Well AnalysisWhat can WELLFLO do?WELLFLO is a hydraulic modelling tool that is used to diagnose, analyze, and optimize gas/oil/steam wellbore design and operation for all types of wells under all different kinds of operating conditions. Typical solutions provided by WELLFLO include:
Why is WELLFLO the tool of choice for modelling wellbore hydraulics?In addition to the conventional hydraulic modelling analyses that WELLFLO provides, WELLFLO combines superior multiphase flow technology with its heat transfer and thermodynamics model to provide solutions to complex and unique applications including:
The following offers more details concerning these solutions:Nodal AnalysisWELLFLO is a hydraulic modelling tool which predicts the pressure and temperature changes for oil/gas/water production or injection between the sandface and the wellhead. Wellhead deliverability curves as well as tubing performance curves can be generated to evaluate sizing options, optimal operating conditions, liquid loading, and uplift potential.The plot below shows the sandface inflow performance curve (green) along with the tubing performance curves (pink and turquoise) at two different wellhead flowing pressure conditions for a deviated gas-condensate well. Correspondingly, a wellhead deliverability curve is plotted to represent the deliverability of the well at ALL wellhead flowing pressures. WELLFLO also shows which of these operating conditions are stable (blue) and which are unstable (red) due to liquid loading. WELLFLO can also be used to examine the flowing temperature profile, the flow regime, the hydrostatic versus frictional pressure drop, the phase envelope, and the possibility of hydrate formation in the wellbore.
Hot Fluid Circulation for Temperature MaintenanceFor temperature maintenance in a flowing well, WELLFLO can be used to determine the injection depth, circulation rate, and injection temperature for circulating a heated fluid in the annulus. This capability is particularly important for production operations encountering hydrate formation, solids (wax, sulphur) deposition, or any other operational problem that can be remedied by adding heat to the wellbore. The well below is 3185 meters deep and is producing a
gas-condensate fluid. Since this well is encountering hydrate
problems, ethylene glycol has been heated to 60°C and circulated down to
1500 meters to help reduce the heat loss from the production fluid to
the surroundings. The geothermal temperature gradient is plotted
in blue. The fluid temperature profile is the straight red line
which goes from a reservoir temperature of 55°C to a surface
temperature of 19°C. The circulating fluid temperature profile
(also in red) begins at surface at a temperature of 60°C, circulates
down the annulus to a depth of 1500 meters, warms the gas-condensate,
and returns to the surface at a temperature of 29°C.
Electrically Heated TubularsWELLFLO can be used to analyze the effects of adding energy to well tubulars with electrical heat. This analysis option can be used as an alternative to hot fluid circulation to examine a range of operational problems that can be remedied by adding heat to the wellbore. The following plot shows the predicted temperature gradients resulting from applying electrical heat in various quantities in a well producing oil, gas, and water. The geothermal gradient is plotted in blue.
Gas Lift Design and Mandrel SpacingWELLFLO can create and display the classic gas lift design mandrel spacing diagram. It can be used to determine the deepest injection point for a variety of well and injection gas conditions. Sensitivity calculations can be performed automatically for varying gas-lift injection rates in order to determine the hydraulically optimal rate. Gas-lift models typically use black-oil fluid properties as shown below, but this is not a requirement. The following curves were created for a 45° API oil in a 7100 ft deep well with continuous gas-lift injection at 6000 ft. All calculations below were performed in a single run of WELLFLO based on a single data file.
ESP Performance CurvesEvaluate the performance of an Electric Submersible Pump with varying number of stages with WELLFLO. In the case below, a REDA 540 Series GN2700 was selected and placed at 2990 meters and evaluated for 20 to 100 stages in a 3200 meter deep oil well producing a 37° API oil. All calculations below were performed in a single run of WELLFLO based on a single data file.
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