WORLD ECONOMY
Oil Production
Enhancement
P
20
roduction enhancement
refers to the practice
of making changes or
adjustments in order to produce
the limit (maximize production).
The goal of virtually all efforts spent
on modeling a petroleum field is
to devise an optimal strategy to
develop, manage, and operate
the field. For some petroleum
fields, optimization of production
operations can be a major factor
in increasing production rates and
reducing production costs. While
for single wells or other small
systems simple nodal analysis
may be adequate, large complex
systems demand a much more
sophisticated approach to predict
the response of a large complicated
production system accurately and
to examine alternative operational
scenarios efficiently.
With millions of oil and gas wells
producing in the world, roughly 5%
flow naturally, leaving nearly all the
world’s oil and gas production to rely
on efficient artificial lift operations
to help the industry produce oil and
gas, even from wells that were once
slated for abandonment (Weather-
ford 2016).
Most oil wells require artificial lift at
some point in the life of the field, and
many gas wells benefit from artificial
lift to take liquids off the formation
(Nawab, 2015). An operator needs
to start an artificial lift project due
to increased water cut and pressure
draw-down. Reservoir pressure
decline and/or water fraction
increase alters the flowing condition
and can necessitate artificial lift
to attain a satisfactory production
rate. The options are two: first,
supplement reservoir gas with gas
lift gas to reduce the flowing fluid
mixture density in the wellbore and
maintain the natural flow condition;
and secondly, to transfer energy
down-hole to a pump and raise the
fluid pressure for flow to the surface
facility.
The well’s natural energy must be
sufficient to push oil and gas to
the surface, overcome hydrostatic
borehole pressure and friction,
and push hydrocarbons through
the surface facilities. When natural
lift begins to fall or decline, it can
no longer be relied upon to get
hydrocarbons to the surface and
surface facilities. When this happens
overtime, the well production stops
and the well is said to be dead. When
there are commercial quantities of
hydrocarbons trapped in the well, an
alternative method is used to bring
the well back to production. This is
where artificial lift can supplement
natural lift. Sucker Rod Pump,
Gas Lift and Electric Submersible
Pumping (ESP) are the most common
artificial-lift systems, but hydraulic
and progressing cavity pumps are
also used. Each is suited to certain