Oil Well Performance

UNIT-2
OIL WELL PERFORMANCE

VERTICAL OIL WELL PERFORMANCE
Productivity Index and IPR:
• The measure of the ability of the well to produce is
the Productivity Index (J).
• The productivity index is the ratio of the total liquid
flow rate to the pressure drawdown.
• For a water-free oil production, the productivity
index is given by:
• The productivity index is generally measured during
production test on the well.
• The well is shut-in until the static reservoir pressure is
reached.
• The well is then allowed to produce at a constant
flow rate of Q and a stabilized bottom-hole flow
pressure of pwf.
• The productivity index is a valid measure of the well
productivity potential only if the well is flowing at
pseudo SteadyState conditions.
• In order to accurately measure the productivity index
of a well, it is essential that the well is allowed to
flow at a constant flow rate for a sufficient amount of
time to reach the pseudo steady-state as illustrated
in following figure.
• The figure indicates that during the transient flow
period, the calculated values of the productivity
index will vary depending upon the time at which the
measurements of pwf are made.
Productivity index during flow
Regimes.
• The productivity index can be numerically calculated
by recognizing that J must be defined in terms of
semi steady-state flow conditions.
• In terms of relative oil permeability, the productivity index
is given as
• Since most of the well life is spent in a flow regime

that is approximating the pseudosteady-state, the
productivity index is a valuable methodology for
predicting the future performance of wells.
• By monitoring the productivity index during
the life of a well, it is possible to determine if
the well has become damaged due to
completion, workover, production, injection
operations, or mechanical problems.
• If a measured J has an unexpected decline,
one of the indicated problems should be
investigated.
• A comparison of productivity indices of different
wells in the same reservoir should also indicate some
of the wells might have experienced unusual
difficulties or damage during completion.
• Since the productivity indices may vary from well to
well because of the variation in thickness of the
reservoir, it is helpful to normalize the indices by
dividing each by the thickness of the well.
• This is defined as the specific productivity
index Js.
• Assuming that the well’s productivity index is constant, the

productivity index is represented as
• The productivity index (J) in terms of bottom hole
flowing pressure:
• The graphical representation of the relationship

that exists between the oil flow rate and bottom-
hole flowing pressure is called the inflow
performance relationship and referred to as IPR.
• Several important features of the straight-line IPR
can be seen in the above straight line graph.
1. When pwf equals average reservoir pressure, the
flow rate is zero due to the absence of any pressure
drawdown.
2. Maximum rate of flow occurs when pwf is zero. This
maximum rate is called absolute open flow and
referred to as AOF.
• The AOF is calculated by:
• The slope of the straight line is the reciprocal of the

productivity index.
• When the pressure drops below the bubble-point pressure,
the IPR deviates from that of the simple straight-line
relationship as
• The Variables affecting the productivity index
are essentially those that are pressure
dependent, i.e
1. Oil viscosity μo.
2. Oil formation volume factor Bo.
3. Relative permeability to oil kro.
• The following figure schematically illustrates the
behavior of those variables as a function of pressure.
• Following figure shows the overall effect of changing the
pressure on the term (kro/μoβO).
• Above the bubble-point pressure pb, the relative oil
permeability kro equals unity (kro = 1) and the term
(kro/μoβO) is almost constant.
• As the pressure declines below pb, the gas is released from
solution which can cause a large decrease in both kro and
(kro/μoβO).
Effect of Reservoir Pressure on IPR
• The following empirical methods that are designed to
generate the current and future inflow performance
relationships:
1. Vogel’s Method
2. Wiggins’ Method
3. Standing’s Method
4. Fetkovich’s Method
5. The Klins-Clark Method
Vogel’s Method
• Vogel (1968) used a computer model to
generate IPRs for several hypothetical
saturated-oil reservoirs that are producing
under a wide range of conditions.
• Vogel normalized the calculated IPRs and
expressed the relationships in a dimensionless
form.
• He normalized the IPRs by introducing the
following dimensionless parameters:
• Vogel plotted the dimensionless IPR curves for
all the reservoir cases and arrived at the
following relationship between the above
dimensionless parameters:
• The method requires the following data:
1. Current average réservoir pressure.
2. Bubble-point pressure pb.
3. Stabilized flow test data that include Qo at pwf.
• Vogel’s methodology can be used to predict the IPR
curve for the following two types of reservoirs:
1) Saturated Oil Reservoirs.
2) Un-Saturated Oil Reservoirs.
Saturated Oil Reservoirs
• When the reservoir pressure equals the
bubble-point pressure, the oil reservoir is
referred to as a saturated-oil reservoir.
• The computational procedure of applying
Vogel’s method in a saturated oil reservoir to
generate the IPR curve for a well with a
stabilized flow data point, i.e., a recorded Qo
value at pwf, is
Step 1. Using the stabilized flow data, i.e., Qo
and pwf, calculate:
• Step 2. Construct the IPR curve by assuming

various values for pwf and calculating the
corresponding Qo from:
Under Saturated Oil Reservoirs
• Beggs (1991) pointed out that in applying Vogel’s
method for under saturated reservoirs, there are two
possible outcomes to the recorded stabilized flow
test data that must be considered as shown in the
below graph
Stabilized Flow Test Data
Case 1. The Value of the Recorded
Stabilized pwf ≥ pb
• Beggs outlined the following procedure for
determining the IPR when the stabilized
bottom-hole pressure is greater than or equal
to the bubble point pressure.
Step 1. Using the stabilized test data point (Qo
and pwf) calculate the productivity index J:
Step 2. Calculate the oil flow rate at the bubble-point
pressure:
Step 3.
Generate the IPR values below the bubble-point
pressure by assuming different values of pwf < pb and
calculating the corresponding oil flow rates by applying
the following relationship:
• The maximum oil flow rate (Qo max or AOF)
occurs when the bottomhole flowing pressure
is zero, i.e. pwf = 0, which can be determined
from the above expression as
Case 2: The Value of the Recorded
Stabilized pwf < pb
• When the recorded pwf from the stabilized
flow test is below the bubble-point pressure,
the following procedure for generating the IPR
data is proposed:
• Step 1. Using the stabilized well flow test data,
the productivity index is calculated as
Step 2. Calculate Qob.
Step 3. Generate the IPR for pwf ≥ pb by assuming

several values for pwf above the bubble point
pressure and calculating the corresponding Qo
from:
Step 4: Calculating Qo at different values of Pwf
as per the following formulae:

Oil Well Performance

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How is productivity index defined and calculated?

What are the steps to generate an IPR curve using Vogel's method?

UNIT-2

OIL WELL PERFORMANCE

• Since most of the well life is spent in a flow regime

• Assuming that the well’s productivity index is constant, the

• The graphical representation of the relationship

• The slope of the straight line is the reciprocal of the

• Step 2. Construct the IPR curve by assuming

Step 3. Generate the IPR for pwf ≥ pb by assuming

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