HYDRAULIC FRACTURING

Fracturing for Sand Control:

Screenless Completions in the Yegua Formation

Natural completions in the Yegua formation have resulted in failures caused by

formation-sand production and wellbore
collapse. In the past, a popular remedy was
small fracturing treatments with gravel-pack
screens to control the production of formation material. Designing the completions
specifically for wellbore stabilization, sand
control, and maximizing the conductivity
endurance has resulted in techniques that
eliminate the need for gravel-pack screens,
helping to simplify completion operations
and minimize cost.

Introduction
The Yegua formation is a sand/shale depositional system that extends from south Texas
to south-central Louisiana. Historically, the
Yegua has been completed naturally, requiring periodic cleanout when formation sand
accumulates in the wellbore. The typical
solution for preventing the production of
formation sand has been some form of
mechanical remediation involving gravel
packs or vent screens. In some areas, the
Yegua will produce naturally without making formation sand; however, casing failures
occur when the bottomhole flowing pressure is drawn down until a critical failure
stress is reached and the rock fails.
The downdip Yegua, studied here, usually is an overpressured gas/condensate,
pressure-depletion-type reservoir. Water
production is relatively low in early stages
of production and can vary greatly in later
stages. The increased water production has
been attributed to water coning from higher-permeability stringers.
This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis
Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE
96289, Fracturing for Sand Control: Screenless
Completions in the Yegua Formation, by V.R.
Ellis, SPE, and G. Cormier, SPE, Halliburton;
G. Adams, SPE, Noble Energy Inc.; and F.
Santos, SPE, Sanchez Oil & Gas, prepared
for the 2005 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Dallas, 912 October.

Fig. 1Well 2 stress orientation.

Well 1. Well 1 production was severely

restricted when a failure occurred. As the
reservoir pressure depleted, fines migration and formation compaction reduced
the near-wellbore permeability. As a result,
the drawdown pressure increased, causing eventual failure of the formation rock.
Formation sand filled the wellbore, halting
production, which required a workover to
clean out the wellbore. In several cases, the
near-wellbore stresses increased to the point
at which the casing either collapsed or was
sheared, thereby losing the wellbore. Well
1 is an example of lost production because
of formation failure that, eventually, led to
collapsed casing.
Objective
The purpose of the work reported here was
to maximize hydrocarbon recovery while
minimizing casing failures and forma-

tion-sand production. The objective was

accomplished by reducing the drawdown
pressure near the wellbore by placing highly conductive proppant packs. The packs
included curable, resin-coated proppant
or proppant coated with a conductivityendurance modifier (CEM) to help ensure
that all perforations were packed with
coated proppant.
Well 2
Well 2 was completed with a 5-in., 18 lbm/ft,
P-110 long string set at 13,730 ft measured
depth (MD) and 27/8-in., 6.5 lbm/ft tubing
set with a packer at 13,535 ft MD. The Yegua
EY3 sand was perforated in three intervals:
13,588 to 13,592, 13,599 to 13,603, and
13,610 to 13,613 ft MD. The perforated
zones then were fracture stimulated. The
net pay interval was approximately 35 ft
long with a porosity of 22%.

For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

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JPT MARCH 2006

Determining Fracture Plane. Fig. 1

shows a portion of the openhole oriented-dipole-sonic log run to determine
the preferred fracture-plane orientation.
The computed maximum and minimum
stresses are indicated at 13,550 ft MD, with
the maximum-stress direction being northwest/southeast. There was a second maximum-stress component of a lower degree,
oriented northeast/southwest. The overall
stress anisotropy was low and could be an
indication that there is not a strong fracture-orientation preference.
Completion Fluid. Cores from two representative Yegua wells were analyzed with
X-ray diffraction to determine mineral content, specifically clay content. The mixedlayer clay (illite and smectite) content
ranged from 5 to 25 vol%, which caused
concern about swelling in the presence of
fresh water. To prevent the clay from swelling, a 7% KCl solution, which provides
protection even after ion exchange has
occurred, was used for all completion and
fracturing operations.
Perforations. Results of the orienteddipole-sonic log indicated two possible preferred fracture orientations because two
maximum stresses were logged. Oriented
tubing-conveyed perforating was used to
align with the fracture plane oriented in the
northwest/southeast direction, that of the
greater of the two stresses identified. Use of
curable, resin-coated proppant and CEMcoated proppant improved proppant-packing efficiency and helped minimize the risk
of flowing back proppant or formation sand.
Because the stress anisotropy was relatively
low, subsequent wells used various perforation methods to test the necessity of orienting the perforations. There was very little
difference between the breakdown, treating,
and friction pressures of treatments that
used either nonoriented 0 or 180 phasing.
Subsequent wells used nonoriented 0 and
180 phasing and experienced no significant amounts of tortuosity or perforation
friction. The total number of perforations
was minimized to ensure that all perforations were packed with the proppants.
Well 2 Treatment. The fracturing treatment was designed for a tip screenout to
maximize proppant-pack conductivity and
spread the drawdown pressure along the
fracture plane. Total proppant volume was
80,000 lbm of 20/40-mesh curable, resincoated bauxite proppant.
Well 2 has produced 1.5 Bcf of gas, while
Well 1 produced only 0.118 Bcf before the

JPT MARCH 2006

production was halted because of the casing failure. This incremental gain represents
more than U.S. $6,900,000, based on a gas
price of U.S. $5/Mcf.
Well 3
Well 3 was drilled directionally to intersect
a fault that is normal to the strike plane.
The path resulted in a 45 wellbore deviation throughout the completion interval.
The 27/8-in. tubing was set at 11,378 ft
MD and 11,042 ft true vertical depth. This
completion targeted the Yegua Y-3 and Y-2
sands. The Yegua Y-3 perforations were
from 11,797 to 11,799 ft MD, and the
Yegua Y-2 perforations were from 11,575 to
11,577 ft MD.
The perforated intervals were limited
to 2 ft to minimize the risk of creating
multiple fractures during the stimulation
treatment and to control the placement of
proppant for a more efficient pack of each
perforation. The production mechanism
for the Yegua formation in this area is
depletion drive with a constant water/gas
ratio (WGR). After the reservoir pressure declines to a critical point, the WGR
begins to increase. The increased water
production results in the production of formation fines and the need for subsequent
remedial work to clean out the wellbore.
Surface production equipment also must
be cleaned routinely to maintain performance. The Yegua Y-3 was perforated with
two 2-ft gun sections using a 21/8-in. gun
with 6 shots/ft phased 60 for a total of
12 holes; the interval then was fracture
stimulated. This procedure was repeated
for the Y-2 sand, and the well was cleaned
out and put on production.
The two zones contained a total of
approximately 30 ft of net pay with a
porosity of 18% and a permeability of
5.5 md. After perforating the Y-3 sand
and before the fracture stimulation, the
static bottomhole pressure was measured
at 9,760 psi. The objectives of the fracture treatment were to increase production while minimizing the near-wellbore
pressure drawdown, controlling proppant
flowback, and eliminating production of
formation sand. The decision was made
to use an intermediate-strength synthetic
proppant coated with a CEM designed to
remain tacky throughout its life. The CEM
product was added to the proppant at the
blender screws in a dry-coat process that
uses the energy of the blender screws to
help ensure thorough coating before the
proppant reaches the blender tub. This
particular type of CEM is designed to prevent the migration of formation fines into

the proppant pack by increasing the proppant surface friction, allowing it to interact
instantaneously with surrounding particulates. The treatment schedule was identical
for both zones and was pumped at a rate of
12 bbl/min through the 27/8-in. tubing.
A sand plug was placed to isolate the
Y-3 sand from the Y-2 sand immediately
following the Y-3 treatment. The Y-2 sand
then was stimulated using the same treatment schedule. The well then was flowed to
recover the treatment fluid and remove the
sand plug isolating the lower zone.
Well 3 Production. The initial flow rate
was 10 MMcf/D of gas and 15 BWPD at a
flowing tubing pressure of 7,700 psi. The
well produced for approximately 8 months
with a constant WGR of approximately
2 BW/MMcf and a rate of 10 MMcf/D of gas
without producing formation sand or proppant. During the next 12 days, water production increased until it reached 600 B/D,
with a WGR greater than 240 BW/MMcf. A
production log verified that the source of
the water was the Y-2 sand, so the zone was
isolated with a cement squeeze. The combination of the CEM and a designed-for-purpose fracture treatment had resulted in the
2-ft interval of the Y-2, with 24 perforations,
flowing up to 600 BWPD for 12 days without producing formation sand or proppant.
After isolating the watered-out Y-2 sand,
the Y-3 sand was put back on production.
The Y-3 sand is producing approximately
4 MMcf/D of gas and 10 BWPD with no
measurable fines or proppant.
Conclusions
Installing screenless fracture completions with a curable, resin-coated proppant
or CEM-coated proppant can enable production from the Yegua formation without
formation-sand production, provided that a
high-conductivity-fracture treatment is performed to reduce the drawdown pressure.
This type of completion helps improve
the net present value of the well by allowing uninterrupted production rather than
having periodic workovers to clean formation sand out of the wellbore.
All perforations must be packed with
the curable, resin-coated proppant or
CEM-coated proppant to help prevent
the formation sand from having access to
the wellbore.
The length and phasing of the perforated interval play a significant role in achieving high perforation-packing efficiency.
If the stress anisotropy is low, a perforation design using either 0 or 180 phasing
is recommended.
JPT

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