IMPACT OF DIRECTIONAL WELL INCLINATION ON THE CALCULATION OF ANNULAR PRESSURE BUILDUP

This study presents a preliminary analysis investigating Annular Pressure Buildup (APB) behavior as a function of the inclination angle in directional oil wells. APB refers to the pressure increase caused by the tendency of confined fluids to expand thermally within annular spaces. This phenomenon is critical in deep reservoirs, where temperature variations compromise casing integrity due to differential pressure. Despite its relevance, the influence of wellbore inclination on APB prediction remains underexplored. In this context, the present work preliminarily investigates the impact of several well inclinations on APB behavior. The adopted methodology consists of five main stages: a) a literature review on APB computational modeling in oil wells; b) definition of a reference well scenario; c) selection of well trajectories (inclinations angles) for analysis; d) simulation of the reference well with the selected trajectories; and e) analysis and discussion of the simulation results. The findings of this study are expected to provide a more accurate understanding of the impact of well inclination on APB behavior, highlighting the limitations associated to the use of vertical well models for its predictions.