Publications

Developing depleted reservoirs has become a challenge for Indonesia petroleum industry. One of the characteristics of these reservoirs is producing sand along with hydrocarbon production. Nevertheless, there is not currently a single �one size fits all� approach to mitigate sand production, namely in less productive zones. For example, Kalimantan Island has many wells with severe sand problem. To mitigate this sand problem, chemical consolidation method has been implemented to their reservoir. However, this method can arouse a dilemma since it can decrease permeability in an unwanted percentage. Moreover, the amount of mixture needed to implement this method has to be obtained through intensive laboratory studies. The addition of nanosilica in epoxy-based sand consolidation has been proven to reduce the need for more concentrated mixture, yet manufacturing batches of nanosilica from clean sand is not economical and environmentally sustainable. Therefore, produced sand is thought to be a viable solution in providing bulk sources of nanosilica, aside from the concerns of mineral pollutant and other impurities. This publication employs the application of produced sand as a precursor to nanosilica in chemically assisted sand consolidation. A published sand composition from field X in Indonesia has been employed as a benchmark for constructing the synthetic produced sand. Results from the experiment have indicated that produced sand, although less reliable compared commercially expensive clean sand, as an additive to epoxy based sand consolidation. The research team has suspected the presence of mineral interaction as one of the most dominant factors of less convincing performance, however, this progress indicates that produced sand can be recycled as one of the main ingredients of nanosilica assisted chemical consolidation.