A Transient Two-Phase Fluid- and
Heat-Flow Model for Gas-Lift-Assisted
Waxy-Crude Wells With Periodical
Electric Heating
Guoqing Han, China University of Petroleum; He Zhang, Ryder Scott Company;
Kegang Ling, University of North Dakota; Di Wu, China University of Petroleum; and
Zuguo Zhang, SINOPEC Exploration & Production Research Institute
Summary
This paper presents innovative iteration algorithms for multi-
interface heat transfer in pipe flow. To the best of our knowledge,
this is the first approach derived from the drift-flux model (DFM),
which is more competent than mechanistic models for high-slip-
page gas/liquid flow. The mass- and momentum-conservation
equations are inherited from literature and we have written them
in the differential forms. In parallel, we thoroughly analyzed the
heat-flux conservation among different layers and successfully
presented the derivatives of temperature in location and time.
Finally, the solution is obtained numerically to capture the tem-
perature/pressure-distribution profiles under transient conditions.
For waxy-crude fields, it is critical to sustain the flowing tem-
perature above the wax-appearance temperature. This is espe-
cially challenging for gas-lift-assisted wells. The injected gas,
commonly at a relatively low temperature, makes this flow-assur-
ance problem sophisticated. An effective practice is to heat up the
flowing fluid by installing an electrical cable in tubing. The heat
exchange happens at three interfaces in the production system:
between cable and flowing crude, flowing crude and injected gas,
and injected gas and formation. It is challenging to model such a
multiphase production system, including an inner annulus inside
the tubing, because once the electrical cable is installed, an outer
annulus is where the gas is injected. To optimize this production
system, a rigorous transient multiphase and multi-interface heat-
transfer simulator is required.
By integrating the subsurface boundary condition explicitly,
new algorithms can optimize the cable length, heating period,
supplied power, or gas-injection rate for the aforementioned pro-
duction system. This new method has been applied successfully
for several gas-lift-assisted wells in a waxy-crude field located in
northern China. The power consumption has decreased noticeably
by 30% more than the historical field performance. The delegated
optimization scheme reduces the shut-in time in winters, which
promises cost-savings.
The presented model not only satisfies the exceptional model-
ling requirements for periodically heating crude producers, but it
also is appropriate for other heat-transfer investigations under
transient multi-interface and multiphase-flow conditions.
Introduction
Industry has widely used wellbore-flow correlations to predict
pressure and temperature profiles along with the flow path under
steady-state conditions (e.g., nodal analysis, steady-state flow-
assurance analysis, and artificial-lift design). However, many pro-
duction issues exist in transient manner that are governed by mass,
momentum, and heat conservation. Further, the heat transfer can
Copyright V
C 2014 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 165415) was accepted for presentation at the SPE Heavy Oil Conference
Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 11–13 June 2013, and revised for publication. Original
manuscript received for review 14 May 2013. Revised manuscript received for review 16
June 2014. Paper peer approved 11 August 2014.
304
happen at multiple interfaces. The examples can include but are
not limited to (1) commingled producing wells, where the inflow
fluid might have different pressure and temperature; (2) gas-foam-
lift-assisted wells, where the injected gas has consistent and inter-
active heat transfer with the tubing fluid and circumstance; and (3)
diverting device (e.g., gas separator) installed in pump-assist wells,
where the separated fluid flows up through annulus. To investigate
the organic- and inorganic-scaling problem, we rely on a compre-
hensive understanding of the in-situ flow condition. Underestimat-
ing the impact of low flowing temperature can lead to irreversible
deposition (wax, asphaltene, gas hydrates, or inorganic scaling),
which introduces production loss or costly workovers. Therefore, it
is necessary to establish a transient wellbore simulator with the
capacity to investigate multi-interface heat transfer.
Tremendous effort has been devoted to transient well flow in lit-
erature. The first mechanistic model was presented by Taitel and
Dukler (1976) and Taitel et al. (1980). Later, research improved
and authors contributed to this steady-state model, including Ozon
et al. (1987), Hasan and Kabir (1988), Xiao et al. (1990), Ansari
et al. (1990), Petalas and Aziz (2000), and Gomez et al. (2000).
Hasan et al. (1998), Shirdel and Sepehrnoori (2011), and Bahonar
et al. (2011) considered the interphase shear stress in their mecha-
nistic models, which are also called two-fluid or multifluid models.
Those algorithms are expected to be more accurate. Bendiksen
et al. (1991), Winterfeld (1989), Stone et al. (1989), and Pourafsh-
ary (2007) developed two-fluid models under transient conditions,
which have been implemented in some benchmark software. The
second approach for transient modelling is using the drift-flux
model (DFM) (Zuber and Findlay 1965). This method has defined
the gas/liquid slip velocity to solve the flowing system. The mecha-
nistic models are subject to different flow regimes, which are
indeed related to the transition criteria. Meanwhile, for the DFM,
the momentum conservation is established on the relationships
amongst pressure gradient, mixture density, and holdup. Shirdel
and Sepehrnoori (2011) performed a comparison between a mecha-
nistic model and DFM to ascertain that, because the slip velocity is
greater than the critical value, the DFM is numerically more stable
and requires less computation cost than its counterpart. Further,
Liao et al. (2008) have provided the critical value as 16.0768 m/s.
Many fluid-flow correlations and models have been approached
by experimental study. Waltrich and Barbosa (2011) verified the
accuracy of two different commercial-software programs and two
sets of research code under steady-state and transient conditions
throughout the experiments. The results showed thatr one of the
research codes (HyTAF), and one of the commercial-software
programs, performs better under transient conditions. Falcone
et al. (2007) reviewed and summarized the major multiphase-flow
experiment facilities worldwide.
To investigate the temperature distribution along the flow
path, the energy-conservation equation must be included in addi-
tion to the mass and momentum conservations from mechanistic
model or DFM. Numerous works in literature have described the
heat transfer between wellbore fluid and surrounding formation.
Ramey (1962) first proposed the model related to wellbore
September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology
 Wellhead

Heat cable
Annulus

Annulus
L z
Cement

Cement
Earth

z+dz

Earth
Gas-lift valve
θ
Tubing

Bottomhole
Packer Packer

Casing
Qaf Qta Qtc

Fig. 1—Typical-wellbore schematic in the study field.

temperature with the depth. Satter (1965), Alves et al. (1992),

Hasan and Kabir (1994, 2002, 2009), and Hasan et al. (2005) pre-
sented various improvements on Ramey’s model. One heat-trans- Fig. 2—Illustration for the heat transfer in electrical-cable-
heated gas lift wellbore.
fer model from Hasan and Kabir (1996) is noted for the gas-lift-
assisted well considering flow in tubing and annulus. However,
this is a steady-state model. Mass-Conservation Equation. Starting from the mass-conserva-
In summary, a transient multi-interference heat-transfer model tion equation from Hasan et al. (1998), Eqs. 1 through 3 are for
developed from the DFM theory has not yet been proposed to the oil, gas, and mixture, respectively.
best of our literature study. Such a model presented by this paper
has applicability for high gas/liquid-slippage flow. @ @
ðhl ql Þ þ ðhl ql ul Þ ¼ 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð1Þ
@t @Z
Problem Statement @ @
ðhg qg Þ þ ðhg qg ug Þ ¼ 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð2Þ
In a mature waxy-crude field in northern China, the gas lift method @t @Z
has been used widely to compensate for reservoir-pressure decline. @ @
The pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) analysis showed the wax ðq Þ þ ðhg qg ug þ hl ql ul Þ ¼ 0; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð3Þ
@t m @Z
content to be significantly rich; therefore, the wax-appearance
temperature is relatively high. The injected gas at low temperature where
further lowers the crude temperature. Recently, an effective field
practice has been applied to relieve the wax-deposition problem. qm ¼ hl ql þ hg qg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð4Þ
The operator installed an electrical cable in the tubing to heat up
the flowing crude, as shown in Fig. 1. Therefore, the heat exchange Momentum-Conservation Equation. From the DFM theory by
occurs on three interfaces simultaneously: between the heat cable Zuber and Findlay (1965),
and crude, crude and gas, and gas and formation, as shown in Fig.
2. This method has worked effectively, but not quite efficiently, @p Csw @
 ¼ qm g cos ðhÞ þ þ ðqg hg ug þ ql hl ul Þ
because of the high electricity consumption- since the birth of this @z Ar @t
practice, it had been a challenge to optimize the end-cable depth 1 @
and heat period. Because of the injected gas, the producing gas/oil þ ½Arðqg hg ug þ ql hl u2l Þ;            ð5Þ
2
Ar @Z
ratio is high and as a result, the gas/liquid slippage is correspond-
ingly severe. This makes mechanistic models less competent than where
the drift-flux model (DFM).
1
According to the encountered field requirements, we devel- sw ¼ fm qm v2m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð6Þ
oped a new transient multiphase-flow model based on the DFM 2
(Shi et al. 2005) and Hasan-Kabir equations (Hasan and Kabir The friction factor is calculated by Eq. 7 or Eq. 8 from Brill
1994, 1996, 2009; Hasan et al. 1998, 2005). This transient model and Mukherjee (1999).
has the exclusive ability to simulate high slip velocity in gas-lift-
assisted wells and multi-interfaces of heat transfer. 16
fm ¼ ; Re < 2; 400 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð7Þ
Re
Model Development 2 3
2e=d 5:02
The target model needs to meet the following requirements. 1 6  7
pffiffiffiffiffi ¼ 4log6 3:7 Re  7; Re  2; 400 . . . . . . ð8Þ
• Satisfy the two-phase (liquid and gas) flowing condition fm 4 2e=d 13 5
• Capture transient behaviours log þ
3:7 Re
• Predict pressure and temperature profiles at multi-interface
heat-exchanging system where
• Couple with the subsurface as the inlet boundary condition
q m vm d
• Model high gas/liquid-slippage flow by discretization in Re ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð9Þ
space and time lm

September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology 305

 3.5 Values for
Fitting Parameter Cmax = 1.0 Values for Cmax = 1.2
3
α1 0.06 0.06
Kutateladze Number

2.5 α2 0.21 0.12

2 m0 1.85 1.27
Cku = 75 n1 0.21 0.24
1.5 Cku = 142
Experiment Data n2 0.95 1.08
1
Table 1—Empirical parameters of DFM.
0.5

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 At this step, the mass- and momentum-conservation equations
Dimensionless Diameter have been screened carefully from numerous literature models,
which shall represent the research frontline at this time. Further,
Fig. 3—The calculated Kutateladze numbers from Eq. 16 in inherited from the DFM, this pressure prediction model satisfies
comparison with the measured
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffi values as a function of the the requirement for high-slippage two-phase flow.
dimensionless diameter ( NB ).
Heat-Transfer Equation. To optimize the electrical-cable heat-
hg qg ug þ hl ql ul ing system, the heat transfer is unstable because the heating cable
vm ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð10Þ works only periodically. A transient heat-exchange model is
qm
required. We need to analyze the heat transfer in the tubing and
ug ¼ C0 um þ ud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð11Þ annulus separately.
Heat Transfer in Tubing. Because the heating cable is in-
and stalled, the fluid transportation in tubing is also an annulus flow
pattern. Applying the same methodology as Hasan and Kabir
um ¼ hg ug þ hl ul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð12Þ (1996) and considering the heating exchange at the multi-interfa-
ces in Fig. 2, the energy-conservation equation can be written as
ð1  hg C0 ÞC0 Kðhg Þuc mðhÞ
ud ¼ rffiffiffiffiffi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð13Þ
qg @ðmEÞcvt @ðm0 E0 Þw
h g C0 þ 1  h g C0 Qta þ Qtc ¼ þ
ql @t @t
  
mðhÞ ¼ m0 ðcoshÞn1 ð1 þ sinhÞn2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð14Þ @ 1 u2m gzcosh
 w Ht þ         ð23Þ
@z 2 Jgc Jgc
Kðhg Þ
8
1:53 >
> For the controlled volume in Eq. 23, the two terms on the left
; >
> as hg  a1 side are heat flow from annulus and electrical cable to tubing,
C0 >
<    respectively; on the right side, the first and second term are the in-
¼ 1:53 C0 Ku  1:53 hg  a1
>
> þ 1  cos p ; as a1  hg  a2 ternal energy and mass of the controlled volume in the wellbore
>
> C0 2C0 a2  a1
>
: system (tubing, casings, and cement sheaths combined) and annu-
Ku ; as hg C a2 lus, respectively; the third term on the right side is the fluid en-
                   ð15Þ thalpy and potential energy in tubing.
From the equation in Hasan et al. (2005), the transient heat
" sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !#1 exchange between the tubing and annulus is
2
Cku NB
Ku ¼ 1þ 2 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð16Þ
NB Cku fm m0 E0 ¼ CT mE: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð24Þ
  Eq. 23 can be only related to mE for the internal energy. By
gðql  qg Þ
NB ¼ d 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð17Þ the definition of the absolute-zero temperature, the internal energy
rgl
E can be expressed in Eq. 25:
 
grgl ðql  qg Þ 1=4 E ¼ cp Tt : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð25Þ
uc ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð18Þ
q2l
Qta is the heat flow from annulus to tubing, which can be
Cmax expressed in a form similar to that of Ramey’s model (Ramey
C0 ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð19Þ
1 þ ðCmax  1Þc2 1962).
bB wg ca
c¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð20Þ Qta ¼ ðTa  Tt Þ: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð26Þ
1B D
 
hg um D is the inverse of the relaxation distance, which is defined by
b ¼ max hg ; Fv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð21Þ Ramey (1962) as
usg
w g ca
usg ¼ hg  ug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð22Þ D¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð27Þ
2prto Uto
Cku was defined originally as 75 by Richter (1981), but it has Applying Alves’ equation (Alves et al. 1992) to account for
led to an overestimation of Ku for smaller-range diameters identi- the Joule-Thomson effect, we have
fied by Pan et al. (2011). This paper uses the value of 142, which
fits the original experiment data well, and the calculation results    
@Ht @Ht
are illustrated in Fig. 3 by our developed simulator. The values @Ht ¼ @p þ
for other adjustable empirical parameters a1, a2, m0, n1, and n2 @p Tt @Tt p : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð28Þ
have been summarized in Table 1 cited from Shi et al. (2005). @Tt ¼ CJ cp @p þ cp @Tt

306 September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

where Substituting Eqs. 26 and 36 into Eq. 35, we have
( "   # )
1 x Tt @Zc ð1  xÞ @Ta @p g cos h ug @ug
CJ ¼ þ . . . . . . . . . . . ð29Þ ca  C J ca  þ
cp qg Zc @T p ql @z @z Jgc Jgc @z
ca
¼ ca ðTei  Ta ÞLR þ ðTt  Ta Þ:               ð40Þ
and D
qg hg At this step, we have obtained the energy-conservation equa-
x¼ : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð30Þ
qg hg þ ql hl tion for fluid flow in annulus.
Obtain the Initial Condition by Steady-State Heat-Transfer
The symbol x is the gas mass fraction in the mixture. Equations. By the steady-state approach from Hasan et al.
Taking Eq. 28 to replace the third term on the right side of Eq. (2005), we can obtain the steady-state temperature distribution
23 yields along the tubing in Eq. 41. The Qtc/wcp is an additional term not
   found in the original equation, which represents the heat transfer
@ 1 u2m gz cos h
w Ht þ  from cable to tubing. The projected temperature profile has been
@z 2 Jgc Jgc used as our initial condition for our transient model.
 
@p @Tt um @um g  
¼ w CJ cp þ cp þ  cos h :    ð31Þ 1  eðZLÞLR g cos h Qtc
@z @z Jgc @z Jgc Tt ¼ Te;i þ gG cos h þ /  þ ;
LR cp Jgc wcp
Substituting Eqs. 24 through 27 and 31 into Eq. 23,                    ð41Þ
@
2prto Uto ðTa  Tt Þ þ Qtc ¼ ½mcp Tt ð1 þ CT Þ where L is the total well length and Z is the well depth.
@t
  Define w in Eq. 42 as a summation of all the original terms
@p @Tt um @um g presented by Hasan et al. (2005):
w CJ cp þ cp þ  cos h :     ð32Þ
@z @z Jgc @z Jgc
g cos h
Combining the Joule-Thomson effect and kinetic-energy con- w ¼ gG cos h þ /  : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð42Þ
cp Jgc
tribution into a term / as
um @um @p Eq. 41 can then be expressed as
/¼  CJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð33Þ  
cp Jgc @z @z 1  eðZLÞLR Qtc
Tt ¼ Te;i þ wþ . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ð43Þ
Eq. 32 can be further developed as LR wcp

@ Differential Form of the Heat-Conservation Equation. Allow

2prto Uto ðTa  Tt Þ þ Qtc ¼ ½mcp Tt ð1 þ CT Þ
@t Eq. 43 to be in the differential form of spatial dimension z and
 
@Tt g time domain t in Eqs. 44 and 45, respectively.
w cp / þ cp  cos h ;
@z Jgc  
dTt dTe;i d½eðZLÞLR  Qtc
@Tt 2prto Uto ¼  wþ
¼ ðTa  Tt Þ dz dz dz wcp
@t mcp ð1 þ CT Þ  
  dTt ðZLÞLR Qtc
wcp @Tt g cos h Qtc ¼ gG cos h  e wþ : . . . . . . . . . . . ð44Þ
þ þ/ þ ; dz wcp
mcp ð1 þ CT Þ @z cp Jgc mcp ð1 þ CT Þ
@Tt 2prto Uto w
@Tt 2prto Uto ¼ ðTa  Tt Þ þ
¼ ðTa  Tt Þ @t mcp ð1 þ CT Þ mð1 þ CT Þ
@t mcp ð1 þ CT Þ    
  Qtc g cos h Qtc
w @Tt g cos h Qtc  gG cos h  eðZLÞLR w þ þ/  þ
þ þ/ þ ; wcp cp Jgc wcp
mð1 þ CT Þ @z cp Jgc wcp     ð34Þ
                   ð45Þ
Heat Transfer in Annulus. If we performed the same analysis
for fluid flow in tubing, we can obtain the similar energy-conser-
vation equation in Eq. 34. Discretized Solution. By achieving Eqs. 3, 5, 44, and 45, the dif-
0 @T ferential form of mass, momentum, and energy conservations is
a @p 1 presented for the controlled volume. Using the conventional dis-
ca  C J ca
B @z C
Qaf  Qta ¼ wg @ g@z cos h ug @ug A: . . . . . . . . . . ð35Þ
cretization strategy in Fig. 4, the partial differential equation can
 þ be written as Eq. 46 using j and t to denote the spatial and time
Jgc Jgc @z coordinates, respectively. Through the iteration work flow in
Fig. 5, we can solve the full production system under transient
The flowing energy from formation to annulus has been given condition by Newton iterations.
by Ramey (1962) in Eq. 36, where LR is the relaxation distance:
Qaf ¼ wg ca ðTei  Ta ÞLR ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð36Þ ðTt Þtþ1
j  ðTt Þtj wtj ca
¼ ½ðTa Þj  ðTt Þtþ1
j 
Dt mtj cp ð1 þ CT Þ
where 2 !3
 
2p rco Uco Ke ðZLÞðLR Þtþ1 t Qtc
LR ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð37Þ 6 gG cos h  e j þ t 7
Ca Wg ke þ ðrco Uco TD Þ wtj 6 j
w j cp 7
þ 6 7
pffiffiffiffiffi mj ð1 þ CT Þ 6
t
4 g cos h Qtc
7
5
TD ¼ ln½eð0:2tD Þ þ ð1:5  0:3719etD Þ tD  . . . . . . . . . ð38Þ þ/tj  þ t
cp Jgc w j cp
tD ¼ ke t=qe ce rw2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð39Þ                    ð46Þ

September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology 307

 j+1

j –1

Fig. 4—Schematic of the discretized wellbore in one

dimension.

At any time and location, the explicit expression for wellbore No

fluid temperature ðTt Þtþ1
j is
cp Yes
xj ðTa Þj þ ðTt Þtj þ xtj ntj
t
tþ1 ca
ðTt Þj ¼ ; . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð47Þ
1 þ xlj
No
where
wtj ca Dt ðum Þtj ca Dt
xtj ¼ ¼ . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð48Þ Yes
t No
mj cp ð1 þ CT Þ Dzcp ð1 þ CT Þ
!
ðZLÞðLR Þtþ1 Qtc Yes
ntj ¼ gG cos h  e j t
j þ l No
w j cp
g cos h Qtc
þ /tj  þ l                   ð49Þ Yes
cp Jgc w j cp
g cos h
/tj ¼ gG cos h þ /tj  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ð50Þ
cp Jgc Fig. 5—Iteration flow chart.
CJ ðum Þtj1 ½ðum Þtj  ðum Þtj1 
/tj ¼  ðptj1  ptj Þ þ : . . . . ð51Þ The proposed method has been coded and verified with bench-
Dz cp Jgc Dz marked commercial software, as described in Appendix A.

Case Study
Reservoir pressure, psi 2,320
This method has been applied for optimizing seven crude wells
Well depth, ft 7,921
installed with electric heating cable for the waxy-oil field in north-
Packer position, ft 6,565 ern China. The normalized field data are given in Table 2. The
Gas lift valve position, ft 6,560 boundary conditions are summarized in Table 3.
Tubing inside diameter, in. 2.8 At the initial condition, t ¼ 0, the oil field reaches steady-state-
Tubing-wall thickness, in. 0.352
flow condition, and then the gas injection starts in the annulus
along with the cable heating.
Casing inside diameter, in. 7 We first compared the simulation results with the presented
Casing-wall thickness, in. 0.48 algorithms in two cases: with and without gas lift installed. The
Pipe roughness, ft 0.000164 gas-injection rate has been set as 0.353 MMscf/D. The tempera-
Oil gravity, °API 30.05 ture profiles in tubing and casing are shown in Fig. 6. The temper-
ature at wellhead is approximately 1.3 F different from that in
Gas gravity (Air=1), fraction 0.775
Fig. 7, which matched the field observation. This has clearly
Total system compressibility, 1/psi 8 x10–5 shown that the heat exchange between the injected gas and flow-
Production index, STB/D/psi 6.5 ing crude should not be ignored.
Geothermal gradient, °F/ft 0.00854 Note that in our simulation approaches, the calculated slippage
Formation thermal conductivity, Btu/ft-°F-hr 2.5 velocity can be larger than the critical value given by Liao et al.
(2008) during the iterations, which emphasizes the benefits of
Tubular thermal conductivity, Btu/ft-°F-hr 30
Cement thermal conductivity, Btu/ft-°F-hr 0.38 Bottomhole pressure, psi 2,227.7
Formation density, lbm/ft3 165 Production rate, STB/D 600
Formation heat capacity, Btu/lbm-°F 0.625 Injection-gas rate, MMscf/D 0.353
Wax content, %wt 67.846 Injection-gas temperature, °F 59
Waxy-appearance point, °F 71.8 Reservoir temperature, °F 122
Table 2—Parameters for the case. Table 3—Boundary conditions.

308 September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

 Fluid Temperature (°F) insulation of tubing, the tubing temperature is higher. Once the
55 65 75 85 95 105 115 125 135 gas injection begins, the injected gas (59 F) has a lower tempera-
0 ture and results in a lower temperature distribution in the tubing.
Tubing temperature profile with
1,000 gas injection The temperature profile is captured by the purple and green solid
Tubing temperature profile without lines, respectively. At a 4,000-ft depth, the temperature has
2,000 gas injection
Annular temperature profile without decreased with the maximum amplitude of 14 F. This clearly
3,000 gas injection shows the wax problem has become severe after gas injection is
Well Depth (ft)

Casing temperature profile

4,000
applied; therefore, the heating string is highly recommended.
Fig. 7 shows the wellhead temperature changes over time by
5,000 the transient heat-transfer model.
6,000 In the next step, this work investigated the consistent heating
scenarios by a sensitivity analysis on the heating capacity. The
7,000
results are shown in Fig. 8. Once the heating capacity increases, it
8,000 leads to a higher temperature profile along the wellbore with a
9,000
higher wellhead temperature. This meets our expectations—as the
heat capacity increases, the wellhead temperature should be
Fig. 6—Wellbore temperature profile for no electric heating enhanced. The temperature stabilization process at wellhead has
cable installed with or without gas lift. been captured in Fig. 9.
Figs. 8 and 9 present rather inefficient scenarios because the
using the drift-flux model to develop our model for the gas-lift- flowing temperature is much higher than the wax-appearance tem-
assisted wells. perature (WAT), which leads to high electricity costs. Further, as
In Fig. 6, the orange and green dashed line represents the tem- the heating cable is installed, the effective flowing area is reduced,
perature distribution without gas injection. Because of the heat which plays an unfavourable role in the fluid flow. Hence, the

58.8
58.6
Wellhead Temperature (°F)

58.4
58.2
58
57.8
57.6
57.4
57.2
57
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Production Time (hours)

Fig. 7—Wellhead temperature changes with time. After 15 hours, the heat transfer reaches steady-state condition.

Fluid Temperature (°F)

80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
0

1,000

2,000

3,000
Well Depth (ft)

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

104 btu/(hr-ft) 78 btu/(hr-ft) 52 btu/(hr-ft) 26 btu/(hr-ft) casing

Fig. 8—Flowing temperature profiles at different heating capacities by electrical cable.

September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology 309

 160

140

Wellhead Temperature (°F)

120

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Production Time (hours)
104 btu/(hr-ft) 78 btu/(hr-ft) 52 btu/(hr-ft) 26 btu/(hr-ft)

Fig. 9—Wellhead temperature at different heating capacities by electrical cable.

shallower the cable end reaches, the better it is for the production continuous pattern of “heating off” for 3 hours and “heating
system. on” for 1.2 hours in cycles.
The cable length is the first optimized factor. Because the • For the 52-Btu/(hr-ft)-heating-capacity cable, the best
WAT has been identified as 71.8 F by pressure/volume/tempera- method is the startup heating for 4 hours followed by a con-
ture analysis, referring to the gas-injection case in Fig. 5, we can tinuous pattern of heating off for 2.5 hours and heating on
conclude that the heat source should be supplied no shallower for 1.5 hours in cycles.
than the 4,000-ft depth. Applying a safety factor, the depth is sug- • For the 26-Btu/(hr-ft)-heating-capacity cable, the best
gested as 4,500 ft. method is the startup heating for 10 hours followed by a
Performing numerical simulations to reduce the cable length continuous pattern of heating off for 2 hours and heating on
while sustaining the flowing temperature over the WAT, Fig. 10 for 2 hours in cycles.
shows the flowing temperature distribution for different-heating- • Comparing the previously described three designs, the latter
capacity cables. However, the resulting temperature profile is one is better in calculating the total electricity cost.
much higher than the WAT; therefore, a periodical heating pattern After optimizing the production system, the power consump-
has been sought. tion has decreased noticeably (by 30%) vs. the historical
The heating period is the second factor to be optimized. A performance. Further, the delegated optimization scheme still
cyclic heating pattern has been proposed because it takes a few reduces the shut-in time in winters whilst promising a cost-sav-
hours to have the flowing temperature cool down below the ing development.
WAT. This work studied and compared three different electrical
cables with heating capacity at 78, 52, and 26 Btu/(hr-ft). The
results are shown in Figs. 11 through 13, along with the best sce- Future Work
nario upon different heating patterns. The authors would like to perform experiments to further verify
From the sensitivity analysis and comparison, this work this transient model considering the multilayer heat transfer.
suggested An automation process in a digital-field concept should be
• For the 78-Btu/(hr-ft)-heating-capacity cable, the best considered in the future. For instance, given a temperature range
method is the “startup heating” for 3 hours followed by a between 72 and 76 F, the heating process can be turned on at low

Fluid Temperature (°F)

80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
0
1,000
2,000
3,000
Well Depth (ft)

4,000
5,000
6,000
7,000
8,000
9,000
104 btu/(hr-ft) 78 btu/(hr-ft) 52 btu/(hr-ft)
26 btu/(hr-ft) no heating casing

Fig. 10—Fluid temperature profile for electric heating after shortening cable.

310 September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

 100
95
90

Wellhead Temperature (°F)

85
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Production Time (hours)

Start 6Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 4Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 4Hr/2Hr ON/3Hr OFF
Start 4Hr/1.0Hr ON/3Hr OFF Start 3Hr/1.2Hr ON/3Hr OFF

Fig. 11—Fluid-temperature profile at different heating frequencies for a heat capacity of 78 Btu/(hr-ft).

bound and off at the high bound by an artificial-intelligence work
flow. This approach may further optimize the field cost.
Upon applying this work in the field, the authors would like to
investigate the economic analysis in selecting different cables,
which is important in cost control. However, this practice requires
financial data confidential to the operator, including the prices for
different cables, life of electrical cable, cable reliability, workover
costs to install and/or replace cable, labour and shipping costs,
local policy of tax exemption, and the automation-equipment
(digital field) expenses. Costs can vary by different locations and
procurement. An economic analysis with insufficient data can be
misleading.
• It is able to simulate the multi-interface heat transfer under tran-
sient condition.
• To the best of our knowledge, it is the first effort to integrate the
drift-flux model with any transient heat-transfer equations,
which is more rigorous in modelling the high-slippage fluid flow
than mechanistic models. Consequently, this model has a signifi-
cant advantage in modelling multiphase flow in large-diameter
pipe when the phase slippage is severe.
• This work is especially useful for gas lift wells and other tran-
sient multiphase and multi-interface fluid flow and heat-transfer
scenarios.

Nomenclature
Conclusions A ¼ profile parameter in the bubble and slug flow regimes,
The developed numerical simulator has successfully shown that a 1.2 as given in the Shi et al. (2005) DFM, dimensionless
heat-exchanging mechanism can be used for the periodical elec- Ar ¼ cross-sectional area for fluid flow, ft2
tric heating for a waxy-oil field in northern China. The proposed B ¼ profile parameter, 0.3 as given in the Shi et al. (2005)
fluid and heat-transfer model can be highlighted as DFM, dimensionless

85

80
Wellhead Temperature (°F)

75

70

65

60

55

50
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

Production Time (hours)

Start 6Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 4Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 4Hr/2Hr ON/3Hr OFF
Start 4Hr/1.0Hr ON/3Hr OFF Start 4Hr/1.5Hr ON/2.5Hr OFF

Fig. 12—Fluid-temperature profile at different heating frequencies for a heat capacity of 52 Btu/(hr-ft).

September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology 311

 80

75

Wellhead Temperature (°F)

70

65

60

55

50
0 5 10 15 20 25
Production Time (hours)
Start 10Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 10Hr/3Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 12Hr/2Hr ON/2Hr OFF
Start 12Hr/3Hr ON/2Hr OFF Start 10Hr/4Hr ON/2Hr OFF

Fig. 13—Fluid-temperature profile at different heating frequencies for a heat capacity of 26 Btu/(hr-ft).

ca ¼ heat capacity of annular injection gas, Btu/(lbm- F) uc ¼ characteristic velocity, ft/sec

ce ¼ earth (formation matrix) heat capacity, Btu/(lbm- F) Uco ¼ overall heat-transfer coefficient for casing fluid, Btu/(hr-
CJ ¼ Joule-Thomson coefficient, F/psi ft2- F)
Cku ¼ profile parameter for low gas fraction in liquid, um ¼ volumetric flux of the mixture, ft/sec
dimensionless Uto ¼ overall heat-transfer coefficient for annular fluid, Btu/
Cmax ¼ fitting constant, 142 in this paper, dimensionless (hr-ft2- F)
cp ¼ heat capacity of tubing fluid, Btu/(lbm- F) vm ¼ mixture velocity (velocity of mass centre), ft/sec
CT ¼ thermal-storage parameter, dimensionless W ¼ mass-flow rate of fluid, lbm/sec
C0 ¼ profile parameter for gas/liquid flow, dimensionless x ¼ gas mass percentage in the mixture, dimensionless
d ¼ flowing-string diameter, ft Z ¼ well depth, ft
D ¼ inverse of relaxation distance, ft a1 ¼ drift velocity ramping parameter, dimensionless
E ¼ internal energy in the controlled volume, Btu/lbm a2 ¼ drift velocity ramping parameter, dimensionless
E0 ¼ internal energy of tubular, Btu/lbm b ¼ profile parameter reduction term, dimensionless
f ¼ friction factor, dimensionless C ¼ perimeter of the cross section, ft
fv ¼ A multiplier on the flooding velocity fraction, 1.0 as c ¼ profile parameter reduction term, dimensionless
given in the Shi et al. (2005) DFM, dimensionless e ¼ pipe roughness, ft
g ¼ gravity constant, 32.174 ft/sec2 h ¼ wellbore deviated angle, degrees
gc ¼ conversion factor, 32.17 (lbm-ft)/(lbf-sec2) l ¼ viscosity, cp
gG ¼ geothermal gradient, F/ft n ¼ defined parameter in Eq. 49, dimensionless
h ¼ holdup or volume fraction, dimensionless q ¼ density, lbm/ft3
Ht ¼ fluid enthalpy in tubing, Btu/lbm r ¼ surface tension, psia
J ¼ mechanical equivalent of heat, 778 ft-lbf/Btu s ¼ wall shear stress, psia
K ¼ smooth transition, dimensionless / ¼ defined parameter in Eq. 33, dimensionless
ke ¼ conductivity of Earth, Btu/(hr-ft- F) w ¼ defined parameter in Eq. 42, dimensionless
Ku ¼ critical Kutateladze number, dimensionless x ¼ defined parameter in Eq. 48, dimensionless
L ¼ total well length, ft
LR ¼ 1/D, relaxation distance, ft1
Subscripts
m ¼ mass in a control volume per unit well length, lbm/ft
m0 ¼ mass of tubular per unit well length, lbm/ft a ¼ annulus
m(h) ¼ drift velocity multiplier for liquid/gas flow, dimensionless af ¼ from formation to annulus
m0 ¼ adjustable parameter to account for a dimensionless mul- cva ¼ control volume in annulus
tiplier for vertical flow, dimensionless cvt ¼ control volume in tubing
n1 ¼ adjustable parameter in the Shi et al. (2005) DFM, d ¼ drift
dimensionless D ¼ dimensionless
n2 ¼ adjustable parameter in the Shi et al. (2005) DFM, e ¼ Earth (matrix formation)
dimensionless f ¼ fluid
NB ¼ bond number, square of dimensionless wellbore diame- g ¼ gas phase
ter, dimensionless i ¼ initial
p ¼ pressure, psia j ¼ spatial index in discretization form
Q ¼ heat transfer, Btu/sec-ft l ¼ liquid
rco ¼ casing outside diameter, ft m ¼ mixture
rto ¼ tubing outside diameter, ft o ¼ oil phase
rw ¼ wellbore radius, ft s ¼ superficial
Re ¼ Reynolds’ number, dimensionless t ¼ tubing
t ¼ time, seconds ta ¼ from annulus to tubing
T ¼ temperature, F tc ¼ from cable to tubing
u ¼ velocity, ft/sec w ¼ wall

312 September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

 0 Pourafshary, P. 2007. A Coupled Wellbore/Reservoir Simulator to Model
¼ iterated value during the numerical calculation
t ¼ timestep index in discretization form
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Appendix A—Verification of Proposed Model With
Commercial Software Under Steady-State
Conditions
The authors have set up an identical gas lift well case to study in a
leading steady-state commercial-software application used indus-
trywide. A comparison was performed, as shown in Fig. A-1.
Considering that the model has been developed for the purpose of
calculating the heat transfer amongst multilayers and the commer-
cial software is not able to perform the same job, the comparison
is completed on the basis of
• Final steady-state condition reached
• No multilayer heat transfer
• Gas lift only
From Fig. A-1, after 35 hours, the temperature profile reaches
steady-state condition. Although the simulator has captured the
temperature profile at three different time points, at the final
steady-state condition, the relative difference between the com-
mercial software and our model is acceptable. Further, this com-
parison is only for investigation purposes because the heat-
transfer algorithms are quite different.
The maximum relative difference occurs at a depth of 6,000 ft,
which is approximately 5.5%. The gas-injection rate is 0.353
MMscf/D, as used in the field study. Note the temperatures at the
wellhead and injection points have been matched fairly well.
313
 Fluid Temperature (°F)
55 75 95 115 135
0

our model-1h
1,000
our model-18h
our model-35h
2,000
benchmarked commercial software (steady state)
3,000
Well Depth (ft)
4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

Fig. A-1—Verification of the presented model with a benchmarked commercial software.

The average root-mean-square deviation is only 3.13%
between the model and the commercial software in the steady-
state condition. The authors expect this is an acceptable relative
error.
Guoqing Han is an associate professor at China University of
Petroleum, Beijing. He has expertise in several fields, including
artificial-lift design, flow assurance, and reservoir simulation, in
which he has extensive experience in teaching and research-
ing. Han has published more than 20 technical papers. He
holds BSc and MSc degrees in process automation and pro-
duction engineering, respectively, from China University of Pe-
troleum, Shandong. Han also holds a PhD degree in
petroleum engineering from China University of Petroleum,
Beijing.
He Zhang, a reservoir engineer at Ryder Scott Petroleum Con-
sultants, evaluates oil and gas reserves. He has published
approximately 30 technical papers, and serves as an associ-
ate editor and peer reviewer for several journals. Zhang
holds dual BS degrees in chemistry and computer applications
from the University of Science and Technology of China, and
a PhD degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M
University.
Kegang Ling is an assistant professor in petroleum engineering
at the University of North Dakota. His research interests are in
the areas of production optimization and formation evalua-
tion, and he has published more than 30 research papers. Ling
holds a BS degree from the China University of Petroleum in
geology, and an MS degree from the University of Louisiana at
Lafayette and a PhD degree from Texas A&M University, both
in petroleum engineering.
Di Wu works in the area of heat transfer and multiphase flow in
the wellbore and artificial-lift technology at the Liaohe oil field
of China National Petroleum Corporation. He holds Bachelor
and Masters of engineering degrees from China University of
Petroleum, Beijing.
Zuguo Zhang is an adviser in production engineering at the Pe-
troleum Exploration and Production Research Institute of China
Petroleum and Chemical Corporation. He has published more
than 10 technical papers and serves as an associate editor
and peer reviewer for several journals. Zhang holds a BS degree
in oil production engineering from Yangtze University in China.

314 September 2014 Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology