The reliability of the production is essential in offshore operations. Producing a well at its maximum rate is important everywhere. This is often compromised by having sand and fines production which not only plugs the wells and reduce production rate but also erode the equipment and settle in surface vessels. This paper describes a case history where an operator was faced with a well that was rate limited because of fines and sand production. An advanced sand control chemistry system was proposed and a treatment was designed. In April 2013, the treatment was performed by bullheading down the production tubing using rate diversion. Extensive engineering was involved in the candidate selection and planning the operational aspects of the treatment. The execution of the treatment was divided into stages – sand clean out, performing step rate test, pre-job modeling and pumping the treatment as per the design. After the treatment, the well was flowed and tested at almost three times the original maximum sand-free rate (MSFR) at an increased choke without sand production. The well has now been flowing for more than a year, at significantly higher rate than the previous MSFR sand free. This paper describes the chemistry of the sand conglomeration, design consideration, execution and the effect on well performance.
Sand and fines production is one of the oldest problems in the petroleum industry and one of the toughest to solve. Today, many sand control technologies and methods exist and in certain cases some sand and fines production is manageable, while for others it cannot be tolerated at all. Also, many wells do not produce sand or fines from the onset and may not require a sand control solution until later in their lives. Chemical sand control solutions have been around for many years and have always been attractive due to their ability to be installed without any restrictions to the well bore geometry. However due to the difficulties with placement, and in many cases their association with some degree of reduction in permeability, there have been reservations regarding the use of chemical methods as a standard. This paper presents a unique chemistry that increases the maximum sand/fines free rate without a significant reduction in permeability and discusses the advanced placement techniques essential for a successful application. It includes study of two hundred and fifty wells which have been treated with zeta potential altering chemistry and presents analysis of both failed and successful applications and the lessons learned.
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