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Shunted screen gravel packing is a kind of technology which is difficult to complete gravel packing with the conventional method in low fracture pressure formation and long wellbore length condition. According to the characteristics of LS 17-2 deepwater gas field, the shunted screen packing tool was designed and the gravel packing process and packing mechanism were analyzed. The variation law of the flow friction, flow rate distribution in multichannel, and other parameters of the shunted screen gravel packing were analyzed and calculated. The friction calculation model of different stages of gravel packing was established. A gravel packing simulation software was developed to simulate the friction in different stages of shunted screen gravel packing. The parameters such as sand-dune ratio, pumping sand amount, packing length, and packing time in the process of packing were also calculated. In deepwater horizontal well gravel packing, the results show that the friction ratio of the string is the largest in the stage of injection and α-wave packing. While the friction increases rapidly in the stage of β-wave packing because the carrier fluid needs to flow through the long and narrow washpipe/screen annulus. Particularly when the β-wave packing is near the beginning of the open hole, the packing pressure reaches the maximum. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured results of the downhole pressure gauge. The model and software can provide technical support for the prediction and optimization of gravel packing parameters in the future.
Shunted screen gravel packing is a kind of technology which is difficult to complete gravel packing with the conventional method in low fracture pressure formation and long wellbore length condition. According to the characteristics of LS 17-2 deepwater gas field, the shunted screen packing tool was designed and the gravel packing process and packing mechanism were analyzed. The variation law of the flow friction, flow rate distribution in multichannel, and other parameters of the shunted screen gravel packing were analyzed and calculated. The friction calculation model of different stages of gravel packing was established. A gravel packing simulation software was developed to simulate the friction in different stages of shunted screen gravel packing. The parameters such as sand-dune ratio, pumping sand amount, packing length, and packing time in the process of packing were also calculated. In deepwater horizontal well gravel packing, the results show that the friction ratio of the string is the largest in the stage of injection and α-wave packing. While the friction increases rapidly in the stage of β-wave packing because the carrier fluid needs to flow through the long and narrow washpipe/screen annulus. Particularly when the β-wave packing is near the beginning of the open hole, the packing pressure reaches the maximum. The calculated results are in good agreement with the measured results of the downhole pressure gauge. The model and software can provide technical support for the prediction and optimization of gravel packing parameters in the future.
A transient flow simulator has been developed for the design of extreme length (5000 ft or longer), horizontal gravel pack operations. The flow simulator incorporates alternate path technology concepts which include shunt tube hydraulics to bypass bridges/barriers in the well/screen annulus.Alternate path technology has been successfully utilized for sand control in deep water wells and, over the past decade, this technology has been applied in gravel pack intervals up to about 3000 ft. Very recent works (Barry et al. 2007; Yeh et al. 2008) have reviewed the development of alternate path technology and presented the mechanics of slurry diversion in a revised design of the multiple-shunt manifold system for extending gravel pack operations to extreme lengths of 5000 ft or greater.In this paper, the revised design of the multiple-shunt manifold system (Barry et al. 2007; Yeh et al. 2008) is incorporated in the development of the transient gravel pack flow simulator. The shunt tube hydraulics for various slurry front locations in the well/screen annulus during gravel packing is depicted in example simulations. Results from the simulations are discussed from both steady-state and transient view points. Steady-state results include the variation of pressure and shunt tube flow rates with measured depth. Transient results are presented as variations of pump pressure, crossover tool pressure, and slurry front location with elapsed time. These simulations provide some insight into the shunt tube hydraulics and associated packing mechanism as well as key pressures during gravel packing.The flow simulator can be utilized to plan and design horizontal gravel pack operations in extremely long intervals in combination with emerging technologies such as openhole gravel packing with zonal isolation or selectively gravel packing targeted intervals using alternate path technology.
For offshore wells requiring sand control, the trend in the industry has been to gravel pack longer and longer wells to access more reserves with reduced well count. In challenging environments (e.g., low frac pressure), gravel packing with shunt tube technique is the preferred option. This paper discusses development and qualification of an enhanced shunted alternate path technology (ESAPT) screen that will extend openhole gravel packing lengths to more than 7,000 ft with zonal isolation. Extending openhole gravel pack lengths with shunt tubes required several issues to be addressed. First, if static shunting (bypassing an annular blockage through shunts and packing in a toe-to-heel fashion downstream of the blockage) occurs intentionally or unintentionally, large volumes of slurry will exit through a limited number of shunt tubes manifolds before complete packing, raising erosion concerns which were addressed through: 1) computational fluid dynamics simulations to identify the location of maximum erosion and to redesign the shunts geometry and metallurgy accordingly; 2) yard tests with slurries passing through the manifold at rates representative of field applications. Second, if continuous shunting (bypassing an annular blockage through shunts and packing in a heel-to-toe fashion downstream of the blockage) occurs, the pressure inside the shunt tubes can: 1) exceed the burst pressure limit of conventional shunted alternate path technology (CSAPT) screens, which was addressed through modification of the weak links in the CSAPT and then tested to the required burst limit; 2) cause higher fluid leak-off through the packed interval, resulting in increased gravel concentration, increased friction and potential bridging inside the shunt tubes, which was addressed through a) leak-off behavior characterization of carrier fluids in shunt tubes of packed interval; b) friction pressure measurements with various gravel concentrations and rates inside shunt; c) modification of nozzle distance based on results from (a) and (b), and d) verification of the modified design through gravel pack yard testing. Recent testing demonstrated that under static shunting conditions, CSAPT shunt system can have substantial erosion in long interval gravel packing. ESAPT shunt system showed significantly improved erosion resistance for slurry flow in yard tests. It was demonstrated that ESAPT shunt system could withstand 10,000 psi burst pressure after flowing 450 klbs of proppant at 5 bpm slurry rate. It was also successfully tested for 10,000 psi burst pressure at elevated downhole temperature of 300F. The data from leak-off tests of viscous fluids through packed interval shunt tubes at high differential pressures combined with friction pressure measurements with various gravel concentrations and rates (gravel concentrations as high as 20 ppa and rates as low as 0.25 bpm) led to the conclusion that the distance from the shunt manifold to the first nozzle needed to be increased for longer wells to be gravel packed. In a yard test using a full-scale model of the new design with the increased nozzle distance, and including the blank handling sections, a complete pack was achieved with proppant. An ESAPT screen that will push the openhole gravel pack lengths to more than 7,000 ft with zonal isolation is presented herein. The system has a more erosion-resistant, high burst pressure shunt system and allows quicker make-up of screen joints on the rig floor.
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