New Model for Predicting Wellbore Pressure Drop in Horizontal Gas Wells with Condensate Production

Yong-hui LIU , Jie LUO , Shu-bing LIU , Ya-tao YANG , Lei LIU

Science Technology and Engineering ›› 2026, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (10) : 4167 -4174.

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Science Technology and Engineering ›› 2026, Vol. 26 ›› Issue (10) : 4167-4174 DOI: 10.12404/j.issn.1671-1815.2503090
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New Model for Predicting Wellbore Pressure Drop in Horizontal Gas Wells with Condensate Production
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Abstract

Accurate prediction of wellbore pressure is regarded as a key parameter in production performance analysis for condensate gas wells. As production proceeds, a decrease in pressure and temperature is observed during the flow from the bottom hole to the wellhead. At a certain location in the horizontal wellbore, the water phase is precipitated. As a result, the flow in the wellbore changes from single-phase gas flow to gas-liquid two-phase flow characterized by an ultra-high gas-liquid ratio and very low liquid volume. Essentially, the flow becomes a segmented combination of single-phase gas flow and gas-liquid two-phase flow. Classical gas-phase or gas-liquid two-phase pressure drop models are considered inadequate for accurate prediction of the wellbore pressure drop under these conditions. Therefore, horizontal gas wells producing condensate water are taken as the research object. Seven condensate water models were evaluated, and the saturated pressure model was selected for accurate calculation of the amount of natural gas condensate water in the wellbore. The starting point of gas-liquid two-phase flow was also identified. Experiments on gas-liquid two-phase pipe flow were conducted under conditions of extremely low liquid volume and ultra-high gas-liquid ratio. The influences of gas superficial velocity, liquid superficial velocity, and pipe inclination angle on liquid holdup were analyzed. A new liquid holdup model suitable for horizontal wells producing condensate water was established. The relative percentage error and absolute percentage error between the model calculations and experimental results were reported as-0.1% and 11.65%, respectively. Since the section from the horizontal segment to the water precipitation point is considered single-phase gas flow, a pseudo-single-phase pressure drop calculation method was applied. This method is combined with a two-phase flow pressure drop model under ultra-high gas-liquid ratio conditions. A new wellbore pressure drop prediction method was thus developed for horizontal gas wells producing condensate water. Validation based on four horizontal gas wells producing condensate water shows that the average relative percentage error and absolute percentage error of the new model are -6.33% and 6.33%, respectively. The method is considered to provide important reference value for guiding production in condensate water gas wells.

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condensate water / horizontal gas wells / liquid holdup / pressure drop

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Yong-hui LIU, Jie LUO, Shu-bing LIU, Ya-tao YANG, Lei LIU. New Model for Predicting Wellbore Pressure Drop in Horizontal Gas Wells with Condensate Production. Science Technology and Engineering, 2026, 26(10): 4167-4174 DOI:10.12404/j.issn.1671-1815.2503090

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