Loading...

Numerical Study of Sand Production in Oil Extracting Wells

Abbasi, Babak | 2012

1248 Viewed
  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 43328 (09)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Civil Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Pak, Ali
  7. Abstract:
  8. Sand production in petroleum industry is a phenomenon of solid particles being produced together with reservoir fluid. This phenomenon is costing industry billions of dollars every year. Corrosion of the pipelines and other instruments, sand-oil separation cost, possible wellbore choke and repeated shut-in and clean-up of the wellbore are some of examples of the costs. On the other hand, a controlled sanding or even sand production invocation has proved to be very effective in increasing production rate, especially in heavy oil recovery, asphalt wells and low PI wells. Discovering the best sand controlling procedure in oil extracting wells, parameters that have the most important effects on this phenomenon, and understanding the mechanisms of sand production were the challenges of oil industry from its birth, and Up to now, these challenges are not totally solved. Sand production occurs in sandstone formations, and since a number of Iran's oil wells are of this kind. This is also one of theIran's oil industry's issues. This thesis is about studying sanding problem in oil extracting wells by numerical modeling. Sanding phenomenon can be divided into two stages: rock failure and dislodge of grains into the wellbore by seepage forces. The first stage is dealt with a solid mechanics type analysis, failure criteria and studying the geomechanical behavior of formation and the second stageis handled using fluid mechanics analysis. In this study, the problem is solved in a fully coupled manner. It means that, interaction of fluid transport and formation displacements have been analyzed by considering interactive effects. The FDM-based FLAC sofrware is used for numerical modellings and the porousmedium is considered fully saturated and with two phases (solid and fluid). The problem is modeled in 2D or 3D (axisymmetrical). After examining different sanding criteria, a new criteria which could favorably predict the reservoir's behavior and sanding phenomenon, is offered. Also some of the parameters affecting sand production are studied. These parameters are: effects of perforation and casing, oil production rate, in-situ stresses, reservoir's rock's mechanical properties, and the suitable constitutive models.
  9. Keywords:
  10. Numerical Modeling ; Oil Wells ; Sand Production ; Sanding Criteria

 Digital Object List

 Bookmark

...see more