A new assessment of perforation skin factor for vertical perforated wells in near-wellbore region

The perforating technique is one of the well completion methods and a final stage that helps connect reservoir formation to wellbore during hydrocarbon production. The present work aimed to determine the effect of the perforated casing completion on the pressure gradient and perforation skin factor in the vertical near-wellbore region. This work presented a novel experimental approach for studying the effect of perforation parameters on hydrocarbon production by creating a prototype representing the near-wellbore region. The study conducted extensive laboratory testing to create two prototype artificial samples for a cylindrical near-wellbore region, open hole, and perforated casing sample. An experimental test was carried out using a geotechnical radial flow setup to measure the differential pressure in the two samples; the single-phase (water) was radially injected into the core sample within the same flow boundary conditions. Numerical simulation and statistical analysis were used to expand the investigation of the effect of the dimensions and distribution of perforations on the perforation skin factor and the pressure gradient in the cylindrical near-wellbore region. The results showed a clear view of the effect of the perforations’ parameters on the pressure gradient in the vertical near-wellbore region. In addition, two novel correlations were produced from statistical analysis that simplified the estimation of the perforation skin factor in the perforated casing completion. This study will help to clarify and understand the effect of perforation parameters on well productivity.