Volume 49

Visualization Experimental Investigation on Sanding Characteristics and Oil Production Capacity of Unconsolidated Sandstone Reservoirs Xuechen Tang, Zihao Li, Jinxin Cao, Xinji Du, Yaqian Zhang, Tao Song, Qihang Li, Yiqiang Li

Abstract

Macroscopic sand production laws often fail to reveal the microscopic essence of sand production. To investigate the microscopic sand production process and oil production capacity of unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs, a visual plate model was designed to explore the influence of displacement rate and oil viscosity. Results show that the evolution of the sanding channel undergoes three stages: “migration initiation-channel formation-channel expansion”. The corresponding fractal dimension increases initially, then decreases, and finally stabilizes. The sand production strength increases with the displacement rate and oil viscosity, but there is a critical value beyond which the strength increases sharply. These preliminary microscopic sand production morphologies and mechanisms provide important guidance for simulating microscopic sand production processes and quantitatively predicting sand production laws.

Keywords visual sanding experiment, unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs, displacement rate, oil viscosity, oil production