A modified predictive model for estimating gas flow rate in horizontal drain hole

Abstract

Accurate prediction of the flow rate of horizontal gas well is necessary for economic feasibility, planning and development of gas field. Most of the early models assumed that the production from the horizontal well is infinitely conductive except few recent models. Some recent models reported in the literature for estimating flow rate in horizontal well where the pressure losses due to friction along horizontal drain hole was considered.An improved model that checks the impact of all possible well bore pressure losses on gas production rate of horizontal well is reported. The neglected impact of well bore pressure losses due to fluid accumulation and kinetic energy in the past models is thought to be a conceivable reason for the inconsistency between computed rates from the models and rates got from production tests. The new model was validated using the same field contextual investigation utilized by Guo et al. and outcome got from the new model yields more satisfactory results. A more realistic results that evident all flow phenomena in gas well include the initial unsteady, pseudo-steady and steady state flow condition hence flow rate at any given production time has been established for flow of gas along horizontal well. The outcomes of the study demonstrate that the percentage deviation of the new model at steady state flow condition is less than 5.0% compared with 11.05% acquired from Guo et al. model following by 259.7% from Furui's model, and 1118.2% got from Joshi's model. This work gives field operators a precise and helpful device for prediction and assessment of production in a gas horizontal well. Keywords: Flow rate, Horizontal well, Unsteadiness, Steadiness, Well bore pressure losses