SANDING PREDICTION ANALYSIS

Case History:

A private oil company experienced sand failure in an adjacent well to this offshore Louisiana well and wanted to explore ways to complete this well without a gravel pack, resulting in a savings of about $275,000.00.

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The well data, along with detailed thin section petrographic analysis of four sidewall core samples, was utilized to recognize low cohesive failure zones (F) by estimating the average sheer stress, giving the client two options for avoiding the need for sand control via gravel pack: 

 

 

  • Option 1:   Avoid perforating two thin zones marked as (F). This option was deemed undesirable by the client.

 

  • Option 2:  Keep drawdown below 100 PSI for the first few weeks of the initial well production, then gradually increase the pressure incrementally  to a maximum of 400 PSI.

 

This second option was employed, and  no sands were produced during the first two years of production, as monitored by CMI