Influence of Surface Choke on Water Cut and Flow Profile in Horizontal Wellbores Intersecting Fractures and Super-Ks

Abstract

The surface choke has been utilized in the oil industry to control withdrawal rates per well and to optimize production especially after water breakthrough. However, as found out from this study, applying undue restrictions in horizontal wellbores intersecting high permeability features can have an adverse impact on well performance and unnecessarily lock oil potential. This paper investigates the effect of surface choke on water cut and flow contribution along horizontal wellbores that encountered natural fractures and high permeability streaks (Super-Ks). The study considered different down-hole completions; open-hole and cased-hole. The investigation was carried out using Multi Phase Flow Meter (MPFM) measurements at different choke sizes in addition to production logs (FSI), wellbore simulation modeling, and real-time data. Instant data monitoring was instrumental in insuring stabilization of sub-surface static pressure while performing many rate tests at different choke sizes. Moreover, it flagged the role of rate stabilization on water cut behavior and rate data quality. The presence of conductive fractures and Super-Ks substantially influences the flow profile and water cut of horizontal wellbores. These features create high permeability conduits along wellbores such that they dominate production and may cause some matrix sections to contribute little or nothing as observed on FSI profiles. The effect of fractures on production from less permeable sections in the wellbore was investigated at different operating rates using horizontal wellbore simulation modeling. Both MPFM measurements and FSI logs showed that water cut from horizontal wells, affected by fractures and/or Super-Ks, can decrease if they're flowed at higher rates. Upon reviewing and analyzing data from numerous FSI logs, the study has been able to relate the water cut and surface choking to the well productivity index (PI). Consistently, wells with PI more than twice the averaged matrix PI were found to always perform better at bigger choke sizes. By choke relaxation, the water cut decreased by up to 22% while increasing oil production. Wellbore modeling also suggested that the influence of a fracture on flow contribution from remaining sections in the wellbore can be minimized if the well is operated at higher rates. Restrictive surface chokes were found to disproportionately affect lower permeability sections compared to conductive fractures or Super-Ks which in most cases were invaded by water after water breakthrough. Relaxing these surface chokes allowed more contribution of dry oil from the lower permeability sections, hence the increase in overall oil production and drop in water cut in the affected wells.