Final Exam

th
December 12 , 2011
3 hours

Name: ID:

Instructions
• Please read all questions thoroughly. There are no trick questions, and some solutions may be relatively
simple.
• This is a closed book examination.
• Only a non-programmable scientific calculator is permitted.
• The following resources are provided:
• Final Exam paper (this document) with Formula Sheet and Nomenclature
• Graph paper, z-factor chart
• Exam booklet
• All calculations will be in SI (metric) units.
• There are 5 questions on this exam. Marks for each question and its components are given in
parentheses.
• If you believe any necessary data is missing, make a reasonable assumption and proceed.
• Hand back all your work when finished, making sure your name and student id is marked on all pieces.
• Please show your OneCard when handing in the exam.

1. Short Answers (10%) Write one or two sentences; a sketch might be useful.
a. Name two methods to obtain pseudocritical temperature and pseudocritical pressure
for a gas mixture. (3%)
b. Define pseudopressure, and where is it used? (4%)
c. Name two unconventional gas resources. (3%)

2. A Small Calculation (25%) You are on location to test a gas well in northern Alberta.
Your manager tells you to get a preliminary result by the next day, however the testing
company’s equipment has not arrived. You examine the information on wells in the area
and find that they are generally small, shallow pools with very high permeability, which
means they will reach stabilized (i.e. pseudo-steady state) flow in just a few minutes.
Therefore you decide to use the old critical flow prover that you always carry in your
truck. Based on the following information, estimate the flow rate of the well (in
103m3/d):

Single Point Flow Test

critical flow prover diameter = 2 inches (50.8mm)
orifice plate diameter = 0.5 inches (12.7mm)
stabilized upstream flowing pressure, P = 1444 kPag
gas flowing temperature, Ttf = 49.8°C
gas specific gravity, γg = 0.66
 PET E 444 Fall Term 2011 Final Exam
3. A Little Sketch (20%) Below you see a sketch of an inflow production relationship
(IPR) and a tubing performance curve (TPC) when a new well has commenced
production. Sketch in or mark the following:
a. The current operating point of the well. (5%)
b. The well IPR when the average reservoir pressure has been depleted to about 50% of
its current value; AND the corresponding operating point. (5%)
c. A TPC if wellhead compression is added; AND the resulting operating point with the
IPR in part b). (10%)

4. A Bigger Calculation (35%) Your manager is pleased with your gas well test results
(the well from Question 2) and now wants a quick estimate of the well’s production rate
when connected to a pipeline. The problem is that the well completion has not designed:
it may be 62mm tubing or it may be 78mm tubing. You recall from previous
calculations that the tubing performance curve (TPC) is nearly horizontal for wells in
this area because the friction component of pressure loss is relatively small.
Approach the problem this way:

a. Using the backpressure equation, assume an appropriate value for the exponent, n,
and calculate the value of C. (5%)

b. With the provided graph paper, construct an IPR curve of the well, over a wide range
of flow rates; only 4 or 5 data points are needed. (10%)

c. Draw a TPC as a horizontal line. To determine where to place it, recall that
frictional pressure drop is going to be neglected. Therefore you need to estimate the
pressure at the bottom of the tubing with ptf given in the data below. The pressure
increase at the tubing bottom can be estimated by using a piece of the energy
equation,
Since this is an estimate, use wellhead pressure to estimate gas density, assume z=1
and perform NO iterations. NOTE THAT dp WILL BE IN UNITS of Pa not kPa.
(15%)

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 PET E 444 Fall Term 2011 Final Exam
d. Estimate the operating point of the well. Note that this result turns out to be within
2% of the more rigorous solution which involves constructing a TPC with the Smith
equation and Excel goal seek to find intersection with IPR! (5%)

Test Data
Gas test rate, qsc = your result from Question 2
(if you had trouble with Question 2, use 20 103m3/d instead)
Bottomhole flowing pressure, pwf = 1830 kPaa
Bottomhole shut-in pressure, pws = 10482 kPaa (the reservoir pressure)

Operating Data
Wellhead flowing pressure when connected to pipeline, ptf = 6000 kPaa

5. Some Thinking (10%) In the Smith method for calculating bottomhole pressure we
determine gas properties using average pressure, i.e. However we saw with pipeline
flow that there is a mean pressure, Pm = dddd.

Should mean pressure, Pm, be used instead of Pavg for calculating bottomhole pressure?

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 PET E 444 Fall Term 2011 Final Exam
Mini Formula Sheet
Methane Tc = 190.6K, pc = 4599 kPaa Pstd = 101.325 kPaa Tstd = 15°C
1K° = 1.8R° 1 psia = 6.8948 kPa 1 cp = 1 mPa-s = 1000 µPa-s R = 8.3145 kPa-m3/kg-mol-degK

(Thomas, Hankinson & Phillips, 1970)

(Darcy flow equation, consistent units) (exp. decline)

NOTE: qsc is in std m3/d for this equation

NOTE: qsc is in std m3/d for this equation

(laminar) (turbulent)

Isothermal pipeline: L in metres, qsc in std m3/d

(for pipelines)

Critical flow prover: qsc is std m3/d, P is absolute pressure

Orifice coefficients, C for 50.8mm flow prover:

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 PET E 444 Fall Term 2011 Final Exam
Variables

A = coefficient in LIT equation

B = formation volume factor, res m3/ std m3
C = orifice plate constant (critical flow prover)
d = tubing inside diameter, mm
E = pipeline efficiency factor (initially assume to be 1.0)
G = gas volume in standard m3
h = height, m
k = permeability (consistent units)
L = wellbore length, m or km
M, MW = molecular mass, kg/kg-mole (air = 28.96 kg/kg-mole)
n = no. of moles, backpressure equation exponent
P, p = pressure, kPaa
q = gas flow rate, std m3/d
S = exponent in Pws equation
T = temperature, degK = T°C + 273.15
v = volume, m3
z = z-factor, dimensionless

Greek symbols
ε = roughness, mm
ρ = density, kg/m3
µ = gas viscosity, µPa-s
γ = gas specific gravity (air = 1)
θ = well angle (0° is vertical)
φ = porosity

Subscripts
1 = inlet (upstream)
2 = outlet (downstream)
abs = absolute
c = casing, or critical
e = external
g = gas, or gravity
i = initial
p = produced
pc = pseudocritical
pv = supercompressibility
s, sc = standard conditions
tf = tubing flowing, or temperature factor
ts = tubing static
w = well, water
wf = well flowing
ws = well static

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PET E 444 Fall Term 2011 Final Exam