Sand production assessment considering the reservoir geomechanics and water breakthrough

2015 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sadegh Asadi ◽  
Khalil Rahman ◽  
Hoanh V. Pham ◽  
Thao Le Minh ◽  
Andy Butt
Keyword(s):  
Rock Strength ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Production Plan ◽  
Reservoir Pressure ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Future Production ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Well Trajectory ◽  
Bottomhole Pressure

Sand production assessment is essential from the early stages of field development planning for completion design and later for the production optimisation. Unconsolidated and weakly consolidated sandstones are prone to fail at a low flowing bottomhole pressure during hydrocarbon production. To predict the critical flowing bottomhole pressure or a safe drawdown, a geomechanical model that integrates in situ stresses, rock mechanical properties, the well trajectory, reservoir pressure, the production plan and the depletion trend is required. For a given stress field, well trajectory and production plan, the rock strength index is a key parameter that has significant impacts on the sanding risk. This paper presents the results of a study investigating the potential of sand production from primary and secondary target reservoir rocks in a petroleum field in offshore Vietnam. A poroelastic analytical approach was used to investigate if sands will be produced from the open holes or perforations. The criterion of sanding was formulated to be the effective maximum principal stress to be greater than the effective rock strength. Observations of sanding or no sanding during drill stem tests (DSTs) were used to calibrate the sanding model to be used for sanding predictions of future production wells. The effects of reservoir pressure depletion on sanding risks were investigated using the stress arching theory. Since the water production from target reservoirs was observed in the nearby fields, the analysis was performed to investigate the effects of water production on rock weakening that may cause higher risks of sanding. The results showed low risks of sanding for majority of the reservoirs, with drawdowns as high as 3,000 psi at the original reservoir pressure. The drawdown was, however, required to reduce to 500 psi to produce sand-free after depleting the reservoir by more than 90% of its original pressure. The results of this study led to the decision of completing the wells without using sand control equipment and to avoid sanding by controlling drawdown for the life of the well.

scholarly journals Geomechanical model and sanding onset assessment: A field case study in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 40-46
Author(s):  
Văn Hùng Nguyễn ◽  
Thị Thuỳ Linh Bùi
Keyword(s):  
Rock Strength ◽  
In Situ Stress ◽  
Reservoir Pressure ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Geomechanical Model ◽  
Field Case ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Maximum Drawdown

Sand production is a key issue when selecting and applying completion solutions like open holes, screens or perforated liners. This problem can be seen in several types of reservoirs such as weakly consolidated and non-consolidated carbonates. The paper presents a method to model wellbore failures for sanding prediction. Our study shows that the potential sand risk in this field is defined by the rock strength rather than the in-situ stress. If the rock is sufficiently competent, the potential of sand production is negligible, and the development wells can be completed conventionally without any downhole sand control for the reservoir pressure above 1,280 psi and the maximum drawdown pressure of 2,380 psi.

A geomechanical approach for sanding risk assessment applied to three field cases for completion optimisation

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khalil Rahman ◽  
Abbas Khaksar ◽  
Toby Kayes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Well Completion ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Production Prediction

Mitigation of sand production is increasingly becoming an important and challenging issue in the petroleum industry. This is because the increasing demand for oil and gas resources is forcing the industry to expand its production operations in more challenging unconsolidated reservoir rocks and depleted sandstones with more complex well completion architecture. A sand production prediction study is now often an integral part of an overall field development planning study to see if and when sand production will be an issue over the life of the field. The appropriate type of sand control measures and a cost-effective sand management strategy are adopted for the field depending on timing and the severity of predicted sand production. This paper presents a geomechanical modelling approach that integrates production or flow tests history with information from drilling data, well logs and rock mechanics tests. The approach has been applied to three fields in the Australasia region, all with different geological settings. The studies resulted in recommendations for three different well completion and sand control approaches. This highlights that there is no unique solution for sand production problems, and that a robust geomechanical model is capable of finding a field-specific solution considering in-situ stresses, rock strength, well trajectory, reservoir depletion, drawdown and perforation strategy. The approach results in cost-effective decision making for appropriate well/perforation trajectory, completion type (e.g. cased hole, openhole or liner completion), drawdown control or delayed sand control installation. This type of timely decision making often turns what may be perceived as an economically marginal field development scenario into a profitable project. This paper presents three case studies to provide well engineers with guidelines to understanding the principles and overall workflow involved in sand production prediction and minimisation of sand production risk by optimising completion type.

The Erskine Field, Block 23/26b, UK North Sea

2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 447-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Free Water ◽  
Initial Pressure ◽  
Development Planning ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Pressure Data ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Wax Deposition ◽  
Field Development ◽  
High Pressure High Temperature ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe Erskine high-pressure–high-temperature gas condensate field was the first such field developed in the UK Continental Shelf. Since production started in 1997, the field has produced over 350 bcf of gas and 70 MMbbl of condensate. The reservoir pressure has depleted from an initial pressure of 960 bar (13 920 psi) down to 140–400 bar (2030–5800 psi), resulting in some compaction and sand production in some of the wells. Free water production has led to the formation of wellbore scale, which has required interventions to remove.The reservoirs are sandstones of the Jurassic Puffin, Pentland and Heather formations. Estimates of hydrocarbons in place made using production and pressure data compare favourably with the initial estimates made during field development planning, although the Pentland Formation volume is some 20% below the sanction estimate.Several major field outages have occurred, such as a condensate fire in 2010 and a blockage of the multiphase export pipeline in 2007. In addition, the field has experienced flow assurance problems related to scale and wax deposition. A new pipeline section was installed in 2018 to bypass a full pipeline blockage which occurred due to wax deposition.

Successful Polymer Treatment of Offshore Oil Well Suffering from Sand Production Problems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alain Zaitoun ◽  
Arnaud Templier ◽  
Jerome Bouillot ◽  
Nazanin Salehi ◽  
Budi Rivai Wijaya ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gas Permeability ◽  
Polymer System ◽  
Oil Well ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Sand Accumulation ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Production Problems

Abstract Many fields in South East Asia are suffering from sand production problems due to sensitive sandstone formation. Sand production increases with time and increasing water production. The production of sand induces loss of production, due to sand accumulation in the wellbore, and heavy operational costs such as frequent sand cleaning jobs, pump replacements, replacement of surface and downhole equipment, etc. An original sand control technology consisting of polymers injection and already deployed in gas wells, has been successfully tested in an offshore oil well. The technology utilizes polymers having a natural tendency to coat the surface of the pores by a thin gel-like film of around 1 µm. Contrary to the use of resins which aim at creating a solid around the wellbore, the polymer system maintains the center of the pores fully open for fluid flow, thus preserving oil or gas permeability while often reducing water permeability (a property known as RPM for Relative Permeability Modification). The advantage of such system is that the product can be injected in the bullhead mode and often, a reduction of water production is observed along the drop in sand production. In gas wells, the treatment lasts around 4 years and can be renewed periodically. A lab work was undertaken to screen out a polymer product well suited to actual reservoir conditions. We conducted bulk tests to evaluate product interaction on reservoir sand samples, and corefloods to evaluate in-situ performances. Treatment volume and concentration were determined after lab test. One of "Oil Well" candidate is located in Arjuna Field, offshore Indonesia. Downhole conditions are: Temperature = 178°F, salinity = 18000 ppmTDS, permeability = 140-300mD, two perforated intervals with total thickness of 67ft (ft-MD) with 38 ft Average Netpay Thickness, production rate = 800 bfpd. The well is under gas lift and needed to be cleaned out every 3 months because of sand accumulation. Polymer treatment was performed in two stages (bottom, then upper interval). A total volume of 150 m3 of polymer solution was pumped. Immediately after treatment, sand cut dropped from 1% to almost 0%. This enabled increasing the drawdown from 32/64’’ choke to 40/64’’, keeping the production sand free and sustained with time. This field test confirms the feasibility of the original sand control polymer technology both in gas wells and in oil wells, which opens high possibilities in the future.

scholarly journals An Investigation into Current Sand Control Methodologies Taking into Account Geomechanical, Field and Laboratory Data Analysis

Resources ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 125
Author(s):  
Dmitry Tananykhin ◽  
Maxim Korolev ◽  
Ilya Stecyuk ◽  
Maxim Grigorev
Keyword(s):  
Stress State ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Appropriate Technology ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Influence Of Water ◽  
State Models ◽  
Water Cut ◽  
Bottomhole Pressure

Sand production is one of the major issues in the development of reservoirs in poorly cemented rocks. Geomechanical modeling gives us an opportunity to calculate the reservoir stress state, a major parameter that determines the stable pressure required in the bottomhole formation zone to prevent sand production, decrease the likelihood of a well collapse and address other important challenges. Field data regarding the influence of water cut, bottomhole pressure and fluid flow rate on the amount of sand produced was compiled and analyzed. Geomechanical stress-state models and Llade’s criterion were constructed and applied to confirm the high likelihood of sanding in future wells using the Mohr–Coulomb and Mogi–Coulomb prototypes. In many applications, the destruction of the bottomhole zone cannot be solved using well mode operations. In such cases, it is necessary to perform sand retention or prepack tests in order to choose the most appropriate technology. The authors of this paper conducted a series of laboratory prepack tests and it was found that sanding is quite a dynamic process and that the most significant sand production occurs in the early stages of well operation. With time, the amount of produced sand decreases greatly—up to 20 times following the production of 6 pore volumes. Finally, the authors formulated a methodological approach to sand-free oil production.

A sand management system for mature offshore production facilities

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian McKay ◽  
Paul Russ ◽  
Jack Mohr
Keyword(s):  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Management System ◽  
Water Production ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Management Structure ◽  
Offshore Production ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Production Facilities

ExxonMobil subsidiary Esso Australia Pty Ltd has implemented a sand management system to minimise the impact of sand to its operations in the Bass Strait. Some of these facilities have been in operation for more than 30 years and no downhole sand control was installed during original drilling completions. Over time, with increased water production, sand production has become more problematic. This paper examines the strategies used to minimise the impact of sand production on facilities including the impact of corrosion and erosion on downhole, offshore topsides, pipeline and onshore plant infrastructure. The sand management system includes detailed operational instructions for flowing wells, monitoring sand production, and installing retrofit sand control where required. The system also defines a management structure with assigned responsibilities to ensure that operational guidelines are followed and continuous improvement opportunities are implemented.

Integrated Mechanical Earth Modeling for Predicting Sand Production: A Case Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Aymen Al-Ameri
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Shear Failure ◽  
Normal Fault ◽  
Horizontal Stress ◽  
Reservoir Pressure ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Stress Regime ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Formation Pore Pressure ◽  
Minimum Horizontal Stress

Summary Sand production is a serious problem in oil and gas wells, and one of the main concerns of production engineers. This problem can damage downhole equipment and surface production facilities. This study presents a sand production case and quantifies sanding risks for an oil field in Iraq. The study applies an integrated workflow of constructing 1D Mechanical Earth Modeling (MEM) and predicting the sand production with multiple criteria such as shear failure during drilling, B index, and critical bottomhole pressure (CBHP) or critical drawdown pressure (CDDP). Wireline log data were used to estimate the mechanical properties of the formations in the field. The predicted sand production propensity was validated based on the sand production history in the field. The interpretation results of some wells anticipated in this study showed that when a shear failure occurs during drilling, the B index is around 2 × 104 MPa or less and the CBHP is equal to the formation pore pressure. For this case, sand control shall be carried out in the initial stage of production. On the other hand, when the shear failure does not exist, the B index is always greater than 2 × 104 MPa, and the CBHP is mostly less than the formation pore pressure. In this case, implementing sand control methods could be postponed as the reservoir pressure undergoes depletion. However, for the anticipated field, sand control is recommended to be carried out in the initial stage of well production even when the CBHP is less than the formation pore pressure since sanding will be inevitable when the reservoir pressure depletes to values close to the initial reservoir pressure. The tentative evaluation of the stress regime showed that a normal fault could be the stress regime for the formations. For a normal fault stress regime, the study explained that when the reservoir permeability is isotropic, an openhole vertical wellbore has less propensity for sand production than a horizontal wellbore. Moreover, when the wellbore azimuth is in the direction of the minimum horizontal stress, the CBHP will be lower than in any other azimuth, and sanding will take place at higher wellbore inclination angles. For the anticipated field, because of the casedhole well completion and the anisotropic reservoir permeability, a horizontal well drilled in the direction of minimum horizontal stress with oriented perforation in the direction of maximum horizontal stress is an alternative method for controlling sand production.

Study of Sand Production Using Geomechanical and Hydro-Mechanical Models

2018 ◽  
Vol 876 ◽  
pp. 181-186
Author(s):  
Son Tung Pham
Keyword(s):  
Production Rate ◽  
Mechanical Model ◽  
Failure Criteria ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Geomechanical Model ◽  
Strength Failure ◽  
Rate Versus ◽  
Mechanical Models ◽  
Rock Mechanical Properties ◽  
Bottomhole Pressure

Sand production is a complicated physical process depending on rock mechanical properties and flow of fluid in the reservoir. When it comes to sand production phenomenon, many researchers applied the Geomechanical model to predict the pressure for the onset of sand production in the reservoir. However, the mass of produced sand is difficult to determine due to the complexity of rock behavior as well as fluid behavior in porous media. In order to solve this problem, there are some Hydro – Mechanical models that can evaluate sand production rate. As these models require input parameters obtained by core analysis and use a large empirical correlation, they are still not used popularly because of the diversity of reservoirs behavior in the world. In addition, the reliability of these models is still in question because no comparison between these empirical models has been studied. The onset of sand production is estimated using the bottomhole pressure that makes the maximum effective tangential compressive stress equal or higher than the rock strength (failure criteria), which is usually known as critical bottomhole pressure (CBHP). Combining with Hydro – Mechanical model, the main objective of this work aims to develop a numerical model that can solve the complexity of the governing equations relating to sand production. The outcome of this study depicts sand production rate versus time as well as the change of porosity versus space and time. In this paper, the Geomechanical model coupled with Hydro – Mechanical model is applied to calibrate the empirical parameters.

scholarly journals A robust fuzzy logic-based model for predicting the critical total drawdown in sand production in oil and gas wells

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250466
Author(s):  
Fahd Saeed Alakbari ◽  
Mysara Eissa Mohyaldinn ◽  
Mohammed Abdalla Ayoub ◽  
Ali Samer Muhsan ◽  
Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Correlation Coefficient ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Maximum Error ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
The North ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
North Adriatic Sea

Sand management is essential for enhancing the production in oil and gas reservoirs. The critical total drawdown (CTD) is used as a reliable indicator of the onset of sand production; hence, its accurate prediction is very important. There are many published CTD prediction correlations in literature. However, the accuracy of most of these models is questionable. Therefore, further improvement in CTD prediction is needed for more effective and successful sand control. This article presents a robust and accurate fuzzy logic (FL) model for predicting the CTD. Literature on 23 wells of the North Adriatic Sea was used to develop the model. The used data were split into 70% training sets and 30% testing sets. Trend analysis was conducted to verify that the developed model follows the correct physical behavior trends of the input parameters. Some statistical analyses were performed to check the model’s reliability and accuracy as compared to the published correlations. The results demonstrated that the proposed FL model substantially outperforms the current published correlations and shows higher prediction accuracy. These results were verified using the highest correlation coefficient, the lowest average absolute percent relative error (AAPRE), the lowest maximum error (max. AAPRE), the lowest standard deviation (SD), and the lowest root mean square error (RMSE). Results showed that the lowest AAPRE is 8.6%, whereas the highest correlation coefficient is 0.9947. These values of AAPRE (<10%) indicate that the FL model could predicts the CTD more accurately than other published models (>20% AAPRE). Moreover, further analysis indicated the robustness of the FL model, because it follows the trends of all physical parameters affecting the CTD.

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