An Innovative Fluid Approach to Reservoir Drilling and Sand Screen Deployment: When Reality Meets Design and the Lessons Learned

An engineered dual-purpose drilling and screen-running fluid was required to achieve optimum oil production with increased operational efficiency in a tight pressure window environment. The fluid needed to pose minimal formation damage risk while drilling and avoid completion damage through plugging of the standalone sand screen. This required a balance between bridging material content and particle size distribution (PSD), and a low fluid rheology to minimize the equivalent circulating density (ECD). The wide temperature profile and predicted restrictive narrow pressure margin in the well favored the use of a low ECD Non-Aqueous-Fluid (NAF). An organoclay-free NAF solution was selected. To reduce solids loading and ECD further, the fluid was designed with a brine phase that was high-density calcium bromide. Sized ground marble was selected to bridge the largest pore throats (42-μm) in the reservoir sand and still be screened quickly to avoid plugging of the 150-μm 6 5/8-in. standalone sand control production screens. Fluid optimization was achieved through rheology, stability, and formation-damage testing. The return permeability on cores/matched sandstone of >97%, indicated minimal formation damage risk when drilling and after production flowback/solids removal. In the field, the reservoir was drilled without major issue (i.e. no differential sticking, no down-hole losses) and the fluid quickly reached production screen test (PST) specifications prior to running screens. The sand screens were installed without issues. Although the sand section was significantly shorter than planned, the production from ~160 ft of net pay when the well was initially flowed produced as expected. After subsequent tie-in to the host floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) unit and upon choke opening, a gradual drop in production was observed. An acid job was performed via a subsea vessel-based operation and the planned production target exceeded the original clean-up well productivity.