WorldOil

Application of intelligent well completion for controlled dumpflood

This article describes the philosophy and design of an intelligent-well installation in a water-dumpflood well in Kuwait and data analysis. The article determines that the reservoir-management capabilities of intelligent wells can lead to significant value in terms of reservoir management in this application. Dumpflooding, the method by which fluids from one formation are allowed to flow into another formation, has been used for several years in Kuwait as a means of providing reservoir-pressure support. Typically, a well is drilled to penetrate both a prolific aquifer and an oil-producing reservoir. Under the right conditions, and with a higher pressure aquifer, significant quantities of water will flow from the aquifer to the oil reservoir. As production from the oil reservoirs matures, this uncontrolled method of pressure support has led to several reservoir-management challenges, including difficulties with flood-front control, water breakthrough, conformance management and the inability to quantify the crossflow rate in each well.