International Journal of Engineering Research and Reviews
ISSN 2348-697X (Online) Vol. 9, Issue 4, pp: (1-7), Month: October - December 2021, Available at: www.researchpublish.com
INVESTIGATION OF LIQUID LOADING CONCEPT IN 0.37 INCH TUBING USING UAC EXCELLENCE FLOW LOOP Udoaka, Mfon Godwill, 1 Dulu, Appah2, Joseph, Amiebimbama3 1
African Centre of Excellence, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria 2
University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
3
University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
Abstract: The oil and gas industry is in need of more practical approach to support the understanding of liquid loading in gas wells in order to aid in the monitoring and solutions to the challenges posed by liquid loading in gas wells. In this paper, a practical facility ‘’UAC Excellence flow loop’’ for liquid loading experiment has been built, and used to study liquid loading concept on 0.37 inch tubing (Figure 1). Three stages of flow regimes have been achieved after 900 seconds of production of multiphase fluids (LPG and Water) (Figure 2). It was observed that downhole temperature is a critical factor to gas well loading. Liquid loading affect gas well pressure quicker at the onset, but gradually affect production rate (Figure 3). Annular flow was obtained at 300 seconds (Figure 5), mist flow at 600 seconds (Figure 6) and Slug flow at 900 seconds (Figure 7).The UAC Excellence flow loop, the first in Nigeria, will serve as practical equipment for the study of liquid loading in smaller diameter tubings Keywords: Liquid loading, Tubing, UAC Excellence Flow loop, Downhole.
1. INTRODUCTION Loading in gas well is the accumulation of water or liquid hydrocarbon that is co-produced with gas in the production tubing of gas wells which eventually leads to decline in production rate at the surface. Liquid loading in gas wells is not a new subject; it has been known for many years [8], [5], [11]. A gas well is said to be loaded when the gas velocity drops below a certain “gas critical velocity,” and the gas can no longer lift the liquids (hydrocarbon condensate liquid or reservoir water) up to the surface. The liquids fall back and accumulate at the bottom of the well and reduce gas production, or even “kill” the well. Liquid loading causes decline in production rate and in most extreme cases may cause the well to stop flowing or die if not detected and manage early. When pressure drop in the wellbore increases, the gas flow velocity will decrease and the bottomhole pressure will increase. At this point, the effective gas permeability near the wellbore is reduced as water saturation increases. This would certainly hamper gas production rate due to the backpressure effect that renders the reservoir pressure negligible. [4] Explained that a better understanding of liquid loading in gas wells could best be studied through the illustration of the various flow regimes of multiphase flow in pipes. The flow pattern in a vertical production conduit of a gas well is usually illustrated by four or five basic flow patterns or flow regimes. The flow regimes are largely classified as annular, mist, slug-transition flow, slug and bubble, which are determined by the velocity of the gas and liquid phases and the relative amounts of gas and liquid at any given point in the flow stream. At annular to mist, the well exhibit a relatively low gravity pressure drop, however, as the gas velocity begins to drop, the well flow regime changes from slug type to bubble flow. In these cases, a much larger fraction of the tubing volume is filled with liquid. A gas well may go through any or all of these flow regimes during its lifetime. Although the relation
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