Production Analysis Case Study

Conclusions

After examining two different cases of gas wells in an unconventional gas play, the following conclusions are derived:

1. Cleanup period (bilinear flow) lasts for few weeks compared to months in other shale plays, and this can be attributed to the careful planning of drilling fluids.
2. Linear flow seems to last for few months at most, indicating a high permeability or intensive stimulation treatment.
3. The probabilistic approach was the only way to estimate gas in place and stimulated reservoir volume because of the unclear indication of reservoir boundary.
4. All cases indicate a limited fracture size (especially Well 2), and EUR can be doubled by doubling the fracture half-length.
5. Different well and reservoir parameters have dissimilar effects on the performance and the duration of the flow regimes.

• In general, the completion parameters affect the initial short-term well performance, while the reservoir parameters impact the long-term well performance.
• The transient flow regime is greatly affected by the fracture number, inner permeability, and well length.
• The fracture conductivity affects the performance of the wells only for the first few days or weeks of production.
• Outer permeability and well spacing affect only the BDF regime.
• Adsorption affects performance during BDF flow and delays depletion.
• While the well spacing significantly affects the well life, its effect on EUR is minimal. However, well spacing does not affect the well performance.

6. Well performance is mainly affected by the fracture half-length, height, and number followed by the set of parameters including the porosity, permeability, and well length and then by the set of parameters including the well spacing, fracture conductivity, adsorption, and initial pressure.