Use of Temperature Simulations in Water-Control Design

Abstract

Summary In this article we discuss a method to predict the temperature in the near-wellbore area during water shut-off treatments. It is essential to have a good estimate of the temperature because it greatly influences the success rate of a treatment. We present some new views on how treatment temperatures can be predicted accurately in order to design and execute a successful treatment. It explains how a production operation simulator can be used with an advanced-processes reservoir simulator to give an accurate estimate of the wellbore temperatures in the treated area. These data allow treatments to be designed on the basis of realistic temperatures rather than on bottomhole static temperatures. The results of the simulations can be used to optimize treatment placement rates, fluid composition, and shut-in times. Two case histories of recent jobs in the North Sea area are presented where simulations were used to design water-shut-off treatments and their placement. The first case illustrates how cooldown inside the reservoir was used to place a treatment that would otherwise have gelled spontaneously at the reservoir temperature. In the second case, temperature histories for different stages of the treatments were constructed from the simulation results. These temperature histories show that several different activator compositions and concentrations were required for the early, intermediate and final treatment stages.