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Journal of Ecology & Natural Resources Research Article 8 min read

Production Optimization of an Eruptive Well by Using Nodal Analysis

Nitcheu M, Karga LP, Chamgoue AC, Bawane JG, Njeudjang K* and Mambou Ngueyep LL*
* Corresponding author
ISSN: 2578-4994  10.23880/jenr-16000282  Received: April 20, 2022  Published: May 31, 2022
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Keywords
Eruptive well Nodal Analysis PIPESIM Optimization Production Flowrate
Abstract

The objective of this paper is to optimize the eruptive well X-1 of field X so that it achieves an economically profitable production rate in order to be able to increase income. The completion data, pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) data and reservoir data are used to improve the production of the well X-1 by using the nodal analysis and PIPESIM software. Several optimization scenarios are considered by varying: The diameter of the tubing, the wellhead pressure, the diameter of the flow line and the water cut. The main results show that reducing the wellhead pressure from 350 to 100 psia and increasing the flowline diameter from 2.5 to 4 inches improve the production flow rate from 850 to 2030.472 bbl /d. In economic terms, this well gives the payback period after 1 year and 9 months and a net present value (NPV) of 193,546,524 $ after 8 years.

Introduction

Hydrocarbons are produced from well that penetrate the geological formations of oil and gas. Any oil well is drilled and completed, to move oil and gas from its original location in the field to the surface [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Considering the reservoir, the reservoir/well connection (completion), production casing/artificial lift, surface pipe and separation equipment as a system. Hydrocarbon production will only be possible at the expense of the pressure drop from the reservoir to the separator [6, 7]. It is therefore necessary to find the optimal drawdown pressure. Optimizing oil and gas well production using well models has contributed to improve completion techniques, better efficiency and higher production with many wells [8, 9, 10, 11, 12]. These wells can be analysed using modelling techniques to assess all elements of the production system. This procedure often identifies possible modifications to the well which, if carried out will result in higher flow rates [13, 14, 15]. Overall, optimization techniques can be a great tool to verify that a problem exists and indicate that further testing is needed. This paper is carried out in order to optimize the production of a newly drilled well X-I in the field X which was put into production immediately after completion. However, after putting the well into production its initial production rate was low this could possibly be due to a high pressure at the wellhead or because of a small flow line diameter.

The objectives of this paper are: Perform the nodal analysis of the initial well, perform a sensitivity analysis on each parameter to choose the optimal parameters, increase production and make an economic assessment. Hence to have a better understanding of this paper, it is sectioned into three sections. The first section deals with the introduction.

The completion, PVT and reservoir data are presented in the second section. The third section highlights the results obtained during the analysis. The fourth section deals with the conclusion.

Material and Methods

The well-used in this study is a newly drilled well which is designated X-1 in a field X for confidential reasons. The data available to perform this work are: Completion data, reservoir data and PVT data. Completion data are presented in Tables 1-3.

Internal Diameter (inch)External Diameter (inch)GradeDepth (ft)
Conductor pipe1920H44800
Surface casing14.62516D903500
Intermediate casing12.37513H457000
Production casing5.927L808000
Liner34.04H408000 and 9000
Production tubing34.04L808000
Packer7950
Perforation8500
Choke3
Flow line2.5
Reservoir thickness150
Hole diameter7

Table 1: Completion Data.

Reservoir Pressure8500 psi
Temperature200 0F
Productivity Index1.5 STB/d/psi
Permeability50 md
Skin1
Drainage Radius1500 ft

Table 2: Reservoir Data.

Oil Density0.8
Bo1.25
GOR500 SCF/STB
Water cut15%
ModelBlack oil
Wellhead Pressure350 psi
OAPI32

Table 3: PVT Data.

The nodal analysis, the PIPESIM software and economic analysis are used to achieve the aims of this paper.

Results

The results obtained during the analysis of data of Tables 1 to 3 are presented in this section. For a better optimization of the production of the newly drilled well X-1 in a field X two key steps must be followed: Performing the nodal analysis on the well by varying different number parameters in order to check the optimum parameters leading to the improvement of the production and an economic assessment is done to evaluate the profitability and the feasibility of the project.

Nodal Analysis

By using the completion data of Table 1, the well X-1 is designed as illustrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Well X-1 profile.
Click to enlarge
Figure 1: Well X-1 profile.

The flow rate produced by the well before its optimization is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Nodal analysis curve of well X-1.
Click to enlarge
Figure 2: Nodal analysis curve of well X-1.

In Figure 2, the meeting point between the IPR and VLP curves gives precisely the flow rate of 850 STB/d. Table 4 shows the influence of the tubing diameter on the well.

Flow rate (STB/d)Pressure at the Bottom (psi)
2.57782427
39012365
3.59692330

Table 4: Influence of the tubing Diameter.

In Table 4, according to the different diameter used and considering the cost of tubing and given that this variation has no great effect on the production, it is better to keep using the 3 inch tubing diameter. Figure 3 presents the influence of wellhead pressure.

Figure 3: Sensitivity curves for different values of the wellhead pressure.
Click to enlarge
Figure 3: Sensitivity curves for different values of the wellhead pressure.

From Figure 3, the reduction of the wellhead pressure from 350 psia to 50 psia by step of 50 psia induces the increased of the production flow rate. Figure 4 shows the influence of the flow line diameter.

Figure 4: Sensitivity curves for different values of the flow line diameter.
Click to enlarge
Figure 4: Sensitivity curves for different values of the flow line diameter.

From Figure 4, the increased of the flow line diameter induces the increased of the production flow rate. Different percentages of water cut (15%, 35%, 55%, 75% and 80%) are used in Figure 5 to check its effects on the well production.

Figure 5: Sensitivity curves for different values of the water cut.
Click to enlarge
Figure 5: Sensitivity curves for different values of the water cut.

From Figure 5, it is clearly seen that as the percentage of water cut increases the production flow rate decreases. The well becomes non-eruptive when the water cut percentage reaches 35% which corresponds to a pressure of 2000 psi.

Based on Figures 3 to 5, the optimal values of the wellhead pressure of 100 psi and a flow line diameter of 4 inch used to reach the desired flow rate of 2030. 472 STB/d is illustrated in Figure 6.

Figure 6: IPR/VLP curves of the well X-1 after the optimization.
Click to enlarge
Figure 6: IPR/VLP curves of the well X-1 after the optimization.

Economic Analysis

The aim of this subsection is to see the profit that the company earns after performing the proposed optimization.

By using the decline model, prediction of production over the next nine years is presented in Table 5.

T (year)Quantity (STB/d)
02030
11800.448487
21596.854558
31416.282942
41256..130285
51114087621
6988.1070796
7876.3723626
8777.2725585

Table 5: Production flow rate values over eight years.

Based on the Table 5, the production flow rate prediction as function of the years is plotted in Figure 7.

Figure 7 reveals that after nine years the production flow rate moves from 2030 STB/d to 777.2725585 STB/d. It is known that for the flow rate of 850 STB/d, the well is no longer profitable. Table 6 shows the various revenues obtained from the selling price of a barrel of oil in days and years and the various expenses.

Figure 7: Figure 7 reveals that after nine years the production flow rate moves from 2030 STB/d to 777.2725585 STB/d. It is known that for the flow rate of 850 STB/d, the well is no longer profitable. Table 6 shows the various revenues obtained from the selling price of a barrel of oil in days and years and the various expenses.
Click to enlarge
Figure 7: Figure 7 reveals that after nine years the production flow rate moves from 2030 STB/d to 777.2725585 STB/d. It is known that for the flow rate of 850 STB/d, the well is no longer profitable. Table 6 shows the various revenues obtained from the selling price of a barrel of oil in days and years and the various expenses.
t(Year)Quantity (STD/d)Revenue ($/d)Revenue($/year)Cost of oil ($/year)Taxe (0.1)
0203014210051866500111142505186650
11800.448487126031.394146001458.839857455.4644600145.88
21596.854558111779.819140799633.968742778.7054079963.4
31416.28294299139.8059336186029.177754149.1073618602.92
41256.13028587929.1199832094128.796877313.3123209412.88
51114.08762177986.1334928464938.726099629.7262846493.87
6988.107079669167.4955725246135.885409886.2612524613.59
7876.372362661346.0653822391313.864798138.6852239131.39

Table 6: Incomes and Expenses.

Choke and flow lineCost operation ($/year)
$500,000$45,000

Table 7: Incomes and Expenses.

The economic evaluation gives the total capex and open expenditure over the next eight years starting with year 0 which give a value of $ 89,503,615. The total income for the next eight years which gives a value of $283,050,139. The total NPV (income-expenses) on this difference which gives a value of $193,546,524 which is an economically profitable value. The payback period is equal to the expenses of the eight years on the income of one year (89,503,615/51,866,500) which gives 1.725653649 years. The company will therefore have a return on investment after a period of one year and nine months.

Conclusion

The purpose of this paper was to optimize the production flow rate of the well X-1 by using the nodal analysis method in order to have the desired flow rate. This analysis was carried out in the PIPESIM software where the completion data, reservoir data and pressure-volume-temperature data were simulated. The well X-1 being newly drilled first had a flow rate of 850 STB/d which was not sufficient and no more profitable for the company. It was then optimized in order to have a better production flow rate of 2030 STB/d desired by the company. From the results obtained, an observation is made that by increasing flow line diameter and decreasing wellhead pressure induced the increased of production flow rate. The optimal parameters found were the wellhead pressure and the flow line diameter. The wellhead pressure initially at 350 psi was dropped to 100 psi and the flow line diameter initially at 2.5 inch was increased to 4 inch in order to reach the desired flow rate of 2030 STB/d. The economic analysis revealed the payback period after 1 year 9 months and a net present value of 193,546,524$ after 8 years.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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@article{nitcheu2022,
  title   = {Production Optimization of an Eruptive Well by Using Nodal
Analysis},
  author  = {Nitcheu M, Karga LP, Chamgoue AC, Bawane JG, Njeudjang K* and
Mambou Ngueyep LL},
  journal = {Journal of Ecology & Natural Resources},
  year    = {2022},
  volume  = {6},
  number  = {2},
  doi     = {10.23880/jenr-16000282}
}
Nitcheu M, Karga LP, Chamgoue AC, Bawane JG, Njeudjang K* and
Mambou Ngueyep LL (2022). Production Optimization of an Eruptive Well by Using Nodal
Analysis. Journal of Ecology & Natural Resources, 6(2). https://doi.org/10.23880/jenr-16000282
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Production Optimization of an Eruptive Well by Using Nodal
Analysis
AU  - Nitcheu M, Karga LP, Chamgoue AC, Bawane JG, Njeudjang K* and
Mambou Ngueyep LL
JO  - Journal of Ecology & Natural Resources
PY  - 2022
VL  - 6
IS  - 2
DO  - 10.23880/jenr-16000282
ER  -