Getting the Last Gasp: Deliquification of Challenging Gas Wells

Abstract A common characteristic of "challenging" unconventional gas resources, namely low permeability sands, shale and coal bed methane, is that the ultimate recovery is dependent on economic removal of liquids accumulation, generally termed "deliquification". This resource is making up an ever-increasing part of the North American gas supply. Since there is no one "perfect solution", and the problem affects thousands of wells, the opportunity involves not only technology development but also knowledge management and building resource capability. This paper outlines the scope of impact and opportunity in North America, followed by the industry's approach and progress in the arena. The North American industry is working a variety of deliquification technologies for "challenging" gas, with developments ranging from adapting existing oil-field technologies, to developing gas-specific technologies, to "on the horizon" technologies. Examples in each stage of the development process will be shown. The effective communication of these developments to operators and suppliers is also a necessary component. The industry-wide annual conferences that have emerged in the last seven years are the primary avenue for this communication, and are supplemented in some cases by operator internal networks. This combination of technology development and effective communication is increasingly allowing North American operators to maximize the recovery of challenging gas resources. Context Economic Context. North America is one of the largest natural gas markets in the world, and is supplied primarily from domestic production. In 2006, North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States) produced 73 BCF/d and consumed 74.5 BCF/d (1); this represents about one quarter of the world gas supply and demand. A distinguishing characteristic of North American land-based gas production is the large number of low rate wells. For example, in the continental United States, the majority of gas wells produce less than 100 Mscfd. Figure 1 shows the well count distribution for a significant portion of United States gas production. The low rates reflect the maturity of North American gas production and the predominance of "challenging" production from low permeability sands (less than 0.1 mD), shale and coal bed methane. Figure 1: Gas rate distribution for North American gas wells. Low rate gas wells almost always cease production due to liquids accumulation in the wellbore. Consequently, deliquification of low rate gas wells is of great importance to North American gas producers. Coupled with this technical challenge is that the scarcity of gas in the market has increased gas prices substantially in the last 10 years. As shown on Figure 2, wellhead gas prices have roughly tripled in the past 10 years (2). Consumers are providing the economic incentive to produce low rate gas wells beyond the natural flow of the well.

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