A Mechanistic Model Based

Approach to Evaluate Oil/Water

Slip at Horizontal or
Highly-Deviated Wells
Realizado por
GRAJEDA LEN
Amy Wind

Abstract
Slip velocity between phases is an important factor in interpreting production
logging survey, however, no much work has been done for determining the slip
velocity when oil and water flow simultaneously in a horizontal or highlydeviated well.
There are several correlations and models that may be used to determine the slip
velocity, nevertheless, they were developed for vertical wells and can not be
applied for horizontal or highly-deviated wells due to the different mechanisms
dominating the fluid flow.

Introduction
Excessive water production is a common problem necessary to be taken care of
by many oilfield engineers. For improving the production of a problem well and
for general reservoir management purposes, it is crucial to determine the
location and amount of water entries in a specific well. Production logging is
normally served for this purpose.
Horizontal and multilateral wells have become the standard practice in the oil
industry. Oil and water flow in a horizontal or highly-deviated well is quite
different from that in a vertical well. For example, gravity plays a very important
role for oil and water flow in a vertical or slightly deviated well. Because oil is
usually lighter than water, oil tends to move faster than water for upward flow,
but slower for downward flow. This is not true for oil and water flow in a
horizontal or highly-deviated well.

Introduction

For oil and water flow in a horizontal well, many different flow patterns have been
observed. These flow patterns may be classified into two categories: segregated flow and
dispersed flow.

Six typical flow patterns observed in horizontal pipes are listed as follows:
Stratified flow (ST)
Stratified flow with mixing at the interface (ST & MI)
Dispersion of oil in water and water (D/o w & w)
Oil in water emulsion (O/w)
Dispersion of water in oil and oil in water (Dw/o & Do/w)
Water in oil emulsion (W/o)

Introduction
As a rule of thumb, the first three flow patterns can be
considered as segregated flow, while the last three can be
approximately handled as dispersed flow. Flow
characteristics are different in different flow patterns.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to accurately measure or
determine slip velocity. A mechanistic model based
approach to evaluate the slip between oil and water
phases is presented in this paper.

Marco Terico
Flow Regime
A description of the geometrical distribution of multiphase
fluid moving through a pipe.
For oil-water mixtures, the most common regimes are bubble flow,
slug flow and emulsion flow. In horizontal wells, there may be
stratified or wavy stratified flow in addition to many of the regimes
observed in vertical wells.

Marco Terico
Slip Velocity
The difference between the average velocities of two different fluids flowing
together in a pipe.
In vertical ascending flow, the lighter fluid flows faster than the heavier fluid.
The slip velocity depends mainly on the difference in density between the two
fluids, and their holdups.

Marco Terico
Holdup
With reference to multiphase flow in pipes, the fraction of a particular fluid
present in an interval of pipe.
In multiphase flow, each fluid moves at a different speed due to different
gravitational forces and other factors, with the heavier phase moving slower, or
being more held up, than the lighter phase.
The holdup of a particular fluid is not the same as the proportion of the total
flow rate due to that fluid, also known as its cut.
To determine in-situ flow rates, it is necessary to measure the holdup and
velocity of each fluid. The sum of the holdups of the fluids present is unity. The
holdup ratio is the ratio of the holdups of two fluids, and is sometimes used as a
parameter to express the phenomenon.

Mechanistic Approach to
Determine Liquid Holdup
Even with identical water cut, the in-situ water fraction
(water holdup) can be very different dependent on the
flow pattern existing in a pipe. Correct determination of
flow pattern is thus an important key for accurate
prediction of water holdup. In the present paper, a
mechanistic model based approach is applied to
determine the water holdup.

Mechanistic Approach
to Determine Slip Velocity

Similar to the in-situ water fraction or water holdup, slip between oil and water
phases is also primarily dependent on flow pattern. It is expected that slip
velocity can be large for segregated flow, whereas it should be trivial for wellmixed/dispersed flow.
Pipe inclination plays a significant role in the oil-water slip velocity. As we
know, slip is almost always positive (i.e., oil moves faster than water) for oilwater production in vertical wells. This is not true anymore for horizontal or
highly-deviated wells. For oil-water flow in horizontal wells, both positive and
negative slip can be expected. For upward flow, water phase is generally heavier
than oil, hence, oil tends to move faster than water and slip velocity can be
positive. In contrast, for oil and water downward flow, water tends to move
faster than oil due to gravity and negative slip is anticipated.
A flow pattern-based approach is also applied in our determination of slip
velocity. Again, flow pattern is first identified, following by the calculation of
slip.

Potential Application
The new approach presented in this paper may be applied to
evaluate in-situ gas and liquid flow rates using the measured in-situ
mixture flow rate and liquid holdup.

Summary and Conclusion

Existing correlations can not predict
reasonable results of oil-water slip
velocity for horizontal or highlydeviated wells.
Impact of different parameters for
oil-water slip in horizontal or
highly-deviated wells is strongly
interrelated.
Always try to investigate the
influence of all the parameters
simultaneously. This
can
be
achieved by using a mechanistic
model based approach, such as the
one described in this paper.

It is highly recommended that more

research be pursued to investigate
oil and water flow in horizontal
wells.
Focus should be set on the
determination of water holdup and
slip between phases.
Both theoretical and experimental
work should be further conducted.