Sand Control And Selective Completion Technique Ojai (Silverthread) Field, Ventura County, California
Authors: Graham B.L. , Clifford J.E. 
Published: December 2007

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

This paper was prepared for the 46th Annual California Regional Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, held in Ventura, California, April 3–4, 1975. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made.

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.

Although the discovery well of the Ojai Field was completed in 1866, substantial production in the Silverthread area was not developed until recently. Sand problems and low well productivity discouraged development until 1971. At that time, ARGO Petroleum Corporation deepened and recompleted Hamp #33 using a new, limited entry selective sand control technique. Production from this well was virtually trouble free and encouraged further development. Since that time, ARGO has successfully drilled and completed 29 wells in the Silverthread area using this completion procedure. The technique has also been applied in other fields exhibiting similar problems and is believed to have wide application in many California fields where conventional completions have been unsuccessful.

This paper describes the theory, treatment design, and application of the completion procedure. Field result data are used to substantiate procedure. Field result data are used to substantiate the theory and show the success of the technique.

Introduction

The Silverthread area of the Ojai Field marks the most eastern occurrence of oil production in this field. Silverthread Oil Field is located or the southern slope of the Topa Topa Mountains in Ventura County, approximately 5 1/2 miles northwest of the City of Santa Paula.

The discovery well in this field, Ojai #6, was drilled by Philadelphia California Petroleum Company in 1866 and resulted in the first commercial well in California. An historical monument near this well reads in part as follows:

OIL WELL "OJAI NO. 6" PRELUDE TO CALIFORNIA'S OIL EMPIRE

"Near here in May, 1867, the California Petroleum Company brought in "Ojai No. 6" at a Petroleum Company brought in "Ojai No. 6" at a depth of 550 feet. W. W. Orcutt described it as "the first well drilled for oil in California that yielded extended commercial production". It was the first producing well drilled by mechanical power and the first to flow on its own energy. It is regarded as the forerunner of the state's oil bonanza.

"The well was located by Thomas R. Bard of California Petroleum Company. Mr. Bard, age 26, came to California from Pennsylvania in 1865 representing T. A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad and the California Petroleum Company. Mr. Bard conceived of drilling away from existing oil springs on a projected oil structure.