THE APPLICATIONS AND PERFORMANCE OF JET PUMPS IN OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION HANDLING MULTIPHASE FLOW

M. M. (SACHA) SARSHAR Dr. N. A. BEG CALTEC, U.K

ABSTRACT

Boosting production and total recovery from many oil and gas fields requires the use of a boosting system. Use of jet pumps is a cost-effective way to achieve this objective. Energy from a high pressure source or high pressure wells is used as the motive flow. When multiphase flow, a mixture of gas, oil and/or water, is involved, the system requires a special design. This paper describes the principle of operation, the performance, the range of applications of the system and how multiphase flow is handled using WELLCOM technology. The benefits of the system and economic advantages are also highlighted.

Key words:

Jet pumps, eductors, ejectors, WELLCOM, multiphase pumping, boosting systems

1.

INTRODUCTION

Production and total recovery from many oil and gas fields are restricted because of low reservoir pressure. Transport of produced fluids from the reservoir to production and process facilities requires sufficient energy to cope with the loss of pressure along the wellbore, risers and transportation pipelines as the case may be. An optimum operation pressure is also required at process plants to maintain optimum production yield and to minimise additional boosting requirements for the oil phase and the separated gas phase which are generally transported by pipeline for export purposes. Such constraints on production pressure impose higher back pressures on wells and restrict their production rate. Under higher flowrates, the production pressure is often too low to meet the above said requirements. Therefore in order to maintain or increase production and recovery, often a boosting system is required to compensate for the said losses during the field life. Boosting systems can be installed at various points along the production path, namely: downhole at reservoir level, along the wellbore, at wellhead - subsea or topsides, at manifolds and along the transportation pipeline. There are also a variety of options and types of boosting systems which can provide the added energy. Their selection and suitability is, however, governed by a variety of technical and economic factors. The use of jet pumps is a cost-effective way to boost production from many oil and gas fields. This paper outlines the range of their applications and focuses on cases where production of both gas and liquid phases is involved. As separation of gas and liquid phases is necessary in many applications involving two-phase flow, the use of compact separators is discussed as a preferred way to achieve the said duty. 2. JET PUMP TECHNOLOGY

Jet pumps, also known as ejectors or eductors, enable energy from a high pressure (HP) source to be used to boost the pressure of low pressure (LP) fluids. The unit shown in Figure 1 consists of a nozzle, a suction chamber, a mixing tube and a diffuser. High pressure fluid passes through the nozzle where part of its potential (pressure) energy is converted into kinetic energy (velocity). As a result, the pressure downstream of the nozzle drops. At this point, low pressure fluids are introduced through the suction (LP) chamber. The mixture passes through a mixing tube where transfer of momentum and energy takes place between HP and LP fluids. The velocity of the fluids is then reduced gradually as they pass through the diffuser where further pressure recovery is achieved. The jet pump therefore offers two main benefits: (a) (b) It allows the LP fluids to flow at a lower pressure without being exposed directly to the pressure of the HP line or the downstream back pressure. The pressure of the LP fluids is increased through the jet pump, which helps in their transportation by pipelines or enables the required downstream operating pressure to be met.

In both oil and gas production, the jet pump thus enables the LP wells to operate at a lower pressure. Under the alternative conventional operation, the HP flow is choked down and, when manifolded with the LP flow, the LP wells will be exposed directly to the pipeline pressure which restricts their production. Both motive and suction flows could be a gas or liquid phase or the mixture of the two. The performance of jet pumps is dependent on whether the motive or suction flow is gas, liquid or a mixture of the two phases. Jet pumps are not new and their invention dates back to 1852 by James Thompson in England. The theory was further developed by Jim Rankin in 1870. The standard reference work was done by a number of researchers including Lorenz (1910) and Gosline and O=Brien (1933). In 1930, six patents were granted for their application downhole. Downhole application of jet pumps has, however, become extensive, mainly since the 1970s (Ref. 1). Most of the above applications have been related to single phase flow where both motive and suction fluids were gas, steam or a liquid phase. Limited work has been carried out since the 1950s investigating the design and performance of jet pumps handling two phase (gas and liquid) flow. Whilst the performance and design of jet pumps is reasonably well understood in single phase operations, their performance and design under two phase operations is less understood. Also in most previous industrial applications, the jet pumps were used mainly to combine fluids at different pressures and maximum boosting of the LP pressure was not as important as it is in the oil and gas industry applications. This short-coming led to CALTEC carrying out an extensive programme of development work during 1993 - 98, focusing on applications related to the oil and gas production where both gas and liquid phases were involved and maximum boost was desired for the LP pressure. This work led also to the development of a comprehensive multiphase model and the WELLCOM7 system which is described in this paper. 3. PERFORMANCE AND APPLICATIONS PRODUCTION APPLICATIONS OF JET PUMPS IN GAS

In gas production applications, if no liquid phase is involved, the performance of the jet pump is dictated primarily by two factors, namely HP to LP pressure ratio P HP and LP to HP mass flow P LP ratio M LP . These terms have been defined in the Nomenclature, section 11. The performance M HP of the jet pump in terms of pressure boost can be defined by the ratio of the discharge pressure P to LP pressure discharge . Figure 2 shows typical performance curves for a jet pump operating P LP under different HP to LP pressure ratios and flow ratios. The performance of the jet pump in this application deteriorates if a liquid phase is also produced with the LP gas. This effect is, however, minimal if the liquid phase is below 1% or 2% by volume. Figure 3 shows the effect of liquid on a given gas-gas jet pump design (solid lines). The main reason for the reduction in the boost achieved for the LP pressure is the additional

energy required in boosting the pressure of the liquid phase which has a significantly higher mass compared with gas. Incurring additional losses through the jet pump, because of the higher mixture density, is a further reason for the drop in performance. Further increase in the liquid P phase reduces the discharge pressure ratio further until the jet pump becomes ineffective as a P LP booster and becomes mainly a commingler of the HP and LP fluids without generating any boost. If the liquid flowrate in the LP gas is known, the jet pump can be designed to optimise its performance as dotted lines in Figure 3 show. The solid lines show the performance of the jet pump originally designed for handling the LP gas alone. When the liquid phase in the LP flow is at levels which affect the performance of the jet pump significantly, separation of the liquid phase becomes necessary. This can be achieved simply and economically if compact separators, such as I-SEP described in section 6, are used. The excessive liquid phase in the LP gas could also lead to choking of the flow through the jet pump, if the unit is not designed correctly, and could lead to severe restrictions in the LP flow. Presence of liquid beyond 1% or 2% by volume of the HP gas (the motive flow) also affects the performance of the jet pump, leading also to the restriction of flow through the nozzle. The use of a compact separator described in section 6 is therefore advisable in such cases. Jet pumps have been used extensively onshore and offshore in gas production applications where both the HP and LP gas are relatively dry (Ref. 2 & 3). DOWNHOLE APPLICATIONS In downhole applications if the produced gas contains liquids (water or condensate), lifting of the produced liquid becomes a problem for low pressure and low producing wells. Low velocity of gas in this case could lead to the liquid phase dropping out and causing slug and churn flow through the wellbore, thus restricting production and also creating undesirable flow conditions for the downstream separation system. Injection of gas downhole through the tubing or coiled tubing increases the velocity of gas through the wellbore and helps in lifting the produced liquid phase more effectively. A gas-driven jet pump can also be used downhole in this application. Although its pressure boosting capability could be severely restricted because of presence of the liquid phase in well fluids, its ability to generate a good homogeneous gas-liquid mixture with small droplets of the liquid phase helps significantly in lifting the produced liquids through the wellbore effectively. In cases where the produced fluid is water, it is feasible to use a downhole separator (such as ISEP), and use a jet pump downhole to inject the produced water into a disposal zone in the formation (see Figure 4). Water can be used as the motive fluid in this case. Disposal of produced water in this way not only helps to increase production, but also eliminates the additional cost of separation, treatment and disposal of produced water offshore or onshore. This concept is relatively new, but all the components of the system are available and reliable because of their simplicity.

A further use of jet pumps downhole in gas production is for cases where, because of low reservoir pressure, the produced liquids accumulate within the wellbore creating further back

pressure on the production zone and leading to the complete stoppage of production. In this case, a jet pump can be lowered by coil tubing and, using HP gas as the motive flow, the produced and accumulated liquids can be lifted in a controlled way and the well can be brought back to production cost-effectively. 4. PERFORMANCE AND APPLICATIONS OF JET PUMPS IN OIL PRODUCTION

The downhole application of jet pumps in oil production has been mainly in cases when little or no gas is present at production zone. In this case, a liquid phase (oil or water) can be used as the motive flow. In some applications involving the production of heavy oil, diluents such as naphta can also be added to reduce viscosity (Ref. 4). If the production pressure is below the bubble point of the reservoir fluids, gas will also be produced. In this case, use of liquids as the motive flow may not be so effective, while gas as the motive flow will help to reduce the hydrostatic head of fluids in the wellbore and reduce the back pressure at production zone effectively. Beyond the wellhead, production of oil involves generally a mixture of gas and liquid phases. If the motive flow is supplied from high pressure oil wells, separation of gas and liquid phase is required so that the liquid phase (oil and/or water) is used as the motive flow. The WELLCOM system (Ref. 5), used for such applications, consists of three main components as shown in Figure 5:
q q q

A compact separator A specially designed jet pump A commingling spool.

The compact separator removes gas from the liquid phase and enables only the liquid phase to be the motive fluid passing through the nozzle of the jet pump. The specially designed jet pump takes the entire multiphase flow from the low pressure well and, in a similar way as described in section 2, transfer of energy between HP and LP fluids takes place within the jet pump. The separated HP gas is then combined with the flow from the outlet of the jet pump which is at a lower pressure, using the commingler, without restricting this flow. All components are relatively simple, reliable, with no moving parts, and require no active control. The stepped type valve on the gas outlet of the compact separator is used primarily to optimise the performance of the compact separator, and its setting needs to be adjusted only if there is a significant change in the flowrate, the pressure or gas volume fraction (GVF) of the motive flow during the field life. The performance of jet pumps in oil production application is governed by HP to LP pressure ratio, LP to HP volumetric flow ratio (Mv) and the GVF of the LP fluids. The performance of such jet pumps is often defined in terms of pressure ratio >N= and efficiency (see Nomenclature section 11 for definitions).

Figures 6 and 7 show the performance of the jet pump in multiphase application for a given HP to LP pressure ratio and for different GVF values. The GVF of the low pressure flow plays a dominant part in the level of boost achieved as shown in Figure 8. When the GVF of low

pressure fluids is high, a significant portion of the HP energy is spent in increasing the pressure of LP gas. It is for this reason that in applications where the GVF of the LP fluids is high, the dual WELLCOM system shown in Figure 9 becomes a more effective way to boost the LP pressure. This system allows gas and liquid phases to be separated for both HP and LP fluids. Two jet pumps are used in this case - a gas-gas unit where HP gas boosts the pressure of the LP gas and a liquid-liquid jet pump where the HP liquid phase boosts the pressure of the LP liquids. In order for this system to be effective there should be a good pressure ratio and flow ratio for the HP and LP gas so that the boost in the pressure of LP gas is close to that achieved by the jet pump handling the liquid phases. Table 1 shows the comparison of a scenario where the Dual WELLCOM system provides a significantly higher level of boost for the LP fluids compared with a single standard unit. The importance and effect of liquid present in the gas phase, or gas in a liquid phase, is shown clearly by looking at the speed of sound through a pure gas or liquid phase and phases containing a small proportion of one phase in the other. The steep slopes of the curve shown in Figure 10 at either end of the gas volume fraction axis shows the sensitivity and rapid change of the sonic velocity in this range. For the jet pump, this could have a dramatic role in its performance if the effect of this phenomenon is not correctly incorporated in its design and the prediction of its performance. This is particularly relevant to gas production applications involving the presence of a liquid phase in the LP flow which could lead to choking of the flow through the jet pump. 5. THE ROLE OF COMPACT SEPARATOR

The need to separate gas from the liquid phase has been outlined in this paper when jet pumps are used. Conventional gravity separators can be used to achieve the desired duties. Gravity separators are, however, bulky and in most offshore or subsea applications are best avoided because of the added size, weight and cost, in comparison with compact separators. A new generation of compact separators is becoming available which provide the specified duties in a much simpler way, and require only a fraction of the space occupied by conventional separators. An example of such compact units is I-SEP compact separator (Ref. 6). It is worth noting that separators in such applications are required to operate under the following conditions: (a) (b) (c) (d) High operating pressure dictated by the pressure of HP fluids, as in most cases when HP wells are used to provide the motive flow, the wellhead choke should be fully open to benefit from the wellhead pressure in its entirety. Flow fluctuations and slugging generated upstream along the wellbore, the pipeline or the riser as a result of the flow regime or the configuration of the piping system. Should require minimum or no active control to improve their reliability. In gas production applications, high gas volume fractions in excess of 98% could be involved. I-SEP COMPACT SEPARATOR

6.

I-SEP is a dual involute compact separator which generates cyclonic, high g forces to effect

separation. Figure 11 shows the key components of the system. The first involute generates the high spin and high >g= forces as the fluid mixture enters the unit. The mixture then passes through a short separation chamber where the spinning fluids with different densities separate. The denser phase is forced to gather along the wall of the chamber, while at the centre core the lighter phase is collected. As the fluids reach the second involute, the denser phase (liquid or sand) is captured by the specially designed involute and the lighter phase is captured within the centre core, using a vortex finder. This unit is very compact and has been also miniaturised for downhole applications. A miniaturised version of I-SEP has been successfully used outside the oil industry applications in domestic bagless vacuum cleaners. Hoover=s vortex 2000 vacuum cleaners hold two compact I-SEP units operating in series and achieve in excess of 99.9% dust separation efficiency. APPLICATIONS OF I-SEP In oil and gas applications this unit can be used for a variety of duties including:
q q q q q

q q

Gas-liquid separation for a wide range of GVF values Knock-out liquid from wet gas, e.g. at the inlet of gas compressors Sand separation from gas-sand or liquid-sand mixtures Debottlenecking where bulk of the gas can be separated upstream of an existing gravity separator (see Figure 12) Inside conventional separators at entry point to help with the coalescence of droplets in each phase and the separation of gas and liquid phases. It is also an effective device to reduce the high velocities associated with the flow at entry to separators which is traditionally achieved far less effectively by using conventional inlet diverters Knock-out the liquid carry-over in the separated gas phase from the outlet of conventional separators (see Figure 13) Applications on floating platforms, as this separator is not sensitive to the motion of the vessel.

This device has also potential in oil-water separation onshore, topsides or downhole, although its full range of operation and the associated separation efficiencies in this application are yet to be fully investigated and demonstrated. Typical I-SEP units range between 2" to 10" nominal size, which refers to their line size at entry point. Typical footprint ranges from 300 x 300 mm to 900 x 900 mm respectively with a similar range for their height. In applications where high flowrates above the capacity of one unit are involved, two or more units can operate in parallel. In downhole application, several miniaturised units can be stacked up forming a slim-line separation string which can fit inside 7" and 9 tubing or casing.

THE PERFORMANCE OF I-SEP The performance of practically all compact separators is affected by the fluctuations in the pressure and the upstream flow regime. The result is the carry-over of one phase into another.

I-SEP is no exception and, depending on the severity of the flow fluctuations at entry to the unit, some gas will be carried over in the separated liquid phase, and some liquid will be carried over in the gas phase. The amount of carry-over varies generally between a few percent to as high as 10% or more of one phase into the other. In cases where flow fluctuations are minimal, as in the case of some high GVF values in excess of 95% and at high velocities, the carry-over is expected to be no more than 2% or 3%. It is also possible to achieve a high level of purity in a separated phase (whichever is preferred) beyond 98% to 99%. This is achieved by design or by the control of the back pressure on the relevant outlet line. So, in applications where - for instance - the purity of the liquid phase is desired, this can be achieved by the said method and by tolerating further carry-over of liquid in the separated gas phase as a result of imposing an additional back pressure on the liquid outlet line. Further development of I-SEP has led to the inclusion of an add-on patented feature to improve its efficiency significantly under flow fluctuation conditions. The add-on feature removes successfully all the liquid likely to be carried-over in the separated gas phase and enables both phases to achieve a purity of 99% or better. I-SEP works well in a wide range of gas volume fractions; typical range is 50% to 99%. It also has a good turn-down capability. In most cases its performance is within the accepted range with turn-down ratios of up to 5 to 1. The separator operates without the need for any level control or active pressure control. It is, however, required to be able to adjust the back pressure on each outlet line to optimise its performance when there is a major change in the flowrate or the GVF of the mixture during its field life. Pressure loss through the system is moderate and ranges, in general, between 0.2 to 2 bar depending on the flowrate, the pressure and the mixture density as dictated by the GVF. At high GVF values beyond 90%, the pressure loss is expected to be below 1 bar in general. 7. ECONOMICS

Jet pumps are low cost items in any application, compared with alternative boosting systems. The field applications so far have proved this point as, in practically all cases, the recovery period for the capital has been a matter of a few weeks to a few months. Figure 14 and Table 2 show typical examples of the increase in production and capital recovery period. Figure 14 shows a number of scenarios in oil production where added revenue ranging between ,5 to ,10.4 million has been made with oil price taken at $10/bbl. The short payback period confirms that even if the duration of using the system is short because of rapid decline in the pressure of HP or LP wells, or for any other reasons, still the use of the jet pump is justified and makes an economic sense. For this reason, even the deferment of using alternative costly boosting systems such as compressors or multiphase pumps, leads to cost saving.

8.

BENEFITS

The main benefit of the jet pump in both oil and gas production is the increase in the production from LP wells with the added possibility of increasing the total recovery from the field. Other

benefits include one or more of the following:

q q q q q q q q q

Increase in the pressure for transportation of produced fluids by pipeline Could eliminate the need for separate LP pipeline or LP process train in some applications Prevents or defers the cost of alternative boosting systems In gas production, it could prevent flaring of LP gas with added environmental benefits Minimum to no maintenance is required High level of reliability Requires no active control Could be used as a low-cost system for well start-up or well kick-off operations Modifications during the service life is at low-cost to optimise the design and performance as production conditions change. CONCLUSIONS

9.

Use of jet pumps is a cost-effective way to boost the production from many oil and gas fields. The level of gain depends on the amount of energy available from a high pressure source and the productivity characterics of LP wells. In applications where multiphase flow (gas and liquid) is involved, the system requires a special design. Full understanding of the performance of jet pumps handling multiphase flow is required to achieve maximum efficiency from the system. There has been a number of units in operations successfully worldwide, although still their use has not extended sufficiently - partly because of lack of awareness of their potential in boosting production. Because of their relative low-cost, their use even over a short period of one year could well be justified as the period for the recovery of the capital is short, often a matter of a few weeks or months.

10. GVF

NOMENCLATURE =

Qg Q g + Ql Ql(LP) + Q g(LP) Ql(HP) P discharge - P LP P HP - P discharge

Mv N

= =

Pressure ratio (inlet) = P HP P LP

Mass flow ratio

= M LP M HP

P ( P discharge - P LP ) Ql(LP) + P LP Q g(LP) ln discharge P LP h= ( P HP - Pdischarge ) Ql(HP)

Efficiency of the Liquid-Multiphase jet pump: Terms: GVF Gas Volume Fraction at opening pressure and temperature M Mass flowrate Mv Volumetric flow ratio N Pressure ratio PHP HP pressure at jet pump inlet PLP LP pressure at jet pump inlet Pdischarge Discharge pressure at jet pump outlet Q Volumetric flow at operating pressure and temperature Jet pump efficiency Subscript: l g HP LP Liquid gas High pressure (or motive) Low pressure (or suction)

11. 1.

REFERENCES H Bradley Petroleum Engineering Handbook Society of Petroleum Engineers, Texas, USA, 1987. K Ashton, A J Green, A Read Gas production improvements using ejectors. SPE paper 26684, Offshore Europe, Aberdeen, pp 523 - 531, September 1993. M Villa, G De Ghetto, F Paone - Agip SPA Use of ejectors for boosting low pressure oil and gas wells. Offshore Mediterranian Conference, OMC 97, Italy, pp 717 - 731. N Conti, P Giunta, R Pozzi Enhanced oil productivity by diluent lift. Offshore Mediterranean Conference and Exhibition, Ravenna, Italy, pp 54 - 73, March 1993. M M (Sacha) Sarshar (CALTEC), M Villa, F Paone (Agip SPA), W L Loh, N A Beg (CALTEC) Field testing and applications of WELLCOM system. 8th International Conference, Multiphase 97, Cannes, France, pp 293 - 318. M M (Sacha) Sarshar (CALTEC) Design of separators for floating installations to reduce the impact of motion. 2nd annual industry forum - Production Separation Systems, 24 - 25 February 1999, Aberdeen, arranged by IIR.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

TABLE 1:
Case

COMPARING THE PERFORMANCE OF SINGLE AND DUAL WELLCOM SYSTEMS

High Pressure (HP) Liquid flowrate m3/h 100 0 100 Gas flowrate sm3/d 423069 423069 0
GVF

Low Pressure (LP) Liquid flowrate m3/h 40 0 40 Gas flowrate sm3/d 221662 221662 0 GVF (%)

Discharge Pressure

Pressure barg

(%) 75 100 0

Pressure barg

barg 90 100 0 34 40 45

A B-1 B-2

70 70 70

30 30 30

Case A: Single WELLCOM system

Case B-1 & B-2:

Dual WELLCOM system gas & liquid jet pumps

TABLE 2:

WELLCOM ECONOMICS - GAS PRODUCTION Increase in Production Gas Price ,1/1000scf

(1) 0.75 x 106 scf per day (2) 2 x 106 scf per day (3) 15 x 106 scf per day Payback period (1) 40 - 50 days (2) 20 - 25 days (3) 6 - 8 days

capital ,30k - ,37.5k capital ,40k - ,50k capital ,80k - ,120k