Accurate determination of oil, water, and gas production rates is an important element of oilfield management and optimization. Multiphase flow meters (MPFM) are being accepted more and more for well testing, reservoir management, production allocation, production monitoring, and fiscal metering. In addition to common MPFM applications, this study shows how a multiphase flow meter may be used as a valuable tool to evaluate water production problems of the well by imposing transient flowing conditions to the well and tracking characteristic parameters such as flowrates, water cut and gas oil ratio with the equipment during the test. Representative curves are shown in this study in order to identify some common wellbore problems associated with water conformance. The curves were obtained through numerical reservoir simulation using a number of cases related to the most important problems: water channeling in stratified formations, mechanical wellbore integrity, water conning, and oil-water contact advance. The flowrate at the well should be shortened to a half of the current flowrate with a choke for several hours then, the dimensionless pattern curves of the water cut and gas oil ratio gathered in this study should be matched with the measurement of the MPFM on site in order to characterize the nature of the water problem. This application represents a new tool used to identify the sources of water production. The tool is easy and quick to apply, and complements other analytical techniques being used like diagnostics plots based on production history, water-oil ratio performance and production logs. All of them are used to differentiate between the different mechanisms of water invasion, so that an appropriate treatment may be selected to control undesirable water production. IntroductionDuring the petroleum exploitation, the production of water can come from an aquifer or from injector wells in a waterflooding process. When excess of water production exists, the costs associated to surface facilities, artificial lift systems, corrosion and scale problems increases. Besides, the recovery factor decreases as oil is left behind the displacement front. These factors reduce the economic indicators. The drastic influence of water production must be soon detected and the source of such problem must be identified in order to apply effective and suitable techniques to control this production.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.