Scientific and Methodological Support of Sand Management During Operation of Horizontal Wells

The paper presents a new scientifically based approach for the selection of sand control technology, which is dedicated to enhance the efficiency of the development of unconsolidated reservoirs. Established laboratory and methodological complexes for physical simulating of the sand producing process were analyzed in order to obtain new knowledge and confirm the available theories. All of them have their advantages and disadvantages, but their simultaneous application revealed characteristic dependencies between the sand production and the studied parameter (grain size distribution, pressure drop, clay content, water cut, gas/oil ratio, etc.). Author proposed concepts of mathematical apparatus improvement to increase the quality of assessing the ability of formation fluids to transport particles of different grain size distribution within the formation, as well as in the inner part of tubing. The effect of each of the characterizing factors on suspended solids concertation (SSC) was studied as a result of more than 300 laboratory experiments. According to the observation, there is a sharp decrease in SSC after the first stage (sampling). Thus, the author determined that the main inflow of mechanical impurities occurs during flow stimulation and after shutdowns. In conclusion, author substantiated the method for limiting sand production using polymers with shape memory based on the results of the performed set of tests. Proposed method allows limited passage of particles with diameter less than 50 mu m, which creates conditions for noncolmaticity of screen while maintaining geomechanical stability of bottom -hole formation zone.