Improved Performance of Downhole Active Inflow Control Valves through Enhanced Design: Case Study

Abstract

Saudi Aramco has completed more than 100 multilateral wells with intelligent completions to monitor and control the inflow from the laterals in realtime without well intervention. The intelligent completion typically consists of isolation packers, multi-position downhole valves and downhole gauges. Field data has confirmed that the systems are functional in controlling inflow from laterals and that the flow characteristics of the downhole valves are varied due to different completion design and productivity index of producing zones. A field review was initiated to optimize the operation of the existing wells and to design a standardized valve design that suits different well completions and reservoirs.This paper illustrates a case study detailing comprehensive analysis of downhole valves performance and design. It presents the process used to improve downhole valve design based on field data. The new design provides higher level of control at lower flow rates, hence enables finer adjustment of distribution of inflow among different laterals or segments. The modeling work is based on a new operating envelope so that inflow control valves can be used to produce rates that satisfy both reservoir management strategy and well production scheme. The modified insert chokes has been flow tested and installed in recent wells' completions. These wells will be flow tested to evaluate the performance of the new downhole control valves.

Evolution in Optical Downhole Multiphase Flow Measurement: Experience Translates into Enhanced Design

“…Production optimization efforts have been the subject of a number of studies in the past within Aramco (Al-Bani et al 2007;Arnaout et al 2008;Mubarak et al 2007Mubarak et al , 2008. The current work builds on the previous work the subject of which was the performance evaluation of a permanent downhole monitoring system (PDMS).…”