Satbayev University, Almaty, Kazakhstan:

B. A. Myrzakhmetov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, myrzakhmetov_ba@mail.ru
Zh. B. Nurkas, Researcher
A. E. Sultabaev, Researcher

Most of oil reservoirs in Kazakhstan are currently at the final phase of mining, the productive strata locate in weakly cemented sedimentary rocks, and sand production is one of the main complication factors in oil recovery. This study aimed to find the main causes of failure of deep-well pumping equipment in oil reservoirs with high sand production and to elaborate practical guidance for a soil user to reduce the adverse effect of such failures. The research procedure included the statistical analysis and systematization of information on equipment failures in Buzachi-North oil field, as well as the numerical modeling of influence exerted by well geometry on wear of oil well tubing and rods in the conditions of sand production using bundled software PC-PUMP. Based on the research findings, some practical recommendations were proposed to optimize well operation in the conditions of high sand production, which allowed expanding repair interval. The recommendations included the method earlier unused in oil production, namely, protection of deepwell pumping equipment from sand plugging with the help of sand valves meant for the periodic (as sand accumulates in oil well tubing OWT, or during well shuts-in) removal of sand-and-liquid column from OWT to annulus. This reduces probability of deep-well pump rotor jamming and preserves feasibility of the system restart. Inclusion of the sand valve in the deep-well pump assembly eliminates additional fitting of downhole pumping equipment with standard back and drain valve as the sand valving performs their functions. Moreover, the sand valving enables different operations connected with pumping of process fluids in annulus at disengaged pump. The proposed design also allows communication between OWT and annulus for complete drain of liquid from OWT by means of pneumatic effect from ground surface (well mouth) du ring maintenance and complete overhauls in wells. The use of such multi-function valves is a promising trend to enhance efficiency of processes in borehole mining of fluid minerals. It allows simplifying deep-well pump hookup due to reduced number of various-purpose valves and owing to multitask of implemented operations, as well as eliminates engagement of supplemental special machinery and human resources.

1. Zivar D., Shad S., Foroozesh J., Salmanpour S. Experimental study of sand production and permeability enhancement of unconsolidated rocks under different stress conditions. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 2019. Vol. 181. 106238. DOI: 10.1016/j.petrol.2019.106238
2. Ikporo B., Sylvester O. Effect of Sand invasion on Oil Wel l Production: A Case study of Garon Field in the Niger Delta. The International Journal Of Engineering And Science (IJES). 2015. Vol. 4, Iss. 5. pp. 64–72.
3. Bakhtizin R. N., Smolnikov R. N. Features of oil production with high content of mechanical impurities. Elektronnyi nauchnyi zhurnal “Neftegazovoe delo”. 2012. No. 5. pp. 159–169.
4. Sultanov B. Z., Orekeshev S. S. Sand production in operation of oil wells. Elektronnyi nauchnyi zhurnal “Neftegazovoe delo”. 2005. No. 1.
5. Lavrentev A. V., Antoniadi D. G. Analysis of the causes and consequences of the sand at the final stage of the development of oil and gas fields. GIAB. 2015. No. 4. Special issue 10. 32 p.
6. Myrzakhmetov B. A., Nurkas Zh. B., Sultabaev A. E., Kaliev B. Z. Features of well operation in the conditions of high sand production : A case-study of Buzachi-North oil field. Oil & Gas Journal Russia. 2018. No. 10. pp. 60–65.
7. Urazakov K. R., Smolnikov S. V., Topolnikov A. S., Bakhtizin R. N. Methods of protection of oil recovery pumping equipment from contamination. Ufa : Neftegazovoe delo, 2010. 41 p.
8. Boudi A. A. ESP Suffers Erosion Due to Sand Production in a Mature Onshore Oil Field. SPE Middle East Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition. Manama, 2016. pp. 99–104.
9. Urazakov K. R., Khabibullin M. Ya., Nurgaliev R. Z. Improvement of a design of a borehole plunger pump for producing a liquid with suspended particles increased concentration. Neftegazovoe delo. 2019. Vol. 17, No. 5. pp. 106–113.
10. Cespedes E. A. M., Roostaei M., Uzcátegui A. A., Soroush M., Izadi H. et al. Sand Control Optimization for Rubiales Field: Trade-Off Between Sand Control, Flow Performance and Mechanical Integrity. SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference. Bogota, 2020. DOI: 10.2118/199062-MS
11. Ibadov G. G. O. Downhole wire-wrapped filters for producing wells with strong sand showings. Fundamentalnye i prikladnye issledovaniya v sovremennom mire. 2018. Vol. 21-1. pp. 77–81.
12. Aksenov D. A., Sevastyanov A. A. Methods to combat sand production in well operation. Evraziyskiy nauchnyi zhurnal. 2016. No. 5. pp. 396–398.
13. Beshenkov P. S., Polushin N. I., Gkhorbani S., Sorokin E. N. Stress distribution analysis of PDC drill bits by computer modeling. Eurasian Mining. 2017. No. 2. pp. 25–28. DOI: 10.17580/em.2017.02.06
14. Bridges S., Robinson L. A Practical Handbook for Drilling Fluids Processing. Cambridge : Gulf Professional Publishing, 2020. 622 p.
15. Araujo-Guerrero E. F., Alzate-Espinosa G. A., Arbelaez-Londoño A., Morales-Monsalve C. B. An Analytical Model for the Sand Production Potential Quantification. ISRM VIII Brazilian Symposium on Rock Mechanics. Salvador, 2018.
16. Myrzakhmetov B. A., Nurkas Zh. B., Sultabaev A. E. et al. Anti-sand v alve for sucker-rod screw pumping units. Patent 201900471 RK, A1. Applied: 03.09.2019. Published: 31.08.2020.