Case Study: Sand Control Technology During CSS in Liaohe and Xinjiang Heavy Oil Reservoirs

Heavy oil reservoirs are generally unconsolidated and easy to produce sand during production1. In the late stage of Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), high temperature steam and hot water destroy clay minerals, further aggravate sand production problems, resulting in sand jam, sand burial, pump jam and casing damage, and frequent operations seriously affect the effective production of oil wells. PetroChina has been carrying out steam stimulation for more than 40 years, and has formed a series of sand control technologies in the field of heavy oil thermal recovery. This paper introduces several sand control techniques used in Liaohe and Xinjiang Oilfield and their successful cases. Liaohe and Xinjiang Oilfield is rich in heavy oil resources. The oil types include ordinary heavy oil, extra heavy oil and super heavy oil2. In Liaohe Oilfield, they have medium and deep heavy oil with a depth of 600-900m and super deep heavy oil with a depth of 1300-1700m. As the main development method, CSS has entered the late stage of production, more than 9 cycles, and encountered various sanding problems during the production. By using mechanical sand control and chemical sand control measures, the sand path was controlled, and an artificial wellbore was formed in the near-wellbore zone to control the fine silt. Through the discussion in this paper, we can provide a variety of solutions for sanding problems encountered in heavy oil steam handling.