SPE 136965

Prediction of Volumetric Sand Production and Stability of Well-bore

in
a Niger-Delta Formation
O.A. Adeyanju and L. O. Oyekunle
 onshore. This paper major obstacle to
Copyright 2010, Society of presents a during sand well production
Petroleum Engineers Inc.
mathematical production, and (Hamby and
This paper was prepared for
presentation at the 34th model to simulate predicting the Richardson 1968,
Annual International sand production wellbore stability. Bratli, and Risnes
Conference and Exhibition in
Tinapa-Calabar, Nigeria, July from petroleum The model has a 1981, Opara and
31st, August 7th, 2010. Ichara 1988 and
reservoir subject to higher degree of
This paper was selected for an open-hole validity for light Ugbebor, 1999).
presentation by an SPE
Program Committee following completion. A and medium crude Nigeria’s Niger-
review of information
contained in an abstract coupled reservoir- oil flow which Delta region having
submitted by the author(s). geo-mechanical possesses moderate been identified as
Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been model was used to lubricating part of Akata-
reviewed by the Society of
Petroleum Engineers and are
predict the properties, and Agbada formation
subject to correction by the volumetric sand therefore erosion of which is
author(s). The material, as
presented, does not production and sand particles predominantly
necessarily reflect
position of the Society of
any
associated wellbore during production sandstone in nature
Petroleum Engineers, its stability. The model highly depends on is currently facing a
officers, or members. Papers
presented at SPE meetings is based on mixture flow rate. serious sand
are subject to publication
review by Editorial
theory with erosion. production
Committees of the Society of The Representative 1.0 challenges. Sand
Petroleum Engineers.
Electronic reproduction, Elementary Volume INTRODUCTION production in oil
distribution, or storage of any
part of this paper for
(REV) composes of wells occurs when
commercial purposes without five phases - solid Hydrocarbon the formation
the written consent of the
Society of Petroleum matrix, fluidized production disaggregates due
Engineers is prohibited. solids, oil, water, increases if zero to the combination
Permission to reproduce in
print is restricted to an and gas phase was sand production of in-situ stress and
abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be chosen. The model criterions is relaxed fluid flow and is
copied. The abstract must also incorporates and sand carried into the
contain conspicuous
acknowledgement of where the reservoir production is wellbore (Appah,
and by whom the paper was
presented. Write Librarian, drawdown allowed. The 1998). Such a solid
SPE, P.O. Box 833836, pressure, rock benefits of the production
Richardson, TX 75083-3836,
U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. failure criteria, increased compromises oil
rock types and field production need not production,
Abstract condition. to outweigh the increases
Analytical solution negative completion costs,
Nigeria’s Niger- and reduces the life
of sand consequences of
Delta province has cycles of equipment
displacement sand production
been identified as down hole and on
processes is also such as the risk of
one petroleum the surface. Sand
highlighted. Results well failure, erosion
system- The tertiary production has been
show that the of pipelines and
Niger-Delta a major concern to
magnitude of sand surface facilities,
(Akata-Agbada) production
production is sand separation and
petroleum system. engineers for
strongly affected by disposal. A proper
Almost all the decades, either in
the flow rate, the assessment is thus
petroleum poorly consolidated
confining pressure, required where
resources currently reservoirs or from
the pressure knowledge of the
are produced from those formations
drawdown and the mass and rate of
the sandstone with cement. These
fluid viscosity. The sand production is
species within the sanding effects
determined ratio of necessary
Agbada formation. often are associated
the productivity (Papamichous,
Also turbidite sand with high
index to the 2002). Sand control
in the upper Akata production rates,
saturation of the is vital to reliable
formation is a and the issue is
fluidized solid can production in many
potential target in becoming more
be correlated to sandstone
deepwater offshore critical these days
determine reservoir reservoirs where
and currently as operators are
formation type sand can present a
producing interval
following more
aggressive
production
schedule. Sand
production on the
other hand, has
been proved as the
most
2. Adeyanju O.A and Oyekunle L. O. SPE 136965
 performance The detection of
because of the sand in a produced
effective way to complex nature of fluid stream is very A sand prediction
increase well the fluid/solid important when can assist in several
productivity both in slurry flow seeking to manage aspects of field
heavy oil and light processes involved sand production operations: sand
oil reservoirs (Osorio, et al, through rate- control and
(Morital et al., 1997). A control, selective management,
1989). quantitative model perforating, and/or optimal well
will allow sand handling completion design,
Once sand producers to techniques. Not and production
production has understand this only is it important optimization for
started it is often unique production to be able to detect reservoirs with
impossible to stop. process, evaluate and measure sand weak formations
Because of this, oil the impact of sand being produced to (Bratli and Risnes.
companies often production on help verify models, 1981)
take the reservoir but it is even more
conservative enhancement, and important to There exist many
approach and install provide an efficient monitor sand different types of
sand control tool to reduce production for models for
equipment in wells unnecessary cost safety concerns. predicting sand
that may not need during the field This is especially production (Morital
it. Sand production operations. true if sand et al., 1989,
is a complex Irrespective of sand prevention Rodriguez et al,
physical process production technologies are 1996 Osorio, et al,
involving rock and mechanism, the being utilized in 1997, Li, et. al.
fluid mechanics as first step in subsea wells 1990 and Settari,
well as the coupled effecting a proper (Yarlong 1989). and Mourits, 1998).
process of fluid sand control is the However, most of
flow and particle ability to forecast these would predict
motion (Rodriguez, the sanding the transient and
et al, 1996). potential early in catastrophic types
Prevention and the life of the well of sand production
control of sand and the rate. Some models
production is specification of the attempt to predict
expensive to the oil appropriate sand the rate and
industry. Sand control strategy. quantity of solids
control measures The most effective that would be
usually involve sand production produced with the
screens and/or prediction method liquids in a
gravel-pack filters for any given continuous and/or
down-hole which is region is that which episodic mode. The
expensive and also integrates field approaches used by
creates head losses observations with these models by
and significant laboratory quantifying
reduction in well measurements and volumetric sand
production. theoretical production may be
modelling for the classified into
In attempt to candidates’ strain-based,
maximize oil formations (Settari erosion-based, and
production and and Mourits, 1998). particle-based
minimize cost Prediction of sand models.
during cold production is
production, important to allow With the aid of
operators depend wells to produce the laboratory and field
on experience and maximum amount data to calibrate
empirical model to of oil possible some key
evaluate cold without producing parameters in a
production sand. volumetric sand
prediction model, more rapidly. When
the model can be a fluid is passed
found useful for upwards through a
practical field bed, the pressure
applications (Chen, drop is the same as
et al.). In this paper, that for downward
a coupled reservoir- flow at relatively
geo-mechanic low rates. When,
model is developed however, the
to predict both sand frictional drag on
production and the particles
wellbore stability becomes equal to
since both problems their apparent
are associated with weight (that is the
the similar actual weight less
deforming and the buoyancy
plastic yielding force), the particles
mechanisms in become rearranged
weak reservoirs. thus offering less
Also analytical resistance to the
solution of the flow of fluid and
saturation of sand at the bed starts to
different locations expand with a
in the formation corresponding
was developed and increase in voidage.
solved and the This process
solutions of the two continues with
methods were increase in velocity,
compared with the with the total
laboratory data. frictional force
remaining

2.0 BAS
IC
FO
RM
ULA
TIO
N

When a fluid is
passed downward
through a bed of
solids, no relative
movement between
the particles takes
place, unless the
initial orientation of
the particles is
unstable, and where
the flow is
streamline, the
pressure drop
across the bed is
directly
proportional to the
rate of flow. At
higher rates the
pressure drop rises
3 Prediction of Volumetric Sand Production and Stability of Well-bore in a Niger-Delta Formation SPE 136965
 These specific by Ux, Uy & Uz
mass discharges respectively. These
are related to the are volumetric flow
equal to the weight of specific volume  V. The specific mass rates per unit cross-
the particles, until the discharges (the discharge is related to sectional area
bed has assumed its volume
most unstable form the displacement
discharges per Thus, the mass flow
of packing. If the unit area of a velocities as follows:
rate into the element
velocity is then coordinate system
increased further, the fixed in space) qs qs  1 Vs in the x-direction is
given as
individual particles
and qj by q j  S jq j
separate from one M in  U yz
another and become x x
freely supported in mj jqj M s  s (1 )Vs
the fluid. At this ms  s qs
stage, the bed is
M s   S V 
described as j j j
fluidised. Further
increase in the
velocity causes the The relative density θ j
If the porosity of of Phase j is defined as
particles to separate the reservoir is
still further from one the mass of phase j per
another, although the denoted by  , unit total volume of
pressure difference then in an material. Since the
remains elementary density  j
approximately equal volume V the is defined as the
to the weight per unit volume of the mass of phase j per unit
area of the bed. In pore space is  V volume of that phase,
practice, the and the volume of the relative densities are
transition from the the solid material given by:
fixed bed to the
is (1-  )V. If the
fluidised bed s  s 1 
condition is not degree of
uniform mainly due saturation in  j   S 
phase j is j j
to irregularities in the
packing and, over a denoted by S j, the
range of velocities, volume of the The basic principle, with
fixed and fluidised fluid in phase j in which the specific mass
bed regions may co- the volume V is Sj discharges have to
exist. satisfy, is the
conservation of mass.
A mathematical
description is The mass flow rate into 2.1 LAW OF
required to define the the element in the y- CONSERVATION OF
physical processes direction is MASS
characterized above
(Biot 1941). M in  U xz Considering a single
y y
flow through a porous
The specific mass medium in an arbitrary
The mass flow rate into
discharges (the volume element within
discharge of mass per the element in the z-
direction is the flow region and
unit area of a applying the continuity
coordinate system statement and choosing
fixed in space) are M in  U xy
z z a rectangular
denoted by m s and parallelepiped as the
m j, where s arbitrary volume,
represents solid
phase, j = w, o, g for The volumetric
water, oil and gas components of flow into
phases, respectively. the element in the x,y &
z direction are denoted
4. Adeyanju O.A and Oyekunle L. O. SPE 136965

The mass flow rate out of the element in the x-direction is

M xout  U x  U x yz

(8)

in the y-direction, we have

 
(9)
M yout  U y  U y  xz
in the z-direction, we have

M zout  U z  U z xy

(10)

Net flow rate = Amount of mass flow in – Amount of mass flow out

M xin  M xout  U x yz

(11)

M yin  M yout  U y xz

(12)

M zin  M zout  U z xy

(13)

Total net outflow at a time increment ( t ) can be given as

Dividing through by , we obtain:

Taking limits as 0

This is the continuity equation in Cartesian co-ordinate for a flow of fluid in a porous medium. Thus, this is
expressed in the form of the conservation of mass as shown below:

Therefore, the conservation of solid component is

5 Prediction of Volumetric Sand Production and Stability of Well-bore in a Niger-Delta Formation SPE 136965
Where is the absolute velocity of the solid phase boundary and is the solid loss due to erosion since
it is chosen to be the volume discharge per unit area of a coordinate system as seen from a fluidized solid
phase.

Similarly for the fluidized solid phase , the mass balance equation can be written as

Where the fluidized solid saturation at reservoir condition (RC) is

(20a)

Is the absolute velocity of the fluidized solid phase and is the density of the fluidized solid phase.

For a fluid phase,

(20b)

A fluid phase consisting of mainly oil and dissolved gas, the following mass balance equations where
derived using the generalized mass balance (continuity) equation.

(21a)

(21b)

Substituting equ (22) into (21)

Where is now the oil density in standard tank conditions?

Mass balance equation for dissolved gas is given as