What is salt and pepper perforating?
Salt and pepper perforating is the practice of alternating deep penetrating charges and big hole charges in the same carrier. While the shaped charge manufacturers like Titan Completions, GOEX or JRC have never tested this system, it has been used with varying degree of success in regions of heavy oil production. Normally the operator would have the carriers loaded with charges of compatible gram weight i.e. 32gm charges alternating big hole and deep penetrator. The theory behind using charges of different style in the same carrier is that during the drilling process the formation can be eroded or washed out. When this occurs in the zone of interest and the production string is cemented in place it may be impossible for a big hole charge to completely penetrate the cement surrounding the pipe. This would prevent communication from the pay zone of the formation to the well bore. To lessen this possibility deep penetrating charges are used to increase the depth of penetration and allow f
