Date of Graduation

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Committee Chair

Kashy Aminian

Committee Co-Chair

Sam Ameri

Committee Member

Mehrdad Zamirian

Abstract

One of the most direct techniques to evaluate gas well production capacity is by productivity index (PI). As the application of horizontal wells has significantly increased since 1980s, a number of correlations for predicting the horizontal well PI have been developed by modification of the PI correlations for vertical wells. However, the predicted PI values by different correlations differ significantly. Furthermore, there are no available guidelines for proper application of the various correlations. The objective of this research is to determine the most reliable correlation for horizontal well productivity index in a gas reservoir and identify the key parameters that impact PI of horizontal gas wells.;In order to achieve the objectives, a numerical reservoir model was utilized to determine the productivity index for a horizontal well in a gas reservoir. A parametric study was then conducted to investigate the impact of different reservoir/well parameters including reservoir thickness, lateral length, horizontal permeability, and vertical permeability on PI. The productivity index determined by the simulation model was then compared against the values predicted by different correlations. The results indicate that in all cases the Renard-Dupuy anisotropic correlation will provide the closest value to the model average PI value. Moreover, Kuchuk correlation resulted in the highest value for PI, whereas Babu-Odeh correlation value resulted in the lowest value for PI in all cases.

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