Method and apparatus for perforating with reduced debris in wellbore

A method of perforating, comprising:

• locating a perforating gun downhole in a well, the well having a well casing, the perforating gun comprising a gun housing defining an inner volume, the gun housing extending in an axial direction, a shaped charge being held in a loading tube, the loading tube being located in the gun housing and extending along the axial direction, the shaped charge facing in a firing direction that is perpendicular to the axial direction, a portion of the gun housing adjacent to the shaped charge in the firing direction being a perforating portion of the gun housing, an eccentralizer member extending from the perforating gun in a second direction that is opposite and parallel with the firing direction;
• locating the perforating gun against the well casing by applying force on the well casing with the eccentralizer member so that the shaped charge faces the well casing in the firing direction;
• maintaining pressure inside the gun housing lower than wellbore pressure surrounding the casing;
• maintaining pressure inside the gun housing lower than formation fluid pressure outside the casing;
• firing the shaped charge thereby perforating the perforating portion of the gun housing and perforating the well casing thereby creating a fluid connection path from the high pressure outside the well casing into the low pressure inside the gun housing;
• drawing wellbore debris into the inner volume of the gun housing and maintaining the debris in the gun housing;
• extracting the perforating gun from the well while maintaining the debris in the gun housing.

A perforating device comprising:

• a perforating gun having a tubular shaped gun housing defining an inner volume and extending in an axial direction;
• a shaped charge held in an axially extending loading tube located in the gun housing, the shaped charge facing in a firing direction that is perpendicular to the axial direction;
• a perforating portion of the gun housing being adjacent to the shaped charge in the firing direction;
• a sliding sleeve having a first position that is not covering the perforating portion of the gun housing and a second position that is covering the perforating portion of the gun housing;
• an eccentralizer member extending from the perforating gun in a second direction that is opposite and parallel with the firing direction.