Decline curve analysis predicts oil recovery from horizontal wells

Two key issues in determining horizontal well performance and ultimate recovered reserves are well length and spacing. Depending on the length drilled, horizontal wells can have much greater exposure to the reservoir than vertical wells. Over an equal time interval, a long horizontal well can drain...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Oil & gas journal 1992-09, Vol.90 (36), p.42-49
Main Author: MUTALIK, P. N
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
02 PETROLEUM
294002 > Energy Planning & Policy-- Petroleum
ANALYTICAL SOLUTION
Applied sciences
Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum products
Crude oil, natural gas, oil shales producing equipements and methods
DIRECTIONAL DRILLING
Drainage
DRILLING
Energy
ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENHANCED RECOVERY
Exact sciences and technology
Flow rates
Flows hydrodynamics
Forecasting
Fractured reservoirs
Fuels
Horizontal wells
Laplace transforms
Oil recovery
OIL WELLS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
PERMEABILITY
Petroleum industry
PLANNING
Production capacity
Productivity
Prospecting and production of crude oil, natural gas, oil shales and tar sands
R&D
Research & development
Reservoirs
Statistics
STIMULATION
Studies
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
TESTING
WELL SPACING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS 020300 > Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
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Summary:Two key issues in determining horizontal well performance and ultimate recovered reserves are well length and spacing. Depending on the length drilled, horizontal wells can have much greater exposure to the reservoir than vertical wells. Over an equal time interval, a long horizontal well can drain a significantly larger reservoir than a vertical well. However, closely spaced horizontal wells can interfere with one another. Therefore, optimizing well length and well spacing is important. One method for optimizing these factors is by developing the expected production rate-versus-time performance or production decline curves. After a well starts production, time is needed for the flow rate to stabilize. The production before the rate stabilizes is known as transient production. Forecasting transient well performance is very important for low-permeability reservoirs, because wells may pay out during the transient period alone. An analytical model has been developed that can forecast recoverable reserves for both the transient and post-transient periods. The model can also be used to develop horizontal well type curves.
ISSN:0030-1388
1944-9151