This document summarizes sand management methodologies for oil and gas production facilities. It discusses conventional methods like production limits and downhole completions to prevent sand ingress. It also discusses using surface facilities to process sand and dedicated separation devices to improve operations. Specifically, it describes the wellhead desander, a cyclonic device that separates solids upstream of the choke to protect downstream equipment. Wellhead desanders have been installed at over 100 facilities worldwide and can be used as a service tool or permanently for fluid treatment.
The document provides information on eProcess Technologies, a company that specializes in compact separation solutions. It discusses eProcess's 25 years of experience in advancing separation solutions for solids, water, oil and gas. It highlights the benefits of eProcess's technology-focused approach and success through customer partnerships. The document then provides details on various eProcess products and systems for applications such as wellhead desanding, produced water treatment, partial processing, and solids transport.
The city of Toledo, Ohio signed a consent decree to update its sewer system to prevent untreated wastewater from overflowing into a river. This required increasing treatment capacity from 200 to 400 million gallons per day. Pilot testing of high-rate clarification technologies led to the selection of DensaDeg clarifiers. Six clarifiers were installed, each able to treat 38.7 million gallons per day. Performance testing showed the clarifiers could achieve 70-95% removal of total suspended solids, 55-70% removal of carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, and 70-95% removal of total phosphorus. The system provides flexible treatment of both primary and combined sewer overflow wastewaters in a compact footprint
The Cambay #15 well has experienced 100% water cut due to excess water production. To address this, a squeeze cement job will be performed to seal off the existing open interval between 1400-1404.5m. Cement will be squeezed into this zone and the tubing shoe adjusted upwards to 1395m to perforate a new production zone higher in the formation, transferring production to upper sands with the aim of resuming oil production.
The document discusses the Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Lecturer Program and facilities sand management. Primary funding for the program comes from member donations and industry contributions. The program provides training modules on various aspects of facilities sand management, covering topics like the nature of produced solids, separation, collection, cleaning, dewatering, and transport. Effective sand management requires following all steps of separating, collecting, cleaning, dewatering, and transporting sand from the wellstream.
Treatment plant capacity – 180,000 m3/day; Construction of Raw Water Intake pumping station (4 pumps with each pump capacity 737 l/s), Flocculation and Clarification Units (total V=12500m3), Gravity Filters (total V=7000m3), Contact/Clear Water Tanks (totalV=10000m3), Treated Water PS, Sludge treatment Units, Chemical, Chlorine and Administrative buildings. Total in-situ reinforced concrete quantity – 21000m3;
Dry stack or filtered tailings provide several benefits over conventional slurry tailings. They are the most water conservative option as they experience minimal water losses. Seepage is limited in quantity and rate compared to other tailings types due to lower moisture content. The dry stacked tailings can be used as construction material and allow for concurrent reclamation with no long term water management issues after closure. The higher upfront costs of filtering are offset by reduced long term water treatment and liability.
Dr. Ahmad Abdul Hay Agwa - Offshore drilling waste treatments & risk manageme...promediakw
The document discusses offshore drilling waste and risk management. It defines drilling mud and cuttings, and outlines the regulations around offshore drilling waste discharges. It then describes various treatment methods for drilling mud and cuttings, including thermal, biological and chemical treatments. Newer techniques like cuttings re-injection and advanced zero discharge treatment systems are also covered. The goal is to minimize waste discharges by maximizing treatment and reuse of materials.
Dry stacking involves dewatering tailings using vacuum or pressure filters so that the tailings can be stacked rather than stored in a conventional slurry impoundment. It has advantages like lower water consumption, eliminating risks of dam failures, allowing concurrent reclamation, and reducing contamination. However, it also has disadvantages like high capital and operating costs, only being suited for low throughput mines currently, and issues like dust generation and management challenges from seasonal fluctuations.
The document provides information on eProcess Technologies, a company that specializes in compact separation solutions. It discusses eProcess's 25 years of experience in advancing separation solutions for solids, water, oil and gas. It highlights the benefits of eProcess's technology-focused approach and success through customer partnerships. The document then provides details on various eProcess products and systems for applications such as wellhead desanding, produced water treatment, partial processing, and solids transport.
The city of Toledo, Ohio signed a consent decree to update its sewer system to prevent untreated wastewater from overflowing into a river. This required increasing treatment capacity from 200 to 400 million gallons per day. Pilot testing of high-rate clarification technologies led to the selection of DensaDeg clarifiers. Six clarifiers were installed, each able to treat 38.7 million gallons per day. Performance testing showed the clarifiers could achieve 70-95% removal of total suspended solids, 55-70% removal of carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand, and 70-95% removal of total phosphorus. The system provides flexible treatment of both primary and combined sewer overflow wastewaters in a compact footprint
The Cambay #15 well has experienced 100% water cut due to excess water production. To address this, a squeeze cement job will be performed to seal off the existing open interval between 1400-1404.5m. Cement will be squeezed into this zone and the tubing shoe adjusted upwards to 1395m to perforate a new production zone higher in the formation, transferring production to upper sands with the aim of resuming oil production.
The document discusses the Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished Lecturer Program and facilities sand management. Primary funding for the program comes from member donations and industry contributions. The program provides training modules on various aspects of facilities sand management, covering topics like the nature of produced solids, separation, collection, cleaning, dewatering, and transport. Effective sand management requires following all steps of separating, collecting, cleaning, dewatering, and transporting sand from the wellstream.
Treatment plant capacity – 180,000 m3/day; Construction of Raw Water Intake pumping station (4 pumps with each pump capacity 737 l/s), Flocculation and Clarification Units (total V=12500m3), Gravity Filters (total V=7000m3), Contact/Clear Water Tanks (totalV=10000m3), Treated Water PS, Sludge treatment Units, Chemical, Chlorine and Administrative buildings. Total in-situ reinforced concrete quantity – 21000m3;
Dry stack or filtered tailings provide several benefits over conventional slurry tailings. They are the most water conservative option as they experience minimal water losses. Seepage is limited in quantity and rate compared to other tailings types due to lower moisture content. The dry stacked tailings can be used as construction material and allow for concurrent reclamation with no long term water management issues after closure. The higher upfront costs of filtering are offset by reduced long term water treatment and liability.
Dr. Ahmad Abdul Hay Agwa - Offshore drilling waste treatments & risk manageme...promediakw
The document discusses offshore drilling waste and risk management. It defines drilling mud and cuttings, and outlines the regulations around offshore drilling waste discharges. It then describes various treatment methods for drilling mud and cuttings, including thermal, biological and chemical treatments. Newer techniques like cuttings re-injection and advanced zero discharge treatment systems are also covered. The goal is to minimize waste discharges by maximizing treatment and reuse of materials.
Dry stacking involves dewatering tailings using vacuum or pressure filters so that the tailings can be stacked rather than stored in a conventional slurry impoundment. It has advantages like lower water consumption, eliminating risks of dam failures, allowing concurrent reclamation, and reducing contamination. However, it also has disadvantages like high capital and operating costs, only being suited for low throughput mines currently, and issues like dust generation and management challenges from seasonal fluctuations.
The document provides information on designing and operating a water treatment plant, including:
1) Key components and processes include rapid mixing, flocculation, sedimentation, and filters. Chemicals like alum are used to treat water.
2) Safety guidelines, project expectations, teamwork strategies, and plant goals are outlined. Turbidity standards and potential penalties are defined.
3) Capital and operation costs are estimated. Calculations are described to determine the cost of water production based on a plant's design.
4) Troubleshooting methods like identifying problems, developing hypotheses, and testing components are discussed. A modular design approach is recommended.
Operation & maintenance aspects of a Water treatment plant.Home
Operation and maintenance of a treatment plant is task. This is done to expand the life time of the treatment plant. So its necessary to keep the water treatment plant with a good look after on the hand of operation and also in maintenance both simultaneously. The given slides show some operation and maintenance processes to carry out a water treatment plant.
The document discusses water shut-off methods for depleted oil and gas wells using polymer injection techniques. It provides details on the impacts of water production on wells, including more complex separation and rapid corrosion. Main causes of water production are discussed, along with well-known shut-off techniques like polymer and gel injection. The benefits of the company's proprietary water shut-off technology using polymer composites are summarized, including increased oil recovery rates up to 80-140% compared to standard extraction methods. Application experience is provided on wells up to 6,000m deep and 190°C, decreasing water cuts by 75-95%.
Water Injection & Treatment for Tight Oil EOR
EOR choices for light Tight Oil
Potential damage to reservoir and well bore.
Water Specifications & Treatment
Case Studies:
1. Advanced Water Flooding
2. Frac injectors?
3. Low Salinity Water Flooding
Topics Include:
Filtration
Water Quality
Reservoir Pressure
The document summarizes a waterflood process for enhanced oil recovery using seawater injection. It discusses two options for pre-treating the seawater - sulfate removal membrane and nitrate injection. The nitrate injection process is selected, which involves filtration, deaeration, and injection of chemicals including nitrates, biocides, and corrosion inhibitors. A process flow diagram is presented showing the main unit operations for nitrate injection including filtration, deaeration, and multiple chemical injection points.
Review of EOR Selection for light tight oil
Key Themes:
Upfront EOR Development Planning
Cash is king but Permeability Rules
Geology Selects Technology
Nanospheres, Steam Flooding, Misc Gas Flooding, EOR Selection Criteria
Reservoir engineers cannot capture full value from waterflood projects on their own. Cross-functional participation from earth sciences, production, drilling, completions, and facility engineering, and operational groups is required to get full value from waterfloods. Waterflood design and operational case histories of cross-functional collaboration are provided that have improved life cycle costs and increased recovery for onshore and offshore waterfloods. The role that water quality, surveillance, reservoir processing rates, and layered reservoir management has on waterflood oil recovery and life cycle costs will be clarified. Techniques to get better performance out of your waterflood will be shared.
In irrigated lands, drain pipes are equipped with envelopes to safeguard the subsurface drainage
system against the three main hazards of poor drain-line performance: high flow resistance in the
vicinity of the drain, siltation, and root growth inside the pipe. A wide variety of materials are used
as envelopes, ranging from mineral and synthetic materials to mineral fibres. The challenge is to
match the envelope specifications with the soil type. As soils are rather variable, the design of
envelopes is not straightforward as illustrated by the numerous norms and criteria that have been
developed worldwide. These norms and criteria have been mainly developed in Western Europe
and the USA and often lead to disappointing results when applied in other countries where their
specifications and effectiveness have not been proven in field trials. In irrigated lands,
problematical factors which are evident are that as compared to rainfed agriculture, the hydraulic
function of an envelope is less important than the filter function moreover, the root growth inside
the drain pipe is a major problem. To tackle these problems, an innovative envelope design
concept, based on optimizing the geometry of the pipe and the envelope, has been tested in a 50
ha pilot area in Haran Province, Turkey. The new concept, Hydroluis®, consists of a corrugated
inner pipe with two rows of perforations at the top and an unperforated outer pipe that covers about
2/3 of the inner pipe leaving the bottom part of the inner pipe in contact with the soil. The main
advantage of the new concept is that it is less dependent on the soil type than the existing envelope
materials. The new concept was tested and compared with a geotextile, a sand-gravel envelope
and a control with no envelope material. All three envelope types had a lower sediment load as
compared to the control and the sand-gravel and Hydroluis® envelopes had a considerable lower
entrance resistance as compared to the geo-textile, which showed the best drain performance and
showed no signs of root growth. It can be concluded that the Hydroluis® envelope is a good
alternative for a sand/gravel or synthetic envelope in irrigated lands.
The document discusses oil recovery methods including primary, secondary, and tertiary (enhanced oil recovery) techniques. Primary recovery uses natural reservoir pressures to produce 10-25% of oil initially in place. Secondary recovery maintains pressure through water or gas flooding to produce additional oil. Tertiary/enhanced oil recovery (EOR) uses sophisticated thermal or non-thermal methods like gas injection to extract more oil, becoming more important as oil prices rise. The document focuses on different driving mechanisms in primary recovery and introduces EOR methods.
This document provides information about cesium formate brine, including its uses, benefits, and the company that produces it. Specifically:
- Cesium formate brine is a high-density, non-toxic brine used for drilling, completing, and suspending deep gas wells. It can have densities up to 143 pcf.
- Using cesium formate brine improves economics by allowing faster drilling and completions while improving well safety. It also maximizes reservoir production and definition.
- Cabot Corporation produces cesium formate brine from pollucite ore in Canada. It has been used in over 250 deep gas wells worldwide since 1999.
This document provides information about grit removal in wastewater treatment. It discusses that grit such as sand and eggshells can be easily removed from wastewater by reducing the velocity in a grit channel. Grit chambers are used to remove these particles to prevent damage to equipment and clogging. There are two main types of grit chambers - horizontal flow and aerated. The document provides design criteria for both types and works through an example design for a grit chamber for a town with a population of 200,000.
Produced water overview ppt, Oct 2011, M RashidMahbubur Rashid
This document discusses produced water handling and treatment technologies. Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas production that contains dispersed oil, solids, production chemicals and heavy metals. It requires treatment before disposal or reuse. The document outlines various separation and treatment technologies used, including settling, flotation, filtration and advanced processes. It provides guidelines for selecting technologies based on water characteristics and disposal criteria. Future developments discussed include downhole separation and subsea treatment to reduce volumes brought to the surface.
The Wanlip STW Sludge Project will provide a new sludge digestion facility to replace the existing aging plant. The £32 million project is being delivered by Costain-MWH and includes importing and indigenous sludge screening, thickening, blending, acid phase and gas phase digestion, biogas handling, and dewatering. Collaboration between Severn Trent Water and the contractors standardized designs across multiple sludge projects, improving efficiency. The project utilizes existing infrastructure where possible and incorporates innovative solutions like steel digesters.
Summer training project on drilling fluid at ongc pptKeshar Saini
This project “Study of drill cutting and Formulation of drilling fluid.” was performed in R&D LAB, Institute of drilling technology, ONGC, dehradun. Study of drill cutting is done in terms of CST(capillary suction time), MBC(Methylene Blue Capacity) and XRD(X-ray diffraction).
• Later than several drilling fluid with different formulation are prepared and several tests (like Rheology Test, Lubricity Test, API Filter press, Linear swell Test and pH test) are performed on drilling fluid to check the suitability of it on drill cutting. Thus the suitable formulation of drilling fluid is found.
The document provides a summary of the Celeus 1 well. It drilled the first section to 587 feet with a 17 1/2" hole through the Guayabo Formation using an AQUAGEL/X-TEND II fluid system. The second section was drilled from 587 to 8,863 feet with a directional 12 1/4" bit through several formations using filtered polymer mud. The final section from 8,863 to 11,624 feet used a BARADRIL-N system. The fluid programs achieved good hole cleaning and stability. Recommendations include improving solids control equipment and signage on the rig. The total well cost was $308,448.40.
The document discusses various techniques to reduce the environmental footprint of unconventional gas drilling operations, including:
1) Prototype small footprint drilling rigs, multi-well pad drilling, and coiled tubing drilling to minimize land disturbance.
2) Centralized fracturing to hydraulically fracture multiple wells from a single location.
3) Innovative water management techniques like constructed wetland systems to treat produced water on-site.
4) Developing an "EFD scorecard" to measure drilling technologies' performance on issues like air, water, and waste management.
HPHT (High Pressure - High Temperature) wells have a downhole environment of more than 10,000psi (690 bar) and/or 300 deg F (140 deg C). These conditions are increasingly encountered in many basins worldwide, as exploration and production examine deeper and hotter objectives.
In attending this course, participants will gain knowledge and develops skills relating to HPHT Well Engineering. The course focuses on key characteristics and challenges of HPHT wells from well design, planning, engineering and operational perspectives.
Introduction to Slurry Seal - Todd Vargason, Ergon Asphalt and Emulsionschipseal
A slurry seal is a mixture of asphalt emulsion, crushed aggregate, and other additives that is spread over the surface of a pavement. It fills cracks, adheres firmly to the surface, and provides a weatherproof layer that extends the life of the pavement by 5-7 years. Application is fast, taking only 15 minutes for a typical residential street. It restores texture, protects the pavement from oxidation, and preserves the underlying pavement from further deterioration.
Valudor DAF, dissolved air flotation, and SHURE technology combine with proce...William Toomey
FLUID PROCESS OPTIMIZATION with Fine Solids Removal through SHURE Advanced Cavitation Management Technology
and Valudor Process Performance Chemicals Process Water Reuse
The document summarizes products and services from Pacific Minerals Processing, an Australian company that shares IP from a South African process equipment company. It describes solvent extraction units, thickeners, flocculant plants, and attrition scrubbers. Pacific Minerals Processing can provide value through their experience and modular design approach to solvent extraction plants, thickeners, and other equipment.
Effect of Sand invasion on Oil Well Production: A Case study of Garon Field i...theijes
The effect of sand and other BS&W invading the wellbore of an oil well has been studied using Garon field in the Niger Delta region. Garon field has unconsolidated formation and it has been producing for more than 10 years. This study is carried out to quantify the safety and economic effect of sand invasion on well productivity and not on the techniques in numerical models for the prediction of sand production. It tries to look out the sand evolution, analysis of previous well test done and a survey of sand identification, results of some wells production data and evaluation of the effect of sand invasion on subsurface and surface production facilities. In this study, Well X17 was routed into a test separator for 3days and immediately tested for 72hours. The test separator man way opened in other to ascertain the quantity of sand produced from the well for 72Hrs to validate the result obtained with Clampon DSC. Also presented are the effects of sand invasion on surface facility, choke, screen and tubing.
The document provides information on designing and operating a water treatment plant, including:
1) Key components and processes include rapid mixing, flocculation, sedimentation, and filters. Chemicals like alum are used to treat water.
2) Safety guidelines, project expectations, teamwork strategies, and plant goals are outlined. Turbidity standards and potential penalties are defined.
3) Capital and operation costs are estimated. Calculations are described to determine the cost of water production based on a plant's design.
4) Troubleshooting methods like identifying problems, developing hypotheses, and testing components are discussed. A modular design approach is recommended.
Operation & maintenance aspects of a Water treatment plant.Home
Operation and maintenance of a treatment plant is task. This is done to expand the life time of the treatment plant. So its necessary to keep the water treatment plant with a good look after on the hand of operation and also in maintenance both simultaneously. The given slides show some operation and maintenance processes to carry out a water treatment plant.
The document discusses water shut-off methods for depleted oil and gas wells using polymer injection techniques. It provides details on the impacts of water production on wells, including more complex separation and rapid corrosion. Main causes of water production are discussed, along with well-known shut-off techniques like polymer and gel injection. The benefits of the company's proprietary water shut-off technology using polymer composites are summarized, including increased oil recovery rates up to 80-140% compared to standard extraction methods. Application experience is provided on wells up to 6,000m deep and 190°C, decreasing water cuts by 75-95%.
Water Injection & Treatment for Tight Oil EOR
EOR choices for light Tight Oil
Potential damage to reservoir and well bore.
Water Specifications & Treatment
Case Studies:
1. Advanced Water Flooding
2. Frac injectors?
3. Low Salinity Water Flooding
Topics Include:
Filtration
Water Quality
Reservoir Pressure
The document summarizes a waterflood process for enhanced oil recovery using seawater injection. It discusses two options for pre-treating the seawater - sulfate removal membrane and nitrate injection. The nitrate injection process is selected, which involves filtration, deaeration, and injection of chemicals including nitrates, biocides, and corrosion inhibitors. A process flow diagram is presented showing the main unit operations for nitrate injection including filtration, deaeration, and multiple chemical injection points.
Review of EOR Selection for light tight oil
Key Themes:
Upfront EOR Development Planning
Cash is king but Permeability Rules
Geology Selects Technology
Nanospheres, Steam Flooding, Misc Gas Flooding, EOR Selection Criteria
Reservoir engineers cannot capture full value from waterflood projects on their own. Cross-functional participation from earth sciences, production, drilling, completions, and facility engineering, and operational groups is required to get full value from waterfloods. Waterflood design and operational case histories of cross-functional collaboration are provided that have improved life cycle costs and increased recovery for onshore and offshore waterfloods. The role that water quality, surveillance, reservoir processing rates, and layered reservoir management has on waterflood oil recovery and life cycle costs will be clarified. Techniques to get better performance out of your waterflood will be shared.
In irrigated lands, drain pipes are equipped with envelopes to safeguard the subsurface drainage
system against the three main hazards of poor drain-line performance: high flow resistance in the
vicinity of the drain, siltation, and root growth inside the pipe. A wide variety of materials are used
as envelopes, ranging from mineral and synthetic materials to mineral fibres. The challenge is to
match the envelope specifications with the soil type. As soils are rather variable, the design of
envelopes is not straightforward as illustrated by the numerous norms and criteria that have been
developed worldwide. These norms and criteria have been mainly developed in Western Europe
and the USA and often lead to disappointing results when applied in other countries where their
specifications and effectiveness have not been proven in field trials. In irrigated lands,
problematical factors which are evident are that as compared to rainfed agriculture, the hydraulic
function of an envelope is less important than the filter function moreover, the root growth inside
the drain pipe is a major problem. To tackle these problems, an innovative envelope design
concept, based on optimizing the geometry of the pipe and the envelope, has been tested in a 50
ha pilot area in Haran Province, Turkey. The new concept, Hydroluis®, consists of a corrugated
inner pipe with two rows of perforations at the top and an unperforated outer pipe that covers about
2/3 of the inner pipe leaving the bottom part of the inner pipe in contact with the soil. The main
advantage of the new concept is that it is less dependent on the soil type than the existing envelope
materials. The new concept was tested and compared with a geotextile, a sand-gravel envelope
and a control with no envelope material. All three envelope types had a lower sediment load as
compared to the control and the sand-gravel and Hydroluis® envelopes had a considerable lower
entrance resistance as compared to the geo-textile, which showed the best drain performance and
showed no signs of root growth. It can be concluded that the Hydroluis® envelope is a good
alternative for a sand/gravel or synthetic envelope in irrigated lands.
The document discusses oil recovery methods including primary, secondary, and tertiary (enhanced oil recovery) techniques. Primary recovery uses natural reservoir pressures to produce 10-25% of oil initially in place. Secondary recovery maintains pressure through water or gas flooding to produce additional oil. Tertiary/enhanced oil recovery (EOR) uses sophisticated thermal or non-thermal methods like gas injection to extract more oil, becoming more important as oil prices rise. The document focuses on different driving mechanisms in primary recovery and introduces EOR methods.
This document provides information about cesium formate brine, including its uses, benefits, and the company that produces it. Specifically:
- Cesium formate brine is a high-density, non-toxic brine used for drilling, completing, and suspending deep gas wells. It can have densities up to 143 pcf.
- Using cesium formate brine improves economics by allowing faster drilling and completions while improving well safety. It also maximizes reservoir production and definition.
- Cabot Corporation produces cesium formate brine from pollucite ore in Canada. It has been used in over 250 deep gas wells worldwide since 1999.
This document provides information about grit removal in wastewater treatment. It discusses that grit such as sand and eggshells can be easily removed from wastewater by reducing the velocity in a grit channel. Grit chambers are used to remove these particles to prevent damage to equipment and clogging. There are two main types of grit chambers - horizontal flow and aerated. The document provides design criteria for both types and works through an example design for a grit chamber for a town with a population of 200,000.
Produced water overview ppt, Oct 2011, M RashidMahbubur Rashid
This document discusses produced water handling and treatment technologies. Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas production that contains dispersed oil, solids, production chemicals and heavy metals. It requires treatment before disposal or reuse. The document outlines various separation and treatment technologies used, including settling, flotation, filtration and advanced processes. It provides guidelines for selecting technologies based on water characteristics and disposal criteria. Future developments discussed include downhole separation and subsea treatment to reduce volumes brought to the surface.
The Wanlip STW Sludge Project will provide a new sludge digestion facility to replace the existing aging plant. The £32 million project is being delivered by Costain-MWH and includes importing and indigenous sludge screening, thickening, blending, acid phase and gas phase digestion, biogas handling, and dewatering. Collaboration between Severn Trent Water and the contractors standardized designs across multiple sludge projects, improving efficiency. The project utilizes existing infrastructure where possible and incorporates innovative solutions like steel digesters.
Summer training project on drilling fluid at ongc pptKeshar Saini
This project “Study of drill cutting and Formulation of drilling fluid.” was performed in R&D LAB, Institute of drilling technology, ONGC, dehradun. Study of drill cutting is done in terms of CST(capillary suction time), MBC(Methylene Blue Capacity) and XRD(X-ray diffraction).
• Later than several drilling fluid with different formulation are prepared and several tests (like Rheology Test, Lubricity Test, API Filter press, Linear swell Test and pH test) are performed on drilling fluid to check the suitability of it on drill cutting. Thus the suitable formulation of drilling fluid is found.
The document provides a summary of the Celeus 1 well. It drilled the first section to 587 feet with a 17 1/2" hole through the Guayabo Formation using an AQUAGEL/X-TEND II fluid system. The second section was drilled from 587 to 8,863 feet with a directional 12 1/4" bit through several formations using filtered polymer mud. The final section from 8,863 to 11,624 feet used a BARADRIL-N system. The fluid programs achieved good hole cleaning and stability. Recommendations include improving solids control equipment and signage on the rig. The total well cost was $308,448.40.
The document discusses various techniques to reduce the environmental footprint of unconventional gas drilling operations, including:
1) Prototype small footprint drilling rigs, multi-well pad drilling, and coiled tubing drilling to minimize land disturbance.
2) Centralized fracturing to hydraulically fracture multiple wells from a single location.
3) Innovative water management techniques like constructed wetland systems to treat produced water on-site.
4) Developing an "EFD scorecard" to measure drilling technologies' performance on issues like air, water, and waste management.
HPHT (High Pressure - High Temperature) wells have a downhole environment of more than 10,000psi (690 bar) and/or 300 deg F (140 deg C). These conditions are increasingly encountered in many basins worldwide, as exploration and production examine deeper and hotter objectives.
In attending this course, participants will gain knowledge and develops skills relating to HPHT Well Engineering. The course focuses on key characteristics and challenges of HPHT wells from well design, planning, engineering and operational perspectives.
Introduction to Slurry Seal - Todd Vargason, Ergon Asphalt and Emulsionschipseal
A slurry seal is a mixture of asphalt emulsion, crushed aggregate, and other additives that is spread over the surface of a pavement. It fills cracks, adheres firmly to the surface, and provides a weatherproof layer that extends the life of the pavement by 5-7 years. Application is fast, taking only 15 minutes for a typical residential street. It restores texture, protects the pavement from oxidation, and preserves the underlying pavement from further deterioration.
Valudor DAF, dissolved air flotation, and SHURE technology combine with proce...William Toomey
FLUID PROCESS OPTIMIZATION with Fine Solids Removal through SHURE Advanced Cavitation Management Technology
and Valudor Process Performance Chemicals Process Water Reuse
The document summarizes products and services from Pacific Minerals Processing, an Australian company that shares IP from a South African process equipment company. It describes solvent extraction units, thickeners, flocculant plants, and attrition scrubbers. Pacific Minerals Processing can provide value through their experience and modular design approach to solvent extraction plants, thickeners, and other equipment.
Effect of Sand invasion on Oil Well Production: A Case study of Garon Field i...theijes
The effect of sand and other BS&W invading the wellbore of an oil well has been studied using Garon field in the Niger Delta region. Garon field has unconsolidated formation and it has been producing for more than 10 years. This study is carried out to quantify the safety and economic effect of sand invasion on well productivity and not on the techniques in numerical models for the prediction of sand production. It tries to look out the sand evolution, analysis of previous well test done and a survey of sand identification, results of some wells production data and evaluation of the effect of sand invasion on subsurface and surface production facilities. In this study, Well X17 was routed into a test separator for 3days and immediately tested for 72hours. The test separator man way opened in other to ascertain the quantity of sand produced from the well for 72Hrs to validate the result obtained with Clampon DSC. Also presented are the effects of sand invasion on surface facility, choke, screen and tubing.
1) Sand production from unconsolidated reservoirs can be triggered during initial flow or later due to pressure changes and can vary in severity, sometimes requiring remedial action and sometimes being tolerated.
2) The article reviews methods for predicting, controlling, and preventing sand production, focusing on gravel packing as the most popular method for completing sand-prone wells.
3) Factors like inherent rock strength, stress levels, fluid turbulence, and pressure changes can cause sand production by detaching and transporting sand grains. The challenge is to control sand without reducing well productivity.
This presentation tackles one of the problem in oil industry, which is sand that is produced in the oil wells. Brief description about the problem, its causes, effects and solutions are proposed.
The document discusses factors to consider when selecting a sand control completion method. It begins by outlining economic and operational concerns like initial costs, productivity impacts, and well life. It then describes intrinsic rock properties and production factors that influence sand movement. Various completion methods are presented and compared, including open hole, cased hole, standalone screens, gravel packs, frac packs, and more. Key factors that determine success with stand alone screen completions are identified. The document emphasizes that gravel pack sand must be properly sized to control formation sand movement based on research showing poor sand control if the ratio of median gravel pack to formation sand sizes is outside 6 to 13.
This document summarizes a field study on using a liquid curable resin system to prevent proppant and formation sand production in high water cut, heavy oil wells in Argentina. The study involved hydraulic fracturing treatments using proppant coated with a low-temperature curable epoxy resin. Field results showed that the resin coating effectively stopped proppant and formation sand from being produced back while maintaining production rates. The resin treatment provided a reliable and cost-effective alternative to sand control screens for controlling solid flowback in marginal reservoirs.
Abstract This case study examines the formation damage that occurred i.pdfatozbazar
Abstract This case study examines the formation damage that occurred in an oil field located in
the Casanare region of Colombia. The oil field had been producing oil for several years, but the
operators noticed a significant decline in production rates. The investigation revealed that the
well was suffering from severe formation damage, which was caused by the accumulation of
drilling fluids and other contaminants in the reservoir. To address the formation damage, the
operators implemented a variety of remediation techniques, including acid stimulation, matrix
acidizing, and hydraulic fracturing. These techniques were designed to dissolve the contaminants
in the reservoir and increase the permeability of the formation, allowing oil to flow more easily
to the wellbore and to the understanding of formation damage mechanisms. The Ruba field is
one of the largest oil fields in Colombia and has been in production since the 1980 s. The oil
extracted from the Ruba field is a heavy crude oil, which requires more advanced refining
techniques to produce high-quality fuels. The Ruba field is operated by several major oil
companies, including Ecopetrol, the national oil company of Colombia. The concept of skin and
formation damage play a vital role in productivity of an oil well. The effect of formation damage
zone on the well flowing pressure was introduced to the original solution of diffusivity equation.
Formation damage reduces the well production. Skin defines as the area of reduced permeability
near the wellbore due to the invasion of drilling fluid into the reservoir rock. Classifying damage
requires a lot of work to determine correctly the main reason of it. In general, fluids can interact
with reservoir rock and cause formation damage that impedes hydrocarbon production. Tight
sandstone reservoir with well-developed natural fractures has a complex pore structure where
pores and pore throats have a wide range of diameters; formation damage in such type of
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widths are tested through a several step core flood platform, where formation damage caused by
the drilling or fracturing fluid, where any unintentional fluid impedance in or out of a wellbore is
referred to as damage to formation. This general definition includes the flow restriction caused
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well, such as drilling records, completion designs, and operator experiments. The desired
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This document discusses frac sand mining in western Wisconsin. It begins by defining frac sand as highly rounded quartz sand that is strong and pure, making it suitable for use in hydraulic fracturing. It then outlines the geology of western Wisconsin, describing the regional sandstone formations that are the source of frac sand, including the Jordan and Wonewoc Formations in La Crosse County. The document discusses the markets and uses for frac sand, the process of hydraulic fracturing, and some of the economic and regulatory issues surrounding the frac sand mining industry in Wisconsin. In conclusion, it states that while frac sand mining presents new challenges, many issues can be addressed through existing regulations and practices, and the demand for sand should slow the pace
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Roll no-09,Assignment no-4,Paper-1.pptxavadhutgade3
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Drilling waste separation from oil and gas operations often contains contaminants like oil and metals that make it unsuitable for disposal or reuse without treatment. Solidification and stabilization processes can be used to encapsulate drilling waste in a solid monolith made of additives like cement, lime, or fly ash, reducing contaminant leaching. This restricts contaminant migration and produces a material with improved handling characteristics that may be suitable for reuse in construction or land applications. However, the long-term stability and effectiveness of solidification/stabilization is a concern, and the process is not suitable for all drilling waste compositions or offshore use.
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2) Rock crushing and screening simulations were used to optimize rock fractions. Additional technologies analyzed for reducing losses include mine backfilling, fine separation of oil shale, and optimized drilling and blasting.
3) The tested methods all show potential for reducing losses depending on how the mined material is used. Questions around maintaining stable material flows and how quality fluctuations impact final yields still need to be addressed.
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Iaetsd study on optimum utilization of sludge from sewage treatment plantsIaetsd Iaetsd
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2) Bricks with 10-30% sludge content by weight and fired at 1000°C met quality standards, with 10% sludge bricks exhibiting higher compressive strength than normal clay bricks.
3) Pulverized sludge can be used as a brick material when controlling operating conditions like moisture content during molding and firing temperature. The study concluded sludge can be used in brick production as a disposal option for sewage treatment plants.
Internship project on Concentric Annular Pack Screen System (CAPS) at Hallibu...OmokpariolaElshalom
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Performance of geosynthetic filters in treatment of urban storm water runoffAnchit Agrawal
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The advent of High Volume, High Density and High Pressure Moulding Lines has changed the logistics of Molding Techniques and selection of additives significantly. Having 4 main ingredients, Base Sand, Bentonite, Lustrous Carbon Additives and Water, the properties of the Sand Mold resulting from this simple mixture to deliver target casting quality is complexly variable. Sand Control is an Art' as any foundry man will willingly emphasize. It is well accepted that no two foundry sand systems are the same. Even a single foundry Unit or foundry group having two or more molding lines, along with separate Sand preparation lines, whether in the same campus or in different locations, sand preparation and sand parameters will normally differ in each sand loop The role of quality in additives has therefore become even more important than when one could feel' the sand and make changes accordingly. Now, additives and ingredients have to be engineered precisely for the application with assured reproducibility in chemistry, grain fineness and other parameters. Pawan Prakash | Bhasker Shrivastava "Behaviour of Lustrous Carbon Additives in Green Sand Casting" Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-4 | Issue-1 , December 2019, URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd29807.pdf Paper URL: https://www.ijtsrd.com/engineering/civil-engineering/29807/behaviour-of-lustrous-carbon-additives-in-green-sand-casting/pawan-prakash
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O&GFaclities_Oct2013_SandManagementMethodologies
1. An ASME 1500# rated wellhead desander integrated into the well bay of a deepwater facility.
SandManagement
METHODOLOGIES
forSustainedFacilitiesOperations
HankRawlins,eProcessTechnologies
2. 28 Oil and Gas Facilities • October 2013
F
acilities sand management is tasked with the goal of
ensuring sustained hydrocarbon production when
particulate solids are present in well fluids, while
minimizing the impact of the produced solids on surface
equipment. Particle size and total concentration determines
the net effect of solids on production and the resulting
operability of surface facilities.
Conventional sand management focuses on sand
exclusion from the wellbore, either by production limits
or completion design. Completions may adversely affect
inflow because of skin buildup and both controls impede the
maximum hydrocarbon production.
Alternatively, coproduction of solids with fluids is an
inclusion paradigm that may restore or increase hydrocarbon
production. Produced solids are removed upstream of the
choke, which protects the facilities’ operations. Implementing
dedicated facilities sand management technology has resulted
in increased hydrocarbon production from sand-producing
wells, extension of well life on marginal fields, and restart of
shut-in wells in several producing regions around the world.
The first industrywide workshop that encompassed
solids handling from downhole generation to topsides
disposal, “Facilities Sand Management: Getting the Beach
out of Production,” was held by the SPE Gulf Coast Section
in Houston in 2002. Speakers discussed subsurface sand
management, measurement, erosion, facilities design,
separation, solids cleaning, disposal, and slurry injection.
Attendee feedback listed subsea separation and disposal
and subsurface/surface integration as the two leading sand
management needs.
Several producers have integrated facilities sand
management into their production portfolio. Equal merit
is given to facilities sand management and completion
technologies to determine which approach improves
hydrocarbon production. Gravel pack and screen
completions form the majority of conventional sand
control. However, sand may still pass through under normal
operating conditions and require treatment at the facilities.
In the case of a completion failure, the sudden influx
of sand may lead to production restrictions or damaged
equipment. The necessity for a technology that could protect
surface facilities equipment in cases of completion failure,
openhole completion, or unplanned sand production led
to the development of the wellhead desander. The wellhead
desander finds its use as a service tool for workover or well
test operations and as a permanent unit operation in facilities
design. This approach has enabled sustained operations in
cases in which previous actions were to shut in wells, limit
hydrocarbon production, or implement maintenance outages.
Sources and Characteristics
of Produced Solids
Produced solids are inorganic, insoluble, nondeformable
particulates accompanying hydrocarbon production and
are present in oil and gas wells. When the particle size or
concentration affects production, a treatment method
is required.
Knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of
the particulate matter is necessary to compare exclusionary
and inclusionary treatment approaches. Of key interest are
the physical properties of each type of solids that can be
exploited for completion or separation. These properties
include particle size (distribution), shape, density, and
concentration. Inorganic particulates that are produced at
sufficient size and concentration to require exclusion or
separation treatment are generally termed produced solids.
This material can be broadly classified into two categories:
indigenous (natural) and foreign (artificial) materials.
Natural Solids
Natural solids arise from the reservoir minerals. Broadly,
these are sand and silt, a terminology based on size and
not chemical nature (see ISO 14688 and ASTM D2487
standards). For the majority of sand, the average specific
gravity (SG) is 2.65; the SG of silt varies from 1.8 to 3.0 SG.
Although the average particle size varies from well to well,
even within the same formation, sand particles typically
range from 50 to 150 µm. Silt has smaller particle sizes
and is usually present in lower concentration. It contains
clay, which has a very fine particle size (<10 µm), making
gravity or enhanced gravity separation difficult. Typically,
clay particles will flow through the production system in
the oil phase to report in the basic sediment and water
(BS&W) analysis.
Predicting the rate of natural solids production is
difficult because of changing well conditions and the
challenges of obtaining in-situ data from the reservoir.
Sand monitoring and measurement devices are available for
detecting catastrophic sanding events or providing online
measurement of sand concentration. These instruments
are necessary in the case of gravel pack failure or to predict
the onset of critical sand rates with drawdown. Failure
of a completion will result in a large amount of reservoir
material built up in the well skin. This type of event can be
catastrophic to production, leading to rapid erosion, well
shut-in, lost production, or costly workover. Workover
operations produce high natural solids rates; however,
these are planned events that can be addressed with specific
collection equipment and the effects are generally temporary.
Artificial Solids
Artificial solids are foreign materials introduced by
external intervention, such as fracture sand or proppant,
drill mud, cement fines, corrosion products, gravel pack
material, and injection fines. Artificial solids have a higher
specific gravity compared with natural solids because of
their engineered properties of high strength and hardness.
Fracture sand and gravel pack sand also have a significant
shape factor that allows for flowability and controllable
packing. The particle sizes are much larger because of their
fit-for-purpose design. The concentration of artificial solids
is transient. Fracture sand is normally only present for a few
days after workover. Gravel pack sand is not normally present
except in the case of gravel pack failure. Treatment of artificial
3. October 2013 • Oil and Gas Facilities 29
solids can often be handled as a planned event, especially in
the case of hydraulic fracturing or underbalanced drilling.
Methods for Controlling Produced Solids
Tools that are available for controlling produced solids
include production limits to maintain sand inflow below
the damaging threshold, downhole completions to prevent
sand ingress from the reservoir face, conventional facilities
for processing sand that reports to the surface, and
specific separation devices to improve the robustness of
facilities operations.
Production Limits. The simplest solids management method
is to adopt an approach of “zero sand production” (Selfridge
2003; Tiffin 2003; Wong 2003; Palmer 2003). This method
attempts to establish a maximum sand-free production
rate based on drawdown criteria. Using well tests, a map of
drawdown determines the regions of sand-free production.
The approach requires minimal capital expenditures;
however, it reduces inflow and hydrocarbon production. In
addition, the sand production map is a moving target because
of a constantly changing well flow profile. Sand monitoring
instruments can detect changes in sand production and are
used to optimize drawdown (Vaziri 2006; Balgobin 2005;
Stein 2005; Musa 2005).
Completions. The most common method of sand control
is to exclude sand from the wellbore using completion
equipment. Mechanical retention using screens or slotted
liners restrains most sand from entering the flow path
along with the well fluids. The design basis is that spherical
particles will not flow continuously through rectangular
slots twice as wide as the diameter of the particle, as long as
they flow in sufficient concentration and bridge across the
opening, because of grain-to-grain contact (Penberthy 1992).
Gravel packs are used with screens, and the clean, accurately
sized gravel placed around the periphery allows for a larger
screening area. The gravel is more erosion-resistant than the
screen material. Gravel pack techniques are well studied and
the primary choice for sand control (King 2003; Price-Smith
2003; Williams 2006).
Chemical sand control techniques are available to
cement the formation sand grains together for a radius of
several feet from the wellbore. Plastic consolidation forms
a bond between the existing formation particles creating a
filter barrier to sand inflow (Penberthy 1992). This method
requires multiple steps to install, such as acid clean, preflush,
and injection of the resin and catalyst.
Many combinations or offshoots of the above techniques
can be used for effective sand control. Expandable and
multipath screens offer greater flexibility and throughput
compared with conventional screen liners (Williams 2006;
Iversen 2006). Precoated gravel can be injected to confirm
good placement of the consolidating resin. Frac pack
incorporates the benefits of hydraulic fracture stimulation
with gravel packing. All of these techniques are exclusion
methods because they seek to restrain the reservoir material
from entering the wellbore.
Surface Facilities: Conventional Design. Although
conventional surface facility design handles low-rate sand
production, maintenance intervention is still required.
Equipment used includes erosion-resistant chokes, impact
tees, profile instrumentation, and sand jet devices for
separating vessels. These techniques have grown sturdy
with improved materials and fluid flow design; however,
they still require manual intervention even with steady-
state low sand concentrations. Transient solids production,
such as occurs with frac flowback, gravel pack failure, and
water breakthrough, requires immediate crew intervention
to prevent shutdown. A conservative operations approach
to handling spikes in solids concentration often requires a
reduction of production rates.
Solids cause multiple problems in gravity-based
production separators. Large solids (>50 µm) settle in
separating vessels, reducing throughput and residence time.
Fig. 1—Location of cyclonic-based solids separation equipment in surface facilities.
P
Wellhead
desander with
external accumulator
Solids transport and disposal system
Skim pile
Wellhead desander
with integral accumulator
Produced water
desander
Produced water
deoiler
Production separator
with internal jetting system
ChokeWellhead
Produced water flotation
with internal jetting system
4. 30 Oil and Gas Facilities • October 2013
Periodic shutdown for manual solids removal is required
to restore production rate. Settled solids form a layer on
which sulfate-reducing bacteria grow, which can enhance
corrosion rates. Small solids (10–30 µm) may report to the
oil/water interface where they stabilize emulsions, further
reducing separator efficiency (Schramm 1992). Large solids
that travel through the separator report to the water treating
system, in which they fill up flotation cells, erode deoiling
hydrocyclones, increase oil-in-water content, and plug
injection wells.
Surface Facilities: Solids Separation Design. Solids removal
prior to the choke, as shown in Fig. 1, protects downstream
equipment, including the choke orifice, flowlines, separators,
heat exchangers, control valves, and produced water treating
equipment. Solids upstream of the choke are at the highest
temperature of the facility and uncontaminated from
most production chemicals, thus are the easiest to clean
once separated.
The wellhead desander is a cyclonic device designed
to separate solids from multiphase fluids upstream of the
choke. In regards to cyclonic technology, solids are most
easily separated from a multiphase stream because of the
low continuous mixed-phase viscosity and density. The
wellhead desander consumes some of the pressure normally
taken across the choke, thus lessening the erosion burden
while converting that pressure to useable separation energy.
If the wellhead location prohibits solids removal upstream
of the choke, then a multiphase desander can be installed
before the production separators. The lower pressure at this
location permits a lower vessel pressure rating, however,
it increases the actual gas flow rate, which increases the
equipment size.
Solids reporting to the production separator can be
removed, but it loses the advantage of choke and flowline
protection. Fine solids (<10–30 µm) either flow through
to the oil phase (forming BS&W) or report to the oil/water
interface stabilizing the emulsion/rag layer. Large solids (>100
µm) settle immediately in the production separator (Fig. 1)
and are removed by maintenance cleanout or with jetting
equipment. Medium solids (25–100 µm) flow through in the
water phase to the produced water treating system in which
they are best removed using a produced water desander
located on the outlet piping (Fig. 1) and upstream of the level
control valve. The level control value (not shown) is located
between the produced water deoiler and the produced water
flotation system (Fig.1).
Low-pressure processes for solids removal are used
at the end of the produced water treatment system at
near atmospheric conditions. Equipment options include
corrugated plate interceptors (CPI), nut shell filters (NSF),
and cartridge filters (CF). These devices have larger footprints
and are heavier weights than cyclonic technologies and are
primarily used onshore. CPI devices provide coarse (>25 µm)
solids removal at very low operating pressure. NSF and CF
are mostly used in water injection systems to remove solids
down to 2–5 µm in diameter (Rawlins 2010).
Facilities Sand Management Methodology
Surface facility sand management requires more than
installing a separation device. The separated solids may
require central collection, cleaning, measurement, storage,
Wellhead
Clean
well fluids
Solids-laden
well fluids
Wellhead
desander
Solids
accumulator
Solids
discharge
Fig. 2—A schematic diagram of a wellhead desander operation.
5. October 2013 • Oil and Gas Facilities 31
and transportation to a landfill site, overboard discharge, or
injection disposal. Surface facilities sand handling can be
divided into five unit areas: separation, collection, cleaning,
dewatering, and transportation (Rawlins 2000).
• Separation. The process of diverting the solids and
fluid in a multiphase stream toward different locations.
Solids are separated from well fluids using gravity
vessels, hydrocyclones, sand traps, or filters.
• Collection. After separation, solids are collected into
a central location and physically isolated from the
production process. A central location minimizes the
pressure letdown points involving sand. Collection
can be accomplished with a simple device, such as a
desander accumulator vessel or a dedicated sump tank.
• Cleaning. In some locations, sand may require the
cleaning of adsorbed hydrocarbons subsequent to
disposal. Dedicated sand cleaning systems are available
as modular add-on packages or integrated into the
separation system (Hess 1997).
• Dewatering. The total volume of sand slurry
transported to disposal can be greatly reduced by
dewatering. This step involves removing liquids from
the collected solids slurry using filter bags or bins. The
final product should have less than 10 vol% liquid.
• Transportation. The removal, hauling, and disposal
of the solids depends on the location (land-based or
offshore) and disposal requirements (injection well,
overboard discharge, or landfill). The cleaned solids
may be mixed with water and disposed overboard
(Arfie 2005).
Surface facility sand management designs for both
onshore and offshore fields have been documented
increasingly in the past 10 years as measures are taken to
increase equipment robustness and minimize downtime
(Hadfield 1996 and 1997; Kaura 2001; Wohlfart 2006).
Wellhead Desander
The wellhead desander was developed to allow cyclonic
technology operation in multiphase flow. Starting in the
1960s, standard desanding (solid/liquid) hydrocyclones
were used for sand removal from produced water, but their
operability in mixed gas/liquid streams was unknown. In
1995, the first wellhead desanding hydrocyclone was tested
at the Wytch Farm production facility (Hadfield 1996 and
1997), which was operated by BP at the time. The field trial
concluded a joint industry project to develop the process
and mechanical knowledge for a multiphase hydrocyclone
allowing solids removal at the wellhead.
The first wellhead desanders were used for well cleanup
(Hadfield 1996; Kaura 2001). Operating at wellhead
conditions, these units were built to 10,000 psi rating and
operated at 15,000 B/D of condensate with 105 MMscf/D of
gas. Handling up to 1 lbm/bbl of solids, the units separated
from 95% to 98% of the solids down to 15 µm.
Multiphase desanders have now been installed at more
than 100 surface facilities, both onshore and offshore, with
design ratings from ANSI Class 150 (American Society of
Mechanical Engineers 2013) to API 6A 15K (American
Petroleum Institute 2010). Installations have been made
both upstream and downstream of the wellhead choke, in
heavy oil, high-pressure/high-temperature, gas/condensate,
and gas-only applications. Wellhead desanders are used as
a service tool in well testing and cleanup, or permanently
installed for produced fluids treatment.
Multiphase desanders operate based on a combination of
hydraulic and pneumatic cyclonic principles (Rawlins 2002).
As with cyclonic devices, pressure energy is converted to
radial and tangential acceleration to impart centrifugal forces
on the contained fluids. The increased forces accelerate the
Fig. 3—A 900# rated wellhead desander installed on gas wells
onshore Indonesia.
The first API design high-pressure/high-temperature wellhead
desander rated for 15,000 psi was delivered to China in
August 2013.
6. 32 Oil and Gas Facilities • October 2013
separation of phases with different densities. In the case of a
multiphase desander, solids are separated from the gas/liquid
mixture. The forces imparted are up to 5,000 times greater
than gravity, leading to a rapid separation of solids from
fluids and also rendering the cyclone unaffected by external
motion or orientation. The separated solids collect into an
accumulator chamber (external or integral) for periodic
isolation and batch discharge while the well fluids maintain a
continuous flow (Fig. 2). Cyclonic technology has the highest
throughput-to-size ratio of any type of static separation
equipment, resulting in minimal installed footprint and
weight (Rawlins 2003).
Case Studies
As most producing fields rely on an exclusionary approach to
sand management, retrofit of sand separation equipment into
existing facilities is a common method of treating unplanned
sand production. The retrofit design is an economic decision
that balances sand production issues with space, weight, and
process constraints. The following case studies show wellhead
desanding equipment fit into existing facilities located
onshore, in shallow water, and in deep water.
Onshore Gas Field. An Indonesian operator closed 30
onshore gas wells because of produced sand. The sand
morphology and piping velocities lead to erosive failure in
several of the surface flowlines, thus the high sand producing
wells were shut in to minimize damage. A portable skid,
shown in Fig. 3, with an ASME 900# rated wellhead
desander was used to service the shut-in wells during a
6-month period in 1997. Each well was pulled at high rate
from 3 to 5 days to unload the wellbore sand. Once the
sand rate dropped to a steady-state low level, the wells were
brought back online. The wells varied in gas flow rate from
5 to 45 MMscf/D with only a small amount of liquids. The
solids loading ranged from 100 to 500 ppm with an average
particle size of 120 µm. The wellhead desander operated at
40 psi pressure drop with more than 99% solids removal
efficiency. The accumulated sand was collected for onshore
landfill disposal as shown in Fig. 3, and all of the wells were
restored to production.
Shallow Water Fixed Platform. A Caspian Sea operator
experienced a gravel pack failure on a platform oil well. The
onset of sand production reduced oil rates because of filling
of the production separator and valve erosion. An ASME
900# rated wellhead desander, shown in Fig. 4, was mobilized
to the platform as a stopgap while a completion rework was
scheduled. The unit was connected to the well manifold
downstream of the choke, with the clean fluids discharging
to the test separator. Separated sand was collected into a tote
and shipped to shore for landfill disposal.
Fig. 5—A solids collection and dewatering station.
Fig. 6—Collected solids, which will be transported by skip to a
landfill disposal.
Fig. 4—A 900# rated wellhead desander system installed on
a shallow-water platform offshore west of Turkmenistan in the
Caspian Sea.
7. October 2013 • Oil and Gas Facilities 33
The operating pressure drop across the wellhead
desander was 5 psi. Because of low oil density and high
gas void fraction, the separation size was 23 μm. As the
wells were unloaded of sand, a 200 BOPD increase in oil
production was realized. Ongoing operation of the well
showed a continuous steady removal of sand, and the
wellhead desander was installed as the permanent solution
for produced sand.
Deepwater Floating Facility. A deepwater facility in the
South China Sea experienced severe sand production
in multiple wells upon failure of the expandable screen
completions. Sand influx reduced choke life, filled separator
vessels, and severely eroded control valves. The initial
response was to limit production rates, with the long-term
plan to rework each well. The rework requires 3 years to
complete, therefore, an intermediate approach was put in
place to install wellhead desanders on five of the worst sand
producing wells. These units are designed to match the
required maximum allowable working pressure of 3,000 psi
wellhead rating and installed after the flexible jumper,
before the choke. Each unit was integrated into the well bay.
Eventually, 10 wellhead desanders were installed, making
this the largest offshore cyclonic sand handling system in
the world.
The wellhead desanders are designed with
interchangeable inserts to accommodate flow changes.
Each desander has a large accumulator designed to
handle 24 hours of sand production. The separated sand
is discharged twice per day into a common slurry header
and the collected slurry reports to a central dewatering and
bagging station (Fig. 5), which uses desilting cyclones and
filter bags for free water removal. The filter bags also serve to
carry the sand to a transport skip shown in Fig. 6. The final
sand will be disposed to an onshore landfill.
The wellhead desanders treat from 3,300 to 6,700 BLPD
and from 1.5 to 12.0 MMscf/D of gas flow. The wellhead
desanders operate at 30 to 50 psi pressure drop with a
separation size of 25 μm. The solids handling system treats
from 1 to 2 tons per day of sand and a cleaning system is
being added to allow overboard discharge of solids through
an integrated system. This solids management system has
allowed an increase in well flow suitable to recover from
5,000 to 7,000 BOPD and associated gas to the facility.
Conclusions
All oil and gas wells produce solids. When the solids rate
or particle size leads to lost production, a control method
is required to restore hydrocarbon flow to an economically
sustainable level.
Traditionally sand control equipment focuses on
preventing solids from entering the wellbore and is termed
exclusionary. Exclusion methods include mechanical
retention (screen or slotted liner), gravel packs, chemical
consolidation, or a combination of these techniques
(Penberthy 1992). The selection of the best method
depends on the well and reservoir conditions,
intervention costs, production life, and the treatment that
will provide the maximum sustained productivity.
An alternative to keeping solids in the formation is to
produce solids with the well fluids and then separate them
at the surface facility. This technique is termed inclusionary
because the solids freely flow with the oil and gas for removal
at the choke or production facilities. A multiphase desander
separates the solids from the well fluids at the choke or prior
to the separator vessels.
Several operators have embraced a wider view of
solids control by including surface sand handling as part
of their portfolio. Programs, such as BP’s “Beyond Sand
Control,” look at where and how to best manage sand from
the reservoir face to ultimate disposal of sand at the surface
(Morgan 2006).
The motivation for choosing an exclusion or inclusion
method is sustained production. Downhole sand exclusion
protects production tubulars and surface equipment, but
the buildup of solids near the wellbore may reduce inflow.
Allowing sand to coproduce with well fluids may prevent skin
restriction, and the solids are removed at the surface using a
wellhead desander. Wellhead desanders and associated solids
handling systems installed in several geographic regions
have shown the flexibility of the technology and resulting
production benefits. OGF
For Further Reading
API Spec. 6A, Specifications for Wellhead and Christmas Tree
Equipment, 20th edition. 2010. Washington, DC: American
Petroleum Institute.
ASME Standard B16.5-2013, Pipe Flanges and Flanged Fittings: NPS
1/2 through NPS 24 Metric/Inch, 2013. New York, New York:
American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Arfie, M., Marika, E., Purbodiningrat, E.S., and Woodard, H.A. 2005.
Paper 96543 presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Health, Safety, and
Environmental Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, 19–20
September.
Balgobin, C.J. 2005. Sand Management of Ultra-High-Rate Gas
Wells. Paper 94896 presented at the SPE Latin American and
Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Rio de Janeiro,
20–23 June.
Hadfield, D. 1996. Wellhead Desanders-Cyclonic Sand Removal
from Multi-Phase Wellstreams. Presented at the NIH Seminar on
Offshore Separation, Kristiansand, 11–13 November.
Hadfield, D. 1997. Solving the Sand Production Problem at Source:
The Wellhead Desanding Hydrocyclone. Presented at the IBC
Production Separation Systems Forum, Oslo, 28–29 May.
Hess, M., Sinker, A., and Rawlins, H. 1997. Treatment of Solids at
Oil Production Installations. Presented at the IBC Conference
on Meeting Environmental Standards for the Offshore Industry,
Aberdeen, December.
Iversen, M., Broome, J., Mohamed, O.Y., and Ratterman, E.E.
2006. Next Generation of Multipath Screens Solves Deepwater
Completion Challenges. Paper 98353 presented at the SPE
International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage
Control, Lafayette, 15–17 February.
8. 34 Oil and Gas Facilities • October 2013
Kaura, J.D., Macrae, A., and Mennie, D. 2001. Clean up and Well
Testing Operations in High-Rate Gas-Condensate Field Result
in Improved Sand Management System. Paper 68747 presented
at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition,
Jakarta, 17–19 April.
King, G.E., Wildt, P.J., and O’Connell, E. 2003. Sand Control
Completion Reliability and Failure Rate Comparison with a
Multi-Thousand Well Database. Paper 84262 presented at the
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, 5–8
October.
Morgan, N. 2006. Saving sand dollars. Frontiers: 6 August.
Musa, L.A., Temisanren, T., Appah, W., Appah, D. 2005. Establishing
Actual Quantity of Sand Using an Ultrasonic Sand Detector:
The Niger Delta Experience. Paper 98820 presented at the 29th
Annual SPE International Technical Conference and Exhibition,
Abuja, 1–3 August.
Palmer, I., Vaziri, H., Willson, S., Moschovidis, Z., Cameron, J., and
Ispas, I. 2003. Predicting and Managing Sand Production: A New
Strategy. Paper 84499 presented at the SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Denver, 5–8 October.
Penberthy, W.L. Jr., and Shaughnessy, C.M. 1992. Sand Control
(SPE Series on Special Topics Volume 1). Society of Petroleum
Engineers, Richardson, Texas.
Price-Smith, C., Parlar, M., Bennett, C., Gilchrist, J.M., Pitoni, E.,
Burton, R.C., Hodge, R.M., Troncoso, J., Ali, S.A., and Dickerson,
R. 2003. Design Methodology for Selection of Horizontal
Openhole Sand-Control Completions Supported by Field Case
Histories. SPE Drill Compl 18 (3): 235.
Rawlins, C.H. and Wang, I. 2000. Design and Installation of a
Sand Separation and Handling System for a Gulf of Mexico Oil
Production Facility. Paper 63041 presented at the SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, 1–4 October.
Rawlins, C.H. 2002. Application of Multiphase Desander Technology
to Oil and Gas Production. Paper presented at the BHR 3rd
International Conference on Multiphase Technology, Banff, 3–5
June.
Rawlins, C.H. 2003. The Case for Compact Separation. J. Pet Tech 55
(5): 77–79.
Rawlins, C.H., Erickson, A.E., and Ly, C. 2010. Characterization of
Deep Bed Filter Media for Oil Removal from Produced Water.
Paper 10-018 presented at the SME Annual Meeting, Phoenix, 28
February–3 March.
Rawlins, C.H. 2013. Sand Management Methodologies for Sustained
Facilities Operations. Paper 164645 presented at the SPE North
Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt, 15–17
April.
Schramm, L.L. ed. 1992. Emulsions: Fundamentals and Applications
in the Petroleum Industry (Advances in Chemistry Series 231).
Washington, DC: American Chemical Society.
Selfridge, F., Munday, M., Kvernvold, O., and Gordon, B. 2003.
Safely Improving Production Performance Through Improved
Sand Management. Paper 83979 presented at Offshore Europe,
Aberdeen, 2–5 September.
Stein, M.H., Chitale, A.A., Asher, G., Vaziri, H., Sun, Y., Colbert, J.R.,
and Gonzalez, F.A. 2005. Integrated Sand and Erosion Alarming
on Na Kika, Deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Paper 95516 presented
at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas,
9–12 October.
Tiffin, D.L., Stein, M.H., and Wang, X. 2003. Drawdown Guidelines
for Sand Control Completion. Paper 84495 presented at the SPE
Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver,
5–8 October.
Vaziri, H., Allam, R., Kidd, G., Bennett, C., Grose, T., Robinson, P.,
and Malyn, J. 2006. Sanding: A Rigorous Examination of the
Interplay Between Drawdown, Depletion, Start-up Frequency and
Water Cut. Paper 89895 presented at the SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 26–29 September.
Williams, C.G., Richard, B.N., and Horner, D. 2006. A New Sizing
Criterion for Conformable and Nonconformable Sand Screens
Based on Uniform Pore Structures. Paper 98235 presented at
the SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation
Damage Control, Lafayette, 15–17 February.
Wohlfart, F.J. 2006. New Approach to Sand Production in Mature
Oilfields and Cost Optimization for Sand Problems. Presented
at the Spring Meeting of the German Society for Petroleum and
Coal Science and Technology (DGMK), Celle, 21 April.
Wong, G.K., Fair, P.S., Bland, K.F., and Sherwood, R.S. 2003.
Balancing Act: Gulf of Mexico Sand Control Completions, Peak
Rate Versus Risk of Sand Control Failure. Paper 84497 presented
at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver,
5–8 October.
Hank Rawlins,the technology director
of eProcess Technologies, is responsible
for development programs in sand
management systems, compact phase
separations, and produced water
treatment in the upstream oil and
gas industry. He serves as an officer
of SPE’s Separation Technology
Technical Section (http://connect.spe.
org/SeparationsTechnology/Home/). Combining 21 years of
experience in the processing of hydrocarbons, minerals, and
metals, Rawlins specializes in technology transfer among
these industries. He holds advanced degrees in metallurgical
engineering from the Missouri University of Science and
Technology and is a registered professional engineer. He has 47
publications and serves as an adjunct professor at Montana
Tech University.