SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering
Volume 14,
Number 6,
December 2011,
pp. 663-676
Summary
This paper presents an analytical trilinear-flow solution to simulate the
pressure-transient and production behaviors of fractured horizontal wells in
unconventional shale reservoirs (Ozkan et al. 2009). The model is simple, but
versatile enough to incorporate the fundamental petrophysical characteristics
of shale reservoirs, including the intrinsic properties of the matrix and the
natural fractures. Special characteristics of fluid exchange among various
reservoir components may also be considered. Computational convenience of the
trilinear-flow solution makes it a practical alternative to more rigorous but
computationally intensive and time-consuming solutions. Another advantage of
the trilinear-flow solution is the convenience in deriving asymptotic
approximations that provide insight about potential flow regimes and the
conditions leading to these flow regimes. Though linear- and bilinear-flow
regimes have been noted for fractured horizontal wells in the literature on the
basis of their diagnostic features, they have not been associated with
particular reservoir characteristics and flow relationships. The trilinear-flow
solution also provides a suitable algorithm for the regression analysis of
pressure-transient tests in shale reservoirs.
© 2011. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
2 July 2009
- Meeting paper published:
4 October 2009
- Revised manuscript received:
15 July 2011
- Manuscript approved:
8 August 2011
- Published online:
13 December 2011
- Version of record:
28 December 2011
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