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Results
Introducing a New Correlation for Multiphase Flow Through Surface Chokes With Newly Incorporated Parameters
Safar Beiranvand, Mahmoud (Institute of Petroleum Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran) | Babaei Khorzoughi, Mohammad (Mining Engineering Department, University of British Columbia)
Summary Flow-rate prediction of oil production wells is of prime importance to effectively confront high-water-cut and separator problems. (Semi-) empirical multiphase-flow correlations are proved quite useful for this purpose. This work presents new generalized multiphase flow choke correlation, derived on the basis of actual production data from horizontal and vertical wells from an oil field in Iran. The newly established correlation predicts liquid flow rates as a function of flowing wellhead pressure, gas/liquid ratio, surface wellhead choke size, and the newly incorporated parameters: basic sediment and water (BS&W) and temperature. To evaluate the influence of these two new parameters, a parameter-sensitivity analysis was performed and the results are shown. This proposed correlation exhibited an average error of roughly 2.89%, which is superior to those previous correlations in the literature that did not use these two newly incorporated parameters (BS&W and temperature). These new parameters can be added to the previous correlations when the water cut and temperature become important in the production history of the wells.
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Fluid Dynamics > Multiphase flow (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Improved and Enhanced Recovery > Conformance improvement (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Fluid Characterization > Phase behavior and PVT measurements (1.00)
- (2 more...)
Abstract During the period since their inception around 1990 until today, multiphase flow meters (MPFMs) and wet gas flow meters (WGMs) have gone from a state of unreliable hardware and questionable answers, to a point where their reliability is becoming acceptable, while providing information that is essential for proper operation of oil and gas production systems. Because the use of these devices is so much more common today than it was in the past, an illusion may exist in the minds of some that to select, operate, and maintain them at a satisfactory level of performance is straightforward - that they are "plug- and-play" instruments for the modern oilfield. While this remains a prime objective of meter development, it has yet to be achieved. It is clear that multiphase and wet-gas flow meters have the potential to provide good answers over a broad range of conditions. However, achieving such performance requires more than just a cursory knowledge of upstream measurement. From selecting the right meter(s); in their commissioning, operation, and maintenance; and especially in the use of MPFM and WGM data, an in-depth understanding of many different aspects of the technology must be called upon. Will nature of the well production change significantly over the life of the field, for example moving from a liquid-dominant flow to one that is primarily gas? If the fluid properties of the production change with time, will the meter be capable of accounting for this, or will it require a sample for re-calibration, and is sample collection feasible? Will there be chemicals injected upstream of the meter that might cause confusion in the meter readings? To adequately address these questions and account for changes in the system, users must track Key Performance Indicators (KPI) through the Life of the Field (LoF). This and other practical questions in the use of these important instruments are addressed and illustrated.
- North America > United States (1.00)
- Europe > Norway (0.71)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > DC 133 > Canyon Express Field (0.99)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > Block 348 > Canyon Express Field (0.99)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > Block 305 > Canyon Express Field (0.99)
ABSTRACT: An experimental study was conducted to investigate liquid entrainment in gas at high pressure. The liquid entrained refers to the fraction of the liquid phase suspended and transported in the gas phase in the form of droplets. Testing was conducted in a 2-inch horizontal pipe and a liquid film removal device was used to obtain the entrainment fraction. Two sets of tests were conducted: oil-N2 and water-N2 at pressures up to 1,000 psig, with superficial gas velocities between 2-m/s and 24-m/s, and superficial liquid velocities between 0.002-m/s and 0.1-m/s. Wave measurements were also performed during the nitrogen-water testing using conductance probes. 1 INTRODUCTION When two-phase gas-liquid mixtures flow in a pipeline, the distribution of the gas and the liquid phases within the pipe depends on the velocity, fraction of each phase, fluid properties, pipe geometry, and inclination angle. The arrangement of the gas and liquid phases into steady-state configurations are called flow patterns (1). In a wet gas stream which is dominated by the gas phase, two main flow patterns can be observed in horizontal pipes, Stratified flow (smooth or wavy) and Annular flow. The Stratified flow pattern is characterized by the bulk of the liquid running at the bottom of the pipe and gas flowing at the top of the pipe. As the gas velocity increases, waves form at the gas/liquid interface, this allows for droplets to detach from the liquid and travel with the gas. The entrainment fraction is a result of the atomization and deposition processes that take place in a gas/liquid system dominated by the gas phase. At sufficiently high gas velocities a fraction of the liquid is atomized and carried by the gas in the form of droplets while the rest flows as a film wetting the pipe walls resulting in Annular flow.
- Research Report > Experimental Study (0.66)
- Research Report > New Finding (0.48)
Application of the Ultrasonic Technique For the Measurement of the Dispersed Phases Concentrations In Three-phase Oil-continuous Mixtures
Goncalves, L. (Universidade Federal de Itajuba) | Carvalho, R.D.M. (Universidade Federal de Itajuba) | Muhl, J. (Montanuniversitat Leoben) | Tichauer, W.A. (Montanuniversitat Leoben) | Bannwart, A.C. (Universidade Estadual de Campinas)
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the possibility of eliminating or diminishing the need for mixing and separation in multiphase flow metering (MFM) systems by means of the ultrasonic technique. First, a configuration of a complete MFM system using the ultrasonic is proposed and thoroughly discussed. Next, visual data and ultrasonic data in oilcontinuous two- and three-phase mixtures in 54-mm diameter acrylic pipes are presented to support the proposed use to the ultrasonic technique. USP mineral oil (white oil) and 80 โ 600 ฮผm glass beads were used to simulate the petroleum and sand contents, respectively. Tap water was used to simulate the brine in multiphase flows. The ultrasonic data are then carefully analyzed in order to obtain the dispersed phases concentrations from the ultrasonic signals. 1 INTRODUCTION Motivated by increasing oilfield development costs, oil companies have invested heavily in efforts to develop a multiphase flowmeter (MPFM) capable of measuring the multiphase flow from a wellhead without separating its constituent phases. In a single well surveillance using a MPFM, the time resolution of the information is higher than from a test separator sampled at much longer intervals. Using a MPFM instead of a separator may therefore reduce the total uncertainty in well data, even if instantaneous phase flow rates are measured with increased uncertainty (1โ2). According to Babelli (4), an ideal multiphase flow meter for use in the oil industry should: (a) measure the concentration of the dispersed phases; (b) determine the flow regime of the mixture flow; (c) measure the flow rate of each phase; (d) perform nonintrusive measurements; (e) have a wide range of applicability with respect to types of fluids, flow rates, flow regimes, conduit size, temperatures, and pressures; (e) produce consistent measurements over a long period of time; (f) be compact, simple, and inexpensive.
- Europe (1.00)
- North America > United States (0.46)
- South America > Brazil (0.28)
ABSTRACT: The addition of a small amount of flexible organic polymers in a turbulent flow can strongly decrease friction pressure drop, allowing thereby substantial increase in crude export pipeline capacity. This effect, known as "Drag Reduction", is widely implemented on various industrial sectors: petroleum, medicine, hydrodynamics, etc. Only a few tens of parts per million by weight of Drag Reducing Agents (DRA) are required, making these additives economically attractive. These long-chain polymers are known to be very sensitive to high shear and are for example completely destroyed through boosting pressure pumps in place throughout long export crude pipelines (> 300 km), requiring the installation of new DRA injection skids at the downstream of each pump station. However these long-chain polymers have been shown to be sensitive to mechanical degradation occurring during the transport within the pipeline, phenomenon which progressively reduces the overall DRA efficiency. An original experimental study, combining two experimental apparatus, a classical rheometer and a specially designed laboratory turbulent flow loop, was carried out to monitor such degradation phenomenon. Different commercial oil soluble DRAs have been tested on various fluids including crude oil and model kerosene, under a large range of experimental conditions in terms of geometrical configuration, temperature and flow rates. The experimental results highlight a clear link between degradation kinetics and flow dissipated energy and led to a patented law allowing the evaluation of DRA efficiency as a function of the dissipated energy, which is directly correlated to pipeline length. This new law is aimed at optimising polymer initial concentrations in order to achieve the desired DRA efficiency by covering the degradation which will occur during transport. Such model will allow better implementation of DRA usage in crude export pipes at the design development stage and not just using them for flow de-bottlenecking cases.
- Research Report > New Finding (0.34)
- Research Report > Experimental Study (0.34)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Improved and Enhanced Recovery (1.00)
- Facilities Design, Construction and Operation > Pipelines, Flowlines and Risers (1.00)
- Production and Well Operations > Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring > Downhole and wellsite flow metering (0.70)
- Production and Well Operations > Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring > Production logging (0.60)
ABSTRACT: Three oil-water-gas flows experiments have been carried out in a 68 mm ID pipe with a dense gas (simulating high pressure flows) and with oils of different viscosities (1.8โ100 cP). Measurements include pressure drop and liquid entrainment using an isokinetic sampling probe. The flow is recorded with a high speed video camera. The tested gas velocities (1โ4 m/s) did not give large entrained droplet fractions. The effect of water is to reduce the entrainment and pressure drop. OLGA predicts the pressure drop quite well. 1. INTRODUCTION In order to design multiphase transport lines it is important to predict the transport of each phase in the pipeline in particular the liquid accumulation and the pressure drop. In separated flows, droplets can be torn off the liquid layer and be transported as a droplet field in the gas. There are two major flow effects coming from an entrained droplet field in the gas. Firstly, the droplet flow can represent a very large fraction of the liquid transport. Secondly, even when the entrained fraction is low, the droplets can cause wall wetting and thus contribute increasing the pressure drop. 1D flow requires closure relations related to the droplet field and these are usually calibrated to experimental measurements under controlled laboratory conditions. Some of the relevant published works are show in Table 1. Most of these experiments were done using water and air at atmospheric pressure where high gas velocities are needed to obtain liquid entrainment in the gas phase. However, the public domain experimental data available for three phase flow is scarce. The present experiments focus in three phase flow at elevated gas densities. The comparison between the predicted and experimental values (Paras et al (1994), Vlachos et al (1997)) shows a good agreement (max error 20%).
- Production and Well Operations > Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring > Downhole and wellsite flow metering (0.95)
- Production and Well Operations > Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring > Production logging (0.71)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Reservoir Fluid Dynamics > Multiphase flow (0.70)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Formation Evaluation & Management (0.69)
ABSTRACT Wave impact tests were performed in the flume tank of Ecole Centrale Marseille in order to investigate whether bubble curtains could be a relevant solution as an anti-sloshing device on board membrane LNG carriers for low and partial filling conditions, when associated to a sloshing monitoring system. Bubble curtains were generated by bubblers located at the foot of the instrumented wall. Parameters related to the wave generation (focalization or solitons) and to the bubblers (type, location and gas flow rate) were screened in order to measure their influence on the impact pressures. The range of gas flow rates studied was restricted to an economically feasible range at full scale. Whatever the wave generation, the current induced by the bubble curtains favors the overturning of the wave crests and, therefore, accelerates the wave breaking process. The location of the bubblers and the gas flow rate make this process more or less efficient. The variability of the loads is increased and the size of the high loaded areas is reduced. The added compressibility of the aerated water does not seem to be of significant influence. Depending on the advancement of the wave breaking process for an incident wave, the influence of a bubble curtain on the wave impact loads turns out to be either positive or negative. Consequently, bubble curtains are not considered as a relevant principle for designing an anti-sloshing device on board LNG carriers. INTRODUCTION Wave impact tests were performed in the wave channel of Ecole Centrale Marseille (ECM) in 2009, at two different scales (see Kimmoun et al., 2010), in order to study the scaling effects on impact pressures. During this campaign, a preparatory work consisted in enabling the generation of deterministic inflow conditions for the wave impacts at both scales.
Abstract Two closed circuit flow loops have been constructed for X-ray CT imaging of multiphase flows. A 3 generation helical scanner provides 3D images with a voxel size as small as 0.35ร0.35ร0.30mm. By "folding" the loops, flows have been imaged over a 16m section of 3.8 cm (1-1/2") pipe. In future, larger bores could be accommodated with a shorter overall length, dictated by the aperture and weight limit of the scanner. Sand slurry flows have been imaged in both laminar and turbulent regimes (using silicone oil and water, respectively) over a range of velocities reflective of typical in situ pressure gradients. Flowing sand concentrations up to 20% by volume were achieved by adjusting the total sand content in the loop. With proper calibration the CT images provide detailed, quantitative measures of sand concentration and, indirectly, the partitioning between moving and settled regions of the flow. The flowing density profiles vary significantly with the sand content and flow velocity, indicative of changing sand transport mechanisms. Fluctuations over the observable length of the loop show evidence of settling overlaid on the flow-induced resuspension. The effects of the end loops on both aspects of sand transport are considered.
Abstract: Triggered seismicity remains one of the main geomechanics hazards that affect safety in deep mining. Mobilization or propagation of existing faults can potentially release large amounts of seismic energy that in turn may trigger rockbursts and falls of ground, threatening worker safety and generating production delays. Current modeling approaches, typically based on stress analyses, do not fully succeed in capturing such seismically triggered mechanisms as the main seismic event location may be beyond the volume of rock affected by the mining induced stress perturbation. However, the displacement field generated by the excavation process may explain the triggering of far-field seismicity. Deeper understanding of the mining-induced deformation field is the motivation for the development of mine-scale deformation monitoring techniques. Innovative deformation sensors developed for structural monitoring based on fibre optic technology allows distributed measurement of strain at high spatial sampling rates over large distances. This paper presents the results of the testing of one of these systems in an active mining context. The system selected is based on Brillouin Optical Time Domain Analyses (BOTDA) and allows for a spatial resolution of 10 cm. It has been tested in the laboratory and installed in five boreholes piercing through an actively mined, 25 m thick, 1000 m deep, sill pillar. Benchmarking of the system against extensometer results was successful in a qualitative manner. The high spatial resolution of the fibre optic system brings valuable additional insights to rock mass deformation processes. 1 INTRODUCTION Currently, the single monitoring systems with high spatial and temporal resolution that are deployed in deep underground mines are seismicity and microseismicity monitoring systems. However, much of the rock mass deformation and failure process occurs occurs without generating measurable micro-seismicity. Thus, microseismic emissions can account for only a tiny portion of the total energy balance (Das and Zoback, 2011).
Abstract Agbami is a deepwater oil field located offshore Nigeria in the Gulf of Guinea. The field has been online since July 2008 and has produced over 275 MMBO to date. The Turbidite depositional setting has lead to a complex stratigraphic architecture with reservoirs being broken into distinct subunits. Although initially in thermodynamic equilibrium they posed dynamic challenges of conformance control and differential depletion. For this reason, Intelligent Well Completions (IWC) were installed throughout the field in both injectors and producers. The field development currently consists of 39 completions across 21 wellbores which are individually isolated and controlled via Interval Control Valves (ICV). Combined with multiple downhole pressure/temperature sensors and inline flowmeters the Agbami IWC provides the real time surveillance and control necessary for optimization of field performance and recovery. During development planning, identifying the potential value from the installation of IWCs and deciding on or recognizing their possible applications is often not a trivial one. The value can be hard to quantify where the information impacts multiple decisions, there is limited in-house experience or where robust forecasts are difficult to generate. The objective of this paper is to bridge some of these gaps through providing an overview of the application of the IWC within Agbami from the workstation of the Production Engineer. Although often overlooked at the early stages of field development, IWCs can provide significant value to the Production Engineer who focuses on the short to midterm field performance and long-term completion reliability. The paper will cover specific examples of value added in relation to production performance over the last three years of field history. IWCs are used actively by the production engineering team with the objective of prudent reservoir management through integration of their capabilities into surveillance plans, production management practices and production optimization efforts. The expanding employment of IWCs for existing or new field developments warrants further literature which shares detailed examples of IWC practices and benefits. The intention of this paper being to focus on the production engineering aspects and values of the IWC as it has been utilized within Agbami at the operations level to improve reservoir management.
- Asia (1.00)
- Africa > Nigeria (1.00)
- North America > United States > Texas (0.69)
- Geology > Geological Subdiscipline > Stratigraphy (0.66)
- Geology > Sedimentary Geology (0.48)
- Geology > Structural Geology (0.46)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > Block 657 > Na Kika Project (0.99)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > Block 608 > Na Kika Project (0.99)
- North America > United States > Gulf of Mexico > Central GOM > East Gulf Coast Tertiary Basin > Mississippi Canyon > Block 607 > Na Kika Project (0.99)
- (10 more...)