Expandable Sand screens

The Open-hole applications testing multi-zone completions, expandable tools to new limits.

Completions have never been simple. But for today’s wells, the industry has had to push the envelope to develop game-changing technologies to operate in increasingly complex environments while reducing rig time, performing downhole functions in a single trip of the workstring and addressing the critical issue of sand control. Multi-zone completion technologies, along with expandable tools, are increasingly being deployed in nearly every arena worldwide, from long land horizontals to shale and tight gas to the deepest waters.

“The days where an operator drills one well to target one specific zone is becoming more the exception than the norm,” said Bryan Stamm, technical manager,Schlumberger Sand Management Division. “As technologies for multi-zone completions become more and more mainstream, whether for stacked, single-trip multi-zone, multi-stage fracturing or intelligent completions, we’re starting to see the industry become more comfortable with this approach.”

In cased holes, where multi-zone technology is more mature, the emphasis has been on efficiency, using packers and perforations to produce each zone, Mr Stamm continued.

“When it comes to open hole, I would say that is where the industry has faced some very rapid advancements in recent years, driven mainly by advances in horizontal drilling,” he said. Historically, sand-prone open-hole reservoirs could be completed only in one zone using a gravel packing technique, he noted. Multi-zone completions can now be accomplished with stand-alone sand screens.....(Click here)