ABSTRACT
Oil and gas, after formation, migrate into reservoir rocks originally occupied by water. Consequently, they are seldom produced without water. The excess accumulation of water in the productive zone of the reservoir has a lot of grave consequences both technically, and commercially. Hence, it is important to prevent it as much as possible.
A common practice in the oil and gas industry is to flow a well at or below critical rates. This will keep water production out. Nevertheless, critical rates are not economical. Flowing wells above critical rates is a common scenario in the industry. The major target is to produce as much as can before the water breakthrough time. Once water and/or gas cones into an oil reservoir, the traditional thing to do before is to plan water control. However, recent research has shown that not all water production cases are problems. In fact, some water control actions create problem. For instance, sealing off the water producing zone for a well where the produced water is supplying the drive energy will only kill the well.
Hence, a modern approach to water production issues-well diagnostics-is suggested by this work. This will help to select the best candidate well for water control. The best approach to the problem is also identified.
