Topic: Analysis of I nflow Performance Relationships for Niger Delta Oil Wells

Student name: Keren Ebiokpo Paul

Objective: The objective of this project is to establish the Inflow Performance
Relationship (IPR) that best describes Niger delta Oil wells.

Brief description: The Inflow Performance curve ( a Cartesian plot of bottom-hole
flowing pressure versus surface flow rate) is one of the diagnostic tools used by
Petroleum engineers to evaluate the performance of a flowing well. The plot is
used to determine whether any well under consideration is performing as expected
or not. If it is not, then remedial action may be necessary. The equation that
describes this curve is the Inflow Performance Relationship (IPR). This equation
can be determined both theoretically and empirically.

Theoretical Inflow Performance Relationship
Accounting for the pressure dependence of oil viscosity, oil formation volume
factor, and oil relative permeability, the theoretical inflow equation for oil in a
radial system under pseudo-steady flow is:


Where s is the skin factor.
Evaluating the integral above is difficult because unlike oil viscosity and formation
volume factor, relative permeability has no direct dependence on pressure.
However, it has been shown that below the bubble point, a cartesian plot of
versus Pressure results in a line that can be assumed linear. This line starts from
the origin and ends at . Thus the integral is easily evaluated by
calculating the trapezoidal area under the straight line. The value of this integral
is easily shown to be:



Introducing the above into the oil flow rate gives:
q
o
k h
141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.

P
wf
P
R
p
k
ro

o
B
o

(
(
(
]
d :=
k
k
ro

o
B
o

k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
R
P
R
2
P
wf
2

2 P
R

k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
R

The inflow performance curve can then be generated from this equation by first
calculating q
o
using the equation above and plotting P
wf
against q
o
.
Inflow performance curve calculation from single rate data

For oil wells, multiple rate data are not always available. Therefore, this equation
can be used to calculate inflow performance curve. First, the equation is simplified
to the form:

Where

The procedure is as follows:
(1) (1) Plot the single point versus P
R
. Then draw a straight line from
this point to the origin.
(2) (2) Find the slope of this line and therefore the equation of the line.
(3) (3) Knowing the equation of the line, the value of at any other pressure such as
at P
wf
can be calculated as

(4) (4) Then calculate the area of the trapezoid between P
wf
and P
R.


(5) (5) Use the calculated area and the known single value of q
o
to calculate C as
C=q
o
/Area.

(6) (6) Having calculated C, we can now calculate any other value of q
corresponding to any P
wf
by altering P
wf
, calculating the new area and
calculating q
o
as q
o
= C * Area.
The example calculation below illustrates the procedure.








q
o
k h
141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.

P
R
2
P
wf
2

2 P
R

k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
R

(
(
(

:=
k
Area C o
q
* =
|
|
.
|

\
|
+
|
|
.
|

\
|
=
s
r
r
Kh
C
w
e
75 . 0 ln 2 . 141
R
P
o o
ro
B
K
|
|
.
|

\
|

wf
P
o o
ro
B
K
|
|
.
|

\
|

Since there is only one data point, the plot would look like this:
at P
R
= 2830 psia
K
ro

o
B
o

1.14 =
is approximately a straight line starting at the origin. versus P
wf
K
ro

o
B
o

The plot of 1 ( )
SOLUTION
K
ro
0.8 := S
g
0.12 :=
cp
o
0.52 := RVB/STB B
o
1.35 := skin 4.7 :=
psia P
R
2830 := Psia P
wf
715 := STB/D q
o
310 :=
The drawdown test f or a partially depleted undersaturated oil reservoir stabilized at 310 STB/D
at a f lowing bottom-hole pressuer of 715 psia. The average reservoir pressure = 2830 psia. Given
the PVT, gas saturation, and relative permeability data below, calculate and plot the IPR curve
f or this well . Use P
wf
values of 0,250,500,750,1000,1250,1500,1750,2000,2250,2500 psia.
EXAMPLE INFLOW PERFORMANCE CURVE FROM SINGLE RATE FLOW TEST DATA






o o
ro
B
K

1.14




P
wf
=715 P P
R
=2830




Area
The slope of the line is: m
1
P
R
K
ro

o
B
o

:=
m 4.027 10
4
=
Since the intercept = 0, The equation of the straight line is: F P ( ) m P 0 + :=
That is, the equation of the line is F(P) = 0.0004027*P

















Theref ore, when P = P
wf
= 715, F(P
wf
) = 0.0004027 * 715 = 0.288
Therefore, F P
R
( ) 1.14 = F P
wf
( ) 0.288 =
The area of the trapezoid between P
R
and P
wf
is then:
Area P
wf
( ) 0.5 F P
R
( ) F P
wf
( ) + ( ) P
R
P
wf
( ) :=
Area P
wf
( ) 1509.6 =
Since the inf low performance equation can be represented as: q = C * Area
Then C
q
o
Area P
wf
( )
:=
C 0.205 =
Now use the dif f erent values of P
wf
to calculate the corresponding values of q and plot
j 1 12 .. :=
p
wf
j
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
2750
:=
area p
wf
( ) 0.5 F P
R
( ) F p
wf
( ) + ( ) P
R
p
wf
( ) :=
Q p
wf
( ) C area p
wf
( ) :=












p
wf
j
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
2750
:=
p
wf
j
0
250
500
750
1000
1250
1500
1750
2000
2250
2500
2750
= area p
wf
j
( )
1.61310
3
1.610
3
1.56210
3
1.49910
3
1.41110
3
1.29810
3
1.1610
3
995.923
807.164
593.237
354.142
89.879
= Q p
wf
j
( )
331.137
328.553
320.801
307.88
289.791
266.534
238.108
204.515
165.753
121.822
72.724
18.457
=
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
0
1000
2000
3000
p
wf
j
Q p
wf
j
( )





Inflow performance calculation from multiple rate data

Note that this equation can be simplified to the form:



Which can be expressed as: where C is a constant.

Alternatively, the oil flow rate can be expressed as:



Which can be simplified to the form:


For the more general case (where P
wf
is below the bubble point and P
R
is above),
is linear with pressure below the bubble point whereas is constant
with pressure above the bubble point. Therefore, evaluating the integral means
calculating the area under the combined linear and constant sections. The
resulting equation for the flow rate of oil becomes:




q
o
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
R

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.
2 P
R

P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) :=
k
C P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
q
o
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
R
P
R

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.
2
P
R
2
P
wf
2

P
R
2
|

\
|
|
|
.
:=
k
q
o
C 1
P
wf
2
P
R
2

\
|
|
|
.
:= C
k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
1

o
B
o

q
o
k h
1

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
b

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.

P
R
P
wf
( )
k h
k
ro

o
B
o

\
|
|
.
P
b

141.2 ln
r
e
r
w
|

\
|
|
.
0.75 s +
|

\
|
|
.
2 P
b

P
b
2
P
wf
2
( )

(
(
(
(
(
(

+ :=
k

Theoretical IPR Analysis Procedure

I. I. For any fixed average reservoir pressure P
R
, calculate the oil saturation
corresponding to P
R
from material balance calculations.
II. II. Read the value of (K
ro
)
PR
at the calculated oil saturation corresponding to P
R

III. III. Read the values of (
o
B
o
)
PR
corresponding to P
R

IV. IV. Calculate q
o
for varying values of P
wf
and plot P
wf
against q
o
to give the IPR
curve.




Empirical Inflow Performance Relationships
The most common empirical IPR equations are: (a) Vogels equation, (b) the
back-pressure equation (Bureau of Mines equation), and (c) normalized back-
pressure equation. All three methods will be used to analyze the field data and
plotted.

Analysis Procedure
- - Make a field IPR Plot (P
wf
versus q
sc
) from the field-measured multi-
rate well test data. Determine the maximum oil rate (q
o
)
max
graphically.
- - Make a Vogel IPR plot as follows: Using q
o
from one data point, and
P
R
from the data (at q
o
= 0), calculate (q
o
)
max
from the equation:

Then, knowing (q
o
)
max
, calculate the values of q
o
at corresponding
values of P
wf
and plot P
wf
versus q
sc
.
- - Make a Back Pressure Equation IPR plot: This is based on the
empirical equation attributed to the Bureau of Mines
where C and n are constants to be determined using the field data. If the
field data can be represented by this equation, then since
, a log-log plot of versus q
o

should give a straight line from which, n = the slope and C = the
intercept. Note that the slope can be obtained simply by measuring the
rise and run with a ruler and taking the ratio. Alternatively, slope =

Having obtained C and n, calculate the values of q
o
at corresponding
values of P
wf
using the equation and plot P
wf
versus q
sc
.
If the log-log plot did not give a straight line, then this method is not
valid.
q
o.max
q
o
1 0.2
P
wf
P
R
|

\
|
|
.
0.8
P
wf
P
R
|

\
|
|
.
2

(
(

:=
q
o
q C P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
n
:= P
R
log q ( ) log C ( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + := P
wf
P
R
2
P
wf
2

n
log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
2
log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
1

log q ( )
2
log q ( )
1

:=
P
R
q C P
R
2
P
wf
2
( )
n
:= P
R
- - Make a normalized back pressure equation IPR plot: This method is
based on the normalization of the Bureau of Mines empirical equation
by (q
o
)
max
. The resulting equation is: . This implies
that:
Therefore, just like in the Back pressure equation method, a log-log plot
of versus q
o
should give a straight line from which, n = the
slope. However, in this case, the intercept = from
which q
omax
can be calculated. Having obtained the values of q
omax
and
n, calculate the values of q
o
at corresponding values of P
wf
using the
equation: and plot P
wf
versus q.

The theoretical (above bubble point only) and the three empirical curves will be
compared with the field curve in order to establish which of them is best for Niger
delta oil wells.

Data needed from SPDC:
(a) (a) Oil PVT data (particularly viscosity and formation volume factor).
(b) (b) Relative permeability data (Oil-water, and oil-gas)
(c) (c) Field measured multi-rate well test data
(d) (d) Existing correlations for oil viscosity and oil formation volume factor.

At the end, you would have generated graphs that look like this:


















q
q
o.max
1
P
wf
P
R
|

\
|
|
.
2

(
(

n
:=
P
wf
log q ( ) log q
o.max
( ) n log P
R
2
( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + := P
wf
P
R
2
P
wf
2

log q ( ) log q
o.max
( ) n log P
R
2
( ) n log P
R
2
P
wf
2
( ) + := P
wf
q
q
o.max
1
P
wf
P
R
|

\
|
|
.
2

(
(

n
:=
P
wf
P
wf

q
o

q
omax

P
Ro

P
R1