Near Wellbore Streamline Modeling: Its Novelty, Application, and Potential Use

Abstract

Abstract Over the last 25 years streamline modeling has proven to be a valuable technique within the field of reservoir engineering, primarily with respect to heterogeneous reservoirs undergoing convection dominated flows. To date, most applications have been performed on a full field level. In this research, streamline modeling is applied to individual wells on a near wellbore scale. The stability of the technique is achieved via first principle modeling using a time of flight algorithm in cylindrical geometry utilizing logarithmic grid refinement. The modeling technique allows for an understanding of how near wellbore heterogeneities affect flow distribution and production. The model is expanded to evaluate various completion strategies, including a cased and perforated well with associated perforation and formation damage, as well as an open-hole completion with partial filter cake build-up. To analyze the models, response surface methodologies are utilized. With respect to a cased and perforated well, the most statistically influential factors on both flow rate and skin are perforation permeability, number of perforations, damage zone permeability, damage zone radius, and perforation length, respectively. Various interactions are also significant, including perforation permeability with perforation length and damage zone permeability with damage zone radius. In relation to partial filter cake removal in anopen-hole completion, only the area/angle of coverage has a significant effect on the productivity of a well. The model contains numerous simplifying assumptions, including single phase incompressible flow in two dimensions for heterogeneous medium. Nevertheless, it has proven to provide stable and reliable results. Although implemented in two dimensions, the techniqueremains very useful in evaluating completion strategies and overall effectiveness, thereby offering significant potential to increase industry profitability. It is emphasized that an extension to three dimensional problems is straightforward since the third dimension is linear along the well trajectory. Further research incorporating the works of streamline modeling in Cartesian geometries will lead to a reduction in the simplifying assumptions, allowing for compressible multiphase flow and the inclusion of gravitational effects.