Analysis of Heading in

Artificially Lifted Wells

Feb-6, 2002 ASME Gas-Lift

Workshop

Presented by: Efren Munoz

1
Edinburgh Petroleum Services Americas Inc
 Introduction
• Heading creates inefficiency in a continuous gas lift
installation
• This behavior can affect wells in the neighborhood
when they share the flowline
• This needs attention from the operations view point as
it generates less production of fluids and more
consumption of gas for injection
• It has to be an important part of any production
optimization study as “performance curves” assume
perfectly “stable” production conditions
• This operation/equipment section must be done prior to
implement any recommendation from a production
optimization study 2

2
 Heading Conditions

This behavior is
very common and
it is difficult to
model by
conventional tools

3
 Modeling of gas-lift installations

• Are the conventional “steady state” software tools able to

diagnose this phenomenon?
• Being a dynamic situation is the use of dynamic tools
mandatory?

4
 Conventional Modeling Procedure

• The following slides show a procedure using a

“steady-state” tool with the ability to model “True
Valve Performance”
• This is an “iterative” methodology and the
engineer has to have very good understanding of
valve performance, expertise becomes critical at
this point

5
 Conventional Steady State Analysis

CHP= 1120 PSIA

By conventional analysis this well would be

injecting through the 2nd valve

The Qgi measured on surface is 0.423

6 MMscf/d
 True Valve Performance Modeling

• To this end the nodal theory is utilized, a

“solution” node can be defined at any point
within the system
• In this case the solution node is the valve,
an “operating point” can then be defined at
each gas-lift valve’s depth giving the
engineers a light about valve’s behavior
under bottom-hole conditions ie: injection
pressure and gas volume 7

7
 What Do Valve Performance Curves Look Like ?

Data From Valve Performance Clearing House

Casing Pressure
Note valve does not close 20/64ths Camco R-20
at high Pcf Ptro : 650 psig

Throttling region
8
 How True Valve Performance Data is Used?
• The main use of valve performance curves in a design software is for
a more correct sizing calculation to be performed.
• Methodology consists of :
– With the selected valve as the solution node a series of operating
point calculations are performed over a range of gas injection
rates.
– This defines a production rate, flowing temperature, tubing and
casing pressures at the selected valve for each gas injection rate.
– An appropriate (selected) correlation for valve performance is
then used to determine the gas flow rate through the valve for
each combination of tubing and casing pressure and temperature
calculated above.
– Tubing pressure is plotted against gas injection rate for both the
well and valve - intersection of the two curves implies 9
compatibility between well and valve design
9
 How True Valve Performance Data is Used?

10

10
 True Valve Modeling (1)
Using the true gas-valve modeling option, it can be seen that the first valve is also
open at CHP= 1120 PSIA

11

Through the first valve 0.269 MMscf/D are passing from the annular to the tubing
11
 True Valve Modeling (2)
According to the true valve modeling the second
valve is open at CHP= 1120 PSIA

12

Through valve number two 0.653 MMscf/D are being injected

12
 True Valve Modeling (3)
Valves number three and four are also open at CHP= 1120
PSIA, but tubing pressure is higher than casing pressure,
which activates the check-valve closing them

13

13
 Injection Gas Balance (valves 1 and 2)

1st VALVE = 0.269 MMSCF/D

2nd VALVE = 0.653 MMSCF/D

TOTAL = 0.922 MMSCF/D

CONCLUSION: If 0.423 MMSCF/D are injected from surface and both valves allow an injection rate of
0.922 MMSCF/D, then CHP can not be constant at 1120 PSIA, as a consequence CHP will decrease as this
is equivalent to have a bigger port working 14

14
 Sensitivity to Casing Head Pressure (1)

Running a sensitivity to CHP, it is possible to see that at 1090 PSIA valve Nbr-1 is closed, a very similar
situation happens with valve Nbr-2 15

15
 Sensitivity to Casing Head Pressure (2)

16

Running a CHP sensitivity it is observed that valve Nbr-2 closes when CHP goes to 1030 PSIA
16
 Dynamic Gas-lift Simulation

• This dynamic application uses all the equations used by a

steady-state gas-lift software but adds the time variable to
the system
• Gas injection volume is a cumulative calculation in such a
way that CHP will increase as more gas is being injected
• The reservoir node honors all the input data already used
for the nodal analysis
• All the dynamic surface settings are translated into bottom-
hole conditions using the selected vertical flow correlation,
and…
• True gas-lift valve data is utilized to simulate the real
17
behavior of the valves under bottom-holes conditions

17
 Dynamic Simulation of True Valves
1st and 2nd Valves open at CHP=1095 psia

Actual Qgi passing

through 2nd valve

Valves 3 and 4 open at this CHP 18

but check-valve closed

18
 Dynamic Simulation of Wellhead Conditions

Simulating this phenomenon dynamically it is observed

that both valves can be closed, but being a continuous
injection design the 0.423 MMscf/d injection rate will
force the CHP to go up again

When CHP goes up again both valves are open and this
cycle is repeated periodically

This phenomenon is known as Well Heading due to a lack of control on the injection 19
rate, a re-calibration of the gas-lift valves is necessary to remedy this situation

19
 Redesign for the Same Well

This redesign has been

adjusted dynamically
and valves positions
verified in the steady
state software

20

20
 Operating Valve Conditions on Bottom

An initial iteration would be

to run a 10/64” orifice at the
injection point, a much better
control of the injection can be
observed

21

21
 Testing a tentative solution – Dynamic Simulation

For one
unloading valve
and one 10/64”
orifice at the
injection point
the well looks
perfectly stable

22

22
 Conclusions
• Heading means inefficiency and needs especial attention to the gas-
lift equipment in continuous injection installations
• Gas-lift valves out of calibration can compromise the success of a
production optimization effort
• Wells exhibiting heading are difficult to simulate with conventional
steady state applications, but they can be diagnosed properly
provided that “true valve performance” is available and there is a
good understanding of valve performance
• Heading is a purely dynamic situation, a dynamic application for
trouble-shooting and solution of the causes of this behavior will
always give better results
• Heading does not mean that a well can not be optimized, it means
that the well needs an extra work to ensure the proper operation of
the down-hole equipment 23

23
 Conclusions (cont)
• The steady-state model is still needed to feed the field
model simulator
• Training becomes critical as tools become more
advanced (more complex to use)

24

24
 Conclusions (cont)

•Q: Are the conventional “steady state” software tools

able to diagnose this phenomenon?
A: Yes, provided that they can model “true valve
performance” a proper diagnose can be found
•Q: Being a dynamic situation is the use of dynamic tools
mandatory?
A: Yes, the only way to understand the cause and try to
find and test a solution is to “see” the system working
under more realistic operating conditions 25

25
 Thank you!

26

26