SPE 68728 Multi-Lateral Well Modelling To Optimise Well Design and Cost

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SPE 68728

Multi-Lateral Well Modelling to Optimise Well Design and Cost


S.S. Lee, SPE, and C.A.M. Veeken, SPE, and Ante M. Frens, SPE, Sarawak Shell Berhad

Copyright 2001, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.


However, in the prolific gas fields, extending the horizontal
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and well length beyond 1000-2000 ft does not reduce drawdown
Exhibition held in Jakarta, Indonesia, 17–19 April 2001.
any further as the well bore friction becomes the constraining
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
factor, and the toe of the well does not contribute to the well’s
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to production. To further enhance the productivity of our
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at horizontal wells, a cost-effective dual lateral well design was
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of identified to potentially increase the well productivity by some
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is 60% compared to a single horizontal.
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous This paper will present the well design, the details of a
acknowledgement of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
numerical simulation study to justify and optimise the design
concept, and finally a discussion of the simulated versus the
actual well results
Abstract
In prolific gas reservoirs with strong aquifer drive, water Field summary
coning is often the determining factor in well productivity and The field is a prolific carbonate build-up that has been in
ultimately, gas recovery factor. One of the main drivers in production since Dec 1996 at an average field offtake rate of
optimising the field development in these cases is to reduce several hundred MMscf/d. The average field permeability is
the drawdown of the wells and consequently, a horizontal well in the range of several hundred mD, and the original gas
design is often used. It is the case, however, that in such column height was some 300 ft. To date the field has
highly permeable gas fields extending the horizontal length produced 74% of the ultimate recovery and has been
beyond 1000-2000 ft often does not help to improve well experiencing water breakthrough in its deviated producer wells
productivity any further, as well bore friction becomes the since mid-1998. The aquifer has risen on average some 150 to
constraining factor. This paper presents a cost effective and 200 ft, leaving only a relatively small gas column unswept. To
simple solution to increase well productivity by 60% maintain the field capacity and to further increase the field
compared to single horizontals at a marginal cost increase. A ultimate recovery it was decided to drill two horizontal infill
simple level-1 dual lateral with large bore casing-flow well wells, one according to the newly-identified well design, and
design has shown to be able to deliver the additional one conventional 7.5/8-in tubing-flow single lateral horizontal
productivity at only a 5-10% incremental increase in cost. well. In this field, coning and cusping would be a major
Furthermore, we present the results of the numerical constraint in maximising ultimate recovery as well as reducing
simulation that helped to justify the well design and to deal the well capacity upon water breakthrough.
with interference between the branches.

Introduction Dual-Lateral Bigbore Design


Horizontal wells have become common place in oil and gas This section describes the details of the well that was designed
fields to increase well productivity. In the Central Luconia to address two critical aspects of creating high production gas
region 250 km offshore Sarawak, Malaysia, horizontal wells wells in prolific gas reservoirs with strong aquifers: “the dual-
are a key element of the field development approach for a lateral bigbore well”. Firstly, the dual lateral element of the
large number of gas bearing carbonate build-ups that have design aims to increase the inflow potential significantly at a
prolific reservoir quality (200 to >1000 mD) and a strong low drawdown (up to 200 MMscf/D at 20 psi). The
aquifer drive. As a consequence of the field characteristics, “traditional” approach of extending the horizontal well length
(fast) water encroachment and water coning play a dominant does not work anymore at these low drawdown pressures
role in the field behaviour. The horizontal wells aim to reduce because the well bore friction becomes the constraining factor
the drawdown and thus the effect of coning, whilst at the same at well length greater than 1000 ft, as shown in simulations
time maximise the offtake per well, and the ultimate recovery. and confirmed by well results (see below). Secondly, the big-
2 S.S. LEE, C.A.M. VEEKEN, ANTE M. FRENS SPE 68728

bore element of the design addresses the fact that once the were no analytical models to describe the behaviour of a
inflow potential is increased, the outflow portion of the well to multi-lateral well until recently. Ref. 1 presents an analytical
surface becomes the bottleneck. The novel application of large model for a multi-lateral well but it would not be able to give
bore casing flow completions allows for a larger conduit for any indication of water breakthrough timing, which is one of
fluid flow at lower pressure loss. Together this design has the the critical parameters in our well design. It was decided to
potential to replace several conventional (horizontal) wells at a use a numerical simulator to investigate the fluid flow
marginal cost increase, driving down the total field behaviour as well as the interference between the laterals.
development cost. It has the potential to change the A sector single well model containing reservoir properties
development concept of green fields, to turn marginal in-line with a highly permeable gas field was constructed to
developments into economically viable ones, and even can be simulate the various well completion designs. The wellbore
beneficial for infill drilling campaigns. flow model accounts for the viscous and gravitational pressure
Fig. 1 depicts the conceptual configuration of the well. drop along the length of the horizontal laterals. The Appendix
The process of completing the well is as follows: (1) drill and summarises the details of the simulation model.
set casing within 50ft of expected top reservoir, (2) drill 8.5-in
hole into the carbonate at high angle, (3) upon confirmation of Simulation Results
carbonate entry, build-up to 90° angle, (4) drill the 1500 ft The results from the dynamic modelling show two main
mother bore, (5) pull back drilling assembly to top of elements that need to be considered to optimise the well
carbonate, (6) orient the drill-bit and kick-off into a side-track, design. Firstly, it is found that the length of the laterals greatly
(7) drill the 1500ft child lateral, and finally (8) pull out of hole impacts on well performance. Secondly, any factor that
and set 7-in pre-drilled liner (PDL) into the child lateral. The influences the interference between the laterals, such as the
PDL has a blank (solid) section above the lateral kick-off point number of laterals, needs to be properly addressed to
(KOP), the reason of which will be discussed in more detail in maximise the benefits from the well. With respect to
the simulation results section below. The beauty of this well modelling the lateral interference, an interesting simulation
design is that it does not require a gas-tight junction at the aspect regarding the right grid block size was identified.
lateral KOP since the side-track is within the reservoir unit, Below the simulation results and their impact on the well
and as a result the complexity of the well hardly increases as design are discussed in more detail.
reflected in the incremental cost of only some 5-10%. Using a
junction to isolate the laterals, and drill two laterals kicking off Lateral Length.
far above the reservoir, would greatly increase the cost of the Table 1 shows the well productivity, the water breakthrough
well, and thus reduce the benefit of such a well design. timing, and recovery factor for various well lengths (500-2500
As mentioned above, in order to benefit from the increased ft) for single lateral and dual lateral wells. As expected, a
productivity of the dual-lateral, a large bore casing flow design longer well completion resulted in higher productivity and
was proposed. This design sets the 13.3/8” casing deep higher recovery, and delayed water break-through. However,
enough to ensure the shoe strength exceeds the maximum gas there appears to be diminishing returns for well lengths
pressure, uses gas tight 13.3/8-in and 9.5/8-in casing beyond 1500 ft due to increasing frictional pressure drop along
connections, and uses corrosion resistant 9.5/8” casing the lateral.
material. Another interesting result regarding the frictional pressure
To establish the performance of the well, a comprehensive losses was found in the simulation study and caused us to
testing program was conducted. The test included downhole change the original well design by adding a blank (solid)
pressure measurements during a 3-rate flowing build-up test section to the 7-inch PDL to span the 170 ft between top
and a 2-rate Production Logging Tool (PLT) run. All carbonate and the lateral kick-off point. Evaluation of the flow
downhole measurements were run on coiled tubing. contribution and pressures along the completion intervals,
Preliminary tubing head pressures were also recorded during showed that in the original design (without solid section in the
the initial clean-up phase of the well. liner) some 17% of the flow was coming from the first 170 ft
The inflow potential of the dual-lateral concept was open hole section. (This section is required to cheaply drill the
conducted with a dynamic model (see next section). The second lateral). At the same time this section experienced a
design was finalised after extensive investigation of the key significant (frictional) pressure drop because the total
factors that influence the behaviour of the dual-lateral well. production would flow through this part of the well.
Consequently the drawdown at the beginning of the laterals,
Numerical Modelling of Multi-Laterals and thus the flow contribution from the laterals was greatly
This section presents the details of the dynamic modelling reduced. Rather than redesigning the casing scheme and
work to prove up and further optimise the well design. increasing well cost to isolate the initial 170ft of open
Several factors that impact the inflow potential of the well carbonate section, it was found that placing a 7-in blank liner
were evaluated; i.e. (1) the lengths of the laterals, (2) the across this section cut-off the reservoir inflow contribution
number of laterals, (3) reservoir heterogeneity, (4) lateral from that interval. This cost-effective method isolates the
separation, (5) lateral build-up angles, (6) wellbore damage, pressure drop over that section from the reservoir, and ensures
and (7) hydraulic drainhole diameter. To our knowledge, there majority of inflow from the laterals. The effect of this simple
SPE 68728 MULTI-LATERAL WELL MODELING TO OPTIMISE WELL DESIGN AND COST 3

solution was predicted to increase the well productivity by Fig. 6 plots the flow contribution of the actual well in
another 20%, i.e. from 140 to 160% compared to a single comparison with prediction from the simulation. It was
lateral well (see Table 1) expected that there would be little inflow beyond 1500ft. The
Different combinations of the second lateral length were actual data from the PLT, however, indicates the last 150-250
studied and two tri-lateral well designs were also modelled. ft at the well toe did not contribute any significant flow. From
Table 1 summarises the performance of the dual and tri-lateral the jump in production from about 50 to 100% at the KOP plot
designs. The simulated results show that a shorter second it can be concluded that both laterals contribute almost equally
lateral would result in lower production and slightly lower to the production. The mismatch between actual and simulated
recovery efficiency. Even a third lateral with equivalent production in the first 300 ft of the well are discussed in the
along-hole reservoir penetration as the dual-1500ft design does next section.
not have comparable well productivity. The PLT results showed an 8 psi pressure differential from
the heel to the toe of the lined lateral at a flow rate of 86
Lateral Interference MMscf/D, which is exactly half of the 16 psi total drawdown
One key factor in the optimum well design is the interference pressure observed at this gas rate. This pressure drop is
between the two laterals, which by virtue of the design is slightly higher than expected from frictional pressure drop
maximal at the KOP. Intuitively it is expected that the calculations, but is in line with our original hypothesis that
separating the two laterals as quickly as possible beyond the drilling longer laterals would be wasteful.
KOP, and thus drilling at high build-up angles, would generate The initial tubing head pressures recorded during the clean-
significant benefit. Figure 2 shows, however, that increasing up phase of the well confirmed that the bigbore design could
the angle above 3°/100 ft, which is a very drillable angle, does deliver more than 180 MMscf/d at comparable THP to the
not improve the performance significantly. Consequently it current 7 5/8-inch wells flowing at 120 MMscf/d. This aspect
was decided to use this build-up angle for the well design to will be studied in more detail once the well has been finally
balance well performance and drilling risks. hooked up to the production system, but the initial results
To ensure that the simulation results were representative seem to indicate that indeed a larger outflow design is required
with respect to the lateral interference, a separate sensitivity to match the high productivity inflow of the dual-lateral
study was carried out. The potential problem that we design.
recognised is that simulation results could yield erroneous
results, especially near the KOP where both laterals are Discussion of Results
completed within one grid block. To assess any significant The availability of both simulated and the actual well
numerical errors, the effect of various grid sizes around the performance allows for more detailed interpretation and
well location was investigated. The base model had a 100ft by discussion on the data. In general the actual well results match
100ft grid size. Several sensitivities (down to 10x10 ft) where well to the predicted well performances, especially given the
run to determine the trend in drawdown as a result of finer fact that none of the simulated results have been retroactively
gridding. The result showed, as expected, an increasing matched to actual results.
drawdown with grid refinement, but the maximum increase of The placement of the blank 7-in liner above the lateral
only 5% was sufficiently small to consider the results of the KOP achieves a lower drawdown pressure, and allows the
base grid representative. final well design to achieve the expected increase of more than
50% in well productivity compared a single horizontal lateral
Actual well results of equal length. The conclusion of the simulation study was
The dual-lateral bigbore well was drilled and completed in 26 that a dual-lateral of 1500 ft each would supply the optimal
rig-days. The actual completion design and reservoir balance of low drawdown pressure, higher well capacity,
penetration is presented in Fig. 4. As per the finalised well maximum gas recovery and drillability. The actual well
design, a section of 7-in blank liner was set above the lateral results seem to confirm this prediction.
KOP. The actual rig-time spent on drilling the second lateral The actual well production was slightly below the
was just a single rig-day, at an incremental cost of only 4% simulated performance curve for the entire range of gas rates.
compared to a single lateral horizontal well. This marginal It difficult to explain this minimal discrepancy as there could
cost increase was possible since the second lateral could be be several reasons for it such as reservoir quality, actual
drilled with the same downhole assembly by just pulling back wellbore friction etc.
to the top of carbonate and reorienting the drill-bit to kick-off The PLT data confirmed that both laterals were
into the side-track. contributing almost equally to the total gas flow. This also
Fig. 5 shows the simulated performance of the optimal provided us with a good indication that the 8.5-in barefoot
dual-lateral well and a single-lateral horizontal together with mother lateral had not collapsed, which was a slight concern,
the actual well data. The simulated performance assumed that given that porosity greater than 30% was observed in several
there is equal mechanical skin damage of five across both sections of the reservoir.
laterals. No further well stimulation work was done to the The mismatch seen in Figure 6 between the PLT survey
well after the dynamic modelling study concluded that the and simulation result in the heel area of the well (from the
impact of high mechanical damage was negligible. KOP to 7225 ft) are explained to arise from “annular” flow
4 S.S. LEE, C.A.M. VEEKEN, ANTE M. FRENS SPE 68728

behind the 7-in pre-drilled liner. Whereas this flow behind the Corey Kr: Krw = 0.2, Krg = 1, Nw = 4, Ng = 2
liner is not recorded by the PLT further down the wellbore, it Aquifer: Finite linear ReD = 3.6
will show up near the KOP as the interference from the Skin: 0 (stimulated well), 5 (minor damage),
incoming flow from the other lateral will cause all flow to be 1.5E-3 * D / MMscf (rate dependent)
inside the liner at the KOP. Min. THP: 1580 psia

Conclusions
In summary, the main conclusions of this paper are: SI Metric Conversion Factors
1. The dual lateral big-bore well has been shown to be a very
cost-effective solution to creating a high productivity gas Cp x 1.0* E – 03 = Pa·s
well, which delivers some 60% extra production at only 5- ft x 3.048* E – 01 = m
10% incremental cost. ft2 x 9.290 E – 02 = m2
2. The actual well results were in line with the predictions ft3 x 2.831 E – 02 = m3
from the numerical simulator. in. x 2.54* E + 00 = cm
3. Drilling very long horizontal wells in prolific gas fields is Ibf x 4.448 E + 00 = N
not effective since after some 1000-2000 ft (dependent on md x 9.869 E – 04 = µm2
permeability) the wellbore friction prevents any further psi x 6.894 E + 00 = kPa
inflow from the toe of the well.
4. The low drawdown pressure of the well will alleviate the * Conversion is exact.
problems of gas coning and maximise the ultimate
recovery.

Nomenclature

Krw = Relative permeability to water end-point


Krg = Relative permeability to gas end-point
Nw = Corey exponent for the water phase
Ng = Corey exponent for the gas phase
ReD = Dimensionless aquifer radius
K = permeability

Acknowledgement
We thank PETRONAS and Sarawak Shell Berhad for their
support in the preparation and presentation of this paper

References
1. W. Chen, D. Zhu, SPE, and A.D. Hill, SPE.: “A Comprehensive
Model of Multilateral Well Deliverability,” paper SPE 64751
presented at the 2000 SPE International Oil & Gas Conference
and Exhibition in China, Beijing, 7-10 November.
2. C.A.M. Veeken, SPE, H-V. Chin, SPE, R.W. Ross, SPE, and
M.D. Newell, SPE,: "Monitoring and Control of Water Influx
in Strong Aquifer Drive Gas Fields Offshore Sarawak,
Malaysia," paper SPE 64402 presented at APOGCE 2000 in
Brisbane, Australia, 16-18 October 2000.

Appendix - The numerical simulator model

The following inputs were used in the dynamic simulator:


model: 9800 ft x 8000 ft x 1800 ft
gas column: 200 ft
grid block size:100 ft x 100 ft x 10 ft
Res. Pressure: 2800 psia
Porosity: 25 %
Horizontal K: 300 mD
Vertical K: 200 md
Sgi: 0.94
Sgr: 0.35
SPE 68728 MULTI-LATERAL WELL MODELING TO OPTIMISE WELL DESIGN AND COST 5

TABLE 1a – WELL PRODUCTIVITY FOR LATERAL LENGTHS AND NUMBER OF LATERALS

Gas Rate Single Dual Lateral Tri Lateral


(MMscf /day) lateral
@ 20 psi no solid solid 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 2 x 1500 ft + 1000
drawdown liner liner 500ft 1000 ft 500 ft ft + 500 ft

500 ft 66 89 107 116

1000 ft 86 112 116 121

1500 ft 92 125 145


2500 ft 99

TABLE 1b – WATER BREAKTHROUGH TIMING FOR VARIOUS LATERAL DESIGNS

Breakthrough Single Dual Lateral Tri Lateral


Timing (Years) lateral
no solid solid 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 2 x 1500 ft + 1000
liner liner 500 ft 1000 ft 500 ft ft + 500 ft

500 ft 2.6 4 5.25 5.5


1000 ft 3.5 5.25 5.75 5.85

1500 ft 4 5.9 6.1

2500 ft 4.5

TABLE 1c – GAS RECOVERY FACTOR FOR VARIOUS LATERAL DESIGNS

Recovery Factor Single Dual Lateral Tri Lateral


(%) lateral
no solid solid 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 1500 ft + 2 x 1500 ft + 1000
liner liner 500 ft 1000 ft 500 ft ft + 500 ft
500 ft 27.7 37.6 50.1 53.8
1000 ft 39.9 49.5 53.9 55.1

1500 ft 42.9 56.7 58.6


2500 ft 48.0

Table 1. Summary of the results from the simulation sensitivities


6 S.S. LEE, C.A.M. VEEKEN, ANTE M. FRENS SPE 68728

Drawdown Pressure % Differential with


Lateral Buildup Angle
Shale 12%

10%

8.5-in Open Hole

% Difference in drawdown
8%
Lateral
Open Base Case
6%
to flow 3° / 100 ft

4%

2%
7-in Pre-drilled
Liner in 8.5-in Lateral 0%
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fig 1 – Cross-section view of the original dual-lateral design. Lateral buildup angle (deg / 100ft)
There is an 170 ft interval between the top of shale and the
branching point that is open to gas flow. Fig 2 – Plot of drawdown pressure % differential at
various lateral build-up angles. 4% change equates
to about 1 psi drawdown difference.

10.3/4-in L80
Casing

7.5/8-in L80
10.3/4-in x 9.5/8 13Cr Tubing.
-in X-over Packer @
@ 1100 ft 1300 ft

9.5/8-in L80
13Cr
Casing

Top 7-in
Liner
Fig 3 – Overhead XY view of the dual-lateral design
@ 6285 ft
as per in the dynamic model.

9.5/8-in
Casing Shoe
@ 6394 ft,
78 deg
7-in L80 Blank
Liner

LATERAL- 8.1/2-in LATERAL-1


2 KOP @ Hole TD @ 8390 ft
6997 ft

7-in L80 8.1/2-in LATERAL-2


Predrilled Liner Hole TD @ 8200 ft

7-in Liner Shoe @ 8160 ft

Fig 4 – Actual well completion diagram for dual-


lateral well. The blank 7-in liner was set 50ft above
the second lateral kick-off point.
SPE 68728 MULTI-LATERAL WELL MODELING TO OPTIMISE WELL DESIGN AND COST 7

Drawdown Pressure vs. Rate Crossplot


(M ode le d Single and Dual-Late ral vs. Actual We ll)
70
Simulated with mechanical
skin of 5 in homogeneous
60
300md rock
Drawdown pressure (psi)

50
Up to 50% incre ase d
we ll productivity
40

30

20
Single 1500ft Lateral
10 2x 1500ft Dual Lateral
Actual W ell
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Gas Rate (M M s cf/d)
Fig 5 – Plot of actual drawdown pressure versus the simulated single and dual-lateral well. The simulated well assumes
there is wellbore damage skin of 5 and the reservoir is homogeneous with horizontal permeability of 300 mD.

Flow Contribution Profile for a Dual-Lateral Well


(PLT Downlog vs. Simulated Model @ 86 MMscf/d)
100%
Inline Spinner Post Clean-Up
Simulated Model
80%

Additional Annular Flow


Contribution prior to the
% of Total Flow

Lateral KOP
60%

40%

Less Contribution
Child Lateral from toe of well
20% Kick-Off Point
@ 6997 ft

0%
6900 7100 7300 7500 7700 7900 8100 8300
Depth (ft ahbdf)

Fig 6 – Plot of the flow profile from the actual PLT data compared against the simulated well.

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