During the production of heavy oil reservoirs, the movement of the fluids, namely oil and water, significantly affects the production rates. This movement is influenced by the mobility ratio and directly affects variables such as The Water-Oil-Ratio (WOR), production costs, and recovery factor (RF). Moreover, Viscous Fingering, a phenomenon that describes the fluid movement through porous media, has been identified as the root cause of high-water production rates. Studying and comprehending this phenomenon is necessary to understand Oil & Gas companies' challenges nowadays to produce heavy oil. For example, this phenomenon has a direct impact on the assets managed by Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques (EOR) that involves the injection of fluids such as polymer, water, and CO2 flooding, SAGD, VAPEX, CSP and ECSP, among others. Due to its importance, this paper review and highlights the main computational and experimental studies for over more than 30 years (from the late 1980s) about Viscous Fingering, especially in the oil industry. Also, the need for further studies involving the newest experimental and computational technologies and new novel methodologies for the comprehension of Viscous Fingering is discussed. This review aims to give an overview of the technological developments in the study of Viscous Fingering, not only to understand it but also to illustrate how scientists have been developing new technologies to overcome the consequences caused by this phenomenon.

Excessive water production in mature heavy oil fields causes incremental costs, energy consumption, and inefficiency. Understanding multiphase flows near the wellbore is an alternative to improve production efficiency. Therefore, this study conducts a series of numerical experiments based on the full set of the Navier-Stokes equations in 3D to simulate multiphase flows in porous media for heavy oil production horizontal wells. The solution given by this advanced mathematical formulation led to the description of the movement of the fluids near the wellbore with unprecedented detail. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on different rock and fluid properties such as permeability and oil viscosity, assuming homogeneous porous media. The influence of these parameters on the prediction of the breakthrough time, aquifer movement, and the severity of water production was noticed. Finally, the numerical model was verified against field data using two approaches. The first one was conducting a history match assuming homogeneous rock properties. In contrast, the second one used heterogeneous rock properties measured from well logging, achieving a lower deviation than field data, about 20%. The homogeneous numerical experiments showed that the breakthrough occurs at the heel with a subsequent crestation along the horizontal well. Moreover, at adverse mobility ratios, excessive water production tends to happen in water connings at the heel with an inflow area less than 1% of the total inflow area of the completion liner. Different aquifer movement dynamics were found for the heterogeneous case, like the breakthrough through multiple locations along the horizontal well. Finally, critical hydraulic data in the well, such as the pressure and velocity profiles, were obtained, which could be used to improve production efficiency. The numerical model presented in this study is proposed as an alternative to conducting subsurface modeling and well designs.

The rate-controlled production (RCP) inflow control devices (ICDs) are valves placed in the lower completion of oil and gas wells, capable of autonomously controlling the reservoir inflow. This completion technology self-regulates the inflow of undesired phases, such as water, by choking the flow after the breakthrough event, thus improving the recovery factor and reducing water production. In this context, this article presents a numerical study that describes the working principle of RCP valves based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. The numerical models are based on the conservation equations of fluid flow, the volume of fluid (VOF) multiphase flow model, and the dynamic fluid body interaction (DFBI) model to simulate the valve’s movement caused by its interaction with the flow. This study demonstrates the possibility of studying RCP valves alone or coupled with the whole completion assembly and reservoir rock. The difference in the valve efficiency after considering the entire completion assembly and reservoir rock is $19\%$ less compared with the stand-alone analysis of the valve. Finally, this study provides a deep understanding of the fluid dynamics near the wellbore, the completion assembly, and the RCP valves, along with its chocking, which could be helpful to future researchers interested in improving multiphase flow efficiency in subsurface processes.

This study presents the results of a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of two-phase medium viscosity oil-air flow in a 50.8 mm internal diameter horizontal pipe. Void fraction and pressure gradient predictions were validated using experimental data for four different oil viscosities (0.039, 0.06, 0.108 and 0.166 Pa s) and different flow rates varying from 0.1 to 2.9 m/s for the gas phase and from 0.01 to 2.95 m/s for the liquid phase, where four flow patterns were predicted (stratified, dispersed bubble, bubble elongated and slug flow). The obtained results of void fraction and pressure gradient presented a mean relative error of 30.04 and 21.38%, respectively. Furthermore, the CFD results were compared against 66 empirical correlations and predictions from OLGA. It was found that between the three studied methods (CFD, OLGA and empirical correlations) the CFD model outperformed the other two methods regarding the predicted flow patterns, pressure gradients and void fractions on most cases.

Solutions that aim to reduce water production in heavy oil wells have led to the design of devices known as rate-controlled production (RCP) autonomous inflow-control device (AICD) valves, which are placed in well completions and autonomously open with the oil inflow and close with water by choking the flow. These devices, which are based on Bernoulli’s principle, use a levitating disk that chokes the flow of the phase with the lowest flow resistance. This study proposes a numerical model based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) technology to understand these devices’ operations and propose better designs without experimentation. The numerical model was based on dynamic fluid–body interaction (DFBI) and volume of fluid (VOF) models. The model was found to respond as expected depending on the physical properties of the fluids involved in heavy oil production. Finally, some limitations were found in the numerical study that can be improved in future studies.

The energy transition demands innovative solutions for efficient and sustainable oil and gas production, particularly for heavy and extra-heavy crude. A significant challenge in these operations is the excessive production of water, which increases operational costs and environmental impact. This paper reviews the application of mechanical water control devices to optimize water management in heavy oil fields. By analyzing over 3140 documents, only a final total of 42 previous peer-reviewed articles were considered, where 58% sought to understand and optimize water flow from the reservoir to the well mainly by well simulation; 19% studied the implementation cases in the fields, highlighting the success cases; 16% mentioned CFD and other simulations tools; and 7% are related to these devices. While simulation studies have been widely employed, there is a need for more comprehensive field implementations and data-driven insights. This paper aims to contribute to the advancement of water management techniques, ultimately enhancing the sustainability and profitability of heavy oil production, emphasizing the most significant findings.