An Approach To Stimulation Candidate Selection And Optimization

ABSTRACT

Well stimulation consists of several methods used for enhancing the natural producing ability of the reservoir when production rate declines. A detailed literature review of some of the well published stimulation models are discussed in this research. This discussion was preceded with an introduction to formation damage concepts and an overview of well stimulation methods. Production decline curve analysis is combined with economic discounting concepts to develop a model that can be used for optimizing stimulation decisions. The model is presented in the form of a no n-linear programming problem subject  o the constraints imposed by the production facilities, reservoir productivity and the stimulation budget approved by management. Production data from four stimulation candidate wells, offshore Niger Delta was used to validate the model developed by s etting up a maximization problem. Solution to the problem was obtained using non-linear o ptimization software. The r esult o btained was v erified u sing Wolfram R esearch’s Mathematica 7.0. The results s how that the o ptimization m odel c an be c ombined w ith stimulation t reatment modules, de veloped f rom i ndustry w ide models, t o q uantify s timulation benefits. C andidate w ells w ere t hen r anked ba sed on stimulation c ost, p ayout t ime a nd stimulation b enefit. Hence, th e m odel i s valid f or stimulation ca ndidate s election; and i s therefore recommended for use in optimizing stimulation decisions.