Publications

Multiphase Fluids Performance Ratio Analysis of ICD/AICV to Analyse the Multiphase Mixture Behaviour of Oil-Water Mixture and Oil-Gas Mixture During Production in Carbonate or Sandstone Reservoirs

In today’s engineer’s toolbox, a variety of inflow control technologies exist that can help to achieve the targets to enhanced oil recovery. 

Abstract

Characterizing difference type of inflow control technology especially that performed during the well lifetime are challenging due to the fluids phase change during the well life. The nature of porous media, and complex interaction of fluid and rock in the reservoir often lead to mixture flow during most of the well life during production phase. Early water and gas breakthrough increase the challenge of understanding the mixture behavior flow from the reservoir to the well. Different inflow control technologies are used to enhanced oil recovery and choke the unwanted fluids (water/gas) compared to oil. It is essential to understand the performance of inflow control technology during the multiphase mixture production. The Fluid Performance Ratio (FPR) analysis for single phase flow has been presented in a paper previously. In this paper the multiphase mixture fluid methodology and workflow have been developed to compared different type of inflow control technology completion to understand the capability to reduce unwanted water and gas production in multiphase flow along the wellbore in the reservoir. Different inflow control technology and its flow performance are a function of both density and viscosity. The fluid composition affects the multiphase flow behavior differently for various devices, i.e., the pressure drop for mixture oil, water, and gas. Different designs have been tested in laboratory with single phase and multiphase flow that replicates downhole operating conditions. The multiphase fluid performance ratio will compare the performance difference in choking of multiphase fluids mixture for oil/water and oil/gas and express the multiphase fluid performance ratio in percentage. Experimental flow loop results illustrate a significant difference in multiphase behavior of oil/water and oil/gas between conventional ICDs and AICVs. AICV with dynamic flow area shows more effective control of mixed fluid during breakthrough resulting in improved oil recovery and limiting the unwanted water and gas more effectively. Case studies shown and demonstrating the mixture production behavior. Comprehensive guidelines on the multiphase fluid performance ratio analysis have been developed to compare different type of inflow control technology completion to understand the capability in multiphase fluid mixture to reduce unwanted water and gas production along the wellbore in the reservoir. The continued development of a new characterization method for multiphase flow performance ratio has helped to unveil the benefits of characterizing and differentiating between inflow control technologies.