Abstract
Abstract. The multiphase flow through wellhead restrictions of an offshore oil field in Iran is investigated and two sets of new correlations are presented for high flow rate and water cut conditions. The both correlations are developed by using 748 actual data points, corresponding to critical flow conditions of gas-liquid mixtures through wellhead chokes. The first set of correlations is a modified Gilbert equation and predicts liquid flow rates as a function of flowing wellhead pressure, gas-liquid ratio and surface wellhead choke size. To minimize error in such condition, in the second correlation, free water, sediment and emulsion (BS & W) is also considered as an effective parameter. The predicted oil flow rates by the new sets of correlations are in the excellent agreement with the measured ones. These results are found to be statistically superior to those predicted by other relevant published correlations. The both proposed correlations exhibit more accuracy (only 2.95% and 2.0% average error, respectively) than the existent correlations. These results should encourage the production engineer which works at such condition to utilize the proposed correlations for future practical answers when a lack of available information, time, and calculation capabilities arises.
Highlights
Almost all flowing wells utilize wellhead chokes in order to regulate the flowing rate, prevent water and gas coning and sand problems, as well as valves installed for safety purposes
The most popular correlation was developed by Gilbert (1954) but it is valid for critical flow occurring when the upstream pressure of the choke is at least 70 % higher than the downstream pressure or when the ratio of downstream pressure to upstream pressure is equal to 0.588 (Ghareeb and Shedid, 2007)
The most popular correlation was developed by Gilbert (1954) but it is valid for critical flow occurring when the upstream pressure of the choke is at least 70 % higher than the downstream pressure (Ghareeb et al, 2007)
Summary
Almost all flowing wells utilize wellhead chokes in order to regulate the flowing rate, prevent water and gas coning and sand problems, as well as valves installed for safety purposes. Several correlations have been offered for describing critical and subcritical multi-phase flow through wellhead chokes (Al-Attar, 2009). Majority of such correlations are based on limited ranges of flow variables. The most popular correlation was developed by Gilbert (1954) but it is valid for critical flow occurring when the upstream pressure of the choke is at least 70 % higher than the downstream pressure (Ghareeb et al, 2007). Flow through the wellhead chokes mainly fall into two critical and subcritical conditions. Production data from offshore field, in Iran, were used to generate two sets of new correlations for multiphase flow through wellhead surface choke
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