Patent ID: 8215406

Claim:
A system associated with production of hydrocarbons comprising: a wellbore utilized to produce hydrocarbons from a subsurface reservoir; a production tubing string disposed within the wellbore; a plurality of sand control devices coupled to the production tubing string and disposed within an open-hole section of the wellbore, wherein each of the plurality of sand control devices comprises at least one shunt tube; at least one packer coupled between two of the plurality of sand control devices, wherein the at least one packer is configured to provide at least one flow path through the at least one packer and between the shunt tubes of two of the plurality of sand control devices, the at least one packer including a manifold region in fluid communication with the shunt tubes of each of the two of the plurality of sand control devices, whereby the manifold region commingles and redistributes flow among the shunt tubes and wherein the at least one packer is configured to substantially prevent fluid flow in at least a portion of an annulus between the tubular member and a wall of a wellbore; a first gravel pack disposed at least partially around at least one of the plurality of sand control devices upstream from the at least one packer; and a second gravel pack disposed at least partially around at least one of the plurality of sand control devices downstream from the at least one packer, wherein at least one shunt tube of each of the plurality of sand control devices and at least one flow path through the at least one packer are configured to dispose the second gravel pack.