Title : Composite liquid inflow performance relationship for wells flowing under three phase conditions
Abstract:
A simple yet robust algorithm to establish composite IPR for total liquid production is derived for 3-phase flowing wells. The algorithm utilizes constant PI, Gilbert and Wiggins three phase IPRs for wells having reservoir pressure above the bubble point and must be produced with bottomhole flowing pressure below the bubble point to maintain the economic production. Such situation is very commonly encountered in ESP assisted wells where operator can easily lower the pump intake pressure (PIP) at his will by increasing the frequency from his smart mobile phone app.
Like any other artificial lift system design, ESP also needs a reliable IPR curve to base the well performance and size the downhole ESP equipment and surface electrical facilities. Currently Petrobras composite model that uses Gilbert and Vogel IPR correlations is used for such wells but is lengthy and ends in a quadratic equation that yields 2 solutions. This model is simple algebraic in nature, requires fewer steps, is easy for hand and spreadsheet calculations.
A step-by-step procedure along with two solved examples is shown for using this algorithm. This paper is concluded with the impact of fluid forecast on ESP operation.
