Study on sand production volume prediction in heavy oil reservoirs and its application

Most of the sand production prediction for oil wells is about critical drawdown pressure, prediction about sand production volume (SPV) is less. Aiming at SPV prediction in heavy oil reservoirs, this paper takes the path from reservoir to wellbore of vertical wells as the research object, and collects the SPV in many heavy oil wells. Curve of SPV change with time is fitted. The paper then develops a SPV prediction model of heavy oil wells with field engineering method. The change of reservoir physical parameters after sanding and the influence of sanding on productivity are also studied. The results show that change trend of SPV with time follows gamma distribution and SPV has a peak value. Permeability of the yield region in unconsolidated sandstone heavy oil reservoir will increase due to sand production, leading to production improvement greatly. Reasonable agreement of simulation results with field observation results verified the reliability of the model.