Besides the regular four flow regimes normally seen during a pressure test of horizontal wells, it is possible, under special circumstances, to observe such additional flow regimes as spherical, hemi-radial, linear (reservoir channel) and elliptical. The last flow regime is characterized by a slope of 0.36 of the pressure derivative curve and occurs between the early linear flow and the pseudo-radial flow periods. This may have been overlooked in horizontal well test analysis, because it is often masked by the other flow regimes, unless the conditions are just right. The elliptical flow regime has been previously mentioned by very few researchers5–7. A methodology for its characterization has been also introduced using the pressure derivative concept and TDS technique7. However, conventional analysis for the characterization of this has not yet been reported in the literature. This flow regime is very useful to estimate the horizontal permeability, especially, when the pseudo-radial flow is very short or unclear, or simply, when it is desired to verify this estimation. In this paper, equations for the estimation of the horizontal permeability and elliptical skin factor are developed for both gas and oil horizontal wells, so that the mentioned parameters can be estimated, respectively, from the slope and intercept of linear plot of pressure versus time to the power 0.36. The equations were successfully tested with two field examples previously worked in the literature. 1. Introduction Horizontal wells have proved to provide better productivity index than vertical wells. This fact made them very attractive to the oil industry around the world. Therefore, an appropriate identification and evaluation of the well pressure models is very encouraged. Several great contributions to the field of horizontal well test analysis are reported in Refs. 1 through 4. However, recently, Isaaka et al.5 and Chacon et al.6 introduced the concept of elliptical flow as sketched in Fig. 1. Escobar et al.7 presented a methodology for the characterization of this flow regime by means of the TDS technique8, and a methodology using the conventional analysis is matter of this article, since this technique is widely accepted by most of engineers. A procedure is also presented for the determination of the horizontal permeability anisotropy, using the linear plot of pressure (or pressure drop) against time to the power 0.36. The application of this procedure is demonstrated on field data of two horizontal well tests previously presented in the literature.
Well test interpretation methods for a single well in infinite reservoirs may not be suitable for those wells when their pressure is affected by other wells operating in the same reservoir. This effect becomes more significant as both the flow rate and the test duration increase. It is observed in drawdown tests when the well experiences an additional pressure decline due to production from other wells and, also, when the well produces under pseudosteady state before shut-in it for a buildup test. When pressure data are interpreted as recorded, estimation of reservoir parameters may not be accurate. Slider1-3 introduced a technique for analyzing a pressure test that takes into account the effect of nearby active wells. Corrected or extrapolated pressures are obtained by applying the superposition principle to include the pressure decline contribution from the neighboring wells. Traditional semilog plots are then constructed and permeability and skin factor can be estimated, respectively, from the slope and intercept of their linear trend.A new technique, called TDS (Tiab's Direct Synthesis), was designed to analyze pressure and pressure derivative data without using type-curve matching. It uses characteristic features found on the derivative plot, so reservoir parameters are directly estimated. It depends upon how well the pressure derivative is calculated. If derivative is taken to the recorded pressure data the resulting curve will not be properly defined and the estimated parameters may be erroneous. Application of the TDS technique to wells in depleted reservoirs is presented here. The recorded pressure is extrapolated to include the contribution from other wells as suggested by Slider. Once the pressure derivative of the extrapolated data is taken, the TDS technique as discussed by Tiab [Tiab, D. 1993. Analysis of Pressure and Pressure Derivative without Type-Curve Matching: 1-Factor de daño and Wellbore Storage. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 12 (1995), 171-181.] can be readily applied. It was successfully tested with synthetic and field examples. A comparative analysis was carried out to see the effects when derivative is taken to uncorrected pressure data and the estimation of permeability, skin factor and drainage area.
Due to geologic and tectonic events many reservoirs have an elongated geometry in which dual-linear and single-linear flow regimes may be developed. The single-linear flow may be altered by changes in facies (mobility) or reservoir width (composite reservoir). Therefore, it is desirable to identify and characterize these types of systems which lead to competent decisions and adequate reservoir management. The identification and determination of parameters for such reservoirs are conducted by conventional techniques (straight-line method), type-curve matching of pressure versus time and the Tiab’s Direct Synthesis (TDS) technique. This last one has been lately presented for homogeneous and constant width reservoirs. In this paper, an extension of the TDS technique to incorporate variations in either mobility or reservoir width is presented. Several simulation experiments were run to understand the behavior of the reservoir under these new conditions. If the change of the mentioned parameters takes place after the dual- linear flow has ended a new half-slope line is observed on the pressure derivative curve. This new line is shifted upwards the original dual-linear line without regarding the variation of one of the studied parameter. When, the anomaly occurs during dual- linear flow the new half-slope line of the pressure derivative curve may be shifted upwards or downwards depending upon the magnitude of either mobility or reservoir width. This new line may not be referred as linear flow regime because it is really not. We have named it as pseudo-linear flow regime, instead. Therefore, a modification of the intercept of the ½-slope line from 0,5 for dual-linear flow regime to a greater or smaller value, which may be different from (single-linear flow case) has to be considered in order to provide new equations for the estimation of new values of either permeability or reservoir width. The proposed methodology was successfully verified by interpreting both synthetic and field pressure tests for elongated oil reservoirs which involve changes in either mobility or reservoir width during the path of the transient wave.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2025 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.