Taming Majnoon Giant Producers with Parallel Dual Mobile Test Separator Setup

Well Production testing is a key surveillance activity for determining well performance and hence a fundamental ingredient for successful well and reservoir management. Key measurements, such as flow rate, fluid properties, composition, pressure, and temperature—all captured at live well conditions—help identify what is happening downhole and at the surface with greater certainty. It was planned to carry out the routine production testing of all the asset wells. However, the mobile test separator unit contracted from the vendor was inadequate for testing nearly two-thirds of all the wells at larger choke sizes to obtain the critical well performance data. To counter this challenge, two independent and identical mobile test separators were used in parallel configuration. The paper describes the various technical, practical and operation problems encountered and solved to successfully and accurately test seven oil producer wells (until the time of writing the abstract). The individual well data is being used to model well performance and a comprehensive picture of the dynamics across the reservoirs is being made through interpreting data from multiple wells. After these successful field trials, the vendor is proposing this solution to other operators in Iraq.