Evaluation of Completion Practices for Improved Sand Control Success and Longevity
Authors: Schroeder R.H. , Tucker M.J. 
Published: December 2007

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

Production of formation sand continues to be a major operating problem for the petroleum industry, particularly in the geologically petroleum industry, particularly in the geologically young and poorly consolidated reservoirs of the Gulf Coast area. This paper summarizes twentyfive years of field experience with sand control measures and investigates over 2000 individual well completion attempts and remedial workovers in three offshore Louisiana fields. The effect of various completion practices and consolidation treatment parameters on the initial success and productive life of sand control efforts is productive life of sand control efforts is presented. Based upon the field data evaluated, presented. Based upon the field data evaluated, proper selection of completion techniques can proper selection of completion techniques can significantly improve sand control results.

Introduction

Recovery of oil and gas from poorly consolidated sand formations represents a large and continual challenge to the petroleum industry. Sand is usually entrained in the fluids produced from such formations, causing equipment erosion and surface handling problems. Often sufficient volumes of sand will enter the production string to completely block or severely restrict fluid flow, making production impossible or prohibitively expensive. Since sand production occurs when the stresses associated with fluid withdrawal exceed some critical value, the production from many wells is held below a calculated or assumed "threshold rate." Although theoretical and experimental attempts have been made to quantify this critical rate, very little definitive work has been published which indicates how to increase sand-free production. Based upon field experience with 2048 initial and remedial completion attempts in more than 800 oil wells in three offshore Louisiana fields, this paper concludes that the production rate of many wells can be safely increased by proper selection of completion techniques. The data in this report covers interval depths from 3000 to 11,000 feet subsea in Miocene and Pliocene formations.

COMPLETION PARAMETERS ANALYZED

To analyze the effect of various completion parameters on sand control success, the field parameters on sand control success, the field data was computerized and sorted by the following categories:Perforation densityLength of perforated intervalFormation sand qualityInterval history prior to consolidationVolume of plastic resin per foot of productive interval.

INITIAL SUCCESS AND LONGEVITY

Early experience (initial success) with most major sand control techniques has been reviewed in the literature; however, very little data has been published delineating long-range success.