Topic: Analysis of Inflow Performance Relationships for Niger Delta Oil Wells

Student name: Keren Ebiokpo Paul

Objective: The objective of this project is to establish the Inflow Performance
Relationship IPR! that best describes "i#er delta Oil wells$
%rief description: The Inflow Performance curve a &artesian plot of bottom'hole
flowin# pressure versus surface flow rate! is one of the dia#nostic tools used b(
Petroleum en#ineers to evaluate the performance of a flowin# well$ The plot is used to
determine whether an( well under consideration is performin# as e)pected or not$ If it
is not* then remedial action ma( be necessar($ The e+uation that describes this curve is
the Inflow Performance Relationship IPR!$ This e+uation can be determined both
theoreticall( and empiricall($
Theoretical Inflow Performance Relationship
,ccountin# for the pressure dependence of oil viscosit(* oil formation volume factor*
and oil relative permeabilit(* the theoretical inflow e+uation for oil in a radial s(stem
under pseudo'stead( flow is:
q
o
k h
141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

P
wf
P
R
p
k
ro

o
B
o

(
(

d :
k

-here s is the skin factor$
Evaluatin# the inte#ral above is difficult because unlike oil viscosit( and formation
volume factor* relative permeabilit( has no direct dependence on pressure$ .owever* it
has been shown that below the bubble point* a cartesian plot of
k
ro

o
B
o

versus Pressure
results in a line that can be assumed linear$ This line starts from the ori#in and ends at
k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
R$ Thus the inte#ral is easil( evaluated b( calculatin# the trape/oidal area
under the strai#ht line$ The value of this inte#ral is easil( shown to be:

P
R
2
P
wf
2

2 P
R

k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
R

Introducin# the above into the oil flow rate #ives:

q
o
k h
141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

P
R
2
P
wf
2

2 P
R

k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
R

1
1
1
]
:
k
The inflow performance curve can then be #enerated from this e+uation b( first
calculatin# +o usin# the e+uation above and plottin# Pwf a#ainst +o$
Inflow performance curve calculation from sin#le rate data
0or oil wells* multiple rate data are not alwa(s available$ Therefore* this e+uation can
be used to calculate inflow performance curve$ 0irst* the e+uation is simplified to the
form:
Area C o
q
*

-here

,
_

,
_

s
r
r
Kh
C
w
e
75 . 0 ln 2 . 141
The procedure is as follows:
1! Plot the sin#le point
R
P
o o
ro
B
K

,
_

versus PR$ Then draw a strai#ht line from this point

to the ori#in$
2! 0ind the slope of this line and therefore the e+uation of the line$
3! Knowin# the e+uation of the line* the value of at an( other pressure such as at Pwf
can be calculated as
wf
P
o o
ro
B
K

,
_

4! Then calculate the area of the trape/oid between Pwf and PR$
5! 6se the calculated area and the known sin#le value of +o to calculate & as
&7+o8,rea$
9! .avin# calculated &* we can now calculate an( other value of + correspondin# to
an( Pwf b( alterin# Pwf* calculatin# the new area and calculatin# +o as +o 7 & : ,rea$
The e)ample calculation below illustrates the procedure$
Since there is only one data point, the plot would look like this:
at P
R
= 2830 psia
K
ro

o
B
o

1.14
is approximately a straight line starting at the origin !ersus P
w"
K
ro

o
B
o

#he plot o"

1 ( )
SOLUTION
K
ro
0.8 : S
g
0.12 :
cp

o
0.52 :
R$%&S#%
B
o
1.35 : skn 4.7 :
psia
P
R
2830 :
Psia
P
wf
715 :
S#%&'
q
o
310 :
#he drawdown test "or a partially depleted undersaturated oil reser!oir sta(ili)ed at 3*0 S#%&'
at a "lowing (ottom+hole pressuer o" ,*- psia #he a!erage reser!oir pressure = 2830 psia .i!en
the P$#, gas saturation, and relati!e permea(ility data (elow, calculate and plot the /PR cur!e
"or this well 0se P
w"
!alues o" 0,2-0,-00,,-0,*000,*2-0,*-00,*,-0,2000,22-0,2-00 psia
EXAMPLE INFLOW PERFORMANCE CURVE FROM SINGLE RATE FLOW TEST DATA
o o
ro
B
K

1.14




P
wf
"715 P P
R
"2830




#re$
#he slope o" the line is:
%
1
P
R
K
ro

o
B
o

:
% 4.027 10
4

Since the intercept = 0, #he e1uation o" the straight line is:
& P ( ) % P 0 + :
#hat is, the e1uation o" the line is 23P4 = 0000502,6P
#here"ore, when P = P
w"
= ,*-, 23P
w"
4 = 0000502, 6 ,*- = 0288
'herefore
,
& P
R
( ) 1.14 & P
wf
( ) 0.288
#he area o" the trape)oid (etween P
R
and P
w"
is then:
#re$ P
wf
( ) 0.5 & P
R
( ) & P
wf
( ) + ( ) P
R
P
wf
( ) :
#re$ P
wf
( ) 150(.)
Since the in"low per"ormance e1uation can (e represented as: 1 = 7 6 8rea
#hen
*
q
o
#re$ P
wf
( )
:
* 0.205
9ow use the di""erent !alues o" P
w"
to calculate the corresponding !alues o" 1 and plot
+ 1 12 .. :
p
wf
+
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
2750
:
$re$ p
wf
( ) 0.5 & P
R
( ) & p
wf
( ) + ( ) P
R
p
wf
( ) :
, p
wf
( ) * $re$ p
wf
( ) :
p
wf
+
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
2750
:
p
wf
+
0
2-0
-00
,-0
*000
*2-0
*-00
*,-0
2000
22-0
2-00
2,-0
$re$ p
wf
+
( )
*:*3;*0
3
*:;*0
3
*-:2;*0
3
*5<<;*0
3
*5**;*0
3
*2<8;*0
3
**:;*0
3
<<-<23
80,*:5
-<323,
3-5*52
8<8,<
, p
wf
+
( )
33**3,
328--3
32080*
30,88
28<,<*
2::-35
238*08
205-*-
*:-,-3
*2*822
,2,25
*85-,

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

0
1000
2000
3000
p
wf
+
, p
wf
+
( )
Inflow performance calculation from multiple rate data
"ote that this e+uation can be simplified to the form:
q
o
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
R

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

,
2 P
R

P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) :
k
-hich can be e)pressed as:
* P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
where & is a constant$
,lternativel(* the oil flow rate can be e)pressed as:
q
o
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
R
P
R

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

,
2
P
R
2
P
wf
2

P
R
2

,
:
k
-hich can be simplified to the form:
q
o
* 1
P
wf
2
P
R
2

,
: *
0or the more #eneral case where Pwf is below the bubble point and PR is above!*
k
ro

o
B
o

,
is linear with pressure below the bubble point whereas
1

o
B
o

is constant with
pressure above the bubble point$ Therefore* evaluatin# the inte#ral means calculatin#
the area under the combined linear and constant sections$ The resultin# e+uation for
the flow rate of oil becomes:
q
o
k h
1

o
B
o

,
P
-

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

P
R
P
wf
( )
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

,
P
-

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w

,
0.75 s +

,
2 P
-

P
-
2
P
wf
2
( )

1
1
1
1
1
1
]
+ :
k
Theoretical IPR ,nal(sis Procedure
I$ 0or an( fi)ed avera#e reservoir pressure PR* calculate the oil saturation correspondin#
to PR from material balance calculations$
II$ Read the value of Kro!PR at the calculated oil saturation correspondin# to PR
III$ Read the values of o%o!PR correspondin# to PR
I;$ &alculate +o for var(in# values of Pwf and plot Pwf a#ainst +o to #ive the IPR curve$
Empirical Inflow Performance Relationships
The most common empirical IPR e+uations are: a! ;o#el<s e+uation* b! the back'
pressure e+uation %ureau of =ines e+uation!* and c! normali/ed back'pressure
e+uation$ ,ll three methods will be used to anal(/e the field data and plotted$
,nal(sis Procedure
=ake a field IPR Plot Pwf versus +sc! from the field'measured multi'rate well
test data$ >etermine the ma)imum oil rate +o!ma) #raphicall($
=ake a ;o#el IPR plot as follows: 6sin# +o from one data point* and PR from
the data at +o 7 ?!* calculate +o!ma) from the e+uation:
q
o.%$.
q
o
1 0.2
P
wf
P
R

,
0.8
P
wf
P
R

,
2

1
1
]
:
q
o
Then* knowin# +o!ma)* calculate the values of +o at correspondin# values of
Pwf and plot Pwf versus +sc$
=ake a %ack Pressure E+uation IPR plot: This is based on the empirical
e+uation
q * P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
n
: P
R attributed to the %ureau of =ines where & and n
are constants to be determined usin# the field data$ If the field data can be
represented b( this e+uation* then since
log q ( ) log * ( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + : P
wf
* a lo#'
lo# plot of
P
R
2
P
wf
2

versus +o should #ive a strai#ht line from which* n 7 the

slope and & 7 the intercept$ "ote that the slope can be obtained simpl( b(
measurin# the rise and run with a ruler and takin# the ratio$ ,lternativel(*
slope 7
n
log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
2
log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
1

log q ( )
2
log q ( )
1

:
P
R
.avin# obtained & and n* calculate the values of +o at correspondin# values
of Pwf usin# the e+uation
q * P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
n
: P
R and plot Pwf versus +sc$ If the lo#'
lo# plot did not #ive a strai#ht line* then this method is not valid$
=ake a normali/ed back pressure e+uation IPR plot: This method is based
on the normali/ation of the %ureau of =ines empirical e+uation b( +o!ma)$
The resultin# e+uation is:
q
q
o.%$.
1
P
wf
P
R

,
2

1
1
]
n
:
P
wf
$ This implies that:
log q ( ) log q
o.%$.
( ) n log P
R
2
( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + : P
wf
Therefore* just like in the %ack pressure e+uation method* a lo#'lo# plot of
P
R
2
P
wf
2

versus +o should #ive a strai#ht line from which* n 7 the slope$

.owever* in this case* the intercept 7
log q ( ) log q
o.%$.
( ) n log P
R
2
( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + : P
wf
from which +oma)
can be calculated$ .avin# obtained the values of +oma) and n* calculate the
values of +o at correspondin# values of Pwf usin# the e+uation:
q
q
o.%$.
1
P
wf
P
R

,
2

1
1
]
n
:
P
wf
and plot Pwf versus +$
The theoretical above bubble point onl(! and the three empirical curves will be
compared with the field curve in order to establish which of them is best for "i#er delta
oil wells$
>ata needed from SP>&:
a! Oil P;T data particularl( viscosit( and formation volume factor!$
b! Relative permeabilit( data Oil'water* and oil'#as!
c! 0ield measured multi'rate well test data
d! E)istin# correlations for oil viscosit( and oil formation volume factor$
,t the end* (ou would have #enerated #raphs that look like this:
Pwf
qo
qo%$.
PRo
PR1