Regular Article
Transient prediction of annular pressure between packers in high-pressure low-permeability wells during high-rate, staged acid jobs
1
College of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
2
State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation (Southwest Petroleum University), Chengdu 610500, China
3
College of Mechanical Engineering, Yangtze University, Jingzhou 434023, China
* Corresponding author: 93345890@qq.com
Received:
6
January
2019
Accepted:
8
June
2020
For high-pressure low-permeability wells, wellbore temperature drops drastically in high-rate and multistage acid fracturing process. Under the combined action of the swelling of tubing string and the contraction of annular fluid between packers, annular pressure between packers undergoes violent transient change in staged acid jobs, thereby deteriorating loading on the tubing string and packers. Based on the principle of energy conservation and wellbore heat conduction, the transient prediction of two-dimensional (2D) wellbore temperature field under pumping injection condition was established by considering the effects of heat generated by friction and convection heat exchange. Moreover, the effects of wellbore temperature/pressure changes on the annular volume between packers were analyzed. Furthermore, in combination with the transient prediction model of wellbore temperature, PVT state equation of annular fluid, the calculation model of tubing string radial deformation and the transient seepage equation of the formation, the transient prediction model of annular pressure between packers in high-pressure low-permeability wells was established. Finally, by taking a high-pressure low-permeability well as an example, annular pressure between packers was calculated and the forces on the packers and tubing string were analyzed. According to the prediction results, the tubing string, which was regarded to be safe using conventional design method, exhibited an extremely high risk of failure after taking into account the decrease in annular pressure between packers. Therefore, the decrease in annular pressure should be fully considered in the design of tubing string for high-pressure low-permeability wells in multistage acid fracturing process. In combination with sensitivity analysis results, it can be concluded that formation permeability, injection rate and formation pressure all affected the change in annular pressure between packers.
© L. Ding et al., published by IFP Energies nouvelles, 2020
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