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Over the last years, expandable screens technology has become more mature and many oil and gas wells are now equipped with such sand control. This paper intends to present typical applications through three case studies. The first case regards a gas well in Indonesia, where gas reserves are found in many thin layers spread over several hundreds of meters. Traditional sand control methods do not allow flexible and cost effective protection of many thin layers. Expandable screens were installed in a cased hole after a work-over with the aim to maximize gas reserves despite weak sand formation. The paper addresses the erosion concern related to this configuration. In the second case, an old oil well in Cameroon was side tracked in order to reach marginal reserves. Frac-packing, preferred sand control method in Cameroon, was not practical considering the small drilling diameter, the high well angle, the dependency to stimulation boat availability and the economical constraints. Instead, expandable screens were installed in open hole, allowing cutting the cost down while providing very good well performance. Expandable screens open new opportunities to access additional reserves that were not economical with traditional technology. At last the third case demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing expandable screens in a high profile deep water development in Nigeria. The paper describes three water injection wells where expandable screens were successfully installed in an open hole, and addresses the challenging deployment from a floating rig. |
