GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
(Chapter 8)
Presented By:Michael Okuneye
(K00285804)

Introduction
Engineers are often called upon to predict the
pressure-production behavior of wells to determine
their productive capacity.
Having an idea of the pressure-rate behavior
enables engineer to evaluate various operating
scenarios to ascertain the optimum production
scheme and to design and install surface and
subsurface production equipment when necessary.
To understand the flow capacity of a gas well
requires a relationship between the inflow gas rate
and the flowing bottom-hole pressure.
2

Pressure Transient Analysis of Gas

Well
When a gas well is first produced after being
shut-in for a period of time, the gas flow in the
reservoir follows an unsteady-state behavior
until the pressure drops at the drainage
boundary of the well.
Then the flow behavior passes through a short
transition period
After which it attains a steady-state or
semisteady (pseudosteady)-state condition.
The objective of this presentation is to describe
the empirical as well as analytical expressions
that can be used to establish the inflow
performance
relationships
under
the3

VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
Differential form of Darcys equation for
compressible fluids under the pseudosteady
state flow condition
(1)
Qg = gas flow rate, Mscf/day, k = permeability,
md, r= average reservoir real gas pseudopressure, psi2/cp, T = temperature, R, s = skin
factor, h = thickness, re = drainage radius, rw
= wellbore radius
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VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
The productivity index J for a gas well can be
written analogous to that for oil wells as:
(2)
.(3)
with the absolute open flow potential (AOF), i.e.,
maximum gas flow rate (Qg)max, as calculated by:
.(4)
J = productivity index, Mscf/day/psi2/cp,
(Qg)max= AOF
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VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
Equation 3 can be expressed
in a linear relationship as:
(5)
Equation 5 indicates that a
plot of wf vs. Qg would
produce a straight line with a
slope of (1/J) and intercept of
r ,. If two different stabilized
flow rates are available, the
line can be extrapolated and
the slope is determined to
estimate AOF, J, and r.
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VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE

Equation 1 can be alternatively written in the

following integral form
..(6)
Note that (p/g z) is directly proportional to (1/g Bg)
where Bg is the gas formation volume factor and
defined as:
(7)

.(8)
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VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
Region
III.
High-Pressure
Region
When both pwf and pr are higher
than 3000 psi, the pressure
functions (2p/gz) and (1/g Bg)
are
nearly
constants.
This
observation suggests that the
pressure term (1/g Bg) in
Equation 8 can be treated as a
constant and removed outside
the integral, to give the following
approximation to Equation 6:
(9)
The method of determining the
gas flow rate by using Equation 9
commonly called the pressure8
approximation method.

VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
Region II. IntermediatePressure Region
Between 2000 and 3000 psi,
the pressure function shows
distinct curvature. When the
bottom-hole flowing pressure
and
average
reservoir
pressure are both between
2000 and 3000 psi, the
pseudopressure gas pressure
approach (i.e., Equation 1)
should be used to calculate
the gas flow rate.

VERTICAL GAS WELL

PERFORMANCE
Region I. Low-Pressure Region
At low pressures, usually less than
2000 psi, the pressure functions
(2p/gz) and (1/g Bg) exhibit a
linear relationship with pressure.
Golan and Whitson (1986) indicated
that the product (gz) is essentially
constant when evaluating any
pressure
below
2000
psi.
Implementing this observation in
Equation 6 and integrating gives:
.(10)
It is recommended that the z-factor
and gas viscosity be evaluated at
the average pressure pavg as
defined by:
.(11)
10

The method of calculating the gas

Flow rate during turbulent

flow
In above discussion we assumed the laminar (viscous) flow
conditions during the gas flow.
In real time during radial flow, the flow velocity increases as the
wellbore is approached. This increase of the gas velocity might
cause the development of a turbulent flow around the wellbore.
If turbulent flow does exist, it causes an additional pressure drop
similar to that caused by the mechanical skin effect
The additional pressure drop due to turbulent flow can be
explained by including the rate-dependent skin factor DQ g.
The resulting pseudosteady-state equations are given in the
following three forms:
Pressure-Squared Approximation Form
Pressure-Approximation Form
Real Gas Potential (Pseudopressure) Form
11

Flow rate during turbulent

flow
Pressure-Squared Approximation
Form
.(12)
where D is the inertial or turbulent flow factor
(13)
where the non-Darcy flow coefficient F
.(14)
12

Flow rate during turbulent

flow
Pressure-Approximation Form
..(15)

Real Gas Potential (Pseudopressure)

Form
.(16)
Equations 8-14, 8-15, and 8-16 are essentially quadratic relationships in Q g
and, thus, they do not represent explicit expressions for calculating the gas
flow rate.
There are two separate empirical treatments that can be used to represent
the turbulent flow problem in gas wells.
The two treatments are called:
Simplified treatment approach
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Laminar-inertial-turbulent (LIT) treatment

The Simplified Treatment

Approach
Rawlins and Schellhardt (1936) postulated that the relationship between the
gas flow rate and pressure can be expressed as:
..(17)
Where C = performance coefficient, Mscf/day/psi 2
The exponent n is intended to account for the additional pressure drop caused
by the high-velocity gas flow, i.e., turbulence. Depending on the flowing
conditions, the exponent n may vary from 1.0 for completely laminar flow to 0.5
for fully turbulent flow.
The performance coefficient C to account for:
Reservoir rock properties
Fluid properties
Reservoir flow geometry
Equation 17 is commonly called the deliverability or back-pressure
equation. If the coefficients of the equation (i.e., n and C) can be
determined, the gas flow rate Qg at any bottom-hole flow pressure pwf can be
calculated and the IPR curve can be constructed. http
://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIsOIoB-9i0
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The Simplified Treatment

Approach
Taking the logarithm of both
sides of Equation 17 give
..(18)
If we plot (pr2 p2wf) versus Qg
on the logarithmic scales to
produce a straight line with a
slope of (1/n).
This plot is commonly referred to
as the deliverability graph or
the back-pressure plot
The deliverability exponent n
can be determined from any two
points on the straight line, i.e.,
(Qg1, p12) and (Qg2, p22),
according to the flowing
expression:
15

The Simplified Treatment

Approach
Given n, any point on the
straight line can be used to
compute the performance
coefficient C from:
..(19)

16

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pressure-Squared Quadratic Form
Equation 12 can be written in a more simplified form as
(21)
with
(22)
.(23)
The term (a Qg) in Equation 21 represents the pressure-squared
drop due to laminar flow while the term (b Q 2g) accounts for the
pressure squared drop due to inertial-turbulent flow effects.
Equation 21 can be linearized by dividing both sides of the equation
by Qg to yield:

17

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pressure-Squared Quadratic Form
The coefficients a and b can be determined by plotting
versus Qg on a Cartesian scale and should yield a straight
line with a slope of b and intercept of a.

18

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pressure-Quadratic Form
The pressure-approximation equation, i.e., Equation 15, can be
rearranged and expressed in the following quadratic form.
..(24)
..(25)
..(26)
The term (a1 Qg) in Equation 24 represents the pressure drop
due to laminar flow while the term (b 1 Q2g) accounts for the
pressure drop due to inertial-turbulent flow effects.
Equation 24 can be linearized by dividing both sides of the
equation
by Qg to yield:
19

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pressure-Quadratic Form
The coefficients a1 and b1 can be determined by plotting
versus Qg on a Cartesian scale and should yield a
straight line with a slope of b1 and intercept of a1.

20

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pseudopressure Quadratic Approach
Equation 16 can be written as:
.(27)
..(28)
..(29)

The term (a2 Qg) in Equation 27 represents the pseudopressure drop due to
laminar flow while the term (b2 Q2g) accounts for the psuedopressure drop due
to inertial-turbulent flow effects.
Equation 27can be linearized by dividing both sides of the equation
by Qg to yield:

21

The Laminar-Inertial-Turbulent
(LIT) Approach
Pseudopressure Quadratic Approach
The coefficients a2 and b2 can be determined by plotting
versus Qg on a Cartesian scale and should yield a straight
line with a slope of b2 and intercept of a2.

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Thank You

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