화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, Vol.46, No.10, 10-14, 2007
The importance of initial reservoir pressure for tight gas completions and long-term production forecasting
Flow and buildup testing of gas wells in Alberta is common practice for the determination of reservoir pressure, permeability and wellbore skin. Post-frac welltesting is still regarded as the preferred welltesting method, due in part to current government regulations for initial testing requirements. With the maturing of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (WCSB) in recent years, the development of unconventional gas reservoirs has significantly increased. Deep tight gas reservoirs have become an important part of unconventional gas resources and this paper will address several issues and pitfalls related to the welltesting of tight gas. Initial reservoir pressure is probably one of the most important 'data points' for reservoir engineering and completion design and yet one of the most abused and assumed parameters. Field examples will highlight major errors that are likely to occur when post-frac flow and buildup tests are analyzed for tight gas reservoirs without precise knowledge of the initial reservoir pressure. This paper will demonstrate that errors of reservoir pressure as small as 2% can lead to significant overestimates of the well's recoverable reserves.