Production Operations
Production Tubing and Well Head Assembly
By
Amit Verma
Assistant Professor
Petroleum Engineering Dept.
UPES, Dehradun
Production Operations
Oil Field Facilities
Wellhead Well Cluster A Simple Facility Layout
Gathering Station
Pipeline
Export Terminal
Production Station
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Production Operations
Well Sites
To accommodate drilling operations
To provide for maintenance / workovers
To provide containment in case of accidents
Possible facilities :
Wellhead(s) / Flowline(s)
Production Manifold
Production Testing Production
Gaslift / Gas Injection / Wellhead
Water Injection Wells Cellar for
To G.Stn
small spills
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Production Operations Production Tubing
Small-diameter pipe called
production tubing is run into
the well to just above the
bottom to conduct the water,
gas, and oil (produced fluids)
to the surface.
Tubing is special steel pipe
that ranges from 3 to 11.5 cm
in diameter and comes in
lengths of about 10 m long.
Tubing being run in a well
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Production Operations Production Tubing
The thicker section with male joints
on the ends of tubing joints is called
the upset. Tubing joints are joined
together with collars to form a tubing
string.
A tubing or completion packer is
used near the bottom of the tubing
string to seal the casing-tubing
annulus.
It keeps the tubing string central in
the well and prevents the produced
fluids from flowing up the outside of
Completed well
the tubing string.
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Production Operations Production Tubing
Production tubing is a tubular used in a
wellbore through which production fluids
are produced.
Production tubing is run into the drilled well
after the casing is run and cemented in
place.
Along with other components that
constitute the production string, it provides
a continuous bore from the production zone
to the wellhead through which oil and gas
can be produced.
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Production Operations Production Tubing
Few wells actually produce through casing, since
producing fluids can corrode steel or form deposits
such as asphaltenes or paraffins and the larger
diameter can make flow unstable.
Production tubing is therefore installed inside the
last casing string and the tubing annulus is usually
sealed at the bottom of the tubing by a packer.
Tubing is easier to remove for maintenance,
replacement, or for various types of workover
operations.
Tubing is significantly lighter than casing and does
not require a drilling rig to run in and out of hole;
smaller pulling units are used for this purpose.
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Production Operations Production Tubing
The production string is a part
of an oil well that is composed
of the production tubing and
other completion components
and serves as the conduit
through which the production
fluid flows from the oil
reservoir to the surface
through the wellhead.
Its purpose is to both contain
the fluids from contaminating
the environment or eroding
the other well structures, such
as the casing.
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Production Operations Production Tubing
Additionally, wells may have production flowing from
multiple reservoir levels.
These wells require multiple completions, which keep
the production separate.
Double-wing trees are installed on multiple reservoir
levels.
Furthermore, completions have evolved to incorporate
downhole sensors that measure flow properties, such
as rate, pressure and gas-to-oil ratio.
Known as intelligent wells or smart wells, these
completions help to achieve optimum production rates.
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Production Operations Production Tubing
Allows production
independently from
two zones
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Production Operations Wellhead Assembly
The last step in
completing a well is
installation of a wellhead
assembly at the surface
of the well.
A Christmas tree, part of
the wellhead assembly,
includes casingheads
and a tubing head
combined to provide
control of the subsurface
conditions of the well.
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Production Operations Christmas tree (oil well)
In hydrocarbon extraction, a
Christmas tree, (not "Wellhead" as
sometimes incorrectly referred to)
is an assembly of valves, spools,
and fittings, used for an
oil well,
gas well,
water injection well,
water disposal well,
gas injection well,
condensate well and
other types of wells.
It was named for its crude
resemblance to a decorated tree.
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Production Operations Christmas tree
Christmas tree complexity has increased over the last few
decades.
They are frequently manufactured from blocks of steel
containing multiple valves rather than made from
multiple flanged valves.
This is especially true in subsea applications where the
resemblance to Christmas Trees no longer exists given the
frame and support systems into which the main valve
block is integrated.
It is common to identify the type of tree as either
"Subsea Tree" or "Surface Tree".
Each of these classifications has a number or varieties
within them.
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Production Operations Christmas tree
The primary function of a tree is to control the flow into
or out of the well, usually oil or gas.
A tree often provides numerous additional functions
including chemical injection points, well intervention
means, pressure relief means (eg annulus vent), tree and
well monitoring points (such as pressure, temperature,
corrosion, erosion, sand detection, flow rate, flow
composition, valve and choke position feedback,
connection points for devices such as down hole pressure
and temperature transducer (DHPT), etc.
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Production Operations Christmas tree
When the operator, well, and facilities are ready to produce
and receive oil or gas, valves are opened and the release of
the formation fluids is allowed to flow into and through a
pipeline.
The pipeline then leads to a processing facility, storage depot
and or other pipeline eventually leading to a refinery or
distribution center (for gas).
Subsea wells and thus trees usually flow through flowlines to
a fixed or floating production platform or to a storage vessel
(known as a Floating Storage Offloading vessel (FSO), or
Floating Processing Unit (FPU), or Floating Production and
Offloading Vessel or FPSO or other combination of structures).
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Production Operations Christmas tree
A tree may also be used to control the injection of gas
or water injection application on a producing or non-
producing well in order to sustain economic
"production" volumes of oil from other well(s) in the
area (field).
On producing wells, injection of chemicals or alcohols
or oil distillates to prevent and or solve production
problems (such as blockages) may be used.
Functionality may be extended further by using the
control system on a subsea tree to monitor, measure,
and react to sensor outputs on the tree or even down
the well bore.
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Production Operations Christmas tree
The CONTROL SYSTEM attached to the tree controls the
downhole safety valve (scssv, dhsv, sssv, etc) while the
tree acts as an attachment and conduit means of the
control system to the downhole safety valve.
Christmas trees are also used in subsea (current
technical limits are up to around 3000 metres and
working temperatures of -50F to 350F with a pressure
rating up to 15,000 psi).
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Production Operations
Well Locations - Offshore
Subsea examples include
conventional, dual bore,
monobore, TFL (Through
Flow Line), horizontal,
mudline, mudline
horizontal, side valve,
and TBT (Through Bore
Tree) trees,
Southern North Sea
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Production Operations
Subsea Development
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Production Operations
Offshore Platforms - Brunei
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Production Operations
Offshore Platforms - Brent
North
Sea
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Production Operations
Offshore Platforms Sakhalin
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Production Operations
Offshore Sub Sea Development
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Malampaya Development
Philippines
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Production Operations
TLP Sub Sea Development - Nakika
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Production Operations
FPSO Sub Sea Development - Brazil
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Production Operations
Floating Production Storage & Offloading
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Single Buoy Mooring & Tanker
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Single Buoy Mooring & Tanker
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Single Buoy Mooring
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Single Buoy Mooring
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Production Operations Wellhead
A wellhead is a general term used to describe the
pressure containing component at the surface of an oil
well that provides the interface for drilling and
production equipment.
The main purpose of a wellhead is to provide a pressure
barrier connecting the casing strings that run from the
bottom of the hole sections to the surface pressure
control equipment.
Whilst drilling the oil well the surface pressure
control is provided by a Blowout preventer or
'BOP'. If the pressure is not contained during
drilling operations by the casings, wellhead and
BOP, then a well blowout can occur.
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Production Operations Wellhead
Once the well has been drilled, a completion is
placed in the well to provide the conduit for the well
fluids.
The surface pressure control is provided by a
Christmas tree which is installed on top of the
wellhead, and has isolation valves and choke
equipment to control the well fluids.
Wellheads located on the oil platforms/onshore
are called a surface wellhead, or subsea, a
subsea wellhead/mudline wellhead.
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Production Operations Wellhead
A wellhead system provides the following basic
functionality:
connection for a blowout preventer (BOP)
support of the casing and tubing strings (the tubing
string may also be suspended in the Christmas tree
providing a seal between the different strings
allowing for access to annuli between the different
casing/tubing strings
Wellheads are cemented in place and are generally
permanently kept in place, although in exploration
wells they may be recovered for use again.
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Production Operations Wellhead, summary of functions
A wellhead serves numerous functions. Some of these
are:
Means of casing suspension. (Casing is the
permanently installed pipe used to line the well hole
for pressure containment, collapse prevention, etc.)
Means of casing pressure isolation when multiple
casing strings are used
Means of attaching a blowout preventer during drilling
Means of attaching a tree for well control during
production, injection, or other operations
Means of well access
Means of pump attachment
Means of tubing suspension (Tubing is removable pipe
installed in the well)
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Production Operations
Well Location - Land
NAM Gas well in North of Holland
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Production Operations
Christmas tree vs. Wellhead
Note that a Christmas tree and wellhead are
separate pieces of equipment not to be mistaken
as the same piece.
For clarity, a wellhead must be present in order
to utilize a Christmas Tree and a wellhead is used
WITHOUT a Christmas Tree during drilling
operations, and also for riser tie-back situations
which would then have a tree included at riser top.
Producing surface wells that require pumps (pump
jacks, nodding donkeys, etc.) frequently do not
utilize any tree due to NO pressure containment
requirement.
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Production Operations
While both onshore and offshore wells are
completed by production trees, offshore wells
can be completed by two different types of trees:
dry and wet trees.
Similar to onshore production trees, dry trees are
installed above the waters surface on the deck of
a platform or facility and are attached to the well
below the water.
Wet trees, on the other hand, are installed on the
seabed and encased in a solid steel box to
protect the valves and gages from the elements.
The subsea wet tree is then connected via
electronic or hydraulic settings that can be
manipulated from the surface or via ROVs
(remote operated vehicles).
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Production Operations
