SUBSURFACE PRODUCTION

ENGINEERING
Course Instructor: Muhammad Ali
Email: [email protected]
LECTURE - 01
The aim of this course is to provide familiarization of the principles and
applications of various theories and techniques necessary to design, estimate
and maximize production performance in a cost effective manner within
various constraints from the oil and gas well systems.
.

Course content
1. Introduction to Subsurface Production Engineering

2. Reservoir inflow performance

3. Artificial lifting methods and Design
4. Formation Damage
5. Matrix Acidizing
6. Hydraulic Fracturing
7. Sand Control
8. Separators
9. Flow Assurance
10. Field Development Concepts & Fluid Processing onshore and offshore
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Role of a production engineer

The role of the Production Technologist is extremely broad. Currently
within the
operating companies in the petroleum industry, the role and
responsibility can be broadly said to be responsible for the
production system.
What You'll Do
production engineer responsibilities include:

Production monitoring and evaluation

Asset management planning
Workover design and execution
Production equipment design
Cost estimating and budgeting
Interfacing with working interest partners, service companies
and regulatory agencies
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Production System
Petroleum production involves two distinct but intimately
connected general systems:

the reservoir, which is a porous medium with unique storage

and flow characteristics;

and the artificial structures, which include the well, bottomhole,

and wellhead assemblies, as well as the surface gathering,
separation, and storage facilities.

Production system
The production system is a composite term describing the entire
production process
and includes the following principal components:(1) The reservoir - it productive capacity and dynamic production
characteristics
over the envisaged life of the development.
(2) The wellbore - the production interval, the sump and the fluids in
the wellbore
(3) Production Conduit - comprising the tubing and the tubing
components
(4) Wellhead, Xmas Tree and Flow Lines
(5) Treatment Facilities
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Production system

Role of production
engineer
(1)

Production Engineering:
Fluid flow
Reservoir dynamics
Equipment design, installation, operation and fault
diagnosis

(2) Production Chemistry:

The Fluids - produced, injected and treatment fluids
The Rock - mineralogy, physical/chemical properties
and rock strength and
response to fluid flow.
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What oil company

expects
Production technology contributes substantially as one of
the major technical functions within an operating company
and in particular, to its economic performance and cashflow.
Cashflow
The overall objectives would ideally be to maximise both
cashflow and recoverable reserves. This would normally
require maintaining the well in an operational state to
achieve
(a) maximum production rates
(b) maximum economic longevity
(c) minimum down time
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What oil company

expects

What oil company

expects

Economic phases of field development and input from

production technology

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What oil company

expects
(2) Costs
In this category there would be both fixed and direct costs, the fixed
costs being those
associated by conducting the operation and the direct or variable costs
being
associated with the level of production and the nature of the operating
problems. The
latter costs are therefore defined in terms of cost per barrel of oil
produced. On this
basis the production technologist would seek to:

(i) Minimise capital costs

(ii) Minimise production costs
(iii) Minimise treatment costs
(iv) Minimise workover costs
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TIME SCALE OF
INVOLVEMENT
The production technologist is involved in the initial well design and
will have interests in the drilling operation from the time that the
reservoir is penetrated. In addition his inputs will last throughout the
production life of the well, to its ultimate abandonment. Thus the
production technologist will contribute to company operations on a
well from initial planning to abandonment.

PHASE NATURE OF INPUT/ACTIVITY

Drilling Casing string design

Drilling fluid Selection
Completion Design/installation of completion string
Production Monitoring well and completion performance
Workover/Recompletion Diagnosis/recommendation/ installation of
new or improved production systems
Abandonment Identify candidates and procedures
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KEY SUBJECT AREAS IN

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY
Production technology is both a diverse and complex area. With the

on-going development of the Petroleum Industry the scope of the

technological activities continues to expand and as always increases
in depth and complexity. It is however, possible to identify several
key subject areas within Production Technology namely:1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)

Well Productivity
Well Completion
Well Stimulation
Associated Production Problems
Remedial and Workover Techniques
Artificial Lift / Productivity Enhancement
Surface Processing
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Well productivity

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Well productivity
An oil or gas reservoir contains highly compressible
hydrocarbon fluids at an elevated pressure and
temperature and as such, the fluid stores up within
itself considerable energy of compression.
The efficient production of fluids from a reservoir
requires the effective dissipation of this energy
through the production system.
Optimum utilisation of this energy is an essential part
of a successful completion design and ultimately of
field development economics.
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Well productivity
The productivity of the system is dependent on the pressure loss which
occurs in
several areas of the flow system namely:-

The
The
The
The
The
The

reservoir
wellbore
tubing string
choke
flow line
separator

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Well productivity

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Well productivity
. Under natural flowing conditions the reservoir pressure must provide all the energy to
operate the system i.e. all the pressure drop in the system.

PR = PSYSTEM + PSEP
where;
PR = reservoir pressure
PSYSTEM = total system pressure drop
PSEP = separator pressure

The optimum distribution of energy between these various areas has a

major bearing on the cost effectiveness of a well design and hence
production costs.
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Well productivity
The pressure drop which occurs across the reservoir, PRES and is defined as the inflow
performance relationship or IPR. The pressure drop and causes floe is in the tubing and
wellbore PTBG is that which occurs in lifting the fluids from the reservoir to the surface and
it is known as the vertical lift performance or VLP, or the tubing performance
relationship or TPR,
i.e. for natural flow R = PRES + PTBG + PTH
Where;
PTH = Tubing head pressure
The pressure drop across the reservoir, the tubing and choke are rate dependant and
these relationships therefore define the means by which we can optimise the production
of the fluid from the reservoir.

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Well productivity
limitations on the extent to which we can optimise the dissipation of this energy. These are
the following:-

Limited Reservoir Pressure

Minimum Surface Pressure

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WELL COMPLETION
the major proportion of production technology activities have been
concerned with the engineering and installation of the down hole
completion equipment.

The completion string is a critical component of the production

system and to be effective it must be efficiently designed, installed
and maintained.

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Well completion
Increasingly, with moves to higher reservoir pressures and more hostile development areas,
the actual capital costs of the completion string has become a significant proportion of the total
well cost and thus worthy of greater technical consideration and optimisation.
(1) The fluids which will be used to fill the wellbore during the completion process
.
(2) The completion must consider and specify how the fluids will enter the
wellbore from the formation i.e
(3) The design of the completion string itself must provide the required containment
capability to allow fluids to flow safely to the surface with minimal loss in
pressure.
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Well completion

23

Well stimulation
WHY STIMULATION IS NEEDED?
The productivity of a well naturally arises from the compressed state of the fluids, their
mobility and the flow properties of the rock, primarily in terms of permeability.
In some cases reservoirs may contain substantial reserves of hydrocarbons but the
degree of inter-connection of the pore space and the ease with which the fluids can
flow through the rock, may be very poor.

In such situations it may be beneficial to stimulate the production capacity of the well.

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WELL STIMULATION
Stimulation techniques are intended to:-

(1) Improve the degree of inter-connection between the pore space, particularly for
low permeability or vugular rocks
(2) Remove or bypass impediments to flow, e.g.. damage.
(3) Provide a large conductive hydraulic channel which will allow the wellbore to
communicate with a larger area of the reservoir.

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WELL STIMULATION
In general, there are four principal techniques applied, namely:-

Propped Hydraulic Fracturing

Acid Fracturing

26

Associated Production
Problems
The on going process of producing hydrocarbons from a well is a dynamic process and
this is often evidenced in terms of changes in the rock or fluid production characteristics.
Physico-chemical changes

27

Associated Production
Problems
The on going process of producing hydrocarbons from a well is a dynamic process and
this is often evidenced in terms of changes in the rock or fluid production characteristics.
Physico-chemical changes
Incompatibility between reservoir fluids and those introduced into the
wellbore which may result in formation damage, e. g., scale deposits or
emulsions.

28

Associated Production
Problems
The mechanical collapse or breakdown of the formation may give rise
to the production of individual grains or "clumps" of formation sand
with the produced fluids..

29

Associated Production
Problems
In formations containing siliceous or clay fines, these may be produced with the
hydrocarbons creating plugging in the reservoir and wellbore.

30

Associated Production
Problems
Corrosion due to the inherent corrosive nature of some of the components

Processing problems can be encountered such as radioactive scales, foams,

heavy metals deposits, etc.

31

Workover Techniques
The production technologist is responsible for monitoring and ensuring the ongoing
safe operation of the well. As such the responsibilities include:-

Identification of problems and their source

32

WORKOVER
TECHNIQUES
Plan the required corrective action - this requires considerable attention to
detail and will necessitate:-

(a) Identifying the equipment, manpower and other capabilities required.

(b) Identification and assessment of the unknowns/uncertainties.
(c) Identification and evaluation of the key safety points and mile stones.
(3) The assessment of the probability of technical and economic success.
(4) To identify the required resources, skills and their supervision.
(5) The workover phase is the most dangerous in terms of well control and the
potential for damage on existing production wells. Attention to detail and
careful planning is essential.

33

Artificial Lift
wells will produce under natural flow conditions when reservoir pressure will support
sustainable flow by meeting the entire pressure loss requirements between the reservoir
and separator. In cases where reservoir pressure is insufficient to lift fluid to surface or at
an economic rate, it may be necessary to assist in the lift process by either:-

Reducing flowing pressure gradients in the tubing e.g. reducing the hydrostatic
head by injecting gas into the stream of produced fluids. This process is known as
gaslift.
Providing additional power using a pump, to provide the energy to provide part or
all of the pressure loss which will occur in the tubing.

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ARTIFICIAL LIFT
In the case of gas lift, the pressure gradients will be reduced because of the change in
fluid composition in the tubing above the point of injection.
When pumps are used, apart from fluid recompression and the associated fluid
properties, there is no change in fluid composition. There are many specific
mechanisms for providing pump power and the lift mechanism. e.g.
Electrical powered centrifugal pumps
Hydraulic powered centrifugal/turbine, jet and reciprocating pumps
Sucker rod and screw pumps
Each artificial lift system has a preferred operating and economic envelope influenced
by factors such as fluid gravity, G.O.R., production rate as well as development factors
such as well type, location and availability of power.

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THANK YOU

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