A New Method for History Matching and Forecasting Shale Gas Reservoir Production Performance with a Dual Porosity Model

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a new method for history matching production of shale gas wells and future forecasting. The method is based on linear dual porosity analytical solutions which includes horizontal wells with multistage fractures. A linear dual-porosity model assumes hydraulic fractures as a secondary porosity system and conduit to flow. Homogeneous matrix blocks are sources of primary porosity that feed fluids to the hydraulic fractures. A Systematic analysis was done to determine the main parameters affecting transient flow regimes. Since main flow regimes observed in the field are Bilinear and Linear, more attention was given to those regimes to match with the field data. Analytical solutions are modified for gas properties and desorption of gas from matrix surface. Besides constant bottomhole pressure production, variable bottomhole pressure cases are also included in this paper. The proposed method was applied to history match the production of shale gas wells from the Barnett, Woodford, and Fayetteville plays. The main parameters found from history matching are effective matrix and fracture permeabilities and fracture half-length. In wells with successful matches, future production can be forecast with some confidence.