Empirical Wellhead Pressure-Production Rate Correlations for Niger Delta Oil Wells

Abstract Several correlations have been developed to predict wellhead pressure–production rate relationship in the Niger Delta region. Regrettably, most of these correlations were developed from field data that are not from the Niger Delta region and with limited field test data ranges, so their predictions are lower than expected field values when applied to the Niger Delta. Additionally, some developed wellhead pressure–production rate correlations based on Niger Delta field data are made using in-house equations by the operating companies in the Niger Delta region. To ameliorate this anomaly, sixty four (64) field test data: choke size (S), production rate (q), gas-liquid ratio (GLR), flowing wellhead pressure (Pwh), flowing temperature (FTHP) and basic sediment and water (BS&W) were collected from oil producing wells in the Niger Delta region to develop wellhead pressure–production rate correlations based on Gilbert correlation and modified Gilbert equations. The developed correlations using Niger Delta field test data were compared with several authors' correlations. The results obtained indicate that the developed correlations resulted in better predictions than earlier correlations. In addition, the statistical analysis of the developed correlations used to ascertain the extent of their predicted values differ from the field test data and resulted in average error, absolute error and standard deviation of −0.1477, 0.4430 and 0.9582 for Gilbert formula and −0.2515, 0.4737 and 1.0997 for modified Gilbert formula, respectively. Furthermore, the developed correlations are comparable with an average correlation coefficient of 0.9869. Therefore, the developed correlations can be used as a quick tool to estimate the wellhead pressure–production rate relationship in Niger Delta oil fields.