A novel analytical approach to design horizontal well completion using ICDs to eliminate heel-toe effect

Nowadays, horizontal wells are one of the most common methods in the development of oil and gas fields. But Heel-Toe Effect phenomenon and non-uniform production influx along the well have caused early unwanted fluid production and reduced the performance of these. Application of inflow control devices (ICDs) is one of the most appropriate ways to solve these problems, which can ultimately improve the efficiency of horizontal wells both in production and injection. But some of the crucial questions in designing horizontal well completion using ICDs are determining the number of ICDs, identifying their location, and calculating required pressure drop imposed by these ICDs. This research seeks to develop a novel method that uses reliable data with low uncertainty and develops an integrated algorithm to answer these questions rapidly and analytically. This novel method introduces three key parameters in designing horizontal well completion: length of ICD associated well segment, equalized production influx, and the minimum length of ICD associated well segment. Then a novel and fast integrated workflow have been developed that uses the previous key parameters to determine the number of well segments, number of ICDs & AFIs, ICDs & AFIs location, and ICD's strength.