The main purpose of this paper is to show the importance of chokes in the simulation of surface facilities and reservoirs as integrated systems. In order to predict producing rates accurately, it is necessary not only to model the fluid flow in the reservoir but also to couple the gathering system to the reservoir. The interaction between these two parts can have a great influence in the performance of the whole system and this interaction is greatly affected by the use of chokes in surface facilities. Existing choke models are evaluated and the effect of placing chokes in the surface model is studied and some results are presented. Techniques for simultaneous simulation of reservoir, well and surface facilities will be presented in a future paper.

Keywords:
production monitoring, production control, variation, flow rate, drillstem/well testing, boundary condition, upstream pressure, reservoir simulation, reservoir surveillance, choke
Subjects:
Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring, Processing Systems and Design, Reservoir Simulation, Formation Evaluation & Management, Production logging, Downhole and wellsite flow metering, Drillstem/well testing, Completion Selection and Design, Completion equipment
Copyright 1994, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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