Sand Control

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Textbook

 Production Operations vol. 2 (Well

Completions, Workover and Stimulation) by
Thomas Allen and Allan Roberts.
 Chapter 4: Sand Control

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Sand production

 Oldest problem in oilfield

 Shallow formations non Cenozoic age
 Can be encountered to depths of >12,000ft
 Well completion practices are critical
consideration on zones where there is a
tendency for sand production

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Definition of Sand Control

 Control of load bearing solids (as opposed

to fine solids, since these continuously move)

Size of Produced Solids Effect

90% of formation sand Interstitial fines
90-75% Smaller load bearing solids
75-50% Load bearing solids

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Critical Flow Rate Effect

 Normally a well will produce a uniform

amount of sand or fines independent of
production rate UNTIL some critical
production rate pressure drawdown is
exceeded.
 Continued production above the critical rate
may increase sand production.

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Formation Strength

 Sand grains are stabilized by:

 Compressive forces due to the weight of
overburden
 Capillary forces
 Cementation between sand grains

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Causes of Sand Production

 Drag forces of flowing fluid which increases with higher

flow rates and higher fluid velocity.
 Reduction in formation “strength” often associated
with water production due to dissolving or dispersion of
cementing materials, or a reduction in capillary forces
with increasing Sw
 Reduced Kr to oil, due to increased Sw or Sg, which
increases pressure drawdown for a given Qo
 Declining Pr which increases compaction forces and
may disturb cementation between grains.

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 Excessive Sand Production
Problems
1. Caves are formed and surrounding
formations collapse, thereby decreasing
productivity (surrounding shales damaging
the connection between the borehole and the
pay zone).
2. Sand accumulates in the bottom of the
hole, thereby decreasing the effective height
of the well opposite the pay zone.
3. Sand accumulates in the tubing, plugging
the well

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 Excessive Sand Production
Problems
4. Sand erodes the equipment, especially
in the wellhead, in elbows and in the
tubing, with the attendant blowout risks.

5 Corrosion is accelerated.

6. Higher risks for workover operations.

7. Deposits are laid down in the flowlines or

in the process facilities equipmen

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Sand choking in separator,
Pipe line failure,
Erosion of equipment
Downhole failure.

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 Excessive Sand Production
Costs
1. direct costs:
 Sand cleanouts
 Replacement of physically damaged
equipment
2. indirect costs:
 Increased workover frequency and
costs,
 Wear allowance
 Cleanout requirements on surface
separators, treaters, pumps, tanks, etc.

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 Excessive Sand Production
Costs
 The potential for hazardous situations.
 Cost of deferred production, not only
during the above operations, but also by
having wells operating at restricted
rates to avoid or reduce sand
production.

Sand handling: Sand handling and disposing

also possess major problem especially in the
offshore installations because disposal of
produced sands is costly.

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Sand Control Mechanisms

 Reducing Drag/Frictional Forces

 Cheapest and most effective. Considered along
with other methods of sand control.
 Bridging Sand Mechanically
 “Old standby” and wide applications. Difficult to
apply in multiple zones or small diameter casing.
 Increasing Formation Strength
 Sand consolidation in short clean zones with
good Kh and Kv. Difficult application. Almost
obsolete.
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 Sand control
mechanisms

Increasing
Reducing drag formation Bridging sand
forces strength (almost mechanically
obsolete)

Increasing flow Restricting Gravel pack/sand

area production rate sieve analysis

Increasing Opening an Creating a

Clean large Reservoir
perforation increase length conductive path Market demands
perforations considerations
density of section by fracturing

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Reducing Drag/Frictional Forces

 Often most effective and cheapest means of

sand control
 Fluid production rate causing sand movement
must be considered as a rate-per-unit area of
permeable formation open to the wellbore
 Increasing flow area – natural outcome of proper
completion practices
 Reducing production rate-to lower drag forces is
not acceptable except on a temporary basis.

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Reducing Drag/Frictional Forces
Increasing Flow Area for fixed Qo
 Clean, large perforations in producing section
 Increasing perforation density
 Opening increased length of section
 Creating a conductive pathway some distance into the
reservoir by means of a packed fracture
 Good completion practices -Clean fluids, careful
selection of perforation charges and perforating
conditions
 Highly deviated well, with more length of productive zone
compared to a vertical hole through the same reservoir
may reduce sand prod’n

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Reducing Drag/Frictional Forces
Restricting Production Rate
 Market demand support higher prod’n rates.
Det. the max. rate or the critical producing
rate above which sand production becomes
“excessive”.

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Main Sand Control Completions

1. Slotted liners and prepacked screens

2. Gravel packing
3. Resin injection

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 Slotted Liners &
Prepacked Screens
1. Slotted liners have the largest
holes
2. Wire-wrapped screens have
smaller openings
3. Screens prepacked with resin-
coated sand offer the finest
filtering.

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 Slotted Liners &
Prepacked Screens
 Offer the lowest-cost downhole
filtering
 Each type can be run as part of the
completion string and are
particularly suited for high-angle
wells, which cannot be easily
completed otherwise
 Used in ~5% of sand-control
completions.

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 Pre-Packed Screens

Open Hole Standalone Screens

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Slotted Liners &
Prepacked Screens
 Slots are typically sized to cause bridging of the largest
10% of the formation particles, filling the annulus
between the screen and casing, or open hole, with
formation sand creating a filter for remaining
particles.

 However, production can be restricted by this

relatively low-permeability, sand-packed annulus.

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Slotted Liners &
Prepacked Screens
 Production of even a small amount of fines can plug
many screens, particularly prepacked screens, within a
few hours of installation.

 Unless the formation is well-sorted, clean sand with a

large grain size, this type of completion may have an
unacceptably short producing life.

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 Stand Alone Wire Wrap Screen
Behavior in OH
1. Formation
2. Fines (Silt and clay), 0-60
micron
 When properly engineered,
fines are allowed to be
produced through the wire
wrap screen
 Plugging is prevented
3. Remaining, non-produced sand
bridge on the screen surface,
and creates a natural sand
pack
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Perforated Liners
 Liners drilled with up to 100 holes per foot are more
common than slotted liners.
 The perforated or predrilled liners have no potential for
formation particle control, but may be useful in cases
of borehole stability where the fill is large particles.
 Perforated liners typically are used in small-diameter
wellbores or in sidetracks within the reservoir where
there is no need for the liner to be cemented in place, as
is required for zonal isolation.

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Mechanical Methods of Sand Control
 Use of gravel to hold formation sand in place
(with screen to retain the gravel), or a screen
to retain the formation sand…..without an
excessive reduction in well productivity.
 Basic design parameters include:
 Optimum gravel size in relation to formation sand
 Optimum screen slot width to retain the gravel, or
if no gravel, the formation sand.
 An effective placement technique is most
important and most difficult
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Formation Sand Size Analysis

 Get a representative number of samples

 Sand-grain size distribution varies through a particular
sand body and from one genetic zone to another
 Full-diameter cores are best; using rubber-sleeve core
barrels
 Side wall cores are good but some larger grains are
crushed and drilling particles are included
 Coverage of all zones is essential
 Samples from perforation washing or backsurging are
acceptable
 Produced or bailed samples are better than nothing
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Formation Sand Size Analysis

 Sieve analysis provides grain size distribution

on percentile basis
 Not standardized in oil industry:
 US Standard Sieve Series (ASTM Spec. E1170)-
sieve analysis is reported in inches or cm
 Tyler Mesh designations
 Appendices 4A and 4B-comparision of sieve
analysis

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Formation Sand Size Analysis

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Formation Sand Size Analysis

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Typical Size Analysis
D10 - Ten percentile sand size
is defined as the point on the
distribution scale where 10%
by weight of the sand is of
larger size and 90% of smaller
size

Sand

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Typical Distributions from Various
Areas
 Grain size distributions vary considerably
around the world, both in average size and in
uniformity

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Formation Sand Size Analysis

 A specific size is needed to describe the distribution curve at a

specific percentile point
 50 percentile-Karpoff-Saucier-and most service companies
 10, 40 or 70 percentile-depending on slope-Schwartz
 Schwartz method seems to have general application
 A uniformity coefficient is determined by comparing the 40
percentile (D40) with the 90 percentile size (D90)
 Uniformity Coefficient: C = (D40) / (D90)

 If C<3-sand is uniform and is best described by the (D10) size

 If C>5-sand is non-uniform and is best described by the (D40) size

 If C>10-sand is very non-uniform and is best described by the

(D70) size

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Screen Slot Size Experiments
 Ideally, slot size should be as large as possible to retain
sand grains but not restrict flow of fluids and interstitial
fines
 Upper limit on slot width- not more than twice the 10
percentile sand size in order to bridge effectively
 Changes in flow rate may cause bridges to fail, after
which they must reform allowing more sand passage
 For retaining uniform formation sands where grains are
more difficult to bridge and/or where frequent changes in
velocity occur, experience dictates use of slot width
somewhat less than (not twice) the 10 percentile sand
diameter.
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Screen Slot Size Experiments

 Slots to retain gravel should not use the 2:1 bridging rule
since it is imperative that all gravel be tightly placed and
retained, screen slot width for a gravel pack must be
smaller than the smallest gravel grain size (D98). The
table below shows acceptable slot widths for common
API mesh sizes.
US sieve size Grain diameter, in. Acceptable slot size, in.
12-20 .066-.0331 .024
20-40 .0331-.0165 .012
40-60 .0165-.0098 .010
60-100 .0098-.0059 .006
(min. acceptable slot size)

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Gravel size to control sand

 Prevention of invasion/movement of sand into the wellbore

 For max. productivity, formation sand must be stopped/bridged at
the outer face of the gravel pack, thus maximizing the k of gravel
pack
 If sand bridges occur within the gravel pack itself, k is significantly
reduced, productivity will decrease, with shorter life of the gravel
pack
 Ideal G-S (gravel-sand size) ratio is in the range of 4 to 6 by
Saucier:
G-S ratio = 50 percentile gravel/50 percentile sand = 5
=D50 gravel/D50 sand = 5

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Gravel size to control sand

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Gravel size to control sand

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Gravel size to control sand

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Gravel Pack Job
Downhole Requirements
Inserted bottom items first:
 Bull plug on end (or washdown shoe)

 # joints fully slotted liner/screens – 30ft long – in

perforated zone (from top of perfs to bottom of perfs)
 1 or 2 joints tell-tale liner (half slot liner/screen)

 1 joint blank liner

 Crossover tool

 Work string to surface

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Gravel Pack Procedure
 Fill slump with gravel and seal with barite and/or cement.
 RIH 5 30’ joints of slotted liner with bull plug on end.
 RIH tell-tale.
 RIH blank.
 RIH work-string with crossover tool and wash pipe.
 Pump gravel with carrying fluid at a determined rate.
 When pressure increases, gravel has reached tell-tale. Decrease gravel
concentration.
 When there is a sudden increase in pressure, gravel has reached blank.
Stop pumping.
 Reverse circulate excess gravel.
 POOH work-string with crossover tool and washer.
 RIH and tag fill (check and pick up).
 RIH completion string.
 Put the well on production.

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 Theoretical fill of gravel

 72 3.52 
     h
 4 144 4 144 
h = length of fully slotted
liner and tell-tale and bull
plug

Plus 5ft of open casing

5    72

4 12

1 sack = 1ft3 gravel

10 ft
5 ft of open casing

Local gravel

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Resin Injection

This is simply considered as artificial consolidation of sand.

Involves injection of plastic resins, which are attracted to

the formation sand grains.

The resin hardens and forms a consolidated mass, binding

the sand grains together at their contact points.

If successful, the increase in formation compressive

strength will be sufficient to withstand the drag forces while
producing at the desired rates.

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Resin Injection

If successful, the increase in formation compressive strength

will be sufficient to withstand the drag forces while producing at
the desired rates.

The resins are in a liquid form when they enter the formation
and a catalyst or curing agent is required for hardening.

Some systems use “internal” catalysts that are mixed into the
resin solution at the surface and require time and/or
temperature to harden the resin.

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 Resin Injection

Mechanism:

•Pre flush diesel oil which creates wettability and remove

undesired material in the zone

•Placement of resin by isolating the interval

•Over flush of high concentrated resin injected to control

the permeability and compressive strength

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 Properties of resins:

•Viscosity of resin not excessive.

•Resin must wet the formation solids

•Resin possess sufficient tensile and compressive strength

•Polymerization time must be controlled

•Final polymer must be chemically inert

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 Advantages:

•Leaves wellbore open

•Relatively low cost

•Eliminates necessity for screens and liners

Disadvantages:

•Limited zone height

•Temperature sensitivity <250°F

•Very difficult to evenly apply

•Reduces permeability by10%-60%

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