Smart Well Technology Application in Deepwater Field Development

Abstract

Abstract A Field development plan has been completed for a deepwater field located in gulf of guinea in water depth of around 1100 - 1400m offshore. The field is a confined turbidite channel system with some incised canyons and meandering channel complexes. The stacked nature of some of the reservoirs lends itself to combinations of drainage points. This can be harnessed to - reduce the well count by accessing multiple sands in one wellbore, accelerate production, and improve ultimate recovery from better reservoir management and/or development of reserves which cannot bear the cost of a dedicated conventional well. Smart well technology has been deployed in the field development plan to facilitate the realizations of these advantages and hence make the project economics more robust. In applying the technology, an integrated approach has been adopted all through the reservoir modelling, well planning and completion design sessions to ensure feasibility from the onset. A multi-disciplinary team and tools were fully deployed to ensure maximum gain realized in the smart well technology application. Based on the work done so far, the following justifies the appropriateness of the technology for the field: Smart wells overall value is in reducing the well count and overall CAPEX whilst maintaining the UR – Well count reduction by ∼20%. Well and reservoir management (WRM) Facilitation – Additional 10% to be gained from WRM via smart field implementation of appropriate level of smartness. This paper discusses the integrated approach and the tools that facilitated the process.