Sampling:

 What,  When,  
Where  
Upstream  Produc8on  Measurement  
(UPM)  Forum    February  26,  2015    
Houston  
JL  Creek  
 

25 – 26 February 2015 Houston, TX

 What,  When,  Where  
Many  elements  to  consider    
•  Why?    -­‐  what  is  the  objec8ve  of  the  sampling  exercise  

•  What?  
–  what  type  of  sample  is  required  to  meet  the  objec8ve  
–  How  much  is  work  is  required  per  sample  to  meet  objec8ve  
•  Where?  
–  Where  is  the  sample  point  rela8ve  to  the  domain  to  be  sampled  
–  Is  this  onshore  or  offshore;  topsides  or  subsea;  from  forma8on  
…  
•  When?  
–  How  oUen  do  the  samples  need    collec8on  and  analysis  
 Why  Sample?  
Sampling  -­‐  collec8ng  a  representa8ve  subset  from    a  
much  larger  system’s  domain  
 
•  Give  representa8ve  informa8on  about  larger  
system  
–  Reservoir  fluids  
–  Core  materials  
–  Forma8on  Evalua8on  
•  Samples  are  taken  for  a  par8cular  reason      
–  Value  of  informa8on  
–  Process  tracking  
 Why  Sample?  
Samples  are  taken  for  a  par8cular  reason      
•  Reservoir  engineering  
•  Facili8es  design  
•  Flow  Assurance  
•  Mul8phase  metering  
•  Reservoir  management  
•  Water  flood  progress  
•  Which  zones  are  producing  
•  Produc8on  alloca8on  
•  Finger  prin8ng  
•  Produced  water  composi8on  
•   …  
 Propaga8on  of  Errors  
For  the  Samples  collected:  
-­‐  Which  target  are  you  trying  to  collect?  
-­‐  How  well  do  you  have  to  know  the  result  
-­‐  Onsite  analysis  or  laboratory  analysis  
-­‐  Rou8ne  lab  or  research/specialty  lab?  
-­‐  Aqueous  phase  or  Hydrocarbon  phase  
-­‐  Absolute  value  vs  normalized  total  value  
 What,  When,  Where  
Many  elements  to  consider    
•  Why?    -­‐  what  is  the  objec8ve  of  the  sampling  exercise  

•  What?  
–  what  type  of  sample  is  required  to  meet  the  objec8ve  
–  How  much  is  work  is  required  per  sample  to  meet  objec8ve  
•  Where?  
–  Where  is  the  sample  point  rela8ve  to  the  domain  to  be  sampled  
–  Is  this  onshore  or  offshore;  topsides  or  subsea;  from  forma8on  
…  
•  When?  
–  How  oUen  do  the  samples  need    collec8on  and  analysis  
 What  Will  The  Samples  Be  For?  
Which  Tes8ng  Equipment?  
•  PVT  {Zi},  CCE(Do,  Psat,  µo)  .  .  .  200  cm3  min  
•  Water  composi8on    ..  200  cm3    
•  Pilot  scale  tes8ng  ..    Gallons  of  oil  =>  surface  samples  
or  large  volume  MDT  
–  Small  equipment  
–  Mini  loops  
–   .  .  .    
•  Flow  loops  .  .  .    Barrels  of  oil    =>  well  flow  is  required  
–  Wax  loop  needs  10  bbls  of  oil  
–  Hydrate  loop  needs  1  bbl  of  oil  per  test  
 What,  When,  Where  
Many  elements  to  consider    
•  Why?    -­‐  what  is  the  objec8ve  of  the  sampling  exercise  

•  What?  
–  what  type  of  sample  is  required  to  meet  the  objec8ve  
–  How  much  is  work  is  required  per  sample  to  meet  objec8ve  
•  Where?  
–  Where  is  the  sample  point  rela8ve  to  the  domain  to  be  sampled  
–  Is  this  onshore  or  offshore;  topsides  or  subsea;  from  forma8on  
…  
•  When?  
–  How  oUen  do  the  samples  need    collec8on  and  analysis  
 The  Sampling  Point    
•  The  point  in  process  where  the  sample  is  collected  
•  Is  it  possible  to  get  representa8ve  material  in  the  sample  
point?  
•  Can  sampling  be  controlled  so  the  fluid  proper8es  are  not  
compromised  during  the  sample  taking  
–  Separator  gas  at  top  of  separator  vs  meter  run  
–  Separator  oil  from  liquid  leg  sample  point  vs  sight  glass  
–  Two  phase  vs  three  phase  separator  and  where  is  the  water?  
•  Classic  problems  in  flow  line  sampling    
–  We  can  take  liquid  and  gas  at  flow  line  condi8ons  but  at  
unknown  propor8ons  –    
–  Can  the  flow  be  homogenized  during  flow  to  allow  accurate  
sample  capture?  
 Bolom  Hole  Samples    
•  Open  hole  samples  
–  MDT/RDT  
–  During  well  logging  runs  
–  Target  promising  zones  from  logs  
–  Limited  flow  into  tool  
–  OBM  contamina8on  
•  Case  Hole  Samples  
–  Slick  line  samplers  
–  Electric  line  samplers  
–  500  cm3  
 Open  Hole  Samplers  
•  Typically  collected  immediately  aUer  logging  fresh  hole  

•  Must  be  carefully  planned  based  in  development  

interest  and  geology/geochemical  targets  for  well  

•  Limited  number  of  chambers  for  sampling  in  any  given  

wireline  run  

•  Each  wireline  run  >$1,000,000  

•  Samples  transferred  on  site  to  shipping  containers  

 Case  Hole  =>  Drill  Stem  Test  Sampling  
•  Casing  and  produc8on  tubing  in  place  
•  Well  has  had  “clean  up”  flow  to  sweep  out  comple8on  
fluids  
•  Flow  and  buildup  well  to  reservoir  pressure  aUer  shut-­‐
in  
–  Sample  while  sta8c  
–  Sample  aUer  very  low(?)  trickle  flow  to  bring  fresh  fluids  
into  the  wellbore  
•  Sampling  informa8on  collected  the  well  test  report  
–  Should  also  be  on  individual  sample  containers  
–  Psat  checked  on  bolom  hole  samples  on  site  for  
verifica8on  during  transfer  from  tool  
 What,  When,  Where  
Many  elements  to  consider    
•  Why?    -­‐  what  is  the  objec8ve  of  the  sampling  exercise  

•  What?  
–  what  type  of  sample  is  required  to  meet  the  objec8ve  
–  How  much  is  work  is  required  per  sample  to  meet  objec8ve  
•  Where?  
–  Where  is  the  sample  point  rela8ve  to  the  domain  to  be  sampled  
–  Is  this  onshore  or  offshore;  topsides  or  subsea;  from  forma8on  
…  
•  When?  
–  How  oUen  do  the  samples  need    collec8on  and  analysis  
 When?  
•  Collect  during  well  events  
–  Logging  
–  Well  Test  
–  Offshore/Onshore  
•  Normal  Produc8on  
–  Chemical  injec8on  
–  Water  cut  and  O/W  separa8on  
•  Sample  transfer/transport    
 Surface  Samples  
Flow  from  well  into  test  separator  –    
–   must  provide  GOR  for  recombina8on  of  separator  oil  and  gas  
–   in  SCF  of  primary  separator  gas  per  BBL  of  primary  separator  
liquid  
 
–  Requires  low  stable  flow  
•  Accurate  gauge  of  flow  
•  Minimal  damage  to  reservoir  in  terms  of  fluid  satura8ons  
•  Length  of  flow  –  coordinate  with  well  test  objec8ves  
•  Complex  issues  from  low  (<  30  m3/m3)  and  high  (>20,000  m3/m3)  
–  Low  typical  =>  20  °API  mass  transfer  
–  High  typical  =>  lean  gas  flow  and  liquid  sample/gauge  problems  
–  Lab  work  to  derive  reservoir  fluid  proper8es  from  composi8on  
 When?  
•  When  in  the  design  process  are  samples  needed  
–  Process  monitoring  
•  Time  rate  of  change  of  phenomena  to  be  monitored  
•  Difficulty  and  expense  of  analysis  
•  Are  old  samples  discarded?  
•  Chain  of  custody  on  samples  
–  General  Informa8on  
•  Reservoir  proper8es  
•  Flow  of  Fluids  
–  Trouble  makers  
–  Normal  flow  and  separa8on  tes8ng  
 What,  When,  Where  
Many  elements  to  consider    
•  Why?    -­‐  what  is  the  objec8ve  of  the  sampling  exercise  

•  What?  
–  what  type  of  sample  is  required  to  meet  the  objec8ve  
–  How  much  is  work  is  required  per  sample  to  meet  objec8ve  
•  Where?  
–  Where  is  the  sample  point  rela8ve  to  the  domain  to  be  sampled  
–  Is  this  onshore  or  offshore;  topsides  or  subsea;  from  forma8on  
…  
•  When?  
–  How  oUen  do  the  samples  need    collec8on  and  analysis  
Ques%ons