Reference Summary of Selected Papers

on Water Load-Up in Gas Wells

(THD68) Turner, R. G.; Hubbard, M. G.; Dukler, A. E.: "Analysis and prediction of
minimum flow rate for the continuous removal of liquids from gas wells," SPE
Paper 2198, SPE 43rd fall meeting, Houston, Tx, USA, Date: 1968 Sept. 29 to
Oct 2.

Gas phase hydrocarbons produced from underground reservoirs will, in many instances, have
liquid phase material associated with them, the presence of which can affect the flowing
characteristics of the well. Liquids can come from condensation of hydrocarbon gas
(condensate) or from interstitial water in the reservoir matrix. In either case, the higher
density liquid phase, being essentially discontinuous, must be transported to the surface by
the gas. In the event the gas phase does not provide sufficient transport energy to lift the
liquid out of the well, the liquids will accumulate in the wellbore. The accumulation of the
liquid will impose an additional back pressure on the formation that can significantly affect
the production capacity of the well. In low pressure wells the liquid may completely kill the
well. An analysis of previous studies indicated the existence of two proposed physical models
for the removal of gas well liquids: (1) liquid film movement along the walls of the pipe and
(2) liquid droplets entrained in the high velocity gas core. The development and comparison
of these separate models with experimental data is evaluated for the removal of liquids from
gas wells.

(HG71) Hutlas, E. J.; Granberry, W. R.: " A practical approach to removing gas well
liquids" SPE Paper 3473, SPE 46th fall meeting, New Orleans, USA, Date:
1971 Oct 3-6.

In the past few years the burden of fulfilling a larger and larger production of our energy
requirements has been given to natural gas. At the time, as a result of depletion, many wells
are declining to low deliverabilities. The combination of these two factors has turned
attention as never before to means of increasing gas well deliverabilities. One of the
numerous factors that can decrease the deliverability of a gas well is the accumulation of
liquids in the wellbore. Liquid accumulation and associated decreased deliverability can occur
in wells that have never made large quantities of liquids. This paper will discuss various
means of removing liquids and of recognizing and evaluating liquid-removal candidates.
(LH85) Libson, T. N.; Henery, J. R.: "Case histories: Identification of and remedial
action for liquid loading in gas well s-Intermediate Shelf Gas Play", JPT
(April 1980) 685-93.

Many of the gas wells drilled by Amoco produced small volumes of water along with the gas.
The majority of the wells produced at gas rates too low to unload continually even small
water production rates. As a result, gas well productivity was restricted. This paper describes
the results of efforts to define the liquid-loading problem and develop corrective measures to
maximize producing rates.

(PMH88) Peffer, J. W.; Miller, M. A.; Hill, A. D.: " Improved method for calculating
bottomhole pressures in flowing gas wells with liquid present," SPE
Production Engineer in v 3 n 4 Nov 1988 p 643-655.

A method is presented for calculating bottomhole pressures (BHP's) from wellhead

measurements in flowing gas wells with liquid present in the well stream. This method, a
modification of existing methods, is based on including the contribution of entrained liquid to
gravitational gradients. The study also includes evaluation of effective roughness factors
evident from actual flowing pressure data. The proposed method was tested vs. both a
two-phase flow model developed by G.W. Govier and M. Fogarasi and currently applied
methods based on dry-gas wells. The method was also tested with G.W. Govier and M.
Fogarasi's data from 94 flowing wells and with data from 50 wells from the public files of the
Texas Railroad Commission. The new method compared favorably with the two-phase flow
model and was superior to currently applied methods.

(P90) Oudeman, Pieter: " Improved prediction of wet-gas-well performance," SPE

Production Engineering 5 n 3 Aug 1990 5p 19103.

A series of field tests on liquid loading of gas wells demonstrated that various types of
behavior could be encountered in such wells. On the basis of the test results, an improved
model for predicting the performance of gas wells producing liquids was formulated. This
model takes into account multiphase reservoir performance and the vertical flow performance
of the tubings for wet gas. It provides improved estimates for gas deliverability and the
remaining life of watering-out gas wells, compared with common methods that calculate
critical conditions at a single point (usually the wellhead) in the tubing string.
(CCMN91) Coleman, S. B.; Clay, H. B.; McCurdy, D. G.; Norris, H. Lee III: " New look
at predicting gas-well load-up," JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology v 43 n
3 Mar 1991 p 329-333.

This paper discusses results of field tests conducted to verify minimum flow rate (critical
rate) required to keep low-pressure gas wells unloaded and compares results to previous
work. This paper also covers liquid yield effects, liquid sources, verification that wellhead
conditions control onset of load-up, and effects of temperature, gas/liquid gravities, wellbore
diameter, and packer/tubing setting depth.

(CCMN91) Coleman, S. B.; Clay, H. B.; McCurdy, D. G.; Norris, H. Lee III:
"Understanding gas-well load-up behavior," JPT, Journal of Petroleum
Technology v 43 n 3 Mar 1991 p 334-338.

This paper describes the hydraulics of wellbore load-up for gas wells. A theoretical model of
transient load-up hydraulics is presented and compared with field test data. Application of
this technology allows predictive techniques to be used in analyzing gas-well load-up. It also
establishes an understanding of load-up behavior, which is valuable in analyses of production
problems and evaluations of production alternatives for low-pressure gas wells.

(CCMN91) Coleman, S. B.; Clay, H. B.; McCurdy, D. G.; Norris, H. Lee III: "Applying
gas-well load-up technology," JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology v 43 n 3
Mar 1991 p 344-349.

This paper incorporates critical-rate and blowdown-limit technology into

system-network-analysis (SNA) techniques to predict abandonment pressures for
depletion-drive reservoirs and demonstrates that SNA by itself tends to underestimate the
abandonment pressure. A number of practical operation considerations pertaining to the use
of this technology are also outlined.

(CCMN91) Coleman, S. B.; Clay, H. B.; McCurdy, D.G.; Norris, H. Lee III.:
"Blowdown-limit model," JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology v 43 n 3 Mar
1991 p 339-343.

This paper introduces the technology defining the gas-well productive limit known as the
blowdown limit. This limit is the static reservoir pressure at which a gas well becomes
incapable of unloading the fluids that collected during load-up. The theoretical background is
presented, along with field data that support the theory. This technology establishes the
method for determining the abandonment pressure of a depletion-drive gas reservoir.
(M92) Moltz, A. K.: " Predicting gas well load-up using nodal system analysis," SPE
Paper 24860, SPE Annual Technical Conference, Washington, DC, USA
Conference Date: 1992 Oct 4-7.

Predicting the onset of gas well load-up is essential to optimize the performance and
maximize reserve recovery from mature pressure-depletion gas reservoirs. The widely used
approach of nodal system analysis to evaluate well performance has previously been
considered unreliable in predicting the producing rate and reservoir pressure at which load-up
occurs. This paper will demonstrate that compositional wellbore fluid modeling is required
for applications of nodal analysis on low-pressure gas wells to accurately match performance
and reliably predict the occurrence of load-up.

(D94) Darden, P. D.: " Plunger lift application in wells with set packers or permanent
tubing," JPT, Journal of Petroleum Technology January 1994.

Use of Plunger lift as an artificial-lift method that uses energy from a well's own gas to lift
accumulated fluids in the wellbore.

(BK) Lea, F. J. ; Tighe, E. R.: " Gas Well Loading, " Brown, K. Book, Volume 4,
Titled " Technology of artificial lift methods, " Chapter 6.