Sand Control Selection for Wells in Tukau Field

The objective of this research was to determine the effective method of sand control for wells in Tukau field. In Tukau Field which was located offshore in Sarawak Baram Delta area, several wells were experiencing sand problem. In this research, TK-54L was selected as case study. The main problems with this well were significant reduction of gross liquid production which results in closing down the well. TK-54L well was completed using through tubing screen to prevent sand production but has shown to be ineffective. Therefore, a proper study was required to select an effective sand control method specifically for Tukau field.
The scopes of study were (a) examine on the sand sample, (b) study on the liquid and reservoir properties, (c) study on the available types sand control methods and (d) selection of appropriate sand control methods. Sand sample from TK-54L was used to determine the particle size distribution using sieve analysis. This test determined the uniformity coefficient which suggested several sand control methods. Precise selection done by analysis using existing computer simulation software named WellFlo to simulate the conditions obtained from options available based on the highest production rate.
The average sand uniformity coefficient obtained from particle size distribution test was 1.52. This value indicates that the distribution consist of highly uniform sand. The three available sand control methods considered from this research were metal mesh screen, wire wrap screen and gravel pack. Based on the results obtained, wire wrap screen shows the highest operating rate which is at 645.98 STB/day where it
3.5 times more than the current sand control method using through tubing screen. This concludes that the wire wrap screen was selected for well TK-54L.