Heliyon (Jul 2023)
Sensitivity analysis for enhancing crude oil recovery with continuous flow gas lift: A study in reference to the porous media of the upper Assam basin, India
Abstract
Despite minimal formation damage or water-cut, the majority of oil wells in brown oil fields cease to flow naturally. The current study looks into and analyses what caused a self-flowing well in the upper Assam basin to become non-flowing. The non-flow condition of the well was investigated in the current work as a function of water cut, reservoir pressure, reservoir rock permeability, and GOR. The effect of WHP and WHT on these functions was investigated. This work incorporates innovative methodology that uses the PROSPER simulation model for assessing the possibility of establishing flowability in a dead well based on inflow (IPR) and vertical lift performance (VLP). Subsequent analysis was carried out to examine the scope of producing this dead well under continuous flow gas lift. For this, the current work first examined the tubing diameter and reservoir temperature as standalone parameters to find out if they have any role to play in the flowability of the dead well. Following this, sensitivity analysis was done taking four parameters into account, i.e., reservoir pressure, reservoir rock permeability, water cut, and total GOR. In the current work, surface equipment correlation was established using Beggs and Brill correlation, while vertical lift performance was established using correlation from Petroleum Expert. The results of the current work highlight that a well's production rate under continuous flow gas lift can be enhanced by employing an optimised gas injection rate. The findings of this work conclude that higher reservoir pressure enables an oil well to produce with a high water cut under a continuous flow gas lift system, provided there are no formation damage issues on the well.
