Innovative Surveillance Characterization for Fluids Behavior in Multilateral Producer Utilizing Inflow Tracer Approach in Carbonate Reservoir

Abstract Multilateral drilling and completion is aiming to increase well productivity while reducing the drilling, completion and production cost. Understanding the inflow from multilateral well is important to optimize the production of the well and decide on the optimum WRFM in sort of the production parameters, pressure support and further development of the area. Inflow characterization requirement has been raised during the planning stage of new level-1 multilateral producer to understand the production from each lateral and provide the required optimization and production management for the well, which was a challenge in previous drilled level-1 multilateral wells. Inflow tracers approach has been deployed to understand the inflow from each lateral during the flow back and early stage of well`s production. Different inflow oil and water tracers have been injected in each lateral after drilling and during acid stimulation of each lateral. The tracers have been mixed carefully at the surface with the treatment fluids and separately for each lateral. Samples have been collected from the well at the surface during the flowback of the well and during the early-stabilized production stage. The Inflow Tracers from the three laterals have been detected in the surface samples. The tracer concentration in the produced oil and the water phases showed the performance of each lateral during the flowback stage, which indicated the efficiency of the cleaning, transient inflow and productivity of each lateral. The results during the stabilized early production stage was matching with the results achieved at the end of the flowback, where two laterals were dominating the production and the third lateral was with low productivity then ceased flow in the early production stage of the well. Inflow tracer approach has provided invaluable information and understanding on the inflow from multilateral level-1 producer during the transient and early stabilized flow for the first time in the field, which was a challenge to obtain through conventional PLT. Moreover, the acquired data is presenting the well inflow per lateral at same time and during the longer production time or a full stage of well production compared to the conventional PLT. The inflow Tracer approach has proved the possibility to monitor the transient and early production stage of the lelvl-1 multilateral without well intervention with no related risk, in addition no deferred production and reduced cost.