Heat transfer :

Heat transfer analysis is the engineering science used to estimate an

overall heat transfer coefficients for wellbore, heat losses comprising both
transient heat resistance in the formation and near well bore heat resistance,
estimation of wellhead temperature in flowing oil well, and to evaluate the
suitability and power requirements for heating a well bore using electrical
resistance hardware. The heat transfer process in wells is complex, a
hundred or more interacting variables must either be entered and/or
calculated by computer algorithms in order to complete an analysis and, as
no two wells are the same, the analysis is unique to each well.

Heat is transferred from an object or surface of higher temperature to an

object or surface of lower temperature by three mechanisms by conduction,
convection and radiation, the characteristics of Heat transfer can be
calculated by knowing:
Well fluids properties.

Well geometry and environment.

Reservoir and Formation characteristics.

Electrical heating:

Electrical heating, it is referring to any process the use of molecular

excitation converting electrical energy into heat, this is done by creating an
electric potential gradient between a low conductive element, an electric
current is created. The current pass through the low conductive element it
face the restriction and this therefore is converted into heat. This is
explained by the Joule principal of heating; which says that any current
passing through a resistor will convert the electrical energy into heat. There
are several ways to convert electrical energy into heat, as it is explained by
Gasbarri et al. where they classified the electrical heating into three main
categories,Low Frequency currents, which include Resistive and Ohmic
heating, Low-Medium Frequency current, which includes Inductive heating
techniques, and the High Frequency current, which includes Microwave and
Electromagnetic heating.

there are two types of electrical circuts avaiable for heaters , parallel
resistive element and serise resistive element there also two independant
variables for heat transfer, a power (energy ) source watts and temperature
source

Well Data:
Depth (1530 m) ,tubing (ID=62mm,OD=73mm),reservoir
pressure(2074,08 psia, reservoir temperature=59.66c.
crude oil property analysis:

Field: Bara Well Name: Bara-5

Formation: AG Interval: 1598.0-1603.0m1606.0-
1609.0m1618.0-1622m/3
Sampled Date: Jan 23 2013 Date Sent to lab: Jan 23 2013
Date Analyzed: Jan 23 2013 Position Sampled: Wellhead outlet
Test No: 2013-001
Remark:
Property Analysis
Item Analysis Result
Sediment(V%)(Sand) 0.00%
Water (V %) 0.30%
Water&Sediment (V %) 0.30%
API 36.09
15.6 0.8431
Density
20
(g/cm3)
50 0.8179
Acid Number(mgKOH/g) 0.13
Pour Point () 48
Rheological Property (mPa.s)
Shear Rate (s-1) 29 30 35 40 50 55 70 80
100 23
RIG: Rig 2077 Analyst: Ayman - Abdelrahman
Supervisor: Abubaker abd alla Signature:
Sample Provider: Date: Jan 24 2013

Pressure & Temperature VS Time Curve

Gradient Survey Curve:-

2.1 Pressure Gradient Curve

Temperature Gradient Curve:

Profile Survey Data Summary Table:

Depth(mKB) Pressure(Psia) Temperature(DegC)
1530.0 2074.08 59.66
1500.0 2030.19 59.33
1400.0 1887.05 56.87
1300.0 1742.38 54.31
1200.0 1597.92 52.30
1100.0 1453.20 50.09
1000.0 1307.89 48.04
900.0 1162.34 46.25
800.0 1016.63 44.83
700.0 870.90 43.51
600.0 725.10 41.88
500.0 579.25 39.46
400.0 434.86 37.44
300.0 291.92 36.12
200.0 150.28 34.79
100.0 112.19 33.77
0.0 12.92 34.98
Correlation Curve between Pressure and Depth:
Well Bara_5 issue:
Bara_5 have a problem of high pour point, about 48c and
at depth of 1000 m the oil reach its pour point
temperature, and thus the oil is no longer move. Even
after applied PCP pump see figure(####)

MODELING SEQUENCE:
The mode heat transfer in an oil well is largely depend
on: length of conduit, convective area, thermal
conductivity, specific heat, viscosity, reservoir and
geothermal gradient temperature, conduit roughness and
the desired production rate.
Microsoft excel sheet was used at The first step to
calculate heat over all coefficient by using equation:
1

]
rt 0 r co rh
r t 0 ln r ln r ln
1
U= +
hf [ tub
rt 1
+
h rc ,an (
1 r ln r ci /ri
1
+
) r ci
cas
+
r co
cem

And then to calculate heat losses by the following equation:

Q = U * A * T
Effect of geothermal gradient:
Temperature inside formations increase from downstream
to upstream by .025 c/meter ,and it can be calculated
by the following equation :
T@d =T@s+G*d

Effect of temperature on oil production:

Temperature affect oil production by the following
sequences:
1.oil temperature is a main factor influence on oil
viscosity, low temperature leads to _ high viscosity, high
temperature leads to _ low viscosity ) inverse
relationship).

2. high viscosity leads to_ high restrictions on conduit

surface, low viscosity Leads to_ low restrictions (direct
relationship).
3. high restrictions _ increase pressure drop by direct
relationship.
4.pressure difference between upstream and downstream
is a reason why the flow occurs, therefor if the pressure
drop increase will drastically reduce the production rate
by inverse relationship.
Production estimation:
ANSYS Fluent simulator used to predict temperature and
pressure gradient versus depth with the effect of
geothermal gradient based on assumption that the flow
is one phase we used the first law of thermodynamic
yield the following equation :

g 2 Fu 2 L
P=P 1P 2= z+ u2 +
gc 2 gc gcD

We applied the above sequence to generate new IPR and

TPR curve, and therefore we got new operating point.

To calculate the power required to meet target heating

temperature we used the below equation:
P =Q * * T * a
Simulation Result:
Madis downhole heaters system specifications was used
for Bara_5 ,the heating cable output power about 45
watt/foot heated oil to reach the desired well head
temperature of 62c which sustain production rate of 340
bbl/day .