SPE 128046

Expandable Screens: Field Cases in Deepwater Environment

X. Degos, J-N. Furgier, P. Dufour, F. Marpaung, S.Bourgoin, Total E&P, SPE

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2010 SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control held in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, 1012 February 2010.
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Abstract
Expandable screens are a relatively new technique in the industry. Recently, three typical cases of expandable screen
applications were presented in the SPE paper 121543. The present paper focuses on deepwater case histories of expandable
screen applications within TOTAL.
Deepwater projects are challenging, high profile jobs. Reliability and robustness are key factors in selecting the right sand
control techniques. So the benefits of using of expandable screens must be plain so as to offset the reluctance of introducing
this relatively new technique.
Large deepwater developments started for TOTAL in 2000 in West Africa. On those projects and since, the typical
development scheme for unconsolidated, uniform, medium-size sand fields, has been:
- Horizontal oil producer completed with Stand Alone Screens.
- Deviated oil producer completed with either Stand Alone Screens or Frac-Pack completions (depending on reservoir
characteristics).
- Horizontal and deviated water injector completed with Stand Alone Screens.
That typical deepwater scheme now introduces expandable screens in:
- water Injectors for deviated wells, and
- oil producers for deviated wells.
This paper offers feedback and insight on case histories from West African projects. It details the installation process (mud,
cake treatment, and expansion aspects in application from floating rigs), the limitations and the performances.

SPE 128046

INTRODUCTION
Remark: all the fields mentioned here are located in West Africa in high permeability sands where the finest facies can be
defined as follows:
poorly to very poorly consolidated sand (quicksand)
Finest sand facies defined by:
o Uniformity coefficient below 6-7.
o Fine content up to 20%
o D10 in the range of 130-200 m
o D50 in the range of 75 90 m
This paper proposes to share some operator experience concerning the relatively new technology of Expandable Screens. The
technology is often questioned but communications on the subject are rare. The main reluctance in using it often centres on
its long terms reliability (collapse and sand retention issues). As the field cases presented are all relatively new, it is too early
as yet to fully answer such questions here. But at least this document will clarify the reasons for our interest in the
technology, resulting in a growing number of field applications.
The paper is divided into 3 main sections:
o Field case history: showing through a complete description of our applications, how the technology was gradually
introduced.
o Lessons learnt: the main know-how captured on different aspects from installation to performances.
o Application range: expandable screens as compared to other techniques.
Expandable screens definitively have a place in sand control technique portfolio.

1. FIELD CASES HISTORY IN TOTAL GROUP

The introduction of expandable screens within the company has been a slow process.
First trials
Expandable screens were first introduced on a TOTAL field for a deepwater exploration well (in country A) in May 2000.
This vertical well was completed with expandable screen - 4- 270m mesh, in a 6, 90-meter-long open hole. A screen
connection failure occurred during expansion work and the well was finally gravel packed.
The connector problem was corrected by the supplier, which brought out a second-generation model.
A second chance was given to the technology in January 2001, in country D. A second open-hole application was tried while
working over an old oil producer well. The new branch was completed with expandable screens - 4- 270m mesh, in a 6
open hole, 76 meters in length. The operation was successful and the well was brought on stream and produced with a good
productivity index (rate: 300m3/d) and no solids production.
Slow development
From early 2001 to end 2007, no open-hole applications were completed. Only five remedial sand control jobs were done
using expandable screens in cased-hole applications to retain sands at perforation level. But these successive applications
slowly built up confidence with regard to the expansion process. The results are detailed in SPE paper 121543 written by JN
Furgier et al.
It was not until December 2007 that the next open-hole application was carried out in country E. A work-over on an old oil
producer was targeting new reservoir. The newly-drilled branch at an inclination of 72 was completed with expandable
screens - 4,5- 150m mesh, in a 6open hole, 41 meters long, drilled with an oil-based mud and later treated with a cake
removal chemical. The result was encouraging with a measured mechanical skin of 0 and no solid production observed
despite a high water cut.
Generalization to low deviation deepwater water injectors.
In 2008, expandable screens were introduced in the deepwater projects as the sand control method for the deviated water
injector wells. Today, projects in countries C and B have a combined total of nine water injector wells equipped with
expandable screens - 7- 230m mesh, in 8.5 open holes with an average length of 50 meters, and an inclination of less than
52.

SPE 128046

Introduction to low deviation deepwater oil producers.

A deep water project in country C was developed with traditional frac pack completions. After some disappointing
productivity results, a study was carried out to address the possibility of completing the deviated wells with expandable
screen completions instead. The prime drivers were productivity enhancement and cost reduction (estimated at 10MUSD per
well for 2 zones). In 2009, two oil producer wells with selective completions, drilled with OBM were therefore completed
with expandable screens 7- 150m mesh, in 8.5open holes with a maximum length of 75 meters. Only one of them is
brought on stream at present. Initial results confirm that productivity expectations are reached (higher PI than for previous
Frac Packs).
A new deepwater project in the same country will complete the deviated water injector wells with equipment from another
supplier. This will be the first use of a second type of expandable screens for TOTAL.

2. EXPANDABLE SCREENS INSTALLATION LESSONS LEARNT

After 11 deepwater applications for Expandable screens, the technique is now considered field proven, cost-effective and
efficient.
The main lessons are outlined below:
Design considerations
On top of the traditional parameters to be defined (such as screen diameter, metallurgy, reservoir isolation requirement ), a
number of criteria require particular attention when it comes to designing an expandable screen completion:
The mesh selection is done based on the D10 of the finest sand. Screens performances are later verified via two criteria:
Sand retention capability: Pre-pack and slurry tests are done in laboratory.
Mud plugging tolerance: Production Screen Tests are carried out with different mud qualities (drilling mud and
sieved mud).
Selection of the best screen corresponds to conjunction of those two criteria.
A limit for the D10 is nevertheless set today at 150m, below which value, gravel filtering techniques (FP or OHGP) are
preferred.
This selection process is the same as for SAS screen selection where the findings in the laboratory tests for solids production
are in the same order of magnitude as those observed in West African fields.
The Drill In Fluid (DIF) design is essential. Like for Stand Alone Screens (SAS) completions, mud solids must be
calibrated such as to:
Generate non-damaging mud cake on the bore hole.
Pass through the screen.
The sieved mud in which the completion is run, must meet a number of stringent rules in respect of solid content to avoid
plugging.
Geomechanic aspects must be carefully considered. The expandable screens used in our present experience, have a very low
collapse resistance (300-400psi). To ensure long terms reliability, stresses applied to the screen during well life time must be
verified in both sands and shale. Long terms reliability means that the screens internal diameter must remain above a
minimum regardless of the reservoir conditions.
This requires a good knowledge of the facies properties and the use of geomechanical models.
Sand behavior is relatively well known and examples abound to back up the models. Shale behavior on the other hand is
more difficult to model, owing to cores not preserved sufficiently to be representative and difficulty in qualifying creeping
phenomena
There are, however, other types of expandable screens with higher collapse resistance and less sensitivity to the
geomechanical constraints.
In the same way as for SAS completions, certain precautions must be respected during clean-up/start-up and generally in all
ramp-up sequences, to ensure there is no plugging around the screen. Plugging can cause screen collapse if drawdown
exceeds their collapse resistance.
These precautions include:
mandatory cake treatment, as a precaution, to ensure that the full length of open hole is correctly contributing.
smooth ramp-up.
maximum drawdown for at least a month at a value below the collapse resistance of the screen.

SPE 128046

Running in hole
Our experience so far comprises:
8.5 holes drilled in sieved-non aqueous base mud (NABM) were all gauged at +-0.1. This verification is done with
an open hole caliper log prior running screens in hole.
Running, up to 85 m of screens, in deviation up to 45 in NABM in a dedicated trip without wash pipes. All our
completions (more than 10 completions in different countries) were successfully run to target depth.
All screen hangers were successfully set.
No single trip has been done so far; a dedicated run for expansion was necessary.
Screen expansion process
So far, only one expansion method has been tested. This method has similitude with drilling operations as the
expansion tool is driven by the string in rotation and a constant ROP is required to complete a fully compliant expansion.
Expansion operations were carried out from different floating vessels with different compensation capabilities:
Some from last generation rigs with compensation ensured via a combination of passive compensator and auto-drill
Some from previous generation rigs where auto-drill capability was not available, in which case compensation was
ensured not by the rigs heave compensation system but by two bumper subs in series in the expansion BHA.
They were all successful, demonstrating the feasibility of the expansion process with floating drilling rigs.
In one case, combined expansion runs for screens and Annulus Barrier Tools (Open-hole packers) were successfully
achieved.
From the caliper logs recorded before running the screens and then after their expansion, the internal diameters were
at level expected for full compliance.
One well on the lower section however, was irregularly expanded. Reasons are under investigation (hole stability or
expansion issue) but the well was 100% operational.
For the post-log expansion, mechanical caliper were finally preferred to sonic imager logs for the simplicity of their
interpretation.
The screen type used for our applications induces elongation of the screens and Annulus Barrier Tools, during
expansion process. The elongation ratio can fluctuate by a factor 10 depending on the expansion parameters. This must be
taken into account for screen placement by including an allowance.
Cake treatment
Oil producers are normally only concerned by cake treatment in our developments if their mechanical skin is
outside the expected range. Nevertheless, when they are completed with expandable screens, the long-term reliability issue is
incentive enough for taking care. Cake treatment is systematically applied before well start-up to ensure maximized
contributing length and lowest achievable skin.
For water injectors, as the philosophy is to minimize skin and maximize contributing borehole length, systematic
cake treatment is planned, irrespective of sand control technique.
Well Performances
Expandable screens involve a minimum of operations, which are not especially complex and do not require any
particular supervision competency. The Non Productive Time experienced is therefore low to very low, generally < 5%
In theory, expandable screens should have sand retention performances at least equivalent to Stand-Alone Screens.
This was verified on two producing oil wells and no solids production was observed (at surface or at Xmas Tree sand
detector).
Injectivity performances are being analyzed but, clearly, wells are injecting with the desired Injectivity Indexes at
high flow rates of up to 50 kbwpd.
Regarding oil producers, one of the 2 wells in production is confirmed to have a skin of 0, while the other is
producing at 10 kbopd (note: no skin data available due to gauge failure and productivity results as per the best adjacent wells
equipped with stacked frac packs).

3. SAND CONTROL PHILOSOPHY AND EXPANDABLE SCREENS

Through several fields in different West African countries, TOTAL has built up its deepwater completion experience over a
period of 10 years and more than 120 wells installed.
On the strength of this experience, a portfolio of sand control techniques and selection guidelines has been defined. This
chapter explains where Expandable Screens find applications in our wells.
Defining a typical scheme is a difficult exercise and the pitfall of establishing rigid dogma has to be avoided. Our objective is
to find the most efficient way to complete a field based on a multitude of parameters, from reservoir and process
characteristics to drilling constraints, with cost as the ultimate driver.

SPE 128046

West Africa deepwater experience overview

Totals 10 years of sand control experience in deepwater fields in West Africa is summarized in the table 1: Well summary
in West Africa deepwater projects which reveals a typical sand control scheme.
Table 1 :Wells summary in West Africa deepwater projects (at Q2 2009)
Oil

Inclination
Horizontal
(>65)
Deviated
(<65)

Oil producer well

Sand control technique

Qty

Water injector well

Sand control technique

Qty

Stand Alone Screens

56

Stand Alone Screens

28

Stand Alone Screens

Frac Pack
Expandable screens

4
19
2

Stand Alone Screens

Frac Pack
Expandable Screens

20
0
9

producer wells:
Stand alone screens have been widely used to complete horizontal oil producer wells and have proven to be an efficient
technique:
Sand retention: average solid production observed is below 20 mg/liter of produced fluid. It should be noted that, of the
56 wells completed, 3 produced sand due to inadequate design and production instructions. Lessons have been learnt and
those 3 events remain isolated cases.
Productivity for well with deviation >65 (highly deviated to horizontal) is good. Mechanical skins observed, are in the
range of +5 to +10. It is deemed sufficient for our deepwater application, where geometrical skins are negative and
reservoir pressures are maintained by water injection.
Productivity for wells with deviation <65 (vertical to low deviated) is questionable. Today, 3 wells are in this case, with
skin around +15. It must be noted that the solids isolation in the annulus for those particular wells was not appropriate.
Nevertheless, although feedback is limited, SAS are not recommended in this deviation range.
Low cost is a real pro for this technique. The hardware is the cheapest and completion time is the shortest achievable.
Frac Packs have been used to equip the deviated oil producer wells with the following results:
Good sand retention: no instances of sand production reported.
Productivity: mechanical skins range between +2 and +5, which is expectable in such high permeability reservoirs. On
one field were mobility (k.h/) is high, skins are predominantly above +10.
Very expensive method
Frac Packs installations are complex and risky operations. For the 19 Frac-Packed wells completed successfully, one
well was abandoned due to failure during Frac-Pack installation.
Heavy design constraints limit the inclination angle and interval lengths to values not conducive to optimized reservoir
sweeping.
Expandable screen applications are insignificant in number compared to other techniques. Nevertheless, their introduction
as an alternative to certain high-skin stacked frac packs is so far satisfactory:
sand retention: no sand production events reported after several months of production
productivity: productivity indexes are equivalent to best of the adjacent wells with Frac Packs.
cost: the method is competitive with SAS for short drain lengths
complexity is low and NPT in the range of 0 to 5%
zonal isolation has proven to be 100% effective.
Open-Hole Gravel Pack: so far none have been completed in West Africa but a new project, starting in 2010 in country A,
plans to use OHGP for some horizontal drains. The reason for not using SAS is that the geological predictions are less precise
than elsewhere and it is important for some wells to be particularly robust to ensure the first-oil production level.
Water Injection wells:
Stand alone screens were used in both horizontal and deviated water injector wells. No solids production is reported in
injector wells and injectivity indexes are in the expected range.
Expandable screens were introduced later for deviated wells with the objective of reducing the mechanical skin in the nearwell-bore by avoiding the natural sand pack and its degraded permeability. Injection in those wells started in 2009 and the
performances are not yet available although injectivity indexes are already in the expected range.

SPE 128046

Range of application of Expandable screens for deepwater deviated oil producer wells:
Expandable screens are in competition with Open-Hole gravel Pack as an alternative to Cased-Hole Frac Packs for
our deepwater deviated oil producers.
Frac packs, widely used so far for deviated wells, have proven to be effective for sand control and generally satisfactory in
terms of productivity. But, cost and interval length limitations are real constraints sometimes.
Expandable screens offer advantages over Frac Pack:
Cost reduction
Simplicity of installation
Skin in the same range (or even better when fluid mobility is high)
Expandable screens offer advantages over Open Hole Gravel Pack:
Good zonal isolation. Todays proven OHGP techniques do not allow a gas shut-off and offer only partial water
shut-off. Solutions for 100% zonal isolation in OHGP are emerging.
No need for pumping equipment.
The technique is relatively recent (10 years since the real introduction). In-house, our experience is based on only a
limited population: 4 producer wells (2 in deepwater) and 18 water injector wells.
Uncertainties persist regarding the long-term reliability of the wells (sand control, collapse) though no failures have been
observed to date.
Some of the expandable screens on the market have very low collapse resistance (300-400psi). The direct
consequence of this is that stresses applied to the screen during the wells life time must be verified in both sands and shale.
This requires good knowledge of the facies properties, the reservoir compaction forecast and possible creeping behavior of
shale.
Other types of expandable screens, with higher resistance, are less sensitive to this issue.
Like SAS completions, this technique is considered less robust than Frac Packs and Open-Hole Gravel Packs.
Certain precautions must be respected during clean-up/start-up and generally all ramp-up sequences, to ensure that no
plugging occurs around screens. So cake treatment, as a precaution, is mandatory to maximize contributing length and
minimize skin. In terms of production at first oil, availability of additional wells might be required to ensure minimum flow
to start up the field and to ensure production objectives.
The introduction of Expandable Screens in deviated oil producers is a definitive requirement to target efficient lowcost completions. The uncertainties about reliability will be cleared out with time and experience. It is important to put earlystage failures into perspective. Expandable screens are a solution in some applications and they must be introduced in gradual
controlled steps.

Range of application of Expandable screens for deepwater deviated water injector wells:
Water Injection in unconsolidated sands is a complex question. The last SPE Advanced Technology Workshop Performance
and design of seawater injectors requiring sand control, held in Austin from the 15th to the 17th of June 2009, helped
benchmark tendencies in the industry. The following trends were noted:
No consensus has been reached in the industry regarding the best techniques to apply, but open-hole completions
seem to be less sensitive than cased-hole ones
Injection in fracturation regime can happen. If gravel had been used, it might have been washed away, but the
impact on sand control in this case is not clear.
Damage and skin are to be minimized by choosing effective completion.
Water injection conformance can be an issue; Inflow Control Devices are one possible answer.
TOTALs strategy was initially to:
Complete all water injector wells with Stand Alone Screens run in oil-based mud
Bullhead sieved mud left in open-hole without any preliminary cake treatment
Results are acceptable: injectivity is as per expectation once fracturation regimes are reached.
Later on, and in line with industry consensus as described above, deviated water injectors (<65) should preferably be:
equipped with Expandable screens to minimize mechanical skin
systematically treated to remove cake thereby maximizing contributing length and limiting breakdown pressure
free of mud before injection commences, in order to limit the solids introduced into the reservoir matrix.
Initial results are under investigation. Injectivity is as expected.
In conclusion, our philosophy would be to promote expandable screens in all single-layer applications in deviated (<65)
water injector wells to minimize mechanical skin.

SPE 128046

4. CONCLUSION
Our experience confirms the Expandable screens technique as a valid application for deepwater fields where sands are
medium-sized and unconsolidated and permeability is high:
Expansion process can be reliably applied from a floating vessel.
Installation is simple and trouble-free.
Well performances are as anticipated.
No solid production is observed. It is expected to be within the range observed on SAS completions and therefore in
line with process capabilities as long as good mesh selection practices are followed.
Its reliability remains to be confirmed with time.
The technique has a legitimate place in the portfolio of solutions for deepwater fields such as:
Deviated oil producer as a cheaper alternative to Frac packs in multi-zones
Deviated water injector wells, to minimize mechanical skin.
Although limited, the experience recounted here is positive. To complete their evaluation, existing wells will be closely
monitored and step by step, new wells will be completed with expandable screens. The goal is to reach cost-effective,
efficient sand control completions and the feeling is that expandable screens for deepwater unconsolidated sandstone fields
are now part of the toolbox.

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the West African subsidiaries for the information given.

Nomenclature
ABT
Annulus Barrier Tool
BHA Bottom Hole Assembly
DIF
Drill In Fluid
ES
Expandable Screens
FP
Frac Pack
II
Injectivity Index
NPT
Non Productive Time
OBM Oil Based Mud
OH
Open Hole
OHGP Open Hole Gravel Pack
PI
Productivity Index
ROP
Rate Of Penetration
SAS
Stand Alone Screens

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Studies SPE 121543
2. C.Jones, M.Tollefsen, P.Metcalfe, J.Cameron, D.Hillis, Q.Morgan: Expandable sand screens selection,
performance, and reliability: a review of the first 340 installations SPE 97282
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