Determination of Perforation Schemes To Control Production and Injection Profiles Along Horizontal Wells

Abstract

Summary The flowing pressure drop along the wellbore gives rise to increasing drawdown in the direction of flow. Particularly for long horizontal wells, this may lead to strongly nonuniform inflow. Lithology variation has similar effects. For production wells, nonuniform inflow may aggravate cresting and cause premature breakthrough of gas or water. For water flooding, sweep efficiency often depends on uniform injection over long horizontal distances. Thus, control of the injection profile may be imperative to efficient recovery. The paper describes a scheme for control of production and injection profiles by means of perforation-density variation. The method developed enables determination of such perforation schemes on the basis of classical inflow efficiency concepts and models.