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Abstract
Sand Jet Perforation (SJP) is a process which uses a high velocity jet of abrasive sand laden fluid to cut through
the casing, cement and into the formation jetting pressure and cutting time can be varied to achieve maximum
penetration.
The process begins by using Coiled Tubing to convey, accurately position and operate the sand jet perforating
tool with integral casing collar locator (CCL). The sand jetting assembly perforates the zone; the CT is moved
uphole to allow an optimum fracture treatment to be pumped down the casing/CT annulus. Based on the
difference in depth of the perforation interval between the zones to be fractured, the underflush volume for
fracturing treatment is calculated to place a sand plug in order to isolate the zone at the end of the treatment. If
this is not sufficient, the sand used for perforating the next zone is allowed to settle to form additional plug height.
An added advantage of using this technique includes washing off the extra sand (if any) using Coiled Tubing in
the same run, which leads to saving significant amount of time and eliminates the need of setting up expensive
packers to achieve zonal isolation in multi-zone wells.
With conventional wireline perforations, about 12 to 15 zones were usually fractured in a month in the Raniganj
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) Block, India. The application of the above technology, made it possible to fracture
more than 38 zones in a month. The process ensured that each zone received a positive zonal isolation and
optimized fracturing treatment leading to cost effective and quality fracturing treatments.
This paper highlights the sand jetting perforation process for achieving maximum penetration, advantages of the
technique for fracturing in CBM wells and the planning involved placing sand plugs for achieving optimized and
economic stimulation treatment.
Introduction
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) refers to a natural gas stored in coal seams and generated during the process of
coalification. The largest CBM resources lie in the former Soviet Union, Canada, China, Australia and United
States. However, much of the worlds CBM recovery potential remains untapped. In 2006 it was estimated that of
global resources totaling 143 trillion cubic meters, only 1 trillion cubic meters was actually recovered from
reserves [4] . This is due to a lack of incentive in some countries to fully exploit the resource base, particularly in
parts of the former Soviet Union where conventional natural gas is abundant.
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Sand Concentration
The sand concentration for abrasively cutting perforations is typically 1 ppa. Higher sand concentrations of the
order of 2 ppa have also been used but it only results in marginally quicker cutting times i.e. twice the loading
does not cut twice as fast. Generally the volume of sand introduced into the wellbore should be kept to a
minimum.
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Gel Loading
Guar based linear gel with a gel loading of 20-40 ppt is commonly used for the abrasive slurry fluid. The main
purpose of the gel is to improve suspension during mixing in batch tanks as well as in the wellbore. The second
and equally important reason for using gel is for friction reduction while pumping and displacing the abrasive
slurry down the coiled tubing.
Pumping Time
The normal pumping time is about 15 min, which includes the safety factor to make sure the target perforation
tunnel depth is achieved. In most cases, the actual penetration through the casing is achieved within the first two
minutes, the rest of the time is spent lengthening and widening the perforation tunnel.
Table 1 : Tunnel ID and Tunnel Depth for pumping time of 10 and 15 minutes.
Nozzle
Housing
Nozzle
ID
Pump Rate
Duration
2-7/8"
3/16"
3 bpm
10 min
15 min
2 Near Perforations
Tunnel ID
Tunnel Depth
0.63
1.94
0.77
2.65
1 Far Perforation
Tunnel ID
Tunnel Depth
0.52
1.24
0.61
1.81
BHA Considerations
The Sand Jetting BHA comprises of the following (figure 2)
1. Motor Head Assembly (MHA) incorporating the double flapper check valve, ball operated hydraulic
disconnect and dual circulation sub
2. Straight Bar
3. Casing Collar Locator
4. Centralizer
5. Nozzle Housing
Nozzles
The nozzles used for perforating are 3/16. Based on the simulations run for different nozzle sizes available, 3/16
nozzles are best suited for achieving the desired penetration. Pump rates of the abrasive slurry were optimized at 3
bpm so as to achieve differential pressures in the order of 1600 psi to 1800 psi over the abrasive jetting nozzles.
Depending on the CT string length, CT surface injection pressures are in the order 4000 5500 psi while
abrasively perforating as shown in figure 4. It has been observed that a maximum of about 18 cuts were
achievable with the same set of nozzles before need for replacement, while maintaining a pressure drop of across
1600 1800 psi by altering the flow rate across the nozzles. The flow rates were increased as the wear on the
nozzle increased. A vernier caliper is used to measure the nozzle size and to calculate the erosion of the nozzles.
45 bbls of sand slurry was pumped giving a pumping time of about 15 mins at 3 bpm.
Depth Correlation
There are various technologies equipped with the BHA for depth correlation. After a detailed analysis the
mechanical casing collar locator (CCL) was identified the appropriate tool for the project. The casing collar
locator (CCL) is absolutely necessary for depth correlation for CT assisted perforating and fracturing operations.
The casing collars help correlate the depth shown on CT depth encoder to the wireline logs. A clear weight spike
indicates a collar when the CT is POOH at a slow speed. The speed at which the CT is POOH is an essential
factor that determines the prominence of the weight spikes. It is good practice to track the wear of CCL keys and
redress the same for clearer indication of the casing collars on the weight graphs.
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6000
1000
1st cu t
3r d cu t
20000
4th cu t
4000
2000
500
2
Weight (lbm)
10000
Depth (m)
2n d cu t
1
-10000
0
0:01:40:00
0:03:20:00
0:05:00:00
15
2000
40
3000
10
30
20
5
1000
10
0
70
80
Elapsed Time (min)
90
4000
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The job flow chart for a typical hydraulic fracturing job in this field is comprised of an injection test with water,
acid spot/squeeze (if required) and the mainfrac treatment pad, slugs, slurry stages and flush. The flush is
generally under displaced by a calculated amount of barrels to leave a sand plug to ensure zonal isolation for
fracturing of the next zone. The general rule of thumb of placing approximately 4000 lbs of proppant per foot of
coal has been used as basis while designing fracturing jobs in the field.
Many formations require the use of acid to reduce the formation breakdown pressures by dissolving any acid
soluble damage that may have occurred during drilling and completions (figure 6). Acid is either pumped with the
fracturing pumps or spotted / squeezed with the help of CT whenever high injection pressures were observed at
low pumping rates.
Acid Job Treatment Chart
4000
40
3000
30
2000
20
1000
10
0
10
20
Pressure (psi)
0
30
Equipment Description
The equipment utilized for the Coiled Tubing and Fracturing Operations include:
Fracturing spread pumps, blender, hydration unit, water tanks
Conventional 1.75 coiled tubing unit
Batch Mixer
CT pump
Specialized abrasive perforating BHA
Chokes and Flowback lines
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ProppantHandlingEquipment
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and cost efficient operation without comprising on the quality of the stimulation treatments.
Sand cleanout
A major advantage of using Coiled Tubing for perforating is to clean sand if required. During the operations, sand
cleanouts are required in two cases; first after a fracturing treatment has screened out and second when sand is
tagged above the zone which is required to be perforated (typically observed when setting sand plugs in deviated
wellbores). There are various parameters to consider while performing a cleanout such as the wellbore deviation,
pumping rate, viscosity of the cleanout fluid, hole circulation time, wiper trips, etc. Simulations were run to
design cleanout jobs and to optimize the wiper trip rates and penetration rates in the sand fill. It has been observed
that wells with deviation of more than 35 require wiper trips which are time consuming. On an average about half
an hour to one hour was required for sand cleanout in vertical and deviated wells respectively.
In certain wells, CT cleanouts became a routine job and the procedure mentioned below was implemented to
perform cleanouts in deviated wells:
1. Wiper trips are not required for shallower sand fill and for deviations upto 35. 15 to 20 cP gel is used for
circulation. The higher the viscosity of the gel, the better it transports solids.
2. 10 cP gel degrades by about 20% under the reservoir temperature and conditions. Hence, while performing
the cleanout, gel under 10 cP should be avoided. 10 cP gel can be used for making the cuts but the viscosity
must be increased while performing bottoms up.
3. For deeper sand fills, after penetration and establishing circulation of sand fill, it is recommended to perform
a wiper trip till less deviated section, followed by circulation of at least 1.5 times annular volume provided
that the deviation does not exceed 35 at the depth.
4. While performing wiper trips with sand jetting tool, the rate should not exceed 2 bpm to maintain a
circulation pressure of approximately 2200 psi, to avoid accelerating the fatigue of the CT string. The rates
can only be exceeded to 3 bpm if a separate run with a sand wash tool is done.
5. During the cleanout operations, the well head pressure shall be reduced as much as possible to avoid a back
pressure on the flow back sand.
6. It is always recommended to continue the circulation until the returns are clear of sand particles.
Operational Challenges
Throughout the project, there have been several operational and equipment related constraints which were
overcome.
Water Supply
Fresh water supply has been a major issue throughout the project. This led the use of produced water for the
perforations and fracturing operations. As linear gel is more tolerant to poor water quality as compared to
crosslinked fluids, the stringency on water quality may be somewhat relaxed. The use of produced water
demanded an increase in gel loading to achieve the desired viscosity as compared to the fresh water. It however
significantly increased the consumption of the filter cartridges.
Sand Availability
Sand supply and associated cost has been another major issue. Initially the 20/40 mesh sand was used for the
fracturing stages as well as sand jetting. But due to the shortage of 20/40 mesh sand, the operator switched to
16/30 mesh sand for fracturing jobs keeping the 20/40 mesh sand specifically for sand jetting. The sand quality
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also varied and often the small stones mixed in the sand lead to the BHA nozzles being choked. This led to very
high circulation pressures and the pumps being shut down due to reaching the limit preset pop off pressures.
Time was wasted to pull out the CT, disconnect the BHA and flush the coil. It was later decided to use sand sieves
while mixing the sand slurry leading to more time being consumed while preparing the jetting fluid and a
stringent proppant QC measures were implemented.
Mobilization of Equipment
Over the first two campaigns it was learnt that a considerable amount of time was lost in inter-location
movements. This was mainly due to topographical and infrastructure constraints in the operating area. Low
overhead electric lines were one of the major hurdles while moving equipment.
Coupled with these issues, land acquisition was another major challenge. To address these issues, the operator
decided to drill and complete multiple deviated wells from a single pad/location.
A normal inter-location location movement in this area takes 2-3 days. Considering 2 fracturing jobs a day and 5
zones per well it translates to completion of 6 wells in a month. Compared to this, the, rigging up on a pad takes
only half a day, thus if there are 4 wells drilled on each pad with the similar constraints, it translates into
completion of 8 wells in a month which is a 33% increase in number of job completed.
Local residents stopping the movement and posing threat to the crew became a common scenario. To address to
this issue safety guards were called out every time as a part of procedure to ensure smooth mobilization. This lead
to sub-optimal job performance.
Chokes
The isolating plug at the end of the fracturing treatment demanded for enough back pressure to be maintained
while making the cuts to ensure that the plug remained in place. Some of the formations showed poor leak off and
hence very high back pressures were required. It was noticed that these high back pressures caused the new
chokes to be worn out very quickly; sometimes within just a day. It was later realized that maintaining a pressure
of not more than 500 psi allowed the choke spares to be used for an extended period of time and hence this
practice was continued.
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Telemetry
Depth correlation is one of the critical aspects for abrasive perforating technology. The keys of the mechanical
casing collar locators often wear out, which sometimes makes it difficult to locate the collars and the loss of time
involved in POOH and replacing the keys is not beneficial.
The Telemetry System is a communication system that allows direct electrical link to smart downhole tools,
consisting of the following three main components
1. Intelligent BHA
2. Telemetry cable in CT
3. Surface equipment & software
The Telemetry system conductor is installed inside the CT and is impervious to aggressive fluids such as acids,
cement slurries and even sand-laden fluids used for abrasive perforating. The sensors allow real time monitoring
of the downhole internal and external pressure and temperature. It encompasses casing collar locators which allow
depths to be correlated at a faster pace that the mechanical casing collar locators.
The main hurdle in using telemetry to monitor downhole parameters is the economic feasibility as these services
tends to be expensive.
Guar
Given the demand driven steep price increase and supply crunch in respect of guar gum based gelling agents
recently, the use of Visco elastic based fluids is being explored.
Viscoelastic fluids have number of advantages over the conventional gels as discussed below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
There is scope for the viscoelastic fluid returns collected after flow back to be recycled and reused as a base
fluid in future treatments.
Environmentally friendly fluid without an organic base (Diesel).
Easy mix ability on the fly. Just one or two chemicals needing to be mixed.
The elimination of equipments like hydration unit, batch mixer, etc. allows for cutting down on total
equipment foot print.
Eliminates requirement of settling agents, buffers, bactericides and flow back surfactants.
Compatible with CO2, nitrogen, brines, many formation waters.
The most important driver of moving to a visco-elastic based fluid system is the performance as indicated by
much higher regained permeability values observed compared to linear gel in the core testing studies done on
cores from this field.
Conclusions
Time and cost optimization have been the key drivers for improving the economics of the CBM fracturing
operations in the Raniganj field of India
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With the introduction of sand jetting technology, more than 35 fracturing treatments have been successfully
pumped in a month on a routine basis using sand plug isolation making it cost efficient operation. Compared
to previous campaigns where only wireline was used and a maximum of 14 jobs were possible in a month.
Optimizing flow rates, sand concentrations, viscosity of the fluid used for perforating, perforating time for
achieving the desired penetration into the formation are the key parameters to successful perforations.
Use of acid has been effective to the formation breakdown pressures by dissolving any possible damage that
may have occurred during drilling and completions.
Sand cleanout has been more efficient with the use of higher loading gels.
Near wellbore and perforation friction pressures are lower than the wireline perforated zones with fewer
perforations and larger diameter.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Baker Hughes Inc for the opportunity to present this paper. We further wish to
thank the Baker Hughes field operation crews for the execution of these campaigns and those in engineering, field
support and sales in India whose experience and assistance are invaluable to this project.
References
1. Shahvir Pooniwala, Stimulation Unlocks Coalbed Methane : Lessons Learned In India. SPE Paper 149872
presented at SPE/EAGE European Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition held in Vienna,
Austria, 20-22, March 2012.
2. Juan Carlos Castaneda, Luis Castro, Steven Craig, Christopher Moore and James Myatt, Coiled Tubing
Fracturing : An Operational Review of a 43-stage Barnett Shale Stimulation. SPE Paper 130678 presented at
SPE/ICoTA Conference and Exhibition held in the Woodlands, Texas, USA 23-24 March 2010.
3. C.R. Clarkson and R.M. Bustin, Coalbed Methane: Current Evaluation Methods, Future Technical
Challenges. SPE Paper 131791 presented at SPE Unconventional Gas Conference held in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, USA, 2325 February 2010.
4. Keka Ojha, B. Karmakar, A. Mandal and A.K. Pathak, Coal Bed Methane in India : Difficulties and
Prospects published in International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications, Vol 2, August 2011.
5. Haidher Syed Gaus Mohammad and Shahnawaz Shaikh. Coalbed Methane Cementing Best Practices - Indian
Case History. Paper SPE 132214 presented at CPS/SPE International Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition in
China held in Beijing, China, 810 June 2010.
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Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, New Delhi, India.