19/10/2013

Koya University
College of Engineering
School of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
Petroleum Engineering Department

Petroleum Production Engineering II

Introduction to Petroleum Production

Systems

Lecture Tips
Informal lectures, so please interrupt me if you have
questions related to the lecture.

Notes will be provided in pdf format via email or a hard

copy will be given to the class Rep.

3hrs p/w, flexible break

Individual breaks for urgent situations

Attendance is crucial and marked

Production Engineering II Introduction 2

1
 19/10/2013

Introduction to Petroleum
Production System

Production Engineering II Introduction 3

Objectives
Recognising various components of petroleum
production system.

Understanding their functions that generally

leads to improved well productivity through
analysis of the entire system.

Production Engineering II Introduction 4

2
 19/10/2013

Role of the Production Engineer

Production Engineering II Introduction 5

The Objective of Production

Engineering
The role of a petroleum production engineer
is to produce hydrocarbons and maximise the
productivity in a cost-effective manner.

Understanding and measuring the variables

that control the production.

Analysis problems that face production and

find the way to diagnose them.

Production Engineering II Introduction 6

3
 19/10/2013

The Production System

Production system is the system that transports reservoir
fluids from the subsurface reservoir to the surface, and
process station, and prepares the fluids for storage and
transfer to a purchaser.

Understanding the principles of fluid flow through the

production (linear & radial) system is important in
estimating the performance of individual wells and
optimizing well and reservoir productivity.

Production Engineering II Introduction 7

Components of Production System

Reservoir

Wellbore (perforation, sand phase and gravel pack)

Vertical system (, & )

Surface controlling system ( , , & )

Surface flowing facilities ()

Optimising facilities (Injection System and Pumping System)

Production Engineering II Introduction 8

4
 19/10/2013

Typical Petroleum Production

System

Production Engineering II Introduction 9

Reservoir
The reservoir is the source of fluids for the
production system.

It is the porous and permeable media in which

the reservoir fluids are stored and accumulated.

Through it the fluids (, & ) will flow to

the wellbore. It also furnishes the primary energy
for the production system.

Production Engineering II Introduction 10

5
 19/10/2013

The Wellbore
It serves as the conduit for access to the reservoir
from the surface.

It is composed of the drilled well-bore, which normally

has been cemented and cased.

The cased wellbore houses the tubing and associated

subsurface production equipment, such as .

The tubing serves as the primary conduit for fluid flow

from the reservoir to the surface, although fluids also
may be transported through the tubing-casing annulus.

Production Engineering II Introduction 11

The Vertical System

Tubing
Casing
Stove or Conductor Pipe
Surface Casing
Intermediate Casing
Production Casing
Liner (in some cases)

Production Engineering II Introduction 12

6
 19/10/2013

Surface Controlling System

Wellhead

X-Mass Tress

ESDV

Choke

Manifold (Gathering Station)

Production Engineering II Introduction 13

Surface Flowing Facilities

Flowlines and processing equipment represent the
surface mechanical equipment required to control and
process reservoir fluids at the surface and prepare them
for transfer to a purchaser.

Surface mechanical equipment includes the wellhead

equipment and associated valves, chokes, manifolds,
flow lines, separators, treatment equipment, metering
devices, and storage vessels.

Production Engineering II Introduction 14

7
 19/10/2013

Optimising Facilities
In many cases, the reservoir is unable to furnish sufficient energy to
produce fluids to the surface at economic rates throughout the life of
the reservoir.

When this occurs, artificial lift equipment is used to enhance

production by adding energy to the production system. This
component of the system is composed of both surface and
subsurface elements.

This additional energy can be furnished directly to the fluid through

subsurface pumps, by reducing the back-pressure at the reservoir
with surface compression equipment to lower wellhead pressure, or
by injecting gas into the production string to reduce the flowing
gradient of the fluid.

Production Engineering II Introduction 15

Method of Completion
There are three methods of completing a well:

A. Open-hole where casing is set on top of the producing interval

and has greater application in carbonate zone

B. Pre-drilled / pre-sloted liner or screen completion (uncemented)

C. Perforating casing where casing is cemented through the

producing interval and communication is established by
perforating.

Production Engineering II Introduction 16

8
 19/10/2013

Bottom-hole Completion Techniques

Production Engineering II Introduction 17

Figure 1.0: A complete Production System Configuration

Production Engineering II Introduction 18

9
 19/10/2013

Fluid Movement From The

Reservoir to The Surface
The path of fluids movement from the reservoir to
the surface can be represented in different nodes
as shown in figure 1.0:

Each node in the production system can be

nominated based on the location as follow:

Node 1.0 represents the porous media

Node 2.0 represents the vertical tubing
Node 3.0 represents the horizontal flow lines
Node 4.0 represents the surface facilitates

Production Engineering II Introduction 19

Parameters
Each component has its own abbreviation which
all parameters are named based on as following;

is the reservoir pressure ()

is the bottom-hole flowing pressure ()
is the shut-in well pressure ()
is the sand face flowing pressure ()
is the tubing wellhead pressure ()
is the pressure at separator point ()
is the pressure at stock tank ()

Production Engineering II Introduction 20

10
 19/10/2013

Causes of Pressure Drop

In all production systems and at each component
there will be restrictions towards the flow of the fluids.

The points that cause the pressure drop

At the sand phase or gravel pack or perforation section.

At the vertical system ( + friction force)

At the surface facilities (chokes, flow lines, separators)

These points can be easily indicated on figure 1.0.

Production Engineering II Introduction 21

Causes of Flow
The oil is move through the porous media by the driving
force ( ).

The oil is move through the wellbore to the surface by

the driving force ( ).

The oil is move through the surface flow lines by the

driving force ( ).

Production Engineering II Introduction 22

11
 19/10/2013

Activity
Be familiarised to draw a complete
diagram including the whole
production system components ?

Production Engineering II Introduction 23

12