The Effect of Water Vaporization on the Well Productivity of Gas Condensate Reservoirs

Well productivity is a crucial concern in predicting the performance of many gas condensate reservoirs. Accurate forecasting of gas-condensate well productivity usually requires fine-grid simulation to model the formation of the liquid bank and to account for high-velocity phenomena and changes in relative permeability at high capillary numbers. At early stages of production, the pressure drop in the near-wellbore region builds up the molar content of water in gas. This, in turn, results in water vaporization, and hence a drop in the connate water saturation. When water vaporization occurs, pores that were formerly filled by connate water now becomes occupied by gas and condensate only. This causes a change in gas and condensate saturations near the wellbore that can affect the well productivity. No lucid numerical simulation approach considering this effect is suggested in the literature. The authors investigated the effects of water vaporization on the near-wellbore region by compositional simulator of GEM. Enhancement of gas well productivity is observed.