Implementing Smart Solution for Controlling Water Cut

Handling excessive water production is one of the most common challenges in mature and declining oil and gas fields. The world currently produces around 250 million barrels of water associated with 88 million barrels of oil, making the ratio of water to oil 3 to1. Water management becomes ever more important since this ratio is expected to increase as more reserves are depleted in the struggle to supply a world hungry for oil. Improved water management practices are being implemented worldwide to maximize well productivity, conserve reservoir energy and reduce operating costs. Recent environmental awareness has led to more stringent regulations regarding the discharge of produced water. Practices such as horizontal well drilling, water shut-off jobs, and implementation of smart devices have varying degrees of success in controlling water production. Smart well technology is one of the most significant breakthroughs in production technologies during recent years. A smart well is the one with down hole instrumentation (sensors, valves, and inflow control devices) installed on the production tubing. Such wells allow the continuous in-situ monitoring of fluid flow rates and pressures as well as the periodic adjustment of down well valves. In this paper we review the capabilities of these kinds of wells in controlling water cut, with some Case studies.

Smart Well; Intelligent Completion; Multi Phase Flow Meter (MPFM)