Rate Transient Analysis

1. Traditional (Arps) Decline Curves

1-4: TRADITIONAL DECLINE ANALYSIS

EXPONENTIAL DECLINE:

3. Exponential Decline

23. Calculations for Oil (Agarwal-Gardner Type Curves)

23-32: RADIAL TYPE CURVES

23-24: RADIAL FLOW MODEL: TYPE CURVE ANALYSIS
All radial flow type curves are based on the same reservoir model:

24. Calculations for Gas (Agarwal-Gardner Type Curves)

Decline rate is constant. Log flow rate vs. time is a straight line. Flow rate vs. cumulative production is a straight line. Provides minimum EUR (Expected Ultimate Recovery).

HYPERBOLIC DECLINE:
Decline rate is not constant (D=Kqb). Straight line plots are NOT practical and b is determined by nonlinear curve fit. b value 0 0.1-0.4 0.4-0.5 0.5 0.5-1.0 Reservoir Drive Mechanism Single phase liquid (oil above bubble point) Single phase gas at high pressure Solution gas drive Single phase gas Effective edge water drive Commingled layered reservoirs

Well in centre of cylindrical homogeneous reservoir. No flow outer boundary. Skin factor represented by rwa. Information content of all type curves (Figures 25-32) is the same. The shapes are different because of different plotting formats. Each format represents a different look at the data and emphasizes different aspects.
re rwa

2. Decline Rate Definitions

4. Harmonic Decline

25. Blasingame: Rate (Normalized)

25-26: BLASINGAME

qDd and tDd definitions are similar to Fetkovich. Normalized rate (q/ p or q/ pp) is plotted. Three sets of type curves:
1. qDd vs. tDd (Figure 25). 2. Rate integral (qDdi) vs. tDd (has the same shape as qDd). 3. Rate integral-derivative (qDdid) vs. tDd (Figure 26).

26. Blasingame: Integral-Derivative

HARMONIC DECLINE:

Decline rate is directly proportional to flow rate (b=1). Log flow rate vs. cumulative production is a straight line.

SUMMARY:
Boundary-dominated flow only. Constant operating conditions. Developed using empirical relationships. Quick and simple to determine EUR. EUR depends on operating conditions. Does NOT use pressure data. b depends on drive mechanism.

In general: qDd

qD bDpss , tDd

2 t b Dpss DA

bDpss is a constant for a particular well / reservoir

configuration.

27. Agarwal-Gardner: Rate (Normalized)

27-28: AGARWAL-GARDNER

5. Analytical: Constant Flowing Pressure

5-10: FETKOVICH ANALYSIS

6. Analytical: Constant Flowing Pressure

qD and tDA definitions are similar to well testing. Normalized rate (q/ p or q/ pp) is plotted. Three sets of type curves:
1. qD vs. tDA (Figure 27). 2. Inverse of pressure derivative (1 / pDd) vs. tDA (not shown). 3. Inverse of pressure integral-derivative (1 / pDid) vs. tDA (Figure 28).

28. Agarwal-Gardner: Integral-Derivative

qD and tD definitions are similar to well test. Convenient for transient flow. Results in single transient stem but multiple
boundary-dominated stems.

Notes: 1. Pressure derivative is defined as pDd

d ( pD ) d (ln t DA )

2. Inverse of pressure derivative is usually too noisy and inverse of pressure integral-derivative is used instead.

qDd and tDd definitions are convenient for

production data analysis.

29. NPI: Pressure (Normalized)

7. Empirical: Arps Depletion Stems

29-30: NORMALIZED PRESSURE INTEGRAL (NPI)

30. NPI: Integral-Derivative

Convenient for boundary-dominated flow. Results in single boundary-dominated stem but multiple transient stems.

8. Empirical: Arps-Fetkovich Depletion Stems

pD and tDA definitions are similar to well testing. Normalized Pressure ( p/q or pp /q) is plotted
rather than normalized rate (q/ p or q/ pp).

Three sets of type curves: 1. pD vs. tDA (Figure 29). 2. Pressure integral (pDi) vs. tDA (has the same shape as pD). 3. Pressure integral-derivative (pDid) vs. tDA (Figure 30).

Replot on Log-Log Scale

31. Rate (Normalized) 10. Fetkovich/Cumulative Type Curves SUMMARY: 9. Fetkovich Type Curves

31-32: TRANSIENT-DOMINATED DATA

Similar to Figures 27 & 28 but uses tD instead of tDA. This format is useful when most of the data are in TRANSIENT flow.

32. Integral-Derivative

Combines transient with boundary-dominated flow. Transient: Analytical, constant pressure solution. Boundary-Dominated: Empirical, identical to traditional (Arps). Constant operating conditions. Used to estimate EUR, skin and permeability. EUR depends on operating conditions. Does NOT use pressure data. Cumulative curves are smoother than rate curves. Combined cumulative and rate type curves give more unique match (Figure 10).

qD and tD definitions are similar to well testing. Normalized rate (q/ p or q/ pp) is plotted. Three sets of type curves:
1. qD vs. tD (Figure 31). 2. Inverse of pressure integral (1 / pDi) vs. tD (not shown). 3. Inverse of pressure integral-derivative (1 / pDid) vs. tD (Figure 32).

33. Rate

11. Comparison of

qD and 1/pD

11-14: MODERN DECLINE ANALYSIS: BASIC CONCEPTS

11-12: MATERIAL BALANCE TIME

33-40: FRACTURE TYPE CURVES

33-37: FINITE CONDUCTIVITY FRACTURE

34. Integral-Derivative

12. Equivalence of

qD and 1/pD

Fracture with finite conductivity results in bilinear flow (quarter slope).

Material Balance Time (tc) effectively converts constant pressure solution to the corresponding constant rate solution. Exponential curve plotted using Material Balance Time becomes harmonic. Material Balance Time is rigorous during boundary-dominated flow.
Actual Rate Decline Constant Rate
tc Q q 1 q
t 0

Dimensionless Fracture Conductivity is defined as:

FCD

kf w kxf

Fracture with infinite conductivity results in linear flow (half slope).

qdt

35. Elliptical Flow: Integral-Derivative

For FCD>50, the fracture is assumed to have infinite conductivity.

Q
Actual Time (t)

Q
Material Balance Time
( t c) = Q /q

36. Elliptical Flow: Integral-Derivative

37. Elliptical Flow: Integral-Derivative

13. Concept of Rate Integral

14. Derivative and Integral-Derivative

13-14: TYPE CURVE INTERPRETATION AIDS

Rate (Normalized)

Combines rate with flowing pressure. Smoothes noisy data but attenuates the reservoir signal.

Integral (Normalized Rate)

Derivative (Normalized Rate)

Amplifies reservoir signal but amplifies noise as well. Smoothes the scatter of the derivative.

Integral-Derivative (Normalized Rate)

38-40: INFINITE CONDUCTIVITY FRACTURE 38. Blasingame: Rate and Integral-Derivative 39. NPI: Pressure and Integral-Derivative 40. Wattenbarger: Rate

15. Darcys Law

15-18: GAS FLOW CONSIDERATIONS

15-16: PSEUDO-PRESSURE
Gas properties vary with pressure:

16. Pseudo-Pressure (pp)

Z-factor (Pseudo-Pressure, Figures 15 & 16) Viscosity (Pseudo-Pressure & Pseudo-Time, Figures 15, 16 & 18) Compressibility (Pseudo-Time, Figures 17 & 18) Pseudo-pressure corrects for changing viscosity and Z-factor with pressure. In all equations for liquid, replace pressure (p) with pseudo-pressure (pp).

Note: For gas,

41-43: HORIZONTAL WELL TYPE CURVES

17. Gas Compressibility Variation 17-18: PSEUDO-TIME

18. Pseudo-Time (ta)

Compressibility represents energy in reservoir. Gas compressibility is strong function of pressure (especially at LOW PRESSURES). Ignoring compressibility variation can result in significant error in original gas-in-place (G) calculation. Pseudo-time(ta) corrects for changing viscosity and compressibility with pressure. Pseudo-time calculation is ITERATIVE because it depends on g and ct at average reservoir pressure, and average reservoir pressure depends on G (usually known).

41. Blasingame: Integral-Derivative

42. Blasingame: Integral-Derivative

43. Blasingame: Integral-Derivative

Note: Pseudo-time in build-up testing is evaluated at well flowing pressure NOT at average reservoir pressure.

19. Oil: Flowing Material Balance

19-22: FLOWING MATERIAL BALANCE

Oil

20. Gas: Determination of

bpss

44. Blasingame: Rate

44-45: WATER-DRIVE TYPE CURVES

Infinite Aquifer Reservoir

45. Agarwal-Gardner: Rate

Note: bpss is the inverse of productivity index and is constant during boundary-dominated flow. Gas

Mobility ratio (M) represents the strength of the aquifer.

k aq res kres aq

M = 0 is equivalent to Radial Type Curves (Figures

25-32).

21. Gas: Flowing Material Balance

22. Procedure to Calculate Gas-In-Place

SUMMARY:

a A b b b B B B B c c c D D D F G G G h k k k
g t t f Dpss pss

Uses flowing data. No shut-in required. Applicable to oil and gas. Determines hydrocarbon-in-place, N or G. Oil (N): Direct calculation. Gas (G): Iterative calculation because of pseudo-time. Simple yet powerful. Data readily available (wellhead pressure can be converted to bottomhole pressure). Supplements static material balance. Ideal for low permeability reservoirs.

gi o oi

e i

CD

p pa

aq

semi-major axis of ellipse area hyperbolic decline exponent or semi-minor axis of ellipse dimensionless parameter inverse of productivity index formation volume factor initial gas formation volume factor oil formation volume factor initial oil formation volume factor gas compressibility total compressibility total compressibility at average reservoir pressure nominal decline rate effective decline rate initial nominal decline rate dimensionless fracture conductivity original gas-in-place gas cumulative production pseudo-cumulative production net pay permeability aquifer permeability fracture permeability

k k k K L M N N p p p p p p p p p p p p p q q q
h v O D i p p pi D

res

Dd Di Did

pwf wf

Dd

horizontal permeability reservoir permeability vertical permeability constant horizontal well length mobility ratio original oil-in-place oil cumulative production pressure average reservoir pressure reference pressure dimensionless pressure dimensionless pressure derivative dimensionless pressure integral dimensionless pressure integral-derivative initial reservoir pressure pseudo-pressure pseudo-pressure at average reservoir pressure initial pseudo-pressure pseudo-pressure at well flowing pressure well flowing pressure flow rate dimensionless rate dimensionless rate

q q q Q Q r r r r s S S t t t t t t t t t T w x
i e w a c ca D Dd e

Ddi Ddid

Dd

eD

wa

gi oi

DA

Dxf Dye

dimensionless rate integral xf dimensionless rate integral-derivative ye initial flow rate yw cumulative production Z Z dimensionless cumulative production exterior radius of reservoir Zi dimensionless exterior radius of reservoir wellbore radius apparent wellbore radius skin aq initial gas saturation g initial oil saturation g flow time pseudo-time o material balance time res material balance pseudo-time dimensionless time Oil field units; dimensionless time dimensionless time dimensionless time dimensionless time reservoir temperature fracture width reservoir length

fracture half length reservoir width well location in y-direction gas deviation factor gas deviation factor at average reservoir pressure initial gas deviation factor constant porosity viscosity aquifer fluid viscosity gas viscosity gas viscosity at average reservoir pressure oil viscosity reservoir fluid viscosity

q (MMSCFD); t (days)
g

All analyses described can be performed using Feketes Rate Transient Analysis software

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2008 Fekete Associates Inc. Printed in Canada