A semi-analytical solution to the transient temperature behavior along the vertical wellbore after well shut-in

Temperature measured from a permanent downhole gauge in a well after the well shut-in provides a unique perspective for surveillance and production management. For example, in deepwater environment, production engineer needs to know the temperature of a shut-in well before it is being restarted since different temperature profiles along the wellbore may need very different restarting strategies for flow assurance purpose. A number from the “rule-of-thumb” or running complicated numerical simulation is either not reliable or impractical. This paper presents a semi-analytical model to estimate the temperature transient behavior after the well shut-in. The temperature at a point along the wellbore, which is useful for production management and flow assurance, is solved and the solution can be easily implemented for calculating temperature history. The temperature profile solution for locations along the wellbore is also presented in the paper. Furthermore, matching the calculated temperature with the measured temperature at the same location will yield the well local heat transmissibility coefficient. The applications of the solution to this model are multiple folders and a deepwater field example is provided to demonstrate some applications and valid the results.