Determination of Effective Drainage Area for Tight Gas Wells

Abstract

Abstract Early quantification of the well's ability to effectively drain the productive reservoir will result in improved economic performance. The effective drainage area of a tight gas well is primarily controlled by reservoir geometry, rock and fluid properties and well completion efficiency. This paper will present theoretical effective drainage areas for wells completed in blanket sands (radial drainage) and channel sands (linear drainage). The work will focus on the relationship between reservoir geometry, effective gas permeability, porosity and fracture half-length for dry-gas reservoirs. The relationship of effective gas permeability and fracture half-lengths on the effective drainage area will be presented as a result of this work. Typical Appalachian Basin producing reservoir properties will be incorporated into the simulation work tailoring this analysis to those producing environments. The cases presented in this paper will include permeability ranging from 0.01 md to 1 md, reservoir geometries ranging from radial flow to channel widths from 250 ft to 1000 ft and fracture stimulation half-lengths up to 300 ft. For consistency, all stimulation cases will be based on an assumed 200 md-ft fracture conductivity.