Abstract
Gas resources play a key role in nowadays energy supply and provide 24% of the diverse energy portfolio. Water encroachment is one of the main trapping mechanisms in gas reservoirs. It decreases recovery by reduction of reservoir life, limits productivity and efficiency of wells, and elevates safety risks in gas production. The lack of a comprehensive study about water production problems is the primary motivation for this study. Contrary to the serious concern over the standalone investigation of an actual water production case study, less concern is put to deal with the problem comprehensively through an investigation of all potential sources and mechanisms, required methods, and available techniques. This study presents the potential sources of the problem, methods to identify it, and approaches to address it. Firstly, possible sources are described. Secondly, the diagnostic techniques are expressed. Then, practical solutions used in actual cases to overcome problems are elaborated. The solutions include both well- and reservoir-oriented approaches. Finally, all proper strategies are summarized to tackle the water problems in gas fields. The current study comprehensively presents the available methods for water control problems in parallel with conceptual and qualitative comparison. The finding of this study can be very constructive for better understanding of water sources, available diagnostic tools, and solutions for controlling water production in gas reservoirs and, consequently, taking the best decision in real case studies before attempting many water shut-off approaches.
Highlights
Gas resources play a key role in nowadays energy supply and provide 24% of the diverse energy portfolio
All proper strategies are summarized to tackle the water problems in gas fields. e current study comprehensively presents the available methods for water control problems in parallel with conceptual and qualitative comparison. e finding of this study can be very constructive for better understanding of water sources, available diagnostic tools, and solutions for controlling water production in gas reservoirs and, taking the best decision in real case studies before attempting many water shut-off approaches
Experiences have indicated that the recovery factor of volumetric reservoirs ranges between 80 and 90 percent due to remarkable pressure drop in the life of reservoirs, while it is significantly lower for the case of waterdrive gas reservoirs [13]
Summary
High drawdown pressures in gas wells may end with the water coning and the reduction of gas saturation around the well leading to the decrease of relative permeability and production of gas. From a numerical simulation study, Kabir [26] concluded that two parameters, permeability and pay zone thickness, are the most critical factors leading to water coning in gas fields, and other variables such as penetration ratio and production rate have minimal effect on ultimate recovery. In water-drive gas reservoirs, a well is typically perforated at the top of the interval and produced at a limited rate, this perforation system sometimes lowers gas production rate, and it delays water breakthrough due to water coning [28]. Lutes et al [35] carried out a study on Katy reservoir in Oklahoma, and they found that the problem origin is a strong water drive due to substantial pressure gradient
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