Alleviation of effective permeability reduction of gas-condensate due to condensate buildup near wellbore
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Abstract
When the reservoir pressure is decreased below dew point pressure of the gas near the wellbore, gas-condensate wells start to decrease production because condensate is separated from the gas around the wellbore causing a decrease in gas relative permeability. This effect is more dramatic if the permeability of the reservoir is low. The idea proposed for reducing this problem is to eliminate the irreducible water saturation near the wellbore to leave more space for the gas to flow and therefore increase the productivity of the well. In this research a simulation study was performed to determine the range of permeabilities where the cylinder of condensate will seriously affect the well??s productivity, and the distance the removal of water around the wellbore has to be extended in order to have acceleration of production and an increase in the final reserves. A compositional-radial reservoir was simulated with one well in the center of 109 grids. Three gas-condensate fluids with different heptanes plus compositions ( 4, 8 and 11 mole %), and two irreducible water saturations were used. The fitting of the Equation of State (EOS) was performed using the method proposed by Aguilar and McCain. Several simulations were performed with several permeabilities to determine the permeabilities for which the productivity is not affected by the presence of the cylinder of condensate. At constant permeability, various radii of a region of zero initial water saturation around the wellbore were simulated and comparisons of the effects of removal of irreducible water on productivity were made. Reservoirs with permeabilities lower than 100 mD showed a reduction in the ultimate reserves due to the cylinder of condensate. The optimal radius of water removal depends on the fluid composition and the irreducible water saturation of the reservoir. The expected increase in reserves due to water removal varies from 10 to 80 % for gas production and from 4 to 30% for condensate production.