Smart Needle Valve: Intelligent and Cost-Effective Solution to Unlock Gas Production in a Tight Gas Field in China

Gas field C is an unconventional tight gas reservoir located in central China. As the gas wells mature, production rates start to decline because of the decreasing bottomhole pressure that prompts a liquid loading issue. The production loss is up to 114 MMscf/yr resulting from liquid loading. To mitigate this issue and hence optimize production, an innovative intermittent solution has been created. With the combination and implementation of cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) methods and Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) technics, an automatic full-cycle closed-loop workflow has been achieved to manage the intermittent production dynamically. This solution has tremendous benefits in cost-effectiveness, efficient operations, health, safety, and environment (HSE) exposure reduction, bringing a new wave of digital technology to facilitate optimization in gas field operation. This solution is deployed in the wellsite IIOT gateway connecting both sensors and remote-controllable needle valve (RCNV) with edge computing technology. In design, the gateway processes high-frequency production data, completes a calculation, and then sends a command of "well open" or "well shut-in" to the RCNV. All these steps are managed by the gateway automatically within several seconds. Since 2022, the smart needle valve (SNV) solution has been successfully piloted for five wells with a 6% to 8% gas production incremental and 50% operational expense (OPEX) reduction. The application also reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and driving risk in the field by reducing personnel visiting the well pad.