Horizontal drilling and completion are common practice for accessing conventional and heavy oil reservoirs. During the drilling process, the formation pore pressure is less than the drilling fluid's hydrostatic pressure. This can lead to some fluid loss before a filter cake is formed to prevent further mud losses. For unconsolidated formations, it is prefer to keep the filter cake in the place to maintain the hole's integrity during the well completion period while running the liner. However, the filter cake can be broken down by the sliding and rotating of the bottom hole assembly. These breakdowns can lead to high completion fluid losses to the formation. Sand production is also a common problem associated with unconsolidated formations. These drilling & completion practices, sand production, have resulted in a demand for well intervention that can economically remove mud damage and produced fill throughout the whole length of horizontal wells.
展开▼
