I. APPENDIX A A. Well Test Design The objective of the well test is to obtain data in the infinite-acting radial-flow regime, so that values of permeabilty and skin can be calculated. The time needed to reach infinite-acting radial flow will depend on well conditions. The following sections can be used as guidelines. 1. Open Hole Drillstem Test. The recommended flow and shut-in times for open-hole drillstem testing when no experience in the area is available (gas or ofl wells) are: Recommended Test Time Period (min) Initial flow 5 Initial shut-in 60 Final flow 60 If the flow dies during the flow period, shut in immediately Final shut-in 120 2. Gil Well Test Design for Cased Holes. The recommended flow and shut-in mes for cased-hole drillstem testing are given as: - 145 -Test Period Initial flow 5 5 or, time needed to produce cushion to surface Initial shut-in 60 60 or, 2x time to produce cushion (whichever greater) Final flow 240 1440 If the well stops flowing during the flow period, shut in immediately Final shut-in 480 2880 If the flow dies during the flow period, shut in for a minimum of twice the flow period. If approximate data (e.g., from other wells in the same field) and a single-well simulator are available, then a good design method would be to simulate a@ drawdown to find the time needed to achieve infinite-acting radial flow, and use this time for the test-flow period. The shut-in time should be at least twice the flow period. 3. Gas Well Test Design and Data Acquisition for Cased Holes. a. Producing Time Requirements. The well should be produced as required to unload the wellbore and to clean up any extraneous fluids which may have invaded the formation. These fluids could consist of mud filtrate, cement filtrate, acid, workover fluids, fracturing fluid, etc. The choke size, flowing tubing pressure and gas and oil rates should be recorded during this initial cleanup period. The recovered volumes of acid water and fracturing fluids should be measured. After the well has cleaned up, a production test should be run prior to the buildup test. - 146 -Various criteria can be used to determine when the well has cleaned up sufficiently to begin the production test. © The amount of workover fluid, spent acid or fracturing fluid being produced has decreased to a small percentage of the flow stream. This may require two to four weeks for wells treated with massive stimulation treatments. © The gas-water or ofl-water ratio (assuming the water is treatment water) has leveled off. © The flow rate and flowing-tubing pressure have stabilized as well as can be expected. A rule-of-thumb is that the flow rate and tubing pressure are changing less than 5% to 10% per day. Non-hydraulically Fractured Wells. If a well has not been hydraulically fractured, the duration of the well test can be less than is required for a fractured well. After the well has cleaned up, a well test separator should be used to measure the stabilized flow rate. If a swab valve is not used and the well has to be shut in to install the lubricator and/or to run the bombs to the bottom, the well should be produced at the same stabilized rate for 10 times the duration of the shut-in time required to install the lubricator. The duration of the entire production period should be long enough to insure that a significant portion of the reservoir has been affected. This requirement means that both wellbore storage and skin (damage) effects have been overcome, and infinite-acting radial flow has been reached. Calculations using the radial-flow equation show that to reach infinite-acting radial flow, a radius of investigation of 100 ft is adequate. The following are calculated times to reach this radius: Production Rate Permeability Producing Time (Mcf/day) (md) (hr) < 50 0.005 500 50-500 0.01 250 500-1000 OL 25 > 1000 1.0 2.5 ~ 147 -Therefore, to measure the in-situ permeability in a well producing at rates less than 200-500 Mcf/day, the well should be produced for about 10 days prior to shutting it in for a pressure-buildup test. For wells producing at rates greater than 500 Mcf/day, a one-to-two-day production period should be sufficient. If approximate data (e.g., from other wells in the same field) and a single well simulator are available, then a good design method would be to simulate a drawdown to find the time needed to achieve infinite-acting radial flow, and use this time for the test-flow period. The shut-in time should be at least twice the flow period. Fractured Gas or oil Wells. In general, the ‘production pertod for a fractured.gas or oi] well should be longer than for a nonfractured well (assuming the same permeability). The production from a fractured well consists of: ° a linear or bilinear flow regime ° a transitional flow regime ° an infinite-acting radial flow regime. It will take a very long time to reach infinite acting radial flow in this case. The flow period for a fractured well should be chosen using the criteria presented for radial flow. Ideally, a fractured well should be produced for three to six months prior to running the pressure buildup test. If approximate data (e.g., from other wells in the same field) and a single-well simulator are available, then a good design method would be to simulate a drawdown to find the time needed to reach the end of the linear or bilinear flow regime, and use this time for the test-flow period. The shut-in time should be at least twice the flow period. Pressure Buildup Tests. After the well is cleaned ‘ip and produced for enough time to draw down the pressure in a significant portion of the reservoir, the pressure buildup data can be recorded. Of primary importance to the proper analysis of the buildup test is the duration of the test. a. Radial Flow. The test should be run long enough to ensure the wellbore storage (after- flow) effects have been eliminated and the straight-line portion of the infinite-acting radial flow specialized plot can be determined. In low permeability gas reservoirs, wellbore - 148 -Storage can last for severe! days. Using the Following equation, the minimum shut-in time can be estimated to overcome wellbore effects. 2, = Bu) We 6 oe Rot (ase) Tq 5 = average reservoir pressure (psia) Pyp = flowing bottomhole pressure at fnstant of shut-in (psia) Vy = wellbore volume (BBL) gas gagpresenpanitg 0 wellbore psi} T= reservoir temperature (°R) q+ gas flow rate prior to shut-in (Met /day) time required to overcome wellbore 4 bs storage effects (hr) Using the following typical data, the shut-in tines required for wellbore-storage distortion of test data to cease have been calculated for various flow cates P= 4,000 psie Pyt = 1,000 psia Tp = 200°F (660°R) 19.storage can last for several days. Using the following equation, the minimum shut-in time can be estimated to overcome wellbore effects, 20 (8° = Bye) Yu S 7 gw tubs (hrs) = (152) Tq where: p = average reservoir pressure (psia) Pwr = flowing bottomhole pressure at instant of shut-in (psia) Vy = wellbore volume (BBL) Coy = gas compressibility in wellbore (psim?) T = reservoir temperature (°R) q = gas flow rate prior to shut-in (Mcf/day) twbs = time required to overcome wellbore storage effects (hr) Using the following typical data, the shut-in times required for wellbore-storage distortion of test data to cease have been calculated for various flow rates: p = 4,000 psia Pwr = 1,000 psia Tp = 200°F (660°R) Cgy = 9-001 psiv? aw - 149 -Minimum Flow Rate v, Shut-in Time (icf /day) (sel (nr) 100 30 136 (tubing) 100 200 909 (casing) 250 30 54 250 200 364 500 30 27 500 200 182 1,000 30 14 1,000 200 OL These shut-in times are the minimum values required to get past the distorting effects of wellbore storage. To correctly identify the straight line portion of a pressure-buildup test graph requires that the duration of the buildup survey be two to three times longer than the value calculated from equation (152). Therefore, to reach infinite-acting radial flow, assuming that tubing is in the well, the duration of the buildup test should be as follows: Flow Rate Buildup Time (Mcf/day’ (hr) < 100 400 100-250 160 250-500 90 500-1000 48 > 1000 24 Hydraulically Fractured Wells. The shut-in time requirements for fractured gas wells are much longer than the times required for non-fractured wells. To reach infinite-acting radial flow in a fractured well requires that the well be shut in until the value of dimensionless time exceeds 5.0. The equation for dimensionless time is: 2.637E-04 k t (153) - 150 -k = formation permeability (md) t = time (hr) $q 7 gas porosity (fraction) u = gas viscosity (cp) = gas compressibility (psi~!) X¢ = feacture half-length (ft) For example, assuming the following parameters, dg = 0.05 u = 0.02 cp Cg = 0.00025 psivt the shut-in-time requirements as a function of permeability and fracture length would be as follows: Shut-in Time Permeability Fracture Length To LARF (md (ft (days) 0.01 100 197 0.01 500 4,940 0.01 1,000 19,700 O.1 100 20 O.1 500 490 0.1 1,000 1,970 1.0 100 2 1.0 500 49 1.0 1,000 197 Therefore, it is apparent that in a majority of the cases, the infinite-acting radial flow straight line cannot be reached in a fractured gas well. To analyze the results from a post-fracture pressure buildup, other techniques such as these can be used: o specialized plots of pressure vs square root of time ° specialized plots of pressure vs 4th root of time - 151 -8. ° specialized plots of log AP vs log At, © computer modeling using numerical-simulation history-matching procedures. The results from these analyses become more reliable as the duration of the pressure-buildup test is extended. Guidelines for Gas Well Test Measurements and ‘Analyses. The principal objective of gas-well testing is to learn as much as possible about the reservoir so that: © long-term producing characteristics can be predicted and ° well-stimulation treatments can be optimized. To accomplish these aims, it is necessary that the following items be considered for each well: ° The well should be cleaned up prior to running a test. © Pressure-measurement devices (including surface gauges) should be properly chosen and calibrated. © Gas and liquid should be accurately measured using optimum separator conditions. The remainder of this discussion presents detailed information which should be used as general guidelines for designing well tests. a. Measurement Techniques. 1) Well Completion, In most cases, a multi- zone well test in a low-permeability reservoir is virtually impossible to analyze correctly. Therefore, in critical reservoirs, it is best to test only one interval at a time. If economics make multi-zone completions necessary, a temperature-gradiomanometer-spinner log should be run to determine the relative inflow characteristics of each zone. 2) Equipment Considerations. Two pressure recorders should be run in tandem for all tests. The element and clock serial numbers ~ 182 -3) should be recorded. Temperature-compensated bombs should be used when available. All pressure recorders should be calibrated before being sent to the field. A maximum- recording thermometer should be run on all tests. Field Procedures. The well should be flowing as nearly as possible at a stabilized rate before a pressure buildup test is performed. A swab valve should be installed so that the bombs can be run to bottom without interrupting established flow conditions. It is essential that the well remain stabilized while rigging-up and running the bombs. Pressure should never be bled off prior to or during a survey unless unsafe well conditions exist. After the bombs have reached bottom, continue flowing the well for about 2 hr prior to shutting the well in, If the well is known to be heading or slugging, the flow period should be 1.5 times as long as the heading cycle. The gas and liquid rates should be carefully measured during this period. Records of estimated gas volume produced during cleanup should be kept so that cumulative gas production prior to test- unit measurements can be calculated. The exact time when the well is shut in should be recorded. After the pressure bombs are pulled, a gradient survey should be run over the entire section tested to below the perforations. The well should not be reopened to flow until the chart has been inspected and, in many cases, until preliminary data analysis is completed. Leaving the well shut-in allows additional buildup points to be taken if needed for proper reservoir evaluation. It is important to produce the well at a constant rate prior to running the buildup survey. The choke size should not be altered during the 48+ hr prior to the buildup. For low-permeability or damaged wells, the flow rate may be less than 100 Mcf/day and stabilized rates will not be attained. If this is the case, it may be necessary to begin the buildup period if the flowing- ~ 153 -4) 5) tubing pressure remains fairly constant in the 50 to 100 psi range for 8 to 12 hr. For these low-rate conditions, accurate rate measurement is difficult, so it is often advantageous to begin the buildup test before the well begins to head or before measureable flow ceases. Office Procedures. All data obtained during the well test should be reported by the service company. For fractured reservoirs, the early-time data can be criteal to the analysis. It is suggested that the pressures be read: every 1 min for the first 20 min every 5 min from 20-60 min every 15 min from 1-6 hr every 30 min from 6-10 hr every 120 min from 10-50 hr every 300 min from 50 hr on eococce Flow Rate Measurements. A test separator should be used to measure the gas and liquid rates for a minimum of 12 to 24 hr prior to the pressure buildup test. Samples of the gas, water and condensate should be collected and sent to a lab for analysis. The analysis should consist of: © composition of all fluids © gas, condensate and water gravities © BTU content of the wet gas and dry gas. ~ 154 -