Abstract

The oil and gas industry seeks effective ways to boost well productivity in tight formations, depleted reservoirs, and unconventional plays. Conventional stimulation methods—acidizing, stim sleeve guns, and hydraulic fracturing—often underperform due to formation heterogeneity and operational limits. This paper evaluates propellant-based stimulation as an alternative for creating controlled fractures and bypassing near-wellbore damage to enhance production. Propellant-based stimulation uses engineered solid propellants to generate predictable pressure pulses through rapid burning rather than detonation. This controlled combustion produces high-pressure gas that creates multiple radial micro-fractures around perforation tunnels, enhancing formation connectivity and optimizing hydrocarbon recovery. A pilot propellant-based stimulation campaign was conducted on six wells in the Barail sandstone formation of the Upper Assam Basin, India. Four wells (ABC-04, ABC-07, ABC-13, and ABC-15) were selected for evaluation, while two remain under assessment. The multi-stacked, tight Barail sands (<1 mD permeability, 2– 10.2% porosity) were deposited in a fluvio-deltaic setting. Over six months of post-stimulation testing, oil production increased from 25 KLPD to 36 KLPD— 44% improvement. Casing integrity or downhole components, such as plugs or packers, were intact, and the oil-water ratio in well ABC-04 improved by 100%. These results, along with price comparison with other techniques, demonstrate that this stimulation technique is a cost-effective, efficient, and environmentally favourable stimulation method, particularly suited for mature and tight reservoirs. It offers rapid deployment and improved recovery compared to conventional techniques.