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PIPESIM 2021.1 Release notes Page i

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Security Notice
The software described herein is configured to operate with at least the minimum specifications set
out by Schlumberger. You are advised that such minimum specifications are merely
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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 1
ENHANCEMENTS IN PIPESIM 2021.1 .............................................................................................. 2
Vogel water cut correction (composite IPR) ......................................................................................................... 2
Gas lift multi-pointing in Nodal analysis and Data comparison tasks ............................................................... 2
VPC in Data comparison task ................................................................................................................................. 3
Heat transfer calculation for vertical wells............................................................................................................. 3
New corrosion model from Trusted Pipeline Advisor (TPA) ............................................................................... 3
New PIPESIM Python Toolkit environment .......................................................................................................... 4
Upgrade to Multiflash 7.1......................................................................................................................................... 4
Updated licensing ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
FIXED ISSUES AND MINOR ENHANCEMENTS IN PIPESIM 2021.1 ........................................................ 6
SUMMARY OF FUNCTIONALITY AVAILABLE ON DIFFERENT PLATFORMS ................................................ 7

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Introduction
The PIPESIM* steady-state multiphase flow simulator is Schlumberger’s flagship well and network
modeling software for steady-state multiphase flow simulation. Together with the OLGA* dynamic
multiphase flow simulator, Schlumberger provides a complete software solution for design and
optimization of production systems.

These notes accompany the release of PIPESIM 2021.1 from Schlumberger. The notes describe
changes in PIPESIM 2021.1 relative to PIPESIM 2020.1. This document should be read by all
users of the program. The complete program documentation consists of the PIPESIM Help, the
release notes, and the installation guides.

The Schlumberger Software Support Hub provides useful information about the product, and a
knowledge base.

Please contact Schlumberger if problems or missing functionality are encountered when using
PIPESIM or any of the related tools included in the PIPESIM software package.

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Enhancements in PIPESIM 2021.1

• Vogel water cut correction (composite IPR)
• Gas lift multi-pointing in Nodal analysis and Data comparison tasks
• VPC in Data comparison task
• Heat transfer calculation for vertical wells
• New corrosion model from Trusted Pipeline Advisor (TPA)
• New PIPESIM Python Toolkit environment
• Upgrade to Multiflash 7.1
• Updated licensing

Vogel water cut correction (composite IPR)

To include the effects of gas break-out, the Productivity index, Pseudo steady state, and Transient
IPRs for liquid inflow in PIPESIM can be modified to use variants of the Vogel's equation below the
bubble point. PIPESIM 2021.1 introduces the Vogel water cut correction, which reduces the effect
of gas fraction on the IPR as the water fraction increases. The Vogel water cut correction is based
on a composite IPR model that combines the Vogel's equation with a linear water productivity
considering oil and water fractions.

On the Completions tab in the well editor, when you have selected Use Vogel below bubble
point, you will be able to select Vogel water cut correction which activates use of the composite
IPR.

Gas lift multi-pointing in Nodal analysis and Data comparison tasks

In PIPESIM 2021.1, the option to determine if lift gas is injected through several valves (multi-
pointing) is available also for the Nodal analysis and Data comparison tasks. For the Nodal
analysis task, the option is only available for the Fixed injection pressure diagnostic type.

The option takes into consideration the surface injection pressure and temperature, injection rate,
frictional pressure gradient in the annulus, and possible throttling of the gas lift valves.

You can use the functionality by selecting Enable multi-pointing under Injection parameters for
an injection valve system on the Artificial lift tab in the well editor.

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VPC in Data comparison task

Use of the VPC database for an injection valve system is available also for the Data comparison
task in PIPESIM 2021.1.

You enable the option by selecting Use VPC for gas lift on the Advanced tab in Simulation
settings.

Heat transfer calculation for vertical wells

Heat transfer between a well and its surroundings varies with time. The well exchanges energy with
the formation, that is, heating it up or cooling it down, until the formation is at the same temperature
as the well. The Ramey (1962) model determines the ground heat transfer coefficient (hg), which is
used to predict fluid temperature changes along the wellbore, as function of the time the well has
been operating.

To use the Ramey model in PIPESIM 2021.1, on the Heat transfer tab in the well editor, select
Calculate for Heat transfer coefficient and then enter the production or injection time.

New corrosion model from Trusted Pipeline Advisor (TPA)

PIPESIM 2021.1 includes the TPA corrosion model, developed by Trusted Pipeline Advisor.

The TPA corrosion model predicts the baseline corrosion rate on a revision of the original de Waard
model (1991), which is different from the de Waard (1995) model available in PIPESIM. The model
considers the pipeline operational running time as well as presence of oxygen, bacteria, corrosion
damage, and evidence of black powder or debris. It works best by use of three-phase mechanistic
models such as OLGA-S, TUFFP, or LEDA, because of their capability to define the transport
properties of the water phase separate from the oil and gas phases. The TPA corrosion model is
practically used for surface pipelines with pipe inclinations less than 60 degrees.

You can use the TPA corrosion model by selecting TPA for Corrosion model and entering a value
for Pipe deployment year on the Corrosion tab in Simulation settings. By default, the model
accounts for the presence of oxygen or bacteria, pre-existing corrosion damage, and evidence of
black powder or debris, and uses the current year in the calculation of corrosion cumulative loss,
but you can change these settings.

New profile output variables

Corrosion pit rate: Rate of pipeline material loss due to corrosion, accounting for the severity of
regional stagnant water accumulations that contribute to isolated pitting corrosion damage along
the pipeline.

Corrosion cumulative loss: Accumulated loss of pipe material due to corrosion during pipe running
time.

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New PIPESIM Python Toolkit environment

PIPESIM Python Toolkit (PTK) 2021.1 comes with a new distribution package from Anaconda.

The installation of Python Toolkit does not include a code editor. We recommend downloading and
installing VS Code, which is a popular open-source code editor by Microsoft with a rich ecosystem
of extensions. The PTK installer includes VSCodium, which is a freely-licensed binary distribution of
VS Code, that can be used as an alternative.

PTK 2021.1 supports these additional PIPESIM functionalities:

• Nodal analysis sensitivity

• VFP tables
• Rate constraints in the Network simulation task
• Get IPR curve points
• Use MFL and PVT files

Upgrade to Multiflash 7.1

PIPESIM 2021.1 comes with Multiflash 7.1 installed by default. The new version incorporates all the
changes included in versions 6.2 and 7.0. Please refer to the Multiflash UI for more details.

Updated licensing

From PIPESIM 2021.1, all license features in PIPESIM use Schlumberger licensing (daemon
slbsls).

Note:

The licensing library shipped with PIPESIM 2021.1 contains an error making some combinations in
the SLBSLS_LICENSE_FILE environment variable invalid. An invalid combination will cause
PIPESIM to close with no further warning at startup or to stop when you try running a task.

Use of the application may fail if you define @localhost without any port number in combination with
one or more server licenses.

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The workaround is to define the port number also for localhost, for example:

With PIPESIM 2021.1, you should experience a significantly improved performance when using
server licenses if selecting At startup (faster) for License checkout in Advanced options.

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Fixed issues and minor enhancements in PIPESIM 2021.1

PIPESIM 2021.1 includes several bug fixes and improvements. Some of them are listed below.

• Annotations are now neatly displayed on the Network schematic, also for large networks.

• Because of changes in the service from Microsoft, the Bing map is removed from the list of
basemaps.

• For horizontal IPR models, when measured depth for the completion is at the intersection of
casing and open hole, the validation of the well radius is now correctly linked to the open
hole instead of the casing. Previously, for the simulation to run, you had to ignore the
validation error.

• A validation error will now be given in case of non-unique equipment names, and you must
rename the relevant equipment for the simulation to be runnable. Previously, there were no
validation errors, and the simulation ran without warnings, but PIPESIM unexpectedly
closed when you tried to plot the simulation results.

• When the fluid temperature is close to the ambient temperature, PIPESIM can issue a
warning about non-convergence in the heat balance calculations. Now, the warning also
contains the name of the relevant branch. The non-convergence is most probably of minor
importance, but you will be able to review the results more easily.

• Existing study results are now kept after running a simulation in Python Toolkit and saving.

• The 2009 pipe burial method now uses the correct boundary conditions when calculating the
overall heat transfer coefficient (OHTC). This results in a larger OHTC compared to earlier
versions and therefore greater impact by the surroundings.

• You can now place a nodal analysis (NA) point at the wellhead also if there is no surface
equipment.

• The ESP catalog is updated with pumps from the manufacturers Alkhorayef and Novomet.

• The Network optimizer could fail to generate well curves if too many output variables were
written to the plot file results. This should no longer happen.

• In a compositional simulation, you can now edit the EOS volume shift for user-defined
components when using the E300 PVT package.

• When two liners are set at the same measured depth, PIPESIM now correctly uses the inner
diameter of the inner liner instead of the outer liner.

• The core tabs Insert and Format in the PIPESIM UI will no longer disappear when re-
loading a model containing GIS data if you saved it with the Simulation settings dialog
open.

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Summary of functionality available on different platforms

PIPESIM 2021.1 is 64-bit and runs natively on 64-bit platforms. The PIPESIM Linux engine may be
installed separately for use in coupled simulation with the ECLIPSE* industry-reference reservoir
simulator and the INTERSECT* high-resolution reservoir simulator.

Main programs Platform

Windows 10 Linux
64-bit Red Hat 7
64-bit
PIPESIM 2021.1 User Interface ✓
Single branch engine ✓ ✓
Network engine ✓ ✓
Python Tookit (64-bit) ✓
OLGAS ✓ ✓
LedaFlow Point Model ✓

Note: User Access Control (UAC) Limitations – PIPESIM runs with the lowest available permission.
The Windows 10 restrictions UAC applies to PIPESIM. For example, when UAC is activated, it
prevents programs from writing to the Programs folder. If you cannot write to the Programs folder,
do one of the following:

o Before running case studies, copy the files to a writeable folder, such as the Documents
folder.
o Run PIPESIM as an administrator.

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