Direct averaging estimates of separate zone production in gas wells based on pressure and temperature profiles

Abstract

Accurate and reliable flow rate estimation along the wellbore plays an important role in reservoir development and production management. Traditional methods are expensive, particularly in high temperature wells; and they usually involve running production logsging tools (PLT) together with flowmeters. Deployment of PLTs into a well can be operationally difficult and typically requires flow to be suspended temporarily to allow the tools to be run in hole. This can have a negative impact on the quality of data collected, potentially making it un-representative of normal producing conditions. Alternatively, a simple direct averaging method of the gas flow rate estimation from temperature and pressure data is proposed in this paper, compared to the iterative approach. Solution of the inverse problem allows predicting the flow rate and formation thermal conductivity by matching the gas pressure and temperature profiles with field data. The results of data treatment show good agreement with the model prediction and are consistent with flowmeter (PLT) data, which validates the method developed in this work.