Prediction of Volumetric Sand Production and Stability of Well-Bore in a Niger-Delta Formation

Abstract

Abstract Nigeria’s Niger-Delta province has been identified as one petroleum system- The tertiary Niger-Delta (Akata-Agbada) petroleum system. Almost all the petroleum resources currently are produced from the sandstone species within the Agbada formation. Also turbidite sand in the upper Akata formation is a potential target in deepwater offshore and currently producing interval onshore. This paper presents a mathematical model to simulate sand production from petroleum reservoir subject to an open-hole completion. A coupled reservoirgeo-mechanical model was used to predict the volumetric sand production and associated wellbore stability. The model is based on mixture theory with erosion. The Representative Elementary Volume (REV) composes of five phases - solid matrix, fluidized solids, oil, water, and gas phase was chosen. The model also incorporates the reservoir drawdown pressure, rock failure criteria, rock types and field condition. Analytical solution of sand displacement processes is also highlighted. Results show that the magnitude of sand production is strongly affected by the flow rate, the confining pressure, the pressure drawdown and the fluid viscosity. The determined ratio of the productivity index to the saturation of the fluidized solid can be correlated to determine reservoir formation type during sand production, and predicting the wellbore stability. The model has a higher degree of validity for light and medium crude oil flow which possesses moderate lubricating properties, and therefore erosion of sand particles during production highly depends on flow rate.