Generalized Inflow Performance

Relationships for Three-Phase Flow

Michael L. Wiggins, SPE, U. of Oklahoma
Summary. This paper presents generalized liquid inflow performance relationships (IPR's) for three-phase flow in bounded, homogeneous reservoirs and new methods to predict present and future performance during boundary-dominated flow.
Introduction

IPR's are empirical relationships based on linear regression analysis

of simulator results that cover a wide range of reservoir fluid and
rock properties. The IPR's developed are compared with other
three-phase methods and yield similar results for production-pressure behavior during boundary-dominated flow while being much
simpler to use.
The proposed IPR's were developed from analysis of multiphase
flow in bounded, homogeneous reservoirs without external influx
of fluids into the reservoir and apply to the boundary-dominated
flow regime. The relationships are limited by the assumptions that
(1) the reservoirs are initially at the bubblepoint, (2) no initial free
gas phase is present, (3) a mobile water phase is present for threephase studies, (4) Darcy's law for multiphase flow applies, (5) isothermal conditions exist, (6) no reactions take place between reservoir fluids and reservoir rock, (7) no gas solubility exists in the
water, (8) gravity effects are negligible, and (9) the wellbore is fully
penetrating.
Development of Simulator Results

To develop generalized equations to predict inflow performance,

IPR curves were generated from simulator results for four basic sets
of relative permeability and fluid property data. Each data set was
used to generate simulator results from irreducible water saturation
to residual oil saturation (ROS). A total of 16 theoretical reservoirs
were examined from initial pressure to minimum flowing bottomhole pressure in 91 simulator runs. Reservoir properties varied as
follows: porosity, 12% to 24%; permeability, 10 to 100 md; height,
10 to 25 ft; temperature, 150 to 200F; initial pressure, 1,500 to
3,500 psi; oil gravity, 15 to 45 API; gas gravity, 0.6 to 0.7; water solids, 12% to 30%; ROS, 5% to 45%; irreducible water saturation,
10% to 50%; critical gas saturation, 0% to 7.5%; and drainage radius, 506 to 1,085 ft.
Simulator results were obtained for a radial flow geometry and
constant oil rate production. The model grid was established geometrically so that each succeeding radius was 1.1 times larger than
the previous radius. The initial cellblock radius was 0.329 ft, with
a wellbore radius of 0.328 ft. Refs. 1 and 2 give additional reservoir
property details and simulator parameters.

To test theirreliability, the generalized IPR's were compared with

Brown3 and Sukarno's4 three-phase IPR methods. Both methods
differ from the generalized three-phase IPR method presented because they couple the water and oil rates. The proposed method assumes that each phase can be treated separately.
To evaluate the three methods, information generated by Sukarn04 using a simulator and presented in his Tables 6-24 to 6-26 was
selected for comparison. This information was not used in the development ofthe proposed method and should give an unbiased indication of the reliability of the proposed IPR's. All three methods produce similar producing rate estimates, indicating that the
generalized three-phase IPR's yield suitable results. The maximum
difference between the simulator results and the generalized IPR is
3.98% for the oil phase and 7.08% for the water phase. This analysis
shows that any of the three methods appear suitable for use during
boundary-dominated flow; however, the proposed method is much
simpler to use without yielding any degree of reliability. Because of
their simplicity, the generalized IPR's are recommended for use in
applications to field data.
Predicting Future Performance

While IPR's yield estimates of well performance at the current stage

of reservoir depletion, there are times when the engineer wants to
predict future performance. Relationships were developed to predict future performance with the simulator results generated during
this study, The ratio of the maximum production rate to the current
maximum production rate was plotted against the ratio of the average reservoir pressures. Figs. 3 and 4 present the results, which
were fit with a linear regression model.
The resulting relationships for predicting future maximum production rates are

qo.maxf _
(prf )
-q-- - 0.15 =
o,maxp
Prp
qw.maxf
w,maxp

and -q-- = 0.59

Generalized IPR's

Figs. 1 and 2 present the simulator results for all cases studied along
with the resulting IPR equations. Overall, the average absolute error
was 4.39% for the oil IPR and 6.18% for the water IPR, indicating
that the generalized curves should be suitable for use over a wide
range of reservoir properties if the reservoir is producing under
boundary-dominated flow conditions.
The generalized IPR's are

~
=
qo,max
and

~
qw,max

1-0.52 (P':!)-0.48 (P.:!)2

Pr

(1)

Pr

. . , .. ,

, (2)

Copyright 1994 Society of Petroleum Engineers

Original SPE manuscript received for review March 21, 1993. Revised manuscript received
March 2, 1994. Paper accepted for publication March 17, 1994. Paper (SPE 25458) first presented at the 1993 SPE Production Operations Symposium held in Oklahoma City. March

21-23.

SPE Reservoir Engineering, August 1994

0.36

................. (3)

(_)2
= ,
Prf
Prp

.............. (4)

where the subscripts!and P represent future and present conditions,

respectively. As the figures indicate, some variation exists between
the curves because of relative permeability and fluid property effects. The curves suggest that care should be taken in estimating future performance over large stages of depletion because the error
may increase as prediction periods increase. Updating of initial future performance estimates every 6 months to 1 year is recommended; this would progressively reduce the uncertainty in earlier
estimates as depletion occurs in the reservoir.
Conclusions

= 1-0.72 (P':!)-0.28
(P.:!) .
Pr
Pr

(=_)
Prf
Prp

+ 0.84 (Pr
= )2
Prp

1. Generalized three-phase IPR's that are suitable for use over a

wide range of reservoir properties have been presented.
2. The generalized IPR's have been verified by use of information
presented by Sukam04 and by comparison to Brown3 and Sukarno's4 three-phase methods.
3. For the first time, a method has been proposed for predicting
future performance during three-phase boundary-dominated flow.
181

1.0 __: : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,

SimulalorResulIl

1.0--------------------,

0.8

0.8

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

........

o.o+--.-~----~--,.-__.-~__,- ~

0.2

0.0

0.6

0.4

0.8

1.0

0.0 +----....---r--.----,r--........--r--.----r'"--.-~
0.6
0.8
1.0
0.2
0.4
0.0

pwf/pr

Fig. 1-Comparison of simulator results with generalized oil

IPR.

1.0...------------------...

0.8

pwf/pr

Fig. 2-Comparison of simulator results with generalized water

IPR.
1 . 0 - r - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -....

Simulalor Resu1Is
Proposed Relation

Simulalor Resu1Is

Simulalor Resulrs
Proposed Relalion

0.8

y = 0.59x + 0.36x 2

y = 0.15x + 0.84x2

0.6

0.6

0.4

0.4

0.2

0.2

0.0 ...-=:;.....;;;.....,r----.--,--........--r--.....---,-......- . ,
1.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
0.0

0.0 #'lC.::..,....-,......--.---r--.---r-.......- , - -.....----t

0.8
1.0
0.4
0.6
0.2
0.0

pr,f/pr,p

pr,f/pr,p

Fig. 3-Comparison of simulator results with proposed method

for determining future oil-phase performance.

Fig. 4-Comparison of simulator results with proposed method

for determining future water-phase performance.

Nomenclature

51 Metric Conversion Factors

Pr =
Pwf =
% =
%,rnax =
qw =
qw,rnax =
x =
y =

average reservoir pressure, mlLt2, psi

flowing wellbore pressure, mlLt2, psi
oil production rate, L3/t, BID
maximum oil production rate, L3/t, BID
water production rate, Oft, BID
maximum water production rate, L3/t, BID
prjlprp
qrnax,f/qrnax,p

API 141.5/(131.5+ API) = glcm 3

bbl x 1.589 873
E-Ol = m3
ft x 3.048*
E-Ol = m
OF CF-32)/1.8
= c
galx3.7854l2
E-03=m 3
md x 9.869 233
E - 04 = Ilm 2
psi x 6.894 757
E + 00 = kPa
0

"Conversion factor is exact.

SPERE

References
1. Wiggins, M.L.: "Generalized Inflow Performance Relationships for
Three-Phase Flow," paper SPE 25458 presented at the 1993 SPE Production Operations Symposium, Oklahoma City, March 21-23.
2. Wiggins, M.L.: "Inflow Performance of Oil Wells Producing Water," PhD
dissertation, Texas A&M D., College Station (1991).
3. Brown, K.E.: The Technology ofArtificial Lift Methods, PennWeli Publishing Co., Tulsa (1984) 4, 18-35.
4. Sukarno, P.: "Inflow Performance Relationship Curves in Two-Phase and
Three-Phase Flow Conditions," PhD dissertation, D. of Tulsa, Tulsa
(1986).
182

Michael L. Wiggins is an assistant professor of

petroleum and geological engineering at the U.
of Oklahoma. He has industrial experience with
major and independent producers. He holds BS,
ME, and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering
from Texas A&M U. Wiggins was a 1992-93
member of the Production Operations Symposium program committee and has served as U.
of Oklahoma SPE Student Chapter faculty adviser since 1991.
SPE Reservoir Engineering, August 1994