Experimental study on sand control in unconsolidated sandstones by chemical injection and hydraulic fracturing
摘要:Sand production is a challenging problem for production of oil and gas from unconsolidated sandstones, which may incur erosion and damage in the production pipe and surface of the equipment. Various methods, such as standalone sand screens, gravel packing and frac&pack have been used to control sand production in the field. Besides these methods, chemical injection has also been suggested to be an alternative method to control sand production in unconsolidated sandstones since this can improve the mechanical properties of the rock formation through increasing the bonding between sand grains. However, the permeability of the formation may be reduced due to the chemical injection. In this paper, we propose to combine chemical injection and hydraulic fracturing to control sand production in unconsolidated sandstones, where hydraulic fracturing serves as a measurement to mitigate the side effect of chemical injection, i.e. permeability damage. We prepared unconsolidated sandstone samples saturated with epoxy resin with different ratios. Conventional triaxial compression tests clearly show that chemical injection can increase the mechanical properties of the unconsolidated sandstones, which is beneficial for decreasing sand production. We also performed laboratory experiments hydraulic fracturing in unconsolidated sandstones with and without chemical injection. The results showed that the fracturing fluid completely infiltrated into the samples without chemical injection and no hydraulic fracture initiated and propagated. In contrast, in those samples with chemical injection, hydraulic fractures successfully initiated and propagated beyond the zone within which the permeability has been reduced by the chemical injection. It is observed from these hydraulic fracturing experiments, failure of the wellbore wall and thus sand production can effectively be reduced by chemical injection. Thus, from the experimental results presented in this paper, chemical injection combined with hydraulic fracturing can be a potential method for sand control in unconsolidated sandstones.
Copyright 2019 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association.
发表日期:2019-01-01
期刊分区(SCI为中科院分区):无
收录情况:EI(工程索引),国际学术会议论文集
发表期刊名称:53rd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium
通讯作者:爱玲,周宝,兰威
第一作者:刘伟
论文类型:会议论文
论文概要:爱玲,刘伟,周宝,兰威,Experimental study on sand control in unconsolidated sandstones by chemical injection and hydraulic fracturing,53rd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium,2019,
论文题目:Experimental study on sand control in unconsolidated sandstones by chemical injection and hydraulic fracturing