Modeling and Simulation of Non-Darcy or Turbulent Flow for Oil Wells

Modeling and simulation of non-Darcy or turbulent flow are well documented in the literature and available in commercial reservoir simulators (E300, Intersect) only for gas wells rather than oil wells. There is a need to model non-Darcy or turbulent flow in reservoir simulation for oil wells in the carbonate reservoirs with highly connected and densely distributed fractures and karst. This paper proposes a new non-Darcy or turbulent flow modeling and simulation method for oil wells. Unlike the industry's existing methods for non-Darcy or turbulent flow that focus on the non-Darcy coefficient only, this paper presents a new method that models the ratio between non-Darcy and Darcy flows such that a unified model for a field or a region can be created, which significantly simplifies the non-Darcy or turbulent flow modeling process for multiple wells, especially for future wells. The ratio-based method is simple and comprehensive. It can be easily calibrated with MRT (multiple-rate test) data and implemented into in-house or commercial reservoir simulators using a simulator supported scripting language, e.g., Python etc. Kashagan is the world's largest oil reservoir discovered in the last 30 years that contains highly connected and densely distributed fractures and karst in its rim. The oil production rate for a well in the rim can be higher than several tens KSTB/D if it is not constrained by the facility. The current MRT data in all tested wells clearly show non-Darcy flow phenomenon and confirm that modeling non-Darcy flow is necessary to the field. Kashagan had experienced difficulties to match BHP (bottom hole pressure) and large errors in the blind test due to the OPEC's production curtailment and high-rate tests. Build-up pressure curves were miss-matched and HM (history match) of the crossflows (10 KSTB/D with less than 10 psi) in the bottomhole of a PLT (production logging tool) well during shut-in was challenging. Since modeling non-Darcy flow for oil wells in the commercial simulators, e.g., E300 and Intersect, is unavailable, the simulation team in NCOC has created a new method for the needs of non-Darcy modeling and simulation. The applications of the new method have resulted in the excellent results and solved the issues of history matching BHP, high/low-rate tests, build-up pressure trends, and bottomhole crossflows.