Reservoir Engineering in Modern Oilfields. Vertical, Deviated, Horizontal and Multilateral Well Systems

Real-world reservoirs are layered, heterogeneous and anisotropic, exposed to water and gas drives, faults, barriers and fractures. They are produced by systems of vertical, deviated, horizontal and multilateral wells whose locations, sizes, shapes and topologies are dictated «on the fly, at random»by petroleum engineers and drillers at well sites. Wells may be pressure or rate-constrained, with these roles re-assigned during simulation with older laterals shut-in, newer wells drilled and brought on stream, and so on. And all are subject to steady and transient production, each satisfying different physical and mathematical laws, making reservoir simulation an art difficul…