TRAINING PRODUCTION OPTIMIZATION AND SAND CONTROL PREVENTION

In this course, participants will learn the causes of sand production and formation damage and how they can reduce production. Methods and procedures will be presented to guide participants in decision making with regard to completing a well with optimum control of formation sand while incurring minimal damage to the well or production zone. Participants will also learn why certain practices should either be employed or strictly avoided. Finally the very latest in the use of forecasting methods, tools, techniques and personal experiences will be presented. The course will use lecture and class discussion. Video clips and PowerPoint slides will serve as visual aids and as the lecture outline. Hands-on participation will be included in the form of problem solving exercises and learning helps.

• Understand the nature of sandface and its behavior
• Learn the techniques and practices of formation damage treatment
• Know how to predict formation behavior
• Able to choose the best sandface completion that maximizes flow
• Know the causes of sand production and formation damage
• Learn the well completion practices that give you the highest productivity
• Understand the various sand control techniques

Causes and effect of sand production

• The geology of sedimentary formations
• The nature of cohesive failure, and contributing issues
• Terms that describe sanding formations

Prediction of formation behavior

• Formation properties logs to predict sand propensity to produce
• Understanding each element of Darcy’s Law
• Drawdown issues, predictions and calculations
• Time dependence and multiphase flow

Productivity and flow efficiency

• The concept of radial vs. linear flow
• Issues related to near wellbore restrictions

Formation damage issues

• Drilling the well
• Cementing operations
• Damage due to perforating
• Chemistry of formation clays
• Damage due to mishandling of clays
• Treatments to minimize clay damage

Continuation of formation damage issues:

• Well treatment chemicals: surfactants
• In-situ damage compounds: scales, paraffin and asphaltene
• Use and misuse of HCl and HF acids

Evolution of Sand Management Techniques

Cased -Hole Sandface Completions

• Drill-in and completion fluids
• Mechanical devices
• Methods used to manufacture screens & liners
• Special purpose screens
• Planning a Gravel pack

Cased-hole sandface completions

• Fluid filtration techniques
• Cartridge vs. D.E. filtration
• Quantifying filtration results
• Beta ratings

Perforating

• Gun design and deployment
• Perforation sizing and shapes
• Perforation cleaning methods

Types of Gravel packs

• Water packs
• Slurry packs
• Polymers used to viscosify gravel pack fluids
• Carrier fluid selection
• Chemical breakers

Gravel placement techniques

• Over-the-top method
• Through-tubing gravel packs
• Inside pressure pack
• Perforation packing
• How fluids selection relates to tool design

Tool designs to achieve void-free packing

• Gravel packing tool string
• Multi-position gravel pack packers
• One-trip perf. & pack system

Frac Packing in cased completions

• Comparing Frac-packs with other methods
• Dusterhoft Application Selection Chart
• Hydraulic fracturing concepts
• Measuring In-situ stresses

Fracturing Fluid Systems

• Water packs
• HEC
• HP guars
• Crosslinkers and breakers
• Oil gels
• Foams

Sand Control in Open-hole Completions

• Fluids related to drill-in (fluid loss control)
• Sand exclusion devices
• Vertical open-hole completions
• Chemical Consolidation Methods

• Production supervisors and engineers
• Completion supervisors and engineers
• Reservoir engineers
• Geologists
• Drilling supervisors and engineers
• Workover and well service supervisors