A simple analytical model for predicting sand production in a Niger Delta oil field

Abstract

Sand production, which is predominant in the Niger Delta, is a growing concern in the petroleum industry because of the associated technical, operational and economic challenges. The development of sanding predictive tools and effective management strategies has received much attention in literature. However, most of the published theoretical models have been validated with laboratory or data obtained from petroleum provinces other than the Niger Delta. This work developed a simple analytical model for predicting sand production and validated it using 16 wells in a Niger Delta Field. The results confirmed the well-known impact of flow rate, fluid viscosity and grain size and density of sanding rates. It was also observed that at moderate production rates, sanding in the Niger Delta Field has relatively small arch lengths of below 30 feet.