Production Optimization by Nodal Analysis

As gas field development is a costly business, it is important to ensure that each
component in the production system (from the dwonhole completion all the way
to the separator) is functioning to its best utilization. The goal of field
optimization is to establish the ranges of operating parameters that will ensure
then and help achieving the operator’s objective, such as maximizing the
production rate of the entire field. This rate is sustainable for the conditions
established by the system components (tubing, pipeline, choke, etc.), reservoir
pressure, and separator pressure. Nodal Analysis provides a sound method to aid
the decision making process for optimization. This project presents the results
of a study conducted on the ‘X’ gas field which is producing with two wells.
First step was optimizing tubing size for each well. Then a field wide network
model was constructed to include the wells and surface facilities. Predictive
simulation was run at the network, considering three cases. There are: i) base
case, ii) installing surface compressor, iii) drilling a new well. The comparative
analysis shows that case 3 is the optimum production strategy for the ‘X’ gas
field which provide an increment by around 14% in gas recovery, compared to
the base case.