.. .

RESERVOIR
ANALYSIS

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Calculation of Bottom-Hole Pressure in Gas Wells
KHAIID AZIZ U. OF CAIGARY
JUNIOR MEMBER AIME CA IGARY, AITA., CANADA

Abstract the calculations are repeated with a new estimate of p,.

A .sitnple, /a.stattd acc[irateltlethod j{>rct]trtplttitlgflow-
,ftigand static botton z-holepre.sstlres in gas wei!s is presenf -
ed. The method enlploys any oj the well known method.t
jor nt]t?terica)integruti[~}l and ]he Newton -Raphson iteru-
fifnt xhetne. The proposed method may be easily pro-
grr14nnled ftjrdigi{al c,~t?lpt~rer.sc]rit may heu.sedf, whund
calculations. The tneihod i.t .s4tperior 10 previously pro-
posed method.v in accuracy and rate oj convergence. Acc44-
racy OJ the n~eth~d depend.t mainly on the type of inte-
gration .rcheme andinput data. Several integration schemes
are evaluated here jor use with this method.
The numerical method used for evaluating the integral is
usually either the trapezoidal rule or Simpson’s rule,’
Propwxf Method
A method is proposed here for performing bottom-hole
pressure calculations so that a minimum number of itera-
tions is required, The method could be used with any
numerical integration scheme. Rewrite Eq. I or 2 in the
following form+
P“

+(p, )=K - yJp=o, ,#, ...(3)

Introduction .[
P,.
“~he basic equation for flow inavert!cal pipe and hydro-
static head are well known and are reviewed in a recent In this equation, K, y and. hence, + take on different
manual published by the Oil & Gas Conservation Board values depending on the problem being considered. For the
of Alberta’ and in a series of papers published by the static case,
author.’ Only the most general form of these equations ~ = ‘y,_p__~ = 12
used for practical calculations will be presented here. Th’s
form of the equations was first proposed by Cullender and 53.34 ‘ . p ‘
Smith: For siatic bottom-hole calculation we have, and
)>.

yvl) Tz
.— ..- ,=
53.34 J
P,.
P
(lp, . . . . . . (1)
),,,

and for flowing bottom-hole pressure. For the flowing cases. K = 1.000 7,,/)/53.34.
p
1,000 y,l)
..—. — -.=
53.34 J ()
P,

-Tz
P ‘Jp, ‘=Tz
p /() ,P +
P “
Tz
I .000
9. ,,. (2)
() Tz and
“ + I.000
whmv F = 2.6665 jqV’/d’.
The usual procedure in bottom-hole calculations is to
+(p,) =
1,000 y,,/)
–. . . _
53.34 J
P.

——-i-()
P
TZ
P
dp . . (5)
(1) assume avalueof p., (2) compute theright-hand side P,.
of Eq. 1 or 2 depending on the type of calculation be- ( Tz )1 /
~’+ 1,000 i
ing performed (static or flowing) and (3) check to see
if the computed value of the integral is equal to the known The problem then reduces to finding roots of Eq. 3. In
left-hand side of the equation. If the two sides of the other words, the value of p, is sought for which Eq, 3 is
equation are not equal within a certain allowable tolerance, satisfied, i.e., ~(p.) = O. A second-order iteration scheme
Original manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Enginews office for the solution of Eq, 3 is the Newton- Raphson method.’
SeM.. 6, 1966. Revised rnanw,crlp or SPE 16;6 received Mny 3, 196?,
@ Cowright,1967 American lnstltute of Mining, Metttllurgicnl, and Pe- @(P.(’”)
troleum Engineers, Inc.
P.’”+”= P.(”)– ––,., - ! . . . . . . . . (6)
preferences given at end of nnner. W(P$ )
JULY, 1967 897
 > ‘*

where the superscript on p, refers to the number of itera- READ

tion and @’(p.’”)) is the first derivative of 1# evaluated d, TO LERAtiCE, pw, &), Tw, T5, G, D,c/d, M
using the value of p. from the ntb (previous) iiemtion. i
The expressions for +’(p,’”’) may be easiIy developed for FOR
i~O ,1,2,---M
both cases by differentiating Eqs. 4 and 5 with respect to p.. READ O,
For the static case we have,
i
CALCULATE
#(porn) ~ ~:;:[’” . (7) K (eg 4or5)
P.’’’’’””’””’” AT= T~ - Tw/M

and for the tlowing case I

FOR
~,(n,_ 1= 1,2,---M
CALCULATE

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“T:;.’”) T,: Tw * AT
() ’(P.’’”) “ –’--— –-—{”j . . . . . (8)
f. I
1
CALCULATE WELLHEAD
~Fwl?+ (- ;;i;; CONOITIONS
%*%*%* fwl YO

Eq. 6 is used to calculate successively better estimates of I

START
the bot(om-holc preswtrc. Here the nth step is known and lTE:$& ION

the entire right-hand side of the equation is evaluated al

i
this known level to give the pressure for the (n-l-l) itera.
timr level. To start the iteration scheme wc may use any Al!)= :#:)-Pw)/M

reasonable guess for the bottom-hole pressure referred to I

as p,’’”. Note that after + and +’, p,’’” is usually written

in brackets; this is to emphasize the fact that both f) and
+’ are functinm of p.(n).
1
Computational Scheme CALCULATE

SwcrLJl computer programs were written to test th% 4“)= ‘(- :, O,y,, +’[”] [ eg 7or 8)

proceclurti of iteration with various methods of integration. ~[n+l) , p)

- +!”’/+(”’
Fig. 1 shows a logic flow chart for programming this 5s

method in a digital comptrt.er.The friction factor was eval- YES PRINT p~+’)
uated us”ng the Colebrook equatiofl.] The equations for -N< It+’)- $:)1 $ TOLERANCE” AS THE

Lfctcrmining friction facmr by theNewton-Raphson method t30TT0M-HOLE

PREsSURE
arc given below.
.\(/) =4.O log ({1/,-) 1-2.28
Fig. l—1.cjKir flowrhne’1 ful, (,tll(,lll;lli] ]gl)t)llor]t.l] nil.
d

()
4.67 prwsure.
E 1
410g 1{ -() . . . (lo) v.
N,, \!j \/j i=rlf

P.
J ,dp z (p. -- p,.) s
i:: O
[l,))’ . . . $(14)

where the value of M and a,, i=], 2. . . , M, depend on

[he numerical scheme being used. Table 1 summarizes the
values of M and al for some of the most useful rncthods.
A detailed discussion of these methods may bc found in
‘}(~)_ most books on numerical methods.’ For example. the one.
jl.,o,= j,!,)

;I’(j”) ””.’”.”,.
(12) step, third-order method (Mcthoci If), Takdc 1) may be
written as
The first estimate j’”) may be obtained hy

j(o) =
1
(4.()”1(>~~/,-i2 .28)’ “ “ ‘ “ - “ ‘]3)
P,.

In the above equations r/d is the relative roughness, N,,,.
the Reynolds number, and log represents logarithm to base
10. Friction factor is usually assumed constant at some
average well conditions. Eqs. 10 through 13 may he used
for calculating friction factor, The logic flow chart for
this scheme (Eq, 12) is very similar to the one proposed
for the solution of Eq. 6, The compressibility factor was
calculated from a surface fit of the compressibility chart?
Several numerical methods were tested in the evaluation
y,
of j ydp in Eq. 6. All of these methods maybe expressed
P,0
as
The comprcwibility faclor z for swe@ gases may be cal-
culated using the method proposed by Sarcm$ and thevis-
cosity may be calculated using the method re:ently pro-
posed by Lee, Gonzalez and Eakin.’ Usually, changes in
viscosity arc small and its effect on the friction factor
through R.eyno]ds numberis even smaller. For this reason,
assumption of constant viscosity and constant friction fac-
tor, although not used here, is often justified.
Results
Several of the examples given on page 311 of Katz
et al.: and from the Oil & Gas Conservation Board man-

r19Jr
ual were solved by the method proposed here. In all cases, TABLE l—SUMMARY OF SOME USEFUL NUMERICAL
the Newton-Raphson type of iteration scheme presented
here converges faster than the conventional trial-and. error Values of al
methods. Method Numbers;*—— .-
Another objective of this study wrrs to select the best I 7~~3T5 . .. --— - _6.. ___
7 _8_ 9.10 1~ .12 -13-
numerical integration scheme for the problems of prac- llJ, l-11 . ..- 11117191
---- .-. —
.—— — ..—
tical interest in gas well calculations. All 13 schemes listed o
“Z46810126121889O 28820
in the previous section were tried, The third-order poly- -! 21.!.?. 1212316251
nomial fit, two-step Simpson’s rule and six-step trapezoidal 1
22345 ”63-398~5 ~4
rule gave identical results in all casts, Increasing the order 1111 .111 132251
of the approximating polynomial or using more steps in 2
~~~56%”69%”151–ti 20
the approximation resulted in less than 1-psi change in the 1111 1 2, 116253
. ..
bottom-hole pressure, Decreasing the order of the approxi- 3

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6- 45-6 3“ 9 8 45 144 10
mation resulted in changes of more than 1 psi. Out of 111 11 7. 25
—.— 1
these three methods the third-order polynomial fit requires 4 12 ‘9 90 96 20
85”6 ““”
the least amount of computer time. Computer time re- 11 2 19 1
quired for the two-step Simpson-s rule was only slightly 5 9 “288 4
iGzi
more for the problems considered. 1 1 1
..-
6 20
E 18
Conclusions and Recommendations
*Description of methods.
All methods of calculating bottom-hole pressure in gas 1. One-step trapezoidal rule,
wells involve a trial-and-error procedure. The number of 2. Two-step trapezoidal rule.
3. Three.step trapezoidal rule.
trials necessary may be greatly reduced by the Ncwton- 4. Four+.tep trapezoidal rule.
Raphson method proposed here, The discussion in this 5. Five-step trapezoidal rule.
article is confined to the application of the Newton-Raphson 6. Six+tep trapezoidal rule.
iteration scheme to the Cullender-Smith method, However, 7. One-step Simpson’s rule.
8. Two-step Simpson’s rule.
the iteration method is equally useful along with other 9. Three-step Simpson’s rule.
methods of calculating bottom-hole pressure, Assuming 10. One-step third-order method.
that all trial-and-error procedures are carried out to con- 11. One.step fourth.order method.
vergence (when the difference between assumed and cal- 12. One.step fifth-order method.
13. Weddle’s rule.
culated values is less than a prespecified tolerance), the
accuracy of the calculation will depend mainly upon the M
method of numerical integration and methods of calculat- Notes:(1) ~;, a,.= 1 for each method; (2) value of i cor-
ing fluid properties. The third-order numerical integration responding to the last entry of a, in any column is the value
method (Method 10, Table 1) seems to give the desired of M for that method.
—.. . .. —-_—_
accuracy with a minimum of computer time for most cases
tried. Higher-order approximations may be required for
wel[s where changes in ffuid properties wi[h depth are large. Acknowlcdgmcnt
I-lIL!aulhor acknowlcdgm lhc ~S$&tZ311CL’ of [{. Aluxander
Nomenclature wi[h the computations.
d = Ilow pipe ID, in. References
D = depth, ft
1. ‘L’llcory LIml Pmcticc of the Tcs!ing of (k \Vcll*”, Oil & Cm
j = friction factor Conservation Board of A1l.rcI-tn(July, 1965).
K = defined by either Eq. 4 or 5 2. Azi~ K.: Ways to (%lcnla!e Gus Flow mid %rtic IJcmt”, Pe~.
~ = number of increments into which well is di- &rg., hnrrdbook reprint published as n series of articles [1962,
vided for numerical integration 1963 ) 34, 35.
p = pressure, psia 3. Cullendcr, M, H. rrrrd Smith, R. V.: “l%ctimr] SOlt~Iion of Gas.
P*““ = a guessed value of bottom-hole pressure Flow Eqootions for WelIs and Pipelines with Large Tcnrpcmturc
q, = flow rate, Mcf/D at standarxi conditions of Gradients”, Trans., AIME (19.56) 207, 281-287.
14.65 psia and 60F 4. LnpidIIs, L,: Di@al Computationjor Ckemicd Erxinecrs, Mc.
T = temperature, ‘R Cruw Hill Publishing Co., New York (1962).
y = defined by either Eq. 4 or 5 5. %rrem, A. M.: “z-Factor Equation Jhcloped for IISC in Digikrl
z = compressibility factor Computers”, Oil and Gas J. (Sept. 18, 19fil ) 118.
‘Y.= gas gravity 6. Kaiz, D, L, et al,: Haadhook oj Natural Gas Engfnccring,
P/d = relative roughness McGraw Hill Publishing Co., Ncw York (1959).
p, = viscosity 7. Lee, A. L., Grmmlez,M. H, and flskin, B. E.: “The Vi~y#y
p= gas density of Natnrol (.%,,”, .f. Pet, Tech. (Aug., 1966) 997.1000.
+ = defined by either Eq. 4 or 5 “
KHALID AZIZ is associate projes.~or
4’=% of chemical engineering al the U. of
Calgary which he joined in 1965. Born
Sdsscripts
in Pakistan, A,ziz received hLr enghreer-
w = wellhead
s = sand face or bottom-hole ing ed[wation at the U. of Michigan,
the U. of AJberta and Rice V, He
0,1,... M = equally spaced points along flow pipe, starting
worked for the Karachi Gas Co, in
at the wellhead
Pakistan irr variotis capacities inc[[tding
Superwu$pl chief engineer, and tatight at the U. of
n = iteration counter Alberta 2 years.

JI:LY. 1967 899