DATA

One of the most significant threat to petroleum production is that of sand production resulting from the migration of formation sand caused by the flow of reservoir fluids. Conventional well Completions in soft formations commonly produce formation sands or fines with fluids. Today’s operators need access to complete production system, delivering intelligent real time information and operation alongside existing instrumentation. Hence, Acoustic Sand Monitors and Intrusive Erosion Probes are invaluable tools in detecting the presence and effect of solids production. Accurate monitoring coupled with analysis and interpretation of the real time data can guarantee improved longevity of the asset and greatly reduce cost JK of repairs, replacement and downtime. Detailed, real-time information can also help to optimise production, and in many cases adjustments can be made to individual wells to increase oil production where sand is not an issue. This study presents an analytical assessment of sand production monitoring from an offshore field in the Niger Delta region from real time oil field production data. The data used in this study have been obtained from sand signals generated from acoustic sound detectors installed along flow paths in the oil production facility. In this study, sound signals generated by solids particles (sands/fines) along the flow paths of the facility are analysed to monitor sand production from the wells in the field over a period of nine years of production. These wells were consequently categorized as high sand producers or low sand producers following the percentage deviation of the sand signal averages for the wells from the corresponding baselines for each of the wells in comparison to the established percentage deviation threshold. At the end of this study, four wells were categorized to be high sand producers while nine were categorized as low sand producers.