3/26/2018

Part 5
Perforation Techniques
By
Prof. Abdel‐Alim Hashem

Perforating Techniques

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Perforating
• The productivity of a given reservoir is 
primarily dependent on the near well bore 
pressure drop.
• This is govern by drilling damage and 
perforation parameters
• Furthermore, successful stimulation and sand 
control operations are strongly dependent on 
perforation parameters

History
• Mechanical, prior to 1932
• Bullet Gun, 1932 to present 
• Hydraulic, 1958 to present
– Abrasive jetting
• Shaped Charge, 1946 to present
– Spin‐off from DOD and DOE Terminology most 
popular

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Cavity Effect

Shaped Charge Perforator
Jet Perforator

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Jet Perforation

Jet Perforator

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Jet Perforator

The Shaped Charge

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The Perforation Process

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Jet Penetrating Mechanism

1. Detonation Waves. 3. Jet Formation

4. Slug Formation
2. Liner Collapse

Gun system
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Loading shaped charges

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Loading guns into the carrier

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Explosive, Acronyms and Application

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Classifications of Perforating Gun

Systems
• Thru‐Tubing
– Small guns to get through the tubing string can be 
shot underbalance
• Casing
– Larger guns with big charges 
– Usually shot overbalance
• High Shot Density
– Larger gun with more shots per foot 
– Used for tubing conveyed applications

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Thru-Tubing Guns

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Casing Guns

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High-Shot Density (HSD) Guns

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Another Classification of Gun

Systems
• Capsule Charge
– Enerjet (1‐11/16 & 2‐1/8” )
– Pivot Gun (1‐11/16”)
• Hollow Carrier
– Scallop Guns (1‐11/16 & 2‐1/8”)
– HEG (3‐1/8 & 4”)
– HSD (2‐1/8 to 7”)

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Capsule and Hollow Carrier Guns

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Parameters that Affect

Performance
• Gun Clearance or Stand Off
• Phasing
• Casing and formation strength
• Effective formation stress
• Wellbore fluid
• Temperature (Selection of Explosive)

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Gun Clearance or Stand Off

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Gun Clearance or Stand Off

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Phasing
• Reason for phasing? – improving contact angle 
with the formation for the completion or 
stimulation design.
• Examples
– 60o , 90o , 120o for fracturing
– 60o for gravel packing
– 0o for through‐tubing perf addition (common)
– 180o for orienting perf guns to known frac direction
• Gun phasing may also help reduce sand failures in 
soft sand formations. 
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Phasing

• Angular phasing other than 0 degree increases productivity

• Going from one direction to two shot direction increases the
productivity index by 20%
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Formation Strength
• Penetration decrease is charge dependent
• Penetration decrease range from 0.5” to 1.75” 
per 1 ksi strength increase
• All of these factors affecting performance can 
be stimulated with PC program which will 
output penetration and productivity results 
for a particular gun system in a particular 
envirnment.

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Penetration vs Target Type

Deep penetration charge
Target Penetration, Coeff. Of variation
inches
QC Berea (Confined) 21.3 6.7%
API Section 1 concrete 24.0 6.0%
Austin Chalk Slab 25.0 6.4%
Limestone Slab (Std Bedford) 18.3 4.7%
Berea Slab 17.8 10%
Grey Ohio Sandstone Slab 15.7 5.1%
Nuggett Sandstone Slab 9.7 6.0%
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Penetration vs Target Type

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Perforation Diameter
• Increasing entry hole diameter increases
productivity index

• Perforation diameter depends on :

– Charge Cone (angle, etc )
– Clearance Between Gun and Casing

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Underbalance Perforating
• Bore pressure less than formation pressure
• Applied after setting X‐tree
• Can be done with wireline, coiled tubing or 
TCP gun.
• Underbalance pressure depend on the type of 
formation to be perforated

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Underbalance Criteria

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Gun/Charge Selection
Temperature Rating
• BH (Big Hole Charge) or DP (Deep Penetration 
Charge)
– BH only for gravel pack completion and fracturing
• Gun Size
– generally, larger the guns, better the performance
• Shot Density
– higher the shot density, better the performance
• Shot Phasing
– 60, 90, 120 are better than 180 or 0 degree phasing
– 180 or 0 degree guns for oriented perforation
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Perforating for Sand Control
• Hole size from 0.5 to 1 in.,  0.6 to 0.75 is most 
common.
• Adjust hole size for
– Gun Clearance
– Casing grades
– Considering positing the gun (Standoff)
• Increase shot density to mitigate permeability 
reduction (Mixing formation with gravel)

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Perforating for Fracturing

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Perforation for Stimulation
• Considered more than 40 or 50 feet [12 to 15 
m]—or multiple zones, the perforation strategy 
may change. 
• Limited entry perforating can help. 
• By making a lower number of perforations 
throughout the zone, stimulation can be applied 
more uniformly across zones of varying 
permeability. 
• High‐permeability zones may take more fluid 
than low‐permeability zones, but because there 
are fewer holes, a high enough pressure can be 
maintained to encourage treatment of low‐
permeability zones. 
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Azimuth Oriented Perforations
• Perforate the Preferential Fracture Plane to 
improve hydraulic fractures
• Sand Prevention
• Improve near‐well bore tortuously for natural 
completions
• Re‐shoot intervals for increasing shot density 
effectively
• Directional cement squeeze jobs
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Azimuth Oriented Perforation

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Minimizing Debris
• Debris From:
– Case and liner of charges
– Charge jacket
• Low Debris Perforating System
– Zinc alloy case
– Powdered metal liner
– No plastics

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Slick Line Perforating Head
• Low cost Perforating services
• Single run reduces operating 
time
• Direct control throughout 
operation
• Selective firing reduces runs in 
hole
• Improved operation from job 
log

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Slick Line Perforating Head
• Electronic computer 
controlled firing mechanism
• Responds only to direct 
commands
• Firing sequence enabled 
when RIH
• Power applied to detonator 
through several safety 
circuits
• No radio silence required
• No primary explosives

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Formation Damage Skin, Sdp

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Formation Damage Skin, Sdp

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Vertical Converging Skin, Sv

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Plane‐Flow Skin, Sh

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Non‐symetric Perforations

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Total Skin

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Gun Conveyance

1. Wire Line Conveyed Perforating

2. Tubing Conveyed Perforating

3. Coiled Tubing Conveyed Perforating

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Wire Line Conveyed Perforating

Gun String Components
1. Cable Head

2. Measurement Devices

3. Auxiliary Weights

4. The Gun

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Applications
1. Completion of Relatively Short Zones.

2. Very High Reservoir Temperature.

3. When the Well May be Shot

Overbalanced.

4. Perforating for Squeeze.

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Tubing Conveyed Perforating
Gun String Component
1. Radioactive Sensor.

2. Packer.

3. Firing Head.

4. The Gun.

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Hydraulic Time Delay System 53

Tubing Conveyed Perforating
Procedure
• Make up the String
• Run String to Depth
• Positioning
• Installing Surface Equipment
• Shot the Gun
• Drop the Gun

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Tubing Conveyed Perforating
Applications
1. Large Intervals or Multi Zones Wells

2. Gravel Packed Wells

3. Wells Containing Sour Gases (H2S)

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Coiled Tubing Conveyed Perforating

Coiled tubing is high-strength yet ductile steal
tubing ,usually( 1.25-1.5 inch OD).

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Gun String Component

1. Tubing Real

2. Goose neck

3. Injector

4. Stripper

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Coiled Tubing Conveyed

Perforating
Application:
• Used in highly deviated or horizontal wells.

Advantages:
• Saving Time
• Minimizing Cost

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End

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