Well Completion for Effective Deliquification of Natural Gas Wells

2011 ◽  
Vol 134 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John Yilin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Liquid Loading ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
Well Completion ◽  
Reservoir Permeability ◽  
Gas Fields ◽  
Gas Lift

Liquid loading has been a problem in natural gas wells for several decades. With gas fields becoming mature and gas production rates dropping below the critical rate, deliquification becomes more and more critical for continuous productivity and profitability of gas wells. Current methods for solving liquid loading in the wellbore include plunger lift, velocity string, surfactant, foam, well cycling, pumps, compression, swabbing, and gas lift. All these methods are to optimize the lifting of liquid up to surface, which increases the operating cost, onshore, and offshore. However, the near-wellbore liquid loading is critical but not well understood. Through numerical reservoir simulation studies, effect of liquid loading on gas productivity and recovery has been quantified in two aspects: backup pressure and near-wellbore liquid blocking by considering variable reservoir permeability, reservoir pressure, formation thickness, liquid production rate, and geology. Based on the new knowledge, we have developed well completion methods for effective deliquifications. These lead to better field operations and increased ultimate gas recovery.

Low-Permeable Reservoirs as High Potential Assets for EGR

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazarii Hedzyk ◽  
Oleksandr Kondrat
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Adsorption Capacity ◽  
Injection Pressure ◽  
Reservoir Pressure ◽  
Hydrocarbon Gases ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
Adsorbed Gas ◽  
Reservoir Permeability ◽  
Gas Fields

Abstract Natural gas fields that are being developed in Ukraine, mainly relate to the high and medium permeability reservoirs, most of which are at the final stage of field life. In this situation one of the main sources of additional gas production is unconventional fields. This paper presents the analysis of challenges concerning development of low-permeable reservoirs and experimental results of conducted research, which provide the opportunity to establish technologies for enhance gas recovery factor. For this purpose, a series of laboratory experiments were carried out on the sand packed models of gas field with different permeability (from 9.7 to 93 mD) using natural gas. The pressure in the experiments varied from 1 to 10 MPa, temperature – 22-60 °C. According to the features of low-permeable gas fields development the research of displacement desorption with carbon dioxide and inert gas stripping by nitrogen was conducted. These studies also revealed the influence of pressure, temperature, reservoir permeability and non-hydrocarbon gases injection rate on the course of adsorption-desorption processes and their impact on the gas recovery factor. According to the experimental results of relative adsorption capacity determination it can be concluded that the carbon dioxide usage as the displacement agent can lead to producing adsorbed gas by more than 30% than by using nitrogen. To remove the adsorbed gas just reservoir pressure lowering is not enough due to the nature of adsorption isotherms. Particularly at pressure decreasing by 8-10 times compared to initial reservoir pressure only about 30-40% of the total amount of initially adsorbed gas is desorbed. And at considerable reservoir pressure reduction the further deposit development is not economically profitable. According to the results it was found that in the case of nitrogen usage the most effective method is full voidage replacement at injection pressure of 0.8 of the initial reservoir pressure, and in case of carbon dioxide usage - full voidage replacement method at pressure of 0.6 of the initial reservoir pressure. Taking into account availability of N2 and CO2, N2injection is recommended for further implementation. The influence of displacement agent injection pressure on gas recovery was experimentally proved. The physical sense of the processes taking place during natural gas desorption stimulation by non-hydrocarbon gases was justified. The effect of temperature, pressure and reservoir permeability on methane adsorption capacity were determined. The mathematical model for estimating adsorbed gas amount depending on the reservoir parameters was developed. Obtained results were summarized and recommendations for practical implementation of elaborated technological solutions were suggested.

Optimizing Tubing and Liner Completion Design to Improve Gas Production from Existing Wells: Case Study for ADNOC Onshore Field Abu Dhabi, UAE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdy Farouk Fathalla ◽  
Mariam Ahmed Al Hosani ◽  
Ihab Nabil Mohamed ◽  
Ahmed Mohamed Al Bairaq ◽  
Djamal Kherroubi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gas Production ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Production Rates ◽  
Liquid Loading ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Well Production ◽  
Well Completion ◽  
The Impact

Abstract An onshore gas field contains several gas wells which have low–intermittent production rates. The poor production has been attributed to liquid loading issue in the wellbore. This study will investigate the impact of optimizing the tubing and liner completion design to improve the gas production rates from the wells. Numerous sensitivity runs are carried out with varying tubing and liner dimensions, to identity optimal downhole completions design. The study begins by identifying weak wells having severe gas production problems. Once the weak wells have been identified, wellbore schematics for those wells are studied. Simulation runs are performed with the current downhole completion design and this will be used as the base case. Several completion designs are considered to minimize the effect of liquid loading in the wells; these include reducing the tubing diameter but keeping the existing liner diameter the same, keeping the original tubing diameter the same but only reducing the liner diameter, extending the tubing to the Total Depth (TD) while keeping the original tubing diameter, and extending a reduced diameter tubing string to the TD. The primary cause of the liquid loading seems to be the reduced velocity of the incoming gas from the reservoir as it flows through the wellbore. A simulation study was performed using the various completion designs to optimize the well completion and achieve higher gas velocities in the weak wells. The results of the study showed significant improvement in gas production rates when the tubing diameter and liner diameter were reduced, providing further evidence that increased velocity of the incoming fluids due to restricted flow led to less liquid loading. The paper demonstrates the impact of downhole completion design on the productivity of the gas wells. The study shows that revisiting the existing completion designs and optimizing them using commercial simulators can lead to significant improvement in well production rates. It is also noted that restricting the flow near the sand face increases the velocity of the incoming fluid and reduces liquid loading in the wells.

Chemical Deliquification of Unconventional Gas Wells

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.. Francis-LaCroix ◽  
D.. Seetaram
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Large Deviation ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Offshore Platforms ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Current Production

Abstract Trinidad and Tobago offshore platforms have been producing oil and natural gas for over a century. Current production of over 1500 Bcf of natural gas per year (Administration, 2013) is due to extensive reserves in oil and gas. More than eighteen of these wells are high-producing wells, producing in excess of 150 MMcf per day. Due to their large production rates, these wells utilize unconventionally large tubulars 5- and 7-in. Furthermore, as is inherent with producing gas, there are many challenges with the production. One major challenge occurs when wells become liquid loaded. As gas wells age, they produce more liquids, namely brine and condensate. Depending on flow conditions, the produced liquids can accumulate and induce a hydrostatic head pressure that is too high to be overcome by the flowing gas rates. Applying surfactants that generate foam can facilitate the unloading of these wells and restore gas production. Although the foaming process is very cost effective, its application to high-producing gas wells in Trinidad has always been problematic for the following reasons: Some of these producers are horizontal wells, or wells with large deviation angles.They were completed without pre-installed capillary strings.They are completed with large tubing diameters (5.75 in., 7 in.). Recognizing that the above three factors posed challenges to successful foam applications, major emphasis and research was directed toward this endeavor to realize the buried revenue, i.e., the recovery of the well's potential to produce natural gas. This research can also lead to the application of learnings from the first success to develop treatment for additional wells, which translates to a revenue boost to the client and the Trinidad economy. Successful treatments can also be used as correlations to establish an industry best practice for the treatment of similarly completed wells. This paper will highlight the successes realized from the treatment of three wells. It will also highlight the anomalies encountered during the treatment process, as well as the lessons learned from this treatment.

Technology Focus: Unconventional and Tight Reservoirs (July 2021)

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (07) ◽  
pp. 57-57
Author(s):  
Leonard Kalfayan
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
Liquid Loading ◽  
Well Production ◽  
Tight Carbonate ◽  
Water Blocking ◽  
Tight Reservoirs

As unconventional oil and gas fields mature, operators and service providers are looking toward, and collaborating on, creative and alternative methods for enhancing production from existing wells, especially in the absence of, or at least the reduction of, new well activity. While oil and gas price environments remain uncertain, recent price-improvement trends are supporting greater field testing and implementation of innovative applications, albeit with caution and with cost savings in mind. Not only is cost-effectiveness a requirement, but cost-reducing applications and solutions can be, too. Of particular interest are applications addressing challenging well-production needs such as reducing or eliminating liquid loading in gas wells; restimulating existing, underperforming wells, including as an alternative to new well drilling and completion; and remediating water blocking and condensate buildup, both of which can impair production from gas wells severely. The three papers featured this month represent a variety of applications relevant to these particular well-production needs. The first paper presents a technology and method for liquid removal to improve gas production and reserves recovery in unconventional, liquid-rich reservoirs using subsurface wet-gas compression. Liquid loading, a recurring issue downhole, can severely reduce gas production and be costly to remediate repeatedly, which can be required. This paper discusses the full technology application process and the supportive results of the first field trial conducted in an unconventional shale gas well. The second paper discusses the application of the fishbone stimulation system and technique in a tight carbonate oil-bearing formation. Fishbone stimulation has been around for several years now, but its best applications and potential have not necessarily been fully understood in the well-stimulation community. This paper summarizes a successful pilot application resulting in a multifold increase in oil-production rate and walks the reader through the details of the pilot candidate selection, completion design, operational challenges, and lessons learned. The third paper introduces and proposes a chemical treatment to alleviate phase trapping in tight carbonate gas reservoirs. Phase trapping can be in the form of water blocking or increasing condensate buildup from near the wellbore and extending deeper into the formation over time. Both can reduce relative permeability to gas severely. Water blocks can be a one-time occurrence from drilling, completion, workover, or stimulation operations and can often be treated effectively with solvent plus proper additive solutions. Similar treatments for condensate banking in gas wells, however, can provide only temporary alleviation, if they are even effective. This paper proposes a technique for longer-term remediation of phase trapping in tight carbonate gas reservoirs using a unique, slowly reactive fluid system. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 200345 - Insights Into Field Application of Enhanced-Oil-Recovery Techniques From Modeling of Tight Reservoirs With Complex High-Density Fracture Network by Geng Niu, CGG, et al. SPE 201413 - Diagnostic Fracture Injection Test Analysis and Simulation: A Utica Shale Field Study by Jeffery Hildebrand, The University of Texas at Austin, et al.

Modeling Condensate Banking Mitigation by Enhanced Gas Recovery Methods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adel Mohsin ◽  
Abdul Salam Abd ◽  
Ahmad Abushaikha
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Finite Difference ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Enhanced Recovery ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Dew Point ◽  
Productivity Index ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Enhanced Gas Recovery ◽  
Gas Recovery

Abstract Condensate banking in natural gas reservoirs can hinder the productivity of production wells dramatically due to the multiphase flow behaviour around the wellbore. This phenomenon takes place when the reservoir pressure drops below the dew point pressure. In this work, we model this occurrence and investigate how the injection of CO2 can enhance the well productivity using novel discretization and linearization schemes such as mimetic finite difference and operator-based linearization from an in-house built compositional reservoir simulator. The injection of CO2 as an enhanced recovery technique is chosen to assess its value as a potential remedy to reduce carbon emissions associated with natural gas production. First, we model a base case with a single producer where we show the deposition of condensate banking around the well and the decline of pressure and production with time. In another case, we inject CO2 into the reservoir as an enhanced gas recovery mechanism. In both cases, we use fully tensor permeability and unstructured tetrahedral grids using mimetic finite difference (MFD) method. The results of the simulation show that the gas and condensate production rates drop after a certain production plateau, specifically the drop in the condensate rate by up to 46%. The introduction of a CO2 injector yields a positive impact on the productivity and pressure decline of the well, delaying the plateau by up to 1.5 years. It also improves the productivity index by above 35% on both the gas and condensate performance, thus reducing production rate loss on both gas and condensate by over 8% and the pressure, while in terms of pressure and drawdown, an improvement of 2.9 to 19.6% is observed per year.

Enhanced gas recovery, CO2 storage and implications from the CO2CRC Otway Project

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 684
Author(s):  
Peter Cook ◽  
Yildiray Cinar ◽  
Guy Allinson ◽  
Charles Jenkins ◽  
Sandeep Sharma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Space ◽  
Co2 Storage ◽  
Co2 Concentration ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Future Price ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Enhanced Gas Recovery ◽  
Gas Recovery ◽  
Gas Fields

Successful completion of the first stage of the CO2CRC Otway Project demonstrated safe and effective CO2 storage in the Naylor depleted gas field and confirmed our ability to model and monitor subsurface behaviour of CO2. It also provided information of potential relevance to CO2 enhanced gas recovery (EGR) and to opportunities for CO2 storage in depleted gas fields. Given the high CO2 concentration of many gas fields in the region, it is important to consider opportunities for integrating gas production, CO2 storage in depleted gas fields, and CO2-EGR optimisation within a production schedule. The use of CO2-EGR may provide benefits through the recovery of additional gas resources and a financial offset to the cost of geological storage of CO2 from gas processing or other anthropogenic sources, given a future price on carbon. Globally, proven conventional gas reserves are 185 trillion m3 (BP Statistical Review, 2009). Using these figures and Otway results, a replacement efficiency of 60 % (% of pore space available for CO2 storage following gas production) indicates a global potential storage capacity—in already depleted plus reserves—of approximately 750 Gigatonnes of CO2. While much of this may not be accessible for technical or economic reasons, it is equivalent to more than 60 years of total global stationary emissions. This suggests that not only gas—as a lower carbon fuel—but also depleted gas fields, have a major role to play in decreasing CO2 emissions worldwide.

A New Artificial Lifting Technology for Gas Wells-Downhole Gas Compression

2013 ◽  
Vol 753-755 ◽  
pp. 2689-2692
Author(s):  
Xiang Liu ◽  
Zhi Chao Qiu ◽  
Chun Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Ordos Basin ◽  
Research Progress ◽  
Gas Wells ◽  
Liquid Loading ◽  
Artificial Lift ◽  
Gas Compression ◽  
Effective Drainage ◽  
Gas Fields

Downhole Gas Compression (DGC) is an entirely new powered artificial lift technology specifically for natural gas wells. The technology offers the opportunity to increase production by 30-50%, significantly improve reserves and delay the onset of liquid loading. Key application of DGC is for use in deeper partially depleted reservoir wells encountering liquid loading. The research progress of DGC is introduced in this paper and the results of theoretical and experimental study of DGC are investigated. Moreover, the adaptability and application prospect of this new technology is analyzed. There are many gas fields in China faced with problems about effective drainage and recovery enhancement, such as the mature gas fields in Sichuan and Ordos Basin. DGC will have a good application prospect in China and further study of the DGC technology is recommended.

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