| This work explores procedures to optimize oil reservoir production for single and multi-well production. The work is divided in two parts:; The first part develops a procedure to match the production from a single well using a concept of dynamic nodal analysis. By combining the desirable features of nodal analysis, material balance technique and the decline curve analysis, the method is able to match the historical performance of the well, and is able to predict the future performance of the oil well under the existing as well as altered conditions.; The second part develops a procedure to match multi-well production from an oil reservoir producing under natural depletion or water drive mechanism. It extends the classical tank model to a multi-tank model scheme by dividing the original reservoir into small radial regions around the wells (well regions) and a larger region (reservoir region) that feeds the small regions. By discretizing the flow equations for three-phase flow and determining the transfer coefficients from reservoir region to well region, the method is able to match the historical performance of the wells, as well as predict the future performance of the wells under the existing and altered conditions.; The procedure developed in this dissertation assumes a simplified reservoir model. However, by incorporating reservoir as well as production components in the analysis, it provides a mechanism by which reservoir performance can be optimized by either adjusting a production component (e.g., well head pressure, tubing, choke, etc) or a reservoir component (e.g., skin factor removal through stimulation). Further, the history matching process requires a lot less information compared to conventional reservoir simulation. |
