Determination of thick walled cylinder strength in sand control for production wells in Block 46, Malay - Tho Chu Basin

Sand production is one of the major challenges in oil and gas production within sandstone formations, particularly in the Malay-Tho Chu Basin. Accurate prediction of sand production potential plays a crucial role in the design and operation of wells and facilities, ensuring both safety and economic efficiency. One of the key geomechanics parameters used to assess the risk of sand production is the Thick-Walled Cylinder (TWC) strength, which reflects the strength of the formation around the wellbore. Determining the wellbore TWC strength is a critical step in wellbore stability analysis and sand production risk assessment. Typically, TWC is measured through thick-walled cylinder tests, where the stress conditions around the wellbore or perforated zones are directly simulated by applying increasing confining pressure to a cylindrical rock sample until structural failure occurs. However, such tests are often costly and depend heavily on the availability of high-quality core samples from production wells. Therefore, developing an empirical formula to estimate TWC from simple parameters which easily measured, such as porosity, is both practical and necessary. This paper presents a methodology for developing an empirical correlation between porosity and TWC strength using core data from Block 46 and compares the resulting model with existing models. The results are intended to determine the formation strength around the wellbore and further improve sand production prediction models for the Malay - Tho Chu Basin.

How to Cite

Tran, Q.Anh and Nguyen, V.The 2025. Determination of thick walled cylinder strength in sand control for production wells in Block 46, Malay - Tho Chu Basin (in Vietnamese). Journal of Mining and Earth Sciences. 66, 5 (Oct, 2025), 110-119. DOI:https://doi.org/10.46326/JMES.2025.66(5).10.

References

Ahad, N. A., Abu Bakar, M. Z., and Zakaria, M. (2020). Experimental investigation and prediction of sanding potential in high porosity sandstone reservoirs. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 187, 106805. https://doi.org/10. 1016/j.petrol.2019.106805.

Ajdukiewicz, J. M., and Lander, R. H. (2010). Sandstone reservoir quality prediction: The state of the art. AAPG Bulletin, 94(8), 1083-1094. https://doi.org/10.1306/04211009 178.

Asadi, M. S., Khaksar, A., Nguyen, H. Q., and Manapov, T. F. (2017, October). Solids production prediction and management in a high porosity carbonate reservoir-A case study from offshore Vietnam. SPE/IATMI Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Jakarta, Indonesia. https://doi.org/10.2118/186273-MS.

Chang, C., Zoback, M. D., and Khaksar, A. (2006). Empirical relations between rock strength and physical properties in sedimentary rocks. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 51(3-4), 223-237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. petrol.2006.01.003.

Hoàng A. T., Trịnh X. C., Nguyễn T. H. (2019). Đặc điểm thạch học và thành phần vật chất hữu cơ trong đá móng nứt nẻ vùng Đông Bắc bể Malay-Thổ Chu. Tạp chí Dầu khí, (4), 25-36.

Hoang, S. K., Trinh, V. X., Tran, T. V., and Dang, T. A. (2017, October). Comprehensive sanding study from laboratory experiments, modeling, field implementation, to real-time monitoring, a case study for Hai Thach and Moc Tinh fields, offshore Vietnam. In SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (p. D011S031R003). SPE.

Khaksar, A., Griffiths, C. M., and Rafiee, M. (2018). A Comprehensive Review of Sanding Prediction Models and Field Applications. Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering, 52, 379-400.

Khaksar, A., Griffiths, C. M., and Zhang, Y. (2010). Rock strength from core and logs: where we stand and ways to go. In SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. https://doi.org/ 10.2118/130984-MS.

Khaksar, A., Gui, F., Younessi, A., and Asadi, S. (2019). Thick-wall cylinder strength and critical strain limit from core tests and well logs: Implications for sand control decisions. Presented at the SPWLA 60th Annual Logging Symposium, The Woodlands, TX. Society of Petrophysicists and Well-Log Analysts.

Khaksar, A., Taylor, P. G., Fang, Z., Kayes, T. J., Salazar, A., and Rahman, K. (2009). Rock strength from core and logs: Where we stand and ways to go. Paper SPE-121972-MS presented at the SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam, The Netherlands .

McNally, G. H. (1987). Estimation of coal measures rock strength using sonic and neutron‑neutron logs. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences and Geomechanics Abstracts, 24(6), 417-426. https://doi.org/10.1016/01 48-9062(87)90008-1.

Morita, N., Black, A. D., and Fuh, G. F. (1990). Borehole stability analysis considering linear and nonlinear rock behavior. SPE Drilling Engineering, 5(04), 303-310. https://doi.org/ 10.2118/16664-PA.

Motulsky, H and Christopoulos H. (2004) Fitting Models to Biological Data Using Linear and Nonlinear Regression: A practical guide to curve fitting. Oxford University Press.

Santarelli, F. J., Giacca, D., and Brignoli, M. (1997, June). Sand production: From prediction to management (SPE-38185-MS). SPE European Formation Damage Conference, The Hague, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.2118/38185-MS.

Vernik, L. (1993). Predicting sandstone porosity from acoustic velocities. Geophysics, 58(8), 1164-1170. https://doi.org/10.1190/1.1443 512.

Willson, S. M., Moschovidis, Z. A., Cameron, J. R., and Palmer, I. D. (2002, October). New model for predicting the rate of sand production. In SPE/ISRM rock mechanics conference (pp. SPE-78168). SPE.

	Citations	1210
	h-index	12
	i10-index	24

Abstracting & Indexing