Innovative Method to Optimize Down Hole Control Valves by Well Modeling

Abstract

Abstract The revolution of smart well completions has been significantly enhancing the oil & gas industry in the recent years, The completions allow for higher PIs, better sweep, longer well life, longer reservoir contact and better water management. These effects came into play and needed once O&G industry moved to drilling multi-lateral wells. This paper represents a tri-lateral well that was drilled with high reservoir contact. The production optimization was completed to evaluate the contribution of each lateral and decide on the future production strategy for the well. This evaluation also allowed to test the functionality of the Down Hole Flow Control Valves (DHFCVs). Further, determining this functionality allowed identifying cross flow between the ICVs and the laterals. The optimization included multi-stage testing of each lateral to ascertain the high oil & water contributors. The water contribution was recorded across each lateral to optimize the water production and enhance the well productivity. The productivity index was calculated using IPR modeling utilizing Pipe-Sim software based on the commingled multi-rate tests. To further plan the way forward on the well production, a flowchart was established during the optimization operation to guide through the optimization process, identify each lateral water contribution, and production strategy after the operation. This optimization has resulted in a significant cost avoidance, avoiding coil tubing horizontal logging intervention operations in all the three laterals. The details of the testing stages scenarios and the recommendations of the production strategies will be shared in this paper.