Spe Production & Facilities 

About: Spe Production & Facilities is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Fracture (geology) & Hydraulic fracturing. Over the lifetime, 449 publications have been published receiving 11995 citations.

A Comprehensive Mechanistic Model for Upward Two-Phase Flow in Wellbores

Abstract: A comprehensive model is formulated to predict the flow behavior for upward two-phase flow. This model is composed of a model for flow-pattern prediction and a set of independent mechanistic models for predicting such flow characteristics as holdup and pressure drop in bubble, slug, and annular flow. The comprehensive model is evaluated by using a well data bank made up of 1,712 well cases covering a wide variety of field data. Model performance is also compared with six commonly used empirical correlations and the Hasan-Kabir mechanistic model. Overall model performance is in good agreement with the data. In comparison with other methods, the comprehensive model performed the best.

Screening of Crude Oils for Asphalt Precipitation: Theory, Practice, and the Selection of Inhibitors

Abstract: This paper describes a simple method to screen crude oils for their tendency to precipitate asphalt, which may cause problems during production. The method is based on a thermodynamic model of asphalt solubility, derived earlier by Flory and Huggins. The most important parameters in this model are the Hildebrand solubility parameters for oil and asphaltene, and their molar volumes. The oil parameters can all be correlated with the in-situ density of the crude. It is shown that heavy crudes usually will give fewer problems with asphalt precipitation, despite their higher asphaltene content, certainly if the reservoir pressure is close to bubblepoint pressure. Consequently, the tendency for asphalt precipitation is mainly determined by three parameters: the extent to which the crude is undersaturated with gas, the density of the crude at reservoir conditions, and its saturation with asphalt at downhole conditions. Apart from the simple screening method, more elaborate methods are described to assess the potential for asphalt precipitation more accurately; asphaltene analysis on produced reservoir fluid and tank oil; n-heptane titration of the tank oil; visual inspection of a bottom-hole sample in a high-pressure cell during pressure reduction; and dynamic flow tests on tank oil after n-heptane addition.

Storage of Natural Gas as Frozen Hydrate

Abstract: The formation of natural gas hydrates is a well-known problem in the petroleum and natural gas industries. Hydrates are solid materials that form when liquid water and natural gas are brought in contact under pressure. Hydrate formation need not be a problem. On the contrary, it can be an advantage. The volume of hydrates is much less than that of natural gas. At standard conditions, hydrates occupy 150 to 170 times less volume than the corresponding gas. Typically, natural gas hydrates contain 15% gas and 85% water by mass. It follows that hydrates can be used for large-scale storage of natural gas. Benesh proposed using hydrates to improve the load factor of natural gas supply systems. The author suggested that hydrates could be produced by bringing liquid water into contact with natural gas at the appropriate temperature and high pressure. The hydrate then would be stored at a temperature and pressure where it was stable. When gas was needed for the supply system, the hydrate would be melted at low pressure. The stability of a natural gas hydrate during storage at atmospheric pressure and below-freezing temperatures was studied in the laboratory. The gas hydrate was produced in a stirred vesselmore » at 2- to 6-MPa pressure and temperatures from 0 to 20 C. The hydrate was refrigerated and stored in deep freezers at [minus]5, [minus]10, and [minus]18 C for up to 10 days. The natural gas hydrate remained stable when kept frozen at atmospheric pressure.« less