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Copyright 2008, International Petroleum Technology Conference cut in general impacts both the inflow and outflow curves
This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology negatively. Higher water production increases the cost of
Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 3–5 December 2008.
fluids lifting to surface, water treatment, and disposal. Water
This paper was selected for presentation by an IPTC Programme Committee following review production is also related to scale problems at various
of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the International Petroleum Technology Conference production system components.
and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily
reflect any position of the International Petroleum Technology Conference, its officers, or
members. Papers presented at IPTC are subject to publication review by Sponsor Society Excessive water production can be resulted from either a
Committees of IPTC. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the International Petroleum Technology problem of the well (mechanical failure) or other reasons
Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not
more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous related to the reservoir like Water channelling from water
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, IPTC, P.O. table to the well through natural fractures or faults, water
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax +1-972-952-9435.
breakthrough in high permeability zones, or water coning.
WOR and WOR' results obtained earlier, are verified into the adjacent perforations and WOR' shows small peak.
against published work (2) for coning in vertical well. As can However, the general trend continues decreasing in the WOR'.
be seen in bottom of Figure 2, there is a good match between At some other time, the cone stretches and the WOR' shows
our results with no aquifer support and published work (2). smooth transition period until a peak is reached at which
Although, in previous work (2), the model properties were not WOR' decreases slowly where the next perforation watered
sated, it was possible to get the same trends using our simple out. Finally, when water has reached all the perforations, the
model. It is correct to say that the aquifer support that was cone will stretch horizontally. The cone is now acting as a
used in previous work is very weak. The difference in the water channel until WOR' reached a maximum at about t =
magnitude of the WOR and WOR’ between our model results 550 days (313 days in upper left side of Figure 5). However,
and previous model is due to the difference in the properties since the reservoir pressure decreases, the WOR' decreases
between the two models. afterward. Overall trends show a general decrease in the
WOR'.
Vertical well channeling/fracture
Upper part of Figure 3 is for the period of water The same approach as in vertical wells verification was
breakthrough and after. Both WOR and WOR' increase followed to check our results. The horizontal wells in the field
gradually. This is caused by the first layer breakthrough. At of our interest were carefully chosen based on available
about 381 days (about 100 days in upper part of Figure 3), a history data. All horizontal wells presented here are having no
second trend is observed. This is caused by the second layer major work-over activities. All bad data due to wrong
breakthrough. As more layers breakthrough, WOR' becomes production test or deferred oil activities are cleaned. The field
steeper. At some time later, the WOR' starts to decline as sign model was checked to know if there are fractures crossing
of coning. That is expected as most layers are depleted and these wells. Any other data like time-lapse logs are also used
they act as an edge aquifer. to derive the right conclusion. In addition, the pump
parameters were checked to make sure that the well is on 24
As shown in Figure 3, the channel behaviour in our model hour timer and the pump speed does not vary.
is similar to previous published work (2), bottom part of Figure
3. It appears that the previous model has movable water at Three horizontal wells are verified for their trends against
initial conditions (constant WOR § 0.1). When the first our model findings for coning in horizontal wells. These wells
channel breakthrough occurs, the WOR increases gradually are chosen carefully where there is no fracture or fault
and also the derivative. Another trend is observed at t = 100 crossing them. They are completed in the same formation unit
days when the second channel breakthrough. This time the and did not experience any possible channeling.
WOR is less steep. The same behaviour is observed in our
model. Initially, the model has no movable water. The water Figure 5 shows the WOR and WOR' for the three wells
breakthrough started later at about t = 286 days and as the compared to results from our model for horizontal coning
second layer breaks through, another trend is observed. In our scenario. All three wells WOR and WOR' show good match
model, only one permeable layer is simulated, all other layers compared to our model results.
have the same rock properties. Whereas in previous work (2),
layers of different permeabilities were modelled. Our model is Horizontal well channeling/fracture
closer to fracture behaviour than multi channeling as the case From the model results, we can see that the water
with previous model. Nevertheless, our model showed that one breakthrough in the horizontal well occurs faster than in the
permeable layer can cause the adjacent layers to behave as if vertical well. As more water get produced, the WOR and
they have higher permeability than the other layers. WOR' continue to rise (upper part of Figure 6). At about 233
days, the WOR' decreases due to depleted zones acting like
To verify the findings with examples from the field, three water cone from the edge.
vertical wells were studied. It was found from the field static
model that these wells crossed faults or fractures that Figure 6 shows a good match obtained between the model
contributed to the excessive water production or completed results of WOR and WOR’ and the actual field data.
across layers of high permeability contrast. All these wells are
mechanically lifted with beam pump. The beam pump Conclusions
parameters were checked to make sure that the pump is Using simple simulation model of defined static and dynamic
operating in all times and its speed does not vary in a way that properties, it was possible to get similar trends of WOR and
affects the production data collected at surface. Also, WOR' to those of published work (2) on single vertical well.
production data were cleaned from anomalies. These wells did Three different scenarios were tested. Two scenarios were for
not have work-over history like change of completion, re- coning and one for channeling/fracture. The conning model
perforation, wire wrap screen back-flush, or any job that can that has no support from a bottom water aquifer matches very
alter the production behaviour. The WOR and WOR' of these well the published WOR and WOR'(2). The third scenario is
wells compared to our model are shown in Figure 4. about channeling/fracture in single vertical well which also
matches well the previous work for single vertical well.
Horizontal well coning
When water has just reached the well’s perforations, the Three vertical wells from an Omani oil field were selected
WOR' is decreased as more water is produced. Water breaks after screening to verify their trends against our findings for
4 IPTC 11958
channeling/fracture in vertical wells. All three wells showed (7) G. P, Wilhite: Waterflooding, Text Book Series, SPE.,
good agreement with our model. Hence, the model was further Richardson, TX (1986) 3, Chapter 5.
developed to study coning and channeling/fracture in single (8) R. J., Novotny: “Matrix flow evaluation technique for water
horizontal well for the first time. The same approach was used control application”, SPE paper 030094 presented at the
European Formation Damage Conference held in the Hague, the
to verify the trends of WOR and WOR' for the different Netherlands, May, 15-16, 1995.
scenarios. Four horizontal wells were chosen after proper (9) ThankGod Egbe and Dulu Appah; Petroleum and Gas
screening for verification. The WOR and WOR’ trends for all Engineering Department, University of Port Harcourt, "Water
four wells matched our findings for the single horizontal well Coning Diagnosis using Spectral Analysis", Society of
simulation model. Petroleum Engineers Inc, 2005, SPE 98816
(10) Y. C.,Yortsos, C.,Youngman, Y., Zhengming and P.C, Shah:
The good match between the model trends and the actual “Analysis and Interpretation of Water Oil Ratio in Water
trends from well history production suggests that these plots Floods”, SPE Journal Vol. 4, No. 4, Dec 1999. pp 413 -425
(11) H. Dandarawy, A. AlMutairi, G. Abdouche, and O. Khedr,
can be used to diagnose the excessive water production
Zadco, and A. Elkadi, Schlumberger, "A New Production
problems in vertical and horizontal wells. Logging Tool Allows a Superior Mapping of the Fluid
The WOR and WOR' trends observed are not affected if the Velocities and Holdups Inside the Wellbore", Society of
well is produced by electric submersible pump (ESP) or beam Petroleum Engineers, Inc., 2005, SPE 93556
pump (BP). This is valid when the BP parameters (running (12) H. Farran, Schlumberger, J. Harris and S. Al Jabri, Petroleum
time and speed) are almost constant during the life of the well Development Oman, and R. R. Jackson, S. Al Khayari, and T.
and the ESP has relatively constant intake pressure through the Thomas, SPE, Schlumberger, "An Integrated Approach for
well’s life. Evaluating and Characterizing Horizontal Well Inflow and
Productivity in Heterogeneous Carbonate Reservoirs",
International Petroleum Technology Conference, 2005, IPTC
Nomenclature
10492
BHP: Bottom Hole Pressure (13) A. AL-Amer, B. A. AL-Dossary, Y. A. AL-Furaidan, and M. K.
Bo: Oil formation volume factor Hashem, SPE, Saudi Aramco, "Tractoring – A New Era in
BP: Beam Pump Horizontal Logging for Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia", Society of
Bw: Water formation volume factor Petroleum Engineers Inc, 2005, SPE 93260
Cr: Rock compressibility (14) Krimo Laieb/Sonatrach-PED, and Djebbar Tiab/U. of
Cw: Water compressibility Oklahoma, “Design and Performance of Miscible Flood
ESP: Electrical Submersible pump Displacement”, Society of Petroleum Engineers, 2001, SPE
Kh: Horizontal Permeability 70021
Kro: Oil relative permeability (15) R. M. McKinley: "Production Logging", Exxon Production
Research Co, 1982, SPE (10035)
Krw: Water relative permeability (16) Justin Rounce, Chris Lenn, Schlumberger Technical Services,
Kv: Vertical Permeability Gerard Catala, Schlumberger Riboud Product Center:
Pc: Capillary pressure "Pinpointing Fluid Entries in Producing wells" presented at the
PLT: Production Logging Tools 1999 SPE Middle East Oil Show held in Bahrain, 20–23
PVT: Pressure Volume Temperature February 1999, SPE 53249
WOR: Water Oil Ratio (17) J,R, Fanchi and R.L. Christiansen, Marathon Oil Co,
WOR': Derivative of Water Oil Ratio “Applicability of Fractals to the Description of Viscous
Fingering”, Society of Engineers, 1989, SPE 19782
(18) B. E. Theron and T. Unwin, Schlumberger Cambridge Research:
References
"Stratified Flow Model and Interpretation in Horizontal wells",
(1) James Pappas, SPE, Fina Oil & Chemical Co., Prentice Creel,
SPE 36560, presented at the 1996 SPE Annual Technical
SPE, and Ron Crook, SPE, Halliburton Energy Services,
Conference and Exhibition held in Derver, Colorado, U SA, 8-9
“Problem Identification and Solution Method for Water Flow
October 1996
Problems”, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc., 1996, SPE
(19) E. Ozkan, Colorado School of Mines, C. Sarica, SPE, The
35249
Pennsylvania State University, M. Haci, Drilling Measurements,
(2) K. S. Chan: "Water Control Diagnostic Plots", presented at the
Inc. :"Interpretation of Horizontal-Well Production Logs:
SPE Annual Technical Conferences & Exhibition, Dallas, USA,
Influence of Logging Tool", presented at the 1998 SPE
22-25 October, 1995, SPE 30775
International Conference on Horizontal Well Technology held
(3) R-N., Hwan: "Numerical Simulation Study of Water Shutoff
in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 1-4 November 1998, SPE 50395
Treatment Using Polymers" paper SPE 25854, presented at the
1993 SPE Rocky Mountain Regional/Low-Permeability
Reservoirs Symposium, Denver, CO, April 12-14.
(4) R. V., Higgins and R. V., Leighton,: "Matching Calculated With
Actual Waterflood Performance With Estimation of Some
Reservoir Properties", paper SPE 4412, presented at the 1973
SPE Rocky Mountain Regional Meeting, Casper, WY, May 15-
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(5) N., Mungan: "A Theoretical and Experimental Coning Study",
SPEJ (June 1975) 247-254.
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1984) 664-670.
IPTC 11958 5
WOR' 0.1
WOR
0.01
0.001
0.0001
1 10 100 1000
Time (Days)
WOR WOR'
Figure 3: Vertical well: WOR and WOR' channeling/fracture trends compared to published results
IPTC 11958 7
1 1000
100
10
0.1
0.1
WOR'
WOR'
WOR
WOR
0.01
0.01
0.001
0.001
0.0001
0.00001
0.0001 0.000001
1 10 100 1000 1 10 100 1000 10000
Time (Days) Time (Days)
WOR and WOR' trends for channeling/fracture scenario in WOR and WOR' for X-2
vertical well
1000 100
100
10
10
1
1
0.1
WOR'
WOR'
WOR
WOR
0.1
0.01
0.01
0.001
0.001
0.0001
0.0001
0.00001 0.00001
1 10 100 1000 10000 1 10 100 1000 10000
Time (Days) Time (Days)
WOR and WOR' for X-1 WOR and WOR' for X-3
Figure 4: WOR and WOR' for three vertical wells compared to model’s trends
8 IPTC 11958
100 100
10 10
1 1
WOR'
WOR'
WOR
WOR
0.1 0.1
0.01 0.01
0.001 0.001
1 10 100 1000 1 10 100 1000 10000
Time (Days) Time (Days)
WOR and WOR' trends for horizontal well coning scenario, the WOR and WOR' for X-5
time step is shifted -237 days
100 100
10 10
1 1
WOR'
WOR'
WOR
WOR
0.1 0.1
0.01 0.01
0.001 0.001
0.0001 0.0001
1 10 100 1000 10000 1 10 100 1000 10000
Time (Days) Time (Days)
WOR and WOR' for X-4 WOR and WOR' for X-6
Figure 5: WOR and WOR' for three horizontal wells compared to model’s trends
IPTC 11958 9
10
Fracture
0.1
WOR'
WOR
0.01
0.001
Coning
0.0001
1 10 100 1000
Time (Days)
WOR WOR'
1000.00
100.00
10.00
1.00
0.10
0.01
0.00
1 10 100 1000 10000
WOR WOR'