Professional Documents
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IONEL I. GARDESCU
MEMBER AIME
Introduction
SPE 1592-G
per cent of the original wet gas in place. The total deliverable gas over the 20-year contract period is 171,820 MMcf,
as shown in Table 3, or slightly less than 50 per cent of
the original wet gas in place, the latter being estimated
at 345,250 MMcf (Table 1, Line 17). Thus, the difference
bt::tween recoverable gas and deliverable, gas in the case
herewith presented is very significant.
The difference between recoverable and deliverable
reserves varies a great deal between different reservoirs
and different areas and is dependent upon several factors.
One of the most significant factors is the variation in permeability of the gas reservoir. A well completed in a very
"tight" sand may produce in some cases over a long
period of time at a relatively low rate of flow, thus resulting in a small volume of deliverable gas during the contract period; whereas, its ultimate recovery may' be substantially higher.
The economic impact of reserves with low deliverability
is of great significance. Of two reservoirs with equal ultimate recovery, the one with a low rate of delivery will
have a much smaller present value due to the deferment of
future earnings and the higher cost of operation of wells
producing at lower rates.
Estimate of. Recoverable Reserves
25
line pressure of 1,000 lb and the other for 250 lb. The
gas purchase contract under consideration requires a
delivery against a line pressure not to exceed 1,000 lb. The
250 lb represents the delivery pressure to a field compressor operating on a 1:4 ratio, thus boosting the 250Ib well delivery to the required maximum operating pressure of the buyer's system.
Following a brief description of each of the columns
shown in Table 2 is a discussion of additional charts
and tabulations from which the respective values are calculated.
Col. 1 shows the assumed daily rates of flow for which
the shut-in bottom-hole pressure shown in Col. 11 is calculated.
Col. 2 is the calculated pressure drop in the gathering
line from the producing wellhead to the central point of
delivery to the pipeline. Only in cases where the gathering
system is poorly designed and the delivery pressure is low
will there be an appreciable pressure drop in the gathering
system. In most cases, the values in Col. 2 can be disregarded at normal rates of delivery.
Col. 3 is the wellhead pressure, being the contractual
pressure at the point of delivery plus the pressure drop
in the gathering system. Where field compression is necessary for economic recovery, the wellhead pressure is
equal to the compressor intake pressure plus the pressure drop in the gathering system.
Col. 4 is a factor representing the ratio of the weight
of the gas per unit of volume at the depth of the producing zone to the weight of the gas at wellhead, assuming
no flow. This ratio is calculated in terms of the depth
of the producing zone and the gravity of the gas corrected
for differences in temperature.
Col. 5 is the weight of the gas at the face of the sand,
assuming no flow, equal to the wellhead pressure (Col. 3)
multiplied by the gas weight factor (Col. 4).
Col. 6 is the pressure loss due to friction of the gas
flowing through the tubing at different rates. As already
mentioned, details of the calculations will be shown later.
Col. 7 is the pressure at the face of the sand or P, corresponding to the rates of flow shown in Col. 1. The fig7
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;-AT 250 LB. DEL. PRESSURE
V/
/ 1/
1/
II
ABO. PRESSURE
I
I
ID
00
Avg. Daily
Role/Well
MMcI
Drop in
Gathering
Wellhead
Weighl
of Gas
Line
Pressure
Factor
(I)
(2)
(3)
(4)
BHP
P.
No Flow
Friction
Loss in
BHP
P.
Tubing
Flowing
(5)
(6)
(7)
---
P8 2
P1 2
PB 2
p/ 2 X
X 1,000
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
2,338
2,641
3,049
4,347
3,950
8,500
13,750
24,500
6,288
11 ,141
16,799
28,847
1,493
2,508
3,340
4,100
5,371
245
513
880
2,042
3,950
8,500
13,750
24,500
4,195
9,013
14,630
26,542
374
2,048
3,000
3,820
5,152
0
1
4
6
18
0
1
2
3
5
0
4
21
32
92
1000
1001
1004
1006
1018
1.493
1.493
1.493
1.493
1.493
250
254
271
282
342
1.497
1.497
1.497
1.497
1.497
1493
1494
1499
1502
1520
35
126
244
565
250~lb
374
380
406
422
512
Pre-ssure drop in gathering system bosed on average of four miles of 4in. pipe.
1,529
1,625
1,746
2,085
115
310
516
917
495
716
938
1,429
WeI Gas
Year
Beginning
of Period
(1)
PI
12/31
-(-4)-
1959 (9 mo.)
12,685
46.3
337,495tt
1960
324,810
46.3
16,900
1961
307,910
16,900
46.3
1962
14,785
291,010
40.5
1963
276,255
13,520
37.0
1964
12,675
261,705
34.7
1965
250,030
11,830
32.4
1966
10,560
238,200
28.9
1967
227,640
28.9
10,560
1968
217,080
10,140
27.8
1969
206,940
25.5
9,295
1970
197,645
23.2
8,450
1971
189,195
7,605
20.8
1972
181,590
19.7
7,180
6,760
1973
174,410
18.5
1974
167,650
17.4
6,335
1975
161,315
16.2
5,915
1976
155,400
15.0
5,490
1977
149,910
5,070
13.9
1978
144,840
5,070
13.9
1979 (3 mo.)
139,770
12.7
1,145
Remaining Wet Gas 138,625
Tala I 20 years ......
198,870
*Ory gas estimated at 86.4 per cent of wet gas,
**Moximum contract rate .40 MM/day.
***10tol physical deliverability reduced 25 per cent for effect of retrograde
tAssumed maximum delivery of 250-lb to field compressor after 1966.
ttOriginal wet gas in place Jess wet gas produced to 4-1-59.
7740
6560
5550
4910
4490
4130
3870
3630
3420
3240
3100
2960
2820
2720
2610
2530
2410
2340
2260
2180
2160
1~
Physical Deliv.
Per Well
(6)
9.0
7.1
5.6
4.5
3.6
3.1
2.7
2.4
2.5 t
2.3
2.1
1.95
1.80
1.67
1 . .56
1.50
1.36
1.28
'.19
1.14
1.12
Per Day
-(-8)40.0"
40.0
40.0
35.0
32.0
30.0
28.0
25.0
25.0
24.0
22.0
20.0
18.0
17.0
16.0
15.0
14.0
13.0
12.0
12.0
11.0
Total
(7)
90.0
71.0
46.2***
40.5
32.4
30.2
28.3
25.2
26.2
24.1
22.0
20.5
18.9
17.5
16.4
15.7
14.3
13.4
12.5
12.0
11.7
Tolal
(9)
10,960
14,600
14,600
12,775
11,680
10,950
10,220
9,125
9,125
8,760
8,030
7,300
6,570
6,205
5,840
5,475
5,110
4,745
4,380
4,380
990
171,820
No.
of Wells
--(5)10
10
11
12
12
13
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
(~:)
C: ;:! )= e5:'~;'
(16)
104 5
-1--
14 3
j_ ..
IA 1
L3 9
1.37
,0/' V
..
1.3 5
1.33
0'
1.3 I
1.2 9
1/ V
1.27
/ V
/
1.2 3
1.2 I
.~-~
c-
U3
1.1 I
1.09
1/
2000
V....'l"
I
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
GL (GAS GRAVITY
8000
--..
11,000
12,000
13,000
X DEPTH)
a::
w 500
II
100
+ 5280 P.,
the wellhead flowing pressure (Table 2, Col.
3 ),
R' = the pressure drop per mile for the respective
tubing used, and
L = the length of the tubing in feet.
Fig. 4 is the back-pressure composite graph of the 10
wells completed and tested in the Bromide sand. The
majority of wells in the Knox field are producing through
perforations in both the Second and the Third Bromide
sand. Thus, it is not possible to segregate the production of
one sand from the other, though the original gas reserves
were estimated separately for each of the sands as shown
in Table 1.
The back-pressure potential curve shown in Fig. 4 is a
composite of the individual curves of the wells in the
field. The daily rate of flow for each well was read from
its back-pressure potential curve corresponding to the 1
and 10 million Ib pressure square differentials. The arithmetic average of the reading taken at 1 million and at 10
million were plotted corresponding to these same pressures. A straight line was then drawn through the two
points.
P
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where P.,
..J
0--
9000
~ 1000
--t-r
2 IN. TUBING
I-
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---1-
1///
LI 5
(/)
/ V/
LI 7
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1/
5000
(/)
L_
1//
LI 9
/ V/
VI/V
/ V/
1.25
1.07
10,000
-+--10'0 "..
; ----1,0 _"
--0-;;:-7 -- r
-_.
.5
RATE
OF
FLOW
50
10
IN MMCF
PER DAY
100
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50
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5
10
DAILY RATE OF FLOW IN MMCF PER WELL
50
10
9
en
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a::1.i..
POI NT
DEW
6
00
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6,530 LB.-
wen 5
-10
oz
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./
100
200
300
Conclusions
The computation of deliverability of gas is a relatively
simple computation based en the well performances obtained from back-pressure tests. The author has submitted
to the Federal Power Commission evidence that certain
reservoirs, or even fields, with similar performance characteristics can be grouped for purposes of deliverability
studies without materially distorting the results of the
computations compared to the total of the deliverability
study made for each individual reservoir.
The present deliverability study was based on a pressure-gas in place relationship. The same physical deliverability values are obtained as those which would have been
obtained if the pressure-recoverable gas relationship had
been used.
One of the objections of recoverable reserves estimates
is that its ultimate answer is based on a personal judgment
factor of recovery percentage. Such a judgment factor
is necessary because such elements as structural and lithological factors have to be considered and are not always
reflected by reservoir and well performance data. On the
other hand, a gas-in-place and deliverability study eliminates the "judgment" factor, and different engineers would
arrive at the same answer by using the available well and
reservoir data. However, it should be noted that, as in the
present case, the deliverable gas can never exceed the
volume of recoverable gas reserves.
References
***
EDITOR'S NOTE
OF IONEL
I.
50.
29