Evaluating The Effect of Temperature and Polymer Concentration on Properties of Hydroxyethyl Cellulose Gravel Pack Fluid

The commercial success of petroleum wells depends greatly on the type of completion, especially the choice of gravel packing fluid system for wells with gravel pack completions. Currently several polymers are in use to viscosify gravel pack fluids. These polymers are expected to exhibit acceptable properties such as good solubility, viscosity yield, rheology, sand carrying capacity, thermal stability, break profile, low residue content and others, to match the job requirements, in order not to jeopardize the sand control process or cause hydrocarbon production impairment. Hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), one of the most commonly used polymers used in formulating gravel pack fluids has so many good qualities, such as very low solid residues and easy clean out. In this paper, gel break time was investigated for 40lbs/1000gal and 60lbs/1000gal HEC polymer concentrations at 140°F, 160°F and 180°F, using Sodium Persulfate as gel breaker at concentrations of 1.0lbs/1000gal, 5.0lbs/1000gal, 10.0lbs/1000gal and 20.0lbs/1000gal. The proppant carrying capacity at different temperatures was also investigated. Test results indicated that gel break is a function of temperature, breaker and polymer concentrations. At higher temperatures and higher breaker concentrations, gel break is faster, but slower for higher polymer concentration.