OTC-26766-MS

A Novel Approach to Estimate Severity of Paraffin Deposition Inside

Copyright 2016, Offshore Technology Conference

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference Asia held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 22–25 March 2016.

This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
The vertical-lift performance curves are often generated with the aid of computer software for creating
well models of producing oil and gas wells. These models are used as tools for optimizing fluid
production, generation of production forecast and well problem diagnosis. The well models are further
used to plan for future requirement of artificial lift assistance.
One of the important components for development of representative well models is the Vertical Lift
performance and Inflow Performance curve matching. The vertical lift performance curve is generated
separately using well test data using various correlations and the best matching correlation to actual well
pressure gradient is selected for VLP-IPR matching. The VLP depends on various factors such as tubing
size, gas-liquid ratio, wellhead pressure, etc.
The producing oil wells having higher paraffin content tend to deposit paraffin wax inside the
production tubing reducing the flow area and increasing the pressure drop. The deposition generally
occurs near the surface and at greater depths the tubing is free from deposition due to higher temperature
because of the geothermal gradient. Due to this an error is induced as the effective inside diameter of
tubing is less than the actual diameter entered by the user, this leads to variation in the actual and
calculated pressure drop ultimately leading to deviation by more than 10% in many cases.
This paper describes implementation of method to enter the severity of paraffin deposition in a
particular length of tubing and dividing the total length of tubing into sections having different internal
diameters. The estimation of deposition can be done by carrying out mechanical scraping operation in
which the wax is cut mechanically using paraffin cutters of various sizes starting with the smallest and
gradually increasing to higher sizes of cutters. The restriction due to wax is evident at the surface by
monitoring the weight loss in the wireline weight indicator.
By using this method an accurate well model can be created which will represent the actual behavior
of the producing well thereby increasing the accuracy of any further predictions.
Introduction
As we all know one of the most common oilfield wellbore problems encountered is paraffin deposition
and very few fields in petroleum producing areas are completely free of paraffin problems. Paraffins
normally consist of high molecular weight hydrocarbons which may be both straight chained and
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branched with carbon numbers ranging from 18 to 60. Paraffin is commonly associated with organic
deposits like resins and asphaltenes and inorganics such as sand, rust, iron sulfide and scale. Many wells
produce oil with the potential to deposit paraffin in the production tubing, flowlines and surface
equipment. The deposition of paraffin in production tubing of flowing wells causes abnormal production
declines, complete ceasing of wells and increased difficulty in running subsurface tools. The main causes
are cooling by gas expansion, loss of heat to the wellbore by conduction and loss of volatile components
(1)
.
At reservoir conditions, the temperature and pressure are high enough to keep high molecular weight
paraffin hydrocarbons in solution but as the oil flows to the surface there is a reduction in temperature and
pressure. The reduction in pressure reduces the amount of solution gas which in turn reduces the solubility
of the high molecular weight paraffin hydrocarbons in the crude oil. Also, the reduction in temperature
resulting from rapid expansion of associated gas assists in paraffin deposition. The temperature at which
paraffin crystals start to form is known as cloud point. The cloud point depends upon the crude oil
composition and is significantly affected by small amounts of high molecular weight paraffin. The
severity of the deposition as well as the location of deposition depends on the amount of paraffin originally
present in the crude oil, the temperature and the pressure at the location. However, precipitation of wax
is most severe in the length of tubing near the surface due to the low geothermal gradient and temperature.
(Straub, Autry and King, 1989). The deposits in the production tubing and surface flowlines gradually
choke production and unless removed, the deposited wax eventually stops the flow(1).
Vertical Lift Performance
As the fluid moves from the reservoir to the surface, at least four flow regimes are encountered in
gas-liquid two-phase flow. These flow regimes occur as a progression with increasing gas flow rate for
a given liquid flow rate. The pressure drop in the well is dependent on two major components i.e. the
change in potential energy due to elevation and frictional drag as a result of the flow of the fluids. The
pressure drop experienced is a function of the fluid characteristics i.e. Newtonian or non-Newtonian, fluid
flow conditions (laminar or turbulent flow) and the diameter and roughness of the tubing.
These correlations are based on a combination of theoretical and experimental data, as a result these
observations have led to the conclusion that the pressure-drop calculations are related to flow patterns.
Flow patterns or flow regimes relate to the distribution of each fluid phase inside the pipe. This implies
that a pressure calculation is dependent on the predicted flow pattern. There are four flow patterns in the
simplest classification of flow regimes as below:
● Bubble flow
● Slug flow
● Transition flow
● Mist flow
When the liquid phase is continuous and the gas phase exists as small bubbles dispersed within the
liquid phase, bubble flow regime is encountered. If the gas phase occurs as large bubbles separating liquid
phase in the flow stream then slug flow regime is encountered. During transition flow, the gas phase
becomes the continuous fluid phase as the liquid slugs disappear between the gas bubbles. Thereafter mist
flow regime is observed when liquid phase is entrained as small droplets in the gas phase.
If d is the diameter of the tubing, C is the angle of inclination, ␳ is the average density and v the
velocity of the fluid then the pressure drop can be expressed in the differential form for any fluid at any
pipe inclination as below
OTC-26766-MS 3

This curve is called the vertical lift performance curve Fig1.

Figure 1—Vertical lift performance curve

To estimate pressure drops in multiphase flow there are a number of correlations available today. They
may be into two categories:
1. Empirical correlations, which are based on experimental studies and developed correlations. There
are several types and each has a range of suitability depending on the fluid, the phases and the flow
geometry. Examples of correlations under this include Duns and Ross, Orkiszewski, Hagedorn and
Brown, Francher Brown, Beggs & Brills etc.
2. Mechanistic models, based on simplified mechanistic (physical) considerations and they take into
account basic principles, like conservation of mass and energy. Examples of correlations under this
include Petroleum Experts, Hydro 3-P, OLGAS etc.
The range of applicability of the multiphase flow models is dependent on several factors such as, tubing
diameter, oil gravity, gas liquid ratio (GLR) and water-cut. The effect of each of these factors on
estimating the pressure profile in a well is discussed separately for all the multiphase models considered.
The performance of the multiphase flow model is considered good if error between the measured and
predicted value of the pressure profile is less than 10%(3).
These correlations are used to calculate the liquid or gas hold-up and drag coefficient in a given flow
regime. The hold-up and drag coefficient determine the potential energy and drag contributions to the
vertical pressure gradient. The calculation of pressure traverses for different liquid flow rates at a given
GLR results in a curve of FBHP versus the flow rate. At low rates the gas and liquid separate and the
average density approach the liquid density.
Novel Approach
This paper discusses a novel approach towards estimating the paraffin wax deposition inside the
production tubing encountered in wells mainly due to drop in temperature and loss of lighter hydrocarbons
due to decrease in pressure as the formation fluid moves from reservoir to the surface. The wax is
deposited on the inner walls of the production tubular reducing the flow area. The thickness of the wax
deposition varies inside the tubing and it is generally observed that the deposition begins at a depth above
the point where the temperature of fluid drops below the cloud point and the deposition increases
gradually towards the surface. The reduction in flow area increases the pressure drop due to additional
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frictional pressure loss as the effective inside diameter of the tubing is reduced. This leads to lower tubing
head pressures and lower flowrates.
In softwares available for generation of vertical lift performance curves, the tubing inside diameter is
entered as fixed value with the corresponding tubing head pressure, flowing bottomhole pressure and
flowrate. The curve generated based on these values may not represent the actual pressure profile of the
well. The actual flowing bottomhole pressure (FBHP) measured point may lie outside the envelope (fig-2)
created by Duns & Ros equation which considers maximum slip hence maximum frictional pressure loss
and Hagedorn Brown which considers no slip i.e. minimum frictional pressure loss. On forcing the
correlations to match the measured data, the parameters were required to adjust more than 10% which is
generally not acceptable. In order to generate a pressure profile that represents the actual pressure drops
inside the well it is essential to divide the length of the tubing above the cloud point in different sections
with reduced diameters towards the surface. The method used here to determine these lengths and
diameters is a physical one. The traditional method still in use to clear the wax deposition inside the well
is mechanical scraping.

Figure 2—VLP curves with constant tubing diameter

The scraping operation involves use of paraffin cutters of different diameters to clean the tubular
mechanically. The smallest diameter of paraffin cutter is run in the well which cuts the wax deposition
equal to its diameter, the operation uses the weight of the bottomhole assembly to cut through the wax.
The weight can be increased by use of sinker bars of different lengths to provide more weight. The
restriction offered by the wax deposits leads to decrease in weight of BHA as observed in the weight
indicator of the slickline/ wireline winch. The indication of the gain or loss in weight of the scraping BHA
helps to determine the extent of wax deposition and hence the diameter and length of the affected section
of the tubular. The diameter of the paraffin cutter is increased in subsequent runs until the cutter with
diameter close to the drift diameter of the tubing is freely run below the depth where the temperature is
above the cloud point of the crude oil.
A well DIB-2 with considerable paraffin content in crude oil was selected, the well was completed with
2.7/8 inch (6.5 ppf) production tubing having a inside diameter of 2.441 inch. The well was then taken
up for scraping operation and the data was recorded. The operation began with running in hole scraping
bottomhole assembly (BHA) with 2 inch size Cutter and the restriction was observed from top to 380 m
by observing the weight loss. In the next couple of runs a cutter with 2.1/8 inch and 2.1/4 inch size were
used and the restrictions were recorded from top to 650 m and top to 945 m respectively. The data
OTC-26766-MS 5

obtained from the scraping operation were feeded into the software for generating the vertical lift
performance curve. In the downhole equipment the tubing was divided into five sections, from top to 380
m with diameter of 2 inches, 380 to 650 m with diameter of 2.1/8 inches, from 650 to 945 m with diameter
2.1/4 inches and remaining length of tubing upto tubing shoe with diameter 2.441 inches. The vertical lift
performance curve was generated with the above data and it was observed that the measured FBHP data
point was lying in envelope created by Duns & Ros and Hagedorn Brown correlation as illustrated in
Fig-3. Hence all other correlations like Francher Brown, Orkiszewski, etc were predicting pressure close
to the measured value. Hence the error in calculating the vertical lift performance curve was reduced
below 10% which is generally acceptable. This highlights the state of the production tubular and the
pressure drop during the normal life of the production of the well.

Figure 3—VLP curves with tubing divided into sections with different diameter

Conclusion
This method offers a novel approach towards estimating the severity of paraffin deposition inside the
production tubular. The operation of mechanical scraping was used to estimate the thickness of wax
deposition and hence the reduction in flow area. The data obtained helped in approximately dividing the
total length of tubing into different sections with different diameters representing the actual condition of
the production tubing. This aided the software to predict the pressure losses due to reduction in effective
flow area because of wax deposition and generate an accurate vertical lift performance curve. In this way
the error in calculations was reduced below the acceptable limit of 10%. It helped in predicting the actual
pressure drop profile in the well which is affected with paraffin deposition in contrast to wells without
paraffin deposition problems. Hence by using this method an accurate well model representing the original
behavior of the well was created thereby increasing the accuracy of any further predictions.
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Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the management of Oil India Limited for permission to present this paper.
Also, the authors would like to thank specifically General Manager (Prod-Oil) and Head (Prod-Oil
Services) for their contribution and support during preparation of this paper.

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