Sand management/control
This paper presents the completion strategy implemented in an intelligent well completed in Malaysian deepwater Block K.
To avoid costly interventions like sidetracking or wellbore abandonment, a check-valve system was installed near the sandface within three injector wells which prevented the mobilization of fines from the reservoir into the wellbore by stopping backflow.
This paper outlines issues to be resolved during facility design and provides guidelines, calculations, and examples for sand-handling steps to be implemented after separation.
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Standalone-sand-screen (SAS) completion, especially in horizontal gas wells with high potential for sand production, typically suffers from premature failure caused by sand erosion resulting from high velocity in the annulus near the heel section.
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Large amounts of clay minerals are present in shale; shale’s resulting instability is a major problem while drilling.
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I think it is safe to say that the engineers and companies involved, in either building or using sand-control systems, have made significant strides and have added critical learnings to our industry.
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Although multiple-zone, downhole sand-control-tool systems have been in use since the early 1990s, these systems have been designed for jobs that require only low pump rates with low pressure differentials.
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Upstream separation processes remain a hot topic for facilities engineers. Striving to design separators with the optimal sizing for a variety of reservoir conditions, increasing water cuts, and dynamic gas/oil/water production characteristics is critical, but challenging.
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Sand production is an unintended consequence of oil and gas production from unconsolidated and semi-consolidated reservoirs, causing damage to surface and subsurface well equipment and reducing the hydrocarbon productivity.
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This paper shares the engineering approach used to determine where and when sand control was needed in offshore Malaysia on the basis of geomechanical sand-free critical-drawdown-pressure evaluation for the selected well type, configuration, and completion.
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Traditionally, sand-control equipment is used to prevent sand from entering the wellbore. An alternative is to produce solids with the well fluids and separate them at the surface.
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This paper presents results from a nondestructive core-strength-index tester that is less destructive than the Schmidt hammer and less intrusive, easier, faster, and less expensive than the core scratch tester.
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Facilities sand management is tasked with the goal of ensuring sustained hydrocarbon production when particulate solids are present in well fluids, while minimizing the impact of the produced solids on surface equipment. How to do that?