Smart well- Benefits, Types of Sensors, Challenges, Economic Consideration, and Application in Fractured Reservoir

Abstract

Smart Well technology has seen rapid evolution in the last decade because of technological advancements. Proper knowledge of this technology, with some risk mitigating techniques, makes several benefits to an oil company including the capability of drilling longer horizontal and extended reach wells, particularly snake wells with great reduction in cleanup, reservoir management and water and gas breakthrough concerns. Even in some cases unexpected benefits have been discovered from this technology. Sensors are considered to be the heart of smart well completion. There are different types of sensors in the oil industry including wellbore internal sensors and casing external sensors. Some of these sensors are used for wellbore measurement and some for imaging the distribution of reservoir attributes away from the well. In this paper we will investigate all types of sensors either developed sensors and emerging sensors to measure pressure, temperature, flow Rate, noise, phase composition, pH, water cut, gas fraction and capacitance. However commonly used ones are P, T and flow rate sensors. Others are still emerging technologies. It is possible to use permanent sensors named pressure, resistivity, acoustic on outside wall of the casing as well to estimate permeability, porosity, saturation and monitor near wellbore water / flood front encroachment. Although Smart Well technology has shown several benefits but it possesses some challenges regarding their reliability and cost effectiveness and implementation phases. As a result, many companies tend to apply this technology with caution knowing that the cost of a smart completion can easily be three to four times more than a conventional completion. In this paper we present a comprehensive review of state-of-the-art Smart Well technology including all benefits, different types of sensors, challenges, economic consideration and application in fractured reservoir.

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