Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

Oil well test analysis is a branch of reservoir engineering. Information obtained from flow and pressure transient tests about in situ reservoir conditions are important to determine the productive capacity of a reservoir. The reservoir engineer must have sufficient information about the condition and characteristics of the reservoir/well to adequately analyze reservoir performance and to forecast future production under various modes of operation. The production engineer must know the condition of production and injection wells to persuade the best possible performance from the reservoir. Pressures are the most valuable and useful data in reservoir engineering. Directly or indirectly, they enter into all phases of reservoir engineering calculations. Therefore, an accurate determination of reservoir parameters is very important. This chapter presents popular pressure transient test analysis techniques and estimates of the range of applicability. Pressure behavior analysis methods are discussed in brief to obtain adequate reservoir descriptions for isotropic, anisotropic, and heterogeneous systems, including calculating fracture orientation and estimating two-dimensional permeability with vertical interference testing. The major goal is optimization of oil recovery through characterization of the reservoir system. The chapter presents an outstanding instructive text source providing theory and practice of oil well testing methods and their role in petroleum industries.