Inflow-Control Devices for Reducing Water Production

Abstract

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 124154, ’Practical Consideration of an Inflow Control Device Application for Reducing Water Production,’ by Liang-Biao Ouyang, SPE, Chevron Energy Technology Company, originally prepared for the 2009 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, 4-7 October. Inflow-control devices (ICDs) have been developed to improve well performance and enhance reservoir management by mitigating undesired water and/or gas breakthroughs that often occur as a result of a variety of factors, including reservoir-permeability heterogeneity, heel/toe effects, and different reservoir pressures in different regions penetrated by a well. Success of an ICD completion relies heavily on appropriate completion design. The full-length paper identifies several key issues that should be addressed in designing an ICD completion and discusses their effects on performance of a well equipped with ICDs. Introduction Despite their superiority in production and recovery to conventional wells by maximizing reservoir contact, horizontal and multilateral completions are more prone to water and/or gas coning toward the heel of the well as a result of frictional pressure drop from toe to heel and/or breakthrough anywhere in the well because of permeability variation along the well and proximity of water traps. ICDs, a choking device installed as part of sandface completion hardware, were proposed in the early 1990s as a solution to the difficulties particularly associated with horizontal and multilateral wells. An ICD completion offers a number of potential unique benefits: Optimize production Delay water progress Minimize /eliminate annular flow and thus reduce the risk of sand production behind screen and subsequent plugging or erosion “hot spots” Mitigate the nonuniform production profile across the horizontal hole, especially in highly heterogeneous and fractured reservoirs that may result in premature water production, bypassed oil, and lower ultimate recovery Improve well cleanup and reduce the effect of formation damage caused by drilling of the well For sandstone, the application of ICDs should reduce the effect of heel/toe effects and high-permeability intervals, defer water/gas breakthrough, and improve well cleanup and sweep efficiency. For carbonate, the application of ICDs should help to control inflow from high-permeability intervals and limit production from each compartment based on lateral offset from gas/oil and oil/water contact to prevent premature gas and/or water breakthrough. ICDs have gained increasing popularity and increasingly are being applied to a wide range of reservoir types.