Open Access

ARTICLE

On the Development of a Model for the Prediction of Liquid Loading in Gas Wells with an Inclined Section

Mengna Liao^1,2, Ruiquan Liao^1,2, Jie Liu^1,2,*, Shuangquan Liu³, Li Li³, Xiuwu Wang^1,2, Yang Cheng^1,2

1 School of Petroleum Engineering, Yangtze University, Wuhan, 430100, China.
2 Laboratory of Multiphase Pipe Flow of Gas Lift Innovation Center, CNPC (Yangtze University), Wuhan, 430100, China.
3 Oil and Gas Technology Research Institute of Changqing Oilfield Company, Xi’an, 710000, China.

* Corresponding Author: Jie Liu. Email: .

Fluid Dynamics & Materials Processing 2019, 15(5), 527-544. https://doi.org/10.32604/fdmp.2019.07903

Abstract

The ability to predict liquid loading in horizontal gas wells is of great importance for determining the time of drainage and optimizing the related production technology. In the present work, we describe the outcomes of experiments conducted using air-water mixtures in a horizontal well. The results show that the configuration with an inclined section is the most susceptible to liquid loading. Laboratory experiments in an inclined pipe were also conducted to analyze the variation of the critical gas flow rate under different angles, pressure and liquid volume (taking the equal liquid volume at inlet and outlet as the criterion for judging on the critical state). According to these results, the related angle of the inclined section ranges from 45° to 60°. Finally, a modified approach based on the Belfroid model has been used to predict the critical gas flow rate for the inclined section. After comparison with field data, this modified model shows an accuracy of 96%, indicating that it has better performances with respect to other models used in the past to predict liquid loading.

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