You are on page 1of 6

Introduction

Inflow performance relationship, IPR is crucial to petroleum engineers in the


forecasting of well behavior, designing artificial lift equipment, simulation
treatments and in general production system optimization. IPR curves show a
relationship between a wells producing bottomhole pressures and
corresponding production rates under given conditions. Simply put, IPR gives
a representation of a wells ability to give up fluids and the curves are
different for different reservoir types and conditions. The rate of production
represented against pressures on the IPR curve depends largely on the
reservoir type and drive mechanism and other variables such as reservoir
pressure, permeability etc.
Darcys law helps to determine the IPR relationship for a single phase
reservoir where the reservoir pressure is greater than the bubble point
pressure as well as the bottomhole pressure which shows a straight line IPR.
3

7.0810 K O h(Pr Pwf )


QO =
r
o B o ln e 0.75+S t + Dqo
rw

(1)
Where,
Qo = oil flow rate into the well (stb/d)
Ko

= permeability of the formation to oil (mD)

h = net thickness of the formation (ft)


Pr = average reservoir pressure (psia)
Pwf = bottomhole flowing pressure (psia)
o = viscosity of oil (cp)
B o = formation volume factor of oil (bbl/stb)

r e = radius of drainage (ft)


r w = wellbore radius
St

= total skin

D qo

= pseudo skin due to turbulence which is insignificant in oil wells due

to low permeability in some reservoirs.


Darcys law simplifies to (eq. 2) when

re

= 1466ft,

rw

= 0.583 and there

is no turbulence.
Q o=

kh
( P P wf )
o B o r
(2)

(Where k is in Darcy)
The IPR relationship based on Darcys law is a straight line relationship for
steady state, radial flow of slightly compressible fluid and it is shown below:

This straight line IPR assumes that the inflow rate into a given well at
constant reservoir conditions is directly proportional to the pressure
drawdown.
q P

q=J ( P)
where

P=P rPwf

J is the constant of proportionality and it is expressed as the productivity


index which is chosen as the slope of any two points on the IPR curve which
is constant for the straight line IPR and it is the first differential of this IPR.
J=

Qo
=
P

0.00708 K O h

o B o ln

re
0.75+ S t
rw

(Bpd/psi)

Factors affecting productivity index


Productivity index changes with time, cumulative oil recovery as well as
different drawdown rates at a particular time in life of well, but there are
essentially three factors that affect productivity index and they are oil
viscosity, oil formation volume factor and relative permeability to oil. These
three factors are basically described in the phase behavior of the reservoir
which simultaneously affects these factors.
1) Phase behavior of reservoirs: In explaining phase behaviors of
reservoirs, it is imperative for us to understand the concept of bubble
point pressure. Bubble point pressure, Pb is the pressure at which the
first gas forms and is evolved in the reservoir as pressure is reduced at
constant temperature. At initial reservoir pressure Pi > Pb, no free gas
would exist anywhere in the reservoir but with decline in pressure at
any point in the reservoir which is less than Pb, free gas would evolve
and the relative permeability to oil will be reduced, and with oil
production rate less than the required bottomhole pressure less than
bubble point pressure, the relative permeability to oil will be reduced
as well as the productivity index.
2) Relative permeability behavior: As gas evolves in the reservoir below
bubble point, the liquid phase has a reduced ability to flow even if gas
has not reached its critical saturation, but the space occupied by the
gas reduces the liquid phase effective flow area.

effective permeability

relative permeability= a fluid


permeability of oil
3) Oil viscosity: At constant temperature, the viscosity of oil which is
saturated with gas in the reservoir decreases with decline in reservoir
pressure to bubble point pressure, and below Pb, oil viscosity will
increase as gas comes out of solution hereby leaving heavier
molecules of the liquid phase.
4) Oil formation volume factor: As pressure decreases in the reservoir, the
liquid will expand until bubble point is reached where below it, the gas
evolves from the liquid solution hereby causing the oil to shrink.
It should be noted that below bubble point pressure, IPR curve deviates from
the straight line and it is shown below.

There are different empirical relationships used to explain this phenomenon


by various authors such as Vogel, Fetkovich, Standing etc which is explained
further in the next chapter.

Factors affecting inflow performance


a) Drive mechanism
For a solution gas drive which has constant volume with no water influx,
there is 2 phase flow at pressures below bubble point pressure and gas
comes out of solution but there is no gas cap because gas bubbles remaining
in the oil and flow simultaneously with the oil and the oil production is due to
volumetric expansion of oil.

In early production life of this reservoir type, oil is replaced by gas on equal
volume basis and as pressure declines larger gas phase develops and more
gas expansion is required per unit volume of oil produced, which creates
excessive drawdown hence increased permeability to gas and reduced
permeability to oil. With increase in gas oil ratio, there is rapid decrease in
pressure and further decline in productivity index.
Considering a water drive reservoir type, the volume of oil does not remain
not remain constant and there is water encroachment which changes the
initial volume of the reservoir which displaces the oil hereby generating
optimum production rate because of the presence of a gas phase which may
result into a combination water depletion drive mechanism. The pressure
decline may be small or relatively constant which remains above bubble
point and the productivity index remains constant throughout the wells life
due to relatively constant GOR and the PI can be extrapolated linearly for
drawdown necessary to give the desired production but in some cases
whereby there is increase in water-cut, this may reduce the productivity
index of the system.
Finally, considering gas cap expansion drive mechanism, which is otherwise
known as gravity drainage or segregation whereby the oil zone is overlain by
gas cap and it can be further differentiated by whether gas comes out of the
solution or not. In a case whereby gas comes out of solution and migrates to
the gas cap causing its expansion and movement downwards, the
permeability of the formation determines the occurrence of counter-flow and
this only occurs when the permeability is less than 100mD. Here, pressure
declines fairly rapidly as well as the productivity index.
In consideration of combination drive mechanism, in which very often we find
an oil reservoir which is saturated and is n contact with an aquifer which may
exhibit all the three drive mechanisms explained above contributing to the
reservoir drive. As oil is produced, both gas cap and aquifer will expand and
the gas-oil contact will drop with simultaneous rise in oil-water contact which
may arise into complex production problems.
b) Drawdown/ Producing rate
Productivity index is a function of oil mobility and below Pb , there is
evolution of gas from the oil which further decreases productivity index. In a
case whereby Pr > Pb, it may be necessary to reduce the bottom-hole flowing
pressure below bubble point pressure to cause a zone of reduced
permeability to oil around the wellbore out to the radius at which pressure in

reservoir is equal to bubble point pressure. The pressure profile of the


reservoir depends on the damage area of the well which is a function of the
skin factor.
c) Effect of depletion
As pressure declines below bubble point pressure, gas saturation increases
causing decreased permeability to oil which further increases the slope of
the IPR curve. In order to maintain constant inflow rate, it is necessary to
increase drawdown as Pr declines from depletion.

You might also like