Session: 11-06-01 Production Systems and Subsea Operations

Paper Number: 122257

122257 - A New Approach to Evaluate the Inflow Profile Heterogeneity of Lower Completion Horizontal Well in N Oilfield Middle East 

Horizontal well is one of the main technologies applied in carbonate reservoir development, and open-hole completion is widely adopted in the horizontal wells of Oilfields Middle East. However, the open-hole completion faces several challenges during the well production life. For example, the water or gas breakthrough caused by the uneven production profile will decrease the oil production, increase the surface equipment cost to transport produced gas/water and have a negative influence on the final recovery factor. Therefore, the well-designed lower completion configuration and evaluation for the inflow profiles need to be studied for the purpose of a higher cumulative oil production and a higher recovery factor.

In the present work, the inflow profile heterogeneity calculation approach is proposed, including two coefficients, inflow variation coefficient C_v and inflow Lorenz coefficient C_L. Then, coupled model simulation is carried out to determine the optimal lower completion configurations with high efficiency. A production well case with a heterogeneity profile is presented, using the new approach to calculate the inflow variation coefficient C_v and inflow Lorenz coefficient C_L between open-hole completion and well-designed lower completion under the coupled-model simulation, the result shows the inflow profile heterogeneity of open-hole completion is larger than the heterogeneity of well-designed lower completion. Therefore, by adopting the optimal lower completion configuration, the homogeneous profile can be achieved and will result in better production performance and a higher oil recovery factor.

This approach was successfully verified by the simulation case, which makes a quantitative evaluation of the inflow profile heterogeneity and provides guidance to the lower completion configuration design and reservoir development.

Presenting Author: Shuzhe Shi The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, CNPC

Presenting Author Biography: Shuzhe Shi is currently a production engineer in REPID, CNPC. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Oil and Gas Development Engineering from China University of Petroleum, Beijing. Shi has published several papers in international journals and conference proceedings articles. His current research interests are lower completion optimization and design in oil field development, and experimental and modeling studies of multi-phase flow in curved wells.

Authors:

Shuzhe Shi The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, CNPC
Bohong Wu The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Zhen Nie The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Yong Li The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Lei Meng China State Shipbuilding Corporation Project Management Center
Yanna Zhang The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Weixiang Cui The Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
Lufeng Zhang SINOPEC Petroleum Exploitation and Production Research Institute