Water Coning

ater coning is an expensive problem associated with oil and gas

wellsproducing directly above an aquifer. Water coning occurs when pressure drawdowncauses a strong, upward dynamic force which causes water from the lower part of the pay zone to lift up to a height where the upward dynamic force is equal to theweight of the water below the point of equilibrium. As you move away from thewellbore in a radial direction, the height of the point of equilibrium decreases due toa decrease in the upward dynamic force and pressure drawdown (Osisanya, 2000).More water is produced when water coning occurs, which increases disposal costs,and not as much oil is produced, reducing the ultimate recovery. When there iswater underlying he producing formation, wells are usually completed in the upperportion of the producing zone and the oil is produced at a low rate in an effort toavoid water coning. This rate is usually too low to be considered economic, thuswater coning is eventually encountered (Jin, 2010). There are a few different methods available that attempt to control water coning. This report will use CMG toanalyze the effects of water coning on a 3-D radial model of a vertical well withappropriate reservoir parameters and fluid properties. A well experiencing water coning cannot continue to be profitable if noaction is taken to remedy the problem. It has been proposed that the well should beproduced with the bottom five perforations closed with a BHFP of 2800 psia. Inaddition, a production strategythat consists of drilling a well to produce the waterbelow the oil zone and to use a polymer gel to create a horizontal barrier at thewater-oil interfacecould be implemented to further decrease the effect of waterconing. Chen and Wan (1996) have shown that it may be possible to use modifiedpolymer gels to keep the water from being produced, though the stability of thebarrier against phase separation is questionable. Producing the water from theaquifer could possibly improve the stability of the barrier by keeping the interactionof the water and oil to a minimum. Combining the aforementioned methods, theproblem with water coning could be reduced. It would require field tests toexamine the effectiveness of the methods, since the simulator is not capable of projecting what may happen to production while employing these methods.

OVERVIEW Coning is a term used to describe the mechanism underlying the upward movement of water and/or the down movement of gas into the perforations of a producing well. Coning can seriously impact the well productivity and influence the degree of depletion and the overall recovery efficiency of the oil reservoirs. The specific problems of water and gas coning are listed below.

Costly added water and gas handling

Gas production from the original or secondary gas cap reduces pressure without obtaining the displacement effects associated with gas drive Reduced efficiency of the depletion mechanism The water is often corrosive and its disposal costly The afflicted well may be abandoned early Loss of the total field overall recovery Delaying the encroachment and production of gas and water are essentially the controlling factors in maximizing the field's ultimate oil recovery. Since coning can have an important influence on operations, recovery, and economics, it is the objective of this chapter to provide the theoretical analysis of coning and outline many of the practical solutions for calculating water and gas coning behavior. CONING Coning is primarily the result of movement of reservoir fluids in the direction of least resistance, balanced by a tendency of the fluids to maintain gravity equilibrium. The analysis may be made with respect to either gas or water. Let the original condition of reservoir fluids exist as shown schematically in Figure 9-1, water underlying oil and gas overlying oil. For the purposes of discussion, assume that a well is...

Osisanya, S.O.,Recham, R., and Touami, M.2000. Effects of Water Coning on thePerformance of Vertical and Horizontal Reservoir Simulation Study of Field, Algeria. Canadian Institue of Mining, Metallurgy, & Petroleum. Paper2000-39. Jin, L., Wojtanowicz, A.K., and Hughes, R.G. 2010. An Analytical Model for WaterConing Control Installation in Reservoir With Bottomwater. SPE-137787. Chen, T., Wan, W. 1996.ModifiedPolymerGelsforCreatingaHorizontalBarriertoBlockOffWaterConing. ThePetroleum Society. Paper 96-1