An integrated horizontal and vertical flow simulation with application to wax precipitation

Abstract

This research explored a few opportunities of improving the simulations available to reservoir engineers in the oil and gas industry. Three very specific simulation models were used in this thesis. Firstly, improvements were made to an inflow model for a horizontal well by making it possible to run the model for different fluids easily. Secondly, a vertical flow model was developed by combining a well-known, multi-phase flow correlation with a multi-phase temperature model. A novel approach was developed to solve these two models in sequence. Thirdly, this thesis scoped out the application of two different wax crystallization models. It was the first time that these wax models were tested using a flow simulator. The results obtained from all three simulation models were in par with theory and expectations. It was concluded that these models together would be a very useful tool for both the industry and for further research work.