PERFORATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Shaped Charged Perforation

 Explosives

 Perforating Guns

 Perforation Efficiency & Gun Performance

 Well/Reservoir Characteristics

 Calculations

 References
 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.
 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.
 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.
 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.

 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.
 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
 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

fragments, cement, rock, & pore fluids to flow
plastically outward.
0 μsec

4 μsec
 9.4 μsec

16.6 μsec
 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.

 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.
 The extent of perforation damage is a function
of:
 Lithology

 Rock strength
 Porosity

 Pore fluid compressibility

 Clay content

 Formation grain size

 Shaped-charge designs
 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.
 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)

 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
 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.
 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.
 PERFORATING GUNS

 Perforating guns are configured in several

ways.

 There are four main types of perforating guns:

 Wirelineconveyed casing guns
 Through-tubing hollow carrier guns

 Through-tubing strip guns

 Tubing conveyed perforating guns

Wireline Conveyed Casing Guns

Generally run in the

well before installing
the tubing.
 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 CCL/Gamma
Ray
Through-tubing Hollow Carrier Guns

Smaller versions of
casing guns which
can be run through
tubing.
 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.
Through-tubing Strip Guns

Semi-expendable
type guns consisting
of a metal strip into
which the charges
are mounted.
 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.
A Pivot gun
system
Tubing Conveyed Perforating Guns (TCP)

TCP guns are a

variant of the casing
gun which can be
run on tubing.
 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.

 PERFORATION EFFICIENCY &
GUN PERFORMANCE

 Optimizing perforating efficiency relies

extensively on the planning & execution of the
well completion which includes:
 Selection of the perforated interval
 Fluid selection

 Gun selection

 Applied pressure differential

 Well clean-up

 Perforating orientation
 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
 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.
 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.

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.
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.
 A shot density greater than this is required
where:
 Verticalpermeability 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.
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.
Carrier gun
arrangement
 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.
 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.
 Effect of
centralization
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 which will impact
penetration.
 WELL/RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS

 Pressure differential between a wellbore and

reservoir before perforating can be described
by:
 Underbalanced

 Overbalanced

 Extreme overbalanced (EOB)

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.
 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.
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.

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.
 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  
 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
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)
bca12

 Constant ao depends on the perforation

phasing.
The Vertical Converging Effect

sV  10a hDb 1rDb

a  a1 log  rD   a2 b  b1rD  b2

rperf  kV  1
hD 
hperf kH
rD  1   hperf 
2hperf  kH  shot density l perf kV
 a1, a2, b1 & b2 are obtained from the table
above.
 kH = horizontal permeability

 kV = vertical permeability

 rperf = radius of perforation (ft)

 sV is potentially the largest contributor to sp.

The Wellbore Effect

swb  c1 exp  c2  rwD 

rw
rwD 
 l perf  rw 

 c1 & c2 are obtained from the table above.

 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.
 Schlumberger: “Completions Primer,” 2001.
 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.