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US 6,581,688 B2Granted
Method of packing extended reach horizontal wells
AssigneeBaker Hughes Incorporated
InventorsBenn Voll, Hang Nguyen, Kelvin Smejkal
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Abstract
The present invention provides a method for efficiently packing proppant in an extended reach, horizontal, open hole annulus. For a given set of fixed parameters, such as the wellbore size, screen size and formation fracture pressure, the method provides a combination of critical parameter values, including the proppant density, the mixture ratio of proppant and liquid and the pump rate which will yield an efficient and effective placement of the proppant in the annulus.
Claims3
A method of packing proppant in an annulus between a wellbore and a screen placed along a length of the wellbore, comprising:
- (a) defining the approximate fracture pressure of an earth formation surrounding the screen;
- (b) defining at least one dimension of the annulus to be packed;
- (c) defining at least one density parameter of the proppant;
- (d) determining a parametric relationship among circulating pressure, fluid pump rate and optimum time for substantially fully packing the annulus that will allow packing of the annulus without fracturing the wellbore;
- (e) determining values for circulation pressure less than the well fracturing pressure and fluid pump rate values corresponding to said optimum time for packing said annulus;
- and,
- (f) packing the well in accordance with the determined relationship and values.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.