Evaluation of Tight Injectivity for Sand Consolidation Treatment: A Study Case in Mahakam

Abstract

Most shallow reservoirs with unconsolidated formation have a higher possibility of sand production, which hinders the oil and gas production process and damages the production facility because of erosion. Chemical sand consolidation (SCON) is one sand control method needed to strengthen the formation by injecting a mix of chemical components as a binding agent, pore retaining agent, and curing agent into the target formation. But, to achieve an efficient injection, an injectivity test must be done to determine a safe injection rate that will not exceed the fracture pressure and will not affect sand failure because of non-uniformity of the treatment distribution. This study evaluates the previous SCON wells in the Mahakam block with poor injectivity results and forecasted to be not workable for chemical injection because of bottomhole pressure exceeding fracture pressure from the high fluid viscosity. This study examined case studies from the last 4 years in mitigating injectivity problems and from the data made a comparison in determining the best remedial action. The novelty of this study is in redefining the operation envelope of sand consolidation treatment in terms of injectivity results. Issues in injectivity should not jeopardize production in unconsolidated formation since it can be mitigated properly and still result in a positive economic contribution.