Intelligent Well Completion

In the late 1980s, the first intelligent well appeared and a downhole
pressure-temperature meter was run in, thus achieving reading out data at
the surface and real-time monitoring of the downhole pressure and
temperature of an oil well. After the 1990s, the intelligent well, which is able
to control the downhole flow rate, appeared. Data of downhole temperature,
pressure, and flow rate can be acquired at the surface using a hydraulic or
electric control system. By 2004, there were more than 130 intelligent wells
worldwide. In addition, more than 200 wells had downhole remote control
devices by which downhole tools and gauges can be controlled remotely at
the surface and more data of reservoir production parameters can be
acquired. Overview. The intelligent well completion system is a
computerized automatic control system for controlling oil and gas
production. It can be used for real-time monitoring and controlling the oil
and gas production of production horizons in oil and gas wells or branch
holes of a multibore well. It can measure and monitor downhole oil and gas
production at the surface remotely, thus optimizing production rates of
production horizons in accordance with theoretical calculation results and
actual measurement data, enabling producing of production horizons in the
optimum working state. Hence, the recovery factor of oil and gas reservoirs
may be enhanced, the times of downhole operations may be decreased, and
the operating management of oil field production may be optimized. The
intelligent well completion system includes the following subsystems:
downhole information sensing system, downhole production control system,
downhole data transmission system, and surface data acquisition, analysis,
and feedback control system. The downhole production control system
includes various removable downhole tools and downhole sensors. These
devices have good flexibility and can meet various requirements of well
completion in accordance with oil reservoir production features. The
intelligent well completion system consists mainly of the following
components:
1. Surface SCADA (supervisory control, alarm, and data acquisition) system
interface
2. Underwater control network
3. Downhole control network
4. Separate-zone packers with bypass
5. Removable, switchable, and open degree adjustable downhole tools
6. Downhole sensors of pressure, temperature, flow rate, water cut, and
density
All of the downhole devices, including sensors and removable tools, are
connected with the downhole control network. The system uses
permanently installed cable for supplying power and provides bidirectional
digital communication between the surface and the downhole sensors. The
hydraulic or electromagnetic drive can be adopted. If the hydraulic drive is
adopted, hydraulic power is supplied through a hydraulic line connected
with the surface hydraulic power installation. If the electromagnetic drive is

adopted, the electric driver is selectively indicated to provide mechanical

power for various mechanical devices.
Functions of Intelligent Well Completion System.
The intelligent well completion system has the following advantages and
functions in reservoir management and behavior monitoring aspects.
(1) Multilayer reservoirs can be selectively produced, and the optimum
working mode can be selected on the basis of the surveyed inflow and
working environment parameter data of each layer in wells. The injection
performance of the injection well and the production performance of the oil
well can be improved, the choke of the high water-cut layer or high gasoil
ratio layer can be timely shut, more oil and gas can be produced from the
reservoir, and the recovery factor of the oil field can be increased.
(2) Pressure build-up and drop tests can be conducted with no need for well
shut-in, and production rate, pressure, and temperature can be measured at
any time. Material balance calculation of the reservoir can be conducted
accurately. The reservoir performance can be kept informed. The oil and gas
well management quality and efficiency can be enhanced by effectively
analyzing and processing the flow parameter data of each layer.
(3) Downhole horizons can be treated with no need for downhole operations,
thus decreasing times of downhole operations, decreasing production
downtime, decreasing production operation costs, and enhancing the
competitive power of oil field production.
The hole structures of conventional and intelligent well completions are
shown in Figure 2-41.
By reason of the high investment of downhole completion devices, the
intelligent well completion system is chiefly used for the subsea satellite
wells, horizontal wells, and extended reach wells in offshore deep water
areas and the unattended oil wells, multilayer injection and production
wells, and electric submersible pump wells in frontier areas at present. It is
mostly used in oil fields with high productivity and downhole operation
costs. The intelligent well completion system can achieve real-time
production optimization of various production horizons, thus achieving a
higher recovery factor and economic benefits. Presently, oil fields adopting
the intelligent well completion system are located in the North Sea, Adriatic
Sea, Gulf of Mexico, West Africa, Indonesia, and Venezuela. The intelligent
well completion is a completion method with development prospects;
however, it is unsuitable for low-productivity wells, shallow wells, and wells
with a single series of strata due to diseconomy and no need.
The Suizong oil field in the Bohai Gulf, China, has an oil-bearing area of 43
km2 with oil reserves of 2.6 108 tons and an initial individual-well daily
production rate of 70100 tons per day with sand production. In the early
1990s during development of the pilot area, there was a packer between
two reservoirs in addition to a gravel pack in the well. There is a sliding
sleeve for each, thus water cut may be controlled by shutting the sliding
sleeve if the water cut of some reservoirs is high. Also, a batch of electronic
pres sure gauges was selected, thus keeping informed on downhole
pressure conditions in time. In the late 1990searly 2000s, a new capillary

pressure gauge was adopted and located at 100 m below the electric
submersible pump. Thus, downhole pressure data can be read out on the
platform at any time. The oil reservoir permeability, skin factor, downhole
flowing pressure, and reservoir pressure can be calculated by interpreting
and analyzing these pressure data. An excessive skin factor and a lower
production rate in an oil well indicate that some plugging of the reservoir in
the well exists, and a plugging removal measure may be taken. Until 2005,
the downhole capillary pressure gauge had been applied in 39 wells, which
accounted for 20% of more than 200 production wells in the whole oil field.
Thus, by using downhole pressure and production data, the oil well and field
production conditions can be analyzed in time and corresponding
adjustments can be made, thus optimizing oil field production.