Preface.pdf
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Preface The advances in the digital computing technology in the last decade have revolutionized the petroleum industry. Using the modern computer technologies, today’s petro- leum production engineers work much more efficiently than ever before in their daily activities, including analyz- ing and optimizing the performance of their existing pro- duction systems and designing new production systems. During several years of teaching the production engineer- ing courses in academia and in the industry, the authors realized that there is a need for a textbook that reflects the current practice of what the modern production engineers do. Currently available books fail to provide adequate information about how the engineering principles are ap- plied to solving petroleum production engineering prob- lems with modern computer technologies. These facts motivated the authors to write this new book. This book is written primarily for production engineers and college students of senior level as well as graduate level. It is not authors’ intention to simply duplicate gen- eral information that can be found from other books. This book gathers authors’ experiences gained through years of teaching courses of petroleum production engineering in universities and in the petroleum industry. The mission of the book is to provide production engineers a handy guide- line to designing, analyzing, and optimizing petroleum production systems. The original manuscript of this book has been used as a textbook for college students of under- graduate and graduate levels in Petroleum Engineering. This book was intended to cover the full scope of pe- troleum production engineering. Following the sequence of oil and gas production process, this book presents its contents in eighteen chapters covered in four parts. Part I contains eight chapters covering petroleum pro- duction engineering fundamentals as the first course for the entry-level production engineers and undergraduate students. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the petro- leum production system. Chapter 2 documents properties of oil and natural gases that are essential for designing and analysing oil and gas production systems. Chapters 3 through 6 cover in detail the performance of oil and gas wells. Chapter 7 presents techniques used to forecast well production for economics analysis. Chapter 8 describes empirical models for production decline analysis. Part II includes three chapters presenting principles and rules of designing and selecting the main components of petroleum production systems. These chapters are also written for entry-level production engineers and under- graduate students. Chapter 9 addresses tubing design. Chapter 10 presents rule of thumbs for selecting com- ponents in separation and dehydration systems. Chapter 11 details principles of selecting liquid pumps, gas com- pressors, and pipelines for oil and gas transportation. Part III consists of three chapters introducing artificial lift methods as the second course for the entry-level pro- duction engineers and undergraduate students. Chapter 12 presents an introduction to the sucker rod pumping system and its design procedure. Chapter 13 describes briefly gas lift method. Chapter 14 provides an over view of other artificial lift methods and design procedures. Part IV is composed of four chapters addressing pro- duction enhancement techniques. They are designed for production engineers with some experience and graduate students. Chapter 15 describes how to identify well prob- lems. Chapter 16 deals with designing acidizing jobs. Chapter 17 provides a guideline to hydraulic fracturing and job evaluation techniques. Chapter 18 presents some relevant information on production optimisation tech- niques. Since the substance of this book is virtually boundless in depth, knowing what to omit was the greatest difficulty with its editing. The authors believe that it requires many books to describe the foundation of knowledge in petro- leum production engineering. To counter any deficiency that might arise from the limitations of space, the book provides a reference list of books and papers at the end of each chapter so that readers should experience little diffi- culty in pursuing each topic beyond the presented scope. Regarding presentation, this book focuses on presen- ting and illustrating engineering principles used for designing and analyzing petroleum production systems rather than in-depth theories. Derivation of mathematical models is beyond the scope of this book, except for some special topics. Applications of the principles are illustrated by solving example problems. While the solutions to some simple problems not involving iterative procedures are demonstrated with stepwise calculations, compli- cated problems are solved with computer spreadsheet programs. The programs can be downloaded from the publisher’s website (http://books.elsevier.com/companions/ 9780750682701 ). The combination of the book and the computer programs provides a perfect tool kit to petrol- eum production engineers for performing their daily work in a most efficient manner. All the computer programs were written in spreadsheet form in MS Excel that is available in most computer platforms in the petroleum industry. These spreadsheets are accurate and very easy to use. Although the U.S. field units are used in the com- panion book, options of using U.S. field units and SI units are provided in the spreadsheet programs. This book is based on numerous documents including reports and papers accumulated through years of work in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The authors are grateful to the universities for permissions of publish- ing the materials. Special thanks go to the Chevron and American Petroleum Institute (API) for providing Chev- ron Professorship and API Professorship in Petroleum Engineering throughout editing of this book. Our thanks are due to Mr. Kai Sun of Baker Oil Tools, who made a thorough review and editing of this book. The authors also thank Malone Mitchell III of Riata Energy for he and his company’s continued support of our efforts to develop new petroleum engineering text and professional books for the continuing education and training of the industry’s vital engineers. On the basis of the collective experiences of authors and reviewer, we expect this book to be of value to the production engineers in the petrol- eum industry. Dr. Boyun Guo Chevron Endowed Professor in Petroleum Engineering University of Louisiana at Lafayette June 10, 2006
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Preface
The advances in the digital computing technology in thelast decade have revolutionized the petroleum industry.Using the modern computer technologies, todays petro-leum production engineers work much more efficientlythan ever before in their daily activities, including analyz-ing and optimizing the performance of their existing pro-duction systems and designing new production systems.During several years of teaching the production engineer-ing courses in academia and in the industry, the authorsrealized that there is a need for a textbook that reflects thecurrent practice of what the modern production engineersdo. Currently available books fail to provide adequateinformation about how the engineering principles are ap-plied to solving petroleum production engineering prob-lems with modern computer technologies. These factsmotivated the authors to write this new book.
This book is written primarily for production engineersand college students of senior level as well as graduatelevel. It is not authors intention to simply duplicate gen-eral information that can be found from other books. Thisbook gathers authors experiences gained through years ofteaching courses of petroleum production engineering inuniversities and in the petroleum industry. The mission ofthe book is to provide production engineers a handy guide-line to designing, analyzing, and optimizing petroleumproduction systems. The original manuscript of this bookhas been used as a textbook for college students of under-graduate and graduate levels in Petroleum Engineering.
This book was intended to cover the full scope of pe-troleum production engineering. Following the sequenceof oil and gas production process, this book presents itscontents in eighteen chapters covered in four parts.
Part I contains eight chapters covering petroleum pro-duction engineering fundamentals as the first course forthe entry-level production engineers and undergraduatestudents. Chapter 1 presents an introduction to the petro-leum production system. Chapter 2 documents propertiesof oil and natural gases that are essential for designing andanalysing oil and gas production systems. Chapters 3through 6 cover in detail the performance of oil and gaswells. Chapter 7 presents techniques used to forecast wellproduction for economics analysis. Chapter 8 describesempirical models for production decline analysis.
Part II includes three chapters presenting principles andrules of designing and selecting the main components ofpetroleum production systems. These chapters are alsowritten for entry-level production engineers and under-graduate students. Chapter 9 addresses tubing design.Chapter 10 presents rule of thumbs for selecting com-ponents in separation and dehydration systems. Chapter11 details principles of selecting liquid pumps, gas com-pressors, and pipelines for oil and gas transportation.
Part III consists of three chapters introducing artificiallift methods as the second course for the entry-level pro-duction engineers and undergraduate students. Chapter 12presents an introduction to the sucker rod pumping systemand its design procedure. Chapter 13 describes briefly gaslift method. Chapter 14 provides an over view of otherartificial lift methods and design procedures.
Part IV is composed of four chapters addressing pro-duction enhancement techniques. They are designed forproduction engineers with some experience and graduate
students. Chapter 15 describes how to identify well prob-lems. Chapter 16 deals with designing acidizing jobs.Chapter 17 provides a guideline to hydraulic fracturingand job evaluation techniques. Chapter 18 presents somerelevant information on production optimisation tech-niques.
Since the substance of this book is virtually boundless indepth, knowing what to omit was the greatest difficultywith its editing. The authors believe that it requires manybooks to describe the foundation of knowledge in petro-leum production engineering. To counter any deficiencythat might arise from the limitations of space, the bookprovides a reference list of books and papers at the end ofeach chapter so that readers should experience little diffi-culty in pursuing each topic beyond the presented scope.
Regarding presentation, this book focuses on presen-ting and illustrating engineering principles used fordesigning and analyzing petroleum production systemsrather than in-depth theories. Derivation of mathematicalmodels is beyond the scope of this book, except for somespecial topics. Applications of the principles are illustratedby solving example problems. While the solutions tosome simple problems not involving iterative proceduresare demonstrated with stepwise calculations, compli-cated problems are solved with computer spreadsheetprograms. The programs can be downloaded from thepublishers website (http://books.elsevier.com/companions/9780750682701). The combination of the book and thecomputer programs provides a perfect tool kit to petrol-eum production engineers for performing their daily workin a most efficient manner. All the computer programswere written in spreadsheet form in MS Excel that isavailable in most computer platforms in the petroleumindustry. These spreadsheets are accurate and very easyto use. Although the U.S. field units are used in the com-panion book, options of using U.S. field units and SI unitsare provided in the spreadsheet programs.
This book is based on numerous documents includingreports and papers accumulated through years of work inthe University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the NewMexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The authorsare grateful to the universities for permissions of publish-ing the materials. Special thanks go to the Chevron andAmerican Petroleum Institute (API) for providing Chev-ron Professorship and API Professorship in PetroleumEngineering throughout editing of this book. Our thanksare due to Mr. Kai Sun of Baker Oil Tools, who made athorough review and editing of this book. The authorsalso thank Malone Mitchell III of Riata Energy for heand his companys continued support of our efforts todevelop new petroleum engineering text and professionalbooks for the continuing education and training of theindustrys vital engineers. On the basis of the collectiveexperiences of authors and reviewer, we expect this bookto be of value to the production engineers in the petrol-eum industry.
Dr. Boyun GuoChevron Endowed Professor in Petroleum Engineering
University of Louisiana at LafayetteJune 10, 2006
Guo, Boyun / Petroleum Production Engineering, A Computer-Assisted Approach Guo-prelims Final Proof page ix 29.12.2006 10:39am
