Semester of Graduation

Spring 2024

Degree

Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering (MSPE)

Department

Petroleum Engineering

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Reliable prediction of gas migration velocity, void fraction, and length of gas-affected region in water and oil-based muds is essential for effective planning, control, and optimization of drilling operations. However, there is a gap in our understanding of gas behavior and dynamics in water and oil-based muds. This is a consequence of the use of experimental systems that are not representative of field-scale conditions. This study seeks to bridge the gap via the well-scale deployment of distributed fiber-optic sensors for real-time monitoring of gas behavior and dynamics in water and oil-based mud. The aforementioned parameters were estimated in real-time using optical fiber-based distributed acoustic sensor (DAS), distributed temperature sensor (DTS), and distributed strain sensor (DSS).

This is the first well-scale study conducted to investigate gas dynamics in oil-based muds using a variety of distributed fiber-optic sensors - DAS, DTS, and DSS. The gas migration velocity, void fraction, and length of the gas-affected region were estimated across the wellbore for a series of multiphase flow experiments carried out with gas injection (nitrogen and helium) in water and oil-based mud at various operating conditions. The results obtained using each of DAS, DTS, and DSS show good agreement with downhole gauges-based estimates and observations from surface gauges, validating the reliability of the distributed fiber-optic sensors for monitoring gas behavior and dynamics in water and oil-based muds.

Date

3-27-2024

Committee Chair

Jyotsna Sharma

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