Investigation of Well Productivity in Gas-Condensate Reservoirs

Abstract The productivity of the wells in a moderately rich gas condensate reservoir was observed to initially decrease rapidly and then increase as the reservoir was depleted. All wells in the field showed the same response. Compositional simulation explained the reasons for these productivity changes. During early production, a ring of condensate rapidly formed around each wellbore when the near-wellbore pressures decreased below the dew point pressure of the reservoir gas. The saturation of condensate in this ring was considerably higher than the maximum condensate predicted by the PVT laboratory work due to relative permeability effects. This high condensate saturation in the ring severely reduced the effective permeability to gas, thereby reducing gas productivity. After pressure throughout the reservoir decreased below the dew point condensate formed throughout the reservoir, thus the gas flowing into the ring became leaner causing the condensate saturation in the ring to decrease. This increased the effective permeability of the gas. This caused the gas productivity to increase as was observed in the field. There were also changes in gas and condensate compositions in the reservoir which affected viscosities and densities of the fluids. These effects also impacted gas productivity. This work is another step forward in our understanding of the dynamics of condensate buildup around wellbores in gas condensate fields.