CASE STUDY
Optimized ICD Design Triples
Oil Production While Nearly
Eliminating Water Cut
SIMULATIONS FINE-TUNE ICD DESIGNS FOR RESERVOIR
PERMEABILITY AND WATER PRODUCTION VARIATIONS,
RESULTING IN IMPROVED COMPLETION PERFORMANCE
ARABIAN GULF
CHALLENGES PROJECT OVERVIEW
Wells producing from cemented liner completions in two Al-Khafji field sandstones were
Water breakthrough in two heterogeneous quickly watering out. To help the horizontal wells flow at their full potential, the Al-Khafji Joint
sandstones presented a significant Operations (KJO) proposed a change to nozzle-based inflow control device (ICD) completions
completion challenge to cemented liner to delay water breakthrough and improve production.
completions. Al-Khafji Joint Operations
wanted to change to inflow control
device (ICD) completions to delay water The client used NETool™ software to design the completions by modeling fluid flow
production, but a tailored design was through various ICD design configurations. The complex designs considered a wide range
required to match the characteristics of of variables, including ICD nozzle sizes, ICD positions along the lateral, water breakthrough
each reservoir.
from the high-permeability interval, and fluid movements between annuli.
SOLUTIONS The resulting completion design tripled oil productivity while reducing water cut by more
than 90 percent.
To select the best ICD completion for
Without Inflow Control ICD in Heterogeneous Formation
each zone, NETool™ software was used
INITIAL INITIAL
to simulate the performance of various
ICD configurations and positions along the
GOC
GOC
completion, and to compare the resulting
well productivity. Heel Heel
Toe
RESULTS Toe OWC OWC
Optimization of the ICD design for each
+TIME +TIME
sandstone reservoir tripled oil productivity
compared with offsets, and also reduced
water cut by more than 90 percent. GOC GOC
OWC
OWC
Cross-flow and water-out conditions
Cross-flow and due to uneven
water-out duedepletion
to uneven depletion
ICD completion design is a complex process of modifying the openhole horizontal section to provide control from the
annulus to the tubing. The ability to simulate the performance of various designs is key to optimizing the completion.
CASE STUDY
The ICD design for Reservoir A was engineered for water control in a heterogeneous reservoir with
minimum backpressure. The completed section was not entirely horizontal and exhibited different
pressures and higher permeabilities. The NETool model was used to run simulations of various ICD
designs in different scenarios, including high water saturation in the high-permeability interval.
The selected design isolated the high-permeability zone and used fewer ICD nozzles than the rest
of the horizontal section. The design increased oil production almost three times compared to offset
non-ICD wells, and water cut was almost completely eliminated.
In Reservoir B, the design was for
a horizontal well with a 270-foot
(82-meter) shale section that had
to be isolated behind blank pipes,
and high permeability at the toe.
Upper Sand Reservoir
NETool software was used to analyze
Shale Section
variations in drawdown along the
horizontal section to determine the OWC Lower Sand Reservoir
best combination of ICDs. Simulations
also were run to examine water
Bottom Water Drive
breakthrough in the high-permeability
Edge Water Drive
interval.
Improving revenue from the Al-Khafji field required control of water
channels and water coning in Reservoir A, and of bottom water in
The installed ICD design resulted Reservoir B.
in better influx distribution with
improved oil production, along with more than a 90 percent reduction in water production
(source: IPTC 17171).
Reservoir A Reservoir B
Water-Cut Range – ICD Wells 0–15% 0–15%
60% > 50%
Water-Cut Range – Non-ICD Wells 60–64% 35–80%
Oil Production Rate Range – ICD Wells (B/D) 2,560–2,910% 2,100–6,000%
125% 170%
Oil Production Rate Range – Non-ICD Offset Wells (B/D) 900–1,535% 1,000–1,965%
The ability to optimize ICD completions yielded a significant performance improvement compared to non-ICD offsets.
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