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This paper is to be presented at the Petroleum Society’s Canadian International Petroleum Conference 2000, Calgary, Alberta,
Canada, June 4 – 8, 2000. Discussion of this paper is invited and may be presented at the meeting if filed in writing with the technical
program chairman prior to the conclusion of the meeting. This paper and any discussion filed will be considered for publication in
Petroleum Society journals. Publication rights are reserved. This is a pre-print and subject to correction.
for 1 ≤ i ≤ n c . 1 ∂ k ro k rg dp
r ρ oδ o xi + ρ g δ g y i = 0 .............. (6)
r ∂r µ o µg dr
The transport equation to describe the flow of the
phases is given by
Integration of Equation 6 yields
k k rg dp If the pressure at the outer boundary of the reservoir is
r ro ρ o δ o x i + ρ g δ g yi = C i ....................... (7) kept constant at a value above the dew point pressure of
µo µg dr
the reservoir fluid, it may be convenient to use the
pressure at the outer boundary as the reference pressure.
where C i is the constant of integration. Summation In that case, Equation 13 can be written as:
over all components yields
1 p k rg ρ g δ g k ro ρ o δ o ...... (14)
m2 p ( p ) = ∫ + dp
k rg ρ g δ g µg µo
k k rg dp
pre
r ro ρ o δ o + ρ gδ g = C ................................ (8) µg
µo µg dr re
2πkh k ro ρ o δ o k rg ρ g δ g dp
r + = 1 .............. (10) ∆m2 p ( p ) = m 2 p ( p) − m2 p ( p e ) represents the driving
q t µ o µg dr
r = rw
force or potential moving fluid toward the well.
Equation 8 can be written as: The key problem in using Equation 14 is that we need
to express k ro and k rg as a function of pressure.
k ρ δ k rg ρ g δ g dp q Unfortunately, there is no theoretical guidance available.
r ro o o + = t .......................... (11)
µ µ dr 2π kh For the problems under consideration, simulation suggests
o g
that, if a two-phase bank with a very small transition zone
develops around the wellbore, then CCE experiment may
Integration of Equation 11 between the wellbore
radius and a general location r in the reservoir results in be used to determine k rα by the relation
the following expression:
k rcδ c ρ g µ c xc
2πkh p k ro ρ o δ o k rg ρ g δ g r = .................................................... (16)
k rg δ g ρ c µ g x g
qt ∫
µo
pw
+
µg
dp = ln
rw
............ (12)
where xc and x g are the mole fractions of liquid and
As the density ρ and viscosity µ depend on pressure
vapour, respectively, that are in equilibrium.
p , Equation 12 is non-linear, which prohibits a direct
analytical solution. It can be linearised, however, by the This method of computing the two-phase flow is best
transformation that converts the pressure into a ‘pseudo- suited for those conditions where a two-phase bank with a
pressure’ that, when introduced into Equation 12 reasonably small transition zone develops around the
wellbore, that is, this procedure works best when the
eliminates the non-linearity ( 7 ) .
pressure differences pi − p dew (or p − p dew ) and
f α (N cα ) =
( )
ln(N cα ) − ln N cCL
α
lowering the interfacial tension, IFT, the experiments tend
( ) ( )
VL CL
ln N cα − ln N cα ................................ (19)
to be dominated by transient composition changes. In
principle, these transients could be analysed using
simulators, but this requires knowing the relative
for N cCL VL permeabilities, whose measurement is the point of the
α ≤ N cα ≤ N cα .
experiment.
In the calculation
Despite these difficulties, high N c relative
permeabilities for two-phase flow have been rather
f α (N cα ) = 1 if N cα > N cVL
α ...................................... (20a) (13,14 )
intensively measured. From these high N c data,
(13 )
several observations can be made .
f α (N cα ) = 0 if N cα < N cCL
α ....................................... (20b) • The residual phase saturations are nonzero.
• The endpoint relative permeabilities for high N c are
Various models exist for the calculation of the substantially different from their low N c values.
capillary number. In this work we use the following
formulation: • The high N c relative permeabilities are not straight
lines. The curves in these are the matches of the
Kk rvα ∆pα exponential forms (Corey form) to the data. The
N cα = ......................................... (21) curves in these are the matches of the exponential
σ (ri −1 / 2 − ri +1 / 2 ) forms (Corey form) to the data.
phase. For the non-wetting phase, N cc is in the 10 −5 to where for the condensate studied, F = 0.5781 ,
−4 −2 −1
10 N ct is usually 10 to 10 . For
range, whereas G = 2.11767 and β 0 = 1.0128 × 10 [ ft 6 −1
].
the wetting phase, N cc is roughly equal to the non- In the absence of experimental data, Equation 27 can
wetting N ct , whereas the wetting N ct is 10 −1 to 10 0 . be used with β 0 estimated from the correlation due to
More precise conclusions are not warranted because of Jones: (11)
the variation in N cc definitions and the experimental
conditions. β 0 = 1.88 × 1010 k −1.47φ −0.53 ................................... (28)
In their work, Blom and Hagoort (5 ) used the Corey
Equation where the capillary-number dependent Corey
coefficients, Cα , are interpolated between their capillary GRID SPACING
dominated (immiscible) limits, Cα ,imm , and their viscous Figs. 1 and 2 show the radial grid block system. We
dominated (miscible) limits Cα ,misc , according to know that single-well solutions with a constant pressure at
the outer boundary, re , tend to be straight lines when
plotted vs. the logarithm of radius. We increase the finite-
Cα (N cα ) = f α (N cα )Cα ,imm + (1 − f α (N cα ))Cα , misc ... (24) difference accuracy for this solution if we use equally
spaced grids on a logarithmic basis (15) . A radial grid
where Cα stands for k r0α , S rα , or ε α : and f is a system consistent with this model is to use geometrically
capillary number dependent weighting function spaced radial grids (the same thing as equally spaced
logarithms). The equations that would apply for the figure
above are:
1
f α (N cα ) = bα
.................................... (25)
N r
1/ Nr
1 + cα λ = e .............................................................. (29)
N cbα rw
ri +1 = λ ri ..................................................................... (30)
ri +1 / 2 = λ ri −1 / 2 ........................................................... (31) where p dew is the dew point pressure.
The average gas condensate composition ( z i ) around
and
the wellbore can be estimated from:
qt =
r
re
[m2 p ( p1 ) − m2 p (p wf )] ......... (33) pressure p i then proceeds as follows:
ln 0 Assume p i . If p i ≥ p d then proceed with Step 3 else
rw
proceed with Step1.
where r0 is the ‘pressure equivalent radius’ of the grid • Step 1. Calculate (from CCE) the values xα , ρ α ,
block, defined below. (15) µ α , M α and σ at pressure pi .
• Step 2. Estimate the capillary number (Equation 21)
using of the i − 1th pressure gradient. Take, as first
r0 = r1+1 / 2 rw ........................................................... (34)
guess for the superficial velocity and the inertial
correction factor, the values corresponding to p i −1 .
k rc δ c ρ g µ c xc
( )
m ( pdew )− m p wf − = 0 ................................................. (38)
( ) k rg δ g ρ c µ g x g
re m ( pe )− m pwf
r2 p = rw ...................................... (35)
rw
holds. Evaluate the relative permeability functions and the where
relative inertial resistances at the new saturation.
d ∆p
=
[p(ri ) − p(ri −1 )] ......................................... (44)
• Step 3. Update δ α (Equation 4) with the new values
d ln ∆r [ln(ri ) − ln(ri −1 )]
of the pressure-dependent fluid properties, relative
permeability and relative inertial resistance.
For subsequent timesteps, the initial estimate of p (r )
• Step 4. Compute the pseudo-pressures mα from
is taken equal to the converged value at the previous
Equation 14 using the trapezoidal rule. timestep.
• Step 5. Determine the function f i corresponding to
pressure p i from PVT PROPERTIES
The method requires the calculation of the PVT
k rg ρ g δ g properties xα , ρ α , µ α , M α and σ at pressure p i .
µg
re
∑m
α
α (p) The phase mole fractions ρα and
xα , densities
f i = q m − 2πkh = 0 ............. (39) molecular mass M α and liquid dropout ν o were
r
ln i determined from simulated constant composition
re
expansion (CCE) experiments, using the Peng-Robinson
equation of state. The phase viscosities µ α were
where
calculated from the Ely-Hanley viscosity correlations. (9)
The interfacial tensions σ were calculated from the
q sc ρ g ( p sc )
qm = ...................................... (40) parachor method of Macleod-Sugden. (10) The various
24 × 3600(1 − x c ( p sc )) PVT property models were used to generate a table look-
up data of xα , ρ α , µ α , M α and σ with pressure p
(Table 3). The table was ordered in increasing order of
q m xα pressure. In order to evaluate a property, the array of data
uα = ............................................................ (41)
2πri hρ α for the independent variable (pressure) is searched until
an interval is found in which the variable is bracketed; the
dependent variable (property) is calculated explicitly by
• Step 7. Update the capillary number by use of the
interpolation.
new pressure gradient ∆p (ri −1 − ri ) .
• Step 8. Repeat Steps 2 through 7, by use of the STUDY AND RESULTS
updated values for the inertial correction factor, δ ,
the capillary number, N c , and the superficial We have investigated the influence of the various
velocity u . In the single-phase region (i.e. as long as parameters with four hypothetical case studies:
p i is larger than p d ), only Steps 3 through 6 are • Single-phase Darcy flow ( m1 p , D )
repeated. β =0
The iteration ends when f i ≤ eps . At this point,
k ro = 0 for all condensate saturations, S o
Steps 1 through 8 are repeated for ri +1 (using Equation
30) as long as the radial distance ri +1 is larger than the
( )
k rg = f S g i.e. gas relative permeability is a function
The initial estimate of pressure, p (r ) , for the very • Single-phase non-Darcy flow ( m1 p ,nD )
first timestep is made as follows. For the first three radii β ≠0
the initial pressure estimates are obtained from k ro = 0 for all condensate saturations, S o
( )
k rg = f S g i.e. gas relative permeability is a
p (ri +1 ) = p (ri ) − 0.01 × p (ri ) ....................................... (42) function of saturation only
• Two-phase Darcy flow ( m 2 p , D )
For the subsequent radii the initial pressure estimates
are obtained from β =0
k ro = f (S o , N co ) i.e. oil relative permeability is a
d∆p
p i +1 = p i + [ln(ri +1 ) − ln (ri )] ....................... (43) function of oil saturation (and capillary number)
d ln ∆r
(
k rg = f S g , N cg ) i.e. gas relative permeability is a velocity flow effects. The inertial correction factor
becomes significant from a radius of 30 ft to the well.
function of gas saturation (and capillary number)
Figs 1 to 11 and Table 5 show that the estimation of
• Two-phase non-Darcy flow ( m 2 p ,nD ) well impairment by condensate dropout may be grossly in
β ≠0 error if the dependence of relative permeability on the
capillary number (and the non-Darcy effect, if
k ro = f (S o , N co ) i.e. oil relative permeability is a applicable), is ignored.
function of oil saturation (and capillary number) It seems that the big effect of the non-Darcy flow is
(
k rg = f S g , N cg ) i.e. gas relative permeability is a due to the very high rates within 1 ft of the wellbore. Of
course perforation depths are about this order so it is
function of gas saturation (and capillary number) important to consider their influence. This opens up the
Tables 1, 2 and 5 summarise the properties of the idea of recommending an increased perforation depth
reservoir and fluid used in this example. The results of the when non-Darcy effects seem likely.
studies are summarised in Figures 3 to 11 and Table 5 in
Section 9 and the input data are summarised in Tables 1
to 4. Analyses of these results lead to the following CONCLUSIONS
observations: A comprehensive steady-state pseudo-pressure model
to calculate well impairment in gas condensate reservoirs
is presented. The present work corroborates and refines
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION
the calculation techniques of previous authors.
Comparing the pressure profiles (Fig 3), we see that Example calculations show that
impairment is considerable in both Darcy and non-Darcy
two-phase (curves 2PD and 2PND respectively). Under • The effect of non-Darcy is much more pronounced in
single-phase flow conditions (curves 1PD and 1PND), gas condensate reservoirs than in dry gas reservoirs.
however, the non-Darcy flow effects are not very • The non-Darcy component of the flow equation is
pronounced. significant only in the area within 10 ft from the well.
Most of the pressure loss occurs within a 10 ft radius • The magnitude and hence, the impact of capillary
from the well (Fig 3). At very high fluid velocities near number and non-Darcy flow on condensate and gas
the wellbore flow becomes turbulent and pressure relative permeabilities change significantly over a
gradients become higher than predicted by Darcy relatively small distance (within 10 ft) from the well.
equation.
• Velocity stripping of condensate may occur in the
area within 5 ft from the well.
SATURATION DISTRIBUTION • Near-critical relative permeability and inertial
In Fig 4 we see a logarithmic variation of the fluid resistance are strongly coupled and a simple
saturation as it travels towards the well. As a result of supposition of the separate effects may significantly
high-velocity effects near the wellbore (see Fig 8), the under estimate the well impairment.
condensate saturation in the vicinity of the well is reduced The results of this work may find application in the
in two-phase non-Darcy flow (curve 2PND). This development of gas reservoirs and the interpretation of
velocity-stripping effect becomes significant at radii less well tests. They can be used, as well, for the calibration
than 3 ft from the wellbore. and verification of commercial reservoir simulators.
Greek Symbols
β = inertial resistance, ft −1
β r = relative inertial resistance, dimensionless
δ =inertial correction factor, dimensionless
µ α = viscosity of phase α , cP
ρα = molar density of phase α , lbm mol/ft3
φ = porosity, fraction
σ = interfacial tension, dynes/cm
Subscripts
α = phase indicator
g = gas
o = oil
sc = standard conditions
wf = wellbore flowing
1 p = single-phase flow
2 p = two-phase flow
e = at the reservoir boundary
nD = non-Darcy flow
Table 1: Reservoir properties and operating
conditions Table 2: Composition of the reservoir fluid
Boundary radius, re 3280.8 ft
Component Mole fraction
Well radius, rw 0.328 ft CH 4 0.7587
Reservoir thickness, h 32.808 ft C2 H 6 0.0822
Permeability, K 100 mD C3 H 8 0.0595
Porosity, φ 0.15
C 5 H 12 − N 0.0400
Reservoir temperature, T 149.9 degF
C 8 H 18 0.0278
Initial reservoir pressure, 4600 psia
p C16 H 34 0.0318
Dry gas rate, q sc 35314.7 Msc/D
Table 3: PVT properties of the reservoir fluid (CCE)
1150.023 0.863197 0.067040 0.014678 20.15536 0.076721 0.608710 0.187008 95.95488 5.785526
1380.033 0.851700 0.082627 0.015395 20.20043 0.096633 0.598038 0.174488 89.81944 4.710050
1610.044 0.840973 0.098962 0.016216 20.30715 0.117018 0.587988 0.163935 84.55903 3.774359
1840.056 0.831009 0.115971 0.017149 20.47192 0.137359 0.578489 0.154852 79.96035 2.974021
2070.070 0.821838 0.133561 0.018195 20.69435 0.157120 0.569473 0.146875 75.87229 2.301947
2300.086 0.813522 0.151627 0.019363 20.97589 0.175769 0.560866 0.139740 72.18337 1.748417
2530.103 0.806099 0.170058 0.020664 21.31870 0.192837 0.552552 0.133222 68.79776 1.301215
2760.122 0.799728 0.188761 0.022104 21.72655 0.207838 0.544478 0.127192 65.65884 0.947421
2990.142 0.794525 0.207659 0.023700 22.20332 0.220381 0.536509 0.121498 62.70276 0.672968
3220.164 0.790863 0.226721 0.025475 22.75592 0.229920 0.528617 0.116084 59.90392 0.464775
3450.188 0.789063 0.245934 0.027459 23.39160 0.235969 0.520621 0.110818 57.20892 0.310107
3680.213 0.789795 0.265347 0.029698 24.12255 0.237730 0.512366 0.105606 54.58036 0.197958
3910.239 0.794434 0.285106 0.032258 24.96990 0.233692 0.503718 0.100396 51.99297 0.119056
4140.268 0.805725 0.305501 0.035251 25.97057 0.220847 0.494467 0.095089 49.41348 0.065624
4370.297 0.828857 0.326944 0.038851 27.18030 0.193437 0.483871 0.089366 46.72331 0.031237
1515.495 4472.1 32.03 0.401031 0.020592 0.3576 4.84E-06 0.99937 0.183528 0.079759
727.59 4328.2 63.97 0.431824 0.036452 0.729 1.09E-05 0.998565 0.157947 0.09428
349.316 4184.4 94.2 0.451721 0.057922 1.512 1.43E-05 0.996794 0.142492 0.104308
167.707 4022.5 127.13 0.467529 0.090603 3.175 2.14E-05 0.992864 0.130878 0.112636
80.516 3860.6 158.97 0.480347 0.133922 6.718 3.02E-05 0.984264 0.121896 0.119624
38.656 3698.7 189.71 0.490173 0.190658 14.32 4.41E-05 0.965817 0.115363 0.125124
18.559 3536.9 219.19 0.497482 0.26394 30.71 6.64E-05 0.927584 0.110848 0.129295
8.91 3334.5 254.09 0.496979 0.38256 66.89 0.000119 0.85396 0.112208 0.129007
4.278 3132.2 285.99 0.504745 0.53808 147 0.000177 0.721707 0.108295 0.125018
2.054 2904.6 316.46 0.480194 0.767346 329.1 0.00029 0.554351 0.127857 0.119553
0.986 2620 347.48 0.460587 1.153476 762.8 0.000503 0.361898 0.148493 0.108981
0.473 2193.2 380.08 0.425934 1.992407 1943 0.00091 0.201416 0.190535 0.091542
SL k rg k rog SL k rg k rog
0.418 0 0.4400 0.2870 0 0.664
0.4377 0.000125 0.3685 0.3621 0.0112 0.4398
0.4772 0.003313 0.2175 0.3997 0.0248 0.3265
0.5167 0.0154 0.1227 0.4372 0.0440 0.2526
0.5561 0.0436 0.0578 0.4748 0.0685 0.1842
0.5759 0.0643 0.0364 0.5499 0.1353 0.0868
0.6154 0.1269 0.0105 0.5874 0.1759 0.0546
0.6548 0.2209 0.00136 0.6250 0.2230 0.0306
0.6943 0.3347 0 0.6626 0.2753 0.0158
0.8128 0.5308 0
ri 5000
rw
4000
Data
Pe = 4600 psi
re = 3280.8 ft
rw = 0.328 ft
h = 32.8 ft 2PND
Pressure, psia
re 3000
k = 100 mD
phi = 0.15
2PD
1PND
qg = 35.3 MMsc/D
1PD
Flow Pwf (psia)
2PND 1939.6
2PD 2555.3
Figure 1. Radial model 1PND 3602.8
1PD 3758.2
2000
rw re
1000
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Radial Distance, ft
rw = 0.328 ft
ri −1/ 2 ri ri+1/ 2
Figure 2. Simulation grid for the radial flow Figure 3. Pressure profiles for various flow characteristics
1 1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
2PND
2PD 2PND
0.5
1PND 1PND
1PD
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.1 0
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Figure 4. Condensate saturation profiles for various Figure 5. Inertial correction factor for gas phase flow
flow characteristics
0.2
0.6
0.5
0.15
0.4
Gas phase Relperm
Condensate relperm
2PND
0.3 2PD 2PND
0.1
1PND 2PD
1PD
0.2
0.05
0.1
0
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Radial distance, ft
0
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Radial distance, ft
Figure 6. Gas phase relperms for various flow Figure 7. Condensate phase relperms for various flow
characteristics characteristics
10000 0.001
1000
0.0001
Capillary Number, Nc
100
Gas velocity, ft/D
2PND
2PD 2PND
1PND 2PD
1PD
10
0.00001
0.1 0.000001
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Radial distance, ft Radial distance, ft
Figure 8. Gas velocity profiles for various flow Figure 9. Capillary number profile
characteristics
10 400
300
Differential pseudopressure, DELMP (psia)
1
IFT, dynes/cm
0.1
100
0
0.01 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Pressure,P ( psia)
Radial distance, ft