Aberdeen based sand management and monitoring experts, Sand Monitoring Services Ltd (SMS), has announced a joint venture with the Robert Gordon University to carry out an industry survey that will investigate the true extent and cost of sand production to the oil and gas industry.

"Over 70% of world’s oil and gas reserves are contained in sand reservoirs where sand production is likely to become a problem during the life of the field. Furthermore, at the 2006 IFDC Conference, BP noted that by 2010, 60% of its producing assets will be from sand prone reservoirs. With this in mind, SMS and RGU strongly believe that a topside survey is long overdue," said SMS Director Alistair Moncur.

The sand management industry survey is the first of its kind and will follow a segmented approach to better explore the relevant target groups that include operators, service and manufacturing companies and related government bodies.


The first area of focus on topside sand and erosion management will be launched at SPE’s 4th European Sand Management Forum, which will be held in Aberdeen on 10th and 11th March at AECC.

Commenting on the main intent of the milieu survey, Alistair said the key objective is to identify and review technology gaps in sand management. "The aim is straightforward - we will collate representative data, review, rationalise and present findings to quantify the cost of sand production in pounds and pence. The baseline datum will be a fulcrum point from which to address topside sanding issues for the oil and gas industry.

"A significant issue facing UKCS operators is that of sand production; this is especially true of the Southern North Sea (SNS) gas fields," continued Alistair. "Sand can be effectively detected utillising acoustic or intrusive sand monitoring devices, but in isolation, this data is not sufficient to manage the risks and hazards associated with sand production. What is required is an integrated approach that can analyse sand production data as well as the overall process of sand management."

SMS Directors Alistair Moncur and Andrew Kinsler will be presenting on both days of the Sand Management Forum to talk about the integrated approach to topside sand management, along with a detailed case study of how a UKCS operator adopted this approach to develop a multidisciplinary team that successfully implemented processes to understand the risks and mitigating measures to ensure asset integrity.

(GK)