Sand production control in oil wells by Resin injection into sand packs

Production of sand during oil production causes severe operational problems for oil producers.Several techniques have been used for sand production control in sandstone reservoirs. Several consolidating materials, such as, crude oil, coke and nickel plating, have been used in the past by researchers. At present, some chemical binders, such as, phenol formaldehyde, epoxy, furan or phenol-furfural resins are used for sand cementation. The main object of this paper is to present a suitable resin to be used as consolidating agent in oil wells. Considering the locally produced resins and required desirable characteristics of a resin for consolidation process, one type of resin namely epoxy ML503 was selected for testing. Different core samples were made by flowing this resin,mixed with appropriate solvent and hardening agent into a standard sand pack of a sand sample provided from Ahvaz and Mansoori oil fields (situated in the south of Iran) in various percentages. The obtained core samples were tested for permeability, porosity and compressive strength measurement. The obtained experimental data showed that for this type of epoxy resin, the permeability, porosity and compressive strength of the core samples are retained in acceptable values.

کلیدواژه ها:

Sand pack ، Sand consolidation ، Resin injection ، Permeability ، Porosity ، Compressive strength