Gravel Packing Sand Control Technique , Case Study , Belayim field , Gulf of Suez , Egypt

Sand production is always a challenge for oil production companies worldwide. Several factors can cause sand production, poor cementing material in the reservoir rock, high production rates which cause high draw down result in an unstable zone. The studied field is Belayim field consists of 105 wells; 90 of these wells are oil producing wells, 11 are water injection wells, two wells are dump flood wells, and two wells are water source wells. The main target was to perform a gravel pack job on a high permeability water source well to deliver a planned rate of 25,000 BOPD. The study has been done for the formation, the well was considered as a critical well because of the number of challenges and because of its importance to the company in supplying the field with the injection water After pay zone perforating, the well suffered from high losses as expected. The losses reduced by pumping several non-damaging fluid loss pills (lost circulation material) until the losses were suitable for running the gravel pack assembly in the hole. The treatment was pumped in consecutive stages of clean fluid and slurry fluid to aid in the displacement of the proppant in the well annulus and to reduce the risk of bridging. Premium screens (6-5/8 in. with 175 micron filter) were used with a 40/60 proppant. A 5inch wash pipe was used to force most of the fluid in the slurry to remain in the casing/screen annulus to Maximize sand transport, rather than leaking off through the screen and into the screen base pipe/wash pipe annulus. The gravel pack material and the treatment chemicals was successfully pumped, covering the 500 ft of screens and leaving excess volume of sand covering the blanks. The well was completed with ESP (electrical submersible pump) and producing 11,500 BWPD (barrel water per day). The injection in the field resumed after being down for five months as a result from shutting down the well.


Introduction
Water flooding considered to be one of the successful methods of increasing and enhancing the oil production through sweeping the reservoir which cause increasing in the reservoir pressure, and consequently, enhancing the productivity in the oil producer wells [3].
The company depends on water source wells to deliver large volumes of water to offshore platforms to be used for water injection. However, the primary challenge encountered by the company is the sand production Journal of Petroleum and Mining Engineering 23(1)2021 DOI: 10.21608/jpme.2021.64773.1074 Page|83 problems arising from the characteristics of the formation composition, as shown in (Table 1). Orthoclase 2 Kaolinite and lIlite 5 The studied field is Belayim field, located in the northern part of the Gulf of Suez ( Figure 1). The field was discovered in 1963, and the first production platform was installed in 1979. By this time, the reservoir pressure in the producing wells began to decline, and the production began to decrease.
Consequently, a water flooding system began in the field in April 1996. Injection rates reached up to 150,000 BWPD (barrel water per day) but has been decreasing since January 2001 as a result of reservoir management and operational issues. The reservoir primarily consists of laminated sandstone with poor vertical permeability between reservoir layers. In an offshore field with low well density, water flooding is necessary to provide greater oil sweep efficiency and to maintain reservoir pressure for all of the producing pay zone layers. All of the required water volume was supplied by water source well(s) (WSW) that were drilled and completed specifically for this purpose [1]. Formation has a weak aquifer drive, whereas the natural drive in the Wata Formation is solution gas. [5]. been confirmed to be steady over the last 20 years, despite the high-water withdrawal rate. Figure 2 shows a lithological column of Belayim field [6].

Methods and techniques
Based on the commercial study and the limited number of free slots on the offshore platform, the target well was a plug and abandonment (P&A) well from an existing producer that has produced from a deeper zone and re-complete the well as a water source well from the shallower one. The well, as discussed, was of high

Procedures and Solutions Provided
This section includes specific information about the challenges encountered and the solutions provided. A sand sieve analysis was performed on an offset well to obtain gravel size; the analysis showed that the recommended gravel size for the treatment was 12/20 [9]. Because of the high production rates of up to 25,000 BWPD in the area and the expected well production rate of +/-15,000 BWPD; however, the design was performed with 40/60 gravel size to mitigate any fine sand migration or production with this high water production rates. Table   2 shows the sand sieve analysis of an offset well [7].   Consequently, controlling the fluid loss would ensure better gravel packing around the screen assembly and mitigate early screen out [12].

Treatment:
Before pumping the gravel pack treatment, the required gravel mass needed to fill the annular volume between the screens and the perforations was

Job sequence and real time data:
The gravel pack treatment began with a pad stage to establish injectivity with the formation and to enable adjustments of the pumping and return rates. The pad stage was followed by sand stages to begin packing the long interval down hole screens. As designed, the entire sand volume was successfully placed below the cross over port as shown by a real-time calculation. Next, the

Results and Discussion
As discussed, the studied well was of high

The Completion string design
The water source well is a vertically drilled well with total depth of +/-3,300 ft. The well was completed with  From the study, we can conclude the following: [1] The ratio of pack median grain size to formation median grain size should be between 5 and 6 to minimize sand production where there is severe flow disturbance.
[2] Bridging, though satisfactory for uniform undisturbed flow, is unsatisfactory for severe (but realistic) flow conditions.
[3] Pack permeability impairment is minimized and hence production is maximized if the median-grain size ratio is 6 under severe flow conditions and with given perforations.
[4] For good results, rounded grains are better than angular grains for gravel packing.
[5] Well productivity may be enhanced with Page|88 increasing perforation size or density. [1] Perforation tunnels must be supported with gravels to avoid failure; and squeeze packing gives better results.

Recommendations
[2] Before packing, perforation debris should be removed by back surging or any equivalent method.
[3] Completions string and gravel pack equipment should be cleaned and that packing fluids be compatible with the formation.