Investigation of Plugging and Scaling Processes on Ceramic Sand Screens, the New Approach for Sustainable Oil and Gas Production

摘要

Screen only systems (such as wire-wrapped screens) and gravel-pack completions are amongst the common options used in unconsolidated reservoirs. A new sand control filter on the basis of industrial ceramics (SiC) was developed primarily for the Danish offshore sector with low permeability and porosity reservoirs, requiring a bare minimum of pressure loss across the productive zone and protection of the well equipment against erosion from proppant backflow during clean-up ("Defeating Sand with "Sand", Ceramic Screens - Successful Pilot Applications ", Proc. DGMK Spring Meeting p. 312 ff(2011)). In the meantime a number of successful applications of ceramic sand screens have been reported in the literature, e. g. "Sand Control with Ceramic Screens in Unconsolidated Reservoirs demonstrated in the mature Gaiselberg Oilfield" Proc. DGMK Spring Meeting p. 285 ff (2012), "Ceramic screens, an innovative downhole sand control solution for old and challenging cased hole solutions in Bolivia" SPE 166092, Proc. ATCE 2013, etc. The behaviour of ceramic screens in comparison to state of the art metal screens is not yet fully understood. RAG installed a ceramic screen instead of a state of the art metal screen in their mature Gaiselberg oilfield. The latter caused an immediate decline in the production rate due to plugging, while the ceramic screen showed constant production rates. This was believed to be due corrosion triggered by erosion. Therefore a comparative investigation of plugging and scaling processes that occurs in stainless steel and ceramic screens was carried out. The results of this study are presented in this article. The results show significant advantages of the ceramic sand screen compared to conventional stainless steel applications.