Design And Implementation

Of Well Testing
K15PG52
OVERVIEW

 It presents fundamental concepts for designing and

implementation oil- and well gas well tests, both pressure
transient and well deliverability tests. Included in these design
concepts are recommendation for selecting the appropriate well
test to achieve the desired test objectives, estimating pretest
formation properties , selecting the appropriate flow-rate schedule
and sequence for the test ,and choosing the test duration required
to sample a desired reservoir volume and or to reach stabilized
flow conditions.
Types and purposes of well tests.

Oil and gas well tests can be grouped into

two general categories on the basis of their
primary function. They are
 Pressure transient test
 Deliverability tests
Pressure Transient Tests

 Pressure transient tests refer to those tests where we generate and

measure pressure changes with time.

 It includes those tests designed to quantify important reservoir

rock and fluid properties ( such as permeability, porosity and
average reservoir pressure) and to locate and identify reservoir
heterogeneities( such as sealing faults, natural fractures and
layers)
TYPES OF TRANSIENT TESTS.

 Pressure build up & ideal pressure build up.

 Pressure drawdown test.

 Multiple rate

 Injection , build up or falloff test.

 Multiple well interference & pulse test.

Pressure Transient Test Design

A method for designing pressure transient test

design, it includes techniques for obtaining :
 Pretest estimates of reservoir properties
 Estimating appropriate test flow rates
 Determining test duration
Contd..

 The methods for obtaining pretest estimates of reservoir properties,

including skin factor and formation permeability. It emphasizes that
good pretest estimates are necessary to design a pressure transient test
properly.
 Skin factor often can be estimated from the type of completion. Skin
factors range from -8 to -30 for hydraulically fractured wells and from -
3 to -1 for acidized wells.
 A natural completion usually is assumed to have a skin factor of 0.
 Skin factors also may be estimated from offset wells with the same type
of completion.
Contd..

 Permeability can be estimated from core samples or

from offsets well.
 Permeability also may be estimated from productivity
tests or from the pseudosteady-state flow equation.
 If the reservoir is still infinite acting the one point
method may be used to estimate formation permeability
from a constant rate flow test.
Deliverability Tests

 Deliverability tests are flow tests designed to measure the production

capabilities of a well under specific reservoir conditions.
 Objectives of a deliverability test are to determine AOF potential or to
generate a reservoir IPR or gas backpressure curve.
 The four basic types of deliverability tests include:
 Flow after-flow test or four point test
 Single-point test
 Isochronal test
 Modified isochronal test
Deliverability-Test Design

It includes the following requirements:

 Stabilization time
 Estimating deliverability-test duration
 Flow-rate requirements
 Selection of deliverability test
Stabilization Time

 Stabilization time is defined as the time when the flowing pressure is no

longer changing or is no longer changing significantly
 In high permeability reservoirs, the time to reach stabilized flowing
conditions is reasonably short; however, in low permeability
formations, the stabilization time can be months or even years,
depending on the formation permeability. Therefore it is imperative that
the design engineer estimate the time to reach stabilized flow before
designing the test.
 The stabilization time ts for a well centered in a circular drainage area is
estimated with
ts = 948θµgcrr2 / kg
Estimating Deliverability-test Duration

 Four conventional four-point and single-point tests and for the extended
flow points for isochronal and modified isochronal tests, the test
duration must be such that stabilized flow is achieved. For isochronal
and modified isochronal tests, the test duration can be much shorter,
subject to the following limitations.
 The first requirement for an isochronal test is that the flow period must
be long enough that well bore storage effects have ended by the end of
each period. Further the periods must be long enough that a significant
portion of the reservoir has been sampled.
 Finally, for hydraulically fracture wells, the test duration must be long
enough that pseudo radial flow is achieved by the end of each period.
Selection Of Deliverability Test

 The most important consideration when selecting the

deliverability test is the time required for stabilization.
 If the stabilization time is on the order of several hours, a
conventional four-point or backpressure test is appropriate.
 If the stabilization time greatly exceeds several hours, either an
isochronal or modified isochronal test should be considered.
 When a well’s deliverability characteristics are known or can be
estimated from previous well tests, a single point test is suitable.
K15PG28
General test-design considerations

If properly designed and implemented a well test can provide much useful information
about both individual wells and the reservoir.
Common applications of oil- and gas well tests include:
 Identifying and locating important reservoir heterogeneities
 Calculating the resource in place and estimating the reserves for various stages
of reservoir depletion.
 Selecting optimal field development and production strategies
 Estimating future deliverability for design of surface production and
processing equipment.
 Determine the nature of the formation fluids and obtaining fluid samples for
laboratory analysis.
Steps Involve In Well-test Design

 To identify the test objectives clearly.

 To design the test (including selecting a particular well
test to achieve the desired objectives )
 To implement the test safely and economically by
developing procedures.
 To obtain the proper data by selecting test equipment.
 Collecting and analyzing the data.
Well-testing Environments and how it
affects the test design.
 Type and status of well

 Effects of reservoir properties

 Safety and environment considerations

 Gauge considerations
Type and status of wells

When deciding the type of well test to use ,the foremost design
considerations are the type and status of the well. The type of well refers to
its major function, such as
 Development vs exploration wells
 Producing vs injecting wells
 Shallows vs deep wells
 Stimulated unstimulated wells
The well’s status indicates whether the well is active or shut-in.
Depending on the type and status of the well and the information required
,we may select a pressure transient test or a deliverability test.
Effects of reservoir properties

 It discusses the effects of reservoir properties on well test design:

low permeability vs high permeability formations and single-zone
vs multiple zone reservoirs. In general, low permeability
formations require longer tests to reach the end of wellbore
storage and to sample a reasonable distance into the formation
than do high permeability formations.
 High permeability reservoirs require higher flow rates to achieve
a given pressure drawdown than low-permeability reservoirs.
 Reservoirs with multiple zones maybe tested in the same manner
as single zones, provided each zone is isolated and tested in turn.
Safety and environmental
considerations
 It discusses safety and environmental considerations such as
sweet vs sour gas and corrosive gases. In the presence of H2S, the
well-test design must follow industry-standard safety precautions.
If corrosive gases are present, the design must specify corrosion –
resistant equipment to reduce the risk of wireline failure. In
testing in areas where gas must be flared, the test design should
minimize the amount of gas released. All relevant environmental
regulations must be followed in designing any test.
K15PG51
Well Test Objective

 The main objective when drilling a well is to test and evaluate the target formation. The
normal method of investigating the reservoir is to conduct a well test. There are two
types of well test methods available:

· Drill Stem Test (DST).

The scope is to define the quality of the formation fluid. Where drillpipe/tubing in
combination with downhole tools is used as a short term test to evaluate the reservoir. The
formation fluid may not reach or only just reach the surface during the flowing time.

 · Production Test.
The scope is to define the quality and quantity of the formation fluid. Many options of
string design are available depending on the requirements of the test and the nature of the
well.
 Contd..
 Many designs of well testing strings are possible depending on the
requirements of the test and the nature of the well and the type of
flow test to be conducted but basically it consists of installing a
packer tailpipe, packer, safety system and downhole test tools and a
tubing or drill pipe string then introducing a low density fluid into the
string in order to enable the well to flow through surface testing
equipment which controls the flow rate, separates the fluids and
measures the flow rates and pressures.
 A short description of the types of tests which can be conducted and
generic test string configurations for the various drilling installations,
as well as the various downhole tools available, surface equipment,
pre-test procedures and test procedures are included in this section.
Contd…

Exploration well:
On initial wells, well testing is used to confirm the exploration hypothesis
and to establish a first production forecast: nature and rate of produced
fluids, initial pressure and well and reservoir properties. Tests may be
limited to drillstem testing only.

Appraisal well:
The previous well and reservoir description can be refined by testing
appraisal wells to confirm well productivity, reservoir heterogeneities and
boundaries, drive mechanisms etc. Bottom hole fluid samples are taken for
PVT laboratory analysis. Longer duration testing (production testing) is
usually carried out.
Contd..

 Development well:

 On producing wells, periodic tests are made to adjust the

reservoir description and to evaluate the need for well treatment,
such as work-over, perforation strategy or completion design, to
maximize the well's production life. Communication between
wells (interference testing), monitoring of the average reservoir
pressure are some usual objectives of development well testing.
K15PG20
Test Procedure

 Drawdown test:
The flowing bottom hole pressure is used for analysis. Ideally, the well
should be producing at constant rate but in practice, this is difficult to
achieve and drawdown pressure data is erratic. The analysis of flowing
periods (drawdown) is frequently difficult and inaccurate
 Build-up test:
The increase of bottom hole pressure after shut-in is used for
analysis.Before the build-up test, the well must have been flowing long
enough to reach stabilized rate. During shut-in periods, the flow rate is
accurately controlled (zero). It isfor this reason build up tests should be
performed.
Contd..

 Injection test ~fall-off test:

When fluid is injected into the reservoir, the bottom hole pressure increases and,
after shut-in, it drops during the fall-off period. The properties of the injected fluid
are in general different from that of the reservoir fluid, interpretation of injection
and fall-off tests requires more attention to detail than for producers.
 Interference test and pulse testing:
The bottom hole pressure is monitored in a shut-in observation well some distance
away from the producer. Interference tests are designed to evaluate
communication between wells. With pulse tests, the active well is produced with a
series of short flow / shut-in periods and the resulting pressure oscillations in the
observation well are analyzed.
K15PG66
Contd..

 Gas well test:

Specific testing methods are used to evaluate the deliverability of
gas wells (Absolute Open Flow Potential, AOFP) and the possibility
of non-Darcy flow condition (rate dependent skin factor S~). The
usual procedures are Back Pressure test (Flow after Flow),
Isochronal and Modified Isochronal tests.
Well completion

 Production test:
During such tests, the well is completed as a production well with a
cased hole and a permanent completion. The well is monitored at
surface, from the wellhead.
 Drill stem test (DST):
The well is completed temporarily with a down-hole shut-in valve.
Frequently the well is cased but DST can be made also in open hole.
During a DST, the well is closed down-hole. The drill stem testing
procedure is used only for relatively short tests. The drill string
(drill-pipe) is not used any more, and production tubing is employed
Thankyou