Abstract
The objective of this study is to analyze the experience of drilling horizontal wells in Hassi R'Mel oil rim, Algeria. The excepted results are: higher well productivity, better oil recovery, lower water and gas coning, minimum cost of production operations and maximum profit.
For the Hassi R'Mel oil rim, recovery of the oil using only vertical wells is difficult because water and gas coning result in low oil production rate and high cost of production operations. Then using only vertical wells exhibit a drilling of a large number of wells which could affect the profitability of the development project especially in the presence of thin oil thickness.
A field development of Hassi R'Mel oil rim is needed, the technique of drilling horizontal wells is chosen as an alternative to some vertical wells, since horizontal wells provide options whereby pressure drawdown can be minimized, coning tendency can be minimized, high oil production rate can be achieved and consequently the cost of production operations can be reduced.
The first horizontal well HRZ-01 in Algeria was drilled in 1991 in Hassi R'Mel oil rim. Since, many horizontal wells have been drilled based on the optimization simulation study of the Hassi R'Mel oil rim development. Eight horizontal wells were chosen for this study with the objective to analyze their performance and assess their profitability.
