Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2007

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Committee Chair

Shahab D. Mohaghegh.

Abstract

About one-fifth of the natural gas used by Americans each winter comes from natural gas storage sites. Gas storage is the primary means for the gas industry to manage fluctuations in supply and demand. Natural gas can be stored in a variety of ways. Most commonly, it is held in underground formations, in depleted oil or gas reservoirs, or in natural aquifers.;Many gas storage wells show a decline in deliverability as a function of time due to several damage mechanisms. The remedial operations such as stimulation and workovers are used to restore the loss in deliverability and to enhance the productivity of a well.;Candidate well selection for the stimulation or workover process is generally based on well history. Skin factor is an important parameter to predict the well performance. Skin is usually calculated from a Multi Rate Well Test (MRT). However performing a MRT on a regular basis is an unattractive activity when considering the economic issues. First of all, performing a well test may cause temporary production or injection interruptions. Secondly, the cost associated with well test is considered as an operating expense, a fact that does not help the overall economics of operating a Gas Storage Field. Single Rate Well Tests (SRT) are also performed to estimate the deliverability, but they do not contain sufficient data in order to estimate true skin factor by conventional well testing calculations.;The objective of this study is to introduce a new methodology to enhance the current practices of estimating true skin factor from a SRT. This method includes history matching of the actual MRT and then estimation of skin value from SRT using the history matched model. Using this methodology it is shown that change in the skin can be estimated with reasonably accuracy.

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