Key issues in high-performance natural gas wells

Underground natural gas storage has been used extensively in countries with large natural gas demand. Although much of the storage and withdrawal have been associated with seasonality, storage is becoming essential in an integrated natural gas management. It is particularly important in large operations, such as liquefied natural gas (LNG), where the total production rate must be maintained irrespective of the producing field day-to-day capacity.Natural gas storage capacity is affected by reservoir volume and tolerable pressure (to avoid fracturing) and injection or production rates that are affected by reservoir permeability, natural reservoir drive mechanism, well completion/stimulation, and the impact of cyclical losses.We present here a new sequence of calculations and estimations demonstrating salient elements of this practice:• Maximum capacity estimation with a new type of graphical construction, blending concepts of the classical p/Z vs. cumulative recovery straight line in natural gas production. • Prediction of withdrawal rates and time, constrained by decreasing storage pressure. • Determination of maximum or sustainable withdrawal rate for a period of time. In all cases, the injecting and producing wells are hydraulically fractured. The hydraulic fractures are designed for the withdrawal rate. Thus, the required number of wells is determined.These concepts are applied to a depleted natural gas field with an average pay of 33 ft and a permeability of 45 md. Forecasts of injection or production rates, cumulative storage or withdrawal, and pressure buildup or decline are presented as functions of time. The purpose of this case study is to sustain an LNG liquefaction operation for a specified period of time by employing underground natural gas storage.

show abstract

“…Some of the terminologies/concepts that are related to storage design are summarized in Economides (2009a and2012).…”

Section: Underground Gas Storage Design Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Underground Storage in Large Natural Gas Production Operation

Merry

Amorer

Wang³

et al. 2013

All Days

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Turbulence in the fracture and expected proppant pack permeability reduction has to be taken into account in the fracture design (Wang and Economides, 2004;Wang, 2009Wang, , 2012. Because the reservoir permeability is 10 md, all the wells must be fractured vertical wells.…”

Section: Purposefully Built Underground Natural Gas Storagementioning

confidence: 99%

Purposefully built underground natural gas storage

Wang¹,

Economides

2012

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…The Darcy-Forchheimer equation is given by the appropriate square velocity modification to Darcy's law (Joseph et al, 1982). This modification has been discussed in detail for nearly incompressible flows by Du Plessis andMasliyah (1988), Du Plessis (1994), Hayes et al, (1995), Skjetne and Auriault (1999), Handren et al (2001), Wang (2012), Ai et al (2015). For compressible flows, the Darcy-Forchheimer equation with an acceleration term is adequate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microscopic choked flow for a highly compressible gas in porous media

Jiang

Dou

Xi³

et al. 2016

Journal of Natural Gas Science and Engineering

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Choked flow can impact the gas flow rate from a high-pressure gas well with a vertical fracture of finite conductivity and the development of tensile stress near the wellbore. Traditionally, the choking condition of the flow of a highly compressible gas in porous media is obtained by considering the porous media to be a homogeneous porous medium at the macroscopic scale. In reality, when the average existing pressure of the porous medium decreases, if the compressible gas flow is choked in only one microscopic basic structural unit, the gas flow is choked in the macroscopic porous medium. In this paper, the choking condition of a compressible gas flow in a basic structural unit is studied. It is shown that for the given inlet pressure and temperature, the choked flow occurs first in the basic structural unit with a constant cross-section and with lower porosity and shorter flow distance. If the roughness of the basic structural unit is more complicated or its flow distance is shorter, this basic structural unit requires a lower pressure drop when the gas flow is choked. Whether the basic structural unit is a pipe with finite wall thickness or a single pore, the choking condition first occurs in the position with the smallest porosity or permeability near the exit. It is found that for microscopic choked flow, the outlet-to-inlet pressure under conditions of varying friction is substantially lower than that under the effect of constant friction.

show abstract

Key issues in high-performance natural gas wells

Cited by 7 publications

References 12 publications

The Role of Underground Storage in Large Natural Gas Production Operation

The Role of Underground Storage in Large Natural Gas Production Operation

Purposefully built underground natural gas storage

Microscopic choked flow for a highly compressible gas in porous media

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About