You are here

Complexities in reservoirs exit at three main levels:

  1. Geology, due to different depositional and tectonic processes, with reservoirs formed via deposition in fluvial environments being the most complex;
  2. Fluid, notably in gas condensate reservoirs below the dew point pressure and in volatile oil reservoirs below the bubble point pressure;
  3. Wells, particularly multilateral horizontal wells.

The combination of complex reservoirs, complex fluids, and complex wells create well test pressure behaviours that can be very difficult to interpret. Simplifying assumptions allow the derivation of analytical solutions, and these are routinely used for describing reservoir dynamic behaviours during well tests. Simplified interpretation models, however, restrict the amount of information that can be obtained from well test analysis in complex systems by not accounting for complexity. They also yield results that are often difficult to relate to reality.

The Centre of Petroleum Studies at Imperial College London has been involved in research in these areas since 1997, sponsored mainly by consortia of oil companies. Results from this work have already greatly improved the understanding of well test behaviours in gas condensate and volatile oil reservoirs; in reservoirs with commonly found geological features (such as semi-infinite channels with non-parallel boundaries; T-shaped channels; meandering channel with different well locations, channel branch widths and meander angles; and pinch-out boundaries); and in multilateral wells. They have also greatly improved the ability to interpret well tests in such reservoirs.

The objective of the present research is to expand the work performed to-date in these three area in order to develop a better understanding of well test behaviours in complex systems, and to use this understanding to develop new, practical analysis methods for calculating well and reservoir parameters, for estimating reserves, and for predicting and improving well productivity in such reservoir-fluid-well systems. Limitations and uncertainties in the analyses as a function of the data available will also be a focus of the research. An important part of the research will focus on unconventional gas production.

Publications

SPE number Title Yearsort descending
SPE59398 Influence of Geological Features on Well Test Behavior 2000
SPE113877 Influence of Geological Features on Well Test Behavior 2008
SPE134452 Comparative Well-Test Behaviours in Low-Permeability Lean, Medium-rich, and Rich Gas-Condensate Reservoirs 2010
SPE143592 Assessment of Rate-Dependent Skin Factors in Gas Condensate and Volatile Oil Wells 2011
SPE143621 Well Test Analysis of Medium-Rich to Rich Gas-Condensate Layered Reservoirs 2011
SPE164872 Impact of Completion on Wellbore Skin Effect 2013
SPE164869 Well Deliverability Forecasting of Gas Condensate And Volatile Oil Wells 2013
SPE164871 Well-head Pressure Transient Analysis 2013

PhD Theses

Title Author Yearsort descending
Well test Analysis of Low Permeability Medium-Rich to Rich Gas Condensate Homogeneous and Layered Reservoirs Thabo C. Kgogo 2011

MSc Theses

Title Author Yearsort descending
Influence of Geological Features on Well Test Behaviour AbdulRahman Mijinyawa 2007
Analysis of Bounded Commingled Reservoirs Said Muratbekov 2009
Triple Porosity Simulation Models Raheel Rizwan Baig 2009
Analytical Methods for Establishing Interwell Connectivity in a North Sea Field Carlos Mata 2010
Analysis of well productivity relationship for multi-layer no-crossflow Britannia gas condensate wells Thibaut Hérens 2010
Well Test Analysis in Oil and Gas Reservoirs with Very High CO2 Content Serik Bekzhigitov 2010
Well Test Analysis in a Lean Gas Condensate field in North Africa Chioma Izugbokwe 2010
Reducing Fluid Type Uncertainty with Well Test Analysis Hidayat Abd Hir 2011
Packing characteristics of different shaped proppants for use with hydrofracing-A numerical investigation using 3D FEMDEM Chern Zherng Low 2011
Decline Curve Analysis in Shale Gas Wells- A Study of the Effects of Adsorbed Gas on B-Factors Elliott Cox 2011
Deliverability Of A Rich Gas Condensate Fractured Vertical Well In A Coarse And Fine Grid Model Bertrand Cuesta 2011
Integrated Analysis of Pressure Transient Tests in the Gulf of Mexico Hernán De Caso 2011
Multi-phase Well Testing to Calibrate Relative Permeability Measurements for Reservoir Simulation Alistair J. Green 2011
Interpretation of polymer solution injection fall-off tests Ajana Laoroongroj 2011
How to Model Condensate Banking in a Simulation Model to Get Reliable Forecasts? Case Story of Elgin/Franklin Lionel X. Martinez 2011
Productivity of Gas Condensate Fields Below Dew Point: A Case Study P.D.W. Lloyd 2011
Shale Gas Well Test Analysis Samat Kabdenov 2011
Design of a Pressure Transient Campaign for a Giant Middle Eastern field Ali Izzidien 2012
Evaluation of low permeability naturally fractured carbonate reservoir with Pressure Transient Analysis Aristeidis Karamessinis 2012
Well Test Analysis on Well-head Pressure Build-up to Identify Well Behaviour and Under Performance Charidimos Spyrou 2012
Computation of effective dynamic properties of naturally fractured reservoirs-Comparison and validation of methods Benoit Decroux 2012
Production Monitoring of Condensate Gas Ratio Transients Based on Dynamics of Produced Fluid Composition Anastasia ALYAPINA 2012
Impact of Completion on Wellbore Skin Effect Mohammed Alshawaf 2012
Evaluating Hydraulic Fracture Properties Using Well Test Analysis on Multi Fractured Horizontal Wells Imam Kamran 2012
Evaluation of the Impact of Scale in the Well-Test Behaviour of Fissured Reservoirs Aldo A. Lopez Marmolejo 2013
Predicting Decline in Unconventional Reservoirs Using Analytical and Empirical Methods Frederik Van Cauter 2013
Optimizing Recovery in Gas Condensate Fields Yong Han Seah 2013
Modeling of Induced Hydraulically Fractured Wells in Shale Reservoirs Using ‘Branched’ Fractals Rawan Al-Obaidy 2013
Liquids-Rich Shale Evaluation: Modelling and Optimization of Hydraulically Fractured Liquids-Rich Shale Wells Marco Cunha 2013
Wireline Formation Testers Analysis with Deconvolution Joelle Mitri 2013
Uncertainty in Multi-Layered Commingled Reservoirs with Non-Uniform Formation Damage Sudhakar Mishra 2013
Steady State And Transient Modeling Of Liquid Loading In Gas Wells: A Niger Delta Case Study Ojameruaye Ogheneovo 2013
Bilinear Flow in Horizontal Wells in a Homogeneous Reservoir: Huntington Case Study Wei Cher Feng 2013