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Collection of Exam Questions

Production Optimisation (Technische Universiteit Delft)

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Worked exam questions for course AES1360

‘Production Optimisation’

J.D. Jansen

Version 21b, August 2014

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Title: Worked exam questions for course AES1360 ‘Production

Optimisation’
Version: 21b
Date: August 2014
Author: J.D. Jansen
Postal address: Section Petroleum Engineering
Department of Geoscience and Engineering
Delft University of Technology
P.O. Box 5028
2600 GA Delft
The Netherlands

E-mail: [email protected]

Copyright  2014 J.D. Jansen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission of the
author.

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Contents

CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. III 

NOTE ......................................................................................................................... 1 

QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................. 1 
13 August 2014 ...................................................................................................................................... 1 

2 July 2014 ............................................................................................................................................. 2 

29 August 2012 ...................................................................................................................................... 4 

4 July 2012 ............................................................................................................................................. 4 

29 June 2011 .......................................................................................................................................... 5 

30 June 2010 .......................................................................................................................................... 6 

11 June 2009 .......................................................................................................................................... 7 

16 June 2008 .......................................................................................................................................... 8 

31 August 2007 ...................................................................................................................................... 8 

3 April 2007 ........................................................................................................................................... 9 

18 August 2006 ...................................................................................................................................... 9 

18 August 2005 .................................................................................................................................... 10 

30 March 2005 ..................................................................................................................................... 10 

25 March 2004 ..................................................................................................................................... 13 

19 June 2003 ........................................................................................................................................ 16 

25 March 2002 ..................................................................................................................................... 17 

26 June 2001 ........................................................................................................................................ 18 

26 March 2001 ..................................................................................................................................... 23 

ANSWERS ............................................................................................................... 25 

13 August 2014 .................................................................................................................................... 25 

2 July 2014 ........................................................................................................................................... 27 

29 August 2012 .................................................................................................................................... 32 

4 July 2012 ........................................................................................................................................... 32 

29 June 2011 ........................................................................................................................................ 32 

30 June 2010 ........................................................................................................................................ 33 

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11 June 2009 ........................................................................................................................................ 33 

16 June 2008 ........................................................................................................................................ 34 

31 August 2007 .................................................................................................................................... 35 

3 April 2007 ......................................................................................................................................... 36 

18 August 2006 .................................................................................................................................... 36 

18 August 2005 .................................................................................................................................... 37 

30 March 2005 ..................................................................................................................................... 37 

25 March 2004 ..................................................................................................................................... 40 

19 June 2003 ........................................................................................................................................ 43 

25 March 2002 ..................................................................................................................................... 45 

26 June 2001 ........................................................................................................................................ 48 

26 March 2001 ..................................................................................................................................... 51 

REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 53 

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Note
These worked exam questions have been taken from exams given in the period 2001-2014.
During these years the contents of the course have gradually changed, and some topics have
been added or removed. Furthermore, some of the notation has changed over the years.
Therefore, old exam questions taken from other sources may lead to confusion and are not
recommended as exercise material.

Questions
13 August 2014
1. Mixed questions:
1.a) In a horizontal well draining a homogeneous reservoir, where do you expect water
coning to occur first, at the toe or at the heel? Why? (½ point)
1.b) The hydraulic head capacity of a centrifugal pump is not influenced by the density
of the liquid. So, why does its power consumption increase with increasing liquid
density (for a given flow rate)? (½ point)
1.c) Why is the water FVF, at a given pressure, increasing with increasing temperatures?
(½ point)
1.d) What are the dimensions of the liquid viscosity number N ? (½ point)
1.e) Why is the slope of the IPR for a gas well near-vertical at atmospheric pressure? (½
point)
1.f) Describe a simple test to check the accuracy of a pressure drop calculation in any
commercial nodal analysis package. Does passing the test imply that the program is
accurate? (½ point)
2. Consider an oil well completed with a 4” tubing producing according to profile A given in
Table 1 below. The reservoir pressure decline is identical for the two cases.

Table 1: Oil production profiles.

year 1 2 3 4 5 6 sum
6
A (10 bbl) 0.40 0.60 0.60 0.40 0.25 0.15 2.40
6
B (10 bbl) 0.35 0.55 0.55 0.45 0.35 0.30 2.55

2.a) Profile B corresponds to completing the well with a 3” tubing. Why would profile A
lead to a higher production rate early-on, while profile B leads to a higher
production rate later during the life of the well? Explain your answer with a
schematic nodal analysis plot. (1 point)

2.b) Changing-out the tubing after year 3 costs 2 million $ (discounted). Is this an
economically attractive option at a discount rate of 15% and an oil price of
105 $/bbl. (Start discounting production from year one at the end of year one). What
is the corresponding NPV? (1 point)
3. Multiphase flow:
3.a) Which factors determine the flow regime in a pipe or oil well with multiphase
(gas/oil) flow? (½ point)
3.b) What is the effect of gas slip on upward vertical multiphase flow? What are the
causes of slip? (½ point)

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3.c) Calculate the pressure drop per unit length (in SI units) in a vertical oil well with
zero water cut using the Hagedorn and Brown correlation. Consider two cases: with
and without slip. (1 point)
Data:
qo  0.7 ft 3 /s, qg  2.8 ft 3 /s,
d  5 in, e  30  m,
f w  0, o  7 cp,  g = 0.01 cp,
 o  890 kg/m3 ,  g  3.7 kg/m3 ,
H g  0.73 (in case of slip),
p  0.5  106 Pa.
2 July 2014
4. Mixed questions
1.a) What is the most important similarity and what is the most important difference
between the volatile oil and black oil models? (½ point)
1.b) What is the difference between the pseudo-reduced and the pseudo-critical
temperature of a hydrocarbon gas mixture? (½ point)
1.c) What are the most important pressure drop mechanisms in a) the near well bore, b)
the converging part of a choke, c) a horizontal gas well, and d) a vertical water
injection well? (½ point)
1.d) Describe two mechanisms that can cause the gas phase in a well to travel faster (on
average) than the oil phase? (½ point)
1.e) Why are lift performance curves of an ESP expressed in terms of head instead of
pressure? (½ point)
1.f) Why is it not possible to distinguish between stable and unstable operation points in
the nodal analysis of a production system based on steady-state equations? (½ point)
5. Consider a dry gas well in a reservoir that can be represented as a circular reservoir
producing under semi-steady state conditions with properties listed in Table 1. Compute
the (approximate) well flow rate at standard conditions if the bottom hole pressure is
lowered to 130 bar. (1 point)

Table 1: Gas and reservoir properties.

Parameter SI units
Reservoir height h 40 m
Reservoir radius re 1200 m
Well radius rw 0.25 m
Permeability k 2230 mD
Forchheimer coefficient  0 m-1
Average gas FVF Bg,av 7.2×10-3 
Average gas viscosity g,av 19.3×10-6 Pa s
Average reservoir pressure pR,av 140 bar
Skin S 4 

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6. Consider a vertical black oil well with properties given in Table 2. All properties
correspond to a depth of 500 ft., except for qg,sc, Rgo, fw, g,sc and o,sc which correspond
to standard conditions.

Table 2: Oil well properties.

Parameter Field units
Tubing diameter d 2.453 in
Tubing roughness e 0.0012 in
Oil flow rate qo,sc -650 bpd
GOR Rgo 300 scf/stb
Water cut fw 0 
Gas gravity g 0.69 
API gravity API 33 deg. API
Solution GOR Rs 129 scf/stb
Gas FVF Bg 0.022 cft/scf
Oil FVF Bo 1.167 bbl/stb
Gas viscosity g 0.0147 cp
Oil viscosity o 6.43 cp
Gas-oil interfacial tension go  8 dynes/cm

3.a) Convert all variables to SI units. (½ point)

3.b) Compute the gas and liquid flow rates and densities corresponding to a depth of 500
ft. (½ point)
3.c) Compute the Hagedorn and Brown dimensionless numbers Nlv, Ngv, Nd and N.
(½ point)
3.d) Explain why the liquid hold up in an oil well can never be smaller than the liquid
fraction. (½ point)
7. Consider a well/flow line system depicted in Figure 1. The nodal pressure-versus-flow
rate curves have been depicted in Figure 2. Note that the bottom hole pressure has been
shifted with 20 MPa to improve readability of the figure.

pfl
pmf ptf

pwf pR

Figure 1: System elements: near-wellbore, well bore, choke and flow line.

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6
x 10
3
p - 20 MPa
wf
p
2.5 tf
p
fl
p
mf
2
Pressure p , Pa

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
3 -3
Oil flow rate -q , m /s x 10
o,sc

Figure 2: Nodal analysis results.

4.a) What is the reservoir pressure? (½ point)
4.b) Suppose that the manifold is connected to a separator that operates at 1.0 MPa.
What is the oil flow rate through the system? (½ point)
4.c) What is the drawdown? (½ point)
4.d) Is the choke operating in the critical regime? Why (not)? (½ point)
4.e) At low flow rates, the pressure drop over the flow line can be neglected. What is the
practical minimum flow rate at which this well can produce? (½ point)
4.f) Sketch the choke performance curve that corresponds to this minimum flow rate.
Use a rule of thumb to determine the critical flow boundary. (½ point)
29 August 2012
1. Mixed questions.
1.a) What is the most likely dominant pressure drop mechanism in a horizontal oil
pipeline? (½ point)
1.b) Water breakthrough in a high-rate horizontal well in a homogeneous reservoir is
more likely to occur at the heel than at the toe. Why? (½ point).
1.c) Why is the liquid hold-up in a vertical oil well higher than the liquid fraction? (½
point).
4 July 2012
1. Mixed questions.
1.a) Pressure drop in an oil production system may be caused by acceleration, friction or
gravity. Which of these three mechanisms plays the dominant role in the following
system elements (½ point):
i) the converging part of a wellhead choke.
ii) the screens in a sand completion.

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iii) the tubing just above the top perforations.

iv) the diverging part of a manifold choke.
1.b) What is the most important assumption in the derivation of the Bernoulli equation?
(½ point).
1.c) Why is the assumption of isentropic flow not valid for the diverging part of a
choke? (½ point).
1.d) What is the drift velocity in pipe flow? (½ point).
2. Consider Exercise F.1 from the lecture notes. The oil can be characterized as a black oil
with the following fluid properties: g,sc = 0.98 kg/m3, o,sc = 873 kg/m3 and
Rsb = 175 m3/m3, while the water density is given by w,sc = 1020 kg/m3. The reservoir
temperature is 120° C and the tubing head temperature 70° C. At which depth is the
bubble point located? (1 point).
3. Consider the following equation:

Mp  1   g , sc ZRTabs  
2

g  f  g , sc g , sc 
q q
dp ZRTabs  2d  MpA  
 .
Mp   g , sc qg , sc ZRTabs   1 1 dZ 
2
ds
1     
ZRTabs  MpA   p Z dp 
3.a) What does this equation describe? (½ point).
3.b) What is the meaning of the term in the denominator? (½ point).
3.c) Why is the term qg ,sc qg , sc not simply expressed as qg2 , sc ? (½ point).

29 June 2011
1. Mixed questions:
1.a) The steady-state pressure drop over the components of a production system can be
expressed as in general form as
dp  dv
   g sin   f v v  v .
ds 2d ds
      
head loss frictional loss acceleration loss

For a typical oil well, which of the three terms at the right-hand side of this equation
dominate: a. converging choke flow, b. near-well reservoir flow, c. well bore flow?
(½ point).
2. Consider a gas pipeline with properties give in Table 1.

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Table 1: Gas pipeline properties.

Property Value Units
flow rate -120 m3/s
length 4000 m
inside diameter 0.20 m
roughness 0.05 mm
exit pressure 20 MPa
inclination 10 degrees
entrance temperature 70 °C
exit temperature 50 °C
gas density 0.92 kg/m3

Figure 1 depicts a pressure traverse computed with MATLAB. Use an analytical

approximation to verify the numerical result for the entrance pressure. (3 points)

Distance from exit to entrance s, ft

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000
30
p
tot 4200
p
28 grav
p 4000
fric
Pipeline pressure p, MPa

Pipeline pressure p, psi

p
26 acc 3800

3600
24
3400

22 3200

3000
20
2800

18
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Distance from exit to entrance s, m

Figure 1: Pressure traverse for gas pipeline.

30 June 2010
1. Consider a one-dimensional mass balance equation:
 A    v  
A v   A  ds    ds  v  ds   A ds ,
 s  s  s  t
    
I II III

where A( s ) is surface area,  ( s, t ) is density, v( s, t ) is velocity, s is distance and t is

time.
1.a) What are the independent variables? (½ point)

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1.b) What is the meaning of terms I-III? (½ point)

1.c) Expand and simplify the equation by maintaining only first-order terms, and
assuming steady-state behavior. (½ point)
1.d) Consider an exponentially tapered tube of 12.6 m length. The surface areas and
pressures at the narrow and wide ends are 0.30 and 0.86 m2, and 0.22 and 0.10 MPa
respectively. Gas, with a density of 1.56 kg/m3 at 0.10 MPa is flowing isothermally
from the narrow end to the wide end of the tube, with an entrance velocity of 2.5
m/s. Using the ideal gas law, and ignoring friction, compute the exit velocity.
(1 point).
11 June 2009
1. Mixed questions:
1.a) A vertical oil well produces 100 bpd (oil) with a GOR of 50 scf/bbl and a water cut
of 20%? What are the gas and water production rates expressed in field units?
(½ point)
1.b) Another vertical well is completed with a 7 inch tubing and at a depth of 1000 ft the
in-situ liquid and gas flow rates gas are 0.65 ft3/s and 1.16 ft3/s respectively. What
are the superficial liquid and gas velocities in SI units? (½ point)
1.c) If the liquid hold-up in this second well is 0.50, what are the in-situ liquid and gas
velocities? (½ point)
1.d) The liquid properties in this well are as follows:
Table 1: Local fluid properties
Property Value Unit
o 790 kg/m3
w 1020 kg/m3
o 0.70  10-3 Pa s
w 0.35  10-3 Pa s
go 0.008 N/m
gw 0.040 N/m

Compute the Duns & Ros liquid viscosity number. Use a water cut of 50% and a no-
slip mixing rule. (½ point)
1.e) What is dimension of the Duns & Ros gas velocity number? (½ point)
2. Consider a horizontal flow line between a well head and a production manifold. The
manifold pressure is 8.00 MPa. The flow line pressure just downstream of the well head
choke is 13.1 MPa.
2.a) What should be the minimum pressure upstream of the choke to guarantee critical
flow? (½ point)
2.b) Can the well be operated if the flowing tubing head pressure drops below this
minimum pressure? What changes? (½ point)
2.c) Next, consider the case where the flowing tubing head pressure is 29.4 MPa and the
oil flow rate 691 m3/d. After a half year the flow line pressure has dropped to 11.8
MPa, and the tubing head tubing head pressure to 26.3 MPa, while the oil rate has

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been reduced to 619 m3/d for the same choke size. Sketch the choke performance
curves for the two situations and indicate the working points.(1 point)
16 June 2008
1. Consider a well with the following production parameters:
oil rate: 1300 bpd
water cut: 60%
GOR: 200 scf/stbbl
Note: give all your answers in strict SI units.
1.a) What are the surface oil, gas and water rates? (½ point)
1.b) The well is equipped with a well head choke with a bean of 56/64 inch. The flow
line pressure is 100 psi. What is the pressure drop over the choke? (1 point)
1.c) What are the in-situ oil, gas and water rates at the top of the tubing when Bo = 1.07
and Bg = 0.09, and Rs = 6.18 m3/m3? (½ point)
1.d) Why is Bo larger than 1 and Bg much smaller than 1? (½ point)
1.e) What are the Duns & Ros liquid and gas velocity numbers at the top of the tubing if
the tubing ID is 62 mm? Assume that l = 915 kg/m3 and l = 10-2 N/m. (½ point).
1.f) What is the role of these dimensionless numbers in the Hagedorn & Brown method?
(½ point).
31 August 2007
1. You are requested to design the completion of an oil well producing associated gas
containing a small amount of H2S. To avoid corrosion of the tubing you can choose
between two options: 1) To complete the well with an ordinary steel tubing and a
chemicals injection line to permanently inject a small stream of corrosion inhibitor at the
bottom of the well, or 2) to complete the well with corrosion-resistant chromium-steel
tubing. The first solution costs $ 300.000 for the completion (including rig time), has
operating costs associated with the chemicals injection of 0.20 $/bbl, and will last for
about 4 years. Thereafter a workover, taking 0.1 year, will be required to replace the
tubing. The second option costs $ 3.000.000, but will last for the entire 10-year life of the
well.
1.a) Given the production profile in Table 1, an oil price of 40 $/bbl, and a discount rate
of 15%, what is the difference in NPV between the two options? Assign the costs of
the initial completion to year 0, and start oil production and discounting in year 1.
(1 point)
1.b) What are the major uncertainties in your analysis? What would you do to take a
decision about the preferred completion? (½ point)

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Table 1: Production profile, without time lost to workovers

Year Oil rate (bpd)
1 4000
2 4000
3 3500
4 3000
5 2000
6 1200
7 800
8 500
9 300
10 200

3 April 2007
1. You are requested to schedule a work over campaign, using one rig, to improve the
productivity of 3 wells through acidizing. The rate, FBHP and PI before acidizing and the
estimated PI after acidizing have been indicated for each well in Table 1.

Table 1: Well performance figures

Well number Oil rate (bpd) FBHP (psi) Old PI (bpd/psi) New PI (bpd/psi)
1 2000 3700 2.5 4.0
2 7000 3700 23 30
3 3000 3200 3.8 6.0

1.a) Two of wells have been completed in the same reservoir. Which two? (½ point)
1.b) If you have to shut-in a well for a one month period to perform a workover, what
will be the optimal sequence? The three workovers are equally expensive (½ point)
1.c) What is the AOFP of the wells after acidizing? (½ point)
18 August 2006
1. An approximate way to compute the pressure drop in an annular geometry (e.g. between
casing and tubing) makes use of the hydraulic radius concept. The hydraulic radius rh is
defined as the cross-sectional area A, divided by the wetted perimeter Pw, and it is
assumed that conduits with identical hydraulic radii experience identical pressure drops
per unit length. For a circular pipe with inner diameter d the wetted perimeter for internal
flow is simply the perimeter  d, and the hydraulic radius therefore becomes
A 4d
1 2
d
rh    .
Pw d 4
For a casing-tubing annulus we find
A 4   d c  dt 
1 2 2

rh   ,
Pw   dc  dt 

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where dc is the casing’s inner diameter and dt the tubing’s outer diameter. Consider a
vertical oil well with a 5 inch (outer diameter) tubing inside a 6.8 inch (inner diameter)
casing. The well doesn’t flow naturally and is therefore gas lifted. The gas has a specific
gravity of 0.8 and is at a pressure of 1200 psi at the valve inlet which is at 6000 ft depth.
The average temperature is 110 deg. F, and the average friction factor is 0.02. Compute
the annulus pressure at the tubing head for a lift gas flow rate of 100000 scf/d. If you use
an iterative solution method, use a first guess of 800 psi, and do not perform more than
one iteration, i.e. do not perform any of the computations more than once. (2 points)
18 August 2005
1. Mixed questions:
1.b) What are the dimensions of the oil-formation volume factor and the solution gas-oil
ratio and in which field units are they expressed? (½ point)
1.c) What is the difference between steady-state and semi-steady-state reservoir flow?
(½ point)
1.d) What is the NPV of the following cash flow at a discount rate of 15%? (½ point)
Table 1: Cash flow
Year 1 2 3 4 5
6
Cash surplus (10 $) -20 -40 10 20 30
1.e) Why are gas engineering equations sometimes expressed in terms of a real-gas
pseudo pressure? (½ point)
1.g) What is the role of the dimensionless Hagedorn and Brown velocity numbers in the
Mukherjee and Brill multi-phase flow correlation? (½ point)
30 March 2005
1. Consider three pairs of nodal analysis curves in Figure 1 for a choke/flow line/well/near-
well system. The choke is at the manifold (i.e. between the separator and the flow line)
and not at the well head. In each of the pairs the analysis node has been chosen at a
different point. The water cut is 0; the GOR is 50 m3/m3.
1.a) At which point is the analysis node for each pair of curves? (½ point)
1.b) Which system elements correspond to the upstream and downstream pressure drops
for each pair of curves? (½ point)
1.c) What are the pressures in the reservoir and the separator? (½ point)
1.d) What is the gas flow rate of the well? (½ point)
1.e) Sketch how the curves would change if the water cut would increase? (½ point)

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6 6
x 10 x 10
6 6
upstream upstream
5 downstream 5 downstream

Manifold pressure pmf , Pa 4 4

FTHP ptf , Pa
3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m /s x 10
-3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

7
x 10
2.8
upstream
2.7 downstream

2.6
FBHP pwf , Pa

2.5

2.4

2.3

2.2

2.1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

Figure 1: Nodal analysis curves.

2. Consider a vertical production well with the following properties:

Table 1: Well properties

Property Value Unit
qo,sc -3  10-3 m3/s
Rgo 20 m3/m3
Rsb 20 m3/m3
fw 0.6 m3/m3
g,sc 1.05 kg/m3
o,sc 870 kg/m3
w,sc 1010 kg/m3
dt 0.078 m

At a point in the well bore where the pressure is 3 MPa and the temperature 80º C
compute the values of the following variables:
2.a) The oil and gas formation volume factors according to the Standing correlations.
(1 point)
2.b) The local oil, gas and water flow rates according to the black oil model. (½ point)
2.c) The liquid hold-up according to the Mukherjee and Brill method using the local
fluid properties given in Table 2. Use a no-slip mixing rule to compute the liquid
properties. (1 point)

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2.d) The liquid fraction. Do you expect the result to be higher or lower than the answer
of question 2.c? Give a possible explanation if this is not the case. (½ point)

Table 2: Local fluid properties

Property Value Unit
g 27.4 kg/m3
o 813 kg/m3
w 1010 kg/m3
g 11.4  10-6 Pa s
o 5  10-3 Pa s
w 0.35  10-3 Pa s
go 0.008 N/m
gw 0.04 N/m

3. Mixed questions:

3.a) What are the three components of the pressure drop over a well bore? Give an
example of a situation where each of the components is dominant. (½ point)
3.b) What is the essential difference between the black-oil model and volatile oil model?
Which pseudo-components are present in each of the models? (½ point)
4. Consider the following estimates of liquid rates and water cuts of a subsea horizontal well
as a function of time for two geological scenarios.

Table 3: Liquid rate and water cut as a function of time.

Time (years) liquid rate water cut liquid rate water cut
scenario 1 scenario 1 scenario 2 scenario 2
(bpd) (bpd)
1 22200 0 27600 0
2 20000 0 25300 0
3 17900 0 23100 0.1
4 15900 0 21000 0.3
5 14000 0.1 19000 0.5
6 12200 0.2 17100 0.8
7 10500 0.4 15300 0.85
8 8900 0.7 13600 0.85
9 7400 0.8 12000 0.85

4.a) Which scenario is more attractive at an oil price of 30$/bbl and a discount rate of
15%? (½ point)

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4.b) Scenario 1 has a probability 1/3 of occurring; scenario 2 a probability of 2/3. Each
of the scenarios requires a different completion: Scenario 1 requires completion A,
and scenario 2 completion B. The completions have the same cost, but if the wrong
completion is chosen, the well will produce 30% less over the 9-year period. A
workover is not an option. Which completion is more attractive under these
conditions? (½ point)
4.c) The initial PI of the well is estimated as 110 and 180 bpd/psi for scenario 1 and 2
respectively. An acid treatment prior to completion could improve these values by
20% at a cost of 15 million dollar. The well has a completed length of 1200 m and
the undisturbed permeability is 350 mD for scenario 1 and 600 mD for scenario 2.
Assuming the productivity increase to remain unchanged over the 9-year period,
would you recommend the acid treatment? (½ point)
25 March 2004
1. Consider an oil well producing 2000 bpd of black oil with Rgo = 800 scf/stb and a water
cut of 15 %. The fluid properties are specified as: API gravity: 35 degrees, gas gravity:
0.85, bubble point pressure pb = 533 psi. The black oil parameters can be accurately
described with the Standing correlations, which have been given in field units in the
Appendix below. The reservoir temperature is 200 deg. F. Express all your answers in
field units.
1.a) What is the solution gas-oil ratio at the bubble point pressure? (½ point)
1.b) The reservoir was originally under-saturated but because of depletion the pressure
has dropped to 60 psi below the bubble-point pressure. How much of the produced
gas at this moment is free gas? (½ point)
1.c) What is the volume flow rate of the free gas at the bottom of the well at the current
reservoir pressure and temperature conditions? (Neglect the pressure gradient over
the hight of the reservoir). If you did not obtain the answer to question 1.b) use the
(incorrect) answer 1.0  106 scf/d. Use the Sutton correlations in field units in the
Appendix below. (½ point)
1.d) What is the liquid volume fraction at the bottom of the well at the current reservoir
pressure and temperature? (½ point)
1.e) How much larger is the liquid volume fraction of the well at standard conditions?
(½ point)
2. Consider the nodal analysis curves in Figure 1 for a flow line/choke/well/near-well
system.
2.a) Which point has been chosen as the analysis node? (½ point)
2.b) What are the reservoir and manifold pressures? (½ point)
2.c) What is the PI of the well? (½ point)
2.d) What is the oil flow rate of the well? (½ point)
2.e) What are the pressure drops over the four system elements? (½ point)
2.f) Is the choke operating in the critical regime? (½ point)
2.g) Explain the shape of the tubing intake curve? (½ point)

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6 6
x 10 x 10
6 6

Flowing tubing head pressure ptf , Pa

5 5
Flowline pressure pfl , Pa
4 4

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m /s x 10
-3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

7 7
x 10 x 10
3.2 3.2
Flowing bottom-hole pressure pwf , Pa

Flowing bottom-hole pressure pwf , Pa

3 3

2.8 2.8

2.6 2.6

2.4 2.4

2.2 2.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

Figure 1: Nodal analysis curves.

3. Consider an ageing oilfield that requires a major shutdown to perform maintenance on the
production facilities. If the shut-down is performed this year it will result in an equivalent
loss of 5000 bpd production (over a one-year period). However, if the shutdown is
postponed until next year, the loss will be only 4000 bpd equivalent. However, the
shutdown also offers the opportunity to install gas lift equipment which will allow
boosting of the production according to the tables below. After 8 years, production is no
longer economic in both scenarios. The shutdown cannot be delayed more than one year.
3.a) Do you recommend to perform the shut down this year or next year at an oil price of
25 $/bbl, and a discount rate of 15%? Use a 40% royalty, a variable Opex of 0.80
$/bbl and neglect fixed opex and taxes. (1 point)
3.b) What are the most significant costs in installing gas lift? (½ point)

Table 1: Early shut down

Time Capex Normal Lost / extra
(year) (106 $) production production
(bbl/d) (bbl/d)
1 120 20,000 -5,000
2 16,000 8,000
3 12,500 6,100
4 9,500 4,300
5 7,000 2,600
6 5,000 1,000
7 3,500 700
8 2500 500

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Table 2: Delayed shut-down

Time Capex Normal Lost / extra
(year) (106 $) production production
(bbl/d) (bbl/d)
1 20,000
2 120 16,000 -4,000
3 12,500 8,000
4 9,500 6,100
5 7,000 4,300
6 5,000 2,600
7 3,500 1,000
8 2,500 700

4.a) Consider the low-rate gas well in Figure 3.4 in the lecture notes. The well is connected
to the production facilities through a horizontal flow line with an inside diameter of 78
mm and a roughness of 20  10-3 mm. There is no wellhead choke and you may neglect
any pressure drop over the well head valves. How long can the flow line to the facilities
be if the pressure at the manifold is not allowed to drop below 180 bar? The manifold
temperature is 20 °C. (1 point)
Appendix for 25 March 2004 – Correlations in field units
Standing correlation for bubble point pressure
LF R I 0.83
OP
 18.2 MG J
100.00091 T
 14
p
pb
MNH  K g 100.0125 API
. .
PQ
Standing correlation for solution GOR

p  pb : Rs   g
LMFG p  14. IJ10 0.0125 API  0.00091T
OP
1.2048

NH 18.2 K Q .

Standing correlation for oil FVF

  o   1.25 T 
1.2
p  pb : Bo  0.9759  12 105  Rs .
 g

Note the use of o rather than API in this expression.
Sutton correlations for pseudo critical properties
R| p .  g  3.6 2g ,
 756.8  1310
S|T pc

T pc ,abs  169.2  349.5 g  74.0 2g .

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19 June 2003
1. Figure 1 displays two choke performance curves in combination with two tubing
performance curves.
1.a) The tubing performance curves correspond to water cuts of fw = 0.0 and fw = 0.2; the
choke performance curves correspond to dch = 48/64 inch and dch = 72/64 inch.
Match the letters in the legend of Figure 1 to the correct water cut or choke diameter
(½ point).
1.b) If the downstream pressure at the choke equals 4.7  105 Pa, which of the
choke/tubing combinations A/B, A/D, C/B and C/D are not operating in the critical
regime? (Use a rule of thumb) (½ point).
1.c) Sketch the choke performance curves for the flow in the non-critical choke regimes
in Figure 1. (½ point)
1.d) If it is required to choke back the well when the water cut has reached a value of
0.2, what is the minimum flow rate at which you can still expect stable flow? (Use
the ‘practical’ minimum, not the theoretical minimum). (½ point)
1.e) The four curves in Figure 1 have been generated for Rgo = 60 m3/m3. Sketch how the
curves would change qualitatively if the GOR would be somewhat higher. The
flowing bottomhole pressure remains above the bubble point at all times. Explain
the trends. (1 point)

6
x 10
2
A
1.8 B
C
1.6 D
Flowing tubinghead pressure ptf , Pa

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

Figure 1: Tubing and choke performance curves.

2. 2.a) What is the most important difference between the Hagedorn and Brown and the
Mukherjee and Brill correlation, from the point of a user of a wellbore flow
simulator? (½ point)
2.b) Is the liquid hold-up in a wet gas well higher or lower than the liquid fraction? What
is the physical mechanism that causes this difference? (½ point)

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2.c) Consider the use of a well bore flow simulator to generate lift tables for a reservoir
simulator. Assume that oil properties in the reservoir remain constant during
production. Which of the following parameters need to be varied in the well bore
simulator to create a lift table? Briefly explain your answers. (½ point)
A: TR
B: Rgo
C: fw
D: Bo
25 March 2002
1. A 3000 m deep, vertical gas well produces dry gas with a density at standard conditions
of 0.95 kg m-3. The tubing inside diameter is 0.062 m, and the tubing roughness
30  10-6 m. The well is equipped with surface and down hole pressure and temperature
gauges. The flowing bottom hole and tubing head temperatures and pressures are 120 and
30 ºC, and 15 and 3.0 MPa respectively. The reservoir was initially at hydrostatic
conditions, but has been depleted, such that the pressure has dropped 12.0 MPa. The
water gradient is 10.6 kPa m-1. The gas viscosity is 12  10-6 Pa s.
1.a) What is the current static bottom hole pressure? (½ point)
1.b) What are the average values along the well for the flowing pressure, temperature
and Z-factor? Use linear interpolation. (1 point)
1.c) What is the flow rate? (1½ point).
Hint: if you take fav = 0.015 as an initial guess for the average friction factor, no
iteration should be necessary.
1.d) We could also compute the answer through numerical integration, e.g. with the aid
of MATLAB. Why would that probably give a more accurate result? (½ point)
2. A separator handles 25000 stb d-1 of liquid with a water cut of 80% and a producing GOR
of 1300 scf stb-1. It has a working pressure of 270 psig. A well is connected to this
separator through a 32/64 inch choke, a short flow line and a manifold. The combined
flow line-manifold pressure drop is 40 psi at a liquid flow rate of 1800 stb d-1. The tubing
head pressure gauge shows a value of 635 psig. It is known that the well produces from
an under-saturated reservoir with a bubble-point GOR of 735 scf stb-1, a gas gravity of
0.78 and an oil gravity of 38 deg API.
2.a) What are the gas, oil and water flow rates through the separator, and what is its
working pressure, all expressed in SI units? (½ point)
2.b) Demonstrate that the choke operates in the critical regime. (Use a rule of thumb.)
Why is that an advantage? (½ point)
2.c) What are the producing GLR, the producing GOR and the water cut of the well?
Use the Gilbert choke model to compute the GLR. (1 point)
2.d) What are the gas and liquid volume fractions just below the choke? Assume that no
gas dissolves in the oil, that the oil is incompressible and that Z = 1. Would the
liquid hold-up be higher or lower than the liquid volume fraction? Why? (½ point)
2.e) If the Duns-Ros liquid and gas velocity numbers equal Nlv = 9.01 and Ngv = 8.73,
and the liquid viscosity number Nl = 0.005, what is the liquid hold-up according to
the Brill and Mukherjee multi-phase flow model? Note that  > 0. (½ point)
3. Figure 1 below depicts a pressure intake curve and four IPRs for the same deep offshore
sub-sea well but under different conditions. Two of the IPRs relate to the current reservoir
pressure, the other two to the estimated reservoir pressure in the last year of production of
the field, which is five years from now. Also, two IPRs relate to a well with a severe skin,

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as is the current situation, whereas the other two relate to the well after partial removal of
the skin with the aid of an acid wash.

7500

7000
Flowing bottom-hole pressure pwf , psi

6500

6000

5500

5000

4500

4000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000
Oil flow rate qo,sc , bbl/d

Figure 1: Intake pressure curve and four inflow performance relationships for the same well,
but under different conditions.

3.a) What are the current static bottom hole pressure and the pressure after 5 years?
What are the current production rates (with and without acid stimulation) and the
rates after 5 years? (½ point)
3.b) Assuming a linear drop in production rate during the five year period, an oil price of
17 $/bbl and a discount rate of 15%, what is the NPV of the produced oil for the
base case (i.e. without acid stimulation)? (1 point)
3.c) If the acid stimulation would cost 4.5  106 $, would you recommend it? (1 point)
26 June 2001
1. Figure 1 depicts a vertical well penetrating a reservoir containing gas, oil and water. The
aquifer is hydrostatic. The atmospheric pressure is 100 kPa. The oil has a 30° API gravity,
and the water gradient is 0.45 psi/ft. The top perforations are 50 ft below the GOC. Total
perforation height is 100 ft.
1.a) What is the pressure at the gas-oil contact (GOC) in SI units? (½ point)
1.b) If the FBHP at the top perforation equals 12.8 MPa and the specific PI equals 1.25
bpd/(psi  ft), what is the inflow rate in SI units? Assume that the pressure at the
GOC is just below the bubble point pressure such that we can use the single-phase
PI. (½ point)
1.c) If the drawdown doubles, will the inflow rate double also? Explain your answer.
(½ point)
1.d) A second well is drilled in the reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure through water
injection. The well is completed with a 3 in. tubing and perforated 100 ft below the
OWC. Calculate the hydrostatic and frictional pressure drop over the well in SI units
for an injection rate of 1500 bpd. Assume that w = 1020 kg m-3, w = 0.0127 cp, and
that the tubing has a roughness of 0.003 in. (1 point)

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gas
GOC @ 4050 ft TVD
oil
OWC @ 4250 ft TVD

water

Figure 1: Reservoir penetrated by vertical well.

2. A vertical well has been equipped with a 1.5” choke, just downstream of the well head,
and produces dry oil at a rate of 5000 bpd. The well head is connected to the process
facilities through a long flow line. The pressure just upstream of the choke is 486 psig.
Use the Gilbert correlation and the gradient curves in the appendix.
2.a) What is the producing GOR if the choke just operates in the critical regime? (Use a
rule of thumb.) What is the downstream pressure? (½ point)
2.b) What is the flowing bottom hole pressure at a depth of 11000 ft below the choke?
(½ point)
2.c) If the static bottom hole pressure is about 2280 psig, what is the PI of the well?
(½ point).
2.d) Next the well is beaned back, such that it produces only 3000 bpd at the same GOR.
Assuming a linear PI, what is the new flowing tubing head pressure? (½ point).
2.e) If the manifold pressure remains the same, is the new downstream pressure at the
choke higher or lower than the old downstream pressure? Explain your answer. (½
point).
2.f) Are there any signs of gas coning when the well produces at 5000 bpd? Explain your
answer. (½ point).
3. In an FDP it is proposed to drill 8 wells, phased as indicated in Table 1 below, at a cost of
6 million $ each. The wells are expected to produce according to Table 2, starting the year
after they have been drilled. The oil company’s guidelines for project screening use an oil
price of 10 $/bbl and a discount rate of 15%. The asset team has also evaluated an
alternative development option using smart well technology. Based on reservoir
simulations, it has been estimated that 4 smart wells could give the same production as 8
conventional wells, at a cost of 9 million $ per well. The project duration is 20 years.
Taxes and royalties are not taken into account.
3.a) Make a quick re-evaluation of the two options. Make use of the cash flow analysis
for a well drilled in year 1, presented in Table 2. (1 point).
3.b) It is estimated that there is a chance of 50% that one of the smart wells does not
operate to expectation because of equipment failure. In that case it would produce
only at 50% of its capacity. Taking into account the uncertainty, what is the most
attractive option? (1 point)

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Table 1: Drilling sequence

Year Conventional Smart wells
wells (alternative)
1 1,2 1
2 3,4,5 2,3,4
3 6,7,8

Table 2: Production profile and cash flow analysis for a conventional well drilled in
year 1.
Year Oil rate Yearly Cash in Cash out Cash Cash Cum.
(bpd) prod. (106 $) (106 $) flow flow disc.
6 6
(10 bbl) (10 $) @ 15% cash
(106 $) flow
(106 $)
1 6.00 -6.00 -5.22 -5.22
2 5000 1.825 18.25 18.25 13.80 8.58
3 4800 1.752 17.52 17.52 11.52 20.10
4 2500 0.913 9.13 9.13 5.22 25.32
5 1900 0.694 6.94 6.94 3.45 28.77
6 1400 0.511 5.11 5.11 2.21 30.98
7 1000 0.365 3.65 3.65 1.37 32.35
8 700 0.256 2.56 2.56 0.84 33.19
9 500 0.183 1.83 1.83 0.52 33.71
10 400 0.146 1.46 1.46 0.36 34.07
11 350 0.128 1.28 1.28 0.28 34.35
12 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.21 34.55
13 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.18 34.73
14 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.16 34.89
15 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.14 35.02
16 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.12 35.14
17 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.10 35.24
18 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.09 35.33
19 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.08 35.41
20 300 0.110 1.10 1.10 0.07 35.48

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Appen
ndix for 26
6 June 200
01 – Gradiient curves

Figure A-1: Gradiient curve for

fo 4” tubing
ng, 3000 bpd
d, 0% water cut. Reprooduced from
m Beggs
(1991).

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Figure A-2: Gradiient curve for

fo 4” tubing
ng, 5000 bpd
d, 0% water cut. Reprooduced from
m Beggs
(1991).

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26 March 2001
1. Figure 1 depicts a nodal analysis graph for the bottom of the tubing of a dry oil well for
various values of the producing GOR Rgo.
1.a) Why is the IPR curved? (½ point)
1.b) Sketch a graph of the flow rate qo of a producing well as function of Rgo. What is the
optimum GOR? (½ point)
1.c) What causes the decrease in qo,sc for values of Rgo below or above the optimum?
(½ point)
1.d) If the gas gravity g = 0.85 and you have no further information on the gas
composition, what are the approximate pseudo-critical temperatures and pressures?
(½ point)
1.e) If the reservoir temperature TR = 150 C, what is the surface gas rate expressed at
bottom hole conditions for a GOR of 200 m3/m3? (1 point).
1.f) Is the answer from 1.e) the same rate as the local gas rate from the reservoir into the
well. If not, is the actual rate higher or lower. Explain your answer. (½ point)
pwf (kPa)

50000

45000

40000
Rgo = 200 m3/m3
35000
Rgo = 400 m3/m3
30000 Rgo =50 m3/m3

25000
Rgo = 100 m3/m3
20000

15000

10000

5000
IPR
0
0.00 100.00 200.00 300.00 400.00 500.00
qo,sc (m3/d)

Figure 1: GOR sensitivity.

2. A well has produced for 18 years according to Table 1 which also depicts the expected
production for the next 7 years until the concession ends. It is expected that with a re-
perforation the production can be boosted according to column 5 of the table. The re-
perforation is estimated to cost 0.3 million $.
2.a) What has caused the drop in oil production in year 7? (½ point)
2.b) At an oil price of 12.5 $/bbl, 20 % royalties, and a discount rate of 12 % is it
attractive to perform the workover? Neglect taxes. (1 point)
2.c) Is the well producing associated gas and/or free gas (gas cap gas)? Explain your
answer. (½ point)

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Table 1: Production profile

Year Average qo,sc Average qw,sc Average qg,sc Average qo,sc Average qo,sc
(bbl/d) (bbl/d) (103 scf/d) forecasted reperforated
(bbl/d) (bbl/d)
1 2542 0 1230
2 3004 0 1489
3 3090 0 1538
4 2989 0 1485
5 2845 0 1411
6 3007 0 1528
7 2056 904 999
8 1689 1270 801
9 1322 1638 669
10 1179 1789 609
11 1008 1992 482
12 921 2044 440
13 848 2222 420
14 793 2207 402
15 739 2187 364
16 701 2350 340
17 670 2342 321
18 654 2345 310
19 635 2000
20 620 2000
21 610 2000
22 605 1500
23 600 1200
24 600 1000
25 600 900

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Answers
13 August 2014
1. Mixed questions
1.a) At the heel, because the pressure drop over the well bore will result in a higher draw
down at the heel than at the toe.
1.b) Generating a given hydraulic head for an increasing liquid density corresponds to
generating an increasing pressure drop. To generate an increasing pressure drop at a
given flow rate requires an increasing power (i.e. energy consumption per unit
time).
1.c) Mainly because water expands with increasing temperatures. Also somewhat
because of increasing gas solubility.
1.d) Dimensionless.
1.e) Because the p-V relationship for gas (mixtures) is (near-)hyperbolic with a vertical
asymptote at zero pressure. (½ point)
1.f) A simple test is to perform the pressure drop calculation top-down, and thereafter,
starting from the result, repeat the calculation bottom-up (or vice-versa), and then
verify that the result of the latter is close to the starting value of the former. Passing
the test is a good check of the discretization error in the numerical integration. It is
as necessary but not a sufficient condition for accuracy, because many other factors
may influence the accuracy.
2. Oil well with different tubing sizes.
2.a) Initially the larger tubing size leads to a higher production because it has the lowest
friction. Later, when the reservoir pressure drops, the intersection shifts to the left.
In this area of the tubing intake curve slip starts to play a more important role. A
smaller tubing size, although it increases the friction, reduces the slip and the
corresponding liquid hold up and head losses, and therefore may result in a higher
production. See the schematic figure below.

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25.5

3”
Flowing bottom hole pressure

25

24.5

24
4”

23.5
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
Oil flow rate -3
x 10

Figure schematically illustrating the benefit of a smaller tubing size when the reservoir
pressure drops.

2.b) Yes; see profile C. 184.5 million $.

Oil production profiles and cash flows

year 1 2 3 4 5 6 sum
6
A (10 bbl) 0.40 0.60 0.60 0.40 0.25 0.15 2.40
B (106 bbl) 0.35 0.55 0.55 0.45 0.35 0.30 2.55
C (106 bbl) 0.40 0.60 0.60 0.45 0.35 0.30 2.70
A undiscounted (106 $) 42.0 63.0 63.0 42.0 26.3 15.8 252.0
6
B undiscounted (10 $) 36.8 57.8 57.8 47.3 36.8 31.5 267.8
6
C undiscounted (10 $) 42.0 63.0 63.0 47.3 36.8 31.5 283.5
6
A discounted (10 $) 36.5 47.6 41.4 24.0 13.1 6.8 169.5
6
B discounted (10 $) 32.0 43.7 38.0 27.0 18.3 13.6 172.5
6
C discounted (10 $) 36.5 47.6 41.4 27.0 18.3 13.6 184.5

3. Multiphase flow:
3.a) Gas-liquid ratio, gas and liquid velocities, fluid properties (densities, viscosities,
interfacial tensions etc.), well or pipeline inclination.
3.b) In upward flow, gas travels faster than liquid and, consequently, liquid hold-up
occurs. The main reason is buoyancy caused by the difference in density between
gas and liquid; in addition, gas has a tendency to concentrate at the center of the
pipe, where the fluid velocity is higher than at the boundaries.
3.c) Transform to strict SI units and compute auxiliary variables:

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qo  0.0198 m3 /s,  0.0792 m3 /s,

d  0.127 m, e  30  106 m,
o  0.007 Pa s,  g = 0.00001 Pa s,
d2 e
A  0.0127 m 2 ,    0.00023,
4 d
qo q
vso   1.56 m/s, vsg  g  6.26 m/s, vm  vso  vsg  7.82 m/s.
A A
Calculation with slip:
ms   g  o H o  5.86 105 Pa s,  ms  H g  g  H o  o  243 kg/m 3 ,
Hg

 ms vms d
N Re   4.11106 , with the aid of the Moody chart: f ms  0.015,
ms
dp  ms dp
 f ms vms vms  878 Pa/m,   ms g  2384 Pa/m,
ds fric 2d ds grav

 ms vsg vm dp Ek , D  dp dp 
Ek , D   0.0238,      80 Pa/m,
p ds acc 1  Ek , D  ds fric ds grav 

dp
 3342 Pa/m.
ds
Calculation without slip:
mn  g  g  o o  0.0014 Pa s,  mn  g  g  o o  181 kg/m3 ,
 mn vmn d
N Re   127702, with the aid of the Moody chart: f ms  0.018,
mn
dp  mn dp
 f mn vmn vmn  785 Pa/m,   ns g  1775 Pa/m,
ds fric 2d ds grav

 mn vsg vmn dp Ek , D  dp dp 
Ek , D   0.0177,      46 Pa/m,
p ds acc 1  Ek , D  ds fric ds grav 

dp
 2606 Pa/m.
ds
2 July 2014
1. Mixed questions
1.a) The most important similarity is that both models describe hydrocarbon behavior
with the aid of two pseudo components (typically gas and oil at stock tank
conditions). The most important difference is that in the black oil model, the gas
pseudo component can be present in the liquid phase, but the liquid pseudo
component cannot be present in the gas phase, whereas in the volatile oil model
both pseudo components can be present in both phases.
1.b) The pseudo-critical temperature of a hydrocarbon gas mixture is the temperature
above which the mixture is in the dense phase, i.e. above which it is not possible to
distinguish the difference between a gas and a liquid phase. The pseudo-reduced

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temperature is a scaled (i.e. dimensionless) temperature obtained by dividing the

true temperature of the mixture by its pseudo-critical temperature.
1.c) a) friction; b) acceleration; c) friction; d) gravity.
1.d) 1) The density difference between gas and liquid phase causes the gas to slip
through the liquid. 2) The higher concentration of gas bubbles at the center of the
well than near the pipe wall may also result in a higher average velocity of the gas
because the fluid velocity at the center is higher than near the wall.
1.e) An ESP is a centrifugal pump, which means that the difference in head over the
pump is independent of the liquid density, unlike the pressure drop over the pump.
A lift performance curve expressed in terms of head is therefore valid for all liquid
densities.
1.f) Because the stability depends on the dynamic response of the system to small
disturbances.
2. The inflow equation for single-phase liquid flow under semi-steady state conditions in
terms of average reservoir pressure, and including a skin term, is given by
 Bo qo,sc   re  3 
pR ,av  pwf   ln     S  .
2 kh   rw  4 
The corresponding approximate expression for single-phase gas flow becomes:
av Bg ,av qg ,sc pR ,av   re  3 
pR2 ,av  pwf2   ln     S  .
 kh   rw  4 
Rewriting this expression, and filling in numerical values for the variables results in:
 kh
qg , sc    pR2 ,av  pwf2 
  re  3 
av Bg ,av pR ,av ln    S
  rw  4 
  140 105   130 105   
2 2

  .
  2.2 10  50
12

  1200  3 
19.3 106  7.2 103 130 105  ln     4
  0.2  4 
 328 m3 /s.
3. 3.a) In SI units the variables become:

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Oil well properties in SI units.

Parameter SI units
Tubing diameter d 0.0623 m
-6
Tubing roughness e 30.48×10 m
Oil flow rate qo,sc -0.0012 m3/s
GOR Rgo 53.4 m3/m3
Water cut fw 0 
Gas density g,sc 0.85 kg/m3
Oil density o,sc 860 kg/m3
Solution GOR Rs 23.0 m3/m3
Gas FVF Bg 0.022 m3/m3
Oil FVF Bo 1.167 m3/m3
Gas viscosity g 14.7×10-6 Pa s
o
-3
Oil viscosity 6.43×10 Pa s
Gas-oil interfacial tension go  0.008 N/m

3.b) The local flow rates can be computed as

 qg   Bg  Bg Rs   qg , sc 
q    0 
Bo   qo, sc 

 o 
0.022 0.022  23.0  53.4  0.0012
  
 0 1.167   0.0012 
 0.0008 3
  m /s .
 0.0014
and the local densities as
1 
 0
  g   Bg 
  g , sc 
   
 o Rs 1   o, sc 
 
 Bo Bo 
 1 
 0.022 0 
0.85
 
 23.0 1   860 
 1.095 1.095 
38.5
  kg/m3 .
 754 
Because the water flow rate is equal to zero the local liquid properties are simply
equal to the local oil properties.
3.c) The surface area of the tubing is

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  62.3103 
2
d2
A   0.00305 m2 ,
4 4
such that the superficial and mixture velocities follow as
qg  0.0008
v sg     0.264 m/s ,
A 0.00305
ql 0.0014
vsl    0.429 m/s .
A 0.00305
The dimensionless groups then become
l 754
Nlv  vsl 4  0.429  4  4.32 ,
g gl 9.81 0.08

l 754
N gv  vsg 4  0.264  4  2.66 ,
g gl 9.81 0.08

g l 9.81 754
Nd  d  62.3103   61.9 ,
 gl 0.08

g 9.81
N   l 4  6.43  103  4  0.080 .
 l 754   0.08 
3 3
gl

3.d) In an oil production well the gas often slips through the oil, in which case the oil is
held up and occupies a larger cross sectional area than it would do when it would be
flowing without slip between the phases. The oil is never flowing faster than the gas,
so the liquid hold up will never be smaller than the liquid fraction (i.e. the no-slip
liquid hold-up).

4a) 3  106  20
  10
   23 10 Pa
6 6

shift
4b) Intersection with pmf curve at 1MPa gives 2.3 103 m3 s .

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6
x 10
3
p - 20 MPa
wf
p
2.5 tf
p
fl
p
mf
2
Pressure p , Pa

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Oil flow rate -q , m3/s x 10
-3
o,sc

pwf  0.6  106  20   20.6  10 Pa . p  pR  pwf  2.4 10 Pa .

 10 6 6 6
4c) 
shift
4d) No, because ptf p fl  1.7 .
4e) Practical minimum flow rate corresponds to maximum of tubing performance curve.
I.e. practical minimum flow rate  0.3 103 m3 /s .
4f) Curve starts at ptf  pmf  1 MPa . Transition to critical flow occurs at
ptf  1.7 p fl  1.7 MPa . Slope of the “critical” part of the curve (i.e. the straight line
for pressures above 1.7 MPa) should be such that it passes through the y-axis at
atmospheric pressure (0.1 MPa).

6
x 10
3
p - 20 MPa
wf
p
2.5 tf
p
fl
p
mf
2
Pressure p , Pa

1.5

0.5

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5
Oil flow rate -q , m3/s x 10
-3
o,sc

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29 August 2012
1.a) Friction.
1.b) Because the pressure drop along the well results in a higher drawdown at the heel
than at the toe.
1.c) Because of the slip between the liquid and gas phases.
4 July 2012
1.a) i) acceleration.
ii) friction.
iii) gravity.
iv) friction.
1.b) Frictionless flow.
1.c) Because flow in the diverging part is not frictionless.
1.d) The difference between gas and mixture velocity.
2. As a first guess, use a simple average wellbore temperature (70+120)/2 = 95° C.
The bubble point pressure then becomes (using a Standing correlation)
 716  175 0.83 100.0016495 
pb  125  10 
3
  1.4   29 MPa.
 0.98 
1768 873
10 
This corresponds to a distance from the manifold equal to 2900 m and therefore to a
depth of 2900 – 1500 = 1400 m. This is close enough to the middle of the well to
justify the average temperature.

2.a) The steady state pressure drop in a vertical single-phase gas well.
2.b) The effect of acceleration.
2.c) To account for the flow direction (positive: injection; negative: production).
29 June 2011
1.a) a. acceleration losses; b. friction losses; c. head losses.

2. pin = 26.5 MPa (from figure);

pout = 20 MPa;
pav = 23.25 MPa;
ppc = 4.53 MPa (from Sutton correlation);
ppr,av = 5.1;
Tin = 70 °C;
Tout = 50 °C;
Tav = 60 °C;
Tav,abs = 333 K;
Tpc = 216 K (from Sutton correlation);
Tpr,av = 1.5;
Zav = 0.83 (from Standing-Katz chart);
M = 23.55 × g,sc = 21.6 kg/kmol;
R = 8341 J/(K kmol);
g = 9.81 N/kg;

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 = 2.5 × 10-4;
g,sc,av = 1.1× 10-5 Pa s (from Dempsey chart for g at atmospheric pressure);
f = 2.0 (from Dempsey chart for gas viscosity ratio);
g,av = 2.2× 10-5 Pa s;
NRe,av = 3.1 × 107;
fav = 0.015 (from Moody chart);
k1 = -1.6 × 10-5;
k2 = 4.9 × 1010;
pin = 26.8 MPa which is close enough to the numerical result.
30 June 2010
1.a) s and t.
1.b) I = mass in per unit time. II = mass out per unit time. III = mass accumulated per
unit time.
  A v 
1.c)  0.
s
p pout in
1.d) Ideal gas law:  constant . Therefore:  out  . Furthermore, from 1.c):
 pin
Ain in vin Ain vin pin 0.30  2.5  0.22
A v  constant . Therefore: vout     1.92 m/s.
Aout  out Aout pout 0.86  0.10

11 June 2009
1.a) qg , sc  100  50  5000 scf; qw, sc  100  0.2 (1  0.2)  25 bpd.
1.b) A  38.48 in 2  2.483  104 m 2 ;
ql  0.65 ft 3 /s = 0.018 m3 /s; qg  1.16 ft 3 /s = 0.033 m3 /s;
vsl  ql A  0.0169 ft/s  74 m/s; vsg  qg A  0.0301 ft/s  132 m/s .
1.c) vl  vsl H l 148 m/s; vg  vsg (1  H l )  265 m/s .
1.d) l  0.5 1020  0.5  790  905 kg/m3 ;
l  0.5  0.35 103  0.5  0.70  103  0.53 103 Pa s ;
 l  0.5  0.040  0.5  0.008  0.024 N/m ;
N l  0.52  103  (9.81 (905  0.0243 ))0.25  0.0028 .
1.e) Dimensionless.

2.a) 1.7 13.1  22.3 MPa . Note: the factor 1.7 is approximate.
2.b) Yes. In that case the upstream pressure will be influenced by the downstream
pressure.
2.c) 1.7 11.8  20.0 MPa

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ptf , MPa 30

25

20

15

10

0
0 200 400 600 800
qo,sc, m3/d

16 June 2008
1.a) Rgo = 35.6 m3/m3.
qo_sc = 0.0024 m3/s.
qg_sc = 35.6 × 0.0024 = 0.0854 m3/s.
qw_sc = [0.6 / (1 – 0.6)] × 0.0024 = 0.0036 m3/s.
1.b) pfl = 0.6894 × 106 Pa.
dch = 0.0222 m.
Assume critical flow. Use e.g. the Gilbert correlation:
0.546
  0.0852 
5.61  0.0024+0.0036  
 
ptf  3.75 1010   0.0024  0.0036     1.01105
 2.52 103  0.0222 
1.89

 1.3185 106 Pa.

The ratio of upstream and downstream pressures ptf p fl  1.91 , so the choke is indeed
operating in the critical regime.
pch  ptf  p fl  0.6291106 Pa.
1.c) Assume black oil.
 qg  0.09 0.09  6.18 0   0.0852   0.0064 
q    0 1.07 0   0.0024    0.0026  .
 o 
 qw   0 0 1   0.0036   0.0036 
1.d) The oil somewhat increases in volume because it takes up dissolved gas whereas it is
only slightly compressed. The gas is strongly reduced in volume because it is highly
compressible.
1.e) A  0.25     0.062   0.0030 m 2 .
2

vsg  0.0064 0.0030  2.13 m/s .

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vsl   0.0026  0.0036  0.0030  2.07 m/s .

915
N gv  2.13  4  20.9 .
9.81 0.01
915
Nlv  2.07  4  20.3 .
9.81 0.01
1.f) The gas and liquid velocity numbers are two of the four dimensionless numbers that are
used in the Hagedorn & Brown method to compute the liquid hold-up.
31 August 2007
1.a) The difference in NPV between the two options is $ 1.235 ´ 106; see the tables below.
Notice the drop in revenues in the years of recompletion because of the delayed oil
production.
1.b) The oil price, the yearly oil production rates, the life time of the steel tubing, and the
time required for the workovers are all uncertain parameters. To take a decision it will
be required to perform a sensitivity analysis by repeating the cash-flow analyses for
different values of the uncertain parameters.

Cash flow analysis for a conventional steel completion.

Year Oil rate Yearly Cash in Capex Opex Cash Cash
(bpd) prod. (103 $) (103 $) (103 $) flow flow
(103 bbl) (103 $) @ 15%
(103 $)
0 0 0 0 300 0 -300 -300
1 4000 1460 58400 0 292 58108 50529
2 4000 1460 58400 0 292 58108 43938
3 3500 1278 51100 0 256 50845 33431
4 3000 986 39420 300 219 38901 22242
5 2000 730 29200 0 146 29054 14445
6 1200 438 17520 0 88 17432 7537
7 800 292 11680 0 58 11622 4369
8 500 165 6570 300 37 6234 2038
9 300 110 4380 0 22 4358 1239
10 200 73 2920 0 15 2905 718
total 180185

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Cash flow analysis for a chromium-steel completion.

Year Oil rate Yearly Cash in Capex Opex Cash Cash
3
(bpd) prod. (10 $) (103 $) (103 $) flow flow
(103 bbl) (103 $) @ 15%
(103 $)
0 0 0 0 3000 0 -3000 -3000
1 4000 1460 58400 0 0 58400 50783
2 4000 1460 58400 0 0 58400 44159
3 3500 1278 51100 0 0 51100 33599
4 3000 1095 43800 0 0 43800 25043
5 2000 730 29200 0 0 29200 14518
6 1200 438 17520 0 0 17520 7574
7 800 292 11680 0 0 11680 4391
8 500 183 7300 0 0 7300 2386
9 300 110 4380 0 0 4380 1245
10 200 73 2920 0 0 2920 722
total 181419

3 April 2007
1.a) The productivity index J is defined as qo,sc = J ´ (pR – pwf), from which we obtain for
the reservoir pressure: pR = pwf  qo,sc/J. The reservoir pressure in the three wells
follows as: 1: 4500 psi, 2: 4004 psi and 3: 4000 psi. Apparently well 2 and 3 produce
from the same reservoir.
1.b) The improvement in oil production for each of the three wells follows from:
qo,sc = (Jnew – Jold) ´ (pR – pwf). We find for the three wells: 1: 1200 bpd, 2: 2128 bpd
and 3: 1736 bpd. The optimal sequence is therefore 2, 3, 1.
1.c) The absolute open flowing potential (AOFP) follows from qAOFP = Jnew ´ pR. The
values for the three wells are: 1: 18 ´ 103 bpd, 2: 120 ´ 103 bpd and 3: 24 ´ 103 bpd.
18 August 2006
1) dt,o = 5 × 0.0254 = 0.1270 m.
dc,i = 6.8 × 0.0254 = 0.1727 m.
A = ¼  (0.17272  0.12702) = 10.76 × 10-3 m2.
Pw =  (0.1727 + 0.1270) = 0.9416 m.
rh = 10.76 × 10-3 / 0.9416 = 0.0114 m.
A circular pipe has a hydraulic radius rh = ¼ d. An equivalent circular pipe therefore
has a diameter deq = 4 × 0.0114 = 0.0457 m.
g = 0.8 × 1.23 = 0.984 kg/m3
 ptf = 800 × 6895 = 5.516 × 106 Pa.
 pvalve = 1200 × 6895 = 8.274 × 106 Pa.
 pav = (5.516 + 8.274) × 106 /2 = 6.895 × 106 Pa.
Tav,abs = (110  32) / 1.8 = 43.3 C = 43.3 + 273 = 316 K.

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With the aid of the Sutton correlations:

p pc  4.48 106 Pa and Tpc  223 K
pav 6.895  106 T 316
p pr , av   =1.54 and Tpr ,av  av ,abs  =1.42
p pc 4.480  10 6
Tpc 223
With the aid of the Standing-Katz chart: Zav = 0.82
M = 23.55 0.984 = 23.17 kg/kmol
R = 8314 J/(K kmol)
qg,sc = 100000 × 3.277 × 10-7 = 0.0328 m3/s
av = (pipeline convention)
 z = 6000 × 0.3048 = 1828.8 m
23.17  9.81 sin    2 
k1   =1.05 104
0.82  8314  316
8  0.82  8314  316  0.02  0.9842  0.03282
k2   =  7.87 106
  0.0457  23.17
2 5

 7.87 106  7.87 106

pth   8.274×10  
6 2
exp  2×1.05  10   0  1828.8   
4

 1.05 104  1.05 104

 6.82 106 Pa  6.82 106 / 6895  990 psi
Note: gravity forces dominate, and a computation neglecting the friction forces (i.e.
with k2 = 0 gives an almost identical result.)
18 August 2005
1.a) Bo is dimensionless, and expressed in bbl/stb (or bbl/bbl). Rs is also dimensionless, and
expressed in scf/stb (or ft3/bbl).
1.b) Under steady-state conditions the well flow rates and the pressures in the reservoir
remain constant in time. Under semi-steady-state conditions, the well flow rates remain
constant but the pressures decrease linearly with time, i.e. the change in pressure with
time remains constant.
1.c)
Discounted cash flow
Year 1 2 3 4 5 NPV
Discounted cash -17.39 -30.24 6.57 11.44 14.92 -14.7
surplus (106 $)

1.d) In gas engineering we generally deal with a nonlinear relationship between flow rate
and pressure drop. Use of a real-gas pseudo-pressure allows the use of the linear
pressure drop equations for liquid flow to describe the nonlinear pressure drop in gas
flow.
1.e) The Hagedorn and Brown velocity numbers are used in the Mukherjee and Brill
correlation to determine the flow regime and the liquid hold-up.
30 March 2005
1.a) Top left: node between the choke and the flow line (pmf).
Top right: node between the flow line and the top of the tubing (ptf = pfl).

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Bottom left: node between the bottom of the tubing and the near-well reservoir (pwf).
pmf
ptf = pfl Flow line Choke psep

Well

Near
pwf well bore pR

1.b) Top left: upstream: reservoir + tubing + flow line; downstream: choke.
Top right: upstream: reservoir + tubing; downstream: flow line + choke.
Bottom left: upstream: reservoir; downstream: tubing + flow line + choke.
1.c) pR = 28 MPa. psep = 1 MPa.
1.d) qo,sc = 2.6  10-3 m3/s. qg,sc = 50  2.6  10-3 = 130  10-3 m3/s.
1.e) See figure below.
6 6
x 10 x 10
6 6
upstream upstream
5 downstream 5 downstream
Manifold pressure pmf , Pa

increased f w increased f w
4 4
FTHP ptf , Pa

3 3

2 2

1 1

0 0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

7
x 10
2.8
upstream
2.7 downstream
increased f w
2.6
FBHP pwf , Pa

2.5

2.4

2.3

2.2

2.1
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

2.a)
 716  20 0.83 100.0016480 
pb  125  10  3
  1.4   4.06 MPa .
 1.05  10
1768 870

 8  106  3.0  106  1.4 101768 870 0.0016480 
1.05 1.2048
Rs    = 14.1 m3/m3.
716
1.2
Bo  0.9759  12 105 160 15 1.05 870   2.25  80  40   1.09 m3/m3.
 

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p pc  5218 103  734 103 1.05  16.4 103  0.982  4.43 106 Pa,
Tpc ,abs  94.0  157.9 1.05  27.2 1.052  230 K .

3 106 80  273.15
pR , pr   0.68 and TR , pr   1.54 .
4.43 10 6
230
With the Standing-Katz chart: Z = 0.94.
100 103  (80  273.15)  0.94
Bg   0.038 m3/m3
3 10  (15  273.15) 1.00
6

0.6
2.b) qw, sc   3 103  4.5 103 m3/s ,
1  0.6
qg , sc  20  3 103  60 103 m3/s .
 
 
 qg   0.038 0.038 14.1 0   60   0.7 
q    0 1.09 0   3.0  10   3.3 103
  3
 o  
 qw    4.5   4.5 
0 0 1 
 
2.c) l = 3.3 / 7.8  813 + 4.5 / 7.8  1010 = 927 kg/m3
l = 3.3 / 7.8  5  10-3 + 4.5 / 7.8  0.35  10-3 = 2.3  10-3 Pa s
gl = 3.3 / 7.8  0.008 + 4.5 / 7.8  00.04 = 0.027 N/m
vsg = 0.7  10-3 / (¼  0.078 2) = 0.14 m/s
 vsl = (3.3 + 4.5)  10-3 / (¼  0.078 2) = 1.62 m/s
Ngv = 0.14 (927 / (9.81  0.027))1/4 = 1.1 (See Brill & Mukherjee, p.29)
Nlv = 1.62 (927 / (9.81  0.027))1/4 = 12.6
Nl = 2.3  10-3 (9.81 / (927  0.0273))1/4 = 0.011
Hl = exp {(–0.380113 + 0.129875 – 0.119788 + 2.343227  0.0112)
 [(1.1 0.475686)/(12.6 0.288657) ] } = 0.83. (See Brill & Mukherjee, p.45)
2.d) l = (3.3 + 4.5) / (0.7 + 3.3 + 4.5) = 0.91. For uphill flow Hl should always be larger
than l. In this case the Mukherjee and Brill correlation is in error, i.e. we have used
parameter values that are apparently outside the limit of validity of the empirical results
of Mukherjee and Brill. (Note: If you would have answered that you mistrusted your
own results that would also have been considered a correct answer).
3.a) Gravity forces, friction forces and acceleration forces. Gravity forces dominate in oil
wells, in particular at low rates. Friction forces dominate in high-rate gas wells.
Acceleration forces hardly ever dominate, except in a blow-out situation where the exit
velocity may reach the speed of sound.
3.b) In the volatile oil model oil (or condensate) can dissolve in gas, which is not the case in
the black oil model. (Note: in both models gas can dissolve in oil.) In both models the
two pseudo components are the gas phase and the oil phase at standard conditions.
4.a) Scenario 2 is more attractive; see tables below.

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Scenario 1
year ql,1 fw,1 qo,1 F1 Fdisc,1
(bpd) () (bpd) (M$/a) (M$/a)
1 22200 0.0 22200 243 211
2 20000 0.0 20000 219 166
3 17900 0.0 17900 196 129
4 15900 0.0 15900 174 100
5 14000 0.1 12600 138 69
6 12200 0.2 9760 107 46
7 10500 0.4 6300 69 26
8 8900 0.7 2670 29 10
9 7400 0.8 1480 16 5
760

Scenario 2
year ql,2 fw,2 qo,2 F2 Fdisc,2
(bpd) () (bpd) (M$/a) (M$/a)
1 27600 0.00 27600 302 263
2 25300 0.00 25300 277 209
3 23100 0.10 20790 228 150
4 21000 0.30 14700 161 92
5 19000 0.50 9500 104 52
6 17100 0.80 3420 37 16
7 15300 0.85 2295 25 9
8 13600 0.85 2040 22 7
9 12000 0.85 1800 20 6
804

4.b) EMV completion A: 1/3  760 + 2/3  0.7  804 = 629 million $
EMV completion B: 2/3  804 + 1/3  0.7  760 = 714 million $
Completion B is more attractive.
4.c) Yes. The gain (20% of 714 million $) is much more than the costs (15 million $).

25 March 2004
éæ 533 ù
1.2048
ö
1.a) Rsb = 0.85´ êçç +1.4÷÷÷100.0125´35-0.00091´200 ú = 107 scf/stb
êëèç18.2 ø úû

éæ 533 - 60 ù
1.2048
ö
1.b) Rs = 0.85´ êçç +1.4÷÷÷100.0125´35-0.00091´200 ú = 93 scf/stb
êëèç 18.2 ø úû

qg , free , sc   Rgo  Rs  qo , sc   800  93  2000  1.4  106 scf/d

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1.c) p pc  756.8  131.0  0.85  3.6  0.852 =643 psi

Tpc , abs  169.2  349.5  0.85  74.0  0.852  413 R

p 533  60 T 200  460
p pr    0.74 , Tpr  abs   1.60
p pc 643 Tpc ,abs 413
Standing- Katz: Z = 0.94
14.7   200  460   0.94
Bg   0.037
 533  60    60  460  1.00
qg , free  Bg  qg , free, sc  0.037 1.4 106  52 103 ft 3 /d
 o , sc 141.5  103 141.5  103
1.d)  o     0.85
 w, sc 131.5   API   w, sc 131.5  35   1000
1.2
Bo  0.9759  12 105 93
  0.85 0.85  1.25  200  1.11

qo  Bo  qo , sc  1.11 2000  2217 bpd  12.4 103 scf/d

Assume Bw = 1
f 0.15
qw  w qo , sc   2000  353 bpd  2.0 103 scf/d
1  fw 1  0.15
qo  qw 12.4  103  2.0  103
l    0.22
qg , free  qo  qw 52  103  12.4 103  2.0  103
1.e) qo, sc  2000 bpd  11.2 103 scf/d
qw, sc  qw  2.0 103 scf/d
qg , sc  800  2000  1.6 106 scf/d
qo , sc  qw, sc 11.2  103  2.0  103
l , sc    0.008
qg , sc  qo , sc  qw, sc 1.6 106  11.2 103  2.0  103
l , sc
 0.038
l
2.a) The bottom of the tubing.
2.b) pR = 30  106 Pa. pmf = 0.5  106 Pa ;see figures a) and b) below
qo , sc 5  103
2.c) J    7.11010 m3s -1Pa -1
pR  pwf 30 10  23  10
6 6

2.d) qo,sc = 2.4  10-3 m3/s ;see figure c)

2.e) pfl = 0.9  106 Pa ; see figure a); ptf = 2.9  106 Pa ; see figure b);
pwf = 26.5  106 Pa ; see figure c)
 pfl = pfl – pmf = 0.9  106 – 0.5  106 = 0.4  106 Pa
 pch = ptf – pfl = 2.9  106 – 0.9  106 = 2.0  106 Pa
 pt = pwf – ptf = 26.5  106 – 2.9  106 = 23.6  106 Pa
 pR = pR – pwf = 30  106 – 26.5  106 = 3.5  106 Pa

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2.f) ptf / pfl = (2.9  106) / (0.9  106) = 3.2. This ratio is high enough to ensure critical
flow.
2.g) The graph has a minimum around 0.3  10-3 m3/s. To the right of the minimum, friction
forces dominate which increase for increasing flow rates. To the left of the minimum,
gravity forces dominate which increase for decreasing flow rates. This is because at
decreasing flow rates the liquid hold-up increases as a result of an increasing slip of the
gas phase through the liquid phase.
6 6
x 10 x 10
6 6

Flowing tubing head pressureptf , Pa

5 5
Flowline pressure p , Pa

4 4
fl

3 3

2 2

1 1
pmf
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5

a) Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10

-3
b) Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

7 7
x 10 x 10
3.2 3.2
, Pa

Flowing bottom-hole pressurepwf , Pa

pR
wf

3 3
Flowing bottom-hole pressurep

2.8 2.8

2.6 2.6

2.4 2.4

2.2 2.2
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
c) 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m /s x 10
-3
d) Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

3a) It is attractive to delay the shutdown to next year as follows from a cashflow analysis
for the two scenarios:

Table 1: Early shut down

Time Capex Total Revenue Opex Royalties Cashflow Disc. c/f
(year) (106 $) prod. (106 $) (106 $) (106 $) (106 $) (106 $)
(bbl/yr)
1 120 5475000 137 4 55 -42 -37
2 8760000 219 7 88 124 94
3 6789000 170 5 68 96 63
4 5037000 126 4 50 72 41
5 3504000 88 3 35 50 25
6 2190000 55 2 22 31 13
7 1533000 38 1 15 22 8
8 1095000 27 1 11 16 5
total 368 213

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Table 2: Delayed shut down

Time Capex Total Revenue Opex Royalties Cashflow Disc. c/f
6
(year) (10 $) prod. (106 $) (106 $) (106 $) (106 $) (106 $)
(bbl/yr)
1 7300000 183 6 73 104 90
2 120 4380000 110 4 44 -58 -44
3 7482500 187 6 75 106 70
4 5694000 142 5 57 81 46
5 4124500 103 3 41 59 29
6 2774000 69 2 28 39 17
7 1642500 41 1 16 23 9
8 1168000 29 1 12 17 5
total 371 223

3b) The major costs in installing gas-lift is usually the cost for compressors. If the tubings
of the production wells have already been equipped with gaslift mandrels, installing the
gas lift valves only involves wireline operations which are relatively inexpensive. If the
tubings have not been equipped with mandrels, a complete workover of the wells is
required which is a costly operations.

4a) Starting from equation (3.43) the solution becomes

p 2  pˆ 2  2k2  s  sˆ  ,
from which follows
ptf2  pmf
2

s ,
2k 2
if we take sˆ  0 at the manifold. Take an ‘engineering guess’ for the average values:
fav = 0.002 (highly turbulent flow, relative roughness = 0.02/78 = 0.00025; see Moody
chart), Z = 1 (close to atmospheric pressure), Tav = 25 C (mid-in between Ttf and Tmf).
Therefore:
8´1´8314´(25 + 273)´ 0.002´ 0.952 ´ 4.312
k2 = = 1.04´109 Pa 2 m ,
p ´ 0.078 ´ 23.55´ 0.95
2 5

which leads to a maximum flow line length of

s
19.2 10   18.0 10 
6 2 6 2

 21500 m,
2  1.04 109
which is much longer than a normal flow line would be in practice. Apparently there is
scope to reduce the flow line diameter and/or to produce for a long time until the FTHP
has dropped significantly.
19 June 2003
1.a) Assuming all other parameters to remain constant, a higher water cut will result in a
lower tubing head pressures for a given flow rate, and a smaller choke diameter will

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result in a higher tubing head pressure for a given flowrate. Therefore: A: fw = 0.0 , B:
dch = 72/64 inch, C: fw = 0.2 and D: dch = 48/64 inch.
1.b) To operate in the critical regime, the upstream pressure of the choke should be at least
about 1.7 times the downstream pressure: 1.7  4.7  105 = 8.0  105 Pa. Only
combination B/C does therefore not operate in the critical regime.
1.c) The choke performance curves for non-critical flow start from the downstream pressure
p2 = 4.7  105 Pa and are tangent to the “critical” choke performance curves at the
upstream pressure p1 = 8.0  105 Pa.
6
x 10
2
A
1.8 B
C
1.6 D
Flowing tubinghead pressure ptf , Pa

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6
4.7
0.4

0.2

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m 3/s x 10
-3

1.d) The practical minimum corresponds to the flowrate where the tubing performance curve
becomes horizontal: qo,sc = -0.5  10-3 m3/s. Although operating points to the left of this
value can remain stable in theory, a very small disturbance may result in wellbore
instability or dying of the well.
1.e) The tubing performance curves shift upwards, because the additional gas in the tubing
results in a reduced hydrostatic head and therefore in a higher flowing tubing head
pressure. Because the flowing bottom hole pressure is above the bubble point, the near-
wellbore pressure drop is not influenced by the higher GOR. The choke performance
curves also somewhat shift upward, because the increased amount of gas flowing
through the choke results in an increased pressure drop over the choke, and therefore in
a higher flowing tubing head pressure.

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6
x 10
2
A
1.8 B
C
1.6 D
Flowing tubing head pressure ptf , Pa

1.4

1.2

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
3 -3
Oil flow rate -qo,sc , m /s x 10

2.a) The Hagedorn and Brown correlation is only valid for vertical wells, whereas the
Mukerjee and Brill correlation can also cope with deviated and horizontal wells.
2.b) The liquid hold-up is always higher than the liquid fraction. This is caused by slip of the
gas through the liquid.
2.c) A: no; does not vary during production
B: yes; production parameter – does vary
C: yes; production parameter – does vary
D: no, fluid property – does not vary
25 March 2002
1.a) pws  pR  g w ztot  pdepl  10.6 103  3000  12.0 106  19.8 106 Pa
Twf  Tth
120  30
1.b) Tav   75 o C 
2 2
pwf  pth 15 106  3 106
pav    9 106 Pa
2 2
With the aid of the Sutton correlations:
p pc  4.51106 Pa and Tpc  219.2 K
pav 9  106 T 75  273
p pr ,av   =2.00 and Tpr , av  av  =1.59
p pc 4.51 10 6
Tpc 219.2
With the aid of the Standing-Katz chart: Zav = 0.86
1.c) M  23.55 g,sc  23.55  0.95  22.37 kg kmol-1
av = -/2 rad (Note:  is the pipeline inclination; the wellbore inclination  = 0 rad)

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R = 8314 J K-1 kmol-1

e 30 106
   0.48 103
d 0.062
Assume highly turbulent flow. With the aid of the Moody friction factor it can be
verified that in that case the friction factor should indeed be around fav = 0.015 as
indicated in the hint at the end of the question.
Mg sin qav 22.37´9.81´-1.00
k1 = - =- = 0.88´10-4 m1
Z av RTav ,abs 0.86´8314´(75 + 273)
8Z av RTav , abs f av r g2 , sc
k2 = k2¢qg , sc qg , sc = qg , sc qg , sc =
p 2d 5 M
8´ 0.86´8314´(75 + 273)´ 0.015´ 0.952
qg , sc qg , sc = 1.33´109 qg , sc qg , sc Pa 2 m-1
p ´ 0.062 ´ 22.37
2 5

s = 3000 m
æ k ö k¢
pwf = ççç pth 2 + 2 ÷÷÷ exp (2k1s ) - 2 = exp (2k1s ) pth 2 + éë exp (2k1s ) -1ùû 2 qg , sc qg , sc
k
è k1 ÷ø k1 k1
and therefore
2
pwf - exp (2k1s ) ptf 2
qg , sc = -
¢
éexp (2k1s ) -1ù k2
ë ûk
1

(15´106 ) - exp (2´ 0.88´10-4 ´3000)´(3´106 )

2 2

=- = -4.47 m3s-1
é exp ( 2´ 0.88´10-4 ´3000) -1ù 1.33´10
9

ëê ûú 0.88´10-4
The average flow rates and densities along the well now follow as:
p T Z 1´105 ´ (75 + 273)´ 0.86
qg ,av = sc av , abs av qq , sc = ´-4.47 = -0.051 m s -1
pavTsc , abs Z sc 9´106 ´ (15 + 273)´1
r g , sc qg , sc 0.95´(-4.47)
r g ,av = = = 82.5 kg m -3
qg ,av -0.051
Check the friction factor:
4 r g ,av qg ,av 4 82.5´ 0.051
N Re ,av = = = 7.3´106
p mg d p 12´10-6 ´ 0.062
With the aid of the Moody friction factor chart we find that for NRe,av = 7.3  106 and
 = 0.48  10-3, the friction factor fav is indeed about equal to 0.015, so no iteration is
needed. Therefore the answer remains qg,sc =  m3 s-1 =   103 m3 d-1.
1.d) Because most variables in the analysis are functions of along-hole depth s, which can be
taken correctly into account in the numerical solution, whereas the analytical
approximation uses average values.

2.a) Oil: 0.2  25000 = 5000 stb/d; 1.590  10-1  5000 = 795 m3/d = 9.20  10-3 m3/s.
Water: 0.8  25000 = 20000 stb/d; 1.590  10-1  20000 = 3180 m3/d = 36.8  10-3
m3/s.
Gas: 1300  0.2  25000 = 6.5  106 scf/d; 2.832  10-2  6.5e6 = 184  103 m3/d =

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2.13 m3/s.
Pressure: 6.895  103  (270 + 14.7) = 1.96  106 Pa
2.b) pth = 635 +14.7 = 650 psia
psep = 270 +14.7 = 285 psia
pfl = psep + p = 285 + 40 = 325 psig
pth / pfl = 650 / 325 = 2.0. The upstream/downstream pressure ratio exceeds 1.7 which
implies critical flow. This has the advantage that downstream disturbances do not
propagate into the well.
ER 
B

2.c) p1  Aql , sc  D and therefore

gl

 F dch 
C

B
1 p D C
Rgl   1  F dch   
E  Aql , sc 
1
1  635  14.7  14.7 1.89  0.546
  1.00  32    355 scf stb -1
1.00  10.0 1800 
The reservoir is undersaturated. Therefore there is no gas cap and the producing GOR
Rgo is equal to the bubble point GOR Rsb = 735 scf stb-1.
Gas flow rate: qg,sc = Rgl  ql,sc = 355  1800 = 639  103 scf d-1
Oil flow rate: qo,sc = qg,sc / Rgo = 639  103 / 735 = 869 stb d-1
Water flow rate: qw,sc = ql,sc - qo,sc = 1800 - 869 = 931 stb d-1
Water cut: fw = qw,sc / ql,sc = 931 / 1800 = 0.52
2.d) Liquid flow rate at tubing head pressure is equal to flowrate at standard conditions (no
1.590 101
gas dissolves). Expressed in scf: ql  1800  10116 scf d -1
2.831102
Gas flow rate at tubing head pressure:
p 14.7
qg ,th  sc  qg , sc   639 103 = 15  103 scf d -1
pth 635  14.7
ql 10116
l    0.40
ql  qg 10116  15 103
g  1  l  1  0.40  0.60
The liquid hold-up will be higher than the liquid fraction because of the occurrence of
slip between the liquid and the gas.
2.e) The Mukerjee and Brill liquid hold-up prediction is given by:
L FN
H  exp McC  C sin   C sin   C N hG
C5
I OP ,
l
MN 1 2
HN 3
2
4 l
2 gv
C6
lv
JK PQ
where the coefficients C1 to C6 are specified for upward flow as
C1 -0.380113
C2 0.129875
C3 -0.119788
C4 2.343227
C5 0.475686
C6 0.288657

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The angle  = /2. The liquid hold-up therefore follows as Hl = 0.58. This is much
higher than the liquid fraction calculated under 2.d) (l = 0.40).

3.a) pR,0 = 7500 psi, pR,5 = 6000 psi

qo,sc,0 = 4250 bpd, qo,sc,5 = 1800 bpd (without stimulation)
qo,sc,0 = 4800 bpd, qo,sc,5 = 2300 bpd (with acid stimulation)
3.b) The NPV of the produced oil, i.e. the cumulative discounted revenues, can be computed
as shown in the table below, and amounts to 66.5 million $.

Discounted revenues without acid stimulation.

Year Production Production Revenues Discounted Cum. disc.
-1 6 -1
(bbl d ) (10 bbl a ) (106 $) rev. (106 $) rev. (106 $)
1 4250 1.55 26.4 22.9 22.9
2 3638 1.33 22.6 17.1 40.0
3 3025 1.10 18.8 12.3 52.3
4 2413 0.88 15.0 8.6 60.9
5 1800 0.66 11.2 5.6 66.5

3.c) The NPV of the additional produced oil after stimulation, can be computed as shown
the table below, and amounts to 11 million $. Therefore the acid stimulation is
attractive. In fact, the additional production pays for the stimulation after two years, and
the discount analysis could have been stopped thereafter.

Additional discounted revenues after acid stimulation.

Year Additional Additional Additional Additional Additional
production production revenues discounted cum. disc.
(bbl d-1) (106 bbl a-1) (106 $) rev. (106 $) rev. (106 $)
1 550 0.20 3.4 3.0 3.0
2 538 0.20 3.3 2.5 5.5
3 525 0.19 3.3 2.1 7.6
4 513 0.19 3.2 1.8 9.4
5 500 0.18 3.1 1.5 11.0

26 June 2001
1.a) API = 30° => o = 876.16 kg/m3.
gw = 45 psi/ft => w = 1037.61 kg/m3.
zOWC = 4250 ft = 1295.40 m.
ho = 4250 – 4050 = 200 ft = 60.96 m.
pOWC = zOWC  w  g + patm = 1295.40  1037.61  9.81 + 100000 = 13.29  106
Pa.
pGOC = pOWC – ho  o  g =13.29  106 – 60.96  876.16  9.81 = 12.77  106 Pa.
1.b) htop = 50 ft = 15.24 m.
pws = pGOC + htop  o  g = 12.77  106 + 15.24  876.16  9.81 = 12.90  106 Pa.
p = pws – pwf = 12.90  106 – 12.80  106 = 0.10  106 Pa.

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J = Js  hperf = 1.25  100 = 125 bpd/psi = 125  2.669  10-10 = 3.34  10-8
m s Pa-1.
3 -1

q = p  J = 0.10  106  3.34  10-8 = 3.34  10-3 m3/s.

1.c) If the drawdown doubles, the flowing bottom hole pressure will drop below the
bubble point pressure, and gas will come out of solution in the near-well bore area of
the reservoir. As a result, the inflow performance will deteriorate and the inflow will
increase with less than a factor of two.
1.d) d = 3 in = 0.0762 m.
e = 0.003 in.
 = e/d = 0.001 .
 q = 1500 bbl/d = 2.76  10-3 m3/s.
 = 1020 kg/m3.
  = 0.0127 cp = 0.0127  10-3 Pa s.
4 q 4 1020  2.76 103
 N Re    3.70 106 
 d   0.0127 103  0.0762
f = 0.02 .
8  1020
p fric   4350  0.3048   2  0.02   2.76  103   6.50  104 Pa .
2

  0.0762 5

phyd   4350  0.3048 1020  9.81  13.27 106 Pa .

2.a) Expressed in field units, the Gilbert model for a choke operating in the critical regime
is given by
Rgl0.546
p1  10.00  ql , sc 1.89
 14.7 ,
d ch
from which we can derive that
1 1
 p  14.7 1.89  0.564   486  14.7   14.7 1.89  0.564
Rgl   1 d ch   96   1500 scf stb .
 10.00  q 
 l , sc   10.00  5000 
Note that the upstream pressure p1 has been expressed in psia and the choke diameter
d in 1/64th of an inch.
The well produces dry oil, and therefore Rgo = Rgl = 1500 scf/stb. Because the choke is
just operating in the critical regime, we know that p1 = 1.7 p2, and therefore that
p2 = p1 / 1.7 = (486 + 14.7) / 1.7 = 295 psia.
2.b) With the aid of the gradient curve:
 Select 486 psig at the horizontal axis.
 Go down to the line for 1500 scf/stb.
 Go left to the vertical axis and read off the “reference depth”: 3600 ft.
 Go down 11000 ft to the “reference depth” of 3600 + 11000 = 14600 ft.
 Go right to the line for 1500 scf/stb.
 Go up to the horizontal axis and read off the pressure: 2240 psig.
2.c) p = pws – pwf = 2280 – 2240 = 40 psig.
J = qo,sc / p = 5000 / 40 = 125 bpd/psi.
2.d) pwf,new = pws – qnew / J = 2280 – 3000 / 125 = 2256 psig.
With the aid of the gradient curve:

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 Select 2256 psig at the horizontal axis.

 Go down to the line for 1500 scf/stb.
 Go left to the vertical axis and read off the “reference depth”: 17800 ft.
 Go up 11000 ft to the “reference depth” of 17800 - 11000 = 6800 ft.
 Go right to the line for 1500 scf/stb.
 Go up to the horizontal axis and read off the pressure: ptf,new = 700 psig.
2.e) Because the flow rate has dropped from 5000 bpd to 3000 bpd, the pressure drop over
the flow line must have dropped also. If the manifold pressure has remained the same,
the downstream choke pressure must therefore be lower than before. Note that the
upstream choke pressure, which has increased from 486 to 700 psi, is independent
from the downstream pressure because the choke operates in the critical regime.
2.f) No; the GOR at qsc = 3000 bpd is the same as the GOR at qsc = 5000 bpd, which
implies that the gas produced at surface is only associated gas and not gas cap gas.

3.a) The discounted reduction in expenditure due to the use of smart wells is depicted in
the table below, and the total amounts to 7.64 million. Furthermore, for three wells the
production is one year accelerated which implies
 a small gain in production at the end of the project which can be quantified as
3  0.08 = 0.24 million $, and, much more importantly,
 a one-year discount reduction on the total production of three wells (minus the
contribution from the last year because the wells only produce for 18 years). The
discounted value of the total production of a single well can be quantified as 35.41
+ 5.22 = 40.63 million $ as can be inferred from the last column in Table 2. (The
total discounted cashflow in year 20 of 35.41 million $ is composed of a total
discounted production value (total cash-in) of 40.63 million $ minus the
discounted cash-out in year 1 (total cash-out) of 5.22 million). The required value
of the one-year discount reduction on the total production of three wells can
therefore be quantified as 3  (40.63  1.15) – 3  40.63 = 18.28 million $.
The total differential cumulative discounted cash flow (differential NPV) is therefore
0.24 + 18.28 – (–7.64) = 26.16 million $, which represents a substantial increase in
the project’s NPV.

Differential expenditure
Year Expenditure Expenditure Differential Discounted
conventional smart wells expenditure differential
wells (106 $) (106 $) expenditure
(106 $) (106 $)
1 -12 9 -3 -2.61
2 -18 27 9 6.81
3 -18 - -18 -11.84
Total -48 36 -12 -7.64

3.b) In the worst case, failure would occur in year 1, because then it would cause the
maximum reduction in production over the life of the field. The corresponding
discounted loss in revenues would be 35.48 + 5.22 = 40.70 million $ (Note that a
smart well produces twice as much as a conventional well). Failure in year 2 would

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result in a loss of (35.41 + 5.22) / 1.15 = 35.33. The chance of experiencing no well
failure is 50%. The chance of experiencing a well failure in year 1 is 0.25  50%, and
of a well failure in year 2: 0.75  50%. The total risk-weighted differential NPV is
therefore 0.50  26.16 + 0.25  0.50  (26.16 – 40.70) + 0.75  0.50  (26.16 –
35.33) = 7.82. Even with a 50% chance of failure of one of the wells, the use of smart
wells would therefore still be attractive.
26 March 2001
1.a) Because the well is producing from a reservoir below bubble point pressure. The gas
changes the relative permeability for the oil phase.
Note: this curve was produced with the aid of the Vogel relationship for gas-liquid
inflow performance.
1.b) The optimum GOR is around 100 m3/m3. The graph will look something like:
3
qo,sc (m /d)

230

220

210

200

190

180

170

160
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
Rgo (m3/m3)

1.c) At the optimum value of Rgo the sum of the hydrostatic head and the friction is at its
lowest possible value. For values of Rgo below the optimum the increase in
hydrostatic head exceeds the decrease in friction. Above the optimum the increase in
friction exceeds the decrease in hydrostatic head.
1.d) The gas density at standard conditions follows as
 g , sc   g air ,sc  0.85 1.23  1.05 kg/m3 .
With the aid of the Sutton correlation (see Appendix B of the lecture notes) we find:
p pc  5218 103  734 103 1.05  16.4 103 1.052  4429 kPa ,
Tpc , abs  94.0  157.9 1.05  27.2 1.052  230 K .

1.e) At surface the gas is at standard conditions: p = 100 kPa, T = 15+173 = 288 K, and
Z = 1.0 Therefore a volume of one m3 gas at surface contains an amount of
pV 100000  1
n   41.8 mol .
ZRTabs 1 8.314  288

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The bottom hole pressure at a GOR of 200 m3/m3 is read from Figure 1 in the exam
paper as 18000 kPa. The reservoir temperature in absolute units is Tabs = 150 + 273 =
423 K. The pseudo reduced pressure and temperature follow as
p 18000 T 423
p pr    4.1 and Tpr  abs   1.8 .
p pc 4429 Tpc 230
With the aid of the standing-Katz chart we find that Z = 0.92. Therefore the gas-
formation volume factor is given by
qg pscTabs Z 100  103  423  0.92
Bg     0.0075 .
qg , sc pTsc , abs Z sc 1800  103  288  1
The surface oil rate at a GOR of 200 m3/m3 is about 200 m3/d; see Figure 1 of the
exam paper. The gas rate is therefore 200  200 = 40000 m3/d. Expressed at bottom
hole conditions this becomes:
qg  qg , sc  Bg  40000  0.0075  300 m3 d .
1.f) No. The local gas rate at the bottom of the hole is lower because a part of the gas is
in solution in the oil.

2.a) Water production. During the first six years, the well produced dry oil at an almost
constant rate, but as of year seven, the well started to produce water which replaced
the oil.
Note: The well has produced at almost the same gross liquid rate during its entire
life. This is most likely a result of surface facilities constraints, or possibly from a
restriction on the flow rate to avoid sand production or erosion. The well is not
operating on lift constraint, because otherwise the gross flow rate would have
dropped after the start of the water production.
2.b) A differential cash flow analysis for year 19 gives a cumulative cash flow of about
4.7 million $; see the table below. The re-perforation is therefore very attractive,
even at a low oil price of 12.5 $/bbl.
Note: a full discount analysis is not necessary because already in the first year the
profits exceed the investment.

Differential cash flow.

Year Differential Differential Differential Differential
production (103 cash in cash out cash flow
bbl/year) (103 $) (103 $) (103 $)
19 498 4982 300 4682

2.c) The producing GOR of the well remains nearly constant at about 500 scf/stb during
the life of the well; see the figure below. Therefore the well produces associated gas
at a nearly constant level. There is no sign of free gas production, which would have
caused an increase in GOR.
Note: GOR figures often fluctuate much stronger, not in the least because oil and gas
measurements during production testing often have a low accuracy ( 5% is a very
good measurement. Errors up to tens of percents do frequently occur.)

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520

515

510

505

500
GOR (scf/stb)

495

490

485

480

475

470
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
year

References
Beggs, H.D., 1991: Production optimisation using NODAL analysis, Oil and Gas Consultants
International Publications, Tulsa.

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