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Introduction
Test Details and Results
Sand production and foamy oil flow are interrelated mecha-
nisms in primary production (cold production) of heavy oil reser-
Reconstituted Oil-Free Sand Specimen
voirs in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Massive sand production The objective of this test series was to study sand production in
could cause excessive deformation in oil sands and the overbur- a reconstituted oil-free sand specimen under constant flow rate
den, resulting in detrimental effects on the wells and production fluid injection. The reconstituted oil sand specimen was prepared
facilities. However, sand control measures tend to reduce the oil as follows: (i) remove the bitumen from the oil sand cores using
production rate. Numerical studies(1-4) have been conducted to the Dean-Stark method; (ii) flush the sand with acetone to make
predict sand production in heavy oil reservoirs. However, limited the sand water wet; (iii) compact the clean sand in a stainless
experimental work has been performed to study the sand produc- mold of 89 mm in diameter and 150 mm in height to a porosity of
tion in oil sand. Tremblay et al.(5, 6) used a computer tomography 33%, close to the in situ state, using the moisture tampering
imaging technique to examine the sand production process in method; and (iv) freeze the specimen inside the steel mold under a
sandpack columns using dead oil injected at a constant rate. They small axial load to provide some strength to the reconstituted sand
observed that a channel-like cavity was developed and evolved specimen. The frozen specimen was allowed to thaw and consoli-
under a critical flow pressure gradient. However, there is no date under a 200 kPa confining pressure inside the triaxial cell
reported experimental study on sand production using natural oil with a 8 mm hole disc (Figure 1). After consolidation, the confin-
sand cores and live heavy oil. The main objective of this paper is ing pressure was gradually increased. It was observed that sand
to investigate the effects of bitumen, oil sand interlocked struc- was pushed out through the hole and the neoprene sleeve burst
ture, pressure gradient, and gas exsolution on the sand production when the confining pressure was increased to a value of 1.3 MPa.
near a perforation in a heavy oil reservoir. The first part of this This finding is consistent with the results observed from the bore-
paper describes the testing material, testing equipment, test details hole stability tests on reconstituted oil-free oil sand hollow cylin-
and results. The second part focuses on the interpretation and drical specimens conducted by Wong and Leung(7). In their tests,
analysis of the test results and field observations, followed by the sand around the hole started to deform and yield inward when
conclusions. Details of the mathematical models used in the the external confining pressure applied to the hollow cylindrical
analysis of the test results are presented in the Appendix. specimen had reached 750 kPa. Massive yielding occurred at a
PEER REVIEWED PAPER (“REVIEW AND PUBLICATION PROCESS” CAN BE FOUND ON OUR WEB SITE)
pressure of 850 kPa. Their test results indicated that the viscous Oil Sand Specimen Under Constant
heavy oil did not act as a binder to hold the oil sand matrix. Pressure Gradient and Choking
Oil-Removed Oil Sand Specimen Under The objective of this test series was to study sand production in
Constant Flow Rate Injection and Choking an oil sand specimen under constant pressure gradient and chok-
ing. A natural oil sand specimen (89 mm in diameter and 152 mm
The objective of this test series was to study the effect of in height) was consolidated under a 10 MPa confining pressure
bitumen as a binding material on sand production in an oil sand inside the triaxial cell with a 20 mm hole disc. Then, a constant 3
specimen under constant flow rate fluid injection and choking. A MPa pressure was applied at the upstream inlet using a pressur-
natural oil sand specimen (89 mm in diameter and 135 mm in ized water reservoir while the downstream outlet was opened to
height) was secured inside a Teflon shrinkable sleeve with two the atmosphere. The pressure gradient applied to the specimen
stainless sintered porous ends. Bitumen was removed from the oil was about 20 MPa/m that was much higher than those used in the
sand specimen using the Dean-Stark distillation method, followed constant rate injection tests. However, no sand was produced after
by acetone distillation. Then, the oil-removed specimen was two hours of water injection.
mounted inside the triaxial cell with a 8 mm hole disc, and consol- Then, the 3 MPa pressure choking procedure was applied to the
idated under a 10 MPa confining pressure. Constant flow rate specimen several times. A channel-like cavity was developed at
injection tests were conducted with the outlet opened to the the perforation (Figure 3).
atmosphere. Water was injected at rates ranging from 0.33 to 1.2
l/min for seven hours. The oil-removed sand specimen had a mea-
sured permeability value of 0.3 Darcy. This low permeability
Oil Sand Specimen Under Gas Exsolution
value might be due to the restricted flow at the perforation outlet. The objective of this test series was to study sand production in
The maximum pressure gradient measured across the specimen an oil sand specimen under gas exsolution. A natural oil sand
was about 8.9 MPa/m. Traces of sand were produced. The sand specimen (89 mm in diameter and 150 mm in height) was consoli-
production tests were repeated with 13- and 20 mm hole discs dated under a 10 MPa confining pressure inside the triaxial cell
using the same specimen. Again, small amount of sand was with a 20 mm hole disc. Then the specimen was saturated with
produced. live heavy oil with a gas-oil ratio of 8 and viscosity of about
Finally, a constant 3 MPa pressure was applied at the upstream 69,000 cp at 21˚ C. The saturation process involved displacement
inlet using a pressurized water reservoir while the downstream of dead heavy oil inside the specimen by live heavy oil while
outlet was closed. When the internal pore pressure reached the maintaining the pore pressure above the Bubble Point Pressure of
constant 3 MPa pressure, the outlet valve was opened instanta- 2 MPa. After two-pore volume displacement, the pore pressure
neously. This choking procedure was repeated several times. An was maintained at a value of 3 MPa. The effective confining stress
X-Ray image of the specimen (Figure 2) shows that some sand was 7 MPa being close to the in situ value. The outlet pressure
was produced forming a small conical cavity. Tensile fractures was gradually decreased in increments of 0.1 MPa while the
were also induced along the specimen length. upstream valve was closed. In each incremental decline, the pore
Author’s Biography
dεθ ε −ε
+2 θ r = 0 Ron Wong is currently a professor with the
dr r ............................................................................(A2) University of Calgary. Before joining the
University, he was involved in thermal
where σr and σθ are total radial and tangential stresses, respective- recovery research with Imperial Oil
ly; εr and εθ are radial and tangential strains, respectively; and, r is Resources Canada. He received a B.Eng. in
the radial distance. The strains can be expressed in terms of total 1977 from McMaster University and a
radial and tangential stresses, fluid (oil) pressure po and gas pres- Ph.D. in 1986 from the University of
sure pg, using effective stress-strain constitutive laws. Alberta. Dr. Wong is a member of APEG-
GA. His research interests include soil
Mass Conservation Equations mechanics, geomechanics in oil sand and
shale, multiphase flow in fractures and in
Oil Phase situ bioremediation.
Oil is assumed to be the only mobile fluid phase, i.e., water
exists in a connate saturation. The continuity condition yields the
following equation:
kk d ρ φS
∇ ⋅ ρo ro ∇po = o o
µo dt ..............................................................(A3)
where
d ρoφSo ∂ρ ∂φ ∂( So )
= φ( So ) o + ρo ( So ) + ρoφ
dt ∂t ∂t ∂t ;