EFFECT OF NON-DARCY FLOW COEFFICIENT VARIATION DUE TO WATER VAPORIZATION ON WELL PRODUCTIVITY OF GAS CONDENSATE RESERVOIRS

Abstract

Well productivity of gas condensate reservoirs is highly affected by near-wellbore phenomena. Inertial force resulting from convective acceleration of fluid particles in the medium, as well as viscous force, determines the flow of gas through porous media at high velocity. Pressure drop builds up the molar content of water in gas by water vaporization in the near-wellbore region, which means a drop in connate water saturation. Given that the inertial force is a function of the non-Darcy coefficient, β, which itself depends upon connate water saturation, this can ultimately lessen the non-Darcy component of the pressure drop and therefore inertial forces, leading to improvement of well deliverability. Currently, no physically relevant model takes into account the non-Darcian flow coefficient variation due to this phenomenon. This paper utilizes a single-well compositional simulation to exhibit how water vaporization could compensate for the effect of inertia on well productivity of gas condensate reservoirs.