SPE 77559
Water Control in Oil Wells With Downhole Oil-Free Water Drainage and Disposal
Solomon O. Inikori, SPE, Andrew K. Wojtanowicz, SPE, Louisiana State University, Sarmad S. Siddiqi, SPE, BP Pakistan
Exploration and Production
Copyright 2002, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition held in San Antonio, Texas, 29 September–2 October 2002.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Abstract
In bottom water drive oil reservoirs, the use of dual-completed
wells with water drainage-dubbed: Downhole Water Sink
(DWS) technology - has proved to control water coning,
increase oil production rate and total recovery factor. Also, in
field trials, the technology demonstrated sustainable
production of oil-free drainage water. The ability to produce
oil-free water makes DWS extremely attractive in offshore
operations as no water processing is needed prior to overboard
discharge. In land operations, oil-free water may be injected
into the same well below the drainage completion or lifted to
the surface and disposed into injection wells without
processing.
Field tests and our studies have also showed that
sustainable drainage of oil-free water becomes somewhat
difficult as the two completions (top and bottom) may receive
co-mingled inflows of the two fluids. The phenomenon
indicates the existence of transition zone (with mobile oil and
water) much larger than that explained by the capillary
pressure effect. This paper presents the results of a study -
using numerical simulator and a pie-shaped physical model-
aimed at understanding the change of transition zone around
producing wells with and without DWS.
The results show that, in conventional wells with water
coning, the transition zone is small and constant away from
the well but enlarges towards the wellbore. This transition
zone enlargement effect occurs in conventional wells due to
diffusion resulting from pressure distribution around the well.
For DWS wells, however, the effect is not only more
pronounced but it also alters the IPW plots – a basic tool for
design. There is a commingled inflow envelope in addition to
the envelope of segregated inflow.
Based on the above understanding, the paper shows how
to design operational limits for DWS wells to maximize oil
production from the top completion and maintain oil-free
water drainage from the bottom completion.
Introduction
Production of oil and gas from bottom water drive reservoirs
involves aquifer encroachment resulting in production of
water. The extent to which produced water is a problem has
been estimated to cost the petroleum industry about $45
billion a year1. These costs include the expense to lift, dispose
or re-inject produced waters, as well as the capital investment
in surface facility construction and to address other
environmental concerns1. In fact, Kimbrell2 asserted that,
“Produced water is a fact of life in Louisiana. The largest
volume of waste associated with oil and gas production
operations in Louisiana, as well as nationally, is produced
water”. In 1993, over 1.2 billion barrels of produced water was
generated compared to less than 200 million barrels of oil and
condensate and a little over 200 million BOE (barrel oil
equivalent) of gas produced in the same period. From 1990 to
1993, the statewide water-hydrocarbon ratio (WHR) averaged
approximately 3.2”2.
Various governments around the world have discharge
limits for residual oil in produced water that range from 23-40
mg/l. Some have also imposed zero discharge limits, which in
practice, demands re-injection of produced water. “Average
oil content of produced water in Norway in 1998 was 23 mg/l,
giving an oil discharge of about 2100 tonnes from about 100
million tonnes of total annual produced water. Aromatic
compounds like Benzene and solubles such as Phenols made
up additional 1200 tonnes. Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH)
and Alkylphenols cause the most worry, aand mounted up to
49 tonnes in 1998”3.
In the United States, the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) regulates the requirements
regarding maximum hydrocarbon contamination for offshore
produced water disposal in the United States. This produced
water disposal requirements depend solely on the level of
hydrocarbon contaminants as in the OCS (Outer Continental
Shelf) of the Gulf of Mexico and in the Niger Delta. Table 1
gives a brief overview of the requirements for maximum
concentration of hydrocarbons.
2 S. INIKORI, A. WOJTANOWICZ, AND S. SIDDIQI
Downhole Water Sink (DWS) technology is one of
industry’s several solutions to the problem of produced water
mangement. DWS controls water cone development, reduces
the severity of bypass oil, and produces oil-free water at the
lower water sink completion. The technology is a dual
completion in the oil and water zones with a zonal isolation
packer (Figure 1). This technology has been reported to
produce oil-free water in the lower completion while
minimizing watercut in the oil zone completion and improving
oil recovery efficiency at the same time4. Production of oil-
free water is particularly attractive to industry operators due to
the substantial cost savings in produced water handling.
However, application of the technology in remediating
old oil wells with severe water coning history and reservoirs
with capillary pressure transition zone have shown a ‘strange’
phenomenon of concurrent production of oil and water from
both completions at high oil production rates. This paper
reports the results of studies performed under the Joint
Industry Project (JIP) to understand the mechanism of
concurrent fluid production and to recommend operating
strategies to mitigate this problem.
The paper reports the results of research studies using
experimental pie-shaped reservoir model as well as
commercial numerical simulator to monitor the performance
of the capillary transition zone under the action of different
flow rates and reservoir pressure drawdown.
Research Model Setup
Two models have been used in the studies of water coning
control conducted at the Louisiana State University – a
physical demonstration tool using a 2-dimensional Hele-Shaw
model and commercial numerical simulators. In this study
however, a new physical 3-Dimensional pie-shaped sand
packed model recently developed for the JIP consortium has
been used together with a commercial numerical simulator.
The new model serves a dual purpose of visual inspection and
demonstration, as well as analysis of reservoir flow prototypes
with upscaling parameters.
Cylindrical and pie-shaped sand-packed models have been
widely recommended by researchers as being more
representative of actual reservoir geometry near the well bore.
Thus, the performance of a pie shaped segment of the
reservoir surrounding the producing well will be
representative of the whole reservoir5.
Description of Physical Model. The pie-shaped radial sand
pack used in this study represents a 24th fraction of a complete
cylindrical drainage volume of a 1-foot thick radial model
with drainage radius of 36 inches. The actual thickness of the
model is 1.5 ft but the top 0.5 ft is filled with water to create
an infinite porosity, infinite permeability aquifer effect. A
diagram of the experimental pie-shaped model is given in
Figure 2 and a schematic diagram of the experimental set up is
given in Figure 3.
A ¾-inch thick glass plate is installed on one side of
the model for visualization.
SPE 77559
The model was packed with sand and filled out with
two distinguishable, but completely miscible fluids, glycerin-
water mixture and water, representing oil and water
respectively. The two fluids simulating oil and water have
contrasting viscosities, densities and colors, in addition to
different electrical resistivities. In the model, water is a lighter
fluid at the top of the more dense glycerin-water mixture fluid.
Thus the model is an inverse simulation of actual reservoirs
where low mobility low density fluid (oil) rests on a high
mobility high density fluid (water). Several outlet pipes
installed in the oil zone and water zone permits the withdrawal
of fluid in a manner analogous to production wells. Each
well model is fitted with valves to control the rate of
fluid withdrawal.
Experimental procedure. Experiments involved fluid
withdrawal at the oil zone, simulating conventional wells and
fluid withdrawal from outlet valves in both the oil and the
water zones, simulating the installation of the DWS wells6.
Experiments were conducted at a constant production rate of 8
ml/min (3000b/d). The initial oil-water interface (OWI) was at
5 inches from the bottom of the model. The pressure was kept
constant at 6 psi. Conductivity values were used to calculate
the percentage of water in the outlet fluid. A video camera
recorded the experiment with time using time lapsed
photography. The result of this visual 3-Dimemsional model
helped to corroborate the performance of the numerical
simulation models. This result will be discussed in subsequent
sections of this paper on presentation of results.
Description of Numerical Model.
A 40 x 1 x 23 radial grid model of an actual reservoir,
LVT, was used for this study. Reservoir thickness is 85ft (40 ft
net oil thickness and 45 ft water zone thickness). The anticline
reservoir structure is slanted on either side of the well creating
a dome shaped profile. In order to represent this shape in the
radial grid model, certain grids were assigned zero porosity
and permeability (Figure 4). Also, the reservoir has a strong
bottom water drive and high water coning history. Thus, the
model assumed a steady-state flow by assigning an infinitely
large pore space to the bottom radial grids. Table 2 shows
reservoir data employed for this study. Capillary pressure
transition was also represented in the numerical model to
account for the severe water coning history7,8.
Capillary Transition Evaluation. Capillary pressure data
from adjacent fields with similar reservoir properties were
provided by the operator. Using the Levereth J-function, a
capillary pressure transition profile was developed (Figure 5).
Relative Permeability Curves. Measured relative
permeability data from cores in adjacent wells were also
provided by the operator (Figure 6). The data indicate a water
wet sandstone reservoir with a connate water saturation of 27
percent and a residual oil saturation of 19.2 percent.
Performance Evaluation Tool
A 2-dimensional plot of fluid production rate at the top
completion on the x-axis and fluid production rate from the
SPE 77559 WATER CONTROL IN OIL WELLS WITH DOWNHOLE OIL-FREE WATER DRAINAGE AND DISPOSAL
bottom completion (the water sink) on the y-axis generates a
performance evaluation tool called Inflow Performance
Window (IPW). The IPW is employed to evaluate the
operation domain for these old wells9. This plot, typically,
combines two linear curves to form a triangular window called
the domain of segregated fluid production. The lower of the
two lines represents the end of water breakthrough into the top
completion while the upper of the two lines represents the start
of inverse oil coning into the water sink completion.
Presentation and Discussion of Results
Physical Model. Prior to start of experiment, a distinct fluid
contact could be observed called the oil-water interface
(OWI). When the DWS is simulated by simultaneous fluid
withdrawals from the oil zone and water zone, the oil-water
interface begins to diffuse forming a band of saturation
transition near the wellbore. Oil begins to flow toward the
water sink completion while water flows into the oil zone
completion simultaneously. Visual inspection of the fluid
saturation profile with the aid of the video camera showed an
expansion of this zone of diffused flow around the wellbore
due the effect of the dual pressure drawdown (Figure 7). The
thickness of this diffused flow zone is maximum at the
wellbore and tappers off toward the radial boundary indicating
that this flow diffusion process is enhanced by the drawdown
pressure. This pressure-induced diffusion zone expansion is
responsible for the concurrent production of contaminated
fluid in both completions.
Numerical Simulation Model. For conventional wells with
one completion, fluid inflow to the well expands the size of
the capillary transition zone (or swept zone for old oil wells)
around the wellbore. The (capillary) transition zone is smallest
at the reservoir boundary but increases toward the wellbore as
shown in Figure 8. The numbers 1 through 3 show an
enlargement of the capillary transition zone size from the
static OWC toward the wellbore. The expansion is pronounced
around the wellbore where the size approximately doubles.
Most of the expansion occurs between the wellbore and a few
hundred feet.
The enlargement effect of the transition zone increases for
the DWS completion due to the dual pressure drawdown and
diffusion effects (Figure 9). Like in the physical model, this
diffusion causes a cross-flow expansion of the two fluids to
concurrently break through into the two completions. The
level of expansion depends on the wellbore drawdown
pressure as well as the reservoir flow capacity.
An important corollary from this observation is that
piston-like displacement concepts cannot be applied to low
permeability reservoirs with capillary transition zone nor to
old oil wells with severe watered-out zone.
Design Considerations for DWS Wells With Oil-free
Drainage Water
The primary goal of this study was to understand the
principles governing the concurrent production of oil and
water in both completions and to formulate a design procedure
3
for operating the DWS wells with oil-free water production at
the sink. The study addressed the DWS Inflow Performance
Window (IPW) under the conditions of diffusive
transition zone.
For conventional wells without capillary transition zone,
the IPW typically consists of four regions7,10 (Figure 10). A
triangular-shaped envelope represents the domain of
segregated fluid production (water- free oil production from
the top completion and oil-free water production from the
water sink completion). This is the target region for
environmentally sensitive areas. Below the envelope is the
domain of water breakthrough into the oil completion. Above
the envelope is the domain of inverse oil coning with oil
breakthrough into the water sink completion. A fourth region
beyond the apex of the envelope displays a “flip-flop” line
representing a region of instability with some level of
contamination in fluid production on either side. The DWS
production schedule could also be implemented in the water
breakthrough zone. This permits maximum oil production at
the top completion with low watercut oil and at the same time
produce oil-free water at the sink.
For the reservoir with capillary transition zone, this fourth
region or “the flip-flop” line representing line of cone
instability is changed into an envelope of concurrent fluid
production (Region 4 in Figure 11). It is characterized by a
cross over of the water breakthrough and oil breakthrough
lines. Thus, beyond the apex of the segregated fluid
production triangle, both oil and water flow concurrently into
both completions. A clean-water zone, however, still exists
below the oil breakthrough line (Region 3 in Figure 11). Thus,
the oil breakthrough line represents the maximum rate of fluid
withdrawal at the water sink completion to ensure production
of disposable oil-free water. The task is to identify, a condition
for maximum oil rate at the top completion while operating
along the oil breakthrough line, i.e., producing oil-free water.
An additional plot of watercut isolines has been
superimposed on IPW in Figure 12. The plot shows increasing
watercut with increasing rate of liquid production at the top
completion along the oil breakthrough line. Thus, there should
be an optimum liquid rate at the top that should maximize oil
production rate at optimum watercut along the section A-A of
the Oil breakthrough line in Figure 11.
A plot of oil production rate Vs total liquid rate at the top
completion is shown in Figure 13. It gives an optimum top
liquid rate at the point of maximum oil rate. For this reservoir,
a top liquid rate of 275 BLPD and a bottom water sink
completion rate of 285 BWPD would be recommended in
order to maximize oil production with minmum watercut at
the top completion and, at the same time, deliver oil-free water
at the water sink completion.
Data Input and Operation
As explained above, the design of DWS well with oil-free
water drainage is entirely controlled by capillary pressure data
and the initial size of capillary pressure transition zone. The
data constitute initial condition for the equilibrium represented
by the IPW. Another control parameter is the placement of
4 S. INIKORI, A. WOJTANOWICZ, AND S. SIDDIQI
water sink completion associated with a risk of drainage water
contamination with oil. The following comments arose from
our studies7 :
1. Adequate field data and production logs should be run to
understand the extent of water saturation transition
development over time and the possible location of the
original oil-water contact.
2. A good understanding of field history from start of
production and location of original oil-water contact is
necessary.
3. Capillary pressure data from core analysis within the field
or correlation fields should be used to derive suitable
capillary pressure data from the Leverett J-function
correlation for the pre-installation studies.
4. In the absence of core data, capillary pressure information
could be obtained from electric resistivity log responses
using a capillary profile match11.
5. In the last option, linear approximations could be used
together with information from the production logs12-13.
6. To avoid early inverse oil cone and oil breakthrough
(initial inverse oil cone), the water sink location should be
as deep as the limit of water handling capacity allows.
The sink should not be installed a few feet below the oil-
water contact or in the transition zone where mobile oil
can easily flow into the water sink. A height of about 20
percent of the total thickness of the oil or water zone
(whichever is smaller) could be used as a “rule-of-thumb”
to determine the depth of the water sink below the
original oil-water contact.
Conclusions
• The results presented in this paper show that, though the
presence of capillary transition could result in concurrent
production of contaminated fluid in both completions, oil-
free water production at the water sink can be achieved by
incorporating a capillary transition zone in the model and
design procedure.
• Transition zone enlargement effect occurs in conventional
wells due to diffusion resulting from pressure distribution
around the well. For DWS wells, however, the effect is
not only more pronounced but it also alters the IPW plots
– a basic tool for design. There is a commingled inflow
envelope (Region 4 in Fig. 11) in addition to the envelope
of segregated inflow (Region 2).
• The study also shows that liquid rate at the bottom water
sink completion is limited by the oil breakthrough line.
The optimum rate of liquid withdrawal at the top (oil
zone) completion is determined by the point of maximum
oil rate. This could be obtained from a graph of oil rate
against liquid rate at the top completion.
Finally, the study of IPW shows isolines of increasing
watercut to the right of the oil breakthrough line indicating
that for oil-free water drainage design, maximizing liquid
production rate at the top completion – typical for DWS
design – would not be effective. Not only it would result in
smaller oil rate but might also lead to lesser recovery with
SPE 77559
DWS – potential subject of future studies.
Acknowledgement
This study resulted from the LSU research project for the
JIP consortium, Downhole Water Sink Technology Initiative
(DWSTI). Authors would like to express appreciation to the
DWSTI membership for providing the field data for this study
and permission to publish the results.
References
1. Halliburton, (2001), “Reservoir Conformance Technology –
Maximizing Your Reservoir Value Through The Management
of Unwanted Water and Gas”, (www.halliburton.com),
Document No. H01027.
2. Kimbrell, C. W., 2001, “Produced Water in Louisiana:
Analyzing the Magnitude of the Problem”, Proceedings of
PTTC Symposium on Water Production, Baton Rouge, LA,
April 5
3. Wolff, E.A., 2000, “Reduction of Emissions to Sea by Improved
Produced Water Treatment and Subsea Separation Systems”,
Paper SPE 61182, SPE International Conference on Health,
Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Production, Stavanger,
Norway, June 26-28.
4. Swisher, M.D., and Wojtanowicz, A.K., 1995, “In-situ
Segregated Production of Oil and water – A Production Method
With Environmental Merit: Field Application”, Paper SPE
29693, SPE/EPA Exploration and Production Environmental
Conference, Houston, TX, March 27-29.
5. Siddiqi, S. S., 2001, “A Study of bottom Water Drive Reservoirs
Using a Scaled Physical Model and Numerical Simulator”, M.
Sc Thesis, Louisiana State Universit and A & M Collegey, Baton
Rouge, LA.
6. Siddiqi, S.S., and Wojtanowicz, A.K., 2002, “A Study of Water
Coning Control in Oil Wells by Injected or Natural FLow
Barriers Using Scaled Physical Model and Numerical
Simulator”, Paper SPE 77415, SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Tx, September 29 –
October 2.
7. Inikori, S. O., 2002, “Numerical Study of Water Coning Control
with Downhole Water Sink (DWS) Completions in Vertical and
Horizontal Wells”, PhD Dissertation, Louisiana State University
and A & M College, Baton Rouge, LA.
8. Inikori, S.O., and Wojtanowicz, A.K., 2001, “Assessment and
Inclusion of Capillary Pressure/Relative Permeability Hysteresis
Effects in Downhole Water Sink (DWS) Well Technology for
Water Coning Control”, ETCE2001-17100, 23rd ASME Energy
Sources Technology Conference and Exposition, Houston,
February 5-7.
9. Swisher, M.D., and Wojtanowicz, A.K., 1995, “New
Dual Completion Eliminates Bottom Water Coning”,
Paper SPE 30697, SPE Annual Technical Conference &
Exhibition, Dallas, TX, October 22-25.
10. Shirman, E.I.,1996, “A Well Completion Design Model for
Water-free Production from Reservoirs Overlying Aquifers”,
International Student Paper Contest, Proceedings, SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, CO, October 6-9,
Vol.Π, 853-860.
11. Ibrahim, A., Desbrandes, R., and Bassiouni, Z., 1994,
“Derived Capillary Pressure From Well Logs”, Petroleum
Engineer International, New York, July, pp 38-41
SPE 77559 WATER CONTROL IN OIL WELLS WITH DOWNHOLE OIL-FREE WATER DRAINAGE AND DISPOSAL 5

12. Kurban, H., 1999, “Numerical Simulation of Downhole Table 2 – LVT Reservoir Input Data
Water Sink Production System Performance”, M.Sc. INPUT DATA Unit LVT Reservoir
Thesis, Louisiana State University and A & M College, Reservoir pressure psi 4200
Baton Rouge, LA, December Thickness of oil/gas column ft 40
13. Yokoyama, Y, and Lake, Larry W., 1981, “The Effect of Thickness of water column ft 45
Capillary Pressure on Immiscible Displacements in Depth of OWC ft 9589
Position and length of production ft 9540 - 9552
Stratified Porous Media”, Paper SPE 10109, 56th Annual
perforations
Fall Technical Conference and Exhibition of Society of Position and length of water ft 9596 - 9604
Petroleum engineers of AIME, San Antonio, TX, October zone perforations
5-7. Horizontal permeability in oil mD 1475
column
Vertical permeability in oil/gas mD 220
Table 1 - Requirements on Hydrocarbon Contamination of column
Produced Water Horizontal permeability in water mD 1489
Parameters Requirements Requirement column
as at 1980 as at 1993 Vertical permeability in water mD 225
(Maximum (Maximum column
Concentration) Concentration) Water density at temperature Ib/ft2 71.76
Oil and 48 mg/liter 29 mg/liter Water viscosity at temperature cP 0.50
Grease O
Reservoir temperature F 185
Concentration
Porosity in oil column Fraction 0.25
(monthly average)
Porosity in water column Fraction 0.27
Oil and 72 mg/liter 42 mg/liter
Oil formation volume factor Rb/stb 1.11
Grease
Concentration Oil gravity / gas gravity API 32
(Daily average) Oil/gas viscosity at temperature cP 1.20
(@BHP
Completion diameter/hole size inches 7
6 S. INIKORI, A. WOJTANOWICZ, AND S. SIDDIQI SPE 77559

W a ter

O il
PCP

3’
18’
O il OW C
W a ter 7’

5’
64’

Figure 1 – Schematic of Downhole Water Sink Completion

15O
• The drainage radius of the model is 3 ft
• It is 1/24th Section of a cylinder, with
and angle of 15 degrees
• Total Height is 1.5 ft
1.5 ft • Height of the Sand Bed is 1 ft
1 ft

3 feet
Figure 2 – Physical dimension of pie-shaped reservoir model

5 .0 P r e s s . T r a n s d u ce r P ressu re
G au ge
C o n d u ct iv ity
M e te r

C on d . P rob e

H e a tin g P a d

P um ps
W a te r a n d G lyce r in
Feed T anks
F lo w
M e te r s
F lo w T h r u
C o n d u ct iv ity
P rob es
C o n d u ct ivity M e te r s

Figure 3 – Schematic diagram of the experimental set up.

SPE 77559 WATER CONTROL IN OIL WELLS WITH DOWNHOLE OIL-FREE WATER DRAINAGE AND DISPOSAL 7

Figure 4 – LVT reservoir grid model

3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00
0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000
W aterSaturation (Sw ,Fraction)

Figure 5 - Capillary pressure plot from Leverett function

1.200

1.000

0.800

0.600

0.400

0.200

0.000
0.000 0.200 0.400 0.600 0.800 1.000
-0.200
W aterSaturation,(Sw Fraction)

Figur 6 – Relative permeability curves from cores

8 S. INIKORI, A. WOJTANOWICZ, AND S. SIDDIQI SPE 77559

Aquifer Aquifer Aquifer

Oil Zone Oil Zone Oil Zone

Time = 20 min Time = 30 min Time = 40 min

Figure 7 - Cone development with dual complettion. The water sink producing at the rate of 23 ml/min (8600 b/d) and oil production at 8
ml/min (3000 b/d). Large drainage rate at the water sink completion pulls down and reduces the size of transition zone.

2 1

Figure 8 - Transition zone enlargement around conventional well

2 1

Figure 9 – Transition zone enlargement around dual-completed (DWS) well

SPE 77559 WATER CONTROL IN OIL WELLS WITH DOWNHOLE OIL-FREE WATER DRAINAGE AND DISPOSAL 9

120
h io n io n

W a t e r R a t e (b b l fl u i
100 ug t re g
k t h ro m p le - f l o p ilit y
p b
80 B re a Co F li in sta
l m of
O i o tto
B
60 in
n gh
g io ou
40 Re a k th r io n
w re le t
F lo r B mp
20 a te W a te p C o
re g To
S eg in
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
O il R a t e (b b l flu id / d a y )

S :O il B t Lin e S :W a t e r B t L in e

Figure 10 – Typical Inflow Performance Window and its regions from a Canadian field (No capillary transition zone and
hence no region of concurrent fluid production). line

1000
Water Sink Liquid Rate (BLPD)

ugh

900
thro

800
reak

700
600
ter B

500 Region 4
Wa

400 A
Region 1
300 A
200 rough line
Oil Breakth
100 n2 Region 3
R egio
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Top Liquid Rate (BLPD)

Figure 11 – IPW comprising transition zone effect (LVT reservoir); critical rate lines intercept and diverge at higher rates
enveloping Region 4 of two-phase inflow at the top and bottom completion.

1200
Water Sink Liquid Rate (BLPD)

WC, % = 0, 1, 7, 21, 47, 57, 67

1000

800

600

400

200

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Top Liquid Rate (BLPD)

Figure 12 - IPW for LVT reservoir with WC isolines

10 S. INIKORI, A. WOJTANOWICZ, AND S. SIDDIQI SPE 77559

250

Oil Rate (BOPD

200 A
150 A
100

50

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Top Liquid Rate (BLPD)

Figure 13 Optimization of oil production rate for DWS well with oil-free water drainage.