Modelling the reservoir-to-tubing pressure drop imposed by multiple autonomous inflow control devices installed in a single completion joint in a horizontal well
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Autonomous inflow control devices (AICDs) are used to introduce an additional pressure drop between the reservoir and the tubing of a production well that depends on the fluid phase flowing into the device: a larger pressure drop is introduced when unwanted phases such as water or gas enter the AICD. The additional pressure drop is typically represented in reservoir simulation models using empirical relationships fitted to experimental data for a single AICD. This approach may not be correct if each completion joint is equipped with multiple AICDs as the flow at different AICDs may be different. We use high-resolution numerical modelling to determine the total additional pressure drop introduced by two AICDs installed in a single completion joint in a horizontal well. The model captures the multiphase flow of oil and water through the inner annulus into each AICD. We explore a number of relevant oil-water inflow scenarios with different flow rates and water cuts. Our results show that if only one AICD is installed, the additional pressure drop is consistent with the experimentalzly-derived empirical formulation. However, if two AICDs are present, there is a significant discrepancy between the additional pressure drop predicted by the simulator and the empirical relationship. This discrepancy occurs because each AICD has a different total and individual phase flow rate, and the final steady-state flow results from a self-organising mechanism emerging from the system. We report the discrepancy as a water cut-dependent correction to the empirical equation, which can be used in reservoir simulation models to better capture the pressure drop across a single completion containing two AICDs. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding how AICDs modify flow into production wells, and have important consequences for improving the representation of advanced wells in reservoir simulation models.
Date Issued
2020-06
Date Acceptance
2020-01-21
Citation
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 2020, 189, pp.1-16
ISSN
0920-4105
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
1
End Page
16
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
Volume
189
Copyright Statement
© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This manuscript is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Sponsor
Statoil ASA
Identifier
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0920410520300875?via%3Dihub
Grant Number
4600018259
Subjects
Science & Technology
Technology
Energy & Fuels
Engineering, Petroleum
Engineering
Autonomous inflow control device
Multiphase flow
Annulus
Horizontal well
Numerical model
FLOW
PERFORMANCE
Energy
0403 Geology
0904 Chemical Engineering
0914 Resources Engineering and Extractive Metallurgy
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
106991
Date Publish Online
2020-01-25