by the generalized Darcy law, are taken into account. Considerations of the models for one and two dimensional formations show that in the conditions of relaxing filtration, there exists optimal forcing frequency providing the maximal radius of processing of the well-bore zone. This research can be useful for specialists in the fields of oil and gas extraction, modeling of filtration processes, etc.