Modeling of hydrocarbon multiphase flow in an oil field gathering and transportation network using the d-Flow system

UDK: 532:622.276

DOI: 10.24887/0028-2448-2025-10-93-98

Key words: hydraulic simulator, hydraulic loss calculation in production systems, production calculation, multiphase flow modeling, fluid property estimation

Authors: R.I. Vylegzhanin (Novosibirsk State University, RF, Novosibirsk; Novosibirsk Scientific and Technical Center LLC, RF, Novosibirsk); O.A. Aksenov (Novosibirsk State University, RF, Novosibirsk; Novosibirsk Scientific and Technical Center LLC, RF, Novosibirsk); P.A. Lykhin (Novosibirsk State University, RF, Novosibirsk; Novosibirsk Scientific and Technical Center LLC, RF, Novosibirsk); R.R. Kopeikin (Gazprom Neft Companу Group, RF, Saint Petersburg); A.N. Baykin (Novosibirsk State University, RF, Novosibirsk); E.R. Khudiev (Gazprom Neft Companу Group, RF, Saint Petersburg); E.V. Denisova (Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, RF, Saint Petersburg); V.A. Meshkov (Gazprom Neft Companу Group, RF, Saint Petersburg; Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, RF, Saint Petersburg)

At any stage of an oil or gas field's life cycle, subsoil users need to address a range of production challenges, such as designing and optimizing the gathering and production system, analyzing and optimizing the operating conditions of the existing system, identifying bottlenecks in the production system, as well as ensuring safe operation and maximum economic efficiency. To solve such tasks, specialized engineering software is used, which simulates the flow of multiphase fluid while calculating hydraulic losses, volumetric and mass flow rates of oil, gas, and water, velocities, and other phase properties under both linear and standard conditions. The software takes into account all physical characteristics of the pipeline system, as well as the downhole and surface equipment. The d-Flow simulator, developed by the authors of this paper, enables the calculation of multiphase flow characteristics in a complex production system and designs infrastructure facilities to meet specific operational requirements. This paper presents the simulation results of a section of a real oil field in the d-Flow hydraulic simulator compared with Schlumberger’s (France) PIPESIM software, which has been considered the industry standard for the past few decades. Deviations in key parameters do not exceed 5%, even under conditions of high water cut and a sharp increase in the gas-oil ratio. This enables the d-Flow simulator to be used for solving oil industry problems.

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