New Analytical Evaluation Approach to Select Sand Control Techniques in a Mature Field

Abstract

Abstract Sand production is one of the most common issues in the oil and gas industry which impacted the production and equipment. Thus, downhole sand control is introduced to provide the mechanism for wells to produce with minimal sand production to surface and reduce the lifecycle OPEX of the well. Nevertheless, different sand control methods may influence the well production performance differently. This paper demonstrates a comparative manner towards understanding of the effect of various sand control techniques on well productivity completed in a mature field. The methodology involves the use of statistical comparison of the actual production performance of three (3) main sand control methods installed over 20 years of production period in Field D. The approach includes in-depth assessment of the well production performance in relation to the recorded sand count and the intervention frequency ratio. It is observed that the wells completed with OHSAS displayed remarkable production performance but high in sand production as compared to other sand control techniques. However, wells completed with CHSAS showed satisfactory production performance with good sand control. In fact, the CHSAS wells are still active and producing even after 8 years of completion without any integrity issue. For more advanced option i.e. CHGP, the wells showed comparable results with CHSAS both in term of performance and sand count. Depending on the proppant placing techniques, wells completed with HRWP have the best production performance, followed by Extension Pack then Circulating Pack. It indicates that more rigorous sand control design will effectively retain the sand downhole but reduce the well productivity as well. Therefore, the key is to find the balance between these two variables in determining the optimum sand control option especially when different sand control methods require different level of investment with certain expectation in return. The evaluation approach described in this study offers an easy guide and benefit the practicing engineers to select the optimum sand control in addition to theoretical studies that based on geo-mechanics analyses, PSD, SRT etc.