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An Evaluation of Well Completion Impacts on the Performance of Horizontal and Multilateral Wells
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2005
Year
Multilateral WellsOffshore GeotechnicsEngineeringPetroleum Production EngineeringWell StimulationWell Performance EvaluationEarth ScienceReservoir EngineeringGeotechnical EngineeringWell CompletionWell LoggingWell PlacementOil ProductionCompletion InstallationCivil EngineeringGeomechanicsFormation EvaluationBill HuangPetroleum Engineering
Well completion critically influences well design and performance throughout its life, with common options including open hole, slotted liner, ICDs, DIACS, perforated cemented liners, wire‑wrapped screens, ECPs, gravel packs, and frac packs. The study aims to guide completion design by simulating and comparing completion performance across various wells and flow conditions, including fluid type, well type, rate, pressure drawdown, and reservoir geology. The methodology couples reservoir inflow with wellbore hydraulics in a complex completion environment, evaluating total production, annular and liner flows, pressure profiles, and fluid transfer, while assessing the effects of skin factor, wellbore length, completion configuration, and pressure drawdown.
Abstract Well completion plays a critical role in well design, and more importantly, the performance of the well in its entire life. The major objective for this study is to provide some guidance in the design of completion configuration by a series of simulation with different completions under different flow and reservoir environments. The reservoir inflow and the wellbore hydraulics under complex completion environment will be fully coupled in the study. The most popular completion options, including open hole, slotted liner, inflow control devices (ICD), intelligent well completions (DIACS), perforated cemented liner, wire wrapped screen, ECPs, gravel pack, and frac pack, will first be briefly introduced and reviewed. The performance of the completions will be explored and compared for different wells under different flow conditions, including fluid type, well type, well rate, pressure drawdown, and reservoir geology. Well performance will then be studied in details by evaluating the total well production, annular flow and flow inside the liner/tubing, pressure profiles along the annulus and along the liner, inflow from reservoir to annulus and fluid transfer between annulus and liner, and so on. Impacts of key parameters like skin factor, wellbore length, well completion configuration, and pressure drawdown, will be investigated.