Transcript Horizontal Wells

Southwestern Petroleum Short
Course
Lubbock, Texas
April 18 – 19, 2012
Tulsa University Horizontal Well
Artificial Lift Projects (TUHWALP)
Cleon Dunham, ALRDC
Bill Lane, Weatherford
Guillermo Leal, BP
James Martin, Consultant
Cem Sarica, Univ. of Tulsa
Rob Sutton, Marathon Oil
Tulsa University Horizontal Well
Artificial Lift Projects (TUHWALP)
• Introduction
– Vast majority of new wells for both oil and gas are horizontals.
– Most require artificial lift to produce liquids and/or dewater gas
wells.
– Artificial lift of horizontal wells is challenging.
Complex Horizontal Well Profiles
10,100
Well 1
Well 2
Well 3
10,150
True Vertical Depth, ft
– It is particularly challenging
in shale assets where wells
are often deep with long
horizontal sections.
Well 4
Well 5
Well 6
Well 7
10,200
Well 8
Well 9
Well 10
10,250
10,300
10,350
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Departure, ft
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Tulsa University Horizontal Well
Artificial Lift Projects (TUHWALP)
• Introduction (continued)
– To address these challenges, the ALRDC invited many companies
to form a Consortium.
– The purpose is to develop new methods and understanding for
advancing artificial lift.
– Several organizations were evaluated to lead the Consortium.
– The University of Tulsa was chosen.
• Track record with leading consortia.
• Extensive R&D facilities.
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Horizontal Well Scope in the World
• Scope
– Face of industry has changed dramatically in last few years.
– Largest change is associated with the producing natural gas,
condensates, and oil from shale formations.
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Horizontal Well Scope in the US
and the Eagle Ford in Texas
• Scope in the US
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Rate of Development in Recent Years
• Rate of Adding New Wells and Production
– Drilling rate in Marcellus Shale in Appalachian Basin
– Drilling rate in Barnett Shale in Texas
– Gas production increase in Barnett Shale
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Why Horizontal Wells
• Reason for Horizontal Wells
– Producing gas and oil from shale formations requires drilling,
completing, and operating horizontal wells.
– Horizontal wells are needed to contact large portions of
reservoirs and natural “micro” fractures they contain.
– Wells must be treated with multi-stage hydraulic fractures to
permit oil and gas to flow from reservoirs to wellbores.
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Horizontal Well Challenges
• Challenges in producing horizontal wells
– Much of water used to fracture wells must be produced back to
reduce back-pressure and clear flow paths for gas and oil
production.
– Often some fracture sand will be produced back with the
water; both water and sand must be artificially lifted from the
wells.
– Most artificial lift systems are designed to work in vertical
sections of wells.
– Methods must be developed to help sweep and lift fluids from
the deviated and/or horizontal portions of the wellbores.
– Most “horizontal” wells are not actually horizontal.
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Typical Horizontal Well Profiles
• Typical “Horizontal Wells” Aren’t Really Horizontal
– Here are some typical profiles.
Complex Horizontal Well Profiles
10,100
Well 1
Well 2
Well 3
True Vertical Depth, ft
10,150
Well 4
Well 5
Well 6
Well 7
10,200
Well 8
Well 9
Well 10
10,250
10,300
10,350
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
Departure, ft
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Typical Horizontal Well Profiles
• And the Story Becomes More Complicated
– Often “horizontal” portions of the wells have up and down
undulations.
– Water can accumulate in low spots and be produced to
“vertical” part of the well in slugs.
– This can make artificial lift challenging, especially with
pumping systems.
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Understanding Critical Flow
• Basis for a Horizontal Well Artificial Lift Consortium
– Reasonable methods exist to determine “critical” gas flow
velocities needed to lift liquid from vertical gas wells.
– We need improved understanding and models to determine
“critical” gas flow velocities in horizontal wells.
– And we need to know more about how to artificially lift these
wells.
– For these and other reasons, the Petroleum Industry is
forming a Horizontal Well Artificial Lift Consortium.
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Horizontal Well Consortium
Mission Statement
• Mission Statement
– Work cooperatively in the Petroleum Industry to:
• Develop recommended practices for artificially lifting
horizontal wells.
• Make recommendations for design and operability of
horizontal wells with regard to artificial lift.
• Improve selection, deployment, operation, maintenance,
monitoring, and control of production and artificial lift
solutions, equipment, and practices to optimize recovery
of natural gas and associated liquids from horizontal oil
and gas wells.
– Advance the knowledge and effectiveness of people who
design and operate horizontal wells.
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Primary Focus of Consortium
• Primary Focus of the Consortium
– Initially, the primary focus was on horizontal gas wells.
– However, with shifting economics of oil and gas production,
– And with increases in liquid production from horizontal shale
formations,
– The emphasis has expanded to focus on both liquid and gas
production.
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Survey of Operating
and Service Companies
• Survey
– The next step was to survey interested companies to
discern their challenges and priorities for dealing with
horizontal wells.
– The primary results are shown below.
– The companies were asked to rank each potential
initiative.
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Survey of Operating
and Service Companies
• Survey Results
− This table shows survey results and priorities.
No.
Should the project?
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Priorities given by fourteen different companies
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Avg. Rank
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Flow Pattern Behavior
– Investigate flow pattern behavior.
– Develop new/improved models for understanding flow and
critical rate in horizontal wells.
– The Turner and Coleman methods for estimating critical gas
flow velocity in vertical gas wells, and a number of
calibrations or mechanistic models for estimating pressure
profiles, are not sufficient.
– Primary focus will be to develop new understanding and
models for horizontal wells.
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Well Geometry and Trajectory
– Make recommendations for well geometry and wellbore
trajectory.
– Many “horizontal” wells are not truly horizontal.
– There may be significant benefits from choosing the “best”
wellbore trajectory – toe up, horizontal, or toe down.
– There may be strong reasons to avoid undulations in
horizontal wells.
– Evaluate pros and cons of drilling sumps before the wellbore
heel to have a vertical or near vertical portion of the wellbore
for landing artificial lift equipment.
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Well Design
– Focus on well designs such as placement of end of tubing,
location for gas injection, size of casing.
– Evaluate trade-offs between cost of drilling and completing vs.
ease of producing wells over time.
– Provide strong evidence to support using casing sizes large
enough to accommodate optimal types of artificial lift.
– Guidelines are needed on where to inject gas for gas-lift:
• In the vertical part of the well
• In the deviated area
• At the heel
• Along the horizontal portion of the well
• At the toe.
– Guidelines are needed on where to place end of tubing.
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Choice of Artificial Lift Method
– Focus on choice of “optimum” method of artificial lift for
horizontal wells.
– There are many choices of artificial lift systems.
– ALRDC sponsors industry efforts to develop information and
methods to help select the “best” or “optimum” method of
artificial lift.
• www.alrdc.com, Recommended Practices, Gas Well
Deliquification, Artificial Lift Selection
– Here-to-fore much has focused on vertical gas wells.
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Choice of Artificial Lift Method (continued)
– Choices include:
• Chemical systems
• Plunger lift
• Various types of pumping systems
• Various configurations of gas-lift
• Other techniques including:
– Wellhead compression
– Velocity strings
– “Stop cocking”
– Downhole water separation and disposal
– Vortex creating devices
– Various other operating techniques.
– Recommendations and guidelines are needed on which
method(s) are most suitable for different horizontal well
operating conditions.
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Survey Results in Priority Order
• Literature Review
– A comprehensive review will be conducted to determine current
“best” practices for artificial lift of horizontal gas and oil wells.
• Other Ideas
– This list is not exhaustive.
– New ideas will be generated as this project unfolds.
– The members of the Consortium will meet at least twice
annually to:
• Review progress
• Set and/or adjust priorities
• Establish new initiatives.
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Consortium Membership
• Membership
– Membership is open to any Operating, Service/Supply, or
Consulting Company, or University.
– Initial annual membership fee is $50,000.
– The Consortium Advisory Board may change this in the future
depending on number of members and amount of work to be
done.
– With approval of the University of Tulsa and the Consortium
Advisory Board, an equivalent amount of in-kind contributions
may be made in lieu of all or part of the membership fee.
– The membership terms are detailed in a letter of agreement
which has been supplied to interested organizations and can be
made available to anyone else who is interested.
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Consortium Membership
• Limitations
– No member company may sell, give, or otherwise make results
available to any non-member of the Consortium without the
expressed permission of the Consortium Advisory Board.
– Results of the consortium will not be published or released
publically until they have passed the University review process.
– This usually requires two years after the information is first
provided to the members.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• R&D Plan
– The priorities listed above will be addressed with four projects.
– Other projects will likely follow as this process unfolds.
– Details of each project are included in the paper.
– Project 1: Understand flow regimes and critical flow rates and
investigate multiphase flow behavior in horizontal gas wells.
– Project 2: Investigate artificial lift techniques in horizontal gas
wells to assist with:
• Selecting optimum artificial lift method(s).
• Placing end of tubing, locating artificial lift equipment (pump,
gas lift), and choosing casing size.
• Designing well construction and applicability for various
artificial lift techniques.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• R&D Plan (continued)
– Project 3: Develop guidelines and recommended practices for
horizontal gas wells.
• Summarize industry learnings and literature information.
• Develop guidelines for when to start artificial lift operations.
– Project 4: Investigate multiphase flow behavior in horizontal
oil wells.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• Project-1 Deliverables
– Understand liquid loading for horizontal wells.
– New liquid loading criteria.
– Experimental data.
– Efficiency of self-unloading.
– Guidance to determine optimum well geometry from unloading
perspective.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• Project-2 Deliverables
– Unloading performance of various artificial lift methods and
their comparative analysis.
• Tubing inserts.
• Surfactants.
• Plungers.
• Gas-lift.
• Pumping systems.
– Impact of slugging.
– Experimental data.
– Analysis of setting location of artificial lift equipment.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• Project-3 Deliverables
– Database consisting of both field and experimental data.
– Analysis of data.
– Guidelines and recommended practices based on field and
experimental data.
• Project-4 Deliverables
– Understand oil dominant flow behavior of horizontal wells.
– Experimental data.
– Model describing flow behavior.
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Consortium R&D Plan
• Proposed Project Timetable
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Consortium Status
• Current Status
– First official meeting held at British Petroleum in Houston,
Texas on Jan. 12, 2012.
– Thirty one people representing twenty one companies attended.
– Of these, six companies indicated they will or are very likely to
join the Consortium in the near future.
– Another seven said they are interested but need to review with
management.
– Two companies will consider joining on basis of providing
services in lieu of paying a membership fee.
– As of now, five companies have joined.
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Consortium Status
• Current Status
– Efforts will continue over next few months to line up more
members.
– A presentation was made at 2012 Gas Well Deliquification
Workshop.
– This presentation is being made at 2012 Southwestern
Petroleum Short Course.
– The Consortium will officially begin its work on July 1, 2012.
– The next meeting of the Consortium members will be Summer,
2012, at the University of Tulsa.
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