Comprehensive simulation of horizontal-well performance

Journal Article · Sat Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 1991 · SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/20717-PA· OSTI ID:5604940

Economides, M J; Deimbacher, F X; Brand, C W ^[1]

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1. Mining Univ. of Leoben (AT)

The simulation of the performance of a horizontal well has generated certain new and important challenges. These include the partial penetration of the well in the horizontal direction within the allocated drainage area, the positioning of the well between the vertical boundaries, the distance from the parallel horizontal boundaries, and the permeability anisotropy. In addition, there are special problems in the simulation of the response of fractures (natural and induced) in regard to their contact with the well (longitudinal or transverse), their conductivity, and the conductivity distribution along the fracture. The authors developed new numerical techniques to facilitate the simulation of these diverse problems. The authors use a locally refined perpendicular bisection grid to describe the horizontal (or deviated) wellbore. The grid is strictly orthogonal for the anisotropic case, and wellbore blocks are almost regular octagonal prisms. The transition to the coarse Cartesian grid is also orthogonal. The fully implicit formulation ensures the stability of the numerical solution. The authors' results found to be in excellent agreement with published analytical or semianalytical approximations. In addition, the results offer flexibility that is not possible with analytical solutions. The grid system used is particularly amendable to handling practical problems with real reservoir geometries and configurations. This paper presents a comprehensive numerical simulation of problems associated with horizontal wells, including the arbitrary positioning of the well within a fully anisotropic medium. Hydraulic or natural fractures that intersect the well in the longitudinal or transverse direction are simulated for both infinite and finite conductivities.

• OSTI ID: 5604940
• Journal Information: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States) Vol. 6:4; ISSN 0885-923X; ISSN SFEVE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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ANISOTROPY
CALCULATION METHODS
CRACK PROPAGATION
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
DRAINAGE
DRILLING
ELECTRODES
ENGINEERING
FRACTURED RESERVOIRS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
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HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION
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PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
PLANNING
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR ROCK
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SIMULATION
STIMULATION
TESTING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS