Chapter 1 The Role of Petroleum Production Engineering

1.1 Introduction NGEN 4396

1.2 Components of the Petroleum Production System Natural Gas Production
1.2.1 Volume and Phase of Reservoir Hydrocarbons Prepared by Dr. Zhaoqi Fan
1.2.2 Permeability
1.2.3 The Zone near the Well, the Sandface, and the Well Completion
1.2.4 The Well
1.2.5 The Surface Equipment
1.3 Well Productivity and Production Engineering
1.3.1 The Objectives of Production Engineering
1.3.2 Organization of the Book
1.4 Units and Conversions

1.1 Introduction

• well,
• bottomhole,
• wellhead assemblies
• surface gathering, separation,
and storage facilities.

What are reservoir engineering, production engineering, drilling engineering?

How do they connect?

1.2 Components of the Petroleum Production System

Several definitions are presented below to warm up.

1.2.1 Volume and Phase of Reservoir Hydrocarbons

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1.2.1 Volume and Phase of Reservoir Hydrocarbons
Reservoir: _____________________________________________________________

Figure 1-1 Common reservoir heterogeneities, anisotropies, discontinuities, and boundaries

affecting the performance of vertical, horizontal, and complex-architecture wells.

Porosity: _____________________________________________________________

Reservoir Height / reservoir thickness / pay thickness : gross height vs. net height.

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 Figure 1-2 Spontaneous potential and electrical resistivity logs identifying sandstones versus
shales, and water-bearing versus hydrocarbon-bearing formations.

Fluid Saturations:___________________________________

Connate/interstitial water saturation, wettabilities (e.g., water-wet, oil-wet)…

Will the wettability change during the production process?

Fluid saturation can be estimated by the measurement of the formation electrical resistivity.
• Formation brine: _______ resistivity
• Hydrocarbon: _________ resistivity

The combination of porosity, reservoir net thickness, and saturations is essential in deciding
whether a prospect is attractive or not. These variables can allow the estimation of
hydrocarbons near the well.

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Classification of Reservoirs

All hydrocarbon mixtures can be described by a phase diagram such as the one shown in
Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3 Oilfield hydrocarbon phase diagram showing bubble-point and dew-point curves,
lines of constant-phase distribution, region of retrograde condensation, and the critical and
cricondentherm points.

• Critical point, bubble point, dew point, cricondentherm

• Undersaturated reservoir: Reservoirs above the bubble-point pressure
• Two-phase” or “saturated reservoir: the initial reservoir pressure or the flowing bottomhole
pressure is less than or equal to the bubble-point pressure
• Lean gas reservoir:
• retrograde condensate reservoirs

Areal Extent

3-D and wellbore seismic techniques, in combination with well testing, can increase greatly the
knowledge of the reservoir extent.

The hydrocarbon volume, VHC, in reservoir cubic ft is

where A is the areal extent in ft2, h is the reservoir thickness in ft, ϕ is the porosity, and Sw is
the water saturation. (Thus, 1 – Sw is the hydrocarbon saturation.)

Equation (1-2) can lead to the estimation of the oil or gas volume under standard conditions by
using Bo and Bg.

For oil,

where N is in _______________ and the area is in ___________.

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 where N is in _______________ and the area is in ___________.

For gas,

G is in standard cubic ft (SCF) and A is in ft2.

1.2.2 Permeability
The property that describes the ability of fluids to flow in the porous medium is permeability.

Will a larger porosity be always associated with a larger permeability?

Darcy's Law for permeability measurement.

where k is the permeability and is a

characteristic property of the porous medium.

Figure 1-4 Darcy’s experiment. Water

flows through a sand pack and the
pressure difference (head) is recorded.

1.2.3 The Zone near the Well, the Sandface, and the Well Completion
The zone surrounding a well is important.
• considerable pressure drop around the wellbore
• all intrusive activities such as drilling, cementing, and well completion usually detrimental
e.g., in some cases 90% of the total pressure drop in the reservoir may be consumed in a
zone just a few feet away from the well.
The various well completions and the resulting near-wellbore zones are shown in Figure 1-5.

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 Figure 1-5 Options for well completions.

Gravel pack and slotted liner are used to prevent the permeability-reducing sand or fines away
from the well.
1.2.4 The Well
There is a required flowing pressure gradient between the bottomhole and the well head. The
pressure gradient consists of
• the potential energy difference (hydrostatic pressure), depending on _________________
• the frictional pressure drop, depending on _________________.

Fluids lifted through the well up to the surface process:

• Naturally flowing: the bottomhole pressure is ____________ to lift the fluids to the top
• artificial lift: the bottomhole pressure is ____________ to lift the fluids to the top
○ Mechanical lift: by a pump
○ gas lift: by the injection of lean gas in a designated spot along the well to reduce the
density of the fluid

1.2.5 The Surface Equipment

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 a manifold
connecting a
number of wells

disposed in the
ground through a
reinjection well.
the separation facility

Figure 1-6 The petroleum production system, including the reservoir, underground well
completion, the well, wellhead assembly, and surface facilities.

The flow systems from the reservoir to the entrance to the separation facility are the
production engineering systems that are the subjects of study in this book.

1.3 Well Productivity and Production Engineering

1.3.1 The Objectives of Production Engineering
Many of the components of the petroleum production system can be considered together by
graphing the inflow performance relationship (IPR) and the vertical flow performance (VFP).

• IPR represents what the reservoir can deliver

• VFP represents what the well can deliver

• The intersection of the IPR with the VFP yields the well deliverability, an expression of
what a well will actually produce for a given operating condition.

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 Figure 1-7 Well deliverability gap between the original well performance and optimized
well performance.
The role of a petroleum production engineer is to maximize the well deliverability in a cost-
effective manner. Understanding and measuring the variables that control these relationships
(well diagnosis) becomes imperative.

Well productivity
the productivity index J of an oil well:

• For steady-state flow to a vertical well, dimensionless productivity index JD is

• For pseudosteady state flow,

• For transient flow

where pD is the dimensionless pressure.

In summary, well performance evaluation and enhancement are the primary charges of the
production engineer.
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production engineer.

The production engineer has three major tools for well performance evaluation:

(1) the measurement of (or sometimes, simply the understanding of) the rate-versus-
pressure drop relationships for the flow paths from the reservoir to the separator;

(2) well testing, which evaluates the reservoir potential for flow and, through measurement
of the skin effect, provides information about flow restrictions in the near-wellbore
environmental;

(3) production logging measurements or measurements of pressure, temperature, or other

properties by permanently installed downhole instruments, which can describe the
distribution of flow into the wellbore, as well as diagnose other completion-related
problems.

1.3.2 Organization of the Book

1.4 Units and Conversions

“oilfield” units are used throughout the text!

Table 1-1. Typical Units for Reservoir and Production Engineering Calculations

Example 1-1. Conversion from Oilfield to SI Units

The steady-state, radial flow form of Darcy’s law in oilfield units is given in Chapter 2 as

for p in psi, q in STB/d, B in res bbl/STB, μ in cp, k in md, h in ft, and r e and rw in ft (s is
dimensionless). Calculate the pressure drawdown (p e – pwf) in Pa for the following SI data, first
by converting units to oilfield units and converting the result to SI units, then by deriving the
constant in this equation for SI units.

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constant in this equation for SI units.

Data: q = 0.001 m3/s, B = 1.1 res m3/ST m3, μ = 2 × 10–3 Pa-s, k = 10–14 m2, h = 10 m, re = 575
m, rw = 0.1 m, and s = 0.

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