Increased production method sought

Sand production from soft, unconsolidated, highly permeable formations can make perforating
and production operations less efficient. The costs of sand control, separation of sand from
produced fluids, damage to production hardware, and restricted production are some challenges
operators face in such formations.
An operator in the Far East had been perforating a well with a modest underbalance of 300
to 500 psi prior to gravel packing and was sometimes required to resort to acid stimulation
to achieve economical production.
The operator sought a better way to achieve cleaner perforations, prevent sanding in the guns,
and obtain a high volume of sand-free production.
TRUST technique selected to improve packing efficiency of perforations
The operator and Schlumberger engineers reviewed data from previous conventional perforating
operations in determining how to complete the well to optimize gravel-pack and fracture pack
operations. They decided to use the TRUST underbalanced surge technique.
With the TRUST technique, a long surge chamber between two IRDV intelligent remote dual
valves was run in the TCP string. A fast memory gauge was run close to the perforating guns to
collect 28,800 data points per second for further analysis. Then, the well was perforated, surged
at high differential pressure to clean the perforations and minimize skin, and reverse circulated.
Rig time was saved because all operations were completed in a single run.
HSD* high shot density guns with PowerFlow* slug-free big hole shaped charges minimized
damage and debris in the weak sand formations. To prevent sanding in the guns, they were
pulled from the zone after overbalanced perforating and before opening the lower IRDV to
create the brief, sharp pressure drop to an underbalanced state across the perforations.
CHALLENGE
Control sand production in four wells
drilled in unconsolidated, highly
permeable formations.
SOLUTION
Use the TRUST* transient rapid under-
balanced surge technique to improve the
packing efficiency of the perforations.
RESULTS
Improved packing efficiency of the
perforations and exceeded production
expectations from these four wells.
CASE STUDY
Perforating
Underbalance Surge Technique in Perforated Zones
Used to Control Sand Production
TRUST technique improves packing efficiency and increases production
in high-permeability Far East formations
The TRUST technique created stable arches around perforations.
Cement
Fluid inflow
Fluid inflow
Sand grains under
triaxial loading
Perforation tunnel
Cement
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Copyright 2012 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 09-TS-0386
CASE STUDY: TRUST technique enables single-trip perforating and cleanup, Far East
Efficiency of packing improved
Four wells were perforated, surged, and gravel packed using the TRUST technique. Some of the
wells had multiple zones that were completed separately. The production rate from the wells was
expected to reach 5,000 bbl/d.
Dynamically surging the perforations and then immediately prepacking significantly improved the
packing efficiency of the perforations. Whereas industry guidelines dictate that the packing factor
should be no lower than 24 lbm/ft, three of the wells had an initial packing factor over 27 lbm/ft
and reached 38 lbm/ft after they were producing.
Time, s
Time, s
Downhole
pressure, psi
Downhole
pressure, psi
2.0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3.0 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4.0
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
2,200
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
Start fast data
Unlike conventional underbalanced perforating (top), the TRUST technique (bottom) creates a dynamic
underbalance that is followed by a period of controlled flow.