Abstract
Early in the well's life, the presence of formation water under strong water drive supports oil production. Eventually with time, this will become a problem that is challenging to manage. Maintaining and growing North Kuwait's oil production year after year made it impossible to continue producing well with high water production caused by conning effect. The critical coning rate required for lower Burgan (LB) to eliminate the conning effect and continue producing with low water cut (WC), as determined by Chappelear and Hirasaki correlation, is ± 300 BLPD. In order to prevent coning, an LB well should be produced at a rate lower than 300 BOPD. Producing wells at a rate lower than 300 BLPD is not feasible due to the high requirement of oil rate that north Kuwait targets.
Coning Control Completion (CCC) is a cutting-edge technology used in North Kuwait to solve Lower Burgan formation (LB) coning problems. A reversible Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) is part of this completion system that is positioned below the oil-water contact (OWC). In order to control the progression of the water cone inside the oil zone, the reverse ESP generates a counteractive pressure drop below the OWC.
Redirecting water into the underlying reservoir by drawing it below the desired zone's OWC is a crucial function of the reverse ESP. The quantity of generated water that rises to the surface is reduced by this process keeping the same liquid rate. Water cut (WC) has been decreased as a consequence of the effective use of CCC in North Kuwait, going from 90% to around 40 %.
The successful implementation of CCC in North Kuwait has helped and enhanced the development plan for lower Burgan and will help controlling conning issue world wide
