Petroleum Production Course

Lesson 1 • Production Lifecycle and Field Phases

Traces field development from exploration through abandonment, highlighting production rate trends. Sets expectations for how techniques evolve across a field's life.

Lesson 2 • Overview of the Production System

Maps the path from reservoir to sales point, including wellbore, surface facilities, and export infrastructure. Provides the system-level context for all technical chapters.

Lesson 3 • Reservoir Rock and Fluid Properties

Examines porosity, permeability, and fluid saturation as controls on producibility. Connects pore-scale physics to field-level production behaviour.

Lesson 4 • Reservoir Drive Mechanisms

Identifies natural energy sources that move fluids to the wellbore. Understanding drive type determines recovery strategy in later chapters.

Lesson 1 • Drilling Fundamentals for Production Engineers

Reviews rotary drilling mechanics, mud systems, and wellbore trajectory relevant to production outcomes. Bridges drilling operations to completion and production planning.

Lesson 2 • Perforation and Completion Intervals

Explains perforation techniques, gun systems, and interval selection criteria. Perforation design directly controls inflow performance addressed in Chapter 3.

Lesson 3 • Casing and Cementing Design

Covers casing string selection, setting depths, and cement job objectives for zonal isolation. Proper casing design is prerequisite to safe well completion.

Lesson 4 • Completion Types and Configurations

Compares open-hole, cased-hole, and sand-control completions for different reservoir types. Completion choice sets the foundation for production optimization.

Lesson 1 • Productivity Index and AOF Determination

Calculates productivity index for oil wells and absolute open flow potential for gas wells. These metrics benchmark well performance and identify improvement opportunities.

Lesson 2 • Skin Factor Analysis and Damage Assessment

Quantifies mechanical, completion, and stimulation skin components and their production impact. Skin analysis guides the stimulation decisions covered in Chapter 6.

Lesson 3 • Inflow Performance Relationships

Introduces Vogel, Fetkovich, and composite IPR models for oil and gas wells. IPR construction is the primary tool for production rate prediction.

Lesson 4 • Nodal Analysis Fundamentals

Combines IPR with tubing performance curves to locate the system operating point. Nodal analysis integrates inflow and outflow for holistic well optimisation.

Lesson 1 • Pressure Gradient and Traverse Calculations

Breaks total pressure gradient into gravity, friction, and acceleration components for multiphase flow. Accurate traverses are essential for artificial lift design in Chapter 5.

Lesson 2 • Surface Pipeline Multiphase Flow

Extends multiphase flow analysis to horizontal and inclined surface flowlines. Pipeline pressure management connects wellhead performance to separator inlet conditions.

Lesson 3 • Multiphase Flow Regimes in Wellbores

Identifies bubble, slug, churn, and annular flow regimes and their occurrence conditions. Flow regime governs pressure gradient calculations throughout this chapter.

Lesson 4 • Choke Performance and Wellhead Control

Analyses critical and subcritical flow through chokes and their role in rate control. Choke management links wellhead pressure to reservoir inflow and separator conditions.

Lesson 1 • Gas Lift Design and Optimisation

Details continuous and intermittent gas lift valve design, spacing, and injection rate optimisation. Gas lift is preferred when high-pressure gas is available and well deviation is significant.

Lesson 2 • Sucker Rod Pumping Systems

Explains pump-off controller logic, rod string design, and dynagraph card interpretation. Rod pumping remains the most widely deployed lift method globally.

Lesson 3 • Electric Submersible Pump Systems

Covers ESP component selection, performance curves, and variable speed drive application. ESP systems dominate high-rate and offshore production environments.

Lesson 4 • Progressive Cavity and Hydraulic Pumps

Addresses PCP application in viscous and sandy fluids and jet pump design for remote locations. These methods fill niches where rod pumps and ESPs are unsuitable.

Lesson 1 • Sandstone Acidising with HF Systems

Explains HF-HCl acid system chemistry, spending behaviour, and damage removal mechanisms. Sandstone acidising requires careful design to avoid secondary precipitation damage.

Lesson 2 • Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics and Geometry

Introduces fracture initiation, propagation, and geometry models including PKN and KGD. Fracture geometry determines proppant placement and post-treatment conductivity.

Lesson 3 • Fracture Treatment Design and Evaluation

Covers fluid selection, pump schedule design, step-down tests, and post-fracture production analysis. Treatment evaluation closes the design loop and informs future stimulation decisions.

Lesson 4 • Matrix Acidising in Carbonate Reservoirs

Covers wormhole propagation theory, acid volume design, and diversion techniques for carbonates. Carbonate acidising is the primary stimulation method for limestone and dolomite formations.

Lesson 1 • Production Data Analytics and Diagnostics

Uses rate-normalised pressure, flowing material balance, and diagnostic plots for reservoir assessment. Analytics convert routine production data into actionable reservoir intelligence.

Lesson 2 • Pressure Transient Testing Methods

Covers buildup, drawdown, and interference tests and their interpretation for reservoir characterisation. Pressure transient data quantifies skin, permeability, and reservoir boundaries.

Lesson 3 • Field-Level Production Optimisation

Applies network modelling, gas allocation, and production scheduling to maximise field output. Field optimisation requires integrating individual well performance into a system-wide view.

Lesson 4 • Production Logging and Downhole Surveillance

Explains spinner, temperature, and density log interpretation for inflow profiling. Production logs identify contributing intervals and diagnose completion problems.

Lesson 1 • Gas Injection and Miscible Flooding

Evaluates CO2, hydrocarbon, and nitrogen injection for miscible and immiscible displacement. Gas injection EOR is increasingly linked to carbon storage objectives.

Lesson 2 • Waterflooding Design and Management

Covers pattern selection, injection rate design, and waterflood performance prediction using fractional flow. Waterflooding is the most widely applied secondary recovery method.

Lesson 3 • Thermal EOR Methods

Analyses steam injection, SAGD, and in-situ combustion mechanisms for heavy oil recovery. Thermal methods are essential for reservoirs where viscosity prevents conventional production.

Lesson 4 • EOR Screening and Recovery Mechanisms

Establishes displacement efficiency, sweep efficiency, and recovery factor concepts for EOR evaluation. Screening criteria prevent application of unsuitable EOR methods to a given reservoir.