The Influence of temperature to pressure and flow performance in production well

Abstract

Fluid temperature and pressure distribution along the borehole play a vital role in completion design, well performance, and flow assurance of the flowing fluids. Quantitative knowledge of wellbore heat transmission and pressure drop correlation is very crucial as it helps improve the accuracy of the temperature and pressure computation. It should be noted that the surrounding wellbore’s components (e.g., casing, annulus fluid, cement sheath, and formation) can directly affect the fluid temperature profile due to the thermal interactions. Therefore, in this study, the primary objective is to determine the best-fit temperature model for an offshore well associated with complex borehole structures. There are three selected temperature models including Sagar et al., Alves et al., and Hasan and Kabir. In line with that, for the pressure drop model, the modified Hagedorn and Brown, which is one of the most widely used method, is also applied to the calculation process. The validity of the models has been verified by field production temperature and pressure data from the oil well SXX-P in S oil field, Cuu Long basin, Vietnam. Apart from that, sensitivity studies were also carried out to evaluate the effect of different parameters (e.g., tubing size, injection rate, and production rate) on the fluid’s temperature which in turn impacts the fluid’s pressure. As a result, the Hasan and Kabir appears to be the most suitable model for the temperature profile of oil well SXX-P with an average difference of 0.38%. Meanwhile, Alves et al. and Sagar et al. approaches yield a larger difference of 12% and 1.26% on average, respectively. In terms of pressure prediction, the result shows an insignificant difference which is approximately 3% with the field data by the modified Hagedorn and Brown correlation.