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A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells

Received: 17 December 2017    Accepted: 3 January 2018    Published: 19 January 2018
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Abstract

In oil and gas production, developing bottom-water reservoirs with active aquifer requires production strategy that can handle production-rate-sensitive phenomenon – water coning. The coned water that moves into the completion interval results in production related problems: excessive water production, surface water handling, low oil productivity, among others. To this end, several correlations: critical rate, breakthrough time and water-cut performance after breakthrough have been developed based on analytical, empirical and numerical approach to evaluate water coning tendencies in petroleum reservoirs. Some of the developed correlations have gained field application. However, limited literatures are available that have evaluated the prediction of these water coning correlations. Thus, the various water coning correlations for vertical well were evaluated and the obtained results show that most correlations have the same prediction profile. Conversely, these correlations predicted different coning parameters’ value. Further analysis of the results depicts that critical production rate and breakthrough time in vertical wells are indirectly dependent on fractional well penetration. In addition, the correlations developed from water-cut data for the prediction of water-cut performance after breakthrough indicate more realistic predictions in the water-cut profile than the correlations developed from water-oil ratio. Therefore, to delay water coning tendency in bottom-water reservoirs, fractional well penetration is a consideration in vertical wells to establish optimum critical oil rate and breakthrough time during oil and gas production.

Published in American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology (Volume 3, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11
Page(s) 1-9
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Bottom-Water Reservoirs, Water Coning Correlations, Critical Rate, Breakthrough Time, Water-Cut Performance, Vertical Well

References
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  • APA Style

    Anietie Ndarake Okon, Dulu Appah, Julius Udo Akpabio. (2018). A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells. American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology, 3(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11

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    ACS Style

    Anietie Ndarake Okon; Dulu Appah; Julius Udo Akpabio. A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells. Am. J. Sci. Eng. Technol. 2018, 3(1), 1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11

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    AMA Style

    Anietie Ndarake Okon, Dulu Appah, Julius Udo Akpabio. A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells. Am J Sci Eng Technol. 2018;3(1):1-9. doi: 10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11,
      author = {Anietie Ndarake Okon and Dulu Appah and Julius Udo Akpabio},
      title = {A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells},
      journal = {American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology},
      volume = {3},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-9},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajset.20180301.11},
      abstract = {In oil and gas production, developing bottom-water reservoirs with active aquifer requires production strategy that can handle production-rate-sensitive phenomenon – water coning. The coned water that moves into the completion interval results in production related problems: excessive water production, surface water handling, low oil productivity, among others. To this end, several correlations: critical rate, breakthrough time and water-cut performance after breakthrough have been developed based on analytical, empirical and numerical approach to evaluate water coning tendencies in petroleum reservoirs. Some of the developed correlations have gained field application. However, limited literatures are available that have evaluated the prediction of these water coning correlations. Thus, the various water coning correlations for vertical well were evaluated and the obtained results show that most correlations have the same prediction profile. Conversely, these correlations predicted different coning parameters’ value. Further analysis of the results depicts that critical production rate and breakthrough time in vertical wells are indirectly dependent on fractional well penetration. In addition, the correlations developed from water-cut data for the prediction of water-cut performance after breakthrough indicate more realistic predictions in the water-cut profile than the correlations developed from water-oil ratio. Therefore, to delay water coning tendency in bottom-water reservoirs, fractional well penetration is a consideration in vertical wells to establish optimum critical oil rate and breakthrough time during oil and gas production.},
     year = {2018}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - A Critical Evaluation of Water Coning Correlations in Vertical Wells
    AU  - Anietie Ndarake Okon
    AU  - Dulu Appah
    AU  - Julius Udo Akpabio
    Y1  - 2018/01/19
    PY  - 2018
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11
    T2  - American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology
    JF  - American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology
    JO  - American Journal of Science, Engineering and Technology
    SP  - 1
    EP  - 9
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2578-8353
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajset.20180301.11
    AB  - In oil and gas production, developing bottom-water reservoirs with active aquifer requires production strategy that can handle production-rate-sensitive phenomenon – water coning. The coned water that moves into the completion interval results in production related problems: excessive water production, surface water handling, low oil productivity, among others. To this end, several correlations: critical rate, breakthrough time and water-cut performance after breakthrough have been developed based on analytical, empirical and numerical approach to evaluate water coning tendencies in petroleum reservoirs. Some of the developed correlations have gained field application. However, limited literatures are available that have evaluated the prediction of these water coning correlations. Thus, the various water coning correlations for vertical well were evaluated and the obtained results show that most correlations have the same prediction profile. Conversely, these correlations predicted different coning parameters’ value. Further analysis of the results depicts that critical production rate and breakthrough time in vertical wells are indirectly dependent on fractional well penetration. In addition, the correlations developed from water-cut data for the prediction of water-cut performance after breakthrough indicate more realistic predictions in the water-cut profile than the correlations developed from water-oil ratio. Therefore, to delay water coning tendency in bottom-water reservoirs, fractional well penetration is a consideration in vertical wells to establish optimum critical oil rate and breakthrough time during oil and gas production.
    VL  - 3
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

  • Department of Gas Engineering, University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

  • Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Uyo, Uyo, Nigeria

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