Sandstone formations that have potential to produce sand during the life of the well account for a significant fraction of global recoverable volumes of oil and gas resources. The economics, environmental and safety implications of sand problems are critical enough to justify good knowledge of the potential for sand failure and production. Reliable evaluation of potential sand production is required to identify the needs for and the specification of sand-exclusion equipment during the project execution phase. To address these challenges, this paper presents a simple workflow that is premised on the petro-elasticity of the formation. Specifically, the proposed workflow uses cross plots of compressional sonic logs and density logs on reservoir-by-reservoir and well-by-well basis. From a petro-elastic standpoint, compressional sonic logs contain information on travel time required for sound waves to travel through the subject formation. The fundamental relationship between formation compaction (strength) and porosity has been explored to establish the trend of compaction, hence vulnerability of a sandstone formation to failure. In illustrating the applicability of the proposed concepts and workflow, some field examples from the Niger Delta are presented. Using wells with known history of sand failure and production, the workflow has been applied retroactively. The methodology presented is very useful for establishment of a quick screening sand control requirement. From a qualitative standpoint, it is found that the performances of the proposed workflow are in reasonable agreement with the history of sand failure and production in the example wells.

A good description of relative permeabilities (relperms) is crucial to predict the performance of petroleum reservoirs. They are important input for evaluating fluid flow, and establishing the most suitable strategies for reservoir development and management. A poor relperm description is a potential threat to business decisions. The applicability of a relperm dataset is highly sensitive to the scale at which it was acquired. For example, while special-core analysis (SCAL) data, which are often obtained from laboratory experiments may be adequate for core-scale simulation studies, they often fail to provide reliable description of fluid flow at the field scale. Although several upscaling techniques are available, they vary in their complexity and reliability. One area of improvement is to simplify the upscaling process. Extending and improving the approach introduced by Alpak et al. (2010), this paper uses the idea of global connectivity factor and a linear scaling algorithm to develop a simple technique to upscale oil-water relperms. Compared to Alpak et al. (2010), whose work was limited to two parameters, the new technique includes mathematical functions to extrapolate five of the Corey parameters (exponents and endpoints) from SCAL to their respective field-scale equivalents. With some oil-water SCAL datasets from three plugs in a Niger-Delta oil reservoir, the practical applicability of the proposed workflow is demonstrated. In addition, this paper covers the following areas: (i) upscaling individual SCAL plugs to preserve field heterogeneities; (ii) generating an upscaled model that aggregates all the SCAL plugs as an approximate homogeneous system; and (iii) constructing the full range of upscaled relperm models that reflect uncertainties for realistic reservoir simulations.

In horizontal open hole wells, the formation of filter cake while drilling the open hole section of the well is desirable. This filter cake serves the purpose of forming a semi-impervious layer around the reservoir drain-hole. This layer helps reduce losses considering the overbalance required for well control during drilling. It also serves as an additional structural support to keep the open hole stable when the drilling bottom hole assembly (BHA) is pulled out of hole and the screens and lower completions accessories are being run in hole. However, when thewell is put into production, the filter cake becomes a contributor to skin and poor reservoir productivity. It is therefore required to get rid of the filter cake after running the screens and the lower completion. Having procured and prepared the sand screens for deployment after drilling the open hole section, it is important that they are run to the bottom successfully with minimal damage and plugging. Usually, the open hole section of the horizontal well is drilled with specially formulated drill-in-fluids (DIF). Since this section is drilled in over balanced mode, the exerted pressure keeps the hole open so that the sand screen can be run successfully. The DIF replaces the drilling mud used to drill the earlier hole section(s) but in addition to providing well control via overbalance and transporting cuttings from the hole to surface, it also minimizes invasion damage to the reservoir pay zone. A commonly used weighing material when densities up to 11.5ppg are required for well control is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). When densities above 11.5ppg are required (for deeper, abnormally pressured reservoirs), it becomes necessary to weight up the mud with a heavier material, usually barite + CaCO3. During the drilling process, this overbalance pressure exerted on the reservoir forces the CaCO3 out of the DIF solution and it forms a semi-impervious filter cake on the sand face of the reservoir. This desirable filter cake helps minimize excessive fluid losses into the reservoir hence limiting invasion and damage. It also contributes to the structural integrity of the open hole, keeping it stable prior to running of the screens. Depending on the weighting material used in the drilling of the reservoir drain-hole, the micro-emulsion breaker (MEB) can be designed to break down the filter cake and any undisolvedparticulates can be mobilized and water-wetted and can be then flowed during production or injection. The challenge is that depending on the lower completion configuration, it may take some time to get the wash pipe and work string out of the lower completion and close the formation isolation device. In some cases, it is possible for the formation isolation device to fail. If the Micro-emulsion Blend (MEB) is quick acting, any of these scenarios can lead to uncontrollable losses and serious difficulties in continuing the completion operation. This elucidates the need for a delayed acting MEB treatment. Lab tests and analysis involving the exact DIF /filter cake and various compositions of the MEB at downhole conditions to arrive at the required delay in action. It is critical to ensure that the delayed action does not result in reduced efficacy of the treatment. Hence, the MEB is not diluted for slow action but rather it is engineered combinatorially with a retarder and downhole mild acid generating microemulsion chemistry that gradually generates the necessary mild acid that will slowly dissolve the bridging materials (eg. calcium carbonate) in the mud withtime and allows the full strength of the MEB to take effect after the stipulated delay period. This paper will focus on the lab analysis and iterations to arrive at an optimal MEB blend.