Horizontal

and Multilateral Wells: Analysis and Design - HML1

Discipline: Reservoir Engineering

Level: Specialized
Instructors: A. Hill, Ding Zhu

The course is designed as a companion course to Horizontal and Multilateral Wells:

Completions and Stimulation. Advanced well concepts including horizontal and multilateral
wells have become a dominant feature of new field development and redevelopment
opportunities. They can, when used appropriately, dramatically improve the economic
profitability of field development operations. However, their successful deployment largely
depends on the effectiveness of the initial screening of candidate fields/wells and an
assessment of the longer term production dynamics essential to ensuring 'life of well'
design criteria and effective reservoir management. The complex, interdisciplinary
decisions in advanced well projects are emphasized. This course stresses the effective
identification of objectives and planning goals in the design evaluation process, the
technical and economic assessment of risks and uncertainties, and the provision of
flexible solutions. The application and benefits of horizontal and multilateral wells are
analyzed. The process of candidate screening and selection, involving geological,
reservoir, and production characteristics are considered, as well as constraints on drilling
and completion options. Learn to select appropriate well geometries or trajectories, with
respect to a range of reservoir environments, to optimize well capacity and fluid recovery.
Methods to predict well performance and recovery from horizontal and multilateral wells
are presented. The integration of inflow and wellbore flow performance for individual and
multilateral wells is discussed. Well completion options for horizontal and multilateral wells
are summarized. Reservoir simulation approach is presented during the course.
Economic and risk analysis and well performance prediction for advanced well
applications are summarized with a number of case histories, serving to highlight the
performance and benefits of horizontal wells and the elements of risk and uncertainty at
the initial design stage. One personal computer is provided, at additional cost, for each
two participants. The instructor will like to use the examples from participants' field cases
for analysis in the class as demonstration exercises. Field problems will be analyzed and
suggestions will be provided through the course.

Who should attend:

Geologists, reservoir engineers, production and completion engineers, and development,
asset, and project managers

You will learn:

Participants will learn how to:Identify the applications of horizontal, multilateral, and
intelligent wells from geological and reservoir aspects
Determine optimum well locations and their placement in reservoir structures
 Assess multidisciplinary inputs for successful screening of advanced well projects
Select the most appropriate well geometries to enhance production rates and
hydrocarbon recovery from a variety of reservoir types and lithologies
Predict horizontal and multilateral well productivity with integrated reservoir flow and
well flow models
Evaluate formation damage and well completion effects on advanced well
performances
Diagnosis problems in advanced wells and conduct the necessary sensitivity analyses
Assess reservoir management requirements and how to achieve these through
developing well design criteria to achieve 'life of a well' success
Minimize technical and economic risk in advanced well projects

Topics Covered:

Technical and economic benefits of advanced well systems

Limitations and risk
Reservoir applications for various well types
The screening of applications for advanced well applications
Geological structure characteristics
Classification of advanced wells
Reservoir flow and geometrical issues
Impact and importance of reservoir description
Reservoir inflow performance at different boundary conditions
Wellbore flow and integrated well performance
Commingled production and cross flow in multilateral wells
Formation damage in horizontal and multilateral wells
Well completion and combined effect of completion and damage on well performance
Reservoir simulation considerations
Applications of intelligent completion in advanced wells
Risk identification and assessment
Minimizing risk through initial well specifications
Case studies
Trajectory guidelines for well placement in various reservoir environments

Instructors:

DR. A. D. HILL is Professor, holder of the Robert L. Whiting Endowed Chair, and
Associate Department Head of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University.
Previously, he taught for twenty-two years at The University of Texas at Austin after
spending five years in industry. He is the author of the Society of Petroleum Engineering
(SPE) monograph, "Production Logging: Theoretical and Interpretive Elements", co-author
of the textbook, "Petroleum Production Systems", co-author of an SPE book, "Multilateral
Wells", and author of over 130 technical papers and five patents. He has been a Society
of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Distinguished Lecturer, has served on numerous SPE
committees and was founding chairman of the Austin SPE Section. He was named a
Distinguished Member of SPE in 1999 and received the SPE Production and Operations
Award in 2008. He currently serves on the SPE Editorial Review Committee and is
Chairman for the Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference. Professor Hill is an expert
in the areas of production engineering, well completion, well stimulation, production
logging, and complex well performance (horizontal and multilateral wells), and has
presented lectures and courses and consulted on these topics throughout the world.
He received a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from
The University of Texas at Austin, all in chemical engineering.

DR. DING ZHU is Associate Professor and holder of the W. D. Von Gonten Faculty
Fellowship in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. Her main research areas
include general production engineering, well stimulation, and complex well performance.
She is an author of more than one hundred technical papers and a co-author of the SPE
book, Multilateral Wells. She has been a chairperson and a committee member for many
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) conferences and events, and a technical editor for
SPE Production and Facilities Journal and Journal for Natural Gas Science and
Engineering. She received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Beijing University of
Science and Technology and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in petroleum engineering from the
University of Texas at Austin.

In-House Course Presentations

All courses are available for in-house presentation to individual organizations. In-house
courses may be structured the same as the public versions or tailored to meet your
requirements. Special courses on virtually any petroleum-related subject can be arranged
specifically for in-house presentation. For further information, contact our In-House
Training Coordinator at one of the numbers listed below.
Telephone 1- 832 426 1234
Facsimile 1- 832 426 1244
E-Mail inhouse@petroskills.com

Public Course Presentations

How to contact PetroSkills:
1-800-821-5933 toll-free in North America or
Telephone 1-918-828-2500
Facsimile 1-918-828-2580
E-Mail registrations@petroskills.com
Internet www.petroskills.com
Address P.O. Box 35448, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153-0448, U.S.A