Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Comparative Study of Sand Control Methods in Niger Delta

2012; Volume: 1; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

2168-5533

Abubakar Mohammed, Ikeh Lesor, Sunday Aribo, Marcus B. Umeleuma,

Oil and Gas Production Techniques

Sand production like water and gas production is one of the perennial problems plaguing the oil industry because of its safety, economics or environmental impact on production. In order to properly optimise production and monitor sand controlled well, it is imperative to evaluate the well performance, sand control effectiveness and durability of the treatment type installed in order to achieve the main aim of hydrocarbon production. The principal methods of sand control that are available to oil industry in Nigeria are internal gravel pack (IGP) and sand control using chemicals (SCON). This paper compares the principal methods of sand control measures installed in terms of their effect on performance, durability and sand control effectiveness in Niger Delta. Production and well data from 10 different wells were gotten for their flow rate, sand production and water production. Actual and ideal productivity index are calculated. Well inflow quality indicator (WIQI) was used as a criteria to determine the performance of the well for their treatment types. A graph of the production data was plotted against time (years). A bar chart of the treatment type before installation is plotted against time (years) and also a bar chart of sand produced after the treatment type installed was made to determine the durability and sand production effectiveness of the treatment types installed. The result show that SCON wells have better performance than IGP wells with WIQI values ranges from 0.6 – 1 to that of 0.2 – 0.6 for IGP wells. SCON wells recorded 2-4 years to that of 6 – 12 years of IGP wells for durability. SCON wells recorded sand production of about 55Ib/1000bbl, to that of 34Ib/1000bbl, for IGP wells after their installations. Based on these findings IGP wells are recommended for Niger Delta formation.