Sanding onset for offshore depleted using critical drawdown pressure: a case study for

well X Culong basin in Vietnam

Bui Tu An1, Nguyen Van Hung1*, Duong Tien Trung1, Luong Hai Linh1, Nguyen Huu Truong1, Truong Minh Hoang2
1
Petrovietnam University, Baria Vung Tau, Vietnam
2
Ho Chi Minh City University of Science, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
*Corresponding author
(anbt@pvu.edu.vn, hungnv@pvu.edu.vn , trungdt@pvu.edu.vn , linhlh@pvu.edu.vn, truongnh@pvu.edu.vn, tmhoang@hcmus.edu.vn )
ABSTRACT. This paper presents the reservoir pressure depletion will cause rock stress changes, which results in an increasing likelihood of
serious sand production in the unconsolidated sandstone reservoir. This paper aims at offshore unconsolidated sandstone oil reservoir, analyzes
rock stresses of the borehole wall with impact of reservoir pressure depletion on in-situ stresses on rock strength. A full review basic theory in
geomechanics will be presented, such as: rock failure criterions, sanding critical drawdown pressure calculating model and a numerical
calculating method for the model are developed. Furthermore, a case study sanding prediction method for pressure depletion of offshore oil
reservoir in Cuulong Basin, Vietnam also is presented. Using the model analysis, on the other hand the chart of sanding onset is relatively large
with the high formation pressure depletion. On the other hand, the sand will be appeared no matter how small the drawdown is.
KEYWORDS: sanding, drawdown pressure, geomechanics model

1. INTRODUCTION
Currently, there are many studies about geological structure and oil and gas exploration in some different regions in Cuu Long
basin using various methods and research materials. Many discoveries have been put into production such as Bach Ho, Rang Dong
and Rong. Oil and gas in Cuu Long basin are produced from three targets: fractured granite basement, Oligocene and Miocene
sandstone, in which Miocene sandstone is usually unconsolidated or weakly consolidated. Therefore, in production stage, when
pore pressure declines, increase of formation stresses causes formation failure so sanding occurs. Sanding normally involves with
pressure depletion, mechanical characteristics of rock and production rate. If an oil well is completed without sand control
equipment, cohesionles sand particles could be transported from the reservoir to the wellbore by the flow of fluid and cause
reduction in production rate. Sand accumulation in wellbore restricts fluid flow from reservoir to wellhead. Sand also causes
erosion of downhole and surface facilities. Thus, it is necessary to limit sanding impacts in production stage by selecting an
appropriate sanding onset prediction model for forecasting sanding potential of oil wells, which is absolutely necessary.
Many sand production prediction models have been developed in oil and gas industry. One of them is technical method and
logging to determine maximum production rate in sandstone reservoir without sand control so that sanding does not occur. Core
experiments are conducted at reservoir conditions to determine failure states due to stress variation, perforation conditions, etc.
In this paper, the authors present the sanding onset prediction model for wells in sandstone reservoir in Cuu Long basin. This
model introduces a relationship to calculate critical bottom hole pressure corresponding to a known value of reservoir pressure
from core data, in-situ stresses, depth, inclination angle and azimuth of well. An excel spreadsheet is also presented to calculate
from input data available.
2. GEOLOGY DATA
The geological structure of Cuu Long basin is very complex. The basin was formed as a result of collision of three tectonic plates:
the Eurasian plate from the North, the Indo-Australian plate from the West and South; the Pacific plate from the East [Nguyen et
al., 2014]. During pre-Tertiary, entire Southeast Asian continental shelf is influenced by the folding and magmatic processes many
times. Therefore, most of the Pre-Cenozoic sedimentary areas, basements were crinkled and became heterogeneous in age and
material content.
During the early period of Early Miocene, starting of folding, strong subsidence took place in the central of the basin, subsidence
rate increased, marine flooded into this area and the egde zones were deltaic. Therefore, a specific system created in this period
were characterized by the coastal-deltaic sediments. Along the way to the center of the basin, clay and silt content rose. In deep
axial zone, material content was mainly coastal fluvial clay and silt. During the late period of Early Miocene, Rotalia shale section
appeared with the thickness of about 200 250 m, covered almost the entire basin and acted as a regional seal. During Middle
Miocene, the basin continued subsiding, marine incursion flooded into a large area and formed Con Son sediment including
sandstone formations alternating thin siltstone layers and shale. In the late period of Middle Miocene, the basin was lifted up.
In conslusion, Cuu Long basin experienced various development stages, such as foreland basin (before Oligocene), rift basin (in
the Oligocene), folding basins (in the Miocene), and continental shelf basin (from Pliocene to present). Sediment supply sources
were mainly from Cuu Long delta in the northwest and Corat Con son uplift in the southwest. In the initial stage, in Eocene-
Oligocene, Con Son uplift acted as submarine basis separating between the basin and South China Sea. However, since the late
Miocene, the area involved in the process of subsidence and expansion. This process still continues, marine floods to the entire
basin, while continental shelf materials are deposited. This basin forms were related to the tensile stresses so faults in the basin
were mainly normal and horsts, grabens were formed: this is the main focus of upward movement of oil from the deep reservoirs.
3. THEORY
3.1. Overview
Sanding is the appearance of small to large amount of solid particles flowing with reservoir fluid. Solid content varies from several
grams per a ton of fluid. When the amount of sand produced is larger than a certain limit value (this limit depends on the
conditions of specified fields, such as the limit in Gulf Coast field is 0.1% of total volume), sand control must be applied. The
consequence of sanding is enormous, sand accumulation in production well can cause well abandonment, formation collapse so
that the well can not be produced, sand rise in well while drilling

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3.2. Rock mechanics
Changes in status of rock are important to determine failure
mechanism. Failure can be seen on the curve (fig. 1), the figure
illustrates the change of the rocks status when pressure changes. Rock
has three states: elastic, plastic and failure state. This curve consists of
four regions. The figure 1 shows rock mechanics hebaviour under a
loading. From the point O to A: elastic deformation, if there is force
conducted on the object, it causes deformation and then the object
returns to its original position when stopping conducting the force.
From A to B: strain changes with stress. From O to B: the elasticity
region. Point B is ultimate strength. From B to C: when force is applied,
deformation changes and the object can not return to its original
position when stopping conducting the force. BC is the plasticity
region, state starts changing at point B. From C to D: rupture.
Fig. 1. Stress and strain relationship
3.3. Wellbore bore stability
In order to determine the stress state of the formation at a certain
depth, we consider an infinitesimal element at that depth. Meanwhile,
the element is subjected to forces, as shown below (fig. 2).
a. Determination of formation stress
The stresses of the formation are always in equilibrium or steady state.
If there is any change of forces, there will be a stress concentration
and a new equilibrium will be established. The stress state of the
formation is represented by three principal stresses: overburden stress
(v), minimum horizontal stress (h) and maximum horizontal stress
(H). The methods to determine the magnitude and direction of the Fig. 2. Stress state of formation
stress are microfrac testing, determination of deformation and record
of elastic deformation. In addition, methods for determining the stress
related to the destruction of formation such as: Kaisers effect, bottom
hole illustration tools and sonic logging tools. However, stress is also
determined through density log by correlations.
In fact, overburden stress (v), minimum horizontal stress (h) and
maximum horizontal stress(H) are determined through stress gradient
values from the researches and measures, these values will be
compared with the values calculated from formulas or core
experiments.
b. Formation failure mechanism
When the formation is drilled through the new stress state is set
around the well. The magnitude of this new state of stress can be large
enough to cause failure to the formation. Any impact of the stress state
can cause sand appearance. If bottom hole pressure increases, normal Fig 3. Mohrs failure mechanism
stress increases and tangential stress decreases. When tangential stress
falls to a small enough value, it will change from shear state to tensile state. Most of formation can remain stable against tensile
force, but will fail due to shear force. If bottom hole pressure drops, tangential stress will increase and normal stress will decrease.
Large pressure reduction in the wellbore can cause normal stress greater than formation strength. Sand particles begins to flow into
the well. Formation failure mechanism includes: tensile failure, shear failure, cohesive failure and pore collapse (fig. 3).
4. BUILDING MODEL
4.1. Studying some models for predicting sand production
a. Field data method
Morita (1989) et al., 1989 study sand production from field data. In this study, five sand types from five different formations are
experimented: sand production from weak formations (Alaska region); sand production due to water influx in formations of weak
to moderate strength (North Sea region); sand production due to reservoir pressure reduction in strong formations, abnormal
tectonic forces (Saint Andreas California) and sand production due to dramatic change of flow or excessive production rate.
b. Core experiment
Study of perforation stability based on numerical and physical model is presented by Somerville and Bin Samsuri (1991). Physical
model consists of two types: block model and cylinder model. Uniaxial compression test is conducted on a block model with
length of 457 mm, width of 305 mm, 127 mm diameter dril hole, 12-mm-diameter perforation tunnel and alternate perforation
density and angle. Triaxial compression test is conducted on cylinder model with length of 110 mm, 55 mm diameter, 25 mm
diameter drill hole and alternate perforation density and angle. Wellbore failure occurs at the perforation entrance and propagates
along the wellbore. An observation is drawn that: the influence of geometric parameters of perforation such as diameter and length

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of shot hole to perforation stability and sand production is less strong than influence of structural parameters such as perforation
density, perforation angle and shape of perforation hole. Spiral perforation tunnel is more stable and produces less sand than other
shapes such as linear and plain shape. The perforation stability decreases and amount of produced sand increases when the
perforation density increases.
c. Numerical model method
In this method, mechanical characteristics of field are dertermined in laboratory by using finite element method to predict affected
formation based on principle stresses at failure position. Youngs modulus and Poissons ratio are determined in stress and strain
laboratory. The fine grain and coarse grain models are used to determine their sanding potential. The results show that the amount
of fine grains produced increases after limit point and extends when reaching equilibrium. The amount of solid particles produced
may involve with the volume and ares of rock limit surface. Therefore, the amount of sand produced can be estimated by defining
limit of the rock surfaces around the perforation hole.
d. Welltest method
Welltest process designed properly with efficient operation of
surface equipment, bottom-hole tools and sand detection devices
is the best method to verify sand production at initial reservoir
pressure. However, testing equipment and well completion must
be compatible with critical pressure drawdown and flow rate.
The process must also be operated continuously under the
original sand production points to check whether the sand
amount of the flow rate decreases fast, otherwise an intermittent
sand production does not take place. Sand checking process
should include repeat of flow checking steps and the expansion
of flow under lightly sand production conditions.
4.2. Sand production prediction model applied to Cuu Long
basin
a. Basis of model
Many authors have studied the stress distribution near the
wellbore, but mainly focused on the assumption that the vicinity
of wellbore is homogeneous, near-wellbore stress zones are
poroelastic. Considering a well in space, the stress distribution
around the well are determined through the Kirschs equation, in
this case well model is assumed to be linear elastic and
homogenous.
Let consider the coordinate system where the z axis coincides
with the axis of the well and angle from the x-axis to a certain Fig. 4. Stress distribution at wellbore
direction (fig. 4). So Kirschs equations for stress calculation are
as follow Eq. (1) (3):
x H cos2 a h sin 2 a . cos2 i v sin 2 i (1)

y H sin 2 a h cos2 a sin 2 i (2)

z H cos2 a h . sin 2 a sin 2 i v cos2 i (3)

b. Calculation model
From the theoretical basis of formation failure, a sand production prediction model
is commonly used today in the oil and gas exploration companies. This model
[Edson et al., 2014] predicts the shear stress around the open hole, or cased hole
completion (with perforation). Sand production is considered to occur when the
maximum effective tangential stress around the wellbore exceeds the apparent
axial compressive stress (fig. 5).
In this model, formation stresses are considered to be perpendicular to the axis of
the well, while tangential stresses on the surface of the wellbore are given by Eq.
(4), (5):
1 3 y x pw1 A Apr (4)

2 3 x y pw 1 A Apr (5) Fig. 5. Tangential stresses at wellbore

To prevent sand production, the maximum effective tangential stress, 2 - pw, must be smaller than effective formation strength,
U: p U
2 w

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Solving this inequation for bottom hole pressure, pw in Eq. (6):
3 U A
pw CBHFP = 1 3 pr (6)
2 A 2 A
Critical Drawdown Pressure (CDP) is defined as the pressure reduction from the reservoir pressure to a pressure value at which
formation failure occurs, Eq. (7).
CDP
1

2 p 3 U
2 A r 1 3
(7)

Critical reservoir pressure (CRP) is defined as the reservoir pressure reduction corresponding to the CDP = 0. Therefore, we have
Eq. (8):
3 U (8)
CRP 1 3
2
Formation strength, U is determined from thick wall cylincder model experiments with outer diameter-inner diameter ration
ranging from 6 to 8. Thus:
- U 3,1.TWC - for cased and perforated completion.
- U 2,5TWC - for open-hole completion.
Where TWC: is determined from experiment. In addition,
TWC is also determined from the empirical formulas
TWC 9.1UCS0.61 or correlations.
1and3are linearly dependent on reservoir pressure pr. In
production stage, reservoir pressure declines and then in-situ stress and
formation stress change as a result of reservoir pressure depletion.
Therefore, a sand-free producing well can produce sand after a period of
time. To study the effect of reservoir pressure depletion on sanding
potential, the model is conducted at the different reservoir pressure. In
figure 6, the triangular graph is built to identify no-sanding regions and
sanding regions based on the relationship between depletion of reservoir
pressure and critical bottom hole pressure. Thus, there is a critical
bottom-hole pressure corresponding to a reservoir pressure, if bottom Fig. 6. Predicting sanding potential by shear failure stress
model
hole pressure is smaller than this critical bottom-hole pressure the
formation will fail and sand will be produced.
5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1. Mechanical characteristics of Miocene sandstone
From the theory above, the sanding mechanisms due to shear forces involve directly with the reservoir pressure depletion.
Therefore, to prevent sand production during production stage, fields must be produced at minimum (critical) bottom-hole pressure
while reservoir pressure declines. To produce above this level, it is necessary to use mechanical sand control and water and gas
injection for reservoir pressure maintainance.
From core analysis results of some fields such as Bach Ho, Rong, Rang Dong, Su Tu Den, compressive strength changes from 4.4
to 21.2 MPa, average value is 9.7 MPa. According to the classification of Deere and Miller, compressive strength of Miocene
sandstone in Cuu Long basin are generally very weak. Poissons ratio changes from 0.22 to 0.37 and average value is 0.29.
Youngs modulus varies from 2.6 9.4 GPa and average value is 4.7 GPa. Permeability varies from 390 4402 mD and average
value is 2199 mD. Porosity varies from 14.8 31.7% and average value is 26.4%. Overall, permeability and pororsity of Miocene
sandstone in Cuu Long basin are quite high, so this is a good reservoir. However, sand production occurs easily due to very weak
mechanical characteristics.
5.2. Results of model application Table 1. Wells information
The production wells X1, X2, X3, X4 are designed to be X1 X2 X3 X4
drilled in Miocene sandstone, initial information shown in Well diameter in 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.5
table 1, sanding potential are analyzed with azimuth and TVD m 3442 3045 3000 2705
inclination of well or perforation angle for open hole and/or Inclination angle (i) degree 65 6 10 90
cased perforated wells during reservoir pressure depletion. Azimuth (a) degree 80 70 60 60
a. X1 well Poissons ration 0.29 0.28 0.15 0.28
Sanding potential is analyzed for open hole completion. Biots constant 1 1 1 1
Results (fig. 7) shows that with the initial reservoir pressure Reservoir pressure psi 9836 9131 8000 3916
of 9836 psi, the maximum allowable drawdown pressure is UCS psi 1500 1800 1500 2093
6913 psi corresponding to allowable critical bottom-hole Overburden stress psi 11150 9100 9100 8509
pressure of 2923 psi. No-sanding zone expressed by Minimum horizontal stress psi 9100 9050 9050 5297
triangular graph describes the relationship between the Maximum horizontal stress psi 10500 10500 10500 6078

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reservoir pressure and bottom hole pressure. Considering well inclination angle, with constant azimuth, the figure 8 shows that the
greater the angle is the bigger the sanding zone is and vice versa. Considering well azimuth, with constant inclination angle, the
figure 9 shows that the smaller the azimuth is the smaller the sanding zone is and vice versa.
The results show that: when drilling a production well, it is necessary to consider the angle of inclination and the azimuth of
wellbore in producing formation to determine the maximum value of bottom-hole drawdown pressure without sand production.

Fig. 7. Sand production prediction Fig. 8. Sand production analysis of Fig. 9. Sand production analysis of azimuth
for X1 well inclination for X1 well for X1 well
b. X2 well
Sanding potential is analyzed for open hole completion, calculation result as in the table 3. Results (fig.10) shows that with the
initial reservoir pressure of 9131 psi, the maximum allowable drawdown pressure is 8536 psi corresponding to allowable critical
bottom-hole pressure of 595 psi. If differential pressure exists at bottom-hole when reservoir pressure declines to 3203 psi, the
formation fails and sand production occurs. The figure 11 shows that the no-sanding zone is very stable inspire of an increase in
inclination angle. Sanding potential is independent on inclination angle when azimuth remains constant (fig 12).

Fig. 10. Sand production prediction Fig. 11. Sand production analysis Fig. 12. Sand production analysis of azimuth
for X2 well of inclination for X2 well for X2 well
c. X3 well
Sanding potential is analyzed for open-hole and cased - perforated completion. Calculation results are shown in figure 13. The
result above shows that sanding potential in open hole completion is very high with critical reservoir pressure of 4988 psi,
maximum differential pressure of 5121 psi, minimum bottom hole pressure of 2879 psi. In the other hand, for cased and perforated
completion well the differential between reservoir pressure and bottom hole pressure could be equal to reservoir pressure until
reservoir pressure reachs 6682 psi, critical reservoir pressure is 2728 psi, no-sanding zone is very large, so production stage is
efficient. In cased and perforatied completion, figure 14 illustrates the result of considering effect of perforation angle to no-
sanding zone when perforation angle varies from 20 to 60 degrees. The result shows that the optimum perforation angle is
approximately 30 degrees therefore no-sanding zone is largest.

Fig. 13. Sand production prediction for X3 well

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 Fig. 14. Sand production analyses with respect to inclination for X3 well
d. X4 well
Sanding potential is analyzed with perforation angle for cased completion. The result in the figure 15 indicates that cased and
perforated completion is optimum for this horizontal well, when perforation angle is 45 sand production phenomenon will occur
at the end of life cycle of the field. However, when the perforation angle is 0 (peforations are parallel to the vertical line), sand
production phenomenon will not occur.

Fig. 15. Sand production analyses with respect to perforation angle for X4 well
6. CONCLUSION
Sand production prediction model studied in this paper could be applied when production wells in the Miocene sandstone in Cuu
Long Basin. This model predicts the failure shear stress around openhole wells, or cased and perforated completion wells. Sand
production problem occurs when the maximum value of the effective tangential stress around wellbore exceeds the effective
formation strength. From the theory studied above, the sanding mechanism due to shear forces directly involves with the reduction
of the reservoir pressure. Therefore, to prevent sanding during production stage, bottom hole pressure must be greater than critical
pressure (CBHFP) during reservoir pressure depletion. The methodology to determine CBHFP could be divided into three steps:
1. Determine stress along the well axe (UCS log derived) in the producing wellbore section from sonic log data, uniaxial
compression test of core sample and mechanical formation.
2. From the value of UCS, estimate effective formation strength U from correlation between UCS and TWC, TWC could be
estimated by empirical formulas.
3. Estimate overburden stress, reservoir pressure and in-situ stresses (1 and 2) along the productive section of wellbore. From
the values of 1 and 2 and the values determined in the first step, calculate CBHFB using the formula below:
3 U Ap
pw CBHFP 1 2 r
2 A
Calculation results and analysis show that sanding potential of a well depends on effective formation strength, in-situ stress states,
azimuth and inclination angles of the wells, perfpration direction, the azimuth of the principal stresses. To produce at high flow
rate and optimum pressure without sanding, production well in sandstone reservoir must be completed with casing and perforation.
Declination angle, azimuth and perforation angle should be analyzed such that sanding zone is smallest and drawdown pressure is
maximum.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work is funded by Petrovietnam University under grant code GV1501, we would like to thank to the board of manager of
PVU for the support.
REFERENCES
Nguyen BTT, Tokanaga T, Okui, A (2014) In Situ Stress and Pore Pressure Fields in the North Cuu Long Basin, Offshore Vietnam, SPE
87055.
Edson Felipe Araujo, et al (2014) Analytical Prediction Model of Sand Production Integrating Geomechanics for Open Hole and Cased
Perforated Wells. SPE-171107-MS.
Morita, N., Whitfill, D. L., Massie, I. And Knudsen, T.W (1989) Realistic Sand Production Prediction: Numerical Approach. SPE Production
Engineer.
Somerville, J.M, Bin Samsuri, A (1991) Perforation stability: Physical and numerical modelling, ARMA 91-763.

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