Simulating Liquid Loading in Gas Wells

This paper describes work performed by the authors over the last several years to better understand the factors affecting the onset of liquid loading. To further improve the prediction of onset of liquid loading, efforts were undertaken to better model the process. Dedicated codes as well as a commercial multiphase flow simulator were used to improve the accuracy of the prediction. Reservoir properties were found to affect the liquid loading process, affecting for example the rate of loading. Coupled wellbore-reservoir simulations were performed using commercial codes and dedicated models to evaluate the effect of wellbore-reservoir interaction on liquid loading. This has led to a better understanding of intermittent production, a common production strategy in wells suffering from liquid loading. Using these tools, an optimal intermittent production strategy can be derived for a given well-reservoir combination.