The document discusses water and gas coning in oil wells. Coning occurs when water or gas moves into the well perforations due to pressure gradients, reducing well productivity. The document describes the mechanisms of water and gas coning, provides diagrams of coning phenomena, and summarizes several empirical correlations used to predict critical production rates and prevent coning, including methods developed by Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson. These methods calculate critical oil flow rates based on reservoir parameters like fluid densities, permeability, and well geometry.
The document discusses water and gas coning in oil wells. Coning occurs when water or gas moves into the well perforations due to pressure gradients, reducing well productivity. The document describes the mechanisms of water and gas coning, provides diagrams of coning phenomena, and summarizes several empirical correlations used to predict critical production rates and prevent coning, including methods developed by Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson. These methods calculate critical oil flow rates based on reservoir parameters like fluid densities, permeability, and well geometry.
The document discusses water and gas coning in oil wells. Coning occurs when water or gas moves into the well perforations due to pressure gradients, reducing well productivity. The document describes the mechanisms of water and gas coning, provides diagrams of coning phenomena, and summarizes several empirical correlations used to predict critical production rates and prevent coning, including methods developed by Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson. These methods calculate critical oil flow rates based on reservoir parameters like fluid densities, permeability, and well geometry.
The document discusses water and gas coning in oil wells. Coning occurs when water or gas moves into the well perforations due to pressure gradients, reducing well productivity. The document describes the mechanisms of water and gas coning, provides diagrams of coning phenomena, and summarizes several empirical correlations used to predict critical production rates and prevent coning, including methods developed by Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson. These methods calculate critical oil flow rates based on reservoir parameters like fluid densities, permeability, and well geometry.
Coning is a term used to describe the mechanism underlying the upward
movement of water and/or the down movement of gas into the perforations of a producing well. Coning can seriously impact the well productivity and influence the degree of depletion and the overall recovery efficiency of the oil reservoirs. The specific problems of water and gas coning are listed below.
1- Costly added water and gas handling.
2- Reduced efficiency of the depletion mechanism. 3- The water is often corrosive and its disposal costly. 4- Loss of the total field overall recovery.
Delaying the encroachment and production of gas and water are
essentially the controlling factors in maximizing the field’s ultimate oil recovery.
Coning primarily the result of movement of reservoir fluids in the
direction of least resistance, balanced by a tendency of the fluids to maintain gravity equilibrium. The analysis may be made with respect to
either gas or water. Let the original condition of reservoir fluids exist as shown schematically in figure (1-26), water underlying oil and gas overlying oil. Figure (1-26), Original reservoir static condition
Production from the well would create pressure gradients that tend to lower the gas-oil contact and elevate the water-oil contact in the immediate vicinity of the well. Counterbalancing these flow gradients is the tendency of the gas to remain above the oil zone because of its lower density and of the water to remain below the oil zone because of its higher density. These counterbalancing forces tend to deform the gas-oil and water-oil contacts into a bell or cone shape as shown schematically in figure (1-27).
Figure (1-27), Gas and Water coning
There are essentially three forces that may affect fluid flow distributions a round the well-bores. These are:
1- Capillary forces. 2- Gravity forces. 3- Viscous forces. Capillary forces usually have negligible effect on coning and will be neglected. Gravity forces are directed in the vertical direction and arise from fluid density difference.
Viscous forces refer to the pressure gradients associated fluid flow
through the reservoir as described by Darcy’s law. Therefore, at any given time, there is a balance between gravitational and viscous forces at points on and away from the well completion interval. When the dynamic (viscous) forces at the well-bore exceed gravitational forces, a “cone” will ultimately break into the well.
We can expand on the above basic visualization of coning by introducing
the concept of:
- Stable cone. - Unstable cone - Critical production rate. If a well is produced at a constant rate and the pressure gradients in the drainage system have become constant, a steady-state condition is reached. If at this condition the dynamic forces at the well are less than the gravity forces, then the water or gas cone that has formed will not extend to the well. Moreover, the cone will neither advance nor recede, thus establishing what is known as a stable cone. Conversely, if the pressure in the system is an unsteady-state condition, then an unstable cone will continue to advance until steady-state conditions prevail.
The critical production rate is the rate above which the flowing pressure gradient at the well causes water (or gas) to cone into the well. It is, therefore, the maximum rate of oil production without concurrent production of the displacing phase by coning. At the critical rate, the built-up cone is stable but is at a position of incipient breakthrough.
Defining the conditions for achieving the maximum water-free and/or
gas-free oil production rate is a difficult problem to solve. Engineers are frequently faced with the following specific problems:
1- Predicting the maximum flow rate that can be assigned to a completed
well without the simultaneous production of water and/or free-gas. 2- Defining the optimum length and position of the interval to be perforated in a well in order to obtain the maximum water and gas- free production rate. Critical rate Qoc is defined as the maximum allowable oil flow rate that can be imposed on the well to avoid a cone breakthrough. The critical rate would correspond to the development of a stable cone to an elevation just below the bottom of the perforated interval in an oil-water system or to an elevation just above the top of the perforated interval in a gas-oil system.
There are several empirical correlations that are commonly used to
predict the oil critical rate, including the correlations of:
1- Meyer and Gardner and Pirson Methods.
2- Craft and Hawkins Method. 3- Chaney Et AL. Method
1- Meyer and Gardner and Pirson Methods
Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson suggest that coning development is a
result of the radial flow of the oil and associated pressure sink around the well-bore. In their derivations, Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson assume a homogeneous system with a uniform permeability throughout the reservoir, i.e., kh = kv. It should be pointed out that the ratio kh/kv is the most critical term in evaluating and solving the coning problem. They developed three separate correlations for determining the critical oil flow rate:
- Gas coning - Water coning - Combined gas and water coning.
Gas coning
Consider the schematic illustration of the gas-coning problem shown
in figure (1-28).Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson correlated the critical oil rate required to achieve a stable gas cone with the following well penetration and fluid parameters:
- Difference in the oil and gas density.
- Depth Dt from the original gas-oil contact to the top of the perforations. - The oil column thickness h. The well perforated interval h, in a gas-oil system, is essentially defined as:
h=h–D
Figure (1-28), Gas coning
Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson propose the following expression for
determining the oil critical flow rate in a gas-oil system:
Summary of assumptions for gas-oil system:
1- Capillary forces usually have negligible effect on coning and
will be neglected.
2- No gas drive, that means GOR remain constant.
Ф = Potential = H
For any point, calculate H
Ф = gz + (Pg – Patm)/ ρgas …….. (1)
Ф = H*g → H = Ф/g
Hgas = z + Pg / (ρgas *g) ………. (2)
Hoil = z + Po / (ρoil *g) ………..(3)
Since Pc = zero i.e., Po = Pg (where Pc = Pg-Po = zero)
& Hg = constant (i.e., no gas drive).
For eg.(2) , solving for Pg →
(Hg – z) * ρg *g = Pg ..........(2-a)
& also eq.(3) becomes:-
(Ho – z) * ρo * g = Po ………(3-a)
Since Pc = zero → Po = Pg
Then eq.(2-a) = eq.(3-a)
(Hg – z ) ρg * g = (Ho – z) ρo * g ……….(4)
Solve eq. (4) for Ho
Ho = Hg * (ρg/ρo) + z [(ρo – ρg)/ρo] ……. (5)
Constant
Derivative equation (5) respect to Ho
dHo = [(ρo-ρg)/ρo] dz …….(6)
Darcy`s law Q = k A ΔP / μ L (for linear flow)'
Solving for oil flow:
Q → Qo
k → ko
L → dr
μ → μo
Radial area ↔ A = 2πrz
z r
ΔP = ρo g dHo
Where P = ρ g H
Then Darcy's law →
Qo = 2π ρo g (ko/μo) z r (dHo/dr) ……. (7)
Substitute the value of (dHo) [i.e. eg.(6) in eq.(7)]
For radial flow
Qo = 2π (ρo – ρg) g (ko/μo) z r (dz/dr)
h ………. (8)
re ∫ (h-D)
∫ Qo max = r dr/r = 2π (ρo-ρg) g (ko/μo) z r z dz ……….. (9) w
Qo max = π g [(ρo-ρg) / ln (re / rw)] (ko/μo) [h2 – (h-D)2]
…..(10)
Or in field units
Qo max = 0.001535 [(ρo-ρg)/ln(re/rw)] (ko/μoBo) [h2- (h-Dt)2] …(11)
Qo max = maximum oil production rata without gas coning (critical
rate), STB/day ρo = oil density, gram/ cm³
ρg = gas density, gram/ cm³
re = drainage area radius, ft
rw= well-bore radius, ft
ko = oil permeability, md
μo = oil viscosity, cp
Bo = oil formation volume factor, bbl/STTB
h = thickness of oil zone (producing zone), ft
Dt = Depth from the original gas-oil contact to the top of the perforations, ft
hp = Completion interval (Perforated interval), ft.
Example (1-1):
A vertical well is drilled in an oil reservoir overlaid by a gas cap.
The related well and reservoir data are given below:
Using Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson relationships, calculate the critical
oil flow rate.
Solution
The critical oil flow rate for this gas-coning problem can be determined by applying equation (11). The following two steps summarize Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson methodology.
Meyer, Gardner, and Pirson proposed a similar expression for
determining the critical oil rate in the water coning system shown schematically in figure (1-29).
The proposed relationship has the following form:
Qo max = 0.001535 [(ρw-ρo)/ln(re/rw)] (ko/μoBo) [h2- -hp2] …(12)
Figure (1-29), Water coning
Where:
ρw = water density, gram/ cm³
Db = Depth from the original water-oil contact to the bottom of the
perforations, ft
Example (1-2):
Resolve example (1-1) assuming that the oil zone is underlaid by
bottom water. The water density is given as 63.76 lb/ft. the well completion interval is 15 ft as measured from the top of the formation (no gas cap) to the bottom of the perforations.
Solution:
The critical oil flow rate for this water-coning problem can be estimated by applying equation (12). The equation is designed to determine the critical rate at which the water cone “touches” the bottom of the well to give.
Qo max = 0.001535 [((63.76/62.4)-(47.5/62.4))/ ln(660/0.25)]
(93.5/0.73*1.1) [402- -152]
Qo max = 8.13 STB/day
Simultaneous Gas and Water coning
If the effective oil-pay thickness h is comprised between a gas cap
and a water zone (figure 1-30), the completion interval hp must be such as to permit maximum oil-production rate without having gas and water simultaneously produced by coning, gas breaking through at the top of the interval and water at the bottom.
This case is of particular interest in the production from a thin
column underlaid by bottom water and overlaid by gas.
Figure (1-30), The development of Gas and Water coning
For this combined gas and water coning, Pirson (1977) combined equation (11) and (12) to produce the following simplified expression for determining the maximum oil-flow rate without gas and water coning:
Qomax = Qow + Qog …. (13)
Qomax=0.001535(ko/μoBo)[(h2-hp2)/(ln(re/rw)] [(ρw-ρo)((ρo-ρg)/(ρw-ρg))2+(ρo-ρg)(1-((ρo-ρg)/(ρw-ρg)))2 ] ….(14) Example (1-3):
A vertical well is drilled in an oil reservoir that is overlaid by a gas
cap and underlaid by bottom water. Figure (1-31) shows an illustration of the simultaneous gas and water coning.
Figure (1-31), Gas and Water coning problem (example, 1-3)
Pirson derives a relationship for determining the optimum placement of the desired hp feet of perforation in an oil zone with a gas cap above and a water zone below. Pirson proposes that the optimum distance Dt from the GOC to the top of the perforations can determined from the following expressed:
Dt = (h – hp ) [ 1- ρo – ρg ] …..(15)
Ρw – ρg
Where the distance Dt is expressed in feet.
Example (1-4):
Using the data given in example (1-3), calculate the optimum
distance for the placement of the 15 foot perforations.
Solution:
Applying equation (15) gives:
Dt = (65 – 15 ) [ 1- 47.5 – 5.1 ] = 13.9 ft
63.76 – 5.1 Craft and Hawkins Method
In this method, the following empirical equation used to calculate
Qomax must be reducing below 512 STB/DAY because maximum
flowing pressure drops without water coning equal:
ΔPmax = 0.433 * (0.48) *11
ΔPmax = 2.29 psi.
Chaney Et AL. Method
Chaney et al. (1956) developed a set of working curves for
determining oil critical flow rate. The authors proposed a set of working graphs that were generated by using a potentiometric analyzer study and applying the water coning mathematical theory.
The graphs, as shown in figures (1-32) through (1-36), were
generated using the following fluid and sand characteristics:
Drainage radius re = 1000 ft
Well-bore radius rw = 3 inch
Oil column thickness h = 12.5, 25, 50, 75 and 100 ft
Permeability k = 1000 md
Oil viscosity µo = 1 cp
ρw – ρo = 18.72 lb/ft³
ρo – ρg = 37.44 lb/ft³
The graphs are designed to determine the critical flow rate in oil- water, gas-oil, and gas-water systems with fluid and rock properties as listed above. The hypothetical rates as determined from the Chaney et al. curves (designated as Qcurve), are corrected to account for the actual reservoir rock and fluid properties by applying the following expressions:
