HORIZONTAL WELLS

ADVANCED WELL TEST ANALYSIS

(PAB 4213)
OUTLINES
Introduction
- Purposes of drilling horizontal wells.
- Major analysis problems.

Horizontal Well Flow Regimes

Quantitative analysis of different Flow Regimes
2
INTRODUCTION
Horizontal wells are high-angle wells (with an inclination of generally
greater than 85) drilled to enhance reservoir performance by placing
a long wellbore section within the reservoir.

Why drill horizontal wells?
To obtain production from inaccessible location.
Increase the length of the pay zone within the target rock unit.
Improve production in low permeability reservoir.
Improve the productivity of wells in fractured reservoir.

Downside?
Generally, only one zone at a time can be produced using a single
horizontal well.
Expensive especially when combined with hydraulic fracturing.

3
4
Production from inaccessible location Increase the length of pay zone
Production from fractured reservoir
INTRODUCTION
Major problems related with horizontal well
analysis:

3D flow geometry.
Wellbore storage effect.
Need more details not only vertical thickness is
important but the horizontal dimensions of the
reservoir relative to the horizontal wellbore need to be
known.
5
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
There are five(5) different flow regimes that may occur for
horizontal well which are:

Early radial
Hemiradial
Early linear
Late pseudoradial
Late linear

6
7
Well and reservoir geometry and nomenclature for a horizontal well.

= length of the reservoir perpendicular to horizontal well, ft

= length of the reservoir in the direction parallel to wellbore, ft

= longest distance between horizontal well and x boundary, ft

= longest distance between tip of horizontal well and y boundary, ft

= longest distance between horizontal well and z boundary, ft

= shortest distance between horizontal well and x boundary, ft

= shortest distance between tip of horizontal well and y boundary, ft

= shortest distance between horizontal well and z boundary, ft

= completed length of horizontal well, ft

Early-radial flow flow not influenced by reservoir boundaries.
8
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
Hemiradial flow occurs when the effects of one vertical boundary are felt
much sooner than the effects of the other.
9
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
Early-linear flow may develop after both vertical boundaries
are encountered.
10
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
Late-pseudoradial flow begins after flow enters the wellbore from beyond
the ends of the wells.
11
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
Late-linear flow flow from drainage volume perpendicular to the well.
12
HORIZONTAL WELL FLOW REGIMES
13
Idealized diagnostic plot identifies all normally expected flow regimes
Unit slope line appears during wellbore storage.
Horizontal derivative indicates early radial flow and pseudoradial flow.
Half-slope line indicates early linear flow and later late linear flow.

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT
FLOW REGIMES
In this section, we state the equation for duration of flow regimes derived by Odeh and Babu.
The model assumes fluid flows to the well uniformly at all points along the wellbore (uniform
flux).

1. Early Radial Flow
The governing equation for this flow regime is:




Eq. 2 says that the period must end when the transient reaches the nearest boundary, dz, from the
well:



The radial flow regime will also end when flow from beyond the end of the wellbore becomes
important, Eq. 3 gives the time by:



14
The slope of the straight line that result from the plot of bottomhole flowing pressure during the
appropriate time range against time on semilog coordinate:



The group

can be found from the slope,

:



The equation for calculating the altered permeability skin,

, for early-radial flow is:

15
16
EXAMPLE: Early-radial flow

For drawdown test data from Well Erf-1 below in (Table 1), the diagnostic plot (Figure 1) leads
us to believe that the data from approximately 0.2 to 2.0 hours may be in early radial flow. The
following information is available for this well:

q = 800 STB/D
= 1 cp
B = 1.25 RB/STB

= 0.25 ft
= 0.2

= 15 10
6
psi
1

Centered in box-shaped drainage area of:
h = 200 ft

= 4000 ft

= 2000 ft
Lw = 1000 ft
From analysis of data in linear flow regime,

= 200 md






Figure 1- Diagnostic plot confirms early-radial
flow in well Erf-1
0.2 hr 2.0 hr
17
Table 1 Pressure Data for Well ERF-1
Solution:

1. Plot

vs t on semilog coordinates.
2. Calculate the slope of the straight line,

=
21
21
= 8 psi/cycle

3. Using the slope of 8 psi/cycle calculate

As given

= 200 md, therefore

= 2 md.
4. From the plot
1
= 35 psia. Using this value calculate the damage skin.



18
35
0.49
0.2 hr
2.0 hr
2965 psi

5. Calculate the end of the early radial flow regime.

For a centered well,

= h/2 = 200/2 = 100 ft

Thus, we expect the early radial flow regime to end at approximately 1.875 hours, which is the
smaller value, consistent with the observed data.


19
20
2. Hemiradial Flow
*Only occurs when the well is close to one of the vertical boundary.

The governing equation for this flow regime is:



In the absence of wellbore storage, the start of hemiradial flow is given by:



Eq. 9 says that if the hemiradial flow regime ends when we reach the farthest vertical boundary, it
depends on the distance

and the vertical permeability,

:



The hemiradial flow regime will also end when flow from beyond the end of the wellbore becomes
important, Eq. 10 gives the time by:






(9)
(10)
The slope of the straight line that result from the plot of bottomhole flowing pressure during the
appropriate time range against time on semilog coordinate. Note that the multiplier, 325.2 is twice
the multiplier for early radial flow:




The equation for calculating the altered permeability skin,

, is also similar to that for early-radial

flow but has a multiplier that differs by a factor of two:





21
(12)
(11)
22
2. Early-Linear Flow
The governing equation for this flow regime is:




The start of the early linear flow depends on the farthest distance to a vertical boundary,

and the
vertical permeability,

:



The end of this flow period is:




Based on the slope,

from the plot of the pressure vs the square root of time, we can estimate the
square root of

, the horizontal permeability perpendicular to the well:

(13)
23
We can calculate the damage skin from:




This equation includes a convergence skin,

which is:




Convergence skin is an additional pressure drop that acts like a skin effect caused by flow moving
throughout the entire formation until it converge down to the small wellbore in the middle of the
formation.






(18)
24
2. Late-Pseudoradial Flow
The governing equation for this flow regime is:



The late pseudoradial flow period occurs only if:

= the dimension of the reservoir parallel to the wellbore.

The start of this flow period occurs when fluid flows from the well beyond the ends of the wellbore.



The end of this flow period like other in this section is approximated by the minimum of the results
of these two calculations:






(19)
25
The slope of the plot of bottomhole flowing pressure during the appropriate time range against time
on semilog coordinate will be

, and the relationship between that slope and the square root of

, or the permeabilities in the horizontal plane is given by:

The skin equation is similar in form to those that we have seen before:





This equation includes a convergence skin,

as showed before in Eq. 18:

(18)
26
2. Late-Linear Flow
The governing equation for this flow regime is:




The start of this flow period is the maximum of these two equations:








The end of this flow period is given by:






27
From the slope,

of the plot pressure vs square root of time, we can estimate permeability in x

direction from:



Alternatively, if we already know

from n early-linear flow regime, we can estimate

, the length
of the drainage area, from:



The skin equation is similar in form to those that we have seen before:




This equation includes a convergence skin,

as showed before in Eq. 18:

(18)
MAIN REFERENCES




28
King, H. (n.d.). Directional and Horizontal Drilling in Oil and Gas Wells. Retrieved
March 25, 2014, from Geology.com: http://geology.com/articles/horizontal-drilling/

Lee, J., Rollins, J.B., & Spivey, J. (2003). Pressure Transient Analysis. Richardson,
Texas: Society of Petroleum Engineers.

29