Field-Scale Modeling of Smart Completion Tools for Optimum Recovery

Flow control devices (FCDs) like inflow control devices (ICDs) and interval control valves (ICVs) (i.e., equalizer) have increased applications in both conventional and unconventional resources. They have been used to mitigate water or gas coning problems for mature fields in conventional reservoirs, to alleviate premature water breakthrough in naturally fractured reservoirs, and to optimize the steam distribution in heavy oil reservoirs. There have been increased trend in using FCDs in the real field. Previously, complex well models have been implemented in a large-scale parallel reservoir simulator by Tareq et al. (2017). The implementation can simulate an intelligent field contains tens to hundreds of multilateral complex wells commonly referred in the literature as maximum reservoir contact (MRC) wells with mechanical components such as ICVs and ICDs. In this paper, a new framework to model controlling the FCDs in complex well applications will be presented. The implementation is integrated into a complex well model. It can be easily used to model the dynamical control of devices. Simulation studies using both sector model and field model have been conducted. A systematic full-field operation is used for device control applications of smart wells. Successful application of field level controls in smart wells has the benefit of the improved overall GOSP performance.