Abstract

Summary Offshore completions in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) must typically address sand control. Our industry has made significant progress with respect to sand control equipment and implementation. However, all methods of sand control are subject to mechanical failure, with the first indications often being the production of solids into a common separation facility. In many offshore completions, particularly subsea or multizone completions, it is often difficult and expensive to determine which well or specific completion interval has failed, most times requiring production to be shut in for diagnosis. Not until that point can a remedy be evaluated. One GOM producer engaged the services of a proppant supplier to determine whether or not a suite of proppants/gravel can be developed that uniquely identified and placed in each completion interval. In the event of proppant production to surface (i.e., mechanical failure), the surface samples are analyzed to directly determine which interval failed. The proppant needs to be nonra-dioactive, yet identifiable with standard laboratory techniques. The supplier subsequently developed a methodology whereby the proppant can be "tagged" with more than 20 unique markers. This paper discusses how the tagging agents are incorporated to become a permanent component of the pellet. The results of laboratory testing are provided, verifying that the taggant does not materially affect the performance of the proppant In addition, the authors review two applications in which this new product was placed in multizone frac-pack completions in several deepwater GOM completions. The paper also describes basic laboratory techniques used to successfully identify the source of prop-pant found in a surface choke subsequent to the frac. The potential economic savings provided by this novel approach are presented, as well as other potential applications for this new product.

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