Well and ICV management in a carbonate reservoir with high gas content

Abstract The management of oil fields that present high gas content is challenging, mainly in cases where this represents a bottleneck for oil production due to gas platform constraints. One way to deal with this problem is with the use of ICVs (Interval Control Valves), which enables the production to be controlled by zones in the wells. In this work, we propose a methodology using reactive control rules for producers and ICVs, with GOR as monitoring variable, to improve the economic performance of the field. We compare the management of the field in three ways: (a) well management by shutting down producers when they reach an uneconomic GOR limit, (b) the use of ICVs on-off type and (c) application of multi-position type ICVs. We extend the application of algorithm IDLHC (Iterative Discrete Latin Hypercube) for the optimization process in this context. This study is made in a synthetic simulation case (Lira1_2022) with characteristics of a Brazilian pre-salt carbonate field with karstic features, high CO2 content and using WAG (Water-Alternate-Gas) injection as recovery mechanism. The results demonstrated that the use of ICVs has a great potential to increase the performance of the field, both in economic and production indicators, when compared to well shut-in management. Both ICV on-off and multi-position types achieved similar results, with a slight advantage to the multi-position type ICVs. The improvement in the field's performance was mainly caused by the interference among zones and wells, in which the closure of less productive wells, or zones, reflected in improvements in other more productive wells.