Near wellbore thermal effects in a tight gas reservoir: Impact of different reservoir and fluid parameters

The results of a grid sensitivity analysis showed that the choice of grid size will have a significant impact on calculated temperatures. In addition, the results reveal that significant temperature reduction could occur around the wellbore due to Joule-Thomson expansion and heat transfer in form of conduction and convention. It is also shown that size of the affected area depends on the magnitude of cooling due to Joule-Thomson expansion as well as reservoir properties such as skin and permeability. This study showed that the most influential parameter is the wellbore inflow rate due to draw down. In addition, parameters such as pressure profile along the well trajectory, inflow area along the well and reservoir quality along the wellbore will play a vital role in cooling process as well as radius of the impacted zone. The results also showed that absolute initial reservoir temperature have no significant impact on the magnitude of temperature change.