SPE Production & Operations
Volume 25,
Number 2,
May 2010,
pp. 195-203
Summary
Increased tubinghead temperature with increased rate may induce pressure
increase in the annuli for the trapped fluid. Managing annular-pressure buildup
(APB) for sustaining well deliverability is particularly crucial in subsea
wells, where intervention is complicated. Ordinarily, a multistring casing
design accommodates anomalous pressure rise from the standpoint of well
integrity. However, management of day-to-day operations presents challenges
when APB occurs. This study presents mechanistic models for understanding and
mitigating APB during production. By preserving mass, momentum, and energy in
the wellbore, we developed two approaches involving semisteady-state and
transient formulations. The intrinsic idea is to mimic the physical process
with minimal input parameters to estimate pressure buildup in the annuli. Our
model formulation handles the mechanisms of fluid expansion and fluid
influx/efflux quite rigorously. This approach appears to be quite sufficient
because we account for most of the cases of APB encountered.
© 2010. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
23 August 2008
- Revised manuscript received:
10 August 2009
- Manuscript approved:
11 October 2009
- Published online:
16 February 2010
- Version of record:
11 May 2010
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