Sand Consolidation Case History and Lessons Learned from Peninsular Malaysia

Abstract

Field A, an oil field located in Peninsular Malaysia, was completed in 2007 with an initial production of 6,000 BOPD and managed to reach a peak production of 15,000 BOPD the same year, with a water cut of 15%. Toward the end of 2014, a decrease in production was observed with an increase in water cut to 85%. Coupled with high water cut, some of the wells experienced sand production issues. Most of the wells were completed with either standalone screens or without any sand control methods. After a few years in production, the sand-producing wells were shut-in to help prevent damage to surface facilities. Two idle oil wells, Wells 1 and 2, were identified and efforts were made to reactivate them. High costs can be associated with remedial mechanical sand control to work over a well, so a chemical consolidation treatment using solvent-based resin was identified as a less expensive solution for remedial sand control for these wells. Chemical sand consolidation using solvent-based epoxy resin was tested in a laboratory using produced sand samples from the selected wells and showed good results. The chemical consolidation treatments for Wells 1 and 2 were designed based on these results. Before treatment was performed for either well, Well 2 was replaced with Well 3 because of a gas supply shortage, which affected total field production. In October and November 2015, Wells 1 and 3 were intervened and chemical sand consolidation was executed on both wells. After the treatment, Wells 1 and 3 were brought back on production. Sand production for Well 1 was below the threshold limit of 15 pounds per thousand barrels (pptb). However, the performance of Well 3 did not meet expectations. This paper describes the process of treatment design and execution for the chemical sand consolidation of Wells 1 and 3 and explains the workflow used during the design stage. Coiled tubing isolation technique and bullhead treatment technique are discussed together with lessons learned from Wells 1 and 3 in terms of designing chemical sand consolidation treatments for future applications.

Chemical Sand Consolidation: From Polymers to Nanoparticles

“…Bhasker et al [114] and Songire et al [115] applied an aqueous-based epoxy resin to consolidate the sand formation. Othman et al 2017 [116] utilized a solvent-based epoxy resin to control the sand formation in Peninsular Malaysia, Table 23. Shang [69] used a melamine formaldehyde resin water-based to dilute the solution to become less viscous and easier to pump.…”

Optimal design for real-time quantitative monitoring of sand in gas flowline using computational intelligence assisted design framework

“…Therefore, effective sand monitoring is a prerequisite for sustainable hydrocarbon production and is particularly important towards minimising operational risks and cost. Traditionally, sand production is minimised with a variety of classical control completion designs which include chemical consolidation [5]- [7], gravel packing [8], Frac Pack [9], wire wrapped/expandable screens [10], metal foam screen [11], selective/oriented perforations [12] or any combination of these techniques.…”