Gas condensate well productivity in fractured vuggy carbonate reservoirs: A numerical modeling study

The spatial distribution of fractures and cavities may generate important impact on the fluid flow behavior in fractured vuggy carbonate reservoirs. However, the recovery mechanism of gas condensate wells is not well understood due to the lack of effective reservoir simulation methods that coupled porous-medium and free flows occurring in fractured vuggy carbonate reservoirs. In this work, a novel compositional reservoir model is developed for modeling the production dynamics of gas-condensate well in complex fractured vuggy reservoirs. The compositional multiphase fluid flow through rock matrix and fractures is assumed to follow Darcy's law, while the free flow in cavities is modeled based on the assumptions of instantaneous thermodynamic equilibrium and phase segregation controlled by gravity. An advanced numerical calculation method combining finite volume method (FVM) and embedded discrete fracture-vug model (EDFVM) is developed to efficiently solve the multi-component multiphase flow problem. Case studies are conducted to investigate the gas-condensate flow behavior and well production performance under various configurations of fracture-cavity patterns. Two scenarios are considered by placing the production well at the top and bottom of the models, which aim to mimic different locations of directional well target. The results indicate that when cavities are present, condensate oil accumulates mainly beneath the cavities due to the effect of gravity segregation. Thus, more condensate oil may be produced with depletion at the bottom of the reservoir. However, condensate oil distributes surrounding the production well when cavities are absent, and the production performance of gas-condensate well is less affected by depletion location. Furthermore, the cumulative condensate oil and gas production are higher when cavities are present because of the continuous supplement of condensate gas by cavities. Our research findings have important implication for the design of directional well planning in the fractured vuggy gas condensate reservoirs.