Integrated production modelling is essential for well performance evaluation and enhancement of the production system. It is a process of predicting the effects of changes through a systematic analysis of individual components and the impact of their interaction on field performance1 .

This paper describes a best-practice workflow that was followed in an integrated production modelling study of a region in the Cooper Basin, Australia. Procedures are presented that improve time efficiency in development of a surface network model, including rigorous validation of tank, simulation, VLP, IPR and compressor models.

The broad objectives of this work were to improve speed of model development in order to study well inflow performance in complex stacked fluvial sand systems and optimise gas production through investigation of debottlenecking opportunities and additional drill projects. Following the model build, four optimisation scenarios effects were investigated:

  1. Alternative flowline connection points for a high rate well

  2. Alternative tie-in connections to different satellites (debottleneck)

  3. Additional drill projects

  4. Debottlenecking with additional drill projects.

The aim of this paper is to provide an example of best-practice approach to network optimisation in complex stacked sand multi-layered reservoirs where time efficiency and model validation are critical.

Keywords:
Reservoir Surveillance, line pressure, production control, Upstream Oil & Gas, production monitoring, inflow performance, total gas rate, compressor 2, vvcp, pressure data
Subjects:
Formation Evaluation & Management, Well performance, inflow performance
Copyright 2008, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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