Chapter 5 Well Testing (II)

Weibo Sui
Ph.D, Associate Professor
College of Petroleum Engineering, CUPB
 Skin Factor

• Skin, s, refers to a region near the wellbore of

improved or reduced permeability compared to the
bulk formation permeability.
 Reason for Positive Skin

• Overbalanced drilling (filtrate loss)

• Damaged perforations
• Gravel pack
• Unfiltered completion fluid
• Partial completion
• Fines migration after long term production
• Non-darcy flow (predominantly in gas wells)
• Condensate banking (acts like turbulence)
 Reason for Negative Skin

• Acidizing
• Hydraulic fracturing
• Natural fractures
How to quantify the skin factor
 Skin Quantification

The pressure drop across the damaged zone is

141.2qB ra
pa  pwf  ln (1)
ka h rw
If the zone is not damaged,
141.2qB ra
 
pa  pwf ln (2)
kh rw
Substracting (2) from (1) gives:
141.2qB  k  ra
  pwf  ps 
pwf   1 ln (3)
kh  ka  rw
The skin factor is defined as
k  ra 141.2qB
s    1 ln  ps  s (4)
 ka  rw kh
 Example 1 – Skin Factor

Calculate the skin factor of a well with the following properties:

 Drawdown Well Tests

162.6qB   k 
pwf  pi   log t  log  3.23 
kh   ct rw
2

 Drawdown Well Test

If the pressure drop, ∆ps, caused by skin is included for calculation

of wellbore pressure in a well, then the transient solution is
modified to be:

162.6qB   k 
pwf  pi   log t  log  3.23   ps
kh   ct rw
2

162.6qB   k 
 pi   log t  log  3.23  0.87s 
kh   ct rw
2

 Calculate Permeability

162.6qB  k 
pwf  pi   log t  log  3.23  0.87s 
kh  ct rw
2

is treated as a straight line equation “ y = b + mx”, where m is the
slope of the straight line, and “k” can be calculated.

y  pwf
x  lg t
162.6qB 
m
kh
162.6qB   k 
b  pi   log  3.23  0.87 s 
kh   ct rw
2

 Calculate Skin Factor

After determining the slope, the skin is calculated by

 pi  pwf kt 
s  1.151   log  3.23
 m  ct rw
2


By convention, pwf is determined at t = 1 hr, sometimes by

extrapolation of the straight line.

 pi   pwf  k 
s  1.151  1hr
 log  3.23
 m  ct rw
2

Drawdown Test Time Regions

(ETR) (MTR) (LTR)

 Example 2 – DD Test

Calculate permeability and skin from the constant single-rate drawdown test.
Example 2 – DD Test
 Radius of Investigation

ri(t1) ri(t2) ri(t3)

pi

Time increasing

pwf(t1)
pwf(t2)
pwf(t3)

rw re
Pressure transient development within reservoir

kt
ri 
948 ct
Example 3 – Radius of Investigation
 Wellbore Storage Effect

Wellbore storage and skin are phenomena associated

with the well that effect the behavior of the transient
response, especially in early time.
Modeling wellbore storage offers little value, but
quantifying and characterizing skin provides insight on
how to improve well productivity.
 Wellbore Storage Effect

• In drawdown test (DD)

– unloading of wellbore fluids at start of production;
– ceases when wellhead rate is equal to the rate of fluid
entry from the reservoir.
• In buildup test (BU)
– continued flow of reservoir fluids into the wellbore after
the well has been shut in (called afterflow);
– ceases when hydrostatic pressure of wellbore fluid equals
reservoir pressure at sandface.
 Wellbore Storage Effect

Why does a well flow?

 Wellbore Storage Effect

The initial reservoir pressure is usually pa = atmospheric

pressure
approximately hydrostatic: pth
pi = pa+rwgD = pa+ 0.433D. When the wellbore
is filled with hydrocarbons, the wellbore fluid
density, rhyd < rw. The pressure at the valve,
pth = pa+ 0.433D – rhydgD
= pa+ 0.433(1-rhyd/rwD > pa
When the valve is opened, fluid
pi
will flow from the wellbore.
 Wellbore Storage Effect

Why does a reservoir flow?

 Wellbore Storage Effect

The reservoir flows because the reservoir fluids are

pth
compressible. For a constant reservoir volume, if
some fluid is leaving the volume, the remaining
fluid expands to fill the volume, and the pressure
drops. Fluid leaves the reservoir via the well
whenever the sandface pressure, psf, is less than
the reservoir pressure, pR.
psf
pR
 Wellbore Storage Effect

When the valve is opened, fluid flows from the

pth
wellbore, and the pressure in the wellbore drops,
first near the valve and gradually throughout the
wellbore. When the pressure at the sandface
drops, the reservoir fluid flows into the well. For
some time, the flow from the well is a
qsf
combination of flow from the wellbore
psf
and from the reservoir, and the rate of pR

flow at the sandface, qsf, is less than

the well flow rate at the surface, q.
 Wellbore Storage Coefficient

• Wellbore storage coefficient, C, is defined as change in volume

of wellbore fluids per unit change in wellbore pressure.

V
C  Vwbcwb
p
 Superposition Principle

• Multiple wells
 Superposition Principle

• Multiple rates

 p total   p due to (Q 0)   p due to (Q Q )

o1 o2 o1

+  p due to (Q Q )   p due to (Q
o3 o2 o 4  Qo 3 )

162.6  Q1  0  B    kt4  
 Q1 0 
p   
lg 2 
 3.23  0.87 s 
 kh     ct rw  
162.6  Q2  Q1  B     k  t4  t1   
 p Q Q  
  lg 2 
 3.23  0.87 s 
2 1
 kh 
   ct w 
r 
162.6  Q3  Q2  B     k  t4  t2   
 p Q Q   lg    3.23  0.87 s 
    ct rw 
2
3 2
 kh 
162.6  Q4  Q3  B     k  t4  t3   
 p Q Q   lg 2 
 3.23  0.87 s 
 kh     ct rw  
4 3
 Multi-Rate Drawdown Tests

162.6 B n 162.6 B   
pi  pwf   
  q j  q j 1  log  tn  t j 1   
 qn  lg
k
 3.23  0.87 s 
  ct rw
2
kh j 1 kh 

pi  pwf 162.6 B n   q j  q j 1   162.6 B  
   log  n j 1 
t  t    lg

k
2
 3.23  0.87 s 
qn kh j 1  q  kh  c r 
 n t w
 Multi-Rate Drawdown Test

• Rate normalized plot

pi  pwf
y
qn
  q j  q j 1  
log  tn  t j 1  
n
x  
j 1  qn 

162.6qB  162.6qB 
m k 
kh mh
162.6qB   k  b k 
b  log  3.23  0.87 s   s  1.151   log  3.23 
kh   c r
t w
2
  m  c r
t w
2

 Buildup Test Analysis

pi  pws  p@ q t   p@  q t 

p t

pi  initial reservoir pressure

pws  shut-in bottomhole pressure (BHP) over t
 Buildup Test

Applying superposition principle, we have the basic equation for

BU test:

162.6qB  k  t p  t  
pi  pws  lg  3.23  0.87 s 
kh   ct rw2

162.6qB  k t 
+  lg  3.23  0.87 s 
  ct rw
2
kh 

162.6qB   t p  t  
pi  pws  log 
kh  t 

 Buildup Test – Horner’s Plot

In the form of a straight line equation, y = b + mx

y  pws

x  lg
 t p  t 
t
162.6qB 
m
kh
b  pi or p*

t p  t
Horner time ratio 
t
Horner Plot
 Calculate Permeability & Skin

• Permeability
162.6qB
k
mh
• Skin
Use the transient test equation for BHP at one hour of shut-
in time is:
162.6qB  k 
pws @ t 1hr  pwf @ t 0 hr  log  3.23  0.87 s 
  ct rw
2
kh 

 p1hr  pwf @ t 0 hr k 
s  1.151   log  3.23 
 m  c r
t w
2

 Horner’s Time Approximation

• In practice, it is difficult to maintain the production rate of a well relatively

constant over a reasonable time period. Most wells have variable
production rates over time.
• The production histories can be modeled accurately by application of
superposition principle, or approximated by Horner’s pseudo-producing
time, tpH
24 N p
t pH 
qlast

162.6qlast B   t pH  t  
pi  pws  log 
kh  t 
Example 4 – BU Test
Example 4 – BU Test