Production Engineering II

Production System
A well can be defined as an interphasing conduit between the oil and gas reservoir
and the surface needed to produce reservoir fluid handling facility. This interface is
needed to produce reservoir fluid to the surface, making it a tangible asset. The
physical description of a well is quite involved. For optimal production, a well design
requires some complex engineering considerations. The optimal production refers to a
maximum return on investment. The physical description of a typical oil or gas well
is shown in Fig. (1).
The most important parameters that are used to evaluate performance or behavior of
petroleum fluids flowing from an upstream point (in reservoir) to a downstream point
(at surface) are pressure and flow rate. According to basic fluid flow through
reservoir, production rate is a function of flowing pressure at the bottomhole of the
well for a specified reservoir pressure and the fluid and reservoir properties. The
flowing bottomhole pressure required to lift the fluids up to the surface may be
influenced by the size of the tubing string, choke installed at downhole or surface and
pressure loss along the pipeline.
In the performance of a well the drainage volume of the reservoir draining to the well
plays an important role. A well combined with the reservoir draining into it is
normally called an oil or gas production system. A production system is thus
composed of the following major components
- porous medium, (reservoir)
- completion (stimulation, perforations, and gravel pack),
- vertical conduit with safety valves and chokes,
- artificial lift system such as pumps, gas lift valves, etc,
- horizontal flowlines with chokes, and other piping components e.g. valves,
elbows, etc.
Each individual component, through which reservoir fluid flow, has its own
performance and, of course, affects each other. A good understanding of the flow
performances is very important in production engineering. The combined
performances are often used as a tool for optimizing well production and sizing
equipment. Furthermore, engineering and economic judgments can depend on good
information on the well and reasonable prediction of the future performances.


Fig. (1) Possible pressure losses in complete system.

System Analysis Approach
The systems analysis approach, often called NODAL Analysis, has been applied for
many years to analyze the performance of systems composed of interacting components.
Electrical circuits, complex pipeline networks and centrifugal pumping systems are all
analyzed using this method. Its application to well producing systems was first proposed
by Gilbert' in 1954 and discussed by Nind' in 1964 and Brown' in 1978. The procedure
consists of selecting a division point or node in the well and dividing the system at this
point.
The locations of the most commonly used nodes are shown in Fig. 2. All of the
components upstream of (he node comprise the inflow section. while the out f1ow section
consists of all of the components downstream of the node. A relationship between flow
rate and pressure drop must be available for each component in the system.


Fig.(2) Location of various nodes.

Inflow Performance
Inflow performance represents behavior of a reservoir in producing the oil through the
well. For a heterogeneous reservoir, the inflow performance might differ from one
well to another. The performance is commonly defined in terms of a plot of surface
production rate (stb/d) versus flowing bottomhole pressure (P
wf
in psi) on cartesian
coordinate. This plot is defined as inflow performance relationship (IPR) curve and is
very useful in estimating well capacity, designing tubing string, and scheduling an
artificial lift method.
For single-phase liquid flow, radial flow equation can be written as (for oil).

1. semisteady-state condition
(1a)
2. steady-state condition
(1b)
where q
0
= surface measured oil rate in stb/d
k
0
= permeability to oil in md
h = effective formation thickness in ft.
P
r
= average reservoir pressure in psia
P
wf
= flowing bottomhole pressure in psia

0
= oil viscosity evaluated at (P
r
+P
wf
)/2 in cp
B
0
= oil formation volume factor evaluated at (P
r
+P
wf
)/2 in bbl/stb
r
e
= drainage radius in ft.
r
w
= wellbore radius in ft.
s = skin factor, dimensionless

Fig.(3) Inflow performance relationship of single-phase oil reservoirs.


Assuming all parameters, but P
wf,
are constants in the equations above, it is also clear
the flow rate q
0
is linearly proportional to flowing pressure P
wf
. Therefore, for laminar
flow the plot q
0
versus P
wf
on a Cartesian coordinate must be linear. This is illustrated
in Figure 3. Strictly speaking, it shows the behavior of single-phase liquid flowing
over the range of P
wf
. In actual cases, however, straight line IPR may be shown by
reservoirs producing at Pr and P
wf
above the bubble point pressure P
b
, and by strong
water-drive reservoirs.
Productivity index, usually denoted by the symbol J, is commonly expressed in
practice for well performance. It is mathematically defined as
(2)

where J is in stb/d/psi. The term (P
r
P
wf
) is called pressure drawdown. Equation (1a)
or (1b) can be rearranged to be used in estimating well productivity index.
By knowing reservoir pressure P
r
, it is possible to construct oil IPR curve from a
single flow test on a well. Or, because of the linearity of liquid IPR curves, by
conducting a two-point flow test (two different flow rates while measuring the
flowing bottomhole pressure) on a well, the static reservoir pressure can be
determined.
The equations discussed above are derived from the laminar Darcys law. In a case
where turbulent flow occurs, a modified equation should be used. The occurrence of
turbulence at the bottomhole may indicate too few open perforations or too narrow
fracture in fractured well or other incorrect completion method applied. All these
bring about inefficient production operation because the high drawdown encountered
results in insufficient flow rate. The symptom may be analyzed using the correlation
of Jones et al.:

(3)

(4)

C is called the laminar flow coefficient, and

(5)

D is the turbulence coefficient, with = the turbulence factor in ft
1
and
0
= oil
specific weight in lb/ft
3
and other terms are the same as in the previous equations. The
magnitude of the turbulent factor is in the order of 10
6
and 10
8
and is usually
negligible when compared with the laminar flow coefficient in most oil wells. But if
this is not the case, plot (P/q) versus q on a Cartesian coordinate paper. If the flow is
fully laminar, then the plot has a slope of zero. But when turbulence is measurable,
the plot has nonzero positive slope, which also means that the productivity decreases
as flow rate increases.


Inflow Performance Relationship
The Inflow Performance Relationship or IPR is defined as the functional relationship
between the production rate and the bottomhole flowing pressure. Gilbert (1954) first
proposed well analysis using this relationship. IPR is defined in the pressure range
between the average reservoir and atmospheric pressure. The flow rate corresponding
to the atmospheric bottomhole flowing pressure is defined as the absolute open flow
potential of the well, whereas the flow rate at the average reservoir pressure bottom
hole is always zero. A typical inflow performance relationship is presented in Fig. 3.






Predicting Present Time IPR's For Oil Well
If all of the variables in the inflow equations could be calculated, the equations resulting
from integration of Darey's law could be used to quantify the IPR. Unfortunately,
sufficient information rarely exists to accomplish this and, therefore, empirical rnethods
must be used to predict the inflow rate for a well.
Several of the most widely used empirical methods for predicting an IPR for a well will
be presented. Most of these methods require at least one stabilized test on a well, and
some require several tests in which p
wf
and q
o
were measured. A procedure for estimating
the IPR when no stabilized tests are available is also outlined. Methods to account for the
effects of drawdown only are first presented, that is, PR is assumed constant.
Modification of the methods for depletion will then be discussed.

Two-Phase Inflow Performance
When a reservoir pressure is below the bubble point pressure, the simple equation of
inflow performance (e.g., the productivity index is constant) is no longer valid, because at
this condition the oil flow rate will decline much faster at increasing drawdown than
would be predicted by Equation (1a) or Equation2.An illustrative comparison of the two
types of IPR is shown in Figure 4.

Fig.(4) Illustrative comparison of liquid and two-phase IPR curves.


Vogels Method
The well-known inflow performance equation for two-phase flow has been proposed by
Vogel. The equation is,
(6)

which fits a general dimensionless IPR shown in Figure 6. The reference curve and
Equation 6 is valid for solution-gas drive reservoir with reservoir pressures below the
bubble point. The formation skin effect is not taken into account. The method is
originally developed with the flowing efficiency FE=1.0. However, for a given well with
any FE known, Equation 6 or the reference curve may be used to generate the IPR curve.
For reservoir pressures above the bubble point but with flowing pressures below the
bubble point, the constant J equation and the Vogel equation can be combined to estimate
the IPR curves. The equation is

(7)

The maximum flow rate qmax is calculated using the following equation:

(8)

where q
0
= oil flow rate in stb/d
qmax = the theoretical maximum flow rate when P
wf
=0 in stb/d
q
b
= oil flow rate at P
wf
=P
b
in stb/d
P
b
= bubble point pressure in psia
P
wf
= flowing bottomhole pressure in psia
P
r
= average reservoir pressure in psia

The productivity index J is determined based on the following bottomhole pressure of the
test:
1. For (P
wf
)
test
>P
b
, then



2. For (P
wf
)
test
<P
b
, then


Where





The q
b
is calculated using Equation 2 with P
wf
=P
b




Fig.(5) A general dimensionless IPR for solution gas drive reservoirs (Vogel)

















Example (1):

A wel1 that is producing from a reservoir having an average pressure of 2085 psig
produced at a rate of 282 STB/day when bottomhole flowing pressure was 1765 psig.
Calculate:
1. The productivity index J.
2. The producing rate if P
wf
is decreased to 1485 psig.
3. The botomhole pressure necessary to obtain an inflow of 400 STB/day.
4. The inflow rate if P
wf
is reduced to zero, i.e., Absolute Open Flow potential (AOF) or
q
o
(max)'.




Example (2):

A well is producing from a reservoir having an average reservoir pressure of 2085 psig. A
stabilized production test on the well resulted in a producing rate of 282 STB/day when
the flowing bottomhole pressure was 1765 psig. The bubble point pressure is 2100 psg.
Using Vogel's method calculate:
1. The producing rate if p
wf
is reduced to zero (q
max
or AOF).
2. The producing rate if P
wf
is reduced to 1485 psig.
3. The bottomhole pressure necessary to obtain an inflow rate of 400 STB/day.



A complete IPR could be constructed by assuming other values P
wf
and calculating the
corresponding q
o
:


The well described in this example is the same well that was analyzed in the previous
Example using the constant J concept. The results of the analyses are summarized.



The difference in the results from the two methods is small as long as the drawdown is
close to the test conditions. However, as P
wf
is reduced to zero, a substantial difference is
calculated for q(max)' This can be an important consideration if the well is being
considered for artificial lift where P
wf
can be reduced to a low value.