Publications

The Handil field, a mature giant oil field in the Mahakam Delta, has been producing oil from unconsolidated shallow reservoirs having sand risk. Chemical Sand CONsolidation (SCON), has been applied since 2018 as a solution to prevent the sand production to over 50 reservoirs. The laboratory Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) test of cured resin-coated sand sample became the primary parameter for the risk assessment of the consolidation strength. However, discrepancies between UCS results and field performance indicate the need for a more practical approach to define production limits.

This study evaluates historical well performance to establish a production limitation method beyond UCS testing. The approach incorporates drawdown, in-situ velocity per perforation, and a newly introduced parameter—the c-factor—pipeline erosional velocity limits derived from API RP 14E.

Analysis shows that:

30-bar drawdown limit optimally balances sand control and production, but it may be too conservative for deeper reservoirs.

4 m/s velocity threshold proves excessive for oil reservoir, with field data suggesting a lower limit of 1.5 m/s.

Adopting a depth-dependent c-factor, this study presents a new framework for optimizing production rates while minimizing sand production risk. Further collaboration with geomechanics experts is planned to validate and explore its applicability in other fields.

This study is limited to SCON application in Handi field, where the reservoirs are mostly driven by strong aquifer support with evaluated permeability range of 265 to 3000 mD. In addition, slight adjustment might be required when applied on different area especially which related to rock strength study.