Modeling and application of production metering for electric pump wells without downhole pressure measurement devices

Abstract

To address the issues of low frequency and high costs associated with the current manual production measurement for ESP wells in the Tarim Oilfield, a study was conducted to develop a digital production measurement method for ESP wells. Based on the principle of energy conservation, where the input power of the pump equals the output power of the motor, and incorporating parameters such as surface tubing and casing pressure, motor current, and motor/ pump performance curves, with viscosity correction of the pump performance curve, a corrected power calculation method was proposed. A digital production measurement mathematical model was established. According to feedback from field applications, the calculated results of this method align well with the metered results when corrected using on-site measured flow rate. Furthermore, by applying this model, accurate allocation of merged production well outputs and risk warning or failure diagnosis for oil wells can be achieved. This method not only improves the accuracy and efficiency of ESP well production calculations but also enables real-time reflection of oil well production trends, contributing to intelligent production management in the Tarim Oilfield and significantly enhancing the level of oilfield production management.