Permanent downhole gauge

Last updated

A permanent downhole gauge (PDG) is a pressure and/or temperature gauge permanently installed in an oil or gas well. [1] These gauges are typically installed in the tubing in the well and can measure the tubing pressure, annulus pressure, or both. Systems installed in well casing to read formation pressure directly, suspended systems, and systems built in coil (continuous) tubing are also available. The data that PDGs provide are useful to reservoir engineers in determining the quantities of oil or gas contained below the Earth's surface in an oil or gas reservoir and also which method of production is best. [2]

Permanent downhole gauges are installed in oil wells and gas wells for the purposes of observation and optimization. Downhole gauges primarily monitor pressure at a single point or multiple points in a well, and may secondarily monitor temperature. [3] These gauges may use additional sensors to measure additional environmental variables:[ citation needed ]

The information provided by permanently mounted sensors, combined with remotely controlled valves, can enable "smart" or "intelligent" well design. A "smart well" is a well that can monitor information and make adjustments automatically with the goal of optimizing production and/or product recovery. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petroleum engineering</span> Extracting crude oil and natural gas

Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Exploration, by earth scientists, and petroleum engineering are the oil and gas industry's two main subsurface disciplines, which focus on maximizing economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oil well</span> Well drilled to extract crude oil and/or gas

An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may be termed a gas well. Wells are created by drilling down into an oil or gas reserve that is then mounted with an extraction device such as a pumpjack which allows extraction from the reserve. Creating the wells can be an expensive process, costing at least hundreds of thousands of dollars, and costing much more when in hard to reach areas, e.g., when creating offshore oil platforms. The process of modern drilling for wells first started in the 19th century, but was made more efficient with advances to oil drilling rigs during the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Submersible pump</span> Pump designed to work submerged in fluid

A submersible pump (or electric submersible pump is a device which has a hermetically sealed motor close-coupled to the pump body. The whole assembly is submerged in the fluid to be pumped. The main advantage of this type of pump is that it prevents pump cavitation, a problem associated with a high elevation difference between the pump and the fluid surface. Submersible pumps push fluid to the surface, rather than jet pumps, which create a vacuum and rely upon atmospheric pressure. Submersibles use pressurized fluid from the surface to drive a hydraulic motor downhole, rather than an electric motor, and are used in heavy oil applications with heated water as the motive fluid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireline (cabling)</span> Technology used in oil and gas wells

In the oil and gas industry, the term wireline usually refers to the use of multi-conductor, single conductor or slickline cable, or "wireline", as a conveyance for the acquisition of subsurface petrophysical and geophysical data and the delivery of well construction services such as pipe recovery, perforating, plug setting and well cleaning and fishing. The subsurface geophysical and petrophysical information results in the description and analysis of subsurface geology, reservoir properties and production characteristics.

A gas lift or bubble pump is a type of pump that can raise fluid between elevations by introducing gas bubbles into a vertical outlet tube; as the bubbles rise within the tube they cause a drop in the hydrostatic pressure behind them, causing the fluid to be pulled up. Gas lifts are commonly used as artificial lifts for water or oil, using compressed air or water vapor.

Well logging, also known as borehole logging is the practice of making a detailed record of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole. The log may be based either on visual inspection of samples brought to the surface or on physical measurements made by instruments lowered into the hole. Some types of geophysical well logs can be done during any phase of a well's history: drilling, completing, producing, or abandoning. Well logging is performed in boreholes drilled for the oil and gas, groundwater, mineral and geothermal exploration, as well as part of environmental and geotechnical studies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christmas tree (oil well)</span> Assembly of valves, spools, and fittings used to regulate the flow of fluids in an oil well

In petroleum and natural gas extraction, a Christmas tree, or tree, is an assembly of valves, casing spools, and fittings used to regulate the flow of pipes in an oil well, gas well, water injection well, water disposal well, gas injection well, condensate well, and other types of well.

PDG may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wellhead</span> Component at the surface of a well that provides the structural and pressure-containing interface

A wellhead is the component at the surface of an oil or gas well that provides the structural and pressure-containing interface for the drilling and production equipment.

A drilling rig is used to create a borehole or well in the earth's sub-surface, for example in order to extract natural resources such as gas or oil. During such drilling, data is acquired from the drilling rig sensors for a range of purposes such as: decision-support to monitor and manage the smooth operation of drilling; to make detailed records of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole; to generate operations statistics and performance benchmarks such that improvements can be identified, and to provide well planners with accurate historical operations-performance data with which to perform statistical risk analysis for future well operations. The terms measurement while drilling (MWD), and logging while drilling (LWD) are not used consistently throughout the industry. Although these terms are related, within the context of this section, the term measurement while drilling refers to directional-drilling measurements, e.g. for decision support for the wellbore path, while LWD refers to measurements concerning the geological formations penetrated while drilling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drill stem test</span>

A drill stem test (DST) is a procedure for isolating and testing the pressure, permeability and productive capacity of a geological formation during the drilling of a well. The test is an important measurement of pressure behaviour at the drill stem and is a valuable way of obtaining information on the formation fluid and establishing whether a well has found a commercial hydrocarbon reservoir.

Artificial lift refers to the use of artificial means to increase the flow of liquids, such as crude oil or water, from a production well. Generally this is achieved by the use of a mechanical device inside the well or by decreasing the weight of the hydrostatic column by injecting gas into the liquid some distance down the well. A newer method called Continuous Belt Transportation (CBT) uses an oil absorbing belt to extract from marginal and idle wells. Artificial lift is needed in wells when there is insufficient pressure in the reservoir to lift the produced fluids to the surface, but often used in naturally flowing wells to increase the flow rate above what would flow naturally. The produced fluid can be oil, water or a mix of oil and water, typically mixed with some amount of gas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coiled tubing</span> Long metal pipe used in oil and gas wells

In the oil and gas industry, coiled tubing refers to a long metal pipe, normally 1 to 3.25 in in diameter which is supplied spooled on a large reel. It is used for interventions in oil and gas wells and sometimes as production tubing in depleted gas wells. Coiled tubing is often used to carry out operations similar to wirelining. The main benefits over wireline are the ability to pump chemicals through the coil and the ability to push it into the hole rather than relying on gravity. Pumping can be fairly self-contained, almost a closed system, since the tube is continuous instead of jointed pipe. For offshore operations, the 'footprint' for a coiled tubing operation is generally larger than a wireline spread, which can limit the number of installations where coiled tubing can be performed and make the operation more costly. A coiled tubing operation is normally performed through the drilling derrick on the oil platform, which is used to support the surface equipment, although on platforms with no drilling facilities a self-supporting tower can be used instead. For coiled tubing operations on sub-sea wells a mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU) e.g. semi-submersible, drillship etc. has to be utilized to support all the surface equipment and personnel, whereas wireline can be carried out from a smaller and cheaper intervention vessel. Onshore, they can be run using smaller service rigs, and for light operations a mobile self-contained coiled tubing rig can be used.

Slickline refers to a single strand wire which is used to run a variety of tools down into the wellbore for several purposes. It is used during well drilling operations in the oil and gas industry. In general, it can also describe a niche of the industry that involves using a slickline truck or doing a slickline job. Slickline looks like a long, smooth, unbraided wire, often shiny, silver/chrome in appearance. It comes in varying lengths, according to the depth of wells in the area it is used up to 35,000 feet in length. It is used to lower and raise downhole tools used in oil and gas well maintenance to the appropriate depth of the drilled well.

A downhole safety valve refers to a component on an oil and gas well, which acts as a failsafe to prevent the uncontrolled release of reservoir fluids in the event of a worst-case-scenario surface disaster. It is almost always installed as a vital component on the completion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Completion (oil and gas wells)</span> Last operation for oil and gas wells

Well completion is the process of making a well ready for production after drilling operations. This principally involves preparing the bottom of the hole to the required specifications, running in the production tubing and its associated down hole tools as well as perforating and stimulating as required. Sometimes, the process of running in and cementing the casing is also included. After a well has been drilled, should the drilling fluids be removed, the well would eventually close in upon itself. Casing ensures that this will not happen while also protecting the wellstream from outside incumbents, like water or sand.

Oilfield terminology refers to the jargon used by those working in fields within and related to the upstream segment of the petroleum industry. It includes words and phrases describing professions, equipment, and procedures specific to the industry. It may also include slang terms used by oilfield workers to describe the same.

Roxar AS was a provider of products and associated services for reservoir management and production optimisation in the upstream oil and gas industry. Roxar was headquartered in Stavanger, Norway and operated in 19 countries with around 900 employees. Roxar offered software for reservoir interpretation, modelling and simulation, as well as instrumentation for well planning, monitoring, metering and production optimisation. Roxar was acquired by Emerson Electric Company in April 2009.

References

  1. Cui, Boyu; Chen, Lejun; Zhang, Nan; Shchipanov, Anton; Demyanov, Vasily; Rong, Chunming (8 February 2023). "Review of Different Methods for Identification of Transients in Pressure Measurements by Permanent Downhole Gauges Installed in Wells". Energies. 16 (4): 1689. doi: 10.3390/en16041689 . hdl: 11250/3109306 . ISSN   1996-1073.
  2. Unneland, Trond; Haugland, Torstein (1 August 1994). "Permanent Downhole Gauges Used in Reservoir Management of Complex North Sea Oil Fields". SPE Production & Facilities. 9 (3): 195–203. doi:10.2118/26781-PA. ISSN   1064-668X.
  3. Hüffner, Leonardo Nardi; Trierweiler, Jorge Otávio; Farenzena, Marcelo (February 2019). "Are complex black-box models for Permanent Downhole Gauge pressure estimation necessary?". Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering. 173: 715–732. doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2018.10.047.
  4. Carvajal, Gustavo; Maucec, Marko; Cullick, Stan (1 January 2018), Carvajal, Gustavo; Maucec, Marko; Cullick, Stan (eds.), "Chapter Seven - Smart Wells and Techniques for Reservoir Monitoring", Intelligent Digital Oil and Gas Fields, Boston: Gulf Professional Publishing, pp. 249–289, ISBN   978-0-12-804642-5 , retrieved 29 February 2024