FRACTURING, FRAC PACKING, AND FORMATION FAILURE CONTROL - CAN SCREENLESS COMPLETIONS PREVENT SAND PRODUCTION

Some successful results have been reported for screenless frac-packing methods(1-3); however, no scientific guidelines were given regarding the conditions under which a screen can be eliminated from a well. In this paper, we report field data from sand-producing wells and review the onset and the rate of sand production for those wells with and wit hout hydraulic fractures. From these field observations and numerical modeling analysis, we give guidelines for when a screen must be run an d when a screen can be eliminated.