Reservoir conditions in attractive deepwater wells are leading operators to request increasing frac pump rates and proppant volumes in order to achieve effective frac packs. Additionally, a long payzone can be difficult to stimulate and complete in a single interval due to multilayer formations with varying properties. Therefore, the best completion practice is to isolate the payzone into multiple zones of production. As a result, the frac pack service equipment used to treat multiple zones is exposed to an accumulative amount of high rate erosive flow.
The tools which deliver these stimulations must be qualified using testing procedures which replicate actual job conditions, as closely as possible, to ensure the integrity of these tools when deployed in these challenging environments. High stimulation rates and large slurry volumes which must be replicated in a testing environment require an investment in assets and logistics on the order of that required for an actual deployment. Therefore, testing parameters must be selected based on those anticipated in the completion for which the tools are being qualified.
Modeling and analysis techniques have advanced resulting in improved erosion prediction and optimized frac port geometry and materials. Full scale designs have been thoroughly tested following analysis. The results and correlations of analysis and test results will be discussed.
The analysis and testing methods of erosion resistant design and materials leads to more efficient launch of new technology to meet sand control needs in challenging deepwater multizone wells.