TY - JOUR
T1 - Determination of dynamic drainage volume in water-flood operations based on fluid flow velocity field delineation
AU - Zhao, Xiang
AU - Qian, Qihao
AU - Shi, Chengfang
AU - Wang, John Yilin
N1 - Funding Information:
The work presented herein was funded in part by the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development (RIPED) of China under Award Number 210300. The authors thank the anonymous reviewers whose meticulous work greatly improved the manuscript’s quality and clarity.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by ASME.
PY - 2021/4
Y1 - 2021/4
N2 - Dynamic drainage volume is a useful measure in evaluating well completions, well spacing, and water-flood operations. It is usually approximated with a two-dimensional circle or a three-dimensional (3D) box that encloses a well using empirical correlations and production/injection volumes. While this approximation may be convenient, it certainly is not a good estimation for the effective and dynamic drainage volume, which is key for improved recovery. This paper proposes a new method to compute dynamic drainage volumes based on reservoir simulation results. A 3D fluid flow velocity field is first generated and then visualized as a function of time. Through velocity thresholding, one can delineate flow regions, and accurately and parsimoniously determine well drainage in water-flood operations. Our new method was proven to be more efficient and practical as demonstrated in a field-based synthetic model with nine injectors and 16 producers formed as an inverted five-spot water-flood pattern commonly used in the field, and a benchmark SPE 9 model. The novelty of the method lies in that a 3D fluid velocity field is generated to determine dynamic drainage volume. Our new method could be applied to optimize well placement and improve well operation, and finally increase the production in a heuristic, instructive, and cost-effective manner to maximize the estimated ultimate recovery.
AB - Dynamic drainage volume is a useful measure in evaluating well completions, well spacing, and water-flood operations. It is usually approximated with a two-dimensional circle or a three-dimensional (3D) box that encloses a well using empirical correlations and production/injection volumes. While this approximation may be convenient, it certainly is not a good estimation for the effective and dynamic drainage volume, which is key for improved recovery. This paper proposes a new method to compute dynamic drainage volumes based on reservoir simulation results. A 3D fluid flow velocity field is first generated and then visualized as a function of time. Through velocity thresholding, one can delineate flow regions, and accurately and parsimoniously determine well drainage in water-flood operations. Our new method was proven to be more efficient and practical as demonstrated in a field-based synthetic model with nine injectors and 16 producers formed as an inverted five-spot water-flood pattern commonly used in the field, and a benchmark SPE 9 model. The novelty of the method lies in that a 3D fluid velocity field is generated to determine dynamic drainage volume. Our new method could be applied to optimize well placement and improve well operation, and finally increase the production in a heuristic, instructive, and cost-effective manner to maximize the estimated ultimate recovery.
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U2 - 10.1115/1.4048248
DO - 10.1115/1.4048248
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85107860759
VL - 143
JO - Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME
JF - Journal of Energy Resources Technology, Transactions of the ASME
SN - 0195-0738
IS - 4
M1 - 043003
ER -