Production Operations and Facilities

Engineering
Module 1: Oil Single-Phase Flow IPR
Lesson 2: Inflow Performance Relationship
Module 1 - Lesson 2: Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

Write the linear IPR equation and explain the meaning of each variable in the
linear IPR equation

Use rock and fluid properties to determine the inflow performance relationship
for single-phase flow of liquids in reservoirs

Use production data to determine the inflow performance relationship for single-
phase flow of liquids in reservoirs

Determine bottomhole flowing pressure for a given oilflow rate, and vice versa

2
Module 1.2 Reading Assignment

Prior to lesson 1.2: Read the slides for Module 1.2

After lesson 1.2: Read Chapter 2 of Beggs page 9 to 20

3
Production System Compressor
station

After the well is drilled, Gas export Oil storage

pipeline
production engineers must
install completion and
Produced
production equipment to gas
Oil export
allow fluids to move from Producing
pipeline

the reservoir to the surface wells

processing facilities.
Produced
Produced Gas and oil oil
fluids separator

Movement or transport of Produced

those fluids requires energy Well and

water

Gathering Wellhead Production Water

(either stored naturally in Tubing and manifold Disposal
System Casing well
the formation or externally pressure

supplemented) to overcome
the friction losses and lift
Surface Separation
the fluids from the reservoir Reservoir and Treatment
depth to the surface. The
Facilities
production system can be
relatively simple or may
include many components.

4
Production System Examples Compressor
station

The selection and sizing of each Oil storage

Gas export
of the individual components is pipeline

very important. The components

interact with each other and Produced

changes in one component, a gas

Oil export

flowline diameter for example, Producing

wells
pipeline

will affect the pressure losses

that may occur in the tubing Produced
string. Produced
fluids
Gas and oil
separator
oil

The final design of a production Produced

system is more complex than Well and water

sizing pipes for single-phase Gathering Wellhead

Tubing and
Production
manifold
Water
Disposal

incompressible flow. The design System Casing

pressure
well

of pipelines, tubings and artificial

lift equipment are all interrelated
and depend also on the losses Surface Separation
that occur in the reservoir. Reservoir and Treatment
It is very important to start by Facilities
studying the losses that occur
when fluids flow through the
reservoir.
What impact can design have on
pressure loss?
5
Separator Pressure

The energy available to produce fluids is the energy of pressurized fluids in the
reservoir.
The fluids must enter the separator that works at a certain pressure. Therefore
the total pressure drop across the system must be equal to the difference
between the reservoir pressure and the separator pressure.

6
Reservoir Performance—Pressure Drawdown

The reservoir is a very important component of the production system. The

performance of a production system cannot be properly analyzed without
knowledge of the losses that occur through the reservoir

The difference between the average reservoir pressure and the bottom hole
flowing pressure is called pressure drawdown and is the driving force that moves
fluids through the rock.

Pr  Pwf  P
Pressure drawdown

7
Reservoir Performance

The relationship between the flowrate and the pressure drawdown can be very
complex

It depends on reservoir and fluid parameters such as permeability and viscosity

It is also affected by formation damage and well stimulation operations

8
Darcy’s Law

The basic equation that relates flowrate with the pressure drop in the reservoir is
Darcy’s law

k A dP
q
 dx
On the next slide we will derive the solution for steady state linear flow.

9
Steady State Linear Flow

The picture below illustrates the geometry for linear flow across a cylindrical
porous medium

Darcy’s law can be integrated as follows

L Pu
q k

0
A
dx   dP
Pd


10
The Solution for Steady State Linear Flow

1 L Pu
q k

0
A
dx   dP
Pd

2
L  Pu  Pd 
q k
A 
3
q
Ak
Pu  Pd 
L

11
Steady State Linear Flow Equation

In field units we have:

ft2 mD
bpd psi

q  1.127 10 3 Ak
Pu  Pd 
L
cp
ft

12
Steady State Radial Flow
Lets now examine the geometry that best describes the flow around the well
bore in a reservoir. We will now obtain the solution for radial flow in cylindrical
coordinates.

For a well the flow is converging radially as shown in the picture

13
Steady State Radial Flow

Darcy’s law can be written as:

k dP
q  2 rh
 dr
The flowrate in Darcy’s law is the “in-situ” flowrate. It can be related to the standard
conditions flowrate through the use of the fluid formation volume factor

For oil wells Darcy’s equation becomes

ko dP
qo  2 rh
Bo  o dr

14
Steady State Radial Flow Equation

This equation can be integrated yielding:

ko Pe  Pwf
qo  2 h
Bo  o  re 
ln 
 rw 
Or in field units:

ko h Pe  Pwf
qo  0.00708
Bo  o  re 
ln 
 rw 

15
Steady State Radial Flow Based on average Reservoir Pressure

A more useful expression is obtained if the flowrate is related to the average

reservoir pressure in the circular area being drained by this well.

ko h Pr  Pwf
qo  0.00708
Bo  o  re  1
ln  
 rw  2

ko h Pr  Pwf
qo  0.00708
Bo  o  re 
ln 0.472 
 rw 

16
Productivity Index

The previous equation shows a proportionality between the flowrate and the
pressure drawdown.

The constant of proportionality is known as productivity index.

Linear IPR Equation
Pressure Drawdown
Productivity Index –
bpd/psi

qo  J o Pr  Pwf 
Productivity Index Equation
ko h
J o  0.00708
Bo  o  re 
ln 0.472 

 rw 

17
Single-Phase IPR—Summary

The Single-Phase IPR can be represented as:

q  J P  Pwf 
0.00708 k h 1
J
B  r 
ln 0.472 e 
 rw 
The absolute open flow (AOF) is defined as the maximum flowrate the reservoir
can produce when the bottom hole flowing pressure is zero
stb/d/psi
stb/d

qmax  J P
psi

18
Single-Phase IPR

The single-phase IPR is a straight line

19
Skin and Drainage Area Effects

In the previous derivations, Darcy’s law was used assuming permeability to the
fluid was constant in the entire drainage area

For real cases, this assumption is seldom valid

The permeability can be either increased or decreased around the wellbore.

Clay swelling or pore plugging can reduce the permeability in a region close to
the wellbore. Similarly, stimulation operations may increase the permeability in
the vicinity of the wellbore

20
Skin and Drainage Area Effects (Cont.)

It is usually not possible to determine either the permeability change or the area
where this permeability changes occur, the effect is assumed to occur in a very
thin region of the wellbore and expressed as a “skin” effect.

The skin effect is a dimensionless variable that is included in the IPR equation to
reflect changes in permeability in small regions around the wellbore.

This change in permeability will affect the relationship between the flowrate and
the bottom hole flowing pressure.

Linear IPR including skin effects

ko h Pr  Pwf
qo  0.00708
Bo  o  re 
ln 0.472   S '
 rw 

21
Skin and Drainage Area Effects (Cont.)

The skin term S’ includes both the effects of permeability changes due to
damage or stimulation as well as the effects due to turbulent flow inside the
porous space (non Darcy flow effects).

The turbulent flow effect is proportional to flowrate and therefore:

Total Skin Effect Equation

Damage or Turbulence
Stimulation Skin Coefficient

S  S  Dqo
'

Total Skin Effect

The skin effect S is positive for damage and negative for stimulation effects

22
Skin and Drainage Area Effects (Cont.)

Not all reservoirs are circular and contain only one producing well located in the
middle of the drainage area.
The drainage area is usually distorted by the presence of natural boundaries or
because of lopsided production rates in adjoining wells

23
Skin and Drainage Area Effects (Cont.)

The IPR equation can be modified to include the effects of the drainage area
shape.

This generalized IPR including skin effects is:

ko h Pr  Pwf
qo  0.00708
Bo  o ln0.472 x   S '
ko h
J o  0.00708
Bo  o ln0.472 x   S '

24
Skin and Drainage Area Effects (Cont.)
The factor x is different for each drainage area shape as shown in the table below.
The complete table is in the Beggs book p. 16 and the Equation Glossary.

Fig. 2-7. Factors for different shapes and well positions in a drainage area. Production Optimization
Using Nodal Analysis. By Dale Beggs. OGCI, Inc., PetroSkills, LLC. 2003. Page 16.

25
Single-Phase IPR
The linear IPR can be determined from:
Reservoir and Fluid properties
Calculated from current production test data

26
Single-Phase IPR—Calculated from Reservoir and Fluid Properties
Determining IPR requires the knowledge of the:
Reservoir average pressure
Drainage radius or Drainage area
Formation thickness
Formation permeability
Fluid viscosity
Formation volume factor
The data is usually obtained from several sources: logs, well test data, etc.
The procedure is correct if the data reflects actual production conditions. Some cases
where this procedure may fail include:
Production conditions changes since last well test data due to appearance or increase
of skin, two-phase flow conditions, reservoir depletion, etc.
Well test data from saturated reservoirs where the two-phase flow conditions are not
adequately described by the single-phase equations used in pressure transient
analysis

27
Single-Phase IPR—Calculated from Current Production Test Data

Since the linear IPR is a straight line, knowledge of two operational points
(production tests) allow the determination of the productivity index as well as the
average reservoir pressure with reasonable accuracy for production design
calculations.
The average reservoir pressure estimated from production tests should not be
used to replace the more accurate value determined by well tests in reserves or
depletion calculations.
Production Engineers refer to this pressure as static pressure. It is the
bottomhole flowing pressure at zero flowrate.

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Mod 1.2 Exercise1

Determine the IPR for the following well

Permeability –20mD
Thickness – 60 ft
Fluid viscosity – 10 cp
Well bore diameter 7 in
Drainage radius – 1200 ft
Reservoir average pressure – 1250 psi
Formation volume factor 1.2
Well located in the center of square

29
Mod 1.2 Exercise1—Solution

2
3

30
Mod 1.2 Exercise1—Solution Graph

31
Mod 1.2 Exercise2—Determining IPR

Determine the IPR for the following well based on the information from a shut-in
test
Reservoir average reservoir pressure of 1250 psi
Stabilized bottomhole flowing pressure before shut-in of 900 psi
Stabilized flowrate before shut-in 600 stb/d

32
Mod 1.2 Exercise2 - Determining IPR—Solution

Determine the IPR for the following well based on the information from a shut-in
test
Reservoir average reservoir pressure of 1250 psi
Stabilized bottomhole flowing pressure before shut-in of 900 psi
Stabilized flowrate before shut-in 600 stb/d

33
Mod 1.2 Exercise2 - Determining IPR—Solution Graph

34
Mod 1.2 Exercise3

Determine the IPR for the following well based on the information from the
following production tests.
First stable production test produced 30 bpd with a bottomhole flowing
pressure of 1000 psi
Second stable production test produced 60 bpd with a bottomhole flowing
pressure of 800 psi

35
Mod 1.2 Exercise3—Solution

1 1

2 2

3 3

36
Mod 1.2 Exercise3—Solution Graph

37
Closing

You should be able now to:

Write the linear IPR equation and explain the meaning of each variable in the
linear IPR equation
Use rock and fluid properties to determine the inflow performance relationship
for single-phase flow of liquids in reservoirs
Use production data to determine the inflow performance relationship for
single- phase flow of liquids in reservoirs
Determine bottomhole flowing pressure for a given oilflow rate, and vice versa

Next session, we will discuss

IPR for multiphase flow conditions

38
Module 1.2 Assignment

Read after lesson1.2: Chapter 2 of Beggs book page 9 to 20

No book reading assignment before lesson 1.3

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Credits

Developer
Mauricio Gargaglione Prado, Ph.D., The University of Tulsa, McDougall
School of Petroleum Engineering, Associate Professor
Contributors
Alexandre Charifo Ali, Ph.D., Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Head of
Mechanical Engineering
Lisa Rankin, Instructional Designer
Sponsor

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