Abstract
Recently, a flow-cell model (FCM) was specifically developed to quickly generate physics-based forecasts of production rates and estimated ultimate resources (EURs) for infill wells, as the basis for the estimation of proven undeveloped reserves. Such reserves estimations provide operators with key collateral for further field development with reserves-based loans. FCM has been verified in previous studies to accurately forecast production rates and EURs for both black oil and dry gas wells. This study aims to expand the application range of FCM to predict the production performance and EURs of wells planned in undeveloped acreage of the wet gas window. Forecasts of the well rates and EURs with FCM are compared with the performance predictions generated with an integrated reservoir simulator for multi-fractured wells, using detailed field data from the Utica Field Experiment. Results of FCM, with adjustment factors to account for wet gas compressibility effects, match closely with the numerical performance forecasts. The advantage of FCM is that it can run on a fast spreadsheet template. Once calibrated for wet gas wells by a numerical reservoir simulator accounting for compositional flow, FCM can forecast the performance of future wells when completion design parameters, such as fracture spacing and well spacing, are changed.
Highlights
The oil and gas industry routinely uses sophisticated reservoir simulators to understand how much hydrocarbons can be recovered from hydraulically fractured laterals in shale reservoirs [1,2]
In the flow-cell model, the rate of the well, outlined (Section 3.3), followed by flow-cell based Decline curve curve analysis analysis (DCA) curves for Utica wells with varying fracture spacing calibrated with the ResFrac simulator results (Section 3.4)
The results showed how the estimated ultimate resources (EURs) for the 850 nD base-case well would change when the well spacing was varied between 200 and 1500 ft (Figure 6b and Table 3)
Summary
The oil and gas industry routinely uses sophisticated reservoir simulators to understand how much hydrocarbons can be recovered from hydraulically fractured laterals in shale reservoirs [1,2]. Advanced reservoir simulators consider the permeability of rocks, underground heterogeneities, and fracture features, among other parameters [3,4] With these inputs in place, the model virtually tiles the reservoir into small blocks, or cells, and simulates the flow of hydrocarbons through these individual blocks based on the difference in pressure on the different faces of the blocks. These simulations can run from hours to days to weeks, depending upon the number of blocks within a grid. If the reservoir model has a million cells, the simulation must compute how these
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
