Well Testing Analysis

Narrated by:
RS. Trijana Kartoatmodjo, PhD
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References
1. Matthews, C. S., and Russell, D. G., Pressure 
Buildup and Flow Tests in Wells, Monograph 
Series, No. 1, SPE, Dallas, TX 1967
2. Earlougher, R. C, Jr., Advances in Well Test 
Analysis, Monograph Series, No. 5, SPE, Dallas, 
TX, 1977.

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References
3. Well Test Analysis: The Use of Advanced 
Interpretation Models, Dominque Bourdet, 
Elsevier 2002.
4. Well testing, Interpretation Method, Gilles 
Bourdarot, Ecole du Petrol, IFP, 1998
5. Well Testing, Jhon Lee, Texas A&M

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What Is A Well Test?
• A tool for reservoir evaluation and
characterization
• Investigates a much larger volume of the
reservoir than cores or logs
• Provides estimates of
– permeability under in-situ conditions
– near-wellbore conditions
– distances to boundaries
– average pressure

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How Is A Well Test Conducted?

Well is
q
allowed to Production
produce remains
normally t
constant

Pressure
p
stabilizes
Sensor is
lowered
into well
t

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How Is A Well Test Conducted?
q=0
Production drops to 0
Well is
shut in
q

Sensor is Pressure
lowered rises
into well
t

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Types and Purposes of Well Tests

• Pressure transient tests

• We generate and measure pressure changes
with time
• Deliverability tests
• Well controlled production
• (Production Analysis)
• Use of production data for goals usually
achieved by well testing

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Production data analysis
• Reservoir properties (permeability, skin
factor, fracture half-length, etc).

• Reservoir pore volume (estimated using

long-term production performance).

• Estimated ultimate recovery (EUR)—

movable fluid volumes.

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Well Test Applications

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Well Test Applications
• Exploration
• Is this zone economic?
• How large is this reservoir?
• Reservoir engineering
• What is the average reservoir pressure?
• How do I describe this reservoir in order to 
– estimate reserves?
– forecast future performance?
– optimize production?
• Production engineering
• Is this well damaged?
• How effective was this stimulation treatment?
• Why is this well not performing as well as expected?

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Well Test Objectives

• Define reservoir limits

• Estimate average drainage area pressure

• Characterize reservoir

• Diagnose productivity problems

• Evaluate stimulation treatment
effectiveness

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Well Test Objectives
• Define reservoir limits
– Distances to boundaries
– Drainage area
• Estimate average drainage area pressure
• Characterize reservoir 
– Permeability
– Skin factor
– Dual porosity or layered behavior
• Diagnose productivity problems
– Permeability
– Skin factor
• Evaluate stimulation treatment effectiveness
– Skin factor
– Fracture conductivity
– Fracture half‐leng

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 Bottomhole

At surface

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Amerada Bomb RPG‐3

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9/25/2016 Well Test 15
 Data acquisition
• Complete surface data 
acquisition system
• Fully wireless
• Records pressure, temperature, 
differential pressure and 
flowrates
• Downhole memory gauges 
(quartz and PR)
• Access to real‐time surface 
readout

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 Kinds of Well Tests

Well is Plot
allowed to pressure
produce response
normally

Pwf

Sensor is
lowered
into well t

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 Kinds of Well Tests
q=0

Well is
shut in Plot
pressure
response

Pws

Sensor is
lowered t
into well

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 Kinds of Well Tests

Plot
pressure
Inject fluid response
into well at
constant rate
p

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Kinds of Well Tests
q=0

Shut in well
Measure
Inject fluid pressure
into well at response
constant rate
p

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PTA: Single‐Well Tests
the pressure response is measured following a rate
change.
• pressure buildup test
• shut in after controlled production
• drawdown or flow test
• specific tests: are called reservoir limits tests
• pressure falloff test
• similar to a pressure buildup test
• conducted on an injection well
• injectivity test
• analogous to pressure drawdown testing
• conducted on an injection well

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Deliverability Tests

• production capabilities of a well under

specific reservoir conditions
• primarily for gas wells
• absolute open flow (AOF) potential
• inflow performance relationship (IPR) or
gas backpressure curve

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Flow‐After‐Flow Tests 
(referred to as gas backpressure or four-point tests)

• producing the well at a series of different

stabilized flow rates

• measuring the stabilized bottomhole

flowing pressure at the sandface

• typically, with a sequence of increasing flow

rates

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Well Test Analysis Principles

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Issues
• Development Wells vs. Exploration Wells
• Producing Wells vs. Injection Wells
• Shallow Wells vs. Deep Wells
• Stimulated Wells vs. Unstimulated Wells
• Effects of Reservoir Properties
• Low Permeability vs. High Permeability
Formations
• Single Zones vs. Multiple Zones
• Safety and Environmental Considerations
• Sweet Gas vs. Sour and Corrosive Gases
• Other environmental Concerns
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Production data analysis

• Reservoir properties (permeability, skin

factor, fracture half-length, etc).

• Reservoir pore volume (estimated using

long-term production performance).

• Estimated ultimate recovery (EUR)—

movable fluid volumes.

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The Diffusivity Equation
• Describes the flow of 
• a slightly compressible fluid 
• having constant viscosity
• in a porous medium
• at constant temperature
• Derived from basic relationships of
• continuity
• flow equation (Darcy’s law)
• equation‐of‐state

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The Continuity Equation

(Av)1 (Av)2

  Av 1  Av 2
m
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• The continuity equation is a restatement of the 
conservation of matter.  That is, the rate of 
accumulation of fluid within a volume element is 
given by the rate at which the fluid flows into the 
volume minus the rate at which the fluid flows out of 
the volume.

• Nomenclature
• A  = Cross‐sectional area open to flow, ft2
• m  = Rate of accumulation of mass within the 
volume, lbm/sec
• v  = Fluid velocity, ft/sec
• = Density of fluid, lbm/ft3

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Flow Equation (Darcy’s Law)

kAp
q
L
or, in differential form,

k x p
ux  
 x
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Flow Equation (Darcy’s Law)
• Nomenclature
• A  = Cross sectional area open to flow, cm2
• k  = Permeability, darcies
• L = Length of flow path, cm
• p  = Pressure, atm
• p  = Pressure difference between upstream and 
downstream sides, atm
• q  = Flow rate, cm3/sec
• ux = Flow velocity, cm/sec
• x  = Spatial coordinate, cm
•  = Viscosity, cp

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Equation of State for a Slightly Compressible 
Liquid

c  p  po 
   oe
This equation describes the change in density with pressure for a liquid with 
small and constant compressibility.

Nomenclature
c  = Compressibility, psi‐1
p  = Pressure, psi
 = Density of fluid, lbm/ft3

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The Diffusivity Equation
One-dimensional, radial form:

1   p   ct p
r  
r r  r  k t
• The diffusivity equation is obtained by combining
‐ The continuity equation
‐ The equation of state for a slightly compressible liquid
‐ Darcy’s law

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Formation Volume Factor

Vres
B
Vsurf
For oil: For gas: For water:
Vres Vres Vres
Bo  Bg  Bw 
Vsurf Vsurf Vsurf

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Formation Volume Factor
• The formation volume factor is the volume of fluid at reservoir 
conditions necessary to produce a unit volume of fluid at 
surface conditions.
• Symbol – Bo, Bg, Bw
• Units – res bbl/STB, res bbl/ Mscf
• Source – Lab measurements, correlations
• Range and typical values
– Oil
•1 – 2 res bbl/STB, Black oil
•2 – 4 res bbl/STB, Volatile oil
– Water
•1 – 1.1 res bbl/STB
– Gas
•0.5 res bbl/Mscf,  at 9000 psi
•5 res bbl/Mscf, at 680 psi
•30 res bbl/Mscf, at 115 psi

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Viscosity
• A fluid’s resistance to flow
• Gasoline—low viscosity
• Vaseline—high viscosity 

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Fluid Compressibility

1 V ln V 
c 
V p p

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Fluid Compressibility
• Compressibility is the fractional change in volume due to a unit change 
in pressure.
• Symbol – co, cg, cw
• Units – psi‐1, microsips (1 microsip = 1x10‐6 psi‐1)
• Source – Lab measurements, correlations
• Typical Values
• Oil
– 15x10‐6 psi‐1, undersaturated oil
– 180x10‐6 psi‐1, saturated oil
• Water
– 4x10‐6 psi‐1
• Gas
– 1/p, Ideal gas
– 60x10‐6 psi‐1, at 9000 psi
– 1.5x10‐3 psi‐1, at 680 psi
– 9x10‐3 psi‐1, at 115 psi

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 Porosity

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Porosity
• Porosity is the ratio of volume of pore space to bulk 
volume of rock.
• Symbol ‐ 
• Units 
– Equations ‐ fraction
– Reports ‐ % (or fraction)
• Source
– Logs, cores
• Range or Typical Value
– 30%, unconsolidated well‐sorted sandstone
– 20%, clean, well‐sorted consolidated sandstone
– 8%, low permeability reservoir rock
– 0.5%, natural fracture porosity

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 Permeability

q L
k
Ap

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Permeability
• Permeability is the measure of capacity of rock to 
transmit fluid.
• Symbol
– k 
• Units
– Darcy or millidarcy (md or mD)
• Source
– Well tests, core analysis
• Range
– 0.001 md ‐ 10,000 md

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Pore Compressibility

1   ln 
cf  
 p p

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Pore Compressibility
• Pore volume compressibility is the fractional 
change in porosity due to unit change in pressure.
• Symbol – cf
• Units – psi‐1, microsips
• Source – Lab measurement, correlation, guess
• Range or Typical Value
– 4x10‐6 psi‐1, well‐consolidated sandstone
– 30x10‐6 psi‐1, unconsolidated sandstone
– 4 to 50 x 10‐6 psi‐1 consolidated limestones

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Net Pay Thickness

h1

h2 h = h1 + h2 + h3

Shale
h3 Sand (No perforations
in this sand)
h4

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Net Pay Thickness
• The net pay thickness is the total thickness of all 
productive layers in communication with the well.
• Net pay includes any rock that has sufficient vertical 
permeability to allow fluid to move to a layer from which it 
may be produced.
• Thickness is measured perpendicular to bed boundaries.
• Symbol – h 
• Units – ft
• Source – logs
• Range or Typical Value
– May be as small as 5 ft or even less
– May be as large as 1,000 ft or more

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Net Pay Thickness

Vertical well, Vertical well,

horizontal formation slanted formation

Deviated well, Deviated well,

horizontal formation slanted formation

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Saturations

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Saturations
• Saturation is the fraction of pore volume occupied 
by a particular fluid.
• Symbol – So, Sw, Sg
• Units – fraction or %
• Source – logs
• Range or Typical Value
– 15 to 25% – connate water saturation in well‐sorted, 
coarse sandstones
– 40 to 60% – connate water saturation in poorly sorted, 
fine‐grained, shaly, low‐permeability reservoir rock

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• Saturation is the fraction of pore volume occupied 
by a particular fluid.
• Symbol – So, Sw, Sg
• Units – fraction or %
• Source – logs
• Range or Typical Value
– 15 to 25% – connate water saturation in well‐sorted, 
coarse sandstones
– 40 to 60% – connate water saturation in poorly sorted, 
fine‐grained, shaly, low‐permeability reservoir rock

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 Wellbore Radius

rw

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Wellbore Radius
• Wellbore radius is the size of wellbore.
• Symbol
– rw
• Units
– feet
• Source
– Bit diameter/2
– Caliper log
• Range or Typical Value
– 2 to 8 in.

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 Total Compressibility

c t  c f  So c o  S w c w  S g c g

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Total Compressibility
• The total compressibility is the sum of pore 
compressibility and saturation weighted fluid 
compressibilities.
• Symbol – ct
• Units
– psi‐1, microsips
• Source
– Calculated
• Range or Typical Value
– See exercises

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