Abstract
Frac and Pack was introduced to Duri Steam Flood (DSF) in 1996 and has become the preferred completion technique. Frac and Pack combines the stimulation advantages of hydraulic fracturing with the sand control benefits of Gravel Packing.
Frac and Pack treatment was first used in Area 4 Rindu Vertical Expansion (RVE) Project. These wells were recompleted with a Frac and Pack completion into a shallower producing zone (Rindu Sand). Now Frac and Pack completion is used in almost all new and recompletion wells in DSF.
Frac and Pack treatment combines fracturing and gravel packing into one step with a liner in place. The Tip Screen Out (TSO) design technique is used to ensure that proper fracture width and proppant concentration are adequate to effectively connect the reservoir to the wellbore. The Frac and Pack job is finished with an annular sand pack between the wire wrapped screen and the cased hole.
This paper will share success story, best practices, lessons learned, and techniques in Frac and Pack completion. Opportunities for job cost reductions will also be shared. In addition, a comparison of Frac and Pack and Gravel Packs will be discussed.
In summary, Frac and Pack completion has proven to be very effective in DSF and can be used in other fields to increase well productivity and sand control performance.
Fracturing in DSF first began in the Rindu Pilot Project. The pilot test on fracturing technology was successfully performed on four cased hole wells in the Rindu Pilot area during December 1995 and January 1996. For the first time a screenless completion was used to complete the Rindu formation in DSF. This completion consisted of a tip screen out (TSO) fracture, using Curable Resin Coated (CRC) sand. This treatment was performed without gravel packed screen in the well.
A study of TSO's in A4-RVE found that a lot of wells experienced sanding problems. There may be multiple reasons for the failure of the CRC and the TSO Frac to control sanding. For instance, not all perforations received CRC sand during placement, steam from surface did not reach and cure CRC in the entire section, and non-CRC sand had already bridged over some of the perforations before or during treatment1 .
From the result above, CPI tried Frac and Pack (FP) completion. FP was first tried in Area 4-RVE Project. These wells were recompleted with FP completion into a shallower producing zone (Rindu Sand). Now, FP completion applies in almost all new and recompletion wells and has become the preferred completion method in sand control environments in DSF.
