Gas Coning Control with a Smart Horizontal Well in a Thin Oil Rim

The use of wells equipped with inflow control valves has steadily increased over the past decade. Most of these wells are used to control the inflow from separate reservoirs or separate reservoir zones. This solution is particularly attractive for high-rate horizontal wells in thin oil rim reservoirs. Through the smart well technology, early gas or water breakthrough into the well can be delayed or even reduced. The use of Inflow Control Devices (ICDs) and zonal flow control valves (FCVs) offers an opportunity to evenly distribute the drawdown along the well, and therefore take corrective action if an early water or gas breakthrough occurs. In September 2011, Statoil completed Troll’s first subsea three-zone horizontal smart well. Just recently, anther well on Troll with a similar completion design was put into production. One of the most important objectives in the study of well Q-12BH, which forms the basis for this report, is understanding gas coning behavior. Without it, one would not be able to set appropriate operating strategies, and therefore optimizing production would simply not reach the wanted results. The approach taken begins by conducting an extensive literature review into coning control in thin oil rims and horizontal well technology. Early production data of well Q-12BH is studied, because knowing production history is a key into creating simulation models. These simulation models will analyze if the well was put into production with the most optimal zonal valve opening positions and what could possibly be even better setting for such a well.Petroleum EngineeringGeoscience & EngineeringCivil Engineering and Geoscience