A numerical model coupling reservoir and horizontal well-flow dynamics: Transient behavior of single-phase liquid and gas flow

A fully implicit, 3D simulator with local refinement around the wellbore is developed to solve reservoir and horizontal well flow equations simultaneously for single-phase liquid and gas cases. The model consists of conservation of mass and Darcy's law in the reservoir, and mass and momentum conservation in the wellbore for isothermal conditions. The coupling requirements are satisfied by preserving the continuity of pressure and mass balance at the sandface. The proposed simulator is tested against and verified with the results obtained from a commercial code ECLIPSE-100, and available public domain simulators and semianalytical models. The model can be used to simulate the transient pressure and flow rate behavior of both the reservoir and the horizontal wellbore. Traditional decoupling of the wellbore transients from the reservoir transients does not capture the horizontal well pressure and flow rate transients at early times because the interaction between the reservoir and wellbore is inherently neglected. Simulation runs with the proposed model reveal the actual characteristics of horizontal wellbore storage and unloading, as well as flow pattern determination during transient well testing using pressure derivative curves. The effects of permeability, formation thickness, well length, and fluid compressibility are also studied.