Comparative Study between Smart Controls and Conventional Bottom Hole Completions

Abstract

This research project made use of Schlumberger’s “ECLIPSE 100” reservoir simulator to predict the performance of a reservoir with an overlying gas cap and an underlying aquifer (i.e., a three- phase Water-Oil-Gas reservoir) under conventional BHC techniques. Additional work was done to ascertain the suitability of incorporating an Intelligent Well (IW) to deal with water production problem by placing Inflow Control Valves (ICV) at particular segments in the well to monitor and control fluid flow. Comparing BHCs, it was found out that open hole completion yielded the maximum performance whereas gravel pack completion yielded the least. The simulation yielded FOEs of 13.27, 13.04, 13.02 and 12.98% for open hole, cased hole, perforated liner and gravel pack completions, respectively. Application of the intelligent well (IW) as opposed to the conventional cased hole well yielded a 4.06% increment in FOE. The project yielded a 41% reduction in water cut by the intelligent well compared to the conventional well. These were all due to the open-close action of the valves employed in the intelligent well model. This justified the applicability and suitability of intelligent wells in improving oil production by solving unnecessary water production, thus providing better returns on investment.

Keywords: Open-hole, Casing, Annular Cementation, Perforated Liner, Pre-slotted liner, Gravel Pack, Intelligent Well, Field Oil Efficiency