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PETROLEUM PRODUCTION
OPTIMIZATION
PCB 4313
PRODUCTION SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
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PETROLEUM PRODUCTION
OPTIMIZATION
By

Ms. Haizatul Hafizah Hussain

haizatulhafizah.hus@utp.edu.my
Office Ext. : 7373
Office Room : J3-02-25
 LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this lecture, students should be able to:

Analyse the performance of the petroleum system

 INTRODUCTION

Any production well is drilled and completed to move the oil and gas
from its original location in the reservoir to the stock tank.

Movement or transport of these fluids requires energy to overcome

friction losses in the system and lifts the products to the surface.

The production system can be relatively simple or can include many

components in which energy or pressure losses occur.
 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1: Possible pressure losses in complete system (Beggs 2003)

 INTRODUCTION

The pressure drop in the total system:

Pressure drop through any component varies

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2

Less pressure drop, means more production

 INTRODUCTION

Optimal production yields a maximum return on investment, not a

maximum production rate.

For optimal production, a well design requires complex engineering

considerations that depend on well components.
 INTRODUCTION EXAMPLE OF
DESIGN FAILURE

Large amount of money have been wasted on stimulating the

formation when the wells producing capacity was actually restricted
because of the tubing or flowline was too small.

Errors in completion design is when too large tubing is installed (high

rates well). Oversize the equipment not only wastes money but
tubing that is too large can reduce the rate at which the well will flow
(well load up with liquids and die). This may requires artificial lift
equipment or compression.
 SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH

NODAL Analysis:

Predict well performance

Determine well producing capacity

Determine locations of excessive flow resistance or pressure drop in

any part of the system

Show effect of changing on any component on the total well

performance
 SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH
The location of the most commonly used nodes are shown below:

Figure 2: Location of various nodes (Beggs 2003)

 SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH

The pressure drop, p, in any component varies with flow rate, Q.

Therefore, a plot of node pressure versus flow rate produce two curve,
the intersections of which will give the operating point of the system.

Figure 3: Determination of flow capacity (Beggs 2003)

SYSTEM ANALYSIS APPROACH

Figure 4: IPR and VLP Curves

TO BE CONTINUED