SPE 94896

Sand Management of Ultra-High-Rate Gas Wells

C.J. Balgobin, SPE, BP Trinidad and Tobago LLC

Copyright 2005, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

Introduction
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Trinidad’s gas production has increased dramatically over the
Engineering Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20 – 23 June 2005.
past 10 years. The gas growth has been driven by a natural
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
increase in the local demand and the construction of a series of
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to Liqufied Natural Gas (LNG) trains. BP Trinidad and Tobago
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at LLC’s (bpTT) share of the gas supply to the local market has
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of grown from less than 350 Mmcfd in 1994 to over 2000 Mmcfd
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is today with production coming from several prolific fields
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to a proposal of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The proposal must contain conspicuous located off Trinidad’s East coast. One of these newest gas
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836 U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
fields for bpTT is Kapok that represents more than half of the
daily contracted gas volume.
The Kapok field was discovered on July 1997 where the
Abstract first gas production was on July 2003. The field is located
Sand production can pose a significant threat to asset integrity, offshore the east coast of Trinidad, approximately 37 miles
hydrocarbon control and availability of production. As a result southeast of Galeota Point (Figure 1). The Kapok Field
sand management is crucial to protecting commercial interest, consist of two separate discoveries called Sparrow and
safety and the environment. Most of the sand production Renegade. Both of which is characterised by multiple stacked
problems tend to be found in relatively shallow reservoir sands gas bearing sands bounded by a major fault. The field is
that tend to be unconsolidated. The propensity for sand located in a water depth of 230 feet. bpTT is the operator with
erosion is exacerbated in ultra high rate gas wells where fluid a 70% working interest where the other 30% is owned by
velocities are typically very high. Repsol YPF.
The Kapok Field is such an example with reservoirs and
fluid velocity that are prone to incipient sand production.
Surrounding field history and an appraisal drill stem test Water depth
Water Depth 230’
(DST) results indicate that sand control will be a major 40 milesfrom Galeot
37 Miles Galeota
challenge to delivering full well potential thereby maximizing
the value of the field reserves. This risk was addressed in all
Trinidad
Trinida
phases of the development from appraisal drilling, to the front-
end engineering design and the operation of the field. As a
result, the plan of development for the Kapok field ensured
Galeota Pt Mahogany
Mahogany
that sand production was taken into consideration and Flamboyant
Flamboyant
Immortelle
Immortelle

therefore measures were put in place to manage sand spanning Red

Red Mango
Mango
Renegade
Parang Amherstia
Cassia
Cassia
from well placement in the reservoir and well completion Trinidad Sparrow
Sparrow

Venezuela Amherstia
design, topside installation of wear monitors on all chokes, the
Kapok Parang
implementation of two independent types of sand detection 0 10 20 30 40
Miles

systems as redundancy, and managing the field through

Figure 1: Kapok Field Location
focused well operating guidelines and adhering to a reservoir
surveillance plan.
The Kapok Field like many adjacent gas fields in Trinidad
Kapok Field production is on plateau delivering 1.1 Bcfd
has sands that are fairly young which belong to the Pilocene to
of gas and approximately 10,000 barrels of condensate per day
Pleistocene age that is characterized by unconsolidated sands
that will be exported off the Kapok unmanned satellite
that tend to produce sand during the life of the field. Most of
platform. Customers requiring this daily volume of gas need
the sands were deposited in an 8,000 feet section. An appraisal
the assurance that this gas deliverability is not threatened in
drill stem test and a full-bore core were taken on one of its
any way and gas suppliers need to ensure that this
sands at a depth of 7,000 feet in the Kapok Field. The DST
deliverability is not compromised such that both parties
confirmed the presence of gas, good condensate yield and
maximizes return on their investment in a cost effective
excellent productivity but to be expected poorly consolidated
manner.
sand which was confirmed by the eroded screen at the end of
the DST string (see Figure 2). Sand produced in the surface
separator during the DST was less than 60 microns after
2 SPE 94896
producing at a maximum gas rate of 30 Mmcfd with an
associated 100 psi drawdown at the sand face.
Figure 2: Eroded Screen after appraisal DST
Sand strength analysis done on the acquired full-bore core
in this sand where the DST was conducted also confirmed that
the sand was weak and contained a high volume of fines. The
analysis also concluded that the Kapok sands will probably
produce sand even at initial conditions. As a result sand
production was identified as one of the major risks to the
Kapok Field development due to its geography and geology.
During the development of this field, a tremendous amount of
attention was devoted to managing sand production without
sacrificing well deliverability. Since most of the Kapok
reservoirs are relatively shallow and as a result tend to be
unconsolidated with poor sand strength, sand production or
inhibition of same, is a major consideration in establishing the
production potential for Kapok.
Throughout the Appraise, Select, Define, Execute and
Operate phases, the Kapok project team was charged with
setting the Kapok Field development for success. This meant
recognising sand production as a clear and present threat to the
field development and thereby incorporated aspects of sand
management techniques and industry best practices throughout
each phase of the project.
Well Completion Selection, Design and
Implementation.
The unconsolidated reservoirs combined with the high well
production rate of 100 – 250 Mmcfd indicates that sand
control is a necessity to mitigate the risk of severe sand
production on all wells. Sand production is a major
consideration in establishing the production potential for
Kapok. In addition, the plan of development called for Kapok
to produce into a multiphase pipeline to a central processing
hub3. As a result, sand production problems at Kapok could
have severe effects not only for Kapok deliverability but for a
larger portion of Trinidad deliverability if the operation of the
central processing hub is negatively impacted. Therefore, a
completion plan was adopted that included mechanical sand
control, at the sand face, in every well.
The first line of defense is the correct application of sand
face completion technologies that are aimed at keeping the
sand downhole. Special core testing was carried out on the
full-bore core that was taken at a depth of 7000 feet in the
Kapok field. Sand size distribution seen in Figure 3 that Laser
Particle Size (LPS) indicates massive amount of fines in the
range of 25-35% of reservoir sand was found to be sub-325
mesh (<44 microns). These fines migrated during both fluid
sensitivity and fines migration testing as evidenced by changes
in permeability. The amount of fines produced was small
indicating that there is slight grain movement and not massive
release of fines. As a result the distribution suggested an open
gravel pack to minimize drawdown of the formation and
inflow of fines.
Figure 3: Particle Size Distribution on Kapok Sand at
7000 feet
Pressure drawdowns must therefore, be minimised to avoid
water coning and sand production. In order to minimize the
drawdown on the sand face but yet maintain the high gas rates,
long horizontal sections were completed in the best permeable
sands. Partial plugging of screens was seen as a risk to
delivering the required high rate completions since it can lead
to limited flow entry into the completion causing a higher flux
rates across the screens leading to “hot spot” and eventually
erosion of screens (see Figure 4).
SPE 94896
v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v SAND FACE^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^
Cake
P1 Buildup
P2
"Hot Spot"
Erosion Path CL
∆P = P1 - P2
Figure 4: Demonstration of limited flow through plugged
screens
To minimize formation damage a formation porosimetery
analysis was done to select a calcium carbonate bridging
particle size distruibution that optimized the bridging and
sealing efficiency of the drilling fluid and provide the thinnest
filtercake. This would reduce the invasion into the formation
and the possibility of changing the near relative permeability.
The average pore throat size of the reservoir sand was found to
be 5 microns with a broad variation in the uniformity. The size
of calcium carbonate particle selected gave the ability to form
a tight thin seal, allow the particles to flow freely through the
premium production screen preventing damage to either
screen or formation and the lift-off pressures was seen to be
minimal when the well is put on production. These mitigate
the risks of creating any “hot spots” in the completion
resulting from non-uniform flow contribution along the
production interval leading to premature erosion of the screen.
Well Location and Reservoir Management. Unforeseen
water production is a serious threat to deliverability and
recovery of reserves. To mitigate this risk, well placement is
key – along with completion efficiency (inflow performance)
and depletion plan. Sand problems are more severe in dirty,
fine-grained formations that in relatively clean, well-
developed sands1. To this end the wells were targetted into the
cleanest sand closest to the top of the reservoir section. The
high-permeability sections are usually cleaner and larger-
grained sand that will have the highest productivity and the
lowest drawdown. As a result the tendency to move fines will
be reduced and water contact will be futherst from the
completion thereby delaying water production and massive
fines migration into the wellbore.
Topsides Design Consideration
Non-Intrusive Sand Monitors. A non-intrusive, acoustic
sand monitoring device is placed on all wells on Kapok. The
device is strapped on the outer wall of the flowline,
downstream of the second 90o bend from the tree (see Figure
5).
3
Figure 5: Acoustic sand detector location on flowline
This allows the device the best opportunity to detect the
noise of the sand particles bombarding the interior flowline
wall with the most force. This noise is then converted to an
electrical signal which is then conveyed to a computer via
cables. The raw data is displayed graphically on a digital
control system (DCS). Here the data is then archived and
alarms are set to notify the onboard operator of any sand
production in excess of 15 minutes. The alarm setting is
determined during the calibration stage of the sand monitoring
system when the well is on-line. During the calibrated excerise
the background noise at different velocities is determined and
a blue print of the signal from the detector is defined for
known size and quantity of sand (see Figure 6).
Calibration can obtain a
blue print for quantity
and size of silica
injected at any flow rate.
Figure 6: Calibration of acoustic sand detectors
The major advantage of installing this detector is for the
early detection of a sand control failure but is highly
influenced by multiphase production. As a result, the increase
in signal which results from sand impacts will vary hugely
from well to well, and will even vary within a well as the flow
conditions change. During the calibration for each well it was
found that the detector was able to distinguish water from sand
and sand production less than 0.1 pound per Mmcf of gas.
Whenever sand was injected the response time was very fast
and essentially instantaneous. The installation of the detector
is simple, reliable and needs some intervention and
maintenance. The device can not be installed close to the
choke, since noise from the choke generates an unacceptably
high background signal which sometimes masks any sand
signal.
4 SPE 94896
Intrusive Sand Monitors. An intrusive sand erosion probe is
located on all wells on Kapok. The probe is inserted into the
flowline and almost spans the ID of the flowline. The probe
continuously monitors the thickness of the element and reports
any changes to the DCS display. This probe uses Electric
Resistivity (ER) to calculate the thickness. As the metal loss
increases, the Electric Resistivity also increases (see Figure
7).
S A N D /E R
FLOW
PROBE
A C CESS
F IT T IN G
SA N D L O G #1
Figure 7: Intrusive sand erosion probe in flowline
The sand probe elements are 0.15 mm (6 mils) thick and
can register a metal loss of 20 nanometers (20x10-9 nm). It is
located on the flow line just downstream of the choke. The
intrusive probe sand detection system is sensitive to sand
detection under multiphase conditions and will give the best
indication of cumulative wall loss, changes in actual erosion
rate and erosion associated with fines production.
Alarms are set on the DCS to alarm if 1 mil (.001 inch) of
thickness is lost for a calculated year. Some gravel from the
gravel pack was flowed back during the initial cleanup of one
of Kapok producer and the probe was able to monitor the
thickness loss rate during that time.
Ultra-Sonic Non-Destructive Testing. This testing is not
intended for permanent installation. It was used in a manual
mode to confirm that no major wall loss was occurring.
Routine manual ultrasonic (UT) non-destructive testing (NDT)
of critical locations along the system flow path is done on a
monthly maintainance schedule to detect loss of wall
thickness. The limit of detection is limited to the range of ~ ±
0.1 mm. As expected from this conventional UT probe the
results are reliable, accurate, stable and repeatable. However,
no metal loss was detected for any of the Kapok flowlines
because the total loss was less than the sensitivity of the
instrument.
Test Separator with Automatic Sand Flushing System.
The test separator on Kapok is equipped with a vortex sand
trap and solids collection accumulator. A test separator with
an induced vortex desander is located at the bottom of the
vessel for periodic removing of sand. The desanding operation
is done offline. A portable sand trap can be installed from the
desander. The sand collected and be inspected and again
determine sand production rate, grain size and type of
produced solids debris. The system is used during the ramp
up of wells, unloading of new wells and where a peak in the
acoustic detector is observed. The initial returns on all wells
are normally flowed back into the test separator in the event of
capturing any unexpected high volume of proppant from the
gravel pack. This solid will be collected in the separator and
not end up in the single multiphase export pipeline thereby
interrupting production from leaving Kapok platform. Samples
can then be retrieved and can be visually inspected.
Choke Wear Monitor. The majority of wear in choke occurs
in the vena contracta and in the adjacent downstream area as a
result of high velocity, cavitation or flashing created by the
pressure drop. The seat body of the cage design is extended
into the outlet bore of the choke. This extended section
contains an annular cavity that is sealed from the flow line
pressure. By monitoring the cavity for any significant pressure
increase, the operator can detect a failure of the seals or
washout of the seat liner (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: Wear monitor location on choke body
Both can be detected before damage occurs to the choke
body. As a result the downtime on the well will be minimal
and as the seals and seat liner can be easily replaced as it
makes up part of the spare material critical inventory list for
the Kapok platform.
Operating Practices
Kapok Field’s sand monitoring requirements are:
ƒ To provide an alarm to assist offshore production
operators with a guide of a sanding event that maybe
ocuring with a particular well.
ƒ An action plan to handle such an event and there by
managing the situation in a controlled and systematic
approach.
SPE 94896
To assist them to carryout there activities safely there are
several physical barriers that are put inplace on Kapok. These
are:
1. A continuous sand monitoring system on the flowline of
each well where specific alarms are set for each individual
wells and short term tending can be facilitated on the DCS.
This data is automatically archived into a data historian.
2. A mechanical sand erosion probe that is installed
downstream of the choke on each well. The elctrical signal
is translated as a cumulative metal lost in mils that is
displayed realtime on the DCS with alarm settings. This
signal is also trended with the acoustic raw data and other
key realtime well information where the data can be
interrogated easily.
3. Wear monitor on each of the chokes. This gives an
indication of wearing due to erosion on a sacrifical seat
liner. Here an alarm is set up if this is breached. This
barrier indicated that there is servere sand erosion taking
palce and the well should be shut-in for a choke inspection.
The choke inspection will confirm any signs of sand
erosion on the liner and embedded sand in the internals.
This sand can be inspected to confirm screen failure or
fines production through the use of particle size analysis or
scanning electron microscope (SEM).
4. A test separator with an indued vortex desander at the
bottom of the vessel for periodic removing of sand. The
sand collected can be inspected and can determine sand
production rate, grain size and type of produced solids
debris.
5. Monthly manual ultrasonic (UT) non-destructive testing
(NDT) of locations along the flowline to detect loss of wall
thickness.
6. Coupons that is located on the inner wall of the flowlines
that can give an indication of erosion through distinctive
markings on the coupon in the direction of the production
flow path.
7. Physical shakeouts off the flowline and test separtors that
gives an indication of water production a major proponent
of sand production and more importantly confirmation of
any produced solids.
In the event of a violation of the recommended alarm
setting on a particular well the following reactive approcach
should is advised. (see Figure 9)
5
Production operator to monitor
acoustic sand detector readings
(1)
Reading above
alarm limits for a
NO Continue producing as per
well priorities/constraints
sustained 15 mins schedule.
YES
(2)
Choke back well by 10 MMscf/d and
monitor detector readings
NO Reading above
alarm limits for a
sustained 15 mins
YES
(3)
Route well to test separator and
choke back well further in 10 MMscf/d
increments every 15 mins until acoustic
detector reading is below alarm setting.
Upon stabilization for 3 hours, increase
production by 10 MMscf/d every 3
hours to rate before sanding event.
Reading above NO
alarm limits for a
sustained 15 mins
(1) Alarm set after calibration of acoustic
YES detectors. This setting is equivalent 0.1
lb/MMscf nominal sand production.
Choke back well in 10 MMscf/d
increments every 15 mins until acoustic
(2) Using a PI of 0.5 MMscf/d/psi for
particular well, the control on the choke
detector reading is below alarm setting.
DO NOT repeat bean up exercise. DO
is limited to 20 psi drawdown. This
equates to 10 MMscf/d increments.
NOT use well as ‘swing’ production (3) Routing to test separator allows for the
and schedule sand injection testing. UT solids to be contained in a vessel verses
flowline and take shakeouts off carrying through the sand into the
flowline. Contact PE to analyse well multiphase pipeline and jeopardizing
data and make further deliverability to the area processing
recommendations. hub.
Figure 9: Procedure for handling sand detector alarm
For sand producing wells is strongly recommended to
minimize the frequency of shut-downs and where possible to
apply the shut-down in a slow and controlled manner. This
should be addressed with the platform operators and should be
documented in the well priority listing located on the
operator’s control panel room.
The likelihood of fines migration and solids production is
greatest during the initial stages of bean-up right after a shut-
down, particularly a hard shut-down.
With everything being equal, the success of bean-up
increases with: increase in permeability, reduction in
viscosity, decrease in well inclination, increase in reservoir
depth, reduction in initial reservoir pressure, increase in
depletion, reduction in initial drawdown to flow, reduction in
the smallest achievable drawdown step, increase in average
particle size (D50) and angularity.
The principle objectives of a bean-up schedule is therefore to:
(a) minimize weakening the integrity of formation sand (i.e.,
strength degradation via break-down of cementation holding
the sand grains and disturbing the packing and interlocking of
sand particles), (2) minimize generation of fines, (3) minimize
mobility potential of fines, (4) minimize the potential of
formation sand production affecting the integrity of
completion, and (5) accomplish all in the most efficient
fashion (optimized).
6 SPE 94896
The control items in the flow chart are the size of the
drawdown step and the stabilization time. The former is a
function of the in situ sand strength (degree of cementation,
particle size and shape, reservoir pressure, formation depth)
and the completion type. The latter is a function of fluid
viscosity, formation permeability and well deviation.
As a result to minimize the "shock effect" on the formation
sand, it is best to use the smallest possible drawdown step that
is practical. In general, it is more efective to use a large
number of small drawdown steps with shorter stabilization
time in between steps than a few large steps and long
stabilization. Any fragile bonding (cementation) as well as the
packing of sand grains will be adversely affected both the
frequency of shut-downs and the rate of downhole pressure
increase.
The type of choke used (level of control on choke size
opening) governs the minimum achievable drawdown.
Regardless of the magnitude of drawdown, there is an upper
limit on stabilization time for reaching the maximum effective
stress possible which governs the sand strength. Increasing
stabilization time beyond that provides no additional benefit.
Once the pore pressure within the near vicinity of the wellbore
and around the outer extremes of the gravel pack reaches a
near steady state condition (so called stabilization state), that
is considered to be the optimum stabilization time4.
To materialise the true benefit of the sand monitoring and
operating guidelines the training of the platform operators is
critical to its success. As the operators are at the forefront of
the operations and will be handling any sanding event they
should understand and be comfortable with the procedure.
They should be allowed to make recommendations and
thereby own the procedure as this document ensures their
safety and maintain the reputation of BPTT LLC as a
responsible operator.
Well Conditioning. The concept of well conditioning is based
upon the phenomenon of “post failure stabilisation’ where
stable cavities are formed behind the completion2. The
technique only applies to transient sand producers and can be
achieved by beaning up the well in steps to a maximum flow
rate (drawdown) that exceeds the required final flow rate.
After every bean-up step, the well is kept at a constant rate
until the sand production rate declines to a steady-state value
(often zero). Following the highest flow rate, the well is
beaned back to its required flow rate, at which the well now
will be producing sand-free.
Flow line samples. Shakeouts are taken from each well at
least once per platform visit:
1. Obtain flowing sample from flowline
downstream of the wellhead choke.
2. Heat sample if it contains an emulsion.
3. Centrifuge sample (for 2 to 3 minutes if
necessary).
4. Record results for transfer to Production Report.
If a well shows abnormal amounts of sand, condensate, or
water, notify the Production Engineer.
Down-hole Surveillance Plan
Formulation of a detailed surveillance plan is seen as a critical
step in outlining the types of data required, the frequency and
justification. The value of surveillance will be measured by
the future ability to ensure that the promised production is met
and create options to grow production and reserves.
Full-bore Cores. The first strategic data in understanding
sanding tendencies in wells begins during the appraisal phase
of the field. A full suite of Electric-line logs were taken in
Kapok in conjunction with full-bore cores. The acquisition of
whole cores was used to help in reservoir characterization and
to ensure proper gravel pack sizing. Rock mechanical data was
measured for borehole stability and for the design of optimum
sand free completions.
Production Logs. To date none has been run on Kapok
however it is part of the surveillance plan to ensure that there
is an even distribution of flow along the open-hole
completion. This minimizes any concern of concentrated flow,
plugging or damage of the pack, or partial flow from the
reservoir. The production log also confirms that the flux rate
through the pack and across the screens is evenly distributed.
Permanent Downhole Pressure Gauges. Once stable, all
Kapok wells were shut-in for an initial Pressure Build-Up
(PBU). The PBU confirmed the high reservoir quality (kH,
permeability-height) and the completion efficiency (skin).
With the high quality reservoir sands and efficient completion,
drawdown constraints were not an issue for Kapok wells.
Gravel Pack Memory Log. Most of the completions in the
Kapok development are of a horizontal design. Information on
the gravel pack quality was of significant importance as it
affected the well’s production. To this end a cost effective
gravel pack evaluation solution was created. The gravel pack
logging tool was integrated into the well completion work
string that was conveyed at the bottom of the gravel pack wash
pipe. The tool was operated in memory mode providing gravel
pack data across the entire gravel pack interval. By correlating
the density difference to the gamma ray count rates made it
possible to identify voids along the lateral length that
ultimately determined the percentage of pack. This technology
confirmed a 50 feet void on one of the Kapok wells resulting
in a remedial completion sleeve over the void thereby
restricting the flow across the unpacked area and successfully
producing the well sand free.
Saturation Logs. Water breakthrough is a key risk at Kapok
since most of the reservoirs are thin and are underlain by
water. The presence of water will be monitored through
detecting gas-water contact (GWC) movements and saturation
changes using saturation logs in offset surveillance wells.
Real-time Production Monitoring. A surface gas meter is
present on all wells to monitor real-time gas rates. Production
well test will be carried out to confirm or adjust these rates. At
least once per month a production well test is done on all th
wells to obtain flow rates of gas, condensate and water using
the test separator. Production is allocated back to each well at
the end of each month’s when all the production from Kapok
is counted.
Conclusion
The tendency to produce incipient sand during the Kapok
Field development was confirmed from core testing and
experience with analog fields within Trinidad. As a result any
major sand production will not only pose a risk to Kapok gas
delivery but also be detrimental to bpTT gas supply to
SPE 94896 7

Trinidad and Tobago gas market. As bpTT is the major gas

supplier to the island of Trinidad, no single operator or
combined operators can replace Kapok’s entire gas production
of 1.1 Bcfd. By implementing a holistic approach to a sand
management strategy for ultra-high rate gas wells in the
Kapok field development identifies bpTT as a responsible
operator ensuring a sustained gas supply without
compromising the company’s HSE goals resulting from the
effects of sand in the production of a sand proned field. All
wells at Kapok performed better that expected with no sand
production indentified. To date Kapok has successfully
implemented its sand management strategy where over 40
Mmboe was produced without any hydrocarbon release to the
environment from sanding effects. This successful sand
management strategy at Kapok will be transferred to the next
gas development project in BP Trinidad, the Cannonball field
development which is expected to deliver wells capable of
producing more than 350 Mmcfd of gas through a facilty with
a 1.0 Bcfd of gas capability.
BP is striving to be an industry leader in the application of
sand management. It is estimated that more than 1 Mmboed of
BP’s worldwide oil and gas production is from reservoirs
where there is a risk of producing sand. Sand production is
especially detrimental in high velocity production
environments such as ultra-high rate gas wells. In the future
more production is expected to come from environments
where sand management becomes an issue and more
assurance will be needed around the preservation of
production equipment and the harvesting of reserves in a safe
and cost effective manner.

Acknowledgements
The author wishs to acknowledge the management of the BP
Trinidad and Tobago LLC, the Kapok project team, Greater
Cassia Operations Team, the many contactors and BP
Exploration and Technology Group namely Hans Vaziri for
his work on bean-up schedule for sandy wells and John Glenn
for his work on recommending alarm settings for sand
detectors who all made Kapok outstanding production delivery
a reality for permission to publish and present this paper.

References
1. Penberthy, W.L. Jr.; Shaughnessy, C.M “Sand Control,”
SPE Textbook Series Vol. 1, page 1-8.
2. Teng, D.; Nettleship, G.; Hicking, S. and Hindmarsh, K.
“High rate Gas Well Design: Issues and Solutions –
Goodwyn Gas Condensate, NWS, Australia” SPE paper:
50081 presented at the 1998 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas
Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 12-14
October 1998.
3. Balgobin, C.J et al “The Kapok Field – A Step Change for
Trinidad Gas Developments” SPE paper: 75670 presented
at SPE Gas Technology Symposium, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, 30 April - 2 May, 2002.
4. Vaziri, Hans – Technical study on bean-up schedule for
sandy wells.