A Coupled Reservoir-Geomechanics Model and Applications to Wellbore

Stability and Sand Prediction

When oil is produced from poorly cemented formations sand production and open
hole collapse occur making them harmful problems that cost petroleum industry
more than 500 million US Dollars, this digit is an estimate due to many problems
about wellbore stability that still remain not adequately defined and evaluated,
therefore it is important to define accurately the onset of sand production, in that
way many costs will be reduced.
In consequence, deformation and plastic yielding mechanisms are studied in the
present research, also are included drag forces by the fluid in flux and in situstress that conduct to a major sand production. Due to these factors, a coupled
reservoir-geomechanics model is used, which is defined based on a stress-strain
combined criteria, its also necessary the coupling to a multiphase flow which is
generally present during underbalanced conditions and in production zones.
Through this model the effects of capillary pressure, wetting phase change,
relative permeability and pore volume can be modeled.
The inefficient evaluation of wellbore stability through stresses calculations and
strength measurements is due to both parameters cannot be obtained with great
confidence, stress calculations can only be determined indirectly and strength is
a function of many factors like geometry, saturation, grain size and sample size.
Hence to determine the onset of sand production a critical effective strain is
needed. The model must be integrated by other important factor like reservoir
mobility where permeability and viscosity influence sand production, the bottom
hole pressure decline rate indicates how easily the formation collapses during
production. The integration of reservoir and geomechanics parameter can lead
to minimize production problems and wellbore stability if it is adequately applied
to the field requirements.

REFERENCES
Yarlong Wang, SPE, Petro-Geotech Inc. and Baoping Lu, China New Star
Company. SPE 69718, A Coupled Reservoir-Geomechanics Model and

Applications to Wellbore Stability and Sand Prediction