Semester

Summer

Date of Graduation

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Committee Chair

Khashayar Aminian.

Abstract

With the recent development of shale gas reservoirs such as the Marcellus using horizontal drilling and fracturing, it has become necessary to evaluate the amount of gas recoverable for both economic and operational purposes. As a result of limited production history, the production behavior of horizontal well producing from Marcellus shale has not been well established. A technique in accomplishing the estimation of future production history would be most useful to the industry.;Decline curve analysis (DCA) methods have been utilized successfully in various hydrocarbon plays throughout the world in approximating future production. Several DCA models have been proposed specifically for unconventional gas reservoirs. However, their applicability to production data from Marcellus shale wells has not been attempted. Four sets of simulated Marcellus shale production profiles were generated in this study. They included production from a 3000 feet-long horizontal well containing seven hydraulic fracture stages (a hydraulic fracture spacing of 500 feet) and thirteen fractures (a hydraulic fracture spacing of 250 feet). Two sets were simulated using a dual porosity model with adsorbed gas and two sets were simulated using a dual porosity model without adsorbed gas. The most appropriate DCA models for each set were selected based on the entire production profile (30 years). Subsequently, a technique was developed to predict the long term DCA model parameters based on the limited production history via dimensionless log-log plots. Finally, the developed methodology was applied to the limited field production data from a horizontal well containing eight hydraulic fracture stages (a hydraulic fracture spacing of 429 feet). The comparison of the predicted future production rates with those rates predicted by history matching with a commercial reservoir simulator confirmed the reliability of methodology developed in this study.

Download

Share

COinS