Publications

Understanding the well/reservoir, optimizing production rates and maximizing the recovery from deepwater subsea wells has become a priority for many operating companies. Various tools have been developed to diagnose the causes of production impairments. This paper introduces an automated pressure transient analysis (PTA) combined with an automated flowing material balance, offering a comprehensive assessment of reservoir performance over time and providing valuable insights into well behavior, which ultimately improve net present value (NPV) and hydrocarbon recovery.

Subsea deepwater wells typically begin with high and stable production rates that eventually decline. The decline may result from factors such as reservoir depletion, formation damage, water production, or issues like scale and sand production. This approach utilizes the pressure response and thermodynamic transient analysis to track hydraulically connected and mobile volumes, respectively. This method enables early detection of factors affecting production, allowing for timely mitigation to optimize recovery.

This paper highlights the impact of well operations on overall well performance. The automated PTA and flowing material balance technique presented here allow for early identification of well performance degradation, diagnosis of production impairment causes, and estimation of remaining recoverable hydrocarbons. This approach gives reservoir and production engineers better insight into well behavior, enabling early identification of potential issues and impairment causes. This leads to more informed and more proactive operational decisions to maximize current well performance without adversely affecting future reservoir recovery.

The effectiveness of these tools is demonstrated through two field case studies, illustrating their capability to support faster, more accurate decision-making.