From Wellbore Breakout to Sand Production Prediction: An Integrated Sand Control Completion Design Methodology and Case Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caleb DeValve ◽  
Gilbert Kao ◽  
Stephen Morgan ◽  
Shawn Wu
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Sand Particle ◽  
Well Performance ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Natural Sand ◽  
Reservoir Development ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Production Wells ◽  
Sandstone Reservoir

Abstract Controlling downhole sand production is a well-known and often-studied issue within the oil and gas industry. The methods employed for sand management, and their ultimate cost, is greatly impacted by the amount of sand produced by the well. This paper presents an innovative, physics-based approach to predict sand production for various reservoir and completion types, explored through a case study of recent production wells in a sandstone reservoir development. Sand control may be executed through a variety of methods, for example at the reservoir-completion interface using a sand control completion, at topside facilities through sand monitoring / de-sanding equipment, or by using well operational limits to avoid downhole sand failure. Although different strategies exist for effective sand management, some capability to estimate sand production is needed to design a holistic sand management strategy. This paper presents a physics-based approach to predicting sand production on a well-by-well basis to inform the overall sand management design. The workflow integrates (1) geomechanical estimate of wellbore breakout and volume of failed sand downhole, (2) log-based prediction of the sand particle size variation along the well path, (3) modeling of sand filtration based on experimental and analytical methods for specific completion options (e.g. Open Hole Gravel Pack [OHGP] or Stand-Alone Screen [SAS]), and (4) a natural sand pack permeability prediction for SAS completions and associated well performance analysis. This paper describes the methods used in this work in more detail as well as the application to five wells in a recent sandstone reservoir development. The workflow can be described as follows: First, log-based predictions for geomechanical properties and sand Particle Size Distributions (PSDs) were generated for specific wellpaths, and the volume of failed reservoir sand and PSD characteristics were predicted along the entire wellbore length. Next, this analysis was combined with a novel filtration model to determine sand retention and production, specific to various completion types. Additionally, for a SAS completion, the PSD and volume of retained sand in the annulus was computed as the wellbore experience borehole breakout, combined with an analytical model to calculate the natural sand pack permeability and well performance. This workflow was initially applied to study five development well producers, and the results influenced a mixed design of OHGP and SAS completions for individual wells. Sand production was measured during recent well startup to validate the workflow, with excellent agreement observed between measured field data and the physics-based predictions. This innovative, physics-based approach and the associated case study demonstrate a significant advancement in the area of sand production prediction from hydrocarbon production wells. The current workflow is able to deliver improved sand prediction capabilities over rules of thumb or analog field performance, which can be used to better inform overall sand management strategies and associated business value.

Introducing the Application of Hybrid Gas and Sand Control in Sucker Rod Pump (SRP) Case Study Old Rimau Mature Field South Sumatera

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. R. Safiraldi
Keyword(s):  
New Technology ◽  
Middle Section ◽  
Hybrid Device ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Sucker Rod ◽  
Sucker Rod Pump ◽  
Gas Separator ◽  
Mature Field ◽  
Sandstone Reservoir

Objective/Scope: Challenges of sucker rod pumping operation in high gas and solid production;The implementation of integrated down-hole gas and solid separation in one device. Method procedure/processes: Old Rimau Fields in South Sumatera produce oil from sandstone reservoir with GOR above 800 scf/stb and solid production resulted from fracturing proppant flow back. Due to these conditions, some problems such as gas lock or interference, pump leakage, and rod parted were discovered which resulting in low SRP run life. The installation of sand screen and gas anchor has been implemented to encounter this issue. However, this initiative still ineffective due to limited conditions. If the sand screen was installed to control the sand, then the gas anchor to control the gas could not be installed and vice versa.Results, observations, conclusions: Integrated solid and gas handling called "hybrid" device has been introduced. The device is connected directly at the bottom of down-hole pump consist of three section, the upper section for intake and gas separator, the middle section for gas and solid separator, and lower one for solid container. The first utilization was conducted in three SRP wells, which are KG-09, LKP-21, and KG-10. Previously, these wells were shut-in due to down-hole problem. After installing the device while well service, the SRP run normally to produce the oil. The increasing of pump load performance was also obtained, indicated by the dyna card. At this time, the SRP is still running and run life is still under surveillance. This paper will explain the new technology end-to-end implementation of the integrated down-hole sand and gas control in one device for Sucker Rod Pump (SRP) system.

scholarly journals Protocol for sand control screen design of production wells for clayey silt hydrate reservoirs: A case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 1438-1449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanlong Li ◽  
Fulong Ning ◽  
Nengyou Wu ◽  
Qiang Chen ◽  
Alireza Nouri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Screen Design ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Clayey Silt ◽  
Production Wells ◽  
Hydrate Reservoirs

New Downhole Sand Entry Detection Technology Leads Directly to Successful Remedial Work and Additional Oil Production

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Agrawal ◽  
Moustafa Eissa ◽  
Kamaljeet Singh ◽  
Shaktim Dutta ◽  
Apoorva Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reservoir Characterization ◽  
Sand Particle ◽  
Gas Oil ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Impact Detection ◽  
Detection Tool ◽  
Detection Technology ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Remedial Work ◽  
Interpretation Algorithm

Abstract The consequences of sand production are often disadvantageous to the short and long-term productivity of the well. Although some wells routinely experience controllable sand production, these are the exception rather than the rule. Sand production and its management over the life of the well is not an attractive situation but is often essential to extract the resource. Knowing the root cause behind sand inflow in a well and the possible results can inform an appropriate strategy to safely extract as much of the resource as possible. The sands in such reservoir units often have high permeability and are mechanically weak and prone to sand production. The producing wells are often completed with gravel-packed completions for efficient sand control. Most of the wells have multi-zone completions for better productivity but this further complicates reservoir characterization. This paper describes the first use of downhole sand impact detection technology in such fields. The sand detection technology integrates the fully digitized high-resolution acquisition with signal processing and interpretation algorithm to enhance the sand particle detections as small as 0.1 mm in diameter and up to 1,500 impacts per second. The tool is designed to immune the sensors from any background noise and gas/liquid jetting effect. A combination of production logging tools (PLT) and the sand impact detection tool, was used to understand four phase zonal contributions (gas, oil, water and sand) and pinpoint sand entry in these cases. Results exceeded expectations and the ability for the sand detection tool to accurately detect the point of sand entry enabled immediate intervention to eliminate sand production in these case studies. One of them also resulted in increased production of 7.4kb/d oil without any sand flow and with greatly reduced gas-oil ratio as compared to pre-intervention production. The work clearly demonstrates the practical and effective use of downhole sand impact detection with new sand detection technology to identify and isolate sand production in wells. The innovative tool design makes it feasible to detect even small sand particles in adverse wellbore conditions and varied production rates, thus adding a detection of the fourth phase in an otherwise three phase production log.

scholarly journals Particle based modelling and simulation of natural sand dynamics in the wave bottom boundary layer

2016 ◽  
Vol 796 ◽  
pp. 340-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin R. Finn ◽  
Ming Li ◽  
Sourabh V. Apte
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Particle Size ◽  
Oscillatory Flow ◽  
Bottom Boundary Layer ◽  
Sand Particle ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Sheet Flow ◽  
Natural Sand ◽  
Bottom Boundary ◽  
Size And Shape

Sand transport and morphological change occur in the wave bottom boundary layer due to sand particle interactions with an oscillatory flow and granular interactions between particles. Although these interactions depend strongly on the characteristics of the particle population, i.e. size and shape, little is known about how natural sand particles behave under oscillatory conditions and how variations in particle size influence transport behaviour. To enable this to be studied numerically, an Euler–Lagrange point-particle model is developed which can capture the individual and collective dynamics of subaqueous natural sand grains. Special treatments for particle collision, friction and hydrodynamic interactions are included to take into account the wide size and shape variations in natural sands. The model is used to simulate sand particle dynamics in two asymmetric oscillatory flow conditions corresponding to the vortex ripple experiments of Van der Werfet al.(J. Geophys. Res., vol. 112, 2007, F02012) and the sheet-flow experiments of O’Donoghue & Wright (Coast. Engng, vol. 50, 2004, pp. 117–138). A comparison of the phase resolved velocity and concentration fields shows overall excellent agreement between simulation and experiments. The particle based datasets are used to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of the particle-size distribution and the influence of three-dimensional vortical features on particle entrainment and suspension processes. For the first time, it is demonstrated that even for the relatively well-sorted medium-size sands considered here, the characteristics of the local grain size population exhibit significant space–time variation. Both conditions demonstrate a distinct coarse-over-fine armouring at the bed surface during low-velocity phases, which restricts the vertical mobility of finer fractions in the bed, and also results in strong pickup events involving disproportionately coarse fractions. The near-bed layer composition is seen to be very dynamic in the sheet-flow condition, while it remains coarse through most of the cycle in the vortex ripple condition. Particles in suspension spend more time sampling the upward directed parts of these flows, especially the smaller fractions, which delays particle settling and enhances the vertical size sorting of grains in suspension. For the submillimetre grain sizes considered, most particle–particle collisions occur at low impact Stokes numbers and can be expected to have low rebound velocities. The results are considered to be fundamental to the understanding of particle sorting and transport mechanisms, and can help to improve current transport modelling approaches.

scholarly journals An Improved Set of Design Criteria for Slotted Liners in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Operation

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 5685
Author(s):  
Chenxi Wang ◽  
Mohammad Haftani ◽  
Jesus David Montero Pallares ◽  
Alireza Nouri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Gravity Drainage ◽  
Design Criteria ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage ◽  
The Past ◽  
Retention Testing ◽  
Production Wells ◽  
Graphical Design

Slotted liners are widely used in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) wells to control sand production and sustain wellbore productivity. The slotted liner can provide desirable performance when appropriately designed. A literature review indicates a limited number of studies that offer design criteria specifically for SAGD wells. Moreover, past criteria seem to neglect some key factors, which may lead to inadequate slot design. This paper proposes a set of graphical design criteria for slotted liners in SAGD production wells, using prepacked sand retention testing (SRT) data. The SRT is designed to incorporate several essential factors that are not present in the past design criteria, such as slot density, steam breakthrough, and particle size distribution (PSD). The proposed design criteria are presented graphically for normal and aggressive conditions, where the aggressive condition accounts for the potential occurrence of the steam breakthrough. It is found that the upper bound of the design window is substantially lower for the aggressive condition due to the higher sand production after the steam breakthrough. The design criteria also indicate that the slotted liner is suitable only for the formations with low fines content.

5 Years Application of Acoustic Sand Detection Tool in Sandy Wells Environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Widarena
Keyword(s):  
Monitoring System ◽  
Pipe Wall ◽  
Particle Collision ◽  
Sand Particle ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Detection Tool ◽  
Additional Production ◽  
Production Wells ◽  
Significant Production

Significant production of Mahakam Block comes from sand prone reservoirs. Uncontrolled sand production can lead to catastrophic consequences. A robust sand detection and monitoring system is crucial for optimizing production without jeopardizing safety. A non-intrusive Acoustic Sand Detection (ASD) tool has been widely implemented in Mahakam swamp and offshore fields. The tool can be portable or permanently installed, depending on the availability of power and telemetry. Sand rate is derived from the signal received by sensor after listening to the sound of sand particle collision with the pipe wall. If the sand rate exceeds the defined Maximum Allowable Sand Rate (MASR) of 0.02 g/s, the well will be declared as sandy. As the consequence, the well could be ramped down or shut-in for choke verification. Of all the sandy cases detected by ASD, more than twenty cases turned out to be incident preventive. The wellhead choke had been eroded such that it could have been catastrophic. The erosion occurred on wells producing from shallow/upper layer reservoirs with high delta pressure between upstream and downstream choke. The application of acoustic sand detection tool as the primary sand monitoring system (78%) in Mahakam has proven to be rewarding. Around 149 BCF of additional production volume during 2014-2019 was the result of implementation of sand detection and monitoring using ASD tool, as means of optimizing the life of production wells. This paper demonstrates Mahakam invaluable experience with ASD tool to optimize sandy wells production safely.

Lessons Learned from Optimising Sand Control and Management Strategies in a Low Permeability Sandstone Oil Field

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Babalola Daramola ◽  
Chidubem Martins Alinnor
Keyword(s):  
Management Strategies ◽  
Oil Production ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Sand Production ◽  
Injection Wells ◽  
Well Integrity ◽  
Sand Control ◽  
Production Wells ◽  
Control And Management

Abstract This paper presents the lessons learned from optimising the sand control and management strategies of an oil field (Field E) after multiple sanding events and well failures. It presents how the old sand control solution was selected, the failure root causes, and the remediation options considered. The new sand control method, and the performance of two re-drilled wells after two years of production are also presented. Field E is a sandstone field with oil and gas-cap gas at initial conditions, and was initially developed with 5 production wells, 2 water injection wells, and 2 gas injection wells. The development wells were drilled from an offshore platform, and completed with stand-alone screens (SAS) in 2013. Oil production commenced in late 2013, and within three years, sand production was observed, and 4 of the 5 oil production wells had failed. The 4 wells were re-drilled in 2017, and the sand control strategy was changed from stand-alone screens to frac-packs. Key lessons learned include completing sand strength studies pre-development, avoiding off-the-shelf sand control solutions, and completing sand control design studies based on service contractor capability, fines control, oil production rates, and sand control as key selection factors. Nearby wells should be shut in during infill drilling operations to avoid short circuits, drilling mud losses, completions damage, and well integrity failures. It is recommended that the bean up procedures of wells with sanding events are changed to slow bean up to preserve well integrity, oil production, and cash revenues. The asset team should consider installing sliding sleeves or inflow control devices for zonal testing and to choke or close sand production zones if needed. The asset team should also consider installing a test pipeline and a test separator to allocate sand production volumes from each well, clean up new wells, sample the wells for water salinity measurements, and other benefits.

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