Petroleum Reservoir Evaluation and Development ›› 2022, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (3): 526-533.doi: 10.13809/j.cnki.cn32-1825/te.2022.03.015

• Shale Gas Development • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Optimum time of tubing installation in deep shale gas wells of Weirong

DU Yang1(),NI Jie1,LEI Wei1,ZHOU Xingfu2,LI Li1,BU Tao2   

  1. 1. Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Sinopec Southwest China Oil and Gas Company, Deyang, Sichuan 618000, China
    2. NO.4 Gas Production Plant, Sinopec Southwest China Oil and Gas Company, Chongqing 402160, China
  • Received:2021-08-12 Online:2022-06-26 Published:2022-06-24

Abstract:

At the early stage of production, deep shale gas wells in southern Sichuan have sufficient energy. Most of the wells use casing to discharge fluid quickly. When the wellhead pressure drops to the capacity of the pressurized operation or the gas well is difficult to carry fluid, tubing production is run. The tubing installation time typically depends on the wellhead pressure drawdown to the capability of the snubbing unit or the onset time of liquid loading. Tubing depth and diameter are commonly determined based on the production progress according to operators’ field experience. So far, the influence between the tubing installation time and gas well deliverability is still unclear. Based on the well performance monitoring data of 53 times of deep shale gas wells in Southern Sichuan at the casing production stage, the calculation model of wellbore pressure drop and the variation law of wellbore flow pattern are analyzed, besides, the bottom hole flow pressure and critical liquid carrying capacity is also determined the best running time of tubing. In this work, the variation of wellbore pressure drop under different tubing depth is analyzed, and a method to determine the optimal tubing running depth is proposed by aiming at minimizing wellbore pressure drop. Finally, the optimal string size is obtained, and field verification is carried out based on the sensitivity analysis of liquid carrying and pressure loss. The results suggested that the optimum tubing installation time is when wellhead pressure drops to 15~25 MPa. The proper tubing depth is at 70° to 85° of well deviation and the suitable tubing inner diameter is 62 mm. By running tubing in time, the pressure drop rate of the gas well is reduced by 50 %, and the unit pressure drop production is increased by twice times, which effectively guides the tubing design and implementation of deep shale gas horizontal wells in Southern Sichuan.

Key words: tubing diameter, tubing depth, wellbore flow regime, pressure dorp model, deep shale gas

CLC Number: 

  • TE37