Saving sand

Sand control has always played an important role in oil

production, but now BP is going one step further. Nina Morgan
discovers what it means to move Beyond Sand Control

Frontiers

August 2006

dollars
A

And to complicate things further, many

of these reservoirs are stacked one on top
of the other and exist at different pressures.
The increase in sand is really down to
the regions where BP is looking for and
finding oil, notes Lockyear. Many of
the reservoirs in key BP assets, including
those in Azerbaijan, Angola, Trinidad,
Egypt, the deep water areas of the Gulf
of Mexico, the North Sea west of Shetland
and parts of Alaska, happen to be prone
to sand production.
The sand problem is not new and
affects the entire industry. In some cases
several tonnes of sand can emanate from
a reservoir in a single day. The traditional
methods of sand control, applied as part
of the well completion, include gravel
packing and sand screens (Frontiers,
December 2001), and all have the same
aim: to provide a barrier to keep sand
from entering the well along with the
hydrocarbons. Depending on the physical
characteristics of the reservoir and the
geographical setting, such preventative
techniques can and do work well but
they are not always reliable.
With more and more production coming
from sand-prone reservoirs, the ability to
be able to manage sand efficiently and
effectively all of the time has become

s reservoir rocks go, porous

and permeable sand formations
filled with large volumes of
hydrocarbons that flow easily
into an oilwell are every petroleum
engineers dream. But when that sand
formation turns out to be so poorly
cemented together that sand grains flow
into the well along with the oil, that dream
can sometimes become a nightmare.
Sand can damage equipment such as
valves, pipelines and separators, it can
cause poor performance in injection wells,
and can lead to lost production.
Producing hydrocarbons from sand
prone reservoirs can present some
difficult challenges, says Chris Lockyear,
director of BPs Beyond Sand Control
(BSC) programme within the companys
exploration and production business. And
these are challenges engineers will have to
tackle more and more often in the future.
Just a few years ago around a quarter
to a third of BPs reservoirs were affected
by sand. But by the end of the decade
nearly half of the companys reservoirs
are expected to be sand-prone. Adding to
this challenge, virtually all of these will be
offshore, and many will be in deeper water
an environment where intervention to solve
problems is more expensive and difficult.

Frontiers August 2006 7

even more important, says Lockyear.

Thats why BSC was designated as a
technology leadership area for BP in 2004. In
order to maintain our competitive advantage, its
crucial for BP to develop a distinctive position
in sand control. This is what BSC aims to do.

Model management
BSC consists of a portfolio of projects and a
unique philosophy, explains Dave Rich, well
completions manager for BPs Azerbaijan
business unit, based in Baku, and a member
of the technical steering committee for BSC.
What makes BSC really distinctive is that it
brings all the different operations and
disciplines into the conversation to work
together towards a common goal. This
interface between different disciplines is
a key factor in BSC.
Some projects under the BSC umbrella
concentrate on improving or developing
hardware solutions. Others are exploring the
use of chemical treatments to consolidate
sand and hold it in place. Some target ways
to handle sand once it reaches the surface.
Still others draw on the expertise found in
universities in Europe, the USA, and Canada
to focus on fundamental science to get to
the root of the sand problem. And in some
projects, the aim is to assess whether sand
control is actually needed at all.
Theres no doubt that sand is an
important problem, says Hans Vaziri, sand
management advisor in BPs exploration
and production technology group (EPTG) in
Houston. But many engineers take this a bit
too much to heart and develop a fear of sand

Sand can build up in pipework (top left) and vessels such as separators (bottom left). Installing
preventative measures in wells at the reservoir (above right) can help prevent sand ingress
that can lead them to take extra precautions,
whether they are needed or not.
Deciding when its necessary to take
precautions to deal with sand is a difficult
judgement call. On the one hand, putting
measures in place to actively control sand
can create complexities and lead to extra
costs in terms of skilled resources and
specialised equipment, extra drilling rig time
and potentially lower rates of production. On

Reservoir
fluids

Rock/soil mechanics

Near wellbore forces

Material science

Reservoir
fluids

Well
Interventions

Fluid mechanics

In BPs Beyond Sand Control programme, detailed subsurface investigations are focused on understanding
the fundamental nature of sand in the reservoir and the wellbore. The above graphic highlights some of
the key areas under investigation

Frontiers

August 2006

the other hand, failing to control sand can lead

to damaged equipment and facilities, and loss
of production. By developing a computer
model to reveal how a reservoir ages during
production and what physical changes take
place as the well continues to produce, Vaziri
and his colleagues are working to develop a
tool that will help engineers predict the areas
where sand may cause problems and, where
necessary, determine optimal measures to
control sand in wells or to prevent it from
entering the well in the first place.
The quality of the output of any model
is strongly related to the quality of the input,
notes Vaziri.
The most important input when it comes
to modelling sand behaviour is reliable data
about the physical properties of the potential
sand-producing formations. One aspect of
EPTGs work in BSC focuses on collaborating
with researchers at the University of
Rhode Island in the USA to develop better
algorithms for translating the data from
well logs to provide consistent and reliable
information about the strength of the
reservoir formation, particularly in weak or
unconsolidated sand. They are also working
with scientists at other institutions in the
USA and Canada to find more effective ways
of measuring the characteristics that directly
affect sand production.
The goal here, says Vaziri, is to develop
a consistent approach to data collection
so we can input the right parameters into
our computer models.

that we hope will make the model even

more useful for managing the development
of some of BPs newer assets.

Expanding the options

One of BPs business assets that stands to
benefit from BSC is in Azerbaijan, where a
BP team recently won the companys Paul
Martins Production Excellence Award for its
achievements in the use of gravel packs to
control sand production (see
page 39). Azerbaijan is also
proving to be a fertile testing
ground in BSC for exploring
the use of sand control
hardware, such as
expandable sand control
completion systems. These
mechanical devices are
installed within a wellbore
and are expanded to make
contact with the wall of the
borehole to support and
prevent any significant sand
movement, using a fine metal mesh to
prevent sand ingress into the well (Frontiers,
August 2003). Some of the systems BP
is working with Weatherford International
in one case also contain sealing elements
that allow different zones of the reservoir to

BP expects to
complete 20-25
wells a year in
Azerbaijans sandprone reservoirs

be closed or opened to the wellbore, to

achieve selective hydrocarbon production
or, conversely, water injection.
BP is working with leading equipment
suppliers to develop new designs for
expandable completions, and these are
already being used successfully by BP and
others in a number of areas. But, notes Rich:
Although we have a lot of data about how
expandable screens work in dry conditions
that is when you are producing oil alone
we need to know more about how they will
work once you start to enhance production
by flooding a reservoir with water, and begin
producing water with the oil.
As development in Azerbaijan ramps
up, Richs team expects to be carrying out
20-25 well completions a year in sand-prone
reservoirs. These will provide ample
opportunity to further develop and test
the use of expandable screens and other
new sand control technology. The team
is already working closely with service
contractors to carry out field trials of a
number of designs.
We are very meticulous about taking
a stepwise approach to trials, so that each
time we carry out a new trial we know what
we are gaining and what we are learning,
Rich reports. We are basically trying to

The group is also developing numerical

models that can be applied to both
production and injection wells. These are
already being used successfully to mitigate
sand problems during start-up and
production of wells in various locations.
Although increases in computing
power have helped in the sand models
development, the more important
improvements, Vaziri believes, are linked
to gaining a better
understanding of
all aspects of the
problem and its
fundamental causes.
Over the past
three to four years
weve used this new
understanding to
make savings of
hundreds of millions
of dollars in existing
wells by eliminating
redundant capital
expenditure, reducing sand-related
operational expenses, and improving
the overall production from shut-in and
choked-back wells, he notes. And the
multidisciplinary integration thats a key part
of BSC is helping us to add new features

Sand control completions

Gravel

Selected
and oriented
perforation

Gravel
Stand-alone screen

Open hole
gravel pack
Expandable
sand screen

Cased hole
gravel pack

Cased hole
frac pack

Main graphic: Expandable sand screens are among the latest techniques to join the established methods of preventing sand from entering wells
Inset above right: Detail of an expandable sand screen from Weatherford International

Frontiers August 2006 9

Seeing inside separators

Inlet oil/water/gas/sand

Gamma-ray
Profiler
Gas out
Cross-section
through separator
Gas
Weir

Foam
Oil
Emulsion
Water
Sand

Water out

Oil out

Sand drops out from reservoir wellstreams into surface facilities. In a three-phase separator the sand
can take up valuable separation volume, thereby reducing residence time, and can also help to stabilise
unwanted emulsions formed by the oil and water. In order to understand these effects better, BP has
initiated a research programme with the University of Cambridge, and is also working with suppliers on
equipment development. The separator in the graphic above features a proprietary Profiler device developed
by Tracerco in the UK. The Profiler consists of titanium dip-pipes holding low-energy gamma-ray emitters
and gamma-ray detectors (Geiger-Mller tubes). As the oil, water, sand, emulsion and foam in the vessel
have different densities, the gamma ray signals are attenuated by different amounts as they pass through
the fluids. The resulting signals can be used to create an accurate real-time graphical profile of the fluid
levels and interfaces in the vessel (shown below) effectively seeing inside the separator.

build confidence in the use of new

techniques, while at the same time
minimising risk. Were learning about
expandables because we need them here.
But the reality is that the learning we gain
in Azerbaijan will be shared throughout the
rest of BP. This is one of the great
achievements of BSC.

Surface solutions
Donald Campbell-Brown, team leader for
facilities excellence in EPTG based in
Sunbury, agrees. One of the great benefits

10

Frontiers

August 2006

of BSC is that it is treating all the different

aspects of sand control in a holistic way,
he says. Sand control started as a downhole
issue, but in BSC we now take a view that
encompasses the full sand chain, ranging
from the reservoir face to the ultimate
disposal of sand at the surface. Instead of
focusing in on a single aspect or area of sand
control, in BSC were now thinking in terms
of where and how best to manage sand.
In some cases the right answer may be
to deal with sand on the surface, rather than
finding a way to control sand down in the

well. As a result of this realisation, the BSC

programme expanded in 2006 to take in
research about how to best handle sand
topsides, that is, once it reaches the
surface facilities.
The key sand issues at the surface arise
in the flowlines between the well and the
production facility the systems used to
separate hydrocarbons from water and
the produced water re-injection system.
Separators are designed to work efficiently
at a certain production rate, but if they
start to fill up with sand the effective
volume of the separator is reduced and
separation efficiency can be greatly
impaired. If this happens, production must
be slowed down, or even halted, while
the sand is removed.
To explore the potential solutions for
handling sand at the surface, CampbellBrown and his colleagues are involved in
a significant programme of technology
brokerage. This involves taking a wide
view of the problems in-house, gaining an
understanding of where the best solutions
will come from, then linking up with the
relevant suppliers, consultants or
researchers to seek a solution. We have
three main goals, explains Campbell-Brown.
To better understand the known technology;
to look at the fundamental science; and to
examine innovative solutions.
To achieve these goals, the team spends
around half of its budget externally, working
together with university researchers and
consultants. For example, they are
collaborating with researchers at the
University of Nottingham, UK, to explore the
potential use of microwaves to preferentially
heat layers where sand is mixed with
hydrocarbons to make it easier to separate
out the sand. In addition, the group is
teaming up with engineers at another UK
university to use a test flow loop to study
the behaviour of sand in multiphase flow, a
topic of importance for transporting sand in
pipelines. And a three-year programme has
been initiated at the University of Cambridge
where researchers will be exploring the
fundamental science and theory of sand
flow to gain a better understanding of how
sand behaves in separators.
With around a dozen field trials ongoing
or planned in 2006, these are busy and
exciting times for BSC, concludes Lockyear.
Although theres still much work to do, BSC
is already showing real benefits in terms of
cost savings and enhanced production, and
most importantly, it is allowing BP to access
additional value that would have previously
been eroded literally and metaphorically
by sand problems.