A Novel Methodology to Improve Wellbore Integrity via Reliable Barriers: Integration of Remote Wireless Zonal Water Injection and Intelligent Water Control
Authors: Jin Fu , Longlian Cui , Bingshan Liu , Guobin Zhang , Chen Chen 
Published: October 2023

More and more deep horizontal wells have been drilled over all the world, strata with much higher temperature are discovered, which increases the risk to wellbore integrity and has driven the evolution of zonal isolation methods. New methods aim to ensure that the completion equipment deployed by operating companies can guarantee the integrity of oil wells throughout their entire lifecycle. Several globally renowned oilfield service companies are actively developing mechanical, fluid activation, and chemical solutions to address the increasingly challenging downhole conditions. Meanwhile, the industry is increasingly recognizing the importance of employing precise water injection and water control technologies to enhance wellbore integrity of oil and gas producers.

As oil and gas fields reach a certain stage of development, the heterogeneity between layers becomes more prominent, leading to interlayer conflicts. Due to significant variations in geological characteristics among strata, which affect the degree of water flooding control in practice, it is necessary to implement zonal water injection techniques. Wireless intelligent water distributors utilize pressure or flow fluctuations to transmit signals, enabling control of the opening of downhole water distributors to adjust injection rates. The digital data transmission eliminates the need for human intervention, greatly reducing operational costs and saving time and effort. Compared to conventional water distributors, these instruments demonstrate higher efficiency and accuracy in intelligent zonal water injection. They perform regular tests on the flow rates of each individual layer, allowing for a better understanding of water absorption conditions and pressure variations across the well. This achievement aligns with the goal of achieving sufficient and proper water injection for waterflooding development, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of water injection and facilitating precision waterflooding in oilfield operations.

Meanwhile, the petroleum industry is increasingly recognizing the significance of water shutoff and production profile control in improving wellbore integrity in producers. Intelligent water control and profile control technologies, based on cutting-edge technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, hold the potential for achieving closed-loop intelligent control of water shutoff and profile control processes. This advancement could significantly increase oil and gas well productivity and recovery rates, making it a research focus for prominent oilfield service companies in recent years. Key technologies in intelligent water shutoff and profile control include intelligent reservoirs, intelligent decision-making, intelligent water finding, intelligent plugging, intelligent construction, intelligent monitoring, intelligent testing, and intelligent evaluation. These technologies involve fields such as big data, artificial intelligence, quantum communication, supercomputing, the Internet of Things, smart devices, new materials, the Internet of Things, blockchain, 5G communication slicing, cloud computing, and virtual reality.

Intelligent water injection and water control technologies have been applied in the Middle East region, with the most extensive application found in the NEB oilfield owned by ADNOC. These technologies have improved water injection efficiency in the NEB oilfield, achieving the goal of water shut off.