A Novel Methodology To Reduce Formation Damage in Gravel Packed wells: Case Study, Casabe Field, Colombia Jairo Zapata; Jairo Zapata Ecopetrol Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Heberth Ferneynes Heberth Ferneynes Ecopetrol Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 2001. Paper Number: SPE-69452-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/69452-MS Published: March 25 2001 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Zapata, Jairo, and Heberth Ferneynes. "A Novel Methodology To Reduce Formation Damage in Gravel Packed wells: Case Study, Casabe Field, Colombia." Paper presented at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference, Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 2001. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/69452-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Latin America and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference Search Advanced Search AbstractDuring the development of a secondary recovery project by water injection in a Colombian field called Casabe it was observed that the packed production wells presented an abnormal declination on production rates. This was initially attributed to the completion type: slotted liners or screen packed with 10/20 or 20/40 gravel. The packings have an average length of 1,200 ft. The partial recovery of a slotted liner and screen demonstrated that there was an impermeable material that plugging the external phase of the pipe by 90%, not allowing the oil to flow into the wells.The phenomena in question seriously compromised the volumes of production and the life span of the injection project since plugging in the wells generates loss of productivity and represuring in the field causing premature casing collapse.This article shows the methodology used by teamwork in charge of defining the cause for the plugging in the wells, designing a treatment that would lessen the problem and establishing an operational technique to selectively stimulate the intervals present in the packed wells.IntroductionOriginally, the oil present in the field was estimated to be 1,300 million barrels. Up to date 220 million barrels have been recovered giving a recovery factor of 21%.The production of oil comes from the tertiary, specifically from the Colorado, Mugrosa and La Paz formations. The reservoir has been divided in two zones, Sands A and B. The main production from these sands was principally caused by: dissolved gas drive in the case of Sands A, and a combination of water and dissolved gas drive in the case of Sands B.The Casabe field has been producing since 1945. The primary development was carried out throughout 439 wells with a spacing of 13 acres between wells. The maximum production was 46,000 barrels of oil. In 1985, a water injection project was initiated, drilling 508 and 83 injection and production wells respectively, and reconditioning 331 old production wells, all comprised into 5 Spot models.The final estimated recovery was 70 million barrels of petroleum.The actual production of the field is 6,500 barrels of oil per day and the production wells have an average BSW of 80%. The injection wells have an average inject caudal of less than 250 barrels per day. 52 million secondary barrels have been recovered.During the development of the water injection project for the Casabe field the production wells presented frequent sanding owed to the fact that sands are very friable and the cementing material is clay, in a high percentage, which disintegrates when in contact with the injection water. This behavior produces channeling eliminating possible plugging in the formation as shown by the laboratory tests.The huge amount of sand produced made necessary to pack the production wells thus causing a reducing on production in the majority of them.Some time later on, some areas under water injection presented repressuring and some wells in the field collapsed. This was very critical since it compromised the life span of the project.Some specialists were hired to analyze and design formulations in order to solve the problem of production declination but there were no positive results.Then, teamwork was conformed by Ecopetrol professionals who displayed experience and knowledge of the Casabe field. The Colombian Petroleum Institute gave support by carrying out all the laboratory tests. This team established four steps to face the declination of production and the repressuring of pay sands:Diagnosis of origin for the production declination.Definition of a strategy to re-establish production.Definition of an operational technique.Evaluation of results. Keywords: casabe field, knowledge management, production well, sequestering additive, gravel, stimulation, ferneyne, injection, precipitation, spe 69452 Subjects: Professionalism, Training, and Education, Information Management and Systems, Acidizing, Communities of practice, Knowledge management, Well Operations, Optimization and Stimulation This content is only available via PDF. 2001. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.