Is There a Holistic Approach to Sand Production and Sand Management
Peng Ray
Chevron
Abstract:
Sand production tendency over the life of the well has significant impact on completion choices. As we work in more challenging environments such as deep water, heavy oil, and high-pressure high-temperature wells, reservoirs are more complex and more costly to drill and complete. Downhole sand control methods significantly increase the complexity and cost of the completion and challenge the economics of the field development. Do we need downhole sand control on all wells that have potential to produce sand? When the produced sand volume is not significant, can the sand be managed at surface? Completions and workovers would be much simpler and cheaper without downhole sand control. Well production would also increase without downhole sand control. However, sand production could increase the risk of sanding up the well. It also increases the risk of eroding chokes, surface flowlines, and equipment. Operational costs would increase due to sand transportation and disposal. All the pros and cons need to be considered in the decision process. What does it take to have an integrated sand management approach? Where does sand management add the greatest value? How does state of the art sand production prediction impact completion decisions? What role does sand monitoring play in sand management?
One idea is: sand management should be evaluated in a holistic manner.
Biography:
Peng Ray is a research scientist at Chevron Energy Technology Co. She has a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Beijing University of Science and Technology and a MS degree in Geophysics from Texas A&M University. She has been involved in research and the application of various aspects of Geomechanics related issues over the past 25 years. Her main interests include sand production predictions, stress determinations, rock strength determinations, and wellbore stability. She has led research and development in the area of sand production prediction and applied the learnings to various Chevron fields.