www.ijesci.

orgInternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013

ResearchontheOilfieldOutputOptimization
Model
XieWenxian*1,XiaYun2
ShengliOilProductionPlantofShengliOilfieldCompany,SINOPEC,Dongying257051,China
CollegeofInformationandControlEngineering,ChinaUniversityofPetroleum,Qingdao,266555,China

*1
2

Abstract

system needs to maintain at relatively high level. A

methodofoptimumadjustmentofthesizeofallwells
was adopted in this paper in which maximum total
outputandminimumcostwereachievedbymeansof
theintroductionofagroupofoptimalcombinationof
chokes.

A scheme of synthetic adjustment of all the chokes to

increaseoilfieldoutputbasedontheactualproductiondata
obtained from one of the oilfields, was proposed in this
paper. The relationship between chokes and output was
investigated, and the method of choke adjustment was
discussed. The results showed that the total output was
increased significantly after optimization, except for the
reductionfrompartofoilwells.Accordingtotheseresults,it
can be proved that the method is efficient and simple with
greatpracticalvalue.

Method of Choke Adjustment

Thebackpressureofthesystemhasadirectimpacton
eachwell,whichisdeterminedbyallthewellsonthe
platform.Thefluctuationofproductionparametersof
wells is caused by the changes of back pressures of
wellheads. All of the wells should be optimized to
balance,becausetheworkingconditionofwellswould
bechangedwhensinglewellparameterwasadjusted.
Thusit is awrong concept that single choke withbig
size can bring a higher output. Due to the location of
chokes and noncomplex operations required, choke
adjustment is considered as the most direct and
efficientwaytocontrolproductionsystems.

Keywords
Oilfield;OutputOptimization;ChokeAdjustment

Introduction
Petroleum industry is one of the main energy
industries in China. Petroleum production should
provide hydrocarbon resources for national
construction based on the principle of efficiency and
energysaving.Therearemanymethodsandanglesin
measure programming and optimized production
forecast, such as production distribution of oilfield
development, swabbing parameter of pumping well,
well distribution, injectionproduction parameters,
andwaterinjectionmode[16][8][9][13].

Mathematical Model of Choke and

Sensitivity Function
Chokeisdividedinto4sectionsandonlythemixture
ofoil,gasandwaterthroughchokeisanalyzed,which
isshowedinFig.1.

Optimizationwhosemainobjectiveiscostisgenerally
carried out in continental oilfields. Yin Aizhen in
China University of Petroleum has proposed a
optimization model of oilfield output from the
perspectives of the acquisition of the maximum
economic benefit, which was targeted at profit
maximization under the condition of multi
restrictions[11].OilfieldoutputwasoptimizedbyWang
Fang, who considered its lowest cost as objective
function[10].
Continental oilfield are so distinct that output of
productionwellsisrequiredtoreachthemaximumin
ashortertimebecauseofitsabout20yearsoldservice
life.Meanwhile,thewholeefficiencyoftheproduction

180

FIG.1DATAFLOWOFFLUIDSTHROUGHCHOKE

Whenoilpressuremaintainsacertainvalue,themass

InternationalJournalofEnergyScience(IJES)Volume3Issue3,June2013www.ijesci.org

TABLE1COMPARISONOFPREANDPOSTINDEXESOFPLATFORM

flow is the function of back pressure under the

condition of subcritical flow. Therefore, a theoretical
model of critical flow and subcritical flow is
establishedbasedonthermodynamics[7][12][14].
V2

288 g c p1v1 1 pr( n 1) / n ( f o / o ) ( f o / o ) p1 (1 pr )

1 ( A2 / A1 ) 2 [( f g 1 ) /( f g pr1/ n 1 )]2

(1)

According to the equation above, take derivatives of

the diameter of choke d c , which exactly is the

sensitivityfunction.
2
d 4 f

1
g

V2' 2 1 c

d1 f g pr1/ n 1

3
2

2
f
d c3
1
g

f g pr1/ n 1 d14

Unoptimized

Optimized

Comparing

Liquid(m /d)

3516.15

3827.78

+311.63

Oil(t/d)

2441.25

2582.06

+140.81

Press(MPa)

0.848

0.924

+0.08

ElectricityPer

5.40

5.07

0.33

7.78

7.52

0.26

27.43

28.06

+0.63

Ton
Liquid(kWh/m3)
ElectricityPer
TonOil(kWh/t)

(2)

Efficiency(%)

Resultsshowedthatliquidproducingcapacityandoil
production have increased by 311.63 m3 and 140.81 t,
meanwhile, the back pressure was increased by 0.08
Mpa.Otherwise,electricityconsumptionwasreduced
and the efficiency of the system was increased
significantly.

The sensitivity of choke diameter for output is

confirmed according to the derivation of equation
above,whichcanindicatetheimpactofadjustmentof
the chokes on output based on production data.
Comparison and sorting is done after calculating the
sensitivityfunction,andthenthechoketobeadjusted
at first is determined. This method can reduce the
number of chokes to adjust, shorten the adjustment
time and increase the output of platform and
efficiencyofthesystem.

Conclusions
By adjustment of the chokes, the total output was
optimizedaccordingtothecharacteristicofoilfieldin
this paper. This method is featureed with obvious
effect and strong operability, which has broad
prospectsintheapplicationofoilfield.

Calculation of Choke Adjustment

Beginning with calculation of the back pressure, oil
pressureischangedcertainlyduetotheadjustmentof
a certain choke based on the model of choke flow.
Under the current production oil pressure, new
flowing pressure of the bottom hole will be obtained
by means of calculation of pipe flow and the
characteristics model of electric submersible pump.
Liquidproduction value is gained by the curve of
productivityprediction,fromwhichoilpressurevalue
is got. The back pressure is averaged with the initial
value after it is obtained through chokes, and
calculationis done again till the steady of production
isachieved.

Duetothesmallstepofadjustmentandlargenumbers
ofwells,whichleadstolargenumberofcombinations
of chokes of all the wells, the complex computation
and long computing time. So optimizing the
calculation method is a key problem that needs to
furtherstudy.
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