Improving Profitability Through The Use of Dual and Quad Lateral Wells

Abstract

llds paper waa s=lscted for presentation by an sPE Program Committee following rw'ew of information conkined in an absbacf submitkd by the author(s). Contenk of the paper, as presantsd, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject tõ n by the author(s). The matarfal, as p-entsd, doss not nw=sarily refkcf any position of the Socfety of Petroleum Engineer'a, ifs offfcers, or members Papers preaent8d at SPE meetings am subject bJ publication m"ew by EdtirialCommittees of the -ety of -Ieum Engine=&~-tic reprodu~on, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper for commercial PUPSCS without the wnttan mnsent of the~i~of Petroleum Engineers is prohibikd PermMon to reproduce in print is reatdcted ba an absfrati of not more than-,~uafrations may not be qid. The abstract must contain conspicuous ackndedgment of where and by whom tie paper was presented Write Librarian, SPE, P 0 W.Richardson. TX 7=88S8. U S A. &x 01 -972-9S2-94S5. AbstractAmong multilateral well systems, that can be drilled using today's technology, more than t~w dml and q~d lateral wells have been successfully implemented in an oil field.l The advantage gained over single Iateral wells is an increased reservoir access per weIl drilIed. There are some investigations deaIing with inftow performance and economic evaluation of multilateral wells, excluding dual and quad Iaterals. Therefore, further reservoir engineering and eeonomic studies should be conducted to evaluate the potential of these dual and quad well 8ystems for improving the profitability of reservoirs. The objectives of the present work are to study the effect of reservoir characteristics on the production performance of a dual and a quad laterals and to evaluate the economic attractiveness when compared with a single lateral well. Based on the &fiormance prediction model used and the mnomic evaluation. results obtained show that the use of such multilateral wells would be economically more attractive for reservoirs with low-to-medium permeability. Also found, on the basis of the comparison made here, that the economic benefits are influenced as well by the magnitudes of reservoir anisompy, the lateral holes placement, and producing rate.Overall, from a reservoir management point of view, the results demonstrate the importance of adequate reservoir characterization and the production strategy in the applications.