Problem statement 1

A cylindrical reservoir with a single vertical production well at its center lies at a depth of 10,000’
and it is supported by an aquifer which helps the boundary pressure to remain constant during
production at 5,000 psi. The drainage area is 72 acres, its thickness is 100’ and the well diameter
is 6.4”. The fluid is a low volatility oil of Bo=1.1, viscosity at reservoir conditions equal to 1 cP, an
average density value of 0.35 psi/ft and a bubble point value of 200 psi at wellhead conditions.
The average reservoir permeability is 100 mD while a damaged area of a radius of 8” exhibits
reduced permeability of 25 mD. The pressure loss along the tubing due to the fluid flow depends
linearly on the flowrate and it exhibits a value of 0.1 psi/ft for a flowrate of 2,000 bbl/day. The
system separator has been set at 150 psi. Calculate the wellhead pressure and the pressure loss
along the choke so as to maximize production while ensuring single phase flow up to the wellhead.
(1 acre equals to 43,560 ft2). Compute the expected flowrate at those conditions.

Solution
To ensure single phase flow along the wellbore, any point in the wellbore needs to exhibit a
pressure greater or equal to the saturation one. Therefore, the lowest pressure in the wellbore
(which happens at the wellhead) needs to be above the saturation one, i.e. 200 psi. Moreover,
the lower is the wellhead the more is the expected production rate. Clearly, both conditions are
optimized by setting the wellhead pressure equal to the saturation one, that is 200 psi.
As the separator pressure is set at 150 psi, the choke that lies just after the wellhead needs to
regulated to exert a pressure drop of 50 psi so that the wellhead pressure of 200 psi is reduced to
the separator one of 150 psi.
To compute the expected flowrate a nodal analysis needs to be run which in turn requires the
generation of the IPR and VLP curves. For the IPR, the productivity index is computed firstly. For
that purpose it is taken into account that the reservoir pressure is fully supported, therefore the
flow regime is a steady state one. Additionally, the skin factor needs to be computed by means of
the Hawkins formula:
 k  r  100mD  8''
Sd    1 ln d    1 ln  2.75
 kd  rw  25mD  6.4 2''
and the reservoir diameter from the drainage area:
ft 2
72acres  43,560
A acre  1, 000 '
A   re2  re  
 3.1415
Therefore:
100mD 100 ft stb
J  5.85
  d  psi
rb  1, 000 ft 
141.2 1.1 1cp  ln  2.75 
stb 1 ft
 3.2in  
 12 in 
and the IPR curve at pressures above 200 psi is given by
q  J  pe  pwf   pwf  5, 000 psi 
q
stb
5.85
d  psi
To construct the VLP curve it is noted that the bottom hole pressure is the pressure at the wellhead
increased by the pressure loss in the wellbore due to gravity and friction:
pwf  pwh  pg  p f
The gravity term is given simply by the product of the pressure gradient times the well depth since
the well is vertical, the fluid is guaranteed to remain single phase and its compressibility is limited
thus ensuring a nearly constant density along the wellbore:
dp psi
pg  D  0.35 10, 000 ft  3,500 psi
dD g ft
As stated, the friction pressure loss depends linearly on the flowrate, that is
dp
 aq b
dD f
To ensure that there is friction pressure loss when the flowrate is equal to zero, it is needed to
set parameter b equal to zero. Additionally, parameter a should be so that the pressure drop rate
is equal to 0.2 psi/ft for a flowrate of 2,000 stb/d, hence
psi
0.1
psi stb ft psi  d
0.1  a  2, 000 a  5 105
ft d 2, 000
stb stb  ft
d
and the total pressure drop due to friction is given by
dp psi  d psi  d
p f  D  5 105 q 10, 000 ft  0.5q
dD f stb  ft stb
Finally, the VLP is defined by:
psi  d
pwf  200 psi  3,500 psi  0.5q
stb
At the intersection of the VLP and the IPR curves it holds that
q psi  d
pwf  5, 000 psi   200 psi  3,500 psi  0.5q
stb stb
5.85
d  psi
Solving for the flowrate it is found that
q psi  d  1  psi  d
1,300 psi   0.5q  q  0.5    1,300 psi 
5.85
stb stb  5.85  stb
d  psi
1,300 stb stb
q  1,937
1 d d
0.5 
5.85

Problem statement 2
A reservoir lying at a depth of 5,000’ contains oil with a saturation pressure of 420 psi at separator
temperature, a viscosity value of 2 cp and an undersaturated Rs value of 200 scf/stb . The current
average reservoir pressure is 3,000 psi. The production well is vertical with a productivity index
value of 4 stb/day/psi, the separator pressure is constantly set at 500 psi and the water cut is
33.3%. The pressure drop at the surface network between the wellhead (after the choke) and the
separator is approximately 100 psi. The pressure gradient due to friction in the well has been
estimated at 0.1 psi/ft. The management requires that the production liquid rate is kept constant
at 5,000 stb/day.
 1. Is the reservoir-well system capable of delivering the required production rate?
2. If not, how much is the minimum required pressure that should be added to the system
by an ESP?
3. If yes, how much is the choke pressure drop that must be applied to meet the required
production rate?

To simplify calculations assume that the undersaturated oil’s PVT properties are almost constant
with pressure, the reservoir’s IPR is not affected by the water cut, the tubing’s roughness is
uniform, the temperature drop effects can be neglected and that the pressure drop due to fluid
acceleration is very small. Assume undersaturated oil’s and water’s density equal to 0.35 psi/ft
and 0.45 psi/ft respectively. Use whatever additional assumptions might be needed provided that
your decision is justified.

Solution
To check whether the required flowrate can be achieved, it is required to check the IPR and VLP
curves for that flowrate. More specifically, the IPR, for a known productivity index, is given by:
stb
5, 000
q  J  pe  pwf   pwf  3, 000 psi  d  1, 750 psi
stb
4
d  psi
For that value of the bottom hole pressure, the pressure at the separator is given by:
psep  pwf  pg  p f  pch  psurf
If the well can really bear the required flowrate then the pressure drop at the choke should be
zero or positive, not negative (which would imply that the choke needs to add pressure rather
than reduce). In other words, pwf should be enough to fetch production at the separator without
the need for any extra pressure.
The gravity term is given by
dp
pg  D
dD g
where the average pressure drop is given by
dp dp dp psi psi psi
 f oil  f water  0.67  0.35  0.33  0.45  0.383
dD g dD oil dD water ft ft ft
where f corresponds to the volumetric molar ratio of each phase flowing in the wellbore.
Therefore
dp psi
pg  D  0.383 5, 000 ft  1,915 psi
dD g ft
The friction term is given by
dp psi
p f  D  0.1  5, 000 ft  500 psi
dD f ft
Replacing back in the pressure equation it is found that
psep  pwf  pg  p f  pch  psurf  500 psi  1, 750  1,915  500  pch  100 
pch  1, 265 psi
It is clear that the required production rate cannot be achieved. There is a pressure drop of 1,265
psi that needs to be added in the system by means of an ESP. Of course, if an ESP of that specific
power is to be installed to the production system, the choke should be fully open so as ensure
zero pressure drop at the wellhead. This csn be verified by rewriting the pressure equation in the
wellbore, this time by including the pressure added by the ESP:
psep  pwf  pg  p f  pch  psurf  pESP 
pch  1, 750  1,915  500  0  100  1, 265 psi  500  0 psi