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No Sand Control
In cases where sand production rates are low and steady, it is often more attractive
to produce the sand than to control it downhole. The viscosity of the crude or crudewater emulsion is usually high enough to carry the sand to the surface without
serious erosion. Most heavy oil wells require artificial lift, such as tubing or screw
pumps, and the major problem with producing sand is erosion of the pump
components. Sand particles tend to erode the valves and seats. Recently, pumps
have been designed to handle sand production, but these pumps have limited head
capacity and/or are still in the development and field trial stage.
The major problem with no sand control is that unexpected shutdowns can cause a
sandoff of the string. Moreover, this occurs with changing fluid viscosities during
steaming, or with water breakthrough. Surface separation and disposal of the sand is
also a problem in some areas, although pretarred sand can be useful for road-building
projects.
Gravel Packing
For clean formation sands with narrow grain-size distribution, gravel packing is still
widely used. However, the pressure drop across the perforation tunnels precludes the
use of IGPs in many primary completions on high-viscosity oils. External, or openhole,
gravel packs (EGPs) are therefore primarily used in heavy oil areas, such as in
California and Venezuela. Internal packs can be used in thermal projects, although
they limit the duration of the production cycle.
Steam stimulation, or steam flooding, poses a significant problem to gravel packs.
Steam generator effluents are quite alkaline, with pH values ranging from 11 to 12.5.
This high alkalinity results from bicarbonate ions, present in most feedwaters, that
decompose during steam generation to produce carbonate ions and hydroxide ions.
Silicate materials, such as gravel, dissolve in hot alkaline water, so that gravel packs
frequently fail in the third or fourth production cycle. Also, the liner must withstand
the harsh corrosive environment of a huff 'n' puff steam project. It is also subject to
substantial mechanical loading due to the thermal cycling.
The weigh loss of siliceous material has been shown by Underdown et al. (1983) to
increase dramatically with temperature and pH. The higher the quartz content of
gravel, the longer the gravel lasts in the harsh field environment.
Consolidation
Sand consolidation has not been very successful to date in heavy oil wells. The
problems of effective fluid displacement are much higher in heavy oil wells,
especially with dirty sands. There has been some consideration to using warm air
coking of the heavy oil to consolidate the sand, but more research is required to
prove the viability of this system.
Resin-coated gravel using furan resins and the overflush technique has achieved
some success in California. However, special laboratory tests are required to select a
resin coating that can withstand the harsh steam environment.