01 - Reservoir - Dynamics - IPR

Inflow Performance
Relationship (IPR)
Module Objective
Upon completion of this section, you should be able to:

 Explain "Productivity Index" as a summary of reservoir
performance.
 Use Productivity Index equation derived form Darcy's Law to
calculate performance (fluid level or flowing pressure and
maximum possible production rate)) for a given well.
 Calculate a Productivity Index from well test data.
 Explain "Inflow Performance Relationship" for a well producing
oil, water, and gas - Compare "IPR" to "PI" for a given case
 Explain Vogel's Inflow Performance Relationship to calculate
performance (fluid level or flowing pressure and maximum
possible production rate) for a given well
2 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Well Productivity
In the TDH section, we saw how to get friction and

wellhead pressure but we still had to be given a
fluid level.
Now we will look at ways of estimating the fluid

level depending on the type of well and what
information we are given.

Well Productivity
For the remainder of the program, we are going to

make the assumption that fluid always flows from
high pressure toward low pressure.
Some of you may recognize that this is not exactly

true.
The exactly true expression is fluid always flows

from high potential toward low potential.

Well Productivity
The difference between

"pressure" and "potential"
is the elevation (or height)
and the elevation potential 14.7 psi
can be calculated by
* gc * h.
6"
We have already seen
how pressure increases
with the depth in a column 14.9 psi
of fluid.
Well Productivity
Pr is the average
reservoir closed-in
pressure
Reservoir Perforations
Pr
Pr
Well Productivity
Pr
Pr
Q=?
Pwf
Fluid Flow Fluid Flow
Fluid Flow
Reservoir outer
"drainage" Pr
boundary
Darcy’s Law for Radial Flow Into A Wellbore
For the system just described, Darcy's Law looks

like:
3
7.08 10 ko h Pr Pwf
qo
o Bo ln re / rw 0.75 S
qo = flow rate ko = effective permeability
h = effective feet of pay o = average viscosity
Pr = reservoir pressure Pwf = wellbore pressure
re = drainage radius rw = wellbore radius
Bo = formation volume factor S = formation damage
Note: (Pr - Pwf) is the drawdown pressure

But what is this equation?
3
7.08 10 ko h Pr Pwf
qo

But what is this equation?
3
7.08 10 ko h Pr Pwf
qo
Complicated!

All of the data necessary for this equation is usually

not available. But if we make the assumption that ko,
h, re, rw, Bo and o are constant for a particular well
(this is a pretty good assumption), the equation
becomes:
k1 k 2 k3 Pr Pwf
qo
k 4 k5 ln k6 / k7 k8 k9

Simplifying…
qo K Pr Pwf

Re-arranging terms, we obtain...
1
Pwf qo Pr
K

This is an equation of the form" y=mx+b" which is a

straight line. Furthermore, the line has a slope of
"m" and a Y-intercept of "b".
The constant, K, has a special name: Productivity

Index or "PI" for short.
1
Pwf qo Pr
K
Graphically it would look like this:
Intercept = Pr
Pressure - PSI
Slope = -1/K
Pwf
0
0 Q - Flow Rate (BPD)
The Productivity Index (PI) is equal to the flow

rate divided by the "drawdown":
qo
PI
Pr Pwf

Consider the following example:
Pr = 2,300 psi, and

Pwf = 1,200 psi @ qo = 1,150 bpd
What is the Productivity Index (PI) of the well?
1,150
PI 1.046 BPD/psi
2,300 1,200

What is the maximum flow rate the well will produce? The
maximum flow rate occurs at the maximum drawdown
(Pwf = 0).
qmax
PI or qmax Pr PI
Pr 0
qmax 2,300 1.046

In some cases, the PI can also be improved slightly

by acidizing or fracturing. Acidizing cleans up "skin"
on the perforations and can improve porosity in
limestone reservoirs by making larger holes for oil
flow.
Before After
Skin Damage Acid

Fracturing can also improve porosity by making large

cracks near the wellbore.
Before After

The area of the reservoir around the wellbore is the most

critical in terms of flow restrictions.
Why is this the case?

Darcy's law works great for single phase fluid (i.e.

water, oil, or water/oil*) flowing into a wellbore but what
happens if gas comes "out of solution" in the reservoir?
* Even though water and oil are two separate

phases, they are considered single phase
since they are both liquid.

Pressure drops as we
move toward the wellbore
Pb
Gas will begin
to form here
Pr
Pr
What happens when the gas comes out of solution?

Darcy's law works just as well for a single phase gas as
it does for a single phase oil.
Let's look qualitatively at what will happen to the flow

rate of gas.
3
7.08 10 ko h Pr Pwf
qo
First of all, the permeability, k, will be much higher for

gas. What will this do to the flow rate?
3
7.08 10 k g h Pr Pwf
qo
g Bg ln re / rw 0.75 S

First of all, the permeability, k, will be much higher for

gas. What will this do to the flow rate?
Secondly, the viscosity of gas, is typically about 50

times lower than that of oil. What will this do to the flow
rate?
3
7.08 10 k g h Pr Pwf
qo
g Bg ln re / rw 0.75 S

These two factors will give the gas a much higher flow
rate inside the reservoir.
Qg>>Qo
The gas also takes up more space than it did when it was
dissolved in the oil. This will cause the rock pores to be
filled up eliminating any place for the oil to go.

What will this do to the flow of oil?
The oil flow we get as the pressure is lowered will be less

than we would predict using Darcy's law!
(Or energy is being lost that we have not accounted for).

Graphically it would look like this:
Pr < Pb
Pressure - PSI
Darcy's law
predicted
Actual Qmax
Pwf
Qmax
0
29
0
Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved
Q - Flow Rate (BPD)
Inflow Performance Relationship – IPR
We use instead Vogel's IPR curve. The equation is:
2
qo Pwf Pwf
1 0.2 0.8
q0 max Pr Pr
where qo(max) is the maximum flow rate the well can

produce.

Using this curve, if we know Qmax and Pr, we can calculate the wellbore
pressure for any flowrate
Pwf/Pr
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Q/Qmax

Consider our previous example…
Pr = 2,300 psi
Pwf = 1,200 psi @ qo = 1,150 bpd

First we need to calculate qmax:
qo
qo (max) 2
Pwf Pwf
1 0.2 0.8
Pr Pr
1,150
qo (max) 2
1,696 BPD
1,200 1,200
1 0.2 0.8
2,300 2,300

Compare this to the qmax we got from Darcy's equation

of 2,406 bpd. The well has lost 710 bpd in capability due
to gas interference.
More importantly, if we wanted to produce 2,000 bpd and

sized a pump for this based on Darcy's PI, we would be
pretty disappointed.

Now, calculate Pwf at a flow rate of 1,000 bpd.
The first thing to do is to calculate q/qmax:
q/qmax = 1,000/1,696 = 0.5896
Now we can use the curve to get Pwf /Pr

Read Pwf/Pr on the Y axis - we can't actually read it this closely so we
used the equation to calculate it.
Pwf/Pr
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.602
0.4
0.2
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.5896 0.6 0.8 1.0
Q/Qmax
Pwf/Pr = 0.602 so Pwf = Pr * 0.602.
2,300*0.602 is 1,384 psi. This is the wellbore

pressure for a flow rate of 1,000 bpd.

We can also solve for Pwf directly with the following

equation:
Pwf 0.125 Pr 1 81 80 (qo / qo(max))
Pwf 0.125 2,300 1 81 80 ( 1,000 / 1,696 )
Pwf 1,384 psi

Combined IPR
 We saw that we could use Darcy's law when

gas was not a problem (as in a high water cut
well).
 We also saw how to use Vogel's IPR for cases

where Pr < Pb.
 What about a case where Pr > Pb > 0?

Combined IPR: (Test pressure above bubble point)
All we have to do in this case is use Darcy's law for:

Pr > Pwf > Pb
and Vogel's IPR for the portion where Pb > Pwf > 0
Let's say, for our problem, we have a Pb of 1,100 psi.
Graphically it would look like:

Pwf
Pb
J*Pb
qb
1.8
q qb qmax

Mathematical relationship between Vogel

(qmax) and Darcy (AOF)
AOF J p
qmax
1.8 1.8

How to find qmax:
for q qb , Darcy's law applies : q J p pwf

2
pwf pwf
for q qb then : q qb qmax qb 1 0.2 0.8
pb pb
J pb
qmax qb
1.8

q 1,150
PI 1.046 BPD / psi
( Pr Pwf ) 2,300 1,200
qb Pr Pb PI 2,300 1,100 1.046 1,255 BPD
Pb PI 1,100 1.046
qmax vogel 639 BPD
1.8 1.8
qmax qb qmax Vogel 1,255 639 1,894 BPD

Combined IPR: (Test pressure below bubble point)
Let's say, for our problem,

we have a Pb of 1,100 psi.
Q = 1,150 BPD; Pwf = 900 psi
Graphically it would look like:
Pb
Pwf = 900 psi
Qb = 997 Q = 1150
If we are given a test rate and pressure rather than a PI and the
test pressure is below the bubble point, we first must solve for J
with the following equation:



Inflow Performance Curve
Summarizing:
 If we do not have a fluid level, we must use some type

of inflow relation to calculate a wellbore pressure. We
can then convert this pressure to feet using a specific
gravity.
 Depending on the reservoir fluid, we may use a

straight line PI, an IPR, or a combination of the two.

Questions and Answers
Session

01 - Reservoir - Dynamics - IPR

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Inflow Performance

Upon completion of this section, you should be able to:

2 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

In the TDH section, we saw how to get friction and

Now we will look at ways of estimating the fluid

3 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

For the remainder of the program, we are going to

Some of you may recognize that this is not exactly

The exactly true expression is fluid always flows

4 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

The difference between

For the system just described, Darcy's Law looks

Note: (Pr - Pwf) is the drawdown pressure

But what is this equation?

Note: (Pr - Pwf) is the drawdown pressure

9 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

But what is this equation?

10 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

All of the data necessary for this equation is usually

11 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

12 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Re-arranging terms, we obtain...

13 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

This is an equation of the form" y=mx+b" which is a

The constant, K, has a special name: Productivity

Graphically it would look like this:

The Productivity Index (PI) is equal to the flow

16 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Consider the following example:

Pr = 2,300 psi, and

What is the Productivity Index (PI) of the well?

17 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

18 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

In some cases, the PI can also be improved slightly

Skin Damage Acid

19 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Fracturing can also improve porosity by making large

20 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

The area of the reservoir around the wellbore is the most

Why is this the case?

21 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Darcy's law works great for single phase fluid (i.e.

* Even though water and oil are two separate

22 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

What happens when the gas comes out of solution?

Let's look qualitatively at what will happen to the flow

First of all, the permeability, k, will be much higher for

25 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

First of all, the permeability, k, will be much higher for

Secondly, the viscosity of gas, is typically about 50

26 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

27 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

What will this do to the flow of oil?

The oil flow we get as the pressure is lowered will be less

(Or energy is being lost that we have not accounted for).

28 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Graphically it would look like this:

We use instead Vogel's IPR curve. The equation is:

where qo(max) is the maximum flow rate the well can

30 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

31 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved

Consider our previous example…

32 Copyright ©2012 NExT. All rights reserved