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Abstract
The use of computers for pressure transient analysis is now a routine practice in the petroleum industry. Several pressure analysis techniques have been developed over the last few years that not only lend themselves to easy implementation on computers but necessitate the use of computers. The combination of the ability to acquire highly sensitive and accurate pressure data and the easy access of these analysis techniques allows the engineer to employ sophisticated methods to analyze the data. This paper presents state-of-the-art computer applications of pressure transient analysis using techniques available in today's software. Field examples of applications that a typical user would not attempt without a computer are presented. The advantages of these methods over conventional analysis methods are also demonstrated. Applications include pressure derivative, pressure integral, rate superposition, and the use of pseudo functions.
This paper also presents a list of recommended features and attributes of what constitute, in our opinion, a good pressure transient analysis program. It is hoped that the list will provide a standard and serve as a guide to developers of pressure transient analysis packages.
Introduction
Pressure transient testing is an essential tool for estimating various well and reservoir characteristics. The last decade has seen rapid and significant developments in the testing and analysis technology. As such, pressure transient technology readily lends itself to computer aided data acquisition, preprocessing, and interpretation. The development of powerful microcomputer hardware and software technologies has had a profound impact on all aspects of pressure transient testing technology. In this paper we focus on computer-aided interpretation of pressure transient tests. This is certainly not a new area; several papers have been published related to this subject. References 1–4 will give the reader a good appreciation of the advances in this area and the necessary back references.
The complete analysis of a pressure transient test, following data acquisition, requires several steps:data preparation,reservoir/well model identification,calculation of the model parameters,validation of the interpretation model, andpresentation of the results (report generation).
External information, such as geological and geophysical data, is also often needed for a reliable analysis. A complete computer-aided pressure transient analysis package should have all of the above five data and analysis components. Additionally, it should also have an element for test design and it should have the ability to archive the analysis results along with the data for future reference.
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