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ISSN Online: 2379-1748

ISBN Flash Drive: 978-1-56700-469-4

ISBN Online: 978-1-56700-470-0

Second Thermal and Fluids Engineering Conference
April, 2-5, 2017, Las Vegas, NV, USA

TRANSIENT HEAT BEHAVIOURS IN WELL AND SURROUNDING FORMATION

Get access (open in a dialog) pages 2505-2516
DOI: 10.1615/TFEC2017.ist.019006

Abstract

Transient temperature behaviour in a wellbore develops as a result of heat exchange between fluid in the wellbore and surrounding formation as the hot fluid from reservoir moves upward in production, or vice versa during injection. Previous models based upon steady-state mass flow rate or semi-steady state heat transfer cannot be applied for many practical scenarios such as variant production rates, thermal wells in heavy oil development, and deep water flow assurance management, to give accurate results which are critical in many decision-making. The objective of this paper is to discuss the transient thermal conduction surrounding the wellbore using finite difference modelling and its impact on production management. In this paper, an efficient and accurate model for both the wellbore and the formation is developed using finite-difference method. The model is based upon the first principle of hydrodynamics and thermodynamics, and accounts for transient mass flow as well as thermal transfer to compute the temperature profile at any specific time and location during production. After model validation using Ramey's semi-analytical solution, the model was used in a real deepwater production field to understand the impact of well production history on temperature. The selected well has a production history of two years with measured pressure, temperature, and production rate. Once the temperature profile is known, an operator could use them to manage temperature related problems such as hydrates and waxing appearance. The simulation results indicate that not only the well shut in duration, production time, but also the flow rate history affect temperature transverse the wellbore. As currently there is not an easy and accurate tool to make such a frequent but important decision on production management, this model can fill the gap and be applied to solve transient temperature problem in a wellbore and surrounding formation.