Sand Control Design and Optimisation

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Disciplines: Completions | Drilling and Completions

Course Description

A significant portion of Asia Pacific’s hydrocarbon production comes from poorly consolidated sandstone reservoirs which requires some form of sand control implementation for economic production. The expertise and engineering surrounding Sand Control completion designs and optimisation however has not kept pace with the region’s needs. This intermediate level course on Sand Control design and optimisation addresses that gap.

The course introduces the participants to the causes of sand production, its impact on hydrocarbon production and the selection of an optimised design to develop the reservoir. The course details the evaluation of the reservoirs’ properties including geomechanical, particle size distribution and development objectives to aid in the selection and design of a robust sand control methodology for implementation.

The Sand Control methods covered include deferred sand control, perforating for sand control, sand exclusion techniques; screen only completion, cased hole and open hole gravel packing and fracpacks for new reservoirs as well as remedial and retrofit applications for existing wells. Each techniques’ application window, expected production potential and design criteria is discussed in detail and practical designs are developed as exercises.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to identify the need for sand control, select the appropriate method for sand production mitigation, perform the basic designs for the selected method, develop the execution programme and have an understanding of well performance post installation.

DAY 1
0900-1030	Sand Control Introduction
	Review the causes of sand production, its impact on hydrocarbon production and the selection of an optimised design to develop the reservoir
	Causes of sand production & impact on hydrocarbon production Reservoir development planning Sand control method selection Well productivity index with sand control Global completions database (SPE 84262)
1045-1200	Sand Control methods
	Introduce the various sand control techniques used across the industry along with their respective pros & cons and their application window. Formation damage is discussed in this segment as well as passive sand control methods
	Sand Control methods Pros/Cons and application window Formation Damage Passive Sand control - Deferred sand control, perforating for sand control
1330-1515	Active Sand Control Methods
	Active sand control methods are discussed in this segment including formation sand sieve analysis and the selection of screens and gravel for the various active sand control methods. Screen only completion and gravel packing methods are discussed in details including their design, completions systems and their execution
	Formation sand sieve analysis – PSD/LPS Sand Control Screen completion Gravel Packing, GP sand and screen selection High Rate Water Packing (HRWP) completion systems HRWP design & execution
1530-1700	Practical exercises
	Practical exercises for determining PSD, standalone screen design and gravel and screen selection for HRWPs are attempted to provide hands-on training in sand control design
	PSD analysis Standalone screen selection HRWP gravel and screen selection HRWP design
DAY 2
0900-1030	Fracpacks for Sand Control
	Fracpacking combine the benefit of fracturing and sand control. This segment discusses the reservoir engineering, design and execution of Fracpacks
	Reservoir engineering aspects of Fracpacks Fracpack pumping and completion system design Fracpack fluids & proppant Fracpack execution
1045-1200	Open Hole Gravel Packing
	Openhole gravel packing design both alpha-beta and SHUNTs is presented in this session and includes job designs and related topics on openhole drilling criteria and filtercake removal
	Open Hole and HZ OHGPs HZ OHGP design SHUNT Tube GPing OH drilling considerations Filtercake removal
1330-1515	Remedial/Retrofit Sand Control
	Remedial sand control touches on gravel pack repair methods. Retrofit sand control covers TTGPs and resin consolidation applications
	Remedial/Retrofit Sand Control methods Screen hang-off, Through Tubing GP Resin consolidation
1530-1700	Practical Exercises
	Practical exercises for designing HZOH GPs and SHUNTs GP are attempted to provide hands-on training in openhole sand control designs
	HZ OHGP design Develop execution programme

Learning Level

Intermediate

Course Length

2 Days

Why Attend

Course attendees will gain a deep understanding of:

• Causes of sand production and its impact on production
• Evaluation methods of reservoir properties and development objectives to arrive at a robust sand control methodology 
• The various sand control techniques employed in the industry including their application window, design criteria and expected production potential
• Evaluating formation particle size distribution and its impact on selecting the sand control method as well as screen and gravel pack sand
• The completions systems employed in Sand Control completions
• Modelling gravel pack design, optimisation and post job review through practical exercises 

Who Attends

This course is targeted at sand control practitioners from both operators and service providers with some sand control experience who are looking to gain a deeper understanding of sand control completions selection, design, modelling, execution and operations.

• Field engineers/specialists/technicians
• Drilling engineers
• Completions engineers
• Production technologists and Production engineers
• Research engineers 

CEUs

Engineers are responsible for enhancing their professional competence throughout their careers. Licensed, chartered, and/or certified engineers are sometimes required by government entities to provide proof of continued professional development and training. Training credits are defined as Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Professional Development Hours (PDH).

Attendees of SPE training courses earn 0.8 CEUs for each day of training. We provide each attendee a certificate upon completion of the training course.

Additional Resources

This course has a supplemental book located in our SPE Bookstore entitled Sand Control. Please check out this valuable resource!

Cancellation Policy

All cancellations must be received no later than 14 days prior to the course start date. Cancellations made after the 14-day window will not be refunded. Refunds will not be given due to no show situations.

Training sessions attached to SPE conferences and workshops follow the cancellation policies stated on the event information page. Please check that page for specific cancellation information.

SPE reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule courses at will. Notification of changes will be made as quickly as possible; please keep this in mind when arranging travel, as SPE is not responsible for any fees charged for cancelling or changing travel arrangements.

We reserve the right to substitute course instructors as necessary.

Instructor