Pressure drawdown (PDD) Test

Lecture 3a – Fiki Hidayat, M.Eng

 Introduction
• The drawdown test has been defined as the instantaneous opening of a
well to flow that is then maintained at a constant rate.
• In practice, it is impossible to create such a sudden flow rate change, and it
is extremely difficult to hold the rate constant immediately after opening
well.
• The prescription of constant rate in the drawdown test is mainly a
constraint of graphical analysis methods.
• The drawdown tests are not common in practice because the initial well
condition may be neither static nor stable, especially if the well was
recently drilled or had been flowed previously.
• This test most often is carried out in exploration wells, in cases in which the
field is in an undeveloped, nonproducing state before the test.
Flow Rate And Pressure History During A
Drawdown Test
 Pressure Response At Drawdown Test

Plot P vs Log t should

be linear
 Theoretical Background
• Concept of Flow Regime

A = transient period
After flow, (infinite acting)
skin & WBS B = late transient
effects C = Pseudo/Semi
Pwf A Steady State
B Reservoir
C Limit Testing

t
Flow Regime during Pressure Drawdown
 Drawdown Testing
Infinite Acting / Transient Period
1. Plot log (Pi – Pwf) vs log t for determining the end of wellbore storage
effect.

2. Plot pwf against log(t). From the semilog plot, slope m (negative value)

is used for determining permeability (k)

S.I. Units k  0.1832qB m in Pa / (log cycle)

h.m

Field Units k  162.6qB m in psi / (log cycle)

h.m
 Pressure Drawdown Analysis

Early deviation caused

Bottom Hole Flowing Pressure (Psi)

by wellbore effects

p1hr
Straight line = “transient” flow

Slope = -m
Late deviation caused
by boundary effects
(end of transient)

log (Flowing Time (Hours))

 Skin from drawdown (Infinite acting)
• When k is known from semi-log slope, the only remaining
unknown is “s”

Choose a point on the semi-log line - by convention at t =

1 hour
 Problem Example
• From this fig, the semilog straight line slope
m is -236.7 psi/log cycle, and using measure
values of q(2,500 stb/d), B(1.1 rb/stb), µ(1
cp), and h(25 ft), the permeability k can be
estimated,

• The skin factor also can be estimated. By

substituting the specific value of t=1 hr, the
skin factor eq. is obtained:
 Example for Drawdown Test (Tutorial)

Estimate k and skin factor!