Being a pioneer and a leading profile wire screen in the industry, we thought of educating the public on the various products we offer. Today we will look at what is sand control screen all about. 

What is Sand Control Screens?

Before we answer the question above on 'what is sand control screens?' Let me begin by explaining what Sand Control is. 

According to Oilfield Encyclopedia, Sand control refers to managing/minimizing sand and fine production during petroleum production. 

souce: http://www.oilfieldwiki.com/wiki/File:Gravel_pack_sand_control.jpg

Why minimize or manage sand produced? 

The main reason why we need to manage sand produced is to minimize erosion and wear of production facilities which leads to production downtime, expensive repairs and potentially loss of containment. 

For normal flow of oil, formation should be porous, permeable and well cemented together, so that the large volumes ofhydrocarbons can flow easily through the formations and into production wells.

There are few situations arises where these produced fluids may carry entrained there in sand. Unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs with permeability of 0.5 to 8 Darcie’s are most susceptible to sand production. This may start during first flow or later when reservoir pressure has fallen or water breaks through. Sand production strikes with varying degrees of severity, not all of which require action. The rate of sand production may decline with time at constant production conditions and is frequently associated with cleanup after stimulation.

Sometimes, even continuous sand production is tolerated. But this option may lead to a well becoming seriously damaged, production being killed or surface equipment being disabled. What constitutes an acceptable level of sand production depends on operational constraints like resistance to erosion, separator capacity, ease of sand disposal and the capability of artificial lift equipment to remove sand laden fluid from the well.

Sand entering production wells is one of the oldest problems faced by oil companies and one of the toughest to solve. Production of sand during oil production causes severe operational problem for oil producers. Every year the petroleum industry spends millions of dollars in sand cleaning, repair problems related to sand production and lost problems related to sand production and lost revenues due to restricted production rates. Read more here....

The effects of sand produced

The effects of sand production are nearly always detrimental to the short and/or long term productivity of the well. Although some wells routinely experience “manageable” sand production, these wells are the exception. 

• Accumulation in Surface Equipment: If the production velocity is great enough to carry sand up the tubing, the sand may become trapped in the separator, HE, or production pipeline. If a large enough volume of sand becomes trapped in one of these areas, cleaning will be required to allow for efficient production of the well. To restore production, the well must be shut-in, the surface equipment opened, and the sand manually removed. In addition to the clean out cost, the cost of the deferred production must be considered.

• Accumulation Down hole: If the production velocity is not great enough to carry sand to the surface, the sand may bridge off in the tubing or fall and begin to fill the inside of the casing. Eventually, the producing interval may be completely covered with sand. In either case, the production rate will decline until the well becomes "sanded up" and production ceases. In situations like this, remedial operations are required to clean-out the well and restore production. (Oilfield Encyclopedia )

Here we see that the effects of sand production are detrimental to short and long term productivity of the well.

How do we minimize it? 

Sand Control Method - 

Sand control methods may be classified as mechanical and chemical. Mechanical methods of sand control prevent sand production by stopping the formation with liners, screens or gravel packs. Larger formation sand grains are stopped, and they in turn stop smaller formation sand grains. Chemical control methods involve in injecting consolidating materials like resins into the formation to cement the sand grains. 

Here we are discussing the most important control measures which are in practice.

1. Resin Injection
2. Screen with Gravel Pack 

So now you understand what Sand Control Screens is all about. Stay tune for the next post where we will be discussing on how to select a sand control screens. 

Thank you for reading. 

CP-Screens

P/S - If you are currently in the OIL & GAS industry and would like to know more about the benefit of sand control screens, do click HERE for more information.