Coupling Reservoir and Well Completion Simulators for Intelligent Multi-Lateral Wells: Part 1

Abstract

Abstract To maximize well productivity and reservoir oil recovery in mature fields, advanced lateral designs with intelligent completions have been implemented during the last decade. The technology has been broadly applied, but how to effectively include its impact in reservoir well modeling is still being studied and developed. This paper describes an all-in-one system that combines nodal analysis and numerical simulation models to calculate the effect of intelligent completion components—such as swell packers, internal control valves (ICV), and inflow control devices (ICD)—on lateral production profiles. In complex and high heterogeneity reservoirs, single wells are economically unsustainable in the long term because of many factors, including reservoir properties, early water/gas breakthrough, and non-selective-layer flow control or preference flow zones. The use of multi-lateral wells (ML) enables maximum reservoir contact while different zones are produced at the same time. Moreover, for those cases in which reservoir pressure and heterogeneity between completions are significantly different, downhole devices can control early water breakthrough and provide hydro-dynamic equilibrium in more than one lateral. In this work, we used a 3D grid, multiphase flow and non-isothermal reservoir numerical simulator for advanced well design, and a wellbore nodal analysis simulator that numerically solves the partial differential equations between porous medium and the wellbore. When modeling the effect of any completion (ICD, ICV, and swell packers) on reservoir performance, the numerical simulator is coupled with a steady-state, network-based simulator that handles the completion effect inside the wellbore architecture. This study is determining how to optimize the intelligent-completion design in a Middle East field to evaluate the completion efficiency and production performance over time. The new coupled approach—believed to be an industry first for multi-laterals—is being used to model openhole and ICD-ICV completions and production forecasting in a multi-layered formation associated with an active aquifer.