Implementing a Scientific Perspective and a Pragmatic Approach to Optimizing Perforated Completions

Abstract

A truly optimized completion requires a wide range of understanding and activities. Starting with a thorough understanding of the reservoir, each completion element must be fully addressed from connecting to the reservoir, to enhancing the reservoir through proper treatments, to conducting hydrocarbons to surface for optimal efficiency. By considering the cause-and-effect interactions between these activities, each individual process can be designed and performed better, ultimately delivering the best overall solution. This overarching philosophy is also fully applicable to perforated completions. Providing a perforating solution that is truly optimized for the reservoir is challenging, requiring advanced laboratory testing capabilities, reservoir specific products and systems, robust analysis and modeling tools, and a thorough process to insure solutions are designed, executed, and reviewed for continuous improvement and optimization. Recent advances in in-situ perforation testing techniques provide significant insights into dynamic events during perforating as well as enabling more reservoir specific equipment designs. Furthermore, state-of-the-art computational models complement testing methods by correlating dynamic perforating events and inflow analysis to actual productivity. Numeric modeling techniques also allow results from lab testing to be better translated into field scale environments. And finally, rigorous procedures can be followed to practice this process across a wide variety of completion types to provide well optimized perforated completions. This study will detail the techniques used to employ the philosophy, and multiple case histories of such applications with results and lessons learned. In these cases, a comprehensive consideration of the overall completion was critical in optimizing the perforating process. The use of laboratory testing, customized products and systems, integrated modeling and analysis tools, and a disciplined process have led to the successful application of this scientifically engineered philosophy. This unique perforating philosophy is also aimed towards integration with other completion methods like hydraulic fracturing & stimulation, sand control and management and above all, enhancing reservoir productivity.