2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept.

of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 9

Chapter Outline

 Petroleum Production System: Basic concepts and

definitions
 Fundamentals of NODAL analysis method
 Applications of NODAL analysis method

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 10
 Petroleum Production System
Gas Sales
Flow ing Wellhead
Pressure Horizontal Flowline
Separator

Stock Tank

Vertical or Inclined
Tubing

Intake
Flow Through
Porus Media
P, K, IPR

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 11
System Analysis for Petroleum
Production Systems

• Analyze the performance of the system taking into account

ALL of its components

• Figure out potential problems associated with the

production system

• Analyze the behavior of the system in response to any

changes of a component

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 12
NODAL Analysis (NA) Method

• NODAL Analysis belongs to System Analysis Methods

applied in Petro Eng.

• The method allows production engineers to analyze

the performance of a petroleum production system

• The method help production engineers to select

optimal system parameters

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 13
 Fundamentals of the NA Method

• Always consider a component in the relationships with

the others

• Pressure Losses across different components of the

system are of primary interests

• The performance of a system can be analyzed via one or

more NODEs

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 14
 Typical Pressure Losses
P8 Gas Sales
Pwh
P6
Separator

Psep
P5 Stock Tank
PDSV

P4

PUSV P1 = (Pr - Pwfs) = Loss in Porus Medium

P2 = (Pwfs - Pwf) = Loss across Completion
P3 = (P UR - P DR) = Loss across Restriction
P7 P4 = (P USV - P DSV) = Loss across Safety Valve
P5 = (Pwh - P DSC ) = Loss across Surface Choke
P6 = (P DSC - Psep) = Loss in Flowline
P7 = (Pwf - Pwh) = Total Loss in Tubing
PDR P8 = (Pwh - Psep) = Total Loss in Flowline
P3

PUR

Pwf Pwfs Pr
P2
P1

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 15
 Possible Node Locations
3 2 1A

1
4
1B

Node Location Remarks

1 Separator
2 Surface Choke Functional
3 Wellhead
4 Safety Valve Functional
5 Restriction Functional
5
6 Pwf
7 Pwfs
8 Pr
1A Gas Sales
1B Stock Tank

6 7 8

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 16
Typical Nodes for System Analysis

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 17
 The Underlying Idea of NA

Node of Interest
Downstream

Upstream

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 18
 The Underlying Idea (cont’d)
Upstream
pr  pupstream  pnode  f (q)
Downstream
psep  pdownstream  pnode  g (q)
At any point in time t during the production process,
the average reservoir pressure and the separator
pressure are given as constants.
2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 19
 The Two Essential Principles
• There is ONLY ONE value of pressure at a node (physical
point);

• The flow rate coming into a node is equal to the flow rate
going out of that node (mass conservation).

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 20
 Graphical Representation of NA
Outflow Curve
p (Downstream)

Inflow Curve
(Upstream)

pop

Operating Point

qop q

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 21
NA Applications – System Analysis

Steep Outflow Curve (Bottle

Neck)
p

Expected Outflow
Curve

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 22
NA Applications – Sensitivity Analysis
Outflow Curve with
tubing diameter Outflow Curve with
p d3<d1 tubing diameter d1

Outflow Curve with

tubing diameter
d2>d1

q3 q1 q2 q

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 23
NA Application – Production Optimization

q
q4
q5
q2
q1

q3
Using a TRIAL-AND-ERROR approach, the
optimal tubing diameter can be found
where the flow rate reaches the
maximum value

d3 d1 d2 d4 d5 d

2/21/2021 Dr. Mai Cao Lan, Dept. of Drilling & Production Engineering, GEOPET, HCMUT 24