Abstract
Productivity of the well often declines rapidly as a result of fracture conductivity loss suffered by proppant flowback and high water cut. In wells with conventional frac-pack completions, sand control screens have often shown signs of damage caused by fines plugging, erosion, and/or corrosion. To combat the proppant and formation sand flowback problems, field trials of an on-the-fly coating curable-resin system were performed to determine whether this resin system is a viable option that can provide an effective means to establish screenless frac-pack completions in this field. This paper presents the results of these field trials involving the screenless frac-pack completions using an on-the-fly curable resin coating system. Detailed descriptions of the completion procedures, the challenges, and lessons learned during the course of these frac-pack treatments are presented.
This study has determined that an optimum concentration of resin coating on the proppant is necessary to maximize the bonding between proppant grains and the consolidation strength of the coated proppant pack while minimizing any reduction of its conductivity. Field results indicate that this on-the-fly resin coating treatment effectively stopped the proppant and formation sand from producing back while maintaining the production rates as designed and has drastically decreased the number of workovers compared to the same wells left untreated. The technique provides a very attractive alternative to conventional frac-pack completions in wells with marginal reserves, eliminating the need for sand-control screens and providing access to other intervals when needed without wellbore restrictions.
