Development and Commercialization of Experimental Tools and Methods
Development and Commercialization of Experimental Tools and Methods
We designed and set up unique laboratory facilities for rock mechanical, well completion, and ventilation testing: (1) novel sand retention testing (SRT) setups for production [1-4] and injection wells [4-6], (2) scaled completion testing (SCT) apparatus [7,8] which implements stress conditions at the reservoir depth, (3) full-scale completion testing (FCT) equipment [9] which incorporates the cylindrical sand control screen and radial flow, (4) high-pressure, high-temperature oil sands-completion testing equipment that will be used in this Discovery Grant research, and (5) a wind tunnel testing facility as a platform to refine our invented ventilation prototype. For the past five years, our SRT and FCT technologies have been commercialized by Variperm (formerly RGL).
Using the facilities described above, we developed creative experimental procedures and formulated the release and retention of fine particles in porous media in relation to the carrier fluid properties, environmental conditions, well operation, and well completion design. Core flood tests were conducted to investigate the direct effect of factors such as flow rate, salinity, pH, temperature, and wettability on fines migration [1,3,10-18]. We used the testing data and developed a novel set of criteria for sand control design in SAGD, aiming to minimize plugging and sand production, reduce wellbore workover, and maintain long-term wellbore performance. Design practices for SAGD sand control were previously based solely on particle size distribution, neglecting the impact of wellbore operation. These designs only provided a range for acceptable slot widths without any information on the expected sanding and plugging [19-21]. For the first time, we developed design criteria for different sand control completions in production and injection wells, accounting for well operation conditions and providing insights into the sanding and plugging levels [22-31]. We investigated the stress buildup at the screen-sand interface and its effect on the screen performance and incorporated the stress effect into the design criteria [7,8,32-34]. Variperm has adopted our design criteria and testing procedure.
1. Miri, R., Salimi, M., Lange, C.F., Nouri, A. (2023). Permeability Decline by Fines Migration Near Sand Control Screens in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage: A Numerical Assessment. Fuel.
2. Miri, R., Haftani, M., Salimi, M., Nouri, A. (2022). Novel Laboratory Methodology for Fines Migration Testing for SAGD Wells. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 217: 110859.
3. Velayati, A., Roostaei, M., Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M., Nouri, A., Alkouh, A., Fermaniuk, B., Kyanpour, M. (presenter). (2018). Design Optimization of Slotted Liner Completion in Cased and Perforated Wells: A Numerical Skin Model. SPE-193670-MS, SPE International Heavy Oil Conference and Exhibition, Kuwait City, Kuwait
4. Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Wang, C., Kotb, O., Roostaei, M., Nouri, A. (presenter), Fermaniuk, B., Sauve, A., Sutton, C. (2018). A Large-Scale Sand Retention Test Facility for Evaluation and Selection of Optimal Standalone Sand Screen for Injection Wells in Thermal Operations. SPE-189557, SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, United States
5. Li, Y., Dong, L., Wu, N., Nouri, A., Liao, H., Chen, Q., Sun, J., Liu, C. (2021). Influences of Hydrate Layered Distribution Patterns on Triaxial Shearing Characteristics of Hydrate-bearing Sediments. Engineering Geology. 294: 106375.
6. Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M., Roostaei, M., Kotb, O., Nouri, A. (presenter), Sutton, C., Fermaniuk, B. (2018). Sand Control Testing for Steam Injection Wells. SPE 189766, 2018 SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference, Calgary, Canada
7. Guo, Y., Nejadi, S., Nouri, A. (2020). Effect of Slot Width and Density on Slotted Liner Performance in SAGD Operations. Energies, Special Issue on Petroleum Geomechanics. 13(1): 268.
8. Guo, Y., Roostaei, M., Nouri, A. Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M. (2018). Effect of Stress Build-up around Standalone Screens on the Screen Performance in SAGD Wells. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 171: 325-339.
9. Haftani, M., Kotb, O., Nguyen*, P.H., Wang, C., Salimi, M., Nouri, A. (2020). A Novel Sand Control Testing Facility to Evaluate the Impact of Radial Flow Regime on Screen Performance and its Verification. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 195: 107903.
10. Abou-Kassem, A.J., Sidahmed, A., Kotb, O., Haftani, M., Nouri, A. (2021). Integrated Wellbore-Reservoir Simulations to Design Sand Retention Testing for Flowback Scenarios in SAGD Injection Wells. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. : 109307.
11. Miri, R., Haftani, M., Nouri, A. (2021). A Review of Fines Migration around Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Wellbores. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 205: 108868.
12. Wang, C., Montero Pallares, J.D., Haftani, M., Nouri, A. (2020). Developing a Methodology to Characterize Formation Damage (Pore Plugging) due to Fines Migration in Sand Control Tests. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 186: 106793.
13. Azadbakht, S., Nouri, A., Chan, D. (2020). An Analytical Model for Estimation of Internal Erosion Rate in Porous Media. Geomechanics and Geoengineering. 15(1): 42-53.
14. Haftani, M., Wang, C., Montero, J., Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A. (presenter). (2019). An Investigation into the Effect of Brine Salinity on Fines Migration in SAGD Operations. SPE-195370-MS, SPE Western Regional Meeting, San Jose, United States
15. Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Velayati, A., Roostaei, M., Kyanpour, M. (presenter), Alkouh, A., Sutton, C., Fermaniuk, B., Nouri, A. (2018). Risk Assessment in Sand Control Selection: Introducing a Traffic Light System in Stand-alone Screen Selection. SPE-193697-MS, SPE International Heavy Oil Conference and Exhibition, Kuwait, Kuwait
16. Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A. (presenter), Leitch, M.N. (2016). An Experimental Evaluation of Pore Plugging and Permeability Reduction Near SAGD Sand Control Liners. SPE-184999-MS, SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference, Calgary, Canada
17. Mahmoudi, M. (presenter), Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A., Leitch, M.N. (2016). Effect of Screen Aperture Size on Fines Production and Migration in SAGD Production. 2016 World Heavy Oil Congress, Calgary, Canada
18. Mahmoudi, M. (presenter), Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A., Leitch, M.N. (2016). An Experimental Investigation of the Effect of pH and Salinity on Sand Control Performance for Heavy Oil Thermal Production. SPE-180756- MS, SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference, Calgary, Canada
19. VELAYATI, A., Nouri, A. (2021). Formulating a Model Emulsion Replicating SAGD In-situ Emulsions. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 208
20. Montero, J., Wang, C., Nouri, A. (presenter), Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V. (2019). Assessment of Existing Design Criteria for Wire-Wrapped Screens for Thermal Wells. ARMA-2019-1561, 53rd U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics, New York, United States
21. Montero, J.D., Chissonde, S., Kotb, O., Wang, C., Roostaei, M., Nouri, A., Mahmoudi, M.,Fattahpour, V. (2016). A Critical Review of Sand Control Design for SAGD Wells. SPE-189773-MS, World Heavy Oil Congress, Calgary, Canada
22. Kotb, O., Haftani, M., Nouri, A. (2021). An Investigation into Current Sand Control Testing Practices for Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Production Wells. Eng. 2(4): 435-453.
23. Montero, J., Wang, C., Haftani*, M., Nouri, A. (2020). Experimental Correlations for the Performance and Aperture Selection of Wire Wrapped Screens in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Production Wells. SPE Production & Operations. 35(3): 537-548.
24. Guo, Y., Nejadi, S., Nouri, A. (2020). Effect of Slot Width and Density on Slotted Liner Performance in SAGD Operations. Energies, Special Issue on Petroleum Geomechanics. 13(1): 268.
25. Wang*, C., Haftani, M., Pallares, J.D.M., Nouri, A. (2020). An Improved Set of Design Criteria for Slotted Liners in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Operation. Energies. 13(21): 5685.
26. Wang*, C., Pang, Y., Mahmoudi, M., Haftani, M., SALIMI, M., Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A. (2020). A Set of Graphical Design Criteria for Slotted Liners in Steam Gravity Drainage Production Wells. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 185: 106608.
27. Montero, J.D., Wang, C., Haftani, M., Pang, Y., Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A. (2018). Experimental Assessment of Wire-Wrapped Screens Performance in SAGD Production Wells.SPE-193375-MS, SPE Thermal Well Integrity and Design Symposium, Banff, Canada
28. Roostaei, M., Kotb, O., Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Wang, C., Nouri, A. (presenter), Fermaniuk, B. (2018). An Experimental Investigation into Gravel Pack Performance in Steam-Drive Operations. SPE-190125, SPE Western Regional Meeting, Anaheim, United States
28. Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Wang, C., Kotb, O., Roostaei, M., Nouri, A. (presenter), Fermaniuk, B., Sauve, A., Sutton, C. (2018). Comparative Study on the Performance of Different Stand-alone Sand Control Screens. SPE-189557, SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, United States
29. Roostaei, M., Nouri, A., Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M., Izadi, M. (presenter), Ghalambor, A., Fermaniuk, B. (2018). Sand Control Design through Assessment of Mathematical Models Representing Particle Size Distribution of Reservoir Sands. SPE-189528, 2018, SPE International Conference and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, United States
30. Mahmoudi, M. (presenter), Nejadi, S., A., Roostaei, M., Olsen, J., Fattahpour, V., Lange, C., Zhu, D. Fermaniuk, B., Nouri, A. (2017). Design Optimization of Slotted Liner Completions in Horizontal Wells: An Analytical Skin Factor Model Verified by Experimental Sand Retention Tests. SPE-188167, SPE Thermal Well Integrity and Design Symposium, Banff, Canada
31. Mahmoudi, M., Fattahpour, V., Nouri, A., Yao, T., Baudet, B.A., Leitch, M., Fermaniuk, B. (2016). New Criteria for Slotted Liner Design for Heavy Oil Thermal Production. SPE-182511-MS, SPE Thermal Well Integrity and Design Symposium, Banff, Canada
32. Wang, C., Pang, Y., Montero, J., Haftani, M., Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M., Nouri, A. (2018). Impact of Anisotropic Stresses on the Slotted Liners Performance in Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage Process. SPE-193347-MS, SPE Thermal Well Integrity and Design Symposium, Banff, Canada
33. Roostaei, M., Guo, Y., Velayati, A., Nouri, A. (presenter), Fattahpour, V., Mahmoudi, M. (2018). How the Design Criteria for Slotted Liners in SAGD are Affected by Stress Build up around the Liner. ARMA-2018-642, 52nd US Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium., Seattle, United States
34. Fattahpour, V., Azadbakht, S., Mahmoudi, M., Guo, Y., Nouri, A. (presenter), Leitch, M.N. (2016). Effect of Near Wellbore Effective Stress on Performance of Slotted Liner Completions in SAGD Operations. SPE-182507-MS, SPE Thermal Well Integrity and Design Symposium, Banff, Canada