Page 82 - Well Control for Completions and Interventions

Well Construction and Completion Design 73

Figure 2.6 Cased and perforated completions. Left: Perforated production liner com-
pletion. Right: Perforated production casing completion.

Figure 2.7 Sand control completion types.

formation (rock strength), homogeneity within the reservoir, and the quality
of the sand pack (grain size distribution). Good quality well sorted coarse
grained sandstone with a small percentage of fines can be completed with
screen-only completions. As the quality of the sand deteriorates, more com-
plex solutions are needed; open hole gravel pack or cased hole frac pack.
The main sand control completion options are shown in Fig. 2.7.
A screen type sand control completion is run in two parts. Firstly, the
screens are run into the open hole and hung off using a gravel-pack
packer, an operation analogous to running a liner. If the well is to be
gravel packed, it would take place at this point—before the running string
is pulled from the well. With the lower completion in place, the upper