A Semianalytical Model for Calculating Pressure Drop Along Horizontal Wells With Stinger Completions

Abstract

Summary Pressure drop along horizontal wells causes unequal drawdown along the well, thus reducing the effectiveness of the toe of the well, and increasing the tendency for water and gas coning at the heel. Completions have been proposed to combat this effect using a stinger that extends from the heel into the horizontal section. This reduces the magnitude of the pressure drop over the wellbore, because the well is effectively split into two segments of reduced length. If the stinger also has an intermediate inflow opening, possibly equipped with a remotely controlled inflow control valve, a further reduction in the wellbore pressure drop can be obtained. We present a semianalytical model to compute the flow in stinger completions in a reservoir that may have varying inflow characteristics along the wellbore. The model is capable of handling flow in a looped configuration, which occurs when the stinger has an intermediate inflow point. It combines either numerical integration or analytical integration in terms of Jacobian elliptic functions, with an iterative "shooting" method to solve the two-point boundary value problem for pressure and flow rate along the well. It can be used to rapidly determine the optimal configuration of a stinger completion with intermediate inflow.