Ikatan Ahli Teknik Perminyakan Indonesia

Ikatan Ahli teknik Perminyakan Indonesia

Simposium Nasional dan Kongres X
Jakarta, 12 14 November 2008

Makalah Profesional

IATMI 08 - 007
Integrated Sand Management Strategy for Mature Field West Java
by Achmad Soendaroe, Angga P.R., and Wahyu J.
BP Indonesia

Abstract
Sustaining production on a mature field
like West Java would require a holistic view on
both production and integrity aspects. After 35+
production years of West Java field, we observe
that sand problem results in production as well as
integrity problems. Therefore an integrated sand
management strategy that fits and applicable for
mature field is required to optimize production and
to provide maximum field values toward the
contractor and the government.
This paper
addresses an example of sand management
strategy in the mature asset to sustain the
production and reduce integrity problem.
Beside production losses issue, the sand
problem is also increase erosion rate of facilities.
It results in higher operation cost to repair facilities
damage and in many respect results in
unintended environments issues. There are two
main areas of focus to manage sand problem
properly, which are upstream and downstream of
the production choke. Ideally we should stop
sand production all the way from the reservoir
face as its source. However in reality we often
need to considered the implication such strategy,
because stopping sand production in early at
reservoir face sometimes restrict reservoir
productivity and also increase well cost.

Effective sand management is determined

by how good it can reduce its negative impact. An
appropriate sand control plan should be consisted
of sand production prediction method, sand
problem preventing & monitoring system, and also
the best practices of remediation techniques.
Through zone reviews we identified typical zones
that potentially produce sand problem. Then
follow up by building a list of wells that are
predicted to have sand problem. Preventive
works such as bean up choke strategy, and
regular monitoring should be performed to
minimize sand impact and provide effective tool
for early detection of sand production prior the
sand creating a furthering problem. A best option
of remedial works should be chosen based on
evaluation of previous implemented techniques.

Introduction
West Java field located at offshore North
West Java island of Indonesia. The field is in
offshore environment with water depth 40-160
feet. The field produced since 1971 with peak
production are 175 mbopd and 350 mmcfd.
Current production is 25 mbopd and 260 mmcfd
from 171 productive platforms and 10 flowstations. It consist around 316 production strings
and 571 shut-in potential strings.
Those

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platforms and flow-stations connected together by
350 pipelines with total length of 1700 kms and
collect all liquid is processing at single Central Plant.
West Java field consist of 5 productive
formations:
Talang Akar Oligocene sandstone
Baturaja - reefal carbonate rock
Main Middle Miocene sandstone
Massive late Miocene sandstone
Parigi - Late Miocene carbonate build up
The Main-Massive sandstone are the most
contributing oil producer, while Parigi carbonate is
the most contributor of free gas production.
Current cumulative production is 1207 MMBO oil
+ 2.86 TCF gas, with remaining reserve: Proved
83 MMBO + 0.498 TCF and Non Proved 276
MMBO + 1.298 TCF.
After producing the field more than 35 years
there are several challenges such as:
Depleted reservoir pressure (Pr ~ 500 650
psia)
High watercut production that required higher
pressure drawdown to produce oil and gas
rate
Sand problem that introduce significant
production losses and also additional facilities
cost due to eroded impact on equipments
Remaining reserve that spread out of the field
that required fit and proper technology to
access
Recently sand problem is becoming the root
cause of significant production losses, and
environmental issues. Therefore integrated review
was conducted to improve sand management
strategy and cover both subsurface and surface
aspects.

Sand Management
Sand production can occur at any point
during field life; during first flow, later when
reservoir pressure depleted, or when water breaks
through. Degrees of severity of sand problem
depend on the reservoir type and completion
methods. Sand management is an operating

concept where traditional sand control means are

not normally applied and production is managed
through monitoring and control of well production
and sand influx. With the above term of sand
management it can produce the well in lower skin
and higher productivity index, and avoided an
expensive installation sand control devices in
early life of wells. However there is also risk that
sand production might exceed of prediction,
therefore need in some cases need to put
remedial actions, including well re-completion.
Effective sand management is determined by how
good it minimized negative impact of sand
problem within favorable well productivity and
cost. Ideally sand management should consist of
the following process:
sand production prediction, which are
covered sand failure models, rock
properties
determination,
formation
strength evaluations
sand problem preventing that describe
about maximum sand free rate, allowable
drawdown
pressure,
maximum
productivity, formation stabilization, and
sand control techniques
monitoring system utilized to optimize
production without significant negative
impact of sand problem
best practices of remediation techniques
selected to cure sand problem effectively
This paper will share the West Java approach to
reinforce sand management strategy with
objective to minimize impact of sand problem in
late life of field production. This sand management
strategy will give West Java Operations an
integrated plan to manage impact of sand problem
within economically framework

West Java Sand Management Strategy

There are two main locations that need to
be focused on regarding sand problem (Figure 1),
which are upstream and downstream of the
production choke. At the upstream production
choke sand problem can be accumulated inside
tubing or below end of tubing, then restricted or
even stop the production due to sand bridging or
integrity problem on well equipments. At the
downstream production choke, sand could be

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accumulated at separator and/or pipeline (Figure
2) then reducing capacity of equipment, and also
created potentially sand erosion problem.
In mature of life production like West Java, there
is available well history database that can be
utilized to identify and predict the behavior of sand
production wells. Identification typical zones from
a well that have sand problem at certain
conditions were applied to predict sand production
for the other wells. Then thru zones review, a list
of wells potentially have sand problem can be
predicted.
Preventive works such as bean up choke strategy,
follow with regular monitoring should be
performed to minimize sand impact and provide
effective tool for early detection of sand production
prior the sand creating a furthering problem.

early 2008 with result the EB-5 TTGP installation

was postponed due to wellbore mechanical
restriction. However TTGP (Figure 6) was
successfully installed in EB-7 after wellbore
restriction problem can be resolved. Then the well
can be brought online sand free with rate 200
bopd. This success considered as good progress
of trial, considering the EB-7 was 2 years shutin
due to sand problem. Based on the evaluation and
the trial, regular sand clean out and TTGP are
best practice sand control methods for West Java.
In the surface side choke management was
successfully applied in APN and EA wells to
produce the wells on optimum production without
having sand problem. The execution of BNA
separator clean out project gave positive result on
facilities efficiency; reduce on back pressure on
system, and improve integrity the vessel.

Bean up and bean down choke strategy (Figure 3)

philosophy is best practices to apply many small
DPs (Delta Pressure) with short time in between
rather than a few big steps with long pauses when
we bring online or shut-in a well. By apply this as
SoP (Standard of Procedure), it can maintain the
rock consolidated strength (Figure 4) and reduce
the risk of sand problem or sand control failure.

First campaign portable sand monitoring utilized

Clamp On was performed on Foxtrot area. The
result of threshold velocity chart based on
allowable erosion rate (Figure 7), indicated there
is room to bean up choke of Foxtrot wells with
potential additional production rate around 400
bopd.

Regular monitoring of sand production either from

regularly BS&W (Base Sediment & Water)
sampling or thru special equipments i.e. ClampOn portable sand detector (Figure 5) would help
us to optimize production level of wells within sand
free condition.

Conclusions

In order to choose the best option of sand control,

need to perform evaluation previous implemented
techniques of sand control including remedial
work in West Java. For further development of
new applicable technology for the field, several
pilot project like Thru Tubing Gravel Pack (TTGP)
technique and resin sand consolidation has been
analyzing. Based on the evaluation, advantage
and disadvantage of each method can be
understood as showed in the table 1. Best method
was selected based on well condition and
considered cost and simplicity on operation.
Thru thorough process well-work it was selected
two candidates, which are EB-5 and EB-7 for at
TTGP installation. The jobs were performed in

From this paper there are some following

conclusions:
Sand problem not only impact on
production losses but also increased
safety risk due to eroded subsurface and
surface equipments
Ideally sand problem should eliminate
since in the formation, but considering the
consequence of cost a detail evaluation to
ensure the selected techniques is
required
Wellbore restriction (i.e. small tubing ID,
scale deposit, etc) was the critical
parameter of successful TTGP installation
jobs. It is recommended to perform
wellbore clean out prior install TTGP
equipments
Portable sand monitoring using clamp
on indicated some of produced sand was
accumulated on some remote facilities or
pipelines. A further action like separator

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clean out or
recommended

regular

pigging

are

Further Work
As part of BP Continuous Improvement Program
to improve the West Java Sand Management
Program the following are the plan that will be
performed in the near time:
Proceed the next campaign of TTGP,
sand monitoring, and facilities clean out
Progress the hopper of sand control
management
Continue sand monitoring campaign on
Lima, Echo and Bravo area
Implement bean up and bean down
strategy for well start up and shut-in
Determine the critical erosion rate for
choke optimization on FFB wells
Conduct external peer-review with BPs
well completion and sand expertise (BPEPTI)

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank BP Management
and BP Migas for permission to publish this paper.

Abbreviations
bopd
mmcfd
kms
MMBO
TCF
Pr
TTGP

= barrels oil per day

= millions metric cubic feet per day
= kilo metres
= Millions Metric Barells Oil
= Trillion Cubic Feet
= Pressure reservoir
= Thru Tubing Gravel Pack

2. William K. Ott, P.E. and Joe D. Woods,

Modern Sandface Completion Practices
Handbook, World Oil magazines - Gulf
Publishing Company, Houston - Texas,
2005.
3. EPTG Team, Living With Sand Process
Treatment And Processing of Production
Solids, BP Exploration & Production
Technology Group, Sunbury, UK, 2005.
4. Hans Vaziri, Robbie Allam, Gordon Kidd,
Clive Bennett, Trevor Groose, peter
Robinson, Jeremy Malyn, Sanding: A
Rigorous
Examination
of
Interplay
Between Drawdown, Depletion, Start-Up
Frequency and Water Cut, SPE89895,
SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition,
Houston-Texas,
USA,
September 2004
5. EPTG D&CTeam, Sand Control & Well
Completion, BP Exploration & Production
Technology
Group,
Drilling
and
Completion Division, Sunbury, UK, 2003.
6. Schlumberger,
Sand
Management
Solution, SC-03-049_0, Schlumberger
Oilfield Services, September 2003
7. Mike Travis, Juan Tovar, John L.C.
Chambers, Integrated Approach to Sand
Control Deliver Zero Sand, SPE 81304,
SPE Latin American and Caribbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference, Ports
Spain Trinidad, West Indies, April 2003
8. Stephen P. Mathis, Sand Management: A
Review of Approaches and Concerns,
SPE 82240, SPE European Formation
Damage
Conference,
The
HagueNetherlands, May 2003.
9. J. Tronvoll, M.B. Dusseault, F. Sanfilipo,
and F.J. Santarelli, The Tool Sand
Management, SPE71673, SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition,
New Orleans-Louisiana, USA, October
2001.

References
1. BP Java Base Management Team,
Approach on Minimizing West Java Sand
Problem, Java Reservoir and Well
Department, Jakarta, 2007

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Dow nstream Production Choke

Conventional: large
DP steps
redundant
long
wait time
Conventional:
longer
T, with
bigger
P
more
fines

Separator

Upstream
Production
Choke

Cumulative Flow Time (hrs)

70

Conventional
Proposed

60
50
40

Redundant T

30

Unrealized Production

20
10
0
0

Figure 1 Two main focus location of sand

management

10

15
20
Choke Size, 1/64th

25

Figure 3 Bean Up Choke Strategy

Sand accumulation at facilities

Figure 4 Bean Up and Down Choke Impact

Figure 2 Sand accumulations in facilities

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TTGP Procedure

AFTER

BEFORE

Design proper gravel and screen

based Sand Sieve analysis from
core data

C Line
SSSV

Perform Wellbore clean out

RIH GR-CCL

GLM

Re-perforation
RIH Screen equipments

PERMANENT

Set and test the packer

PACKER
EOT

E-29A2
-

FFB

Sand Rate
2.33 gpd

FK

49.42 gpd

FWB

trace gpd

HZEA

trace gpd

FPRO

0.04 gpd

E-29B

Sand

NODE

Centralizer

ER Packer
Thru Tubing Gravel Pack System

Frac valve
Centralizer

Centralizer
Centralizer

E-29C2

Pumping gravel until packed off

Screen

Close Frac Valve

Screen

Washout excess gravel pack

Screen

E-29B2

Perform Injectivity test

Screen

Bring online the well

Equipment unit :
CTU, pumping, seapub unit
SCO tank, sand silo & blender,
WL tool, etc

Bull Plug
Casing shoe

Figure 5 Sand Monitoring

Figure 6 Thru Tubing Gravel Pack Technique

M ethod

Number
of Jobs

Regular Sand
Clean out

15 per
year

Easy and less expensive

Regular job (Not required
complex design prior to
execution)

Could not stop sand producing

Not cost effective

Choke
M anagement

20 per
year

Easy and low cost

Quick execution

Difficult to determine optimum

choke size

Limiting the flow rate

Gravel Pack

51

Advantages

Very effective to retain

sand

No need to choke back the
w ell (limiting the flow rate)

Disadvantages

Expensive

Need to be installed at initial
completion

Complicated in operation

Not retrievable

Introduce skin effect

Very limited application

Sensitive and complex
operation

Low success ratio compare w ith
mechanical solution

Not good for rock w ith
significant clay content

Resin Sand
Consolidation

11

Less expensive compare

w ith TTGP

No need to insert new
equipment at exeisting
completion

Stand Alone
Screen
Poroplus

19

Easy and less expensive

Tubing inserted

Theoretically retrievable

Based on history w as hard to

retrieve

Not applicable for heterogenic
sand grain distribution (Sc>10)

Thru Tubing
Gravel Pack
(TTGP)

Tubing inserted

Applicable for high perm +
high thickness reservoir

Theoretically retrievable

M ore expensive compare w ith

chemical solution

Complicated in operation

Separator
and Facilities
Clean Out

Low ering FTP (Increase

deliverability from w ells)

M inimize separator upset
due to high level
control/ bottleneck

Previous method w as sand

dumping into the sea
(environmental issue)

Limited to seapub schedule
availability

Figure 7 Threshold velocity chart of FK-7 wells

Table 1 West Java Sand Control Methods

Comparison

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