Abstract
Open hole or perforated completions in chalk fields are studied experimentally and are simulated theoretically to obtain an insight on the mechanisms involved in their stability. Hollow cylinder experiments with flow on Lixhe chalk have identified two mechanisms of chalk production: (a) Breakout failure through shear band development and pore collapse, (b) Tensile failure and destabilization due to high drawdown. Solids production results for chalk are presented where solids production by tensile failure is more often observed in water-flooded areas. Depending on the conditions it can be a rather violent phenomenon. The analysis presents the critical drawdown and depletion conditions for the two failure modes and demonstrates the influence of brine sensitivity on the results.