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
