Virtual Flowmetering NovyPort Field Examples

Abstract

Abstract Virtual flow meter becomes increasingly relevant due to the need for continuous monitoring of the production system. This need nearly always arises at gas and gas condensate fields, because in many cases gas restricts the pipeline and the processing system, which inevitably results in loss of production. The technology becomes more interesting for oil and gas condensate fields, such as Novoportovskoye field. Numerous wells, low frequency of production rate tests, the use of mobile test separators, as well as quality of measurements at high and frequently varying gas-oil ratio (GOR) reduce promptness of the operating production management at the field. Virtual flow metering reduces the effect of these factors allowing the information on well performance to be received every minute, and adding elements of modeling to this tool makes it possible to understand quickly the performance of wells and other production objects. The virtual flow metering technology requires, first of all, a high level of field equipment with online sensors. At Novoportovskoye field, a program has been launched since 2019 to equip wellheads with sensors to measure pressure and temperature. Pressure and temperature measurements from each sensor pass every minute to a model where current production rate of the well is calculated and the result is compared with previous value. If a significant deviation is detected, a specialist from production team gets a warning and finds out a reason of the deviation. As opposed to daily analysis, the every-minute analysis of well performance opens a wide range of opportunities for prompt response to deviations in well operation, especially in combination with well remote control systems. Early detected deviations, such as deposits accumulated in tubing and pipelines, degradation of ESP head and rate, etc., allow considerable reduce production losses, increase promptness of response to deviations, and optimize distribution of resources in advance. Also, this technology allows to perform production allocation of daily production from processing facility, thus avoiding uniform distribution of errors of measuring devices through the use of back allocation coefficients. In the future, the use of virtual flow meters can give the opportunity to stop using of several rate measuring devices (like test separators or MPFM), which would result in reduced capital expenditures for well infrastructure development. Also, this technology opens opportunities for automatic control of well performance. Currently, virtual flow metering is uncommon at gas fields, so the implementation of this technology at an oil and gas condensate facility is a challenge for high-tech companies. Gazpromneft-Yamal have achieved good results in the use of integrated model, and virtual flow meter will be a next step for further achievements.