Sand Management: What Are We Sure Of?

Abstract

Sand management is an issue pertinent to all those disciplines responsible for maturing a project. It requires leadership from the asset owner, expertise from the specialists and top quality equipment from the vendors. Excellence must span all the stages of field development for, like many aspects of well construction, "9 out of 10" is usually not good enough. For this reason guidance is proposed for management and design of sand related projects.The sand management team needs to define the tasks and activities to achieve established and shared objectives, those objectives being to achieve the required well productivity, longevity and functionality.Although these objectives are few, they can only be achieved through careful execution of the various tasks and associated activities. Many tasks are entwined between two or three objectives and need to be done in a particular order. This paper proposes a methodical workflow framework to achieve this.In many cases the answers to design questions are dispersed amoungst an unmanageable number of papers, manuals, guidelines, training and conference proceedings and this paper goes some way to draw the threads together for some of the common design issues. In some areas, work is still to be done by our industry to clarify equipment specification, standardising definitions, test methods, and modeling techniques. SPE 114781Sand managers are expected to advise on important questions for the field development: How should we design these wells? For how long will they perform? When will sand be produced and what will it do? Can we constrain future water or gas breakthrough?The industry demonstrates its recognition of these questions with at least two annual conferences dedicated to the subject, complemented by others such as the Formation Damage Symposium, APPEA, SPWLA and APOG. However, particularly to the newcomer, assimilating so much information is becoming impractical. At least 400 papers have been written on sand management with test procedures, guidelines, equipment and specifications being continually revised.When designing for sand, it will be seen that "the devil's in the detail". Unfortunately despite our learning, important testing procedures are inconsistent across the industry, concepts are understood in different ways, we work with legacy guidelines where the supporting background is obscure and with published specifications that don't withstand heavy scrutiny.With this challenge to acquire the knowledge, the aspiring sand manager may neglect the importance of an enabling environment and methodology. Therefore, this paper answers at least some questions regarding what we are sure of, proposing good practice for the management of a sand related project, the importance of which is often underestimated. Objectives, tasks and activities are placed within a recognized structure, thereby defining a methodology to progress a project. Certain selected test procedures, concepts, legacy guidelines and specifications are scrutinized.While strong in some areas of this discipli...

Technologies or Intangibles: What Drives Sand-Control Selection?

“…Tiffin et al (1998) offers an industryaccepted sand-control selection guideline based on reservoir sand size to determine an appropriate completion method. In addition, a comprehensive look into sand management through the understanding of reservoir conditions is found in Slayter et al (2008).…”

Technology or Intangibles, What Drives Sand Control Selection?

“…For reservoirs that have a tendency to produce sand, there are several different completion techniques employed, depending on specific well conditions. In addition, a comprehensive look into sand management through the understanding of reservoir conditions is found in Slayter et al (2008). These decisions are based on several factors, including cost, logistics, and the severity of sand production.…”