Numerical investigation of the application of intelligent horizontal well completion

Abstract

Oil field management is gaining significant importance with CO2 injection. The application of a completion strategy and utilization of appropriate downhole equipment is a vital aspect of a prolific producing well. In recent applications, another aspect that has been gaining attention is an intelligent completion system. This study investigates the details of oil recovery utilizing horizontal wells with intelligent completion modeled in a professional reservoir simulation package. Three different patterns with varying geometries formed of a certain number of clusters are designed from a drilling completion perspective, and a reservoir simulation is conducted to investigate the influence of intelligent completions. Results reveal that oil recovery factors were improved in horizontal wells with CO2 injection. Implementation of intelligent completion scenarios resulted in preventing increased CO2 velocity ranges in the middle parts of the horizontal wells, and in increasing recovery factors. It was observed that the beginning of CO2 production was synchronized with rapid alteration in injection pressures and production rates. The findings showed that well configurations with lower cross-sectional pattern areas required earlier CO2 injection and hence, greater recovery factors in the early stages of the reservoir development.