Driven by field logistics in an unconventional setting, a well may undergo weeks to months of shut-in after hydraulic-fracture stimulation. In unconventional reservoirs, field experiences indicate that such shut-in episodes may improve well productivity significantly while reducing water production. Multiphase-flow mechanisms were found to explain this behavior. Aided by laboratory relative permeability and capillary pressure data, and their dependency on stress in a shale-gas reservoir, the flow-simulation model was able to reproduce the suspected water-blocking behavior. Results demonstrate that a well-resting period improves early productivity and reduces water production. The results also indicate that minimizing water invasion in the formation is crucial to avoid significant water blockage. Water-Block Description and RemediationMultiphase-Flow Mechanisms. Scanning-electron-microscope (SEM) analysis of a core sample shows that two types of pores

Increased tubinghead temperature with increased rate may induce pressure increase in the annuli for the trapped fluid. Managing annular-pressure buildup (APB) for sustaining well deliverability is particularly crucial in subsea wells, where intervention is complicated. Ordinarily, a multistring casing design accommodates anomalous pressure rise from the standpoint of well integrity. However, management of day-to-day operations presents challenges when APB occurs. This study presents mechanistic models for understanding and mitigating APB during production. By preserving mass, momentum, and energy in the wellbore, we developed two approaches involving semisteady-state and transient formulations. The intrinsic idea is to mimic the physical process with minimal input parameters to estimate pressure buildup in the annuli. Our model formulation handles the mechanisms of fluid expansion and fluid influx/efflux quite rigorously. This approach appears to be quite sufficient because we account for most of the cases of APB encountered.

Modeling of changing pressure, temperature, and density profiles in a wellbore as a Either an analytic or a numeric reservoir model can be coupled with the transient wellbore model for rapid computations of pressure, temperature, and velocity. iv The wellbore simulator is used for modeling a multirate test from a deep offshore well. Thermal distortion and its effects on pressure data is studied using the calibrated model, resulting in development of correlations for optimum gauge location in both oil and gas wells.

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This study expands upon the use of modified-Hall analysis (MHA) to discern the characteristics of a high-permeability channel. Briefly, the modified-Hall plot uses three curves involving improved Hall-integral (H-I) and the two derivatives, analytic and numeric. Ordinarily, the derivative curves overlay on the integral curve during matrix injection, but separate lower when fracturing occurs. This work presents a method to identify and characterize high-conductive layers or channels between injector and producer pairs with the MHA. The distance separating the integral and derivative curves provides the required information to quantify channel properties. A simple analytical solution is presented for transforming the separation distance into channel permeabilitythickness product.The analytic derivative is based on the radial-flow-pattern assumption and the numeric derivative is correlated to the pressure response. Therefore, a comparison of these two curves reveals clues about the maturity of a waterflood at a given time. Several simulated examples verified the channel-property-estimation algorithm and identified the distinctive derivative signatures for channeling and fracturing situations. This method is also useful for identification of wormhole propagation during sand production in unconsolidated formations.