SPE-196479-MS

Remedial Sand Control in Mature Fields: Lessons Learned From

Thru-Tubing Ceramic Sand Screen Application in Offshore East Malaysia

Wei Jian Yeap, Khairul Nizam Idris, Sulaiman Sidek, Hwan Roh Cheol, Dahlila Kamat, and Catherine Tang,
PETRONAS Carigali Sdn Bhd; Johanna Zimmermann-Ptacek, Bhargava Ram Gundemoni, Steven Richard
Jackson, and Peter Barth, 3M Technical Ceramics

Copyright 2019, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/IATMI Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition held in Bali, Indonesia, 29-31 October 2019.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Formation sand production is one of the major production challenges in most of the mature fields in
Malaysia. Often, failure in primary sand control equipment requires the operators to adopt through-tubing
sand screens as remedial sand control. Due to the erosion prone nature of the thru-tubing metallic sand
screen, operators are forced to impose limitation on the production rate coupled with stringent surface sand
monitoring system to avoid surface flow line leakage and loss of primary pressure containment. Therefore,
to seek a more robust technology than conventional metallic screens, alternative technology with through-
tubing ceramic sand screen (TTCSS) has been considered with the idea of higher durability and resistance
against erosion. This paper will discuss the performance and lessons learnt from the application of through-
tubing ceramic sand screen throughout several mature fields in Offshore East Malaysia.
Over the past two years, there have been about twenty-five TTCSS installations in Offshore East
Malaysia. Seven pre-mature failure cases were observed, where sands were produced to the surface and
even caused leaks on the flow line. The average effective production period for all TTCSS across all the
fields ranges from 6 to 11 months. Teardown investigations have been conducted to diagnose the failure
root cause.
Most failed TTCSS exhibited similar failure patterns at the end caps, which house the spring compensator.
Failure to stop the flow through the end caps led to substantial erosion at spring compensator and base pipe,
inducing large flow path for sand production to the surface. Other than the design failure, application failure
was observed at the ceramic rings due to their brittleness.
Computational fluid dynamic simulation and laboratory testing have been conducted at the higher
incremental production rates to support the observations from teardown inspections, refine the hypothesis
of failure mechanism and enable an incremental design change to be modified into TTCSS. In order for
TTCSS to be one of the competent candidates for remedial sand control, new improved standard design of
TTCSS with strengthened end cap area will be studied to prevent similar failure.
2 SPE-196479-MS

Introduction
Sand production remains a challenge in most of the sandstone reservoir for most operators, especially for
unconsolidated sandstone formation where it is likely to produce sand in significant and uncontrollable
quantity even at small drawdown or change of flow phase (water production). In weak or semi-consolidated
sandstone, sand production may occur in the later stage of development due to numerous reasons. Depletion
of reservoir pressure may result in rock failure due to changes in the rock stresses. Increase in water cut
may also result in sand production due to the increase in drag force for mobilizing sand grains. In fact,
many field observations have demonstrated that the initiation of sand production often corresponds to
water breakthrough (Veeken et al., 1991; Bruno et al., 1996). However, increase in water production in the
later stage of development of fields is inevitable due to the deployment of water injection as improved oil
recovery (IOR) method or water coning effect. In some situations, small quantities of formation sand can be
produced without significant adverse effects; however, in most cases, sand production may lead to restrained
production or loss of well due to sand fill in wellbore, and/or excessive erosion and/or maintenance to both
down hole and surface equipment. At times, this may also lead to well bore collapse.
In order to contain the sand downhole and prevent sand production at surface, primary sand control
techniques are deployed. There are several widely-used primary sand control method in the industry,
including stand-alone sand screens, gravel packing, frac-and-pack, expandable sand screens and chemical
consolidation, where the suitability of sand control techniques are often studied and selected based on
the criteria such as particle size distribution, sorting coefficient, uniformity coefficient, reservoir fluid and
characteristics, etc. However, primary sand control technique may fail due to numerous reasons such as
inappropriate sand control selection and design, faulty installation and improper bean-up procedure when
flowing the well.
In such situation, operators usually opt for thru-tubing remedial sand control as it is more economical
by eliminating the necessity of pulling out well completion. It is commonly applied in marginal wells with
limited reserves or existing wells with sand production where work-over and or sidetrack are not economical.
Nonetheless, several thru-tubing remedial sand control methods have been deployed, with rather mixed
success. Challenging downhole environment, such as sands accumulation and limited space due to small
inner diameter of tubing, have made thru-tubing remedial job difficult. Oftentimes, thru-tubing metallic
stand screens are favored due to its simplicity and cost despite its reliability issues. Various studies have
identified that the failure of thru-tubing metallic stand screens is attributed to its susceptibility to erosion
(Sidek et al., 2017).
Radical change in mindset to consider alternative technologies and materials is required to improve the
application of thru-tubing remedial sand control for hydrocarbon recovery. One such proven technology
applied globally is ceramic sand screens in through tubing applications. Sintered silicon carbide ceramic
material is used in these screens which offers unique combination of properties (Table 1).

Table 1—Comparison of typical sand screen material properties

Material
Material Properties
Stainless Steel Hard Metal Silicon Carbide

Hardness, HV 150 – 180 1200 – 1700 2500

Compressive Strength, MPa 200 RP0.2 5275 >2500

Thermal Conductivity at 20°C, W/(mK) 15 50– 100 130

Density, g/cm3 7.9 14.85 3.1-3.2

Flexural Strength [4 points bending], MPa 200 RP0.2 2000 400

Young's Modulus, GPa 200 600-630 430

Fracture Toughness, KIC N.A. 10-11 4

SPE-196479-MS 3

The use of ceramic as direct replacement of metallic material to withstand extreme application
environments has been demonstrated through testing and product qualification in alignment with ISO, API
sand screen standards and Petronas screen product qualification process. A wide range of erosion testing
has been carried out on ceramic sand screens, both in laboratory and proven successfully in actual well
applications (Jackson et al., 2016; Manning et al., 2018). Furthermore, when the erosional and corrosion
resistant qualities of ceramic material is holistically integrated within a sand control system, the resultant
screen installation is proved to be simple and cost effective, resulting in the benefit of reduced complexity
over and above alternative sand control methods where conventional metallic material come to it technical
limitations on sustaining high downhole velocities resulting commonly in downhole erosional failure.

Ceramic Sand Screen Assembly

The ceramic sand screen design consists of metallic base pipe on which a stack of ceramic rings is mounted
and fixed with end caps on either end of the ring stack to hold the rings in a state of compression and
an external sacrificial protective shroud to protect the ceramic rings during transportation, handling and
installation (Figure 1).

Figure 1—Ceramic sand screen assembly design principle

The screens are modular in configuration, either as single modules or multiple modules built on API 5CT
range pipe (Figure 2 and Figure 3).

Figure 2—Ceramic screen assembly modular design up to 2.913" max OD screen in through tubing applications TTCSS.

Figure 3—Ceramic screen assembly configuration built on API 5TC range R2 Pipe.

TTCSS Installation History & Performance

Overall, PETRONAS has deployed about 25 TTCSS over 4 different fields in offshore East Malaysia since
2016. The well conditions in all these fields differ significantly from each other. Table 2 below shows a
summary of well conditions for each field with average gas-oil ratio (GOR), liquid and gas production rates.
4 SPE-196479-MS

Table 2—Summary of well conditions for each field with TTCSS installation.

Average Liquid Average Gas Average

Field
Production Rate, blpd Production, MMscfd GOR, scf/bbl

Field A 400 0.1 500

Field B 1500 0.4 1200

Field C 850 7.5 35000

Field D – 22.0 –

In Field A, Field B and Field C, TTCSS are installed in the oil producers with historical sand production
at surface. On the other hand, TTCSS is installed in gas wells for Field D to serve as remedial sand control to
control sand production in downhole. The well conditions in Field A, Field B and Field C cover significantly
wide production ranges in terms of liquid production and GOR. Comparatively, wells in Field A have
the lowest average liquid production rates and GOR. Oil wells in Field B have the highest average liquid
production rates while wells in Field C have the highest GOR.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of TTCSS, sand production at surface has been measured pre- and
post TTCSS installation. Manual sand sampling has been conducted to identify the sand count for the oil
producers. Figure 3 below shows the sand count trending for some of the oil producers in Field C before
and after the installation of TTCSS.

Figure 4—Sand count trending for 5 oil producers in Field C before and after TTCSS installation.

Prior to TTCSS installation, massive sand production was detected at surface, in which the surface
facilities are exposed to substantial erosion and risk of loss of primary containment (LOPC). The sand count
measured in all these oil wells can be as high as 1000 pounds per thousand barrels (pptb). After TTCSS
installation, sand production has been reduced dramatically to be around 1 pptb for all the wells. Subsequent
sand count for the wells are due to failure of TTCSS. Therefore, it was proven that the TTCSS can filter
and contain the sand downhole effectively due to the significant reduction of sand production at surface
after installation.
TTCSS was intentionally selected over other thru-tubing remedial sand control methods due to its
durability and resistance towards erosion. Most thru-tubing metallic sand screens generally lasted for about
2 to 3 months. Even though ceramic sand screens last longer than other thru-tubing metallic sand screens
in most cases, the longevity of TTCSS is not up to operators’ or product manufactures’ expectation and
SPE-196479-MS 5

can be improved by revising the TTCSS design. Since 2016, there are about 25 TTCSS installation across
4 different fields in offshore East Malaysia. Summary of the TTCSS performance for all the installation is
shown in Figure 5 below.

Figure 5—Summary of TTCSS performance across 4 different fields.

To date, 7 TTCSS installations have been diagnosed as failure as the screens have been successfully
retrieved and teardown investigation has been performed. There are 4 possible TTCSS failure cases due to
significant surface sand production but yet to be diagnosed. 8 wells installed with TTCSS are still flowing
with minimal sand production while the remaining 6 TTCSS installed have not yet been tested as the wells
are closed in due to other surface constraints. Table 3 below shows the average effective production period
for 19 TTCSS installations which has been tested (open up to flow) across different fields.

Table 3—Average effective production period for 19 tested TTCSS installation.

Average Effective
No. of TTCSS No. of Diagnosed
Field Production
Installation TTCSS Failure
period, month*

Field A 2 1 11.0

Field B 4 2 10.3

Field C 11 3 7.5

Field D 2 1 6.1

         * Production period based at the time of manuscript writing

Field C has the most TTCSS installations and suffered from the most TTCSS failure. Sand production
has been detected at surface in 5 different wells and have been diagnose with downhole sand control failure.
The average effective production period across all the fields ranges from 6 to 11 months. On the other hand,
the failure in Field A was due to application failure as the ceramic rings were shattered during installation.
Comparatively, the average effective production durations for both Field C and Field D are lower. TTCSS
were exposed to higher fluid velocity and erosion risk due to the gas production and/or GOR for both Field
C and Field D. The failure of TTCSS in Field C has resulted in one LOPC case at wing valve due to surface
sand production. Furthermore, two joints of TTCSS have been lost in hole for one of the wells in Field C as
the TTCSS parted during retrieval. There was limited success in fishing operation as most of the ceramic
rings have fallen apart despite our tremendous effort in fishing operation. Apart from that, Field D also suffer
from significant loss in the gas production as the platform was shut down due to massive sand production
6 SPE-196479-MS

from one of the gas wells after flowing for 72 hours with TTCSS. Massive sand accumulated inside the
surface facilities and extensive cleaning operation was conducted to rectify the complication.

Teardown Investigation
To further study the failure patterns and root causes, teardown investigation has been conducted for the
failed TTCSS which were successfully retrieved. Teardown investigation was aimed to understand the
failure mechanism for the TTCSS. One key finding from the teardown investigation was that the end cap
areas, which house the compensator system, were severely eroded. Initially, metal seal ring suffered from
significant erosion (Figure 6). However, subsequent erosion also affected the compensation system. The
screen lost its integrity in filtering the sand once the compensator system has become ineffective as the
ceramic ring stack is not any more in a state of compression, allowing bigger sand particles to flow through
the slot openings. Consequently, failure in the compensator would result in breakage of the unsupported
ceramic rings.

Figure 6—Metal seal rings and spring compensator system were severely eroded.

Apart from the metal seal rings and spring compensator systems, base pipe underneath the ceramic rings
also exhibited signs of erosion. This was due to combination of high sand production and high fluid velocity
passing through the damaged end cap section. From the observations, the erosion on the base pipe was
mainly concentrated in the area underneath the eroded metal seal ring (Figure 7).

Figure 7—Erosion underneath metal seal rings and end cap region.

Severe erosion lead to partially or even fully severing of the base pipe (Figure 8). Once the base pipe is
parted, the screen relies on the shroud, which is tack welded to the screen, to provide the integrity support
for TTCSS.
SPE-196479-MS 7

Figure 8—Parting of base pipe due to significant erosion.

In most cases, the outer layer shrouds which protect the ceramic rings stack were found to be intact or
with minor erosion (Figure 9). However, due to the weak (tack) welding connection, shroud may be parted
during retrieval, inducing the risk of leaving the screen downhole as fish. For Field C, TTCSS was parted
during retrieval due to the weak welding connection of the shroud. Operator only managed to retrieve the
shroud of the top joints, leaving the ceramic rings of the top joint and the remaining 2 complete joints
downhole. To date, the TTCSS is still lost in hole after several unsuccessful attempts in fishing operation.

Figure 9—Minor erosion near end cap area observed at outer shroud layer.

Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis

In addition to conducting teardown investigation, computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis was
conducted to further understand the fluid flow near the end cap region which leads to substantial erosion.
Well data from field D was chosen as boundary conditions for CFD analysis. CFD analysis was conducted
with flow rate variation to support the findings from teardown investigation. Figure 10 shows the results of
CFD simulation at end cap area. To mimic the screen downhole installation scenario, high flow rate and a
strong annulus effect with 10% of the flow rate concentrated into the last 20 filter segments was applied.
CFD results demonstrate that there is symmetric formation of vortices on the base pipe as well as areas
with higher velocities towards the end cap (Figure 10 left side). Hence, the CFD simulation identified areas
with erosion potential at high flow rates with the presence of high sand concentration or erosive particles.
The findings from CFD simulation matched closely with the observation from teardown investigation.
Figure 10 (right side) below shows the overlap between the erosion patterns observed during teardown
investigation and CFD simulation.
8 SPE-196479-MS

Figure 10—Overlap between erosion pattern observed during teardown investigation and CFD simulation.

Conclusions and Way Forward

1. TTCSS has been proven to be effective in filtering and containing the sand downhole, supported by
the significant reduction in the surface sand count trending for sand producing wells.
2. TTCSS has also demonstrated longer lifetime compared to convention metallic through tubing screens
used in these well conditions
3. To date, there are about 25 TTCSS installation across 4 different fields in offshore East Malaysia.
7 TTCSS installations have been diagnosed as failure due to significant sand production detected
at surface while 8 wells are still flowing with minimal sand production at surface. There are 4
possible TTCSS failure due to surface sand production but the root causes are not yet diagnosed. One
application failure was observed where ceramic rings were shattered during installation. The effective
production periods for all the tested TTCSS range from 6 to 11 months.
4. Findings from teardown investigation and CFD simulation matched closely with each other. Findings
suggest that applications requiring the remedial sand screen to be hung high above the perforations
result in a strong annulus effect with high fluid velocity across the screen, especially in the max OD
areas of the endcap. High fluid velocity, coupled with sand production has increased the potential
for metallic part erosion. Failure of compensator system at end cap region was due to such erosion.
Investigation has identified the issue.
5. TTCSS design has been improved and updated into the standard design based on the findings from
teardown investigation and CFD simulation. For the improved design TTCSS, CFD simulation shows
significant decrease in flow velocity and no vortex formation near the end cap region, which further
minimize any erosion potential.
6. Pilot testing of the improved design of TTCSS will be deployed in the same wells under similar flow
condition. The performance of improved design TTCSS will be studied and compared with CFD
simulations.

Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank the management of Petroliam National Berhad (PETRONAS), PETRONAS
Carigali Sdn. Bhd. and 3M Technical Ceramics company for the permission to publish this paper. Special
thanks are extended to project team members for the full commitment and support on this project.

Nomenclature
API = American Petroleum Institute
blpd = Barrel of liquid per day
CFD = Computational fluid dynamic
SPE-196479-MS 9

GOR = Gas-oil ratio

HV = Hardness in Vickers
IOR = Improved oil recovery
ISO = International Organization for Standardization
K = Kelvin
KIC = Stress intensity factor
LOPC = Loss of primary containment
m = Meter
OD = Outer diameter
Pa = Pascal
pptb = Pound per thousand barrels
RP0.2 = 0.2% offset yield strength
scfd = Standard cubic feet per day
scf/bbl = Standard cubic feet per barrel of oil
TTCSS = Thru-tubing ceramic sand screen
W = Watt

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