PERFORATION

EPL 400: PETROLEUM PRODUCTION

ENGINEERING II

Engr. (Dr.) Sunday S. Ikiensikimama

Professor of Petroleum and Gas Engineering

Adjunct Professor: Department of Gas and Petroleum

Engineering
Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya
1
REFERENCES
 Gatlin, C.: “Drilling Well Completion,” Prentice-Hall Inc., New
Jersey, 1960.
 ENI S.p.A. Agip Division: “Completion Design Manual,” 1999.
 Halliburton: “Petroleum Well Construction,” 1997.
 Ott, W. K. and Woods, J. D.: “Modern Sandface Completion
Practices Handbook,” 1st Ed., World Oil Magazine, 2003.
 James Craig: “Lecture Slide on Perforation”

 Schlumberger: “Completions Primer,” 2001.

2
REFERENCES
 Golan, M. and Whitson, C. H.: “Well Performance,” 2nd Ed.,
Tapir, 1995.

 Karakas, M. and Tariq, S.: “Semi-Analytical Productivity

Models for Perforated Completions,” paper SPE 18271,
1988.

 Clegg, J. D.: “Production Operations Engineering,” Petroleum

Engineering Handbook, Vol. IV, SPE, 2007.

 Bellarby, J.: “Well Completion Design,” 1st Ed., Elsevier B.V.,

2009.

3
OUTLINES
 Introduction
 Shaped Charged Perforation
 Explosives
 Perforating Guns
 Perforation Efficiency & Gun Performance
 Well/Reservoir Characteristics
 Calculations

4
PERFORATION

5
INTRODUCTION
 Objective of perforation is to establish communication
between the wellbore & the formation.
 This is achieved by making holes through the casing,
cement & into formation.
 The inflow capacity of the reservoir must not be
inhibited.

6
INTRODUCTION
 Well productivity & injectivity depend primarily on near-
wellbore pressure drop called Skin.
 Skin is a function of:
 Completion type

 Formation damage

 Perforation

 Skin is high & productivity reduced when:

 Formation damage is severe (drilling & completion
fluids invasion ranges from several inches to a few feet)
 Perforations do not extend beyond the invaded zone.

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8
INTRODUCTION
 Deep penetration:
 Increases effective wellbore radius

 Intersects more natural fractures if present

 Prevents/reduces sand production by reducing

pressure drop across perforated intervals.

 High-strength formations & damaged reservoirs benefit

the most from deep-penetrating perforations.

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PERFORATING METHODS

4 Perforating Methods
1 Bullet Gun Perforating
 2 Abrasive Perforating Methods

 3 Water Jets

 4 Shaped Charges

Assignment: write on the different perforation

methods and highlight their advantages and
disadvantages

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SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 The shaped charge evolved from the WW2 military
bazooka.

 Perforating charges consist of:

 A primer

 Outer case

 High explosive

 Conical liner connected to a detonating cord.

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SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 The detonating cord initiates the primer & detonates the
main explosive

 The liner collapses to form the high-velocity jet of fluidized

metal particles that are propelled along the charge axis
through the well casing & cement & into the formation.

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SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION

 The detonator is triggered by:

 Electrical heating when deployed on wireline systems
or,
 A firing pin in mechanically or hydraulically operated
firing head systems employed on tubing conveyed
perforating (TCP) systems

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14
SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 The jet penetrating mechanism is one of “punching” rather
than blasting, burning, drilling or abrasive wearing.
 This punching effect is achieved by extremely high impact
pressures –
 3 x 106 psi on casing

 3 x 105 psi on formation.

 These jet impact pressures cause steel, cement, rock, &
pore fluids to flow plastically outward.

15
0 μsec

4 μsec

16
 9.4 μsec

16.6 μsec

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18
SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 Elastic rebound leaves shock-damaged rock, pulverized
formation grains & debris in the newly created perforation
tunnels.

 Hence, perforating damage can consist of three elements:

 A crushed zone

 Migration of fine formation particles

 Debris inside perforation tunnels.

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20
21
SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 The crushed zone can limit both productivity & injectivity.

 Fines and debris restrict injectivity & increase pump

pressure, which:

 Decreases injection volumes

 Impairs placement or distribution of gravel & proppants
for sand control or hydraulic fracture treatments.

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SHAPED CHARGED PERFORATION
 The extent of perforation damage is a function of:
 Lithology

 Rock strength
 Porosity
 Pore fluid compressibility
 Clay content
 Formation grain size
 Shaped-charge designs
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EXPLOSIVES
 Explosives used in perforation are called Secondary high
explosives.
 Reaction rate = 22,966 – 30,000 ft/s.
 Volume of gas produced = 750 – 1,000 times original
volume of explosive.
 These explosives are generally organic compounds of
nitrogen & oxygen.
 When a detonator initiates the breaking of the molecules'
atomic bonds, the atoms of nitrogen lock together with
much stronger bonds, releasing tremendous amounts of
energy.
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EXPLOSIVES
 Typical explosives are:
 RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine)
 HMX (Cyclotrimethylene tetranitramine)
 HNS (Hexanitrostilbene)
 PYX Bis(Picrylamino)-3,5-dinitropyridine
 PS (Picryl sulfone)
 Composition B (60% RDX, 40% trinitrotoluene)

25
EXPLOSIVES
Detonation Detonation
Chemical Density
Explosive Velocity Pressure
Formula (g/cc)
(ft/sec) (psi)

RDX Cyclotrimethylene
trinitramine C3H6N6O6 1.80 28,700 5,000,000

HMX Cyclotrimethylene
tetranitramine C4H8N8O8 1.90 30,000 5,700,000

HNS Hexanitrostilbene
C14H6N6O12 1.74 24,300 3,500,000

PYX Bis(picrylamino)-3,5-
dinitropyridine C17H7N11O16 1.77 24,900 3,700,000

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EXPLOSIVES

 RDX is the most commonly used explosives for shaped

charges (up to 300 oF).

 In deep wells when extreme temperature is required &

where the guns are exposed to well temperatures for
longer periods of time HMX, PS, HNS or PYX is used.

27
EXPLOSIVES
 It is important to respect the explosives used in
perforating operations.

 They are hazardous.

 Accidents can occur if they are not handled carefully or if

proper procedures are not followed.

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PERFORATING GUNS
 Perforating guns are configured in several ways.
 There are four main types of perforating guns:
 Wireline conveyed casing guns
 Through-tubing hollow carrier guns
 Through-tubing strip guns
 Tubing conveyed perforating guns

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WIRELINE CONVEYED CASING GUNS

Generally run in the well

before installing the
tubing.

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WIRELINE CONVEYED CASING GUNS
 The advantages of casing guns over the other wireline
guns are:
 High charge performance
 Low cost
 Highest temperature & pressure rating
 High mechanical & electrical reliability
 Minimal debris & minimal casing damage
 Instant shot detection
 Multi-phasing
 Variable shot densities of 1 – 12 spf
 Speed & accurate positioning using Casing Collar
Locator (CCL)/Gamma Ray

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THROUGH-TUBING HOLLOW CARRIER GUNS

Smaller versions of
casing guns which
can be run through
tubing.

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THROUGH-TUBING HOLLOW CARRIER GUNS
 They have lower charge sizes &, therefore lower
performance, than all other guns.
 They only offer 0o or 180o phasing
 Maximum shot density of 4 spf on the 2-1/8” OD gun & 6
spf on the 2-7/8” OD gun.
 Due to the stand-off from the casing which these guns
may have, they are usually fitted with
decentralizing/orientation devices.

33
THROUGH-TUBING STRIP GUNS

Semi-expendable type
guns consisting of a
metal strip into which the
charges are mounted.

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THROUGH-TUBING STRIP GUNS
 Charges have higher performance.
 They also cause more debris, casing damage & have less
mechanical & electrical reliability.
 They also provide 0o or 180o phasing.
 By being able to be run through the tubing, underbalance
perforating can possibly be adopted but only for the first
shot.
 A new version called the Pivot Gun has even larger
charges for deep penetration.

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A Pivot gun
system

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TUBING CONVEYED PERFORATING GUNS
(TCP)

TCP guns are a variant of

the casing gun which can
be run on tubing.

37
TUBING CONVEYED PERFORATING GUNS (TCP)
 Longer lengths can be installed.
 Lengths of over 1,000 ft are possible (especially useful for
horizontal wells).
 The main problems associated with TCP are:
 Gun positioning is more difficult.
 The sump needs to be drilled deeper to accommodate
the gun length if it is dropped after firing.
 A misfire is extremely expensive.
 Shot detection is more unreliable.
38
 PERFORATION EFFICIENCY &
GUN PERFORMANCE
 Optimizing perforating efficiency relies extensively on the
planning & execution of the well completion which
includes:
 Selection of the perforation interval
 Fluid selection
 Gun selection
 Applied pressure differential
 Well clean-up
 Perforating orientation
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 PERFORATION EFFICIENCY &
GUN PERFORMANCE
 API RP 19B, 1st Edition (Recommended Practices for
Evaluation of Well Perforators) provide means for
evaluating perforating systems (multiple shot) in four ways:
 Performance under ambient temperature &
atmospheric pressure test conditions.
 Performance in stressed Berea sandstone targets
(simulated wellbore pressure test conditions).
 How performance may be changed after exposure to
elevated temperature conditions.
 Flow performance of a perforation under specific
stressed test conditions

40
 PERFORATION EFFICIENCY &
GUN PERFORMANCE
 Factors affecting gun performance include:
 Compressive strengths & porosities of formations.
 Type of charges used (size, shape).
 Charge alignment.
 Moisture contamination.
 Gun stand-off.
 Thickness of casing & cement.
 Multiple casings.

41
 PERFORATION EFFICIENCY &
GUN PERFORMANCE
 It is necessary for engineers to obtain as much accurate
data from the suppliers & use the company’s historic data
in order to be able to make the best choice of gun.
 Due to the problem of flow restriction, the important
factors to be considered include:
 Hole diameter to achieve adequate flow area.
 Shot density to achieve adequate flow area.
 Shot phasing, Penetration, Debris removal.

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43
HOLE SIZE
 The hole size obtained is a function of the casing grade &
should be as follows:
 Between 6 mm & 12 mm for natural completions.
 Between 15 mm & 25 mm in gravel packed
completions.
 Between 8 mm & 12 mm if fracturing is to be carried
out & where ball sealers are to be used.

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SHOT DENSITY

 Shot density is the number of holes specified in shots per

foot (spf).
 An adequate shot density can reduce perforation skin &
produce wells at lower pressure differentials.
 Shot density in homogeneous, isotropic formations should
be a minimum of 8 spf but must exceed the frequency of
shale laminations.

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SHOT DENSITY
 A shot density greater than this is required where:
 Vertical permeability is low.
 There is a risk of sand production.
 There is a risk of high velocities & hence turbulence.
 A gravel pack is to be conducted.

 Note: Too many holes can weaken the casing strength.

46
SHOT PHASING
 Phasing is the radial distribution of successive
perforating charges around the gun axis.
 Simply put, phasing is perforation orientation or the
angle between holes.
 Perforating gun assemblies are commonly available in
0o, 180o, 120o, 90o & 60o phasing.

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Carrier gun
arrangement
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49
SHOT PHASING
 The 0o phasing (all shots are along the same side of
the casing) is generally used only in small outside-
diameter guns.
 60o, 90o & 120o degree phase guns are generally
larger & provide more efficient flow characteristics
near the wellbore.
 Optimized phasing reduces pressure drop near the
wellbore by providing flow conduits on all sides of the
casing.

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SHOT PHASING
 Providing the stand-off is less than 50mm, 180o or
less, 120o, 90o, 60o is preferable.
 If the smallest charges are being used then the
stand-off should not be more than 25mm.
 If fracturing is to be carried out then 90o and lower
will help initiate fractures.

51
 Effect of
centralization

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PENETRATION
 In general, the deeper the shot the better, but at
the least it should exceed the drilling damage
area by 75mm.
 However, to obtain high shot density, the guns
may be limited to the charge size which can
physically be installed that will impact
penetration.

53
WELL/RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS

 Pressure differential between a wellbore and

reservoir before perforating can be described
by:
 Underbalanced

 Overbalanced

 Extreme overbalanced (EOB)

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UNDERBALANCED PERFORATING
 Reservoir pressure is substantially higher than the
wellbore pressure.
 Adequate reservoir pressure must exist to displace
the fluids from within the production tubing if the well
is to flow unaided.
 If the reservoir pressure is insufficient to achieve this,
measures must be taken to lighten the fluid column
typically by gas lifting or circulating a less dense fluid.

55
UNDERBALANCED PERFORATING
 The flow rates & pressures used to exercise control during
the clean up period are intended to maximize the return of
drilling or completion fluids & debris.
 This controlled backflush of perforating debris or filtrate
also enables surface production facilities to reach stable
conditions gradually.
 Standard differential pressure ≈ 200 – 400 psi.
 Differential pressures up to 5,000 psi in low permeability
gas wells.

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57
OVERBALANCED PERFORATING
 Perforating when the wellbore pressure is higher than the
reservoir pressure.
 This is normally used as a method of well control during
perforating.
 The problem with this method is it introduces wellbore
fluid into the formation causing formation damage.
 Use clean fluid to prevent perforation plugging.
 Use of acid in carbonates.

58
OVERBALANCED PERFORATING

59
OVERBALANCED PERFORATING

60
EXTREME OVERBALANCED PERFORATING
 The wellbore is pressured up to very high
pressures with gas (usually nitrogen).
 When the perforating guns are detonated the
inflow of high pressure gas into the formation
results in a mini-frac, opening up the formation to
increase inflow.

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CALCULATIONS
 A mechanism to account for the effects of perforations on
well performance is through the introduction of the
perforation skin effect, sp in the well production equation.

 For example, under steady-state conditions:

kh  Pe  Pwf 
q
  re  
141.2 B   ln    s p 
  rw  

62
CALCULATIONS
 Karakas and Tariq (1988) have presented a semi-
analytical solution for the calculation of the perforation
skin effect, which they divide into components:
 The plane-flow effect, sH
 The vertical converging effect, sV

 The wellbore effect, swb

 The total perforation skin effect is then:

s p  sH  sV  swb
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THE PLANE-FLOW EFFECT
 rw 
sH  ln  
 rw   

 l perf
 for   0
rw     4
a  r  l  for   0
 o w perf
 rw = wellbore radius (ft).
 r’w(θ) = effective wellbore radius (ft). It is a function of the
phasing angle θ.
 lperf = length of perforation (ft)
64
THE PLANE-FLOW EFFECT

 Constant ao depends on the perforation

phasing.
Perforation
ao a1 a2 b1 b2 c1 c2
Phasing
0 0.250 -2.091 0.045 5.131 1.8672 1.60E-01 2.675
45o 0.860 -1.788 0.24 1.192 1.6392 4.60E-05 8.791
60o 0.813 -1.898 0.102 1.365 1.6490 3.00E-04 7.509
90o 0.726 -1.905 0.104 1.567 1.6935 1.90E-03 6.155
120o 0.648 -2.018 0.063 1.614 1.7770 6.60E-03 5.320
180o 0.500 -2.025 0.094 3.037 1.8115 2.60E-02 4.532
65
THE VERTICAL CONVERGING EFFECT

sV  10a hDb 1rDb

a  a1 log  rD   a2 b  b1rD  b2

rperf  kV  1 hperf kH
rD   1   hperf  hD 
2hperf  kH  shot density l perf kV

66
THE VERTICAL CONVERGING EFFECT
 a1, a2, b1 & b2 are obtained from the previous table.
 kH = horizontal permeability
 kV = vertical permeability
 rperf = radius of perforation (ft)
 sV is potentially the largest contributor to sp.

67
THE WELLBORE EFFECT

swb  c1 exp  c2  rwD 

rw
rwD 
 l perf  rw 

 c1 & c2 are obtained from the previous

table.

68
THE WELLBORE EFFECT

69
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION
 Example 1: Assume that a well in the reservoir has a radius of
rw = 0.328ft is perforated with 2 SPF, rperf = 0.25 in. (0.0208ft),
lperf = 8 in. (0.667 ft), and φ = 1800. Calculate the perforation skin
effect if kH/kV = 10. Repeat the calculation for φ = 00 and φ = 600.
If φ = 1800, show the effect of the horizontal-to-vertical
permeability anisotropy with kH/kV = 1.
 Solution: using the equations:

 l perf
 for   0
rw     4
a  r  l  for   0
 o w perf

70
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION

 From the Table:

ao for 180o = 0.5
Perforation
ao a1 a2 b1 b2 c1 c2
Phasing
0 0.250 -2.091 0.045 5.131 1.8672 1.60E-01 2.675
45o 0.860 -1.788 0.24 1.192 1.6392 4.60E-05 8.791
60o 0.813 -1.898 0.102 1.365 1.6490 3.00E-04 7.509
90o 0.726 -1.905 0.104 1.567 1.6935 1.90E-03 6.155
120o 0.648 -2.018 0.063 1.614 1.7770 6.60E-03 5.320
180o 0.500 -2.025 0.094 3.037 1.8115 2.60E-02 4.532
71
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION

 Therefore:

rw ( )  ao (rw  l perf )

rw ( )  ( 0 .5)( 0 .328  0 .667 )  0 .5

 Then,
 rw   0.328 
s H  ln    ln     0 .4
 rw ( )   0 .5 

72
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION

 For hD:
Remembering that hperf = 1/SPF = ½ = 0.5,

hperf kH
hD 
l perf kV

 Then,
0 .5
hD  10  2 .37
0 .667

73
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION

 For rD:

rperf  kV 
rD   1  
2hperf  kH 

 Then,

0 .0208
rD  (1  0 .1 )  0 .027
( 2 )( 0 .5)

74
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION
 For a,

a  a1 log  rD   a2

a   2 .025 log( 0 .027 )  0 .0943  3 .271

 For b,
b  b1rD  b2

b  ( 3 . 0373 )( 0 . 027 )  1 . 8115  1 . 894

75
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION
 For sV,
sV  10a hDb 1rDb

sV  10 3.271 2 .37 0.894 0 .027 1.894  4 .3

 For rwD, rw
rwD 
 l perf  rw 
0 . 328
rwD   0 . 33
0 . 667  0 . 328
 For swb,
swb  c1 exp  c2  rwD 

s wb  ( 2 .6  10 2 ) e ( 4.532 )( 0.33 )  0 .1
76
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION
 The total perforation skin effect is then,
s p   0 .4  4 .3  0 .1  4
 If θ = 0o, then sH =0.3, sV =3.6, swb =0.4
Therefore, sp =4.3
 If θ = 60o, then sH =0.9, sV =4.9, swb =0.004
Therefore, sp =4
 For, θ = 180o and kH/kv =1, then sH and swb do not change;
sV, though, is only 1.2, leading to sp =0.9, reflecting the
beneficial effects of good vertical permeability even with
relatively unfavorable perforation density (2 PF).
77
PERFORATION SKIN EFFECT CALCULATION
 Exercises: Using typical perforation characteristics such as
rperf = 0.25 in., (0.0208ft), lperf = 8 in. (0.667 ft), φ = 1200, in a
well with rw = 0.328ft, develop a table of sV versus
perforation density for permeability anisotropies kH/kV =10,
5, 1. Populate the table with the result from the exercise.
Table: Vertical Contribution to Perforation Skin Effect
sV
SPF kH/kV =10 kH/kV =5 kH/kV =1
0.5
1
2
3
4
78