Sand control is a method to control sand production into a wellbore. This is common requirement for several oil and gas producing wells around the world. There are two situations which cause sand production. The first cause is rock mechanical failure near wellbore and the second one is dragging force from producing or injection fluid. Sand production can lead to several issues such as production impairment due to sand plugging, erosion to completion string and down hole tool, damage surface facilities as separator, piping, etc.
In order to avoid sand production, there are two main methods as listed below;
Passive sand control
This method uses non-intrusive measures to control, mitigate or avoid sand production from the reservoir. The following techniques are passive sand control methods.
- Oriented perforation
- Selective perforation
- Sand management
Active sand control
This method relies on the use of filters to control sand production and it is known as intrusive measure. The following techniques are active sand control methods.
- Stand alone screens (slotted liner, wire-wrapped screen, prepacked screen and premium screen)
- Expandable sand screen
- Gravel pack & Frack Pack
- Chemical consolidation
