A Study of Coupling Surface Network to Reservoir Simulation Model in a Large Middle East Field

Almutairi, Saad; Hayder, Ehtesham M.; Al-Shammari, Ahmad Tariq; Al-Jama, Nayif Abdullah; Munoz, Alberto

doi:10.2118/127976-ms

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…A nonsymmetrical example, given by Anderson (1991), supports our view that drainage/injection regions exist in more-complex cases. In this nonsymmetrical example, drainage/injection regions were calculated for each well by means of the mapping of the analytical solutions, in which drainage regions contain portions of streamlines from injectors and injection regions contain portions of streamlines from producers.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Development was focused on improving the accuracy of the explicit IPR used in the technique. Al-Mutairi et al (2010), in their coupled-simulation application, used an estimated average drainage pressure (Middya and Dogru 2008) instead of wellblock pressure to produce IPR. Middya and Dogru (2008) calculated an average drainage pressure by tracking the sign of the flux vector, thereby collecting gridblocks within a well's drainage region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Semi-Implicit Approach for Integrated Reservoir and Surface-Network Simulation

Liang¹,

Rubin²

2014

SPE Reservoir Evaluation &Amp; Engineering

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Conventionally, methods of coupling reservoirs and surface networks are categorized into implicit and explicit approaches. The term "implicit coupling" indicates that the two simulators solve unknowns together, simultaneously, or iteratively, whereas "explicit coupling" indicates that the two simulators solve unknowns sequentially and exchange their boundary conditions at the last coupled time t n .The explicit approach is straightforward to implement in existing reservoir and surface-network models and is widely used. Explicit coupling does have drawbacks, however, because well rate and pressure oscillations are often observed.In this paper, a new semi-implicit method for coupled simulation is presented. This technique stabilizes and improves the accuracy of the coupled model. The "semi-implicit coupling" overcomes the problems found in explicit-coupling methods without requiring the complexity of a fully implicit coupled model.The new approach predicts inflow-performance-relationship (IPR) curves at the next coupled time t nþ1 by simultaneously conducting well tests for all wells in the reservoir before actually taking the required timestep. All wells first flow simultaneously to the next coupled time t nþ1 with the well rates unchanged from the last coupled timestep. The timestep is rewound, and all well rates are reduced by a uniform fraction and then simultaneously flow again to t nþ1 . By extrapolating the resulting well pressures, the well's shut-in pressures at time t nþ1 are determined, and thus, straight-line IPRs are produced. The new IPR curves approximate better each well's drainage region at t nþ1 and each well's shut-in pressure at t nþ1 which helps to stabilize the explicitly coupled model.The new coupling technique normally does not require iteration between the reservoir and surface network and normally has the stability and accuracy characteristics of an implicitly coupled approach. Because the well tests already account for individual well-drainage regions, an explicit knowledge of the well-drainage region is not required. Because of the stabilized IPR, the approach also was found to reduce the overall computational time compared with explicit coupling.Applications of the new approach are presented that show significant improvements surpassing explicit coupling in both stability and accuracy. IntroductionIt has been widely recognized that when reservoir-deliverability forecasting and surface-network planning are required, integrated reservoir and surface-network simulation can provide more-realistic results than separate models of the reservoir and surface network. During the last 40 years, different methods to couple reservoir and network models were developed and studied by a number of investigators. Dempsey et al. (1971) first presented a technique that iteratively solved reservoir, tubing-string, and gathering system models to accurately evaluate gasfield deliverability. The concept was extended to the black-oil system by Startzman et al. (1977), and the scheme was modified by Emanuel and ...

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Semi-Implicit Approach for Integrated Reservoir and Surface-Network Simulation

Liang¹,

Rubin²

2014

SPE Reservoir Evaluation &Amp; Engineering

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“…Error in approximations of IPR may lead to numerical accuracy or a balancing error 14 in computations. Because of that reason, there are interests to improve the accuracy of the computations IPR for coupled simulations 8,14 . Al-Mutairi, et al 8 , used IPR calculated using drainage pressure.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12-13. POWERS and GAP have been loosely coupled at the sand face in the reservoir. A detailed description of this implementation can be found [7][8][9] , and the workflow is shown in Fig. 1.…”

Section: Coupled Simulation Workflowmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Coupled Facility and Reservoir Simulations to Optimize Strategies for a Mature Field

2011

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It is important to employ a good production injection strategy to optimize hydrocarbon recovery from a field. Reservoir constraints on the surface facility change as the field matures. It may be economical to revise the surface facility configurations rather than retaining the initial design of the surface facility to maintain the target production level of the field as reservoir conditions change. If reservoir pressure is not sufficient to maintain natural flow, there may be need for artificial lift mechanisms to keep the well flowing. Careful analysis of interdependence of the surface facility constraints and reservoir conditions are important in designing good quality production injection strategies for these circumstances. Coupled facility and reservoir simulations allow production optimization and determination of the impact of injection or disposal policies on reservoir management. Sometimes there are oscillations in computed production rates, which may be as a result from inaccurate treatment of a coupling algorithm, well management rules, optimization techniques, etc. Excessive fluctuations make the solution impractical to implement. In this paper, we examine the cause of well rate fluctuations in coupled simulations. We were able to keep oscillation levels at a very low level in our simulations by using a small coupling interval and by revising well management rules. We made case studies with reconfiguration of surface facility designs in two large fields to examine if those designs were capable of meeting the required production targets as the reservoir conditions change with time. Surface facility models were built using a commercially available software, which were coupled to Saudi Aramco's in-house reservoir simulator, POWERS. We examine scenarios where some facilities could be eliminated to reduce cost while maintaining required production target. We study the impact of reconfiguring the surface network and examine how surface constraints might change the overall production rate.

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Coalbed Methane Production System Simulation and Deliverability Forecasting: Coupled Surface Network/Wellbore/Reservoir Calculation

Zhou

Liang

Deng

et al. 2017

International Journal of Chemical Engineering

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As an unconventional energy, coalbed methane (CBM) mainly exists in coal bed with adsorption, whose productivity is different from conventional gas reservoir. This paper explains the wellbore pressure drop, surface pipeline network simulation, and reservoir calculation model of CBM. A coupled surface/wellbore/reservoir calculation architecture was presented, to coordinate the gas production in each calculation period until the balance of surface/wellbore/reservoir. This coupled calculation method was applied to a CBM field for predicting production. The daily gas production increased year by year at the first time and then decreased gradually after several years, while the daily water production was reduced all the time with the successive decline of the formation pressure. The production of gas and water in each well is almost the same when the structure is a star. When system structure is a dendritic surface system, the daily gas production ranked highest at the well which is the nearest to the surface system collection point and lowest at the well which is the farthest to the surface system collection point. This coupled calculation method could be used to predict the water production, gas production, and formation pressure of a CBM field during a period of time.

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A Study of Coupling Surface Network to Reservoir Simulation Model in a Large Middle East Field

Cited by 11 publications

References 6 publications

A Semi-Implicit Approach for Integrated Reservoir and Surface-Network Simulation

A Semi-Implicit Approach for Integrated Reservoir and Surface-Network Simulation

Coupled Facility and Reservoir Simulations to Optimize Strategies for a Mature Field

Coalbed Methane Production System Simulation and Deliverability Forecasting: Coupled Surface Network/Wellbore/Reservoir Calculation

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