Abstract
Inflow control devices (ICD) were first introduced 26 years ago on the Troll field. The main purpose was to reduce water coning to delay water production. This technology is commonly used in long horizontal wells. An ICD is a passive orifice.
More recently several types of active devices have been developed. The choking effect here depends on viscosity, fluid density or pressure contrasts. They are called autonomous devices as they react on changes inside the reservoir, without signal from surface.
The main objective is to maximize oil recovery, before water production is so large that the wells are abandoned. A master thesis study conducted at the University of Stavanger together with Neptune Energy has investigated the applications of passive and autonomous inflow devices, to see which tool actually provides the highest oil recovery. The analysis was based on existing products and tools under development. Areas where a specific tool works most optimally were identified. Wells from a producing field were used as candidates for the analysis. A considerable portion of the work was to build a realistic reservoir simulator from production data. This paper will present the work and discuss the results of the study.
Optimization of the number of openhole packers in horizontal wells completed by inflow control devices for different types of reservoirs