Gas Engineering Course 2017

Natural Gas Engineering
Quosay A. Ahmed
Gas Production Engineering , UofK 1

Where does natural gas come from?
Source: www.seagas.com.au
Petroleum hydrocarbons (ie natural gas and crude oil) are most commonly
formed from the decomposition of organic marine growth. Natural gas is a
subcategory of petroleum that is a naturally occurring, complex mixture of
hydrocarbons, with a minor amount of inorganic compounds.
Gas Production Engineering ,
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Formation of Oil & Natural Gas
As Black Shale is buried, it is heated.
Organic matter is first changed by the

increase in temperature into kerogen,
Kerogen which is a solid form of hydrocarbon
Around 90°C, it is changed into a liquid

state, which we call oil
Oil
Around 150°C, it is changed into a gas

Gas
A rock that has produced oil and gas in

www.oilandgasgeology.com/oil_gas_window.jpg
this way is known as a Source Rock

Natural Gas Resources
1. Conventional non-
associated gas
2. Conventional
associated gas
3. Shale gas
4. Tight sand gas
5. Coalbed methane

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Petroleum Geology and Geophysics

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Oil and Gas Reservoirs

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Reservoir Engineering

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Well position within Gas Reservoirs

Well position within Oil Reservoirs

Well position within gas cap Reservoir

Drilling Operations
Underbalanced drilling
Some drilling personnel want to drill underbalanced in tight and shale gas
reservoirs because:
1. The penetration rate is faster
2. Formation invasion of mud filtrate is minimized
3. There is little chance of a gas kick because of the low permeability nature
of the formations
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Production and Processing Engineering
Gas wells are wells with
producing gas-oil-ration
(GOR) being greater than
100,000 scf/stb
Condensate wells are those

with producing GOR being
less than 100,000 scf/stb but
greater than 5,000 scf/stb;
Wells with producing

GOR being less than 5,000
scf/stb are classified as oil
wells.

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Simple single well production system

Production pressure profile

Natural Gas Overview

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Natural gas reserves
Proved reserves are those
quantities of gas that
have been found by the
drill. They can be proved
by known reservoir
characteristics such as
production data, pressure
relationships, and other
data, so that volumes of
gas can be determined
with reasonable accuracy.
Potential resources
constitute those
quantities of natural gas
that are believed to exist
in various rocks of the
Earth's crust but have not
yet been found by the
drill.

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BP Statistics for Natural Gas
Distribution of proved gas reserves in 1993, 2003 and 2013, Percentage
Production Consumption
by region by region
Gas reserves-to-production (R/P) ratios

Years
Source: www.bp.com Gas Production Engineering , UofK 17

Gas consumption per capita 2013
Tonnes oil equivalent
Source: Includes data from Cedigaz.

Natural gas Production worldwide
The world's largest gas field by far is
Country/Region Natural Gas-
Qatar's offshore North Field, estimated Annual Gas production
(billion m³)
to have 25 trillion cubic metres
(9.0×1014 cu ft) of gas in place—enough World 4,359
to last more than 200 years at optimum United States 681
production levels. The second largest Russia 670
natural gas field is the South Pars Gas European Union 165
Field in Iranian waters in the Persian Iran 163
Gulf. Connected to Qatar's North Field, Canada 143
it has estimated reserves of 8 to 14 Qatar 133
trillion cubic metres Norway 115
China 107
Saudi Arabia 103
Algeria 83
Netherlands 81
Indonesia 76
Malaysia 62
Source: wikipidia.org
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Natural Gas – Shale and Tight Gas
Deep exploratory wells

have recently discovered
that tremendous natural
gas reserves exist at
depths of several
thousand feet
At these depths, all

petroleum molecules have
been broken down into
natural gas
The gas is under
tremendously high pressure
and is typically dissolved into
fluids such as saline brines
The gas occurs in “oil shale”

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Burning Ice
Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrate or
methane ice, is a solid form of water that contains a large
amount of methane trapped within its crystal structure
About 10 years ago, it was discovered that extremely large

deposits of methane clathrate occur under sediments on
the ocean floors, usually along the coastlines
The size of these oceanic deposits is staggering, for

example, it has been estimated that over 1
quadrillion cubic feet of methane ice lies offshore
of North and South Carolina alone
There is more methane ice than all other fossil

fuels combined

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Utilization of Natural Gas
Power generation Fertilizer

Natural gas is a major source of electricity Natural gas is a major
generation through the use of gas turbines andfeedstock for the
steam turbines. production of ammonia.
Hydrogen
Natural gas can be used
to produce hydrogen.
Natural gas vehicles
Compressed natural gas
(methane) is a cleaner
alternative to other
automobile fuels such as
gasoline (petrol) and
Residential domestic use diesel.
Natural gas is supplied to
homes, where it is used for Gas Lift
such purposes as cooking
and heating. LPG
(Propane) is the dominant
source of rural
Gas Production gas.,
Engineering
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Energy Consumption Example
BTU
(British Thermal Unit) is
used to describe the
energy content of fuels
A BTU is defined as the
amount of heat required
to raise the temperature
of one pound of water by
one degree Fahrenheit
143 BTU is required to
melt a pound of ice
It would take over 31 million years to count to a quadrillion at the rate of one number per second
Depending upon gas composition, especially the content of inorganic compounds, the heating value of
natural gas usuallyEngineering
Gas Production varies from
, 700 Btu/scf to 1,600 Btu/scf.
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Energy Consumption Example
Example
Natural gas from the Schleicher County, Texas, Straw Reef has a
heating value of 1,598 Btu/scf. If this gas is combusted to generate
power of 1,000 kW, what is the required gas flow rate in Mscf/day?
Assume that the overall efficiency is 50 percent (1 kW= 1,903 Btu/h).

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Production of natural gas
A typical well completion
An integrated gas-field development

Flowlines from individual wells are “gathered” into
manifolds and trunklines carry the gas to the central
processing facility. Here impurities are removed from the
gas before it is piped to market.
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How is natural gas processed?
Raw gas produced from natural
gas wells contains significant
amounts of carbon dioxide and
petroleum hydrocarbons heavier
than methane and ethane.
Carbon dioxide needs to be

removed because it is corrosive
and does not burn. This is done by
“washing” the gas with a solution
of potassium bi-carbonate.
The heavier petroleum

hydrocarbons are removed by
cooling the gas until they
condense as liquids, making it
easy to separate them from the
marketable natural gas. These
heavier hydrocarbons are sold
separately as liquefied petroleum
gas (LPG).
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Natural Gas Storage and transport
The major difficulty in the use of natural gas is transportation and storage because of its
low density. Natural gas pipelines are economical, but are impractical across oceans.
Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas (primarily

methane, CH4) that has been converted to liquid form
for ease of storage or transport. Liquefied natural gas
takes up about 1/600th the volume of natural gas at a
stove burner tip.
The natural gas is then condensed into a liquid at close
to atmospheric pressure by cooling it to approximately
−163 °C (−260 °F). The reduction in volume makes it
much more cost-efficient to transport over long
distances where pipelines do not exist. LNG Delivery Facility with Tanker
Source: NGSA
Compressed Natural Gas or CNG is made by compressing natural gas (which is mainly
composed of methane [CH4]), to less than 1% of its volume at standard atmospheric
pressure. It is stored and distributed in hard containers, at a normal pressure of 200–220
bar (2900–3200 psi), usually in cylindrical or spherical shapes.
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Environmental effects
Natural gas is often described
as the cleanest fossil fuel,
producing less carbon dioxide
per joule delivered than either
coal or oil. However, in absolute
terms it does contribute
substantially to global
emissions, and this contribution
is projected to grow.
The net result is that natural
gas fired power stations emit
less than half the amount of
green-house gas per MWh of
electricity produced than do
coal fired power stations.
Coal (Mainly Carbon) ~ 93 Tons CO2/TJ
Oil ~ 73 Tons CO2/TJ

(e.g. gasoline, diesel, fuel oil, jet fuel, etc.)
Natural Gas (Mainly CH4) ~56 Tons CO2/TJ

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Burning Gas at the Well Head
Note the bright lights in the Gulf

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Homework
• 1.8 Problems: 1-1 and 1-2
Natural Gas Engineering Handbook, B. Guo and
A. Ghalambor, Gulf Publishing Company,
Houston, Texas, 2005. Page 11.

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MPNG 602: Advanced Natural Gas Engineering
Introduction
Lecture-2
Quosay Awad Ahmed

UofK, 2015
Natural Gas Engineering , UofK 31

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PROPERTIES OF NATURAL GASES
Generally, the natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon

gases. The hydrocarbon gases that are normally found in a natural gas are
methanes, ethanes, propanes, butanes, pentanes, and small amounts of hexanes
and heavier. The non-hydrocarbon gases (i.e., impurities) include carbon dioxide,
hydrogen sulfide, and nitrogen.
The N.G. PVT properties include:

1. Apparent molecular weight,
2. Specific gravity,
3. Compressibility factor, z
4. Density,
5. Specific volume,
6. Isothermal gas compressibility coefficient,
7. Gas formation volume factor,
8. Viscosity

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BEHAVIOR OF IDEAL GASES
The relationship for perfect gases is called the ideal gas law and is expressed
mathematically by the following equation:
pV = nRT
where
p = absolute pressure, psia, bar
V = volume, ft3, m3
T = absolute temperature, °R, K
n = number of moles of gas, n = m/M
R = the universal gas constant which, for the above units, has the
value 10.730 psia ft3/lb-mole °R or 8.3144 J/K.mole
Example 2-1
Three pounds of n-butane are placed in a vessel at 120°F and 60 psia.Calculate the volume of the gas
assuming an ideal gas behavior.
Solution
Step 1. Determine the molecular weight of n-butane :
M = 58.123
Step 2. Solve : V=(m/M)(RT/P) V= 5.35 ft3
Exercise:
Using the data given in the above example, calculate the density n-butane.
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Mixture of Ideal Gases
Petroleum engineers are usually interested in the behavior of mixtures and rarely deal with pure
component gases. Because natural gas is a mixture of hydrocarbon components, the overall
physical and chemical properties can be determined from the physical properties of the individual
components in the mixture by using appropriate mixing rules.
Apparent Molecular Weight of gas mixture:

Laws of Partial Pressures and Volumes:
P1  n1
RT
, P2  n 2
RT
, P3  n 3
RT
,.... Ma   y jM j
V V V j
P  P1  P2  P3  ... Specific Gravity of a Gas:
g Mg Mg
RT RT g   
P
V j
 nj 
V
n
air M air 29
nj Specific Volume:
 yj
n
V RT 1
Pj  y jP v  
Vj  y jV m M a g
yj =The mole fraction of the jth component in the gas mixture

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BEHAVIOR OF REAL GASES
pV = znRT
The compressibility factor
Vactual
z
Videal

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BEHAVIOR OF REAL GASES
The law of corresponding states:
Studies of the gas compressibility factors for natural gases of various compositions
have shown that compressibility factors can be generalized with sufficient
accuracies for most engineering purposes when they are expressed in terms of the
following two dimensionless properties:
1- Single Gas: 2- Mixture of Gases:
Tr: Reduced Temperature Tpr = pseudo-reduced temperature, dimensionless
Pr: Reduced Pressure Ppr = pseudo-reduced pressure, dimensionless
Where:
Where: T P
Tr=T/Tc Tpr  , Ppr 
Pr=P/Pc Tpc Ppc
where :
Tpc   y jTcj
j
Ppc   y jPcj
j

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Example Examples
A gas reservoir has the following gas composition: the initial reservoir
pressure and temperature are 3000 psia and 180°F, respectively.
Component yi
CO2 0.02
N2 0.01
C1 0.85
C2 0.04
C3 0.03
i - C4 0.03
n - C4 0.02
Calculate the gas compressibility factor under initial reservoir conditions
Step 1. Determine the pseudo-critical Solution

pressure as: ppc = 666.18 Component yi Tci,°R yiTci pci yi pci
Step 2. Calculate the pseudo-critical CO2 0.02 547.91 10.96 1071 21.42
temperature as: Tpc = 383.38
N2 0.01 227.49 2.27 493.1 4.93
Step 3. Calculate the pseudo-reduced
pressure and temperature C1 0.85 343.33 291.83 666.4 566.44
C2 0.04 549.92 22.00 706.5 28.26
Step 4. Determine the z-factor from
Figure , to give: z = 0.85 C3 0.03 666.06 19.98 616.4 18.48
i - C4 0.03 734.46 22.03 527.9 15.84
n - C4 0.02 765.6 15.31 550.6 11.01
Tpc = 383.38 ppc = 666.38
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COMPRESSIBILITY OF NATURAL GASES
By definition, the isothermal gas compressibility is the change in volume per unit volume for a
unit change in pressure or, in equation form:
where cg = isothermal gas compressibility, 1/psi.
GAS FORMATION VOLUME FACTOR

The gas formation volume factor is used to relate the volume of gas, as measured at
reservoir conditions, to the volume of the gas as measured at standard conditions,
i.e., 60°F and 14.7 psia.

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CLASSIFICATION OF RESERVOIRS AND RESERVOIR FLUIDS
Petroleum reservoirs are broadly
classified as oil or gas reservoirs.
These broad classifications are
further subdivided depending on:
1. The composition of the
reservoir hydrocarbon mixture
2. Initial reservoir pressure and
temperature
3. Pressure and temperature of
the surface production
The conditions under which these phases exist are a matter of considerable practical
importance. The experimental or the mathematical determinations of these conditions are
expressed in different types of diagrams commonly called phase diagrams. One such
diagram is called the pressure-temperature diagram.

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In general, reservoirs
conveniently classified on the
Phase Diagram
are
basis of the location of the point
representing the initial reservoir
pressure pi and temperature Ti
with respect to the pressure-
temperature diagram of the
reservoir fluid. Accordingly,
reservoirs can be classified into
basically two
types. These are:
• Oil reservoirs—If the reservoir
temperature T is less than the
critical
temperature Tc of the reservoir
fluid, the reservoir is classified as
an oil
reservoir.
• Gas reservoirs—If the reservoir
temperature is greater than the
critical
temperature of the hydrocarbon
fluid, the reservoir is considered a
gas
reservoir.
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Oil Reservoirs
Depending upon initial reservoir pressure pi, oil reservoirs can be sub classified into the following
categories:
1. Undersaturated oil reservoir. If the initial reservoir pressure pi is greater than the bubble-point
pressure pb of the reservoir fluid, the reservoir is labeled an undersaturated oil reservoir.
2. Saturated oil reservoir. When the initial reservoir pressure is equal to

the bubble-point pressure of the reservoir fluid the reservoir is called a saturated oil reservoir.
3. Gas-cap reservoir. If the initial reservoir pressure is below the bubble point
pressure of the reservoir fluid the reservoir is termed a gas-cap or two-phase reservoir, in which the gas
or vapor phase is underlain by an oil phase. The appropriate quality line gives the ratio of the gas-cap
volume to reservoir oil volume.
The following classifications are based upon the properties exhibited by the crude oil, including
physical properties, composition, gas-oil ratio, appearance, and pressure-temperature phase
diagrams.
1. • Ordinary black oil
2. • Low-shrinkage crude oil
3. • High-shrinkage (volatile) crude oil
4. • Near-critical crude oil

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Oil Reservoir
Ordinary black oil Low-shrinkage oil
• Oil formation volume factor less than 1.2 bbl/STB
Quality lines are approximately equally spaced.
When produced, ordinary black oils usually yield • Gas-oil ratio less than 200 scf/STB
gas-oil ratios between 200–700 scf/STB and oil • Oil gravity less than 35° API
gravities of 15 to 40 API. The stock tank oil is usually
brown to dark green in color. • Black or deeply colored

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Oil Reservoir
Volatile crude oil Near critical crude oil
• Oil formation volume factor less than 2 bbl/STB The near-critical crude oil is characterized by a high
• Gas-oil ratios between 2,000–3,200 scf/STB GOR in excess of 3,000 scf/STB with an oil formation
• Oil gravities between 45–55° API volume factor of 2.0 bbl/STB or higher.
• Greenish to orange in color

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Gas Reservoirs
Natural gases can be classified into four
categories:
• Retrograde gas-condensate
• Near-critical gas-condensate
• Wet gas
• Dry gas

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Retrograde gas-condensate reservoir
If the reservoir temperature T lies between the critical temperature Tc and
cricondentherm Tct of the reservoir fluid, the reservoir is classified as a
retrograde gas-condensate reservoir.
• Gas-oil ratios between 8,000 to 70,000 scf/STB. Generally, the gas-oil

ratio for a condensate system increases with time due to the liquid
dropout and the loss of heavy components in the liquid.
• Condensate gravity above 50° API
• Stock-tank liquid is usually water-white or slightly colored.

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Retrograde gas-condensate reservoir
When the pressure is
decreased, instead of
expanding (if a gas) or
vaporizing (if a liquid) as
might be expected, they
vaporize instead of
condensing.

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Near-critical gas-condensate reservoir
If the reservoir temperature is near the critical temperature, as shown in Figure
below, the hydrocarbon mixture is classified as a near-critical gas-condensate.

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Wet-gas reservoir
Reservoir temperature is above the cricondentherm of the hydrocarbon mixture.
As the produced gas flows to the
surface, however, the pressure and
temperature of the gas will decline.
If the gas enters the two-phase
region, a liquid phase will
condense out of the gas and be
produced from the surface
separators.
1. Gas oil ratios between 60,000
to 100,000 scf/STB
2. Stock-tank oil gravity above
60° API
3. Liquid is water-white in color
4. Separator conditions, i.e.,
separator pressure and
temperature, lie within the
two-phase region

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The hydrocarbon mixture
Dry-gas reservoir
exists as a gas both in the
reservoir and in the surface
facilities. The only liquid
associated with the gas
from a dry-gas reservoir is
water.
Usually a system having a

gas-oil ratio greater than
100,000 scf/STB is
considered to be a dry gas.

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Conclusion

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Volumetric Dry Gas Reservoir
Equation of state PV= znRT …. (1)

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Gas Expansion Factor, E
Gas FVF, Bg

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Example :
Calculation of initial gas in place in a volumetric Dry-gas
reservoir, Data Given:

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Dry Gas Reservoir with Water Drive
It should be noted that the gas reservoir PV decreases by the amount of the
water entering the gas reservoir and remaining unproduced. End point
saturations: Sgi and Sgr @ initial and abandonment conditions Gp in term of
residual gas saturation at abandonment conditions,
Note that Eq. 13 is derived with an implicit assumption that the volumetric
sweep efficiency is 100%.

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Example 10.2 Calculation of gas reserves and recovery factor for
dry-gas resrvoir with water influx
1. Calculate the gas reserve at abandonment pressure of 750 psia

2. Calculate the gas recovery factor at abandonment pressure of 750 psi

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The amount of gas trapped may be determined from the equation of state
(EOS) as
The residual gas saturation, Sgr is usually h high . Typical values of Sgr : 30 -
40% P V
Considering the gas in place equation

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Gas Reservoir Deliverability
 Gas inflow model
Analytical methods
Empirical methods
Construction of Inflow Performance Relationship Curve
Gas Production Engineering

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Radial-flow Gas Reservoir
1- Analytical Methods
A general solution to pseudosteady state flow in a radial-flow
gas reservoir is expressed as (Economides 1994):
where q is the gas production rate in Mscf/d, k is the effective permeability

to gas in md, h is the thickness of pay zone in ft, m(p) is the real gas
pseudopressure in psi2/cp at the reservoir pressure p in psi, m(pwf) is
the real gas pseudopressure in psi2/cp at the flowing bottom hole pressure
pwf, T is the reservoir temperature in R, re is the radius of drainage area
in ft, rw is wellbore radius in ft, s is skin factor, and D is the non-Darcy
coefficient in d/Mscf.

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Gas inflow model - Analytical methods
At pressures lower than 2,000 psia,
where Pb is the base pressure, μ is the average gas viscosity, and z is

the average gas compressibility factor.

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Gas inflow model - Analytical methods
At pressures higher than 3,000 psia, highly compressed gases
behave like liquids.
where Bg is the average formation volume factor of gas in rb/scf.
Example Problem 3.1

A gas well produces 0.65 specific gravity natural gas with N2, CO2, and H2S of mole fractions 0.1,
0.08, and 0.02, respectively. The well diameter is 7-7/8 inches. It drains gas from a 78-ft thick
pay zone in an area of 160 acres. The average reservoir pressure
is 4,613 psia. Reservoir temperature is 180 0F. Assuming a Darcy skin factor of 5 and a non-Darcy
coefficient of 0.001 day/Mscf, estimate the deliverability of the gas reservoir under
pseudosteady state flow condition at a flowing bottom hole pressure of 3,000 psia.
This problem is solved with the spreadsheet program Theoretical
Deliverability.xls.
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Gas inflow model - Empirical methods
Houpeurt developed a theoretical deliverability relationship for stabilized flow with a
Forchheimer velocity term to account for non-Darcy flow effects in high-velocity gas
production.
Rawlins and Schellhardt developed the empirical backpressure method of testing gas wells
based on the analysis of tests on more than 500 wells. They noted that when the difference
between the squares of the average reservoir pressure and flowing bottomhole pressures
were plotted against the corresponding flow rates on logarithmic coordinates, they obtained
a straight line.
Two commonly used empirical models are the Forchheimer model and
backpressure model. They take the following forms, respectively:
where A, B, C, and n are empirical

constants that can be determined based on
test points. The value of n is usually
between 0.5 and 1.
Natural Gas Engineering , UofK
Gas inflow model - Empirical methods
Forchheimer model and backpressure model can be simplified as:
It is obvious that a multirate test is required to estimate values of these constants. If two test
points are (q1, pwf1) and (q2, Pwf2), expressions of these constants are:

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Construction of Inflow Performance Relationship Curve
Once a deliverability equation is established using either a theoretical or an
empirical equation, it can be used to construct well IPR curves.

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Example

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Wellbore Performance
This section focuses on determination of Tubing Performance
Relationship (TPR ) and its applications to system analysis
(Nodal analysis) for prediction of gas production rate from the
well.
Both single-phase and multi-phase fluids are considered. Flow
regime transition and flow stability are analyzed. Liquid
loading problems are described and their solutions are
discussed.
Gas can be produced through tubing, casing, or both in a gas

well, depending on which flow path has a better performance,
however producing gas through tubing is a better option in
most cases
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What is TPR?
Tubing Performance Relationship is defined as a relation between tubing size, fluid properties,
fluid flow rate, wellhead pressure, and bottom hole pressure. In most engineering analyses, it is
desired to know the bottom hole pressure at a given wellhead pressure and gas flow rate in a
gas well.
dP dP dP dP
 { }e l  { } f  { } acc
dL dL dL dL
Hydrostatic component due to potential  gSin( )
energy or elevation change
Friction loss component due to viscose share

 dLw / dL
or the friction losses  fv 2 / 2 g c d
accelerations component due to kinetic energy  d / dL

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Single-Phase Gas Well
The effect of kinetic energy change is negligible due to the fact that the variation in
tubing diameter is insignificant in most gas wells.
Although the temperature T can be approximately expressed as a linear function of length L

through geothermal gradient, the compressibility factor z is a function of pressure P and
temperature T. This makes it difficult to solve the equation analytically. Fortunately, the pressure
P at length L is not a strong function of temperature and compressibility factor.

The Average Temperature and Compressibility Factor Method
average values of temperature and compressibility factor over

the entire tubing length can be assumed

The Average Temperature and Compressibility Factor Method
Because the average compressibility factor is a function of pressure

itself, a numerical technique such as the Newton-Raphson iteration is
required to solve Equation (4.6) for bottom hole pressure. This
computation can be performed automatically with the spreadsheet
program AverageTZ.xls.
The Cullender and Smith Method
 Self study

Mist Flow in Gas Wells
In addition to gas, almost all gas wells produce a certain
amount of liquids. These liquids are formation water and/or
gas condensate (light oil). Depending on pressure and
temperature, in some wells gas condensate is not seen at
surface, but it exists in the wellbore. Some gas wells produce
sand and coal particles. These wells are called multiphase-gas
wells.
When the flow velocity drops to below a critical velocity at which

the liquid droplets cannot be carried up to surface by gas,
annular flow or even slug flow may develop in the well. TPR
equations for annular flow and slug flow are available from
literature of oil well performance.

The gas-oil-water-solid four-phase flow model was first presented by Guo
(2001) for coal-bed methane production wells. Guo formulated the
governing equation assuming homogeneous mixture of the four phases,
which may exist in misting flow.



Choke Performance

Choke
Choke is a device installed at wellhead or down
hole to cause a restriction to flow of fluids, and thus control gas or oil
production rate.
Placing a choke at the wellhead means fixing the wellhead pressure

and, thus, the flowing bottom‐hole pressure and production rate.
Choke is used to:

1‐ limit production rates for regulations.
2-protect surface equipment from slugging.
3‐ avoid sand problems due to high drawdown.
4‐ control flow rate to avoid water or gas coning.
Type of choke
Two types of wellhead chokes are used
(1) positive (fixed) choke

(2) adjustable chokes.

Sonic and Subsonic
What we mean by term “sonic” ?
Flow
Sonic = sound= acoustic=voice
What is the velocity of sound ?
What is the type of pressure waves ?
What is the type of sound waves ?

Introduction
Pressure drop across well chokes is usually very significant.
There is no universal equation for predicting pressure drop

across the chokes for all types of production fluids
Different choke flow models are available from the

literature, and they have to be chosen based on the:
gas fraction in the fluid and flow regimes, that is, subsonic
or sonic flow

Sonic and subsonic flow
*When the fluid flow velocity in a choke reaches the
traveling velocity of sound in the fluid under the in situ
condition, the flow is called ‘‘sonic flow.’’
*Under sonic flow conditions, the pressure wave
downstream of the choke cannot go upstream through the
choke because the medium (fluid) is traveling in the
opposite direction at the same velocity. Therefore, a
pressure discontinuity exists at the choke, that is, the
downstream pressure does not affect the upstream pressure

Sonic and subsonic flow
Because of the pressure discontinuity at the choke, any
change in the downstream pressure cannot be detected
from the upstream pressure gauge. Of course, any change
in the upstream pressure cannot be detected from the
downstream pressure gauge either. This sonic flow
provides a unique choke feature that stabilizes well
production rate and separation operation conditions

Critical pressure ratio
The critical pressure ratio through chokes is expressed as:
where p outlet is the pressure at choke outlet, pup is the

upstream pressure, and k = Cp/Cv is the specific heat ratio.
The value of the k is 1.4 for air and 1.28 for natural gas.
Thus, the critical pressure ratio is 0.528 for air and 0.549
for natural gas.

Determination of Flow Regime
• Whether or not a sonic flow exists at a choke
depends on a downstream to upstream
pressure ratio. If this pressure ratio is less than
a critical pressure ratio, sonic (critical) flow
exists…… If this pressure ratio is greater or
equal to the critical pressure ratio, subsonic
(sub critical) flow exists. The critical pressure
ratio through chokes is expressed as:

Critical pressure ratio
Whether a sonic flow exists at a choke depends on a downstream-to-upstream
pressure ratio. If this pressure ratio is less than a critical pressure ratio, sonic
(critical) flow exists. If this pressure ratio is greater than or equal to the critical
pressure ratio, subsonic (subcritical) flow exists.

Single‐Phase Liquid Flow
When the pressure drop across a choke is due to kinetic energy
change, flow rate can be expressed as:
This equation can be rewrite as:

Dry Gas Flow through Chokes
Subsonic Flow
Under subsonic flow conditions, gas passage through a
choke can be expressed as:

Dry Gas Flow through Chokes
Sonic Flow
Under sonic flow conditions, the gas passage rate
reaches its maximum value. The gas passage rate is
expressed in the following equation for ideal gases:

The choke discharge coefficient CD
The choke discharge coefficient CD can be determined based on
Reynolds number and choke/pipe diameter ratio.
This correlation has been found to give reasonable accuracy for Reynolds
numbers between 104 and 106 for nozzle-type choke

• The Reynolds number for determining C choke discharge
coefficient is expressed as:
Gas Production Engineering , UofK

93
Temperature at Choke
The temperature can easily drop to below ice point resulting in ice-plugging if
water exists. Even though the temperature still can be above ice point, hydrates
can form and cause plugging problems.

Homework
A 0.65 specific gravity gas flows from a 2-in pipe through a 1-in orifice- type
choke. The upstream pressure and temperature are 800 psia and 25 oC,
respectively. The downstream pressure is 200 psia (measured 2 ft from the
orifice). The gas-specific heat ratio is 1.28.
(a) What is the expected daily flow rate?
(b) Does heating need to be applied to assure that the frost does not clog
the orifice?
(c) What is the expected pressure at the orifice outlet?

95 , UofK
Well Deliverability
(Nodal Analysis)

Nodal Analysis
• The flow of the fluids from the reservoir to the
surface required energy to overcome friction
losses in the production system.
• Fluid properties, such as gas z-factor and gas
viscosity, change with the location-dependent
pressure and temperature in the gas production
system.
• Fluid properties at the elements are evaluated
locally.
• To simulate the fluid flow in the system, it is
necessary to "break" the system.
Production system

98 , UofK
• Nodal analysis is
Nodal Analysis
performed on the
principle of pressure
continuity
• The pressure drop at
any time will be the
(initial fluid pressure
– the final fluid
pressure)
• The total pressure
drop is the sum of all
pressure drop which
occurring in all of
the components of
the system.
• The components selecting is very important to control the pressure drop with production
rate.

Nodal Analysis
• If we change the pressure drop in one
components it may change the pressure drop
behavior in all the other components because the
fluid flow is compressible.
• The pressure drop in any components depend on
the:
1) Flow rate through the component
2) The average pressure.
• Selecting the size of the individual components
are very important because interaction among
the component.

Nodal Analysis
• Selecting the optimum tubing size for well is
one of the most important considerations in
completion design.

Nodal Analysis
• How can the flow rate through the nodes
system can be determined ?
• 1) By the basic of the flow into the node equal

the flow out of the node.
• 2) Only one pressure can exist at a node.

Nodal Analysis
• Because of the pressure drop in any componets( P down or
up stream components) will varies with flow rate (Q).
• Therefore we have a plot of (node pressure Vs flow rate)will
produce two curves.

Applications of Nodal Analysis
• Used to analyze many problems.
• It’s a very flexible method. Which used to
improve the performance of many well systems .
• Some of the applications:
1) Selecting tubing size
2)Selecting flow line size
3) Gravel Pack designing
4) Surface chock sizing
5) Artificial lift designing
6) Well stimulating evaluating
7) Analyzing a muli-well producing system
Analysis with the Bottomhole Node
In this case we use reservoir performance (IPR) as inflow

performance and the tubing performance as outflow performance.
IPR and TPR can be established in different ways.
Well head
Bottom node

assume that IPR represented by :
1
and TPR by:

. The operating flow rate (qsc) and pressure (pwf) at bottom node can be determined in various methods:
1. Graphically:
this can done by plotting equation (1),(2); by taking values for (qsc) and the corresponding (pwf), (phf) ,the
intersection of the two curves is the operating point.
2500
2000
1500
p
IPR
1000 TPR
500
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
q

2. Numerically:
by combining equation (1),(2) which yield:
this equation solved by numerical ways like Newton Raphson iteration for gas
flow rate.
• But the compressibility factor is a function of pressure ,we take average value for
the pressure and calculate (zav) to estimate (qsc) which used to calculate pressure.
• Then we check (zav) factor ,we do this until having reasonable values.

Analysis with Wellhead Node
• Analysis with Wellhead Node When the wellhead is used as a
solution node in Nodal analysis, the inflow performance curve
is the Wellhead Performance Relationship (WPR) that is
obtained by transforming the IPR to wellhead through TPR.
• The outflow performance curve is the wellhead Choke
Performance Relationship (CPR ).
• Nodal analysis with wellhead being a solution node is carried

out by plotting the WPR and CPR curves and finding the
solution at the intersection point of the two curves.

• If the IPR of the well is defined by Equation (6.1), and TPR is

represented by Equation (6.2), substituting Equation (6.2) into
Equation (6.1) gives
which defines a relationship between wellhead pressure phf

and gas production rate qsc, that is WPR. If the CPR is defined
by Equation (5.5), that is,

• then the operating flow rate qsc and pressure phf at the
wellhead node can be determined graphically by plotting
Equation (6.5) and Equation (6.6) and finding the intersection
point. The operating point can also be solved numerically by
combining Equation (6.5) and Equation (6.6). In fact, Equation
(6.6) can be
• rearranged as:

Substituting Equation (6.7) into Equation (6.6) gives
which can be solved numerically for gas flow rate qsc. This
computation can be performed automatically with the spreadsheet
program Wellhead- Nodal.xls. Users need to input parameter values in
the Input Data section
and run Macro Solution to get results.
Example Problem 6.1
• Suppose that a vertical well produces 0.71 specific gravity gas
through a 2 7/8-in tubing set to the top of a gas reservoir at a
depth of 10,000 ft. At tubing head, the pressure is 800 psia
and the temperature is 150 0F, the bottom hole temperature
is 200 0F. The relative roughness of tubing is about 0.0006.
Calculate the expected gas production rate of the well using
the following datafor IPR:
– Reservoir pressure: 2,000 psia
– IPR model parameter C: 0.1 Mscf/d-psi2n
– IPR model parameter n: 0.8

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