Calculated Pressure Build-Up for a Low-Permeability Gas-Condensate Well
Authors: Dykstra H. 
Published: December 2007

Calculated wellbore pressures were obtained for parameters of radius ratio and permeability. In all cases but two, after-production was allowed to occur for one day. The calculated pressure build-up data were compared with actual pressure build-up data from a condensate well. The paper discusses the comparison, gives reasons for, inability to match calculated and actual data, and presents conclusions derived from the comparison.

Introduction

Considerable information has been published on the decline in wellbore pressure for oil and gas fields resulting from production of fluids. Considerable information also has been published on pressure build-up for oil fields, but relatively little has been published for gas and condensate fields. Perrine summarized the equations derived for pressure build-up in oil wells and showed how the different methods could be applied. On the other hand, very little theoretical information has been published on pressure build-up in gas or gas-condensate wells. Tracy, by pointing out the similarity between the equation describing oil wellbore pressure decline and the equation describing gas wellbore pressure decline, showed how methods of pressure build-up analysis could be applied to a gas well. In analyzing pressure build-up data for gas or gas-condensate wells, it would be very desirable to compare actual pressure build-up data with calculated pressure build-up data. Such a comparison would lead to a better feeling for the quantitative picture of gas-well build-up curves and would help to establish a degree of confidence in a given build-up curve. This paper discusses the comparison and presents conclusions made from it. Calculated wellbore pressures are given for parameters of radius ratio and permeability. In all cases but two, after-production was allowed to occur for one day. The work was done in an attempt to evaluate the reserves of a gas-condensate field. As will be discussed later, it was not possible to make an evaluation.

METHOD OF CALCULATION

The method used for solving the depletion and pressure build-up behavior for a gas-condensate well was that developed by West, Garvin and Sheldon. For the IBM 704 computer program used, it was assumed that liquid condensing out of solution would have only a minor effect on the flow behavior. Therefore, the field was treated as having single-phase flow, with the gas saturation Sg remaining constant at unity minus the connate-water saturation Sw. As will be discussed later, this may not have been a good assumption. It also was assumed that oil production could be considered as equivalent gas production by using a conversion factor based on an analysis of the liquid produced. An outer boundary condition of no-flow was assumed.

BASIC DATA

The data required for the study were reservoir properties, fluid properties and production data. Reservoir properties included the following: thickness h, 179 ft; porosity, 0.194; connate-water saturation, 0.43; gas saturation, 0.57; permeabilities k, 1.0, 0.5, 0.25 and 0.15 md; radius ratios re/rw, 800, 1,000 and 2,000; wellbore radius rw, 5 in.; initial reservoir pressure Pi, 6,529 psia; and reservoir temperature, 272 degrees F. The selection of permeabilities was based on core-analysis data showing an average air permeability of about 2 md. With a relatively high connate-water saturation, the average effective gas permeability would be about one-half, or less, of the air permeability. The selection of radius ratios was based partly on the observed rapid decline in wellbore pressure during production and partly on the fact that the well was believed to be located in a relatively small fault block. Reservoir fluid properties were obtained from a reservoir fluid study on a recombined sample of gas and condensate. Gas formation-volume factors were calculated from pressure-volume measurements made at reservoir temperature. Gas viscosities were calculated by the method of Carr, et al, from an analysis of the recombined sample. These data are shown as a function of pressure in Table 1.

JPT

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