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Perforation: James A. Craig Omega 2011
Perforation: James A. Craig Omega 2011
PERFORATION
Explosives
Perforating Guns
Well/Reservoir Characteristics
Calculations
References
INTRODUCTION
High explosive
4 μsec
9.4
μsec
16.6 μsec
Elastic rebound leaves shock-damaged rock,
pulverized formation grains & debris in the
newly created perforation tunnels.
Rock strength
Porosity
Clay content
Shaped-charge designs
EXPLOSIVES
Explosives used in perforation are called
Secondary high explosives.
Reaction rate = 22,966 – 30,000 ft/s.
Volume of gas produced = 750 – 1,000 times
original volume of explosive.
These explosives are generally organic
compounds of nitrogen & oxygen.
When a detonator initiates the breaking of
the molecules' atomic bonds, the atoms of
nitrogen lock together with much stronger
bonds, releasing tremendous amounts of
Typical explosives are:
RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine)
HMX (Cyclotrimethylene tetranitramine)
HNS (Hexanitrostilbene)
PYX Bis(Picrylamino)-3,5-dinitropyridine
PS (Picryl sulfone)
HNS Hexanitrostilbene
C14H6N6O12 1.74 24,300 3,500,000
PYX Bis(picrylamino)-3,5-
dinitropyridine C17H7N11O16 1.77 24,900 3,700,000
RDX is the most commonly used explosives
for shaped charges (up to 300 oF).
Smaller versions of
casing guns which
can be run through
tubing.
They have lower charge sizes &, therefore
lower performance, than all other guns.
They only offer 0o or 180o phasing
Semi-expendable
type guns
consisting of a
metal strip into
which the charges
are mounted.
Charges have higher performance.
They also cause more debris, casing
damage & have less mechanical & electrical
reliability.
They also provide 0o or 180o phasing.
Gun selection
Well clean-up
Perforating orientation
API RP 19B, 1st Edition (Recommended
Practices for Evaluation of Well Perforators)
provide means for evaluating perforating
systems (multiple shot) in four ways:
Performance under ambient temperature &
atmospheric pressure test conditions.
Performance in stressed Berea sandstone
targets (simulated wellbore pressure test
conditions).
How performance may be changed after
exposure to elevated temperature conditions.
Flow performance of a perforation under specific
stressed test conditions
Factors affecting gun performance include:
Compressive strengths & porosities of
formations.
Type of charges used (size, shape).
Charge alignment.
Moisture contamination.
Gun stand-off.
Multiple casings.
It is necessary for engineers to obtain as
much accurate data from the suppliers & use
the company’s historic data in order to be
able to make the best choice of gun.
Overbalanced
kh Pe Pwf
q
re
141.2 B ln s p
rw
Karakas and Tariq (1988) have presented a
semi-analytical solution for the calculation of
the perforation skin effect, which they divide
into components:
The plane-flow effect, sH
The vertical converging effect, sV
l perf
for 0
rw 4
a r l for 0
o w perf
rw = wellbore radius (ft).
r’w(θ) = effective wellbore radius (ft). It is a
function of the phasing angle θ.
lperf = length of perforation (ft)
bca12
a a1 log rD a2 b b1rD b2
rperf kV 1
hD
hperf kH
rD 1 hperf
2hperf kH shot density l perf kV
a1, a2, b1 & b2 are obtained from the table
above.
kH = horizontal permeability
kV = vertical permeability
rw
rwD
l perf rw