Comparative Analysis of Effectiveness in the Implementation of Natural Drive and Artificial Lift Methods for Hydrocarbon Production

Abstract

There are different production techniques that can be applied to produce hydrocarbons from subsurface formations. Reservoir fluids can be lifted to surface by either means of natural energy available within the reservoir or by applying artificial lift methods. Even though hydrocarbons are generally produced by natural drive mechanisms at the initial stage of field development where reservoir pressures are strong enough to push hydrocarbons to surface and then suitable artificial lifting techniques are implemented when wells cannot flow naturally, artificial lifting can also be applied to maximize production rate when individual well production rate is low due to lower reservoir pressure available in the system. The main objective of this research is to do comparative analysis of effectiveness in implementation of natural drive and artificial lift methods (gas – lift and pumps) for hydrocarbon production acceleration and optimization in West Absheron oil field, which is in the Caspian Sea, by using PROSPER software package based on a fictitious well data, namely Well WA-1. The Nodal Analysis is done for natural drive case and artificial lift techniques, specifically said, electrical submersible pump method and continuous gas lifting on PROSPER. Calculated oil production rates for natural drive, ESP and continuous gas lift cases are equal to 17.6 sm3/day, 53.8 sm3/day and 50.8 sm3/day respectively. Comparative analysis of the outputs obtained from this research show that implementation of artificial lift methods significantly increases oil production rate. However, considering that source for lift gas is the main challenge for gas lift application in West Absheron oilfield, it is concluded that ESP implementation in West Absheron oilfield wells is the most favorable choice.