Permanent Tracers Embedded in Downhole Polymers Prove Their Monitoring Capabilities in a Hot Offshore Well

Nyhavn, Fridtjof; Dyrli, Anne Dalager

doi:10.2118/135070-ms

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 3 publications

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“…The concentration level should reflect the ratio between the flow rate at the sampling point and the downhole tracer release. This concept and approach was initially applied in [3] with constant release tracers. The information on zonal contributions during clean-out/re-start and during the steady-state production phase is derived by analyzing and interpreting the shape of the measured tracer responses.…”

Section: Tracer Responses and Qualitative Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Inflow Well Tracers for Permanent Reservoir Monitoring in North Amethyst Subsea Tieback ICD wells in Canada

Montes

Nyhavn

Oftedal

et al. 2013

Day 2 Tue, October 29, 2013

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North Amethyst is the first subsea tieback field development for Husky Energy's White Rose project, located off the East Coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The geographical location presents some of the harshest weather conditions in the world due to the elevated sea states and ice conditions. The North Amethyst field achieved first oil in 2010 and at the end of December 2011, had three production wells and three water injectors. Further wells are planned as part of the development.To counter imbalance in the horizontal flow profile that can lead to early water or gas breakthrough, the field development strategy employed Inflow Control Device (ICD) technology. The ICD technology application was the first offshore on the East Coast of Canada.A method of proving effective horizontal clean-out and flow distribution for the ICD technology was necessary. However, due to the subsea configuration complexity, semi-submersible rig costs and delays due to unfavorable weather conditions, the prospect of production logging the horizontal wells was deemed a high risk and expensive operation.To overcome these hurdles, unique inflow tracer technology was used in tandem with the ICDs to provide validation of clean-out and horizontal flow distribution. The North Amethyst producers were equipped with unique oil and water soluble tracers placed along the horizontal, embedded in the ICD screens. The tracer technology's objectives were to monitor the zonal contributions during clean-out and during the production phase. Water tracers were to monitor and identify the location of zonal water breakthrough.Topside fluid samples were analyzed, and tracer concentrations provided the basis for extracting well inflow information. The utilization of inflow tracer systems in collaboration with other reservoir engineering tools has provided validation of horizontal contribution and feedback about individual ICD nozzle placement. This paper will document the design, execution, and analysis of the tracer results in two initial North Amethyst ICD producers.

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Section: Tracer Responses and Qualitative Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of Inflow Well Tracers for Permanent Reservoir Monitoring in North Amethyst Subsea Tieback ICD wells in Canada

Montes

Nyhavn

Oftedal

et al. 2013

Day 2 Tue, October 29, 2013

Self Cite

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Monitoring Multilateral Flow and Completion Integrity with Permanent Intelligent Well Tracers

Abay

Gibbons

Nyhavn

et al. 2013

Day 1 Mon, September 30, 2013

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Optimizing production from a multilateral well requires understanding and characterization of the well and completion performance in the flow path from the reservoir to the separator. Situations when crucial information may be gathered includes transient flow phases such as cleanup and restart after shut-ins. Understanding the inflow from the near-wellbore into each lateral and monitoring the functionality of completion components are important tools in establishing completion effectivness and wellbore performance. This paper describes new applications of chemical tracers in multilateral horizontal wells and utilizes flowbacks in understanding cleanup efficiency, confirming inflow from the toe-section of long horizontal wells and monitoring the functionality of ICV components based on a case study on four multilateral wells in the Alvheim field, Norway. A new generation of chemical tracers were embedded in a polymer matrix and installed in ICD screens on four long horizontal multilateral wells. In total, 27 unique oil tracers were used for 12 months of oil marking period designed for monitoring early production. The oil tracers were released when the tracers were in contact with oil and mobilized to topside sampling point with the produced fluids when the wells were opened for cleanup. The samples were analyzed in a laboratory and the tracer responses were used to study cleanup efficiency and to monitor ICV during sequential cleanup of laterals. The tracers were also used to understand the inflow contribution from the toe section of each lateral. The case study showed that intelligent well tracers provide a direct proof of contribution from the toe-sections of the multilateral wells and enabled monitoring of ICV functionality and synchronization.

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On-Demand Reservoir Inflow Monitoring for Improving Reservoir Management Decisions

Williams

2017

Day 2 Tue, October 10, 2017

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Understanding the actual inflow distribution across the reservoir interval is valuable for optimizing reservoir management decisions. It is common to have varying levels of uncertainty in the petrophysical prediction of the inflow distribution. The inflow distribution assessment drives many aspects of the field development plan. A technique is presented for acquiring quantitative measurements of the inflow rate of various reservoirs or layers of a reservoir at various times in the life of the well using interventionless technology. Chemical tracers are embedded in sand screens that are positioned adjacent to reservoir layers at different depths of a well such that fluid exposure causes release of a unique chemical compounds into the oil produced from each layer. Analysis of the transient behavior of each of the chemical compounds from samples of the produced oil provides a quantitative assessment of the rate of inflow occurring from the adjacent reservoir section. The chemical tracer based measurements of inflow are compared to the petrophysical predictions of inflow distribution. The petrophysical rock and fluid properties are determined using tools such as LWD and core analysis. It is common for these sources to contain uncertainty in their assessments of the inflow potential. The chemical tracer technique provides an assessment of the actual inflow distribution that can be compared to the petrophysical prediction. This additional input is very valuable in reducing the uncertainty in the overall reservoir performance assessment. Case histories from two wells in frac-packed wells are presented. Both wells had substantial uncertainties in the petrophysical assessments of the inflow performance of layers in the reservoir. The results from the chemical tracer technique provided insight that led to high value decisions. In Case History #1, the chemical tracer showed a layer to be contributing non-commercial rates. The petrophysical based prediction of inflow indicated this zone was of lower quality than the other zones but it was decided to complete the zone as there was possibility of producing economic rates. Significant savings will be realized in future wells by not completing the non-commercial layer. In Case History #2, the overall productivity of the well was substantially below predictions of the petrophysical data. The chemical tracer inflow profile showed all zones producing similarly. The assessment of similar inflow in each layer implied the kh prediction from LWD to be overly optimistic. This insight changed the production profile forecast for future wells. This insight also prevented the need to perform an expensive PLT log in the well to determine if the entire interval was flowing. Measuring the actual inflow distribution across the reservoir interval in deep, frac packed wells is usually so impractical or prohibitively expensive that it is never performed. The technique presented of using chemical tracers embedded in the completion components provides an on-demand, low cost and minimal risk means of assessing the actual inflow distribution. The inflow distribution information is combined with other data sources to reduce the uncertainty of reservoir management decisions.

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Permanent Tracers Embedded in Downhole Polymers Prove Their Monitoring Capabilities in a Hot Offshore Well

Cited by 6 publications

References 3 publications

Application of Inflow Well Tracers for Permanent Reservoir Monitoring in North Amethyst Subsea Tieback ICD wells in Canada

Application of Inflow Well Tracers for Permanent Reservoir Monitoring in North Amethyst Subsea Tieback ICD wells in Canada

Monitoring Multilateral Flow and Completion Integrity with Permanent Intelligent Well Tracers

On-Demand Reservoir Inflow Monitoring for Improving Reservoir Management Decisions

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