SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering
Volume 15,
Number 5,
October 2012,
pp. 571-583
Summary
Estimating the average drainage-area pressure (pav) of
individual wells is a cornerstone to any reservoir-management practice. Yet
conventional methods do not always offer reliable solutions to this vexing
problem. This study shows that transient flow-after-flow (FAF) testing offers
an excellent opportunity to establish pav in a time-lapse
mode, when conducted following operational shutdowns. Instrumented wells are
natural candidates for FAF testing.
Real-time surveillance offers the opportunity to perform rate-transient
analysis that results in drainage volume and, consequently,
pav. However, gathering quality rate data commensurate with
pressure over a long producing period is fraught with uncertainty, which raises
questions about the validity of the pav so obtained. In
addition, continuous changes in drainage-boundary conditions pose modeling
challenges with a given reservoir model. Therefore, the independent estimation
of pav cannot be overemphasized. This paper presents a
theroretical framework for transient FAF testing and also shows a pragmatic
approach to handling pressure/rate data incoherence.
© 2012. Society of Petroleum Engineers
View full textPDF
(
1,730 KB
)
History
- Original manuscript received:
21 June 2011
- Meeting paper published:
31 October 2011
- Revised manuscript received:
7 June 2012
- Manuscript approved:
10 July 2012
- Published online:
11 September 2012
- Version of record:
30 October 2012
View Cart
