A Dynamic Model for Simulation of Integrated Reservoir, Well and Pipeline System

Abstract

Most reservoir simulations use vertical flow performance (VFP) tables to represent flow in the tubing, which ignores the flow dynamics in wells and their downstream gathering and transportation networks. On the other hand, most dynamic well-pipeline flow models use pressure-rate equations to describe the inflow/injection from/to the reservoir, which ignores the flow and pressure transients in the near-wellbore regions. Obviously, neither of the two types of modeling can account for the transient reservoir-well/pipeline flow interactions that can be of great importance in many operation scenarios. To bridge this modeling gap, a joint industry program (JIP) was initiated based on a previous successful investigation [1] on the feasibility to implicitly couple a reservoir model to a dynamic well-pipeline multiphase flow model. The aim of the JIP was to deliver a simulation tool that can fulfill the industry's basic requirements on the modeling of transient flow interactions across the sandface, which should also lay the foundation for its future expansion in functionalities. This paper is intended to summarize the outcomes of the JIP. First of all, the paper discusses the need for integrated dynamic modeling and reviews earlier efforts on building integrated dynamic reservoir-well/pipeline systems. Secondly the paper describes the details of building the reservoir model and how to couple it to a well-pipeline flow model to assure numerical stability and simulation speed for cases of interest. Thirdly, the paper shows the PVT and fluid handling options the integrated simulation tool can provide. These are identical for the two models in order to keep the consistence of fluid properties particularly when the same fluid flows back-and-forth between the wellbore and the near-wellbore during transients. Two application cases based on the resulting model are presented in the paper. One case is about simulation of chemical squeezement hydraulics for refining the operational procedure, and the other case is about quantification of the pressure gradient in the near-wellbore formation for different well bean-up procedures in order to prevent sand production. The two cases demonstrate the advantages of using the coupled wellbore-reservoir transient modeling.

Dynamically Coupled Reservoir and Wellbore Simulation Research in Two-Phase Flow Systems: A Critical Review

“…Table 3 summarizes the most relevant aspects of various coupling examples. M, N, B, SF, V F Winterfeld [30] M, N, B, SM, V F Holmes et al [12] M, ?, B, DF, M F Stone et al [25] M, T, C, DF, M I Coats et al [9] M, N, C, ?, M F Bhat et al [16] S, T, B, ?, H I Nennie et al [1] M, T, B, SF, M E Sagen et al [23] M, T, B, ?, M F Pourafshary [22] M, T, C, DF, V F Leemhuis et al [19] M, T, B, SF, M E Livescu et al [20] M, T, C, DF, M F Livescu et al [50] M, T, B, DF, M F Semenova et al [85] M, T, C, DF, M F Twerda et al [29] M, T, B, SF, M F Bahonar et al [15] S, T, B, ?, V F Shirdel [52] S, N, C, ?, H F Pan and Oldenburg [21] M, T, C, DF, V F Gao [129] M, N, B, SM, V&H I Forouzanfar et al [48] M, T, C, DF, V F Cao et al [17] M, N, C, ?, M F Olivares [99] M, N, C, SM, V F Redick [130] M, N, B, ?, V I Tang et al [96] M, N, C, DF, H F Galvao et al [33] S, T, C, ?, V E Galvao et al [133] S, T, C, ?, V E Basirat et al [32] M, T, C, DF, V F Battistelli et al [31] M, T, C, DF, V F Raad et al [34] M, T, B, ?, V E Liao et al [35] M, T, B, ?, H F Legend: Coupled reservoir/wellbore simulation: M = multiphase; S = singlephase; T = thermal; N = non-thermal; B = black oil; C = compositional; SF-separated flow; SM-semi empirical model; DF-Drift-Flux; V-vertical well; H-horizontal well; M-multilateral well; ? -unknown.…”

Liquid loading in gas wells: Experimental investigation of back pressure effects on the near-wellbore reservoir

“…Schiferli et al (2010) investigated the performance of transient wellbore/reservoir modelling through coupling a commercial code and an in-house near wellbore reservoir simulator, which successfully presented the liquid accumulation process in the near wellbore region during liquid loading. Hu et al (2010) used the wellbore-reservoir transient modelling method (Sagen et al, 2011) to evaluate the cycling capability of gas wells under liquid loading conditions. In the view of laboratory tests, Fernandez et al (2010) designed a high-pressure flow loop to integrate a vertical tube representing the wellbore with a porous medium that can mimic the near-wellbore region of the reservoir.…”

“…The wellbore simulator (Bendiksen et al, 1991;Biberg et al, 2009) is one of the very few commercially available that could provide a sound consideration of dynamic flow features occurring in pipes and have the capability to model the entire production system from near-wellbore to wellhead. The near-wellbore module (Sagen et al, 2011) can be considered as a plug-in to the wellbore model in coupled simulations. The basic integration principle is that the wellbore model delivers the pressure boundary to the reservoir model, while the wellbore simulator receives the phase flow rates from the reservoir simulator.…”

Workflow for History Matching and Predicting Mud Loss Recovery from the Formation Using a Coupled Wellbore-Reservoir Transient Simulator

“…ROCX [8] is capable of handling 1, 2 and 3 dimensional cylindrical and Cartesian grid systems. ROCX [8] is capable of handling 1, 2 and 3 dimensional cylindrical and Cartesian grid systems.…”