One of the key issues addressed by our group was pressure drop in long horizontal wells and its influence on well performance. Very little information is available in the literature on flow in pipes with influx through pipe walls. Virtually all of this work has been in small diameter pipes and with single-phase-flow. In order to address this problem new experimental data on flow in horizontal and near horizontal wells have been obtained. Experiments were conducted at an industrial facility on typical 6 1/8 ID, 100 feet long horizontal well model. Our new data along with available information in the literature have been used to develop new correlations arid mechanistic models. Thus it is now possible to predict within reasonable accuracy, the effect of influx through the well on pressure drop in the well. New ways of coupling reservoirs with non-conventional wells have been developed. These techniques can be used both for analytical and numerical reservoir treatment. We have demonstrated the use of these new models for predicting well productivity index, well index for simulation, well to well interference and optimum well length. A preliminary version of a new numerical model (reservoir simulator) has also been developed. This simulator allows the use of flexible grids with further developments, this approach will lead to much greater reliability of non-conventional well predictions than is possible with currently available commercial simulators.
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