SPE-173402-MS Real-Time Optimization of Waterflood Performance Through Coupling Key Performance Indicators in Intelligent Fields (original) (raw)
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The appropriate inflow control valve (ICV) design plays an important role for achieving adequate proactive reservoir management, production management and improving oil recovery. The smart completion consisting of custom designed inflow control valves along with downhole gauges are proven to be the great tool for maximizing sweep efficiency in Minagish Field, West Kuwait. The demonstrated benefits include reduction of unwanted water production, equalization of inflow profile, elimination of cross flow across laterals in multilateral wells and optimization of water injection allocation resulted in increasing sustained well productivity and maximizing oil recovery. Further the downhole gauges provides required reservoir surveillance data on real time for effective reservoir and production monitoring. Moreover the real time surveillance and production control capabilities over entire well life enabled ability to take necessary actions at right time for facilitate defensive as well as proactive reservoir management. In addition the intelligent wells are proven to control the distribution of oil, water and gas in a well between different layers, compartments or reservoirs having high degrees of anisotropy and heterogeneity. The smart completions having optimally designed downhole inflow control valves are implemented in oil producers, water injectors, multilateral wells with ESP (Electrical Submersible Pump) and smart dump flood water injectors in Minagish Field. An integrated novel workflow is developed and multidisciplinary team approach was followed for planning and design of smart completions by considering reservoir properties, geological data, petro-physical data and related uncertainties. Further the various production scenarios, well management scenarios, reservoir dynamics, reservoir uncertainties and reservoir management objectives were considered to select the most appropriate flow trim design of multi-position inflow control valves for wells having multi-zone intelligent completion, smart multilaterals and smart dump flood completions. Also, the right flow control option is included in well design, as it has an impact on the number of zones/intervals that can be realistically controlled in one well, and may affect the overall reliability of the integrated system. Previous field experiences have shown that the resulting benefits are diminished when the front end engineering does not considered suitable inflow control valve design and choke setting tailored to reservoir requirements and inherent uncertainties. The consequences of poor inflow control valve design is realized and found that only few choke positions are usable resulting in non-optimum well performance. Lessons learned from previous wells were incorporated in the new smart wells design and integrated workflow is developed by including the reservoir properties, reservoir dynamic response (e.g. water encroachment and time to breakthrough) and well operating constraints. The paper covers a novel workflow for inflow control valve design and chokes setting stepping distribution that assimilates reservoir properties, wellbore and production constraints. Also the paper details about established reservoir management and production management achieved by properly designed intelligent completions supported with long term well performance results.
This paper takes a look at application of Intelligent Well Technology (IWT) in water injection, how the use of IWT can reduce injection inefficiencies like viscous fingering and how the inclusion of smart controls in Injection Well (IW) is justified, based on improved oil recovery and net present value (NPV). This was achieved by the use of a reservoir simulator to model an Intelligent Injection well by placing Inflow Control Valves (ICV) at vulnerable zones with high possibility of viscous fingering. Reactive Control Strategy (RCS) was adopted to help control the movement of the injected water as a displacement fluid to delay viscous fingering and hence increase oil recovery. The effect of the IWT in improving the efficiency of the waterflooding process was very evident with a 22.8% increment in Field Oil Efficiency (FOE) experienced in 20-year life of the field by incorporating ICV in the injection well. The Net Present Value (NPV) also saw a 17.63% increment in this same period. The displacement pattern was maintained at an almost " piston-like " pattern throughout the waterflooding process with the use of the IWT. It was also realised that the efficiency of the Intelligent Injection Well varied under varying reservoir conditions and hence may not be applicable for certain reservoir conditions. For water-wet systems and damaged formation (positive skin), IWT performed poorly but in case of permeability and porosity variations, the effect of the IWT on the injection well was felt.
2016
Intelligent well technology has provided facility for real time production control through use of subsurface instrumentation. Early detection of water production allows for a prompt remedial action. Effective water control requires the appropriate performance of individual devices in wells on maintaining the equilibrium between water and oil production over the entire field life. However, there is still an incomplete understanding of using intelligent well concept to control unwanted fluids and the way this leads to improving hydrocarbon recovery. The present study proposes using intelligent well technology to develop a new integrated methodology for selecting/ranking the candidate wells/fields, interval control valve (ICV) size determination, and ICV setting optimization. Various technical and economical parameters weighted by expert opinions are used for candidate well/field ranking to implement the intelligent technology. A workflow is proposed for ICV size determination based on...
Waterflood Recovery Optimization Using Intelligent Wells and Decision Analysis
2009
The many critical decisions in a waterflood recovery process range from well number, architecture, and completion configuration to scheduling and facilities capacity planning. Project success is also affected by subsurface uncertainties, such as reservoir heterogeneity and compartmentalization, as well as surface events including equipment uptime and availability. Managing the complexities of a waterflood recovery is traditionally a sequential and intermittent process in terms of data acquisition, modeling, and workflows. However, traditional project planning, execution, and monitoring may help an operator reach production targets and budgets, but these activities do not necessarily align technical and business goals to create a comprehensive development plan that increases the probability of optimal business success.
Use of Smart Controls in Intelligent Well Completion to Optimize Oil Gas Recovery
Journal of Engineering Research and Reports, 2019
For the past few years, the oil and gas industry has faced several economic, geographic and technical challenges largely due to decline in crude oil prices and market volatility. In the quest to address some of these challenges to accelerate production and subsequently maximize ultimate recovery, operators are limited to remote hydraulic and electro-hydraulic monitoring and control of safety valves providing the means of obtaining downhole production data which demands periodic well intervention-based techniques with risk of loss of associated tools. This has highlighted the need for companies to adopt new technology to take advantage of low crude oil price environment, optimizing recovery without interventions and with minimal production interruption. One of the recent improvements in production technologies which can remedy these problems having unique capabilities to do so is the Intelligent Well Completion (IWC) technology. In this paper the utilization of IWC to optimize oil recovery was evaluated. The use of a reservoir simulator, the Schlumberger ECLIPSE-100 simulator, was employed to model an intelligent well. Case study simulations were performed for an active bottom-water drive. Modeling of the Intelligent Well Inflow Control Devices (ICDs) and downhole sensors for the multilaterals was achieved using the Multi-Segment Well model. Optimal IWC technology combination for maximum hydrocarbon recovery and minimal water
Dynamic Optimization of Waterflooding With Smart Wells Using Optimal Control Theory
SPE Journal, 2004
Summary We used optimal control theory as an optimization algorithm for the valve settings in smart wells. We focused on their use in injectors and producers for the waterflooding of heterogeneous reservoirs. As a followup to an earlier intuitive optimization approach, a systematic dynamic optimization approach based on optimal control theory was developed. The objective was to maximize recovery or net present value of the waterflooding process over a given time period. We investigated the scope for optimization under purely pressure- and purely rate-constrained operating conditions, and concluded that: (1) for wells operating on bottomhole-pressure constraints, the benefit of using smart wells is mainly reduced water production rather than increased oil production, and (2) for wells operating on rate constraints, there is generally a large scope for accelerating production and increasing recovery, in combination with a drastic reduction in water production.
Optimization of Smart Wells in the St. Joseph Field
SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 2010
Summary The St. Joseph field has been on production since September 1981 under natural depletion supported by crestal gas injection. As part of a major redevelopment study, the scope for waterflooding was addressed using "smart" completions with multiple inflow control valves (ICVs) in the wells to be drilled for the redevelopment. Optimal control theory was used to optimize monetary value over the remaining producing life of the field, and in particular to select the optimal number of ICVs, the optimal configuration of the perforation zones, and the optimal operational strategies for the ICVs. A gradient-based optimization technique was implemented in a reservoir simulator equipped with the adjoint functionality to compute gradients of an objective function with respect to control parameters. For computational reasons, an initial optimization study was performed on a sector model, which showed promising results.
Application of Simple Smart Logic for Waterflooding Reservoir Management
2016
A simple smart logic for controlling inflow control valves (ICV) in waterflooding reservoir management is implemented and analyzed, with the final objective of improving the long term financial return of a petroleum reservoir. Such a control is based in a reactive simple logic that responds to the watercut measured in the ICV. Basically, when the watercut increases, the ICV is set to close proportionally. For comparison purposes, four strategies are presented: base case scenario with conventional control, the best completion configuration found by trial-and-error, the reactive control, and a deterministic optimal control based on Nonlinear Gradient Method with adjoint-gradient formulation is shown for comparison purposes. Finally, all four strategies are tested again in different reservoir realizations in order to mimic the geological uncertainties. Two different synthetic reservoir models were studied. First, a simple cube with a five-spot well configuration, in which the permeabil...
A Methodology to Optimize the Horizontal Well Production using Inflow Control Devices: A Case Study
2018
ver the last few years’ techniques of well completion haveadvanced expressively by introduction of nonconventional horizontal wells and directional drilling technology in the oil and gas industry. And in recent years’various advance technologies have changed the method of development of field in order to improve the reservoir performance and to lower the intervention costs. [1]. The wells which are equipped with downhole measurement equipment or control valves or which includes both are called as smart or intelligent wells. In the oilfield, just as in the real world, intelligence is not always a guarantee for success, and the key question in the development of smart well technology is when the added functionality also adds value [2].