An Innovative Approach of Revival for Damaged Wells in High Erosive Environment Using Ceramic Sand Screens

摘要

Oil and gas companies struggle with high rate wells failing due to down hole sand screen failure. If thosewells are completed with a dry tree there is an opportunity for revival by installing a robust and durablesand preventive system using ceramic sand screens. These work-over jobs can be made cost effective byusing wire line / coil tubing, avoiding high costs and lead time associated with rig-operation. This paperis the first documented work on a through tubing intervention plan for a high rate gas well with ceramicsand screens.One of the biggest challenges is incorporating ceramic sand screen in wells where existing sandprevention has already failed. These cases not only require specific ceramic screen design but are alsolimited by the existing completion profiles and status of the damaged well. The workover operation ischallenged by effectiveness of the well cleaning and the installation of ceramic screen to ensure a safereturn on investment.This paper details the plan for the revival of a high rate gas well with a currently damaged screen dueto erosion. The study incorporates the selection of screen length, size of screen slots, support assembliesand installation sequence for an actual field case. A detailed sensitivity analysis was carried out tooptimize well production in different reservoir conditions and results were utilized to construct the bottomhole assembly. The ceramic sand screen size was selected after series of retention tests and it wascompared with the performance of metallic screens to ensure safe differential pressure and flow profileacross the screen.In conclusion this paper documents an innovative approach for workover operations in highly erosiveenvironment using ceramic sand screens. The design procedure presented coupled with sensitivity analysisprovided a long term, cost effective revival of damaged wells.