Semester

Fall

Date of Graduation

2020

Document Type

Problem/Project Report

Degree Type

MS

College

Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources

Department

Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

Committee Chair

Kashy Aminian

Committee Member

Samuel Ameri

Committee Member

H. Ilkin Bilgesu

Abstract

The oil and gas industry has been dealing with the unconventional reservoirs for about only two decades. Consequently, many challenges remain in evaluating the unconventional reservoirs. A few of these obstacles are the absence of the adequate production history, understanding the fluid flow regime after hydraulic fracturing, and estimating the drainage volume of the reservoir. One of the essential elements for evaluation of the oil and reservoir is to estimate the production rates over time in order to investigate the economic potential of the project.

Decline Curve Analysis (DCA) is most common the methodology for predicting the production rates over the time based on past production data. However, conventional DCA methods cannot be applied to unconventional reservoir due to lack of sufficient and consistent past production history. Accordingly, several DCA methods (Arps, PLE, SPED, and Duong) have been proposed to estimate the production over time for unconventional reservoirs. However, their reliability and accuracy remain uncertain.

In this problem report, field production data from hydraulically fractured horizontal wells completed in Marcellus Shale will be analyzed using different DCA methods for unconventional reservoirs. Accordingly, this will lead to a better understanding which DCA method can provide accurate predictions of the future production rates from the unconventional reservoirs.

Download

Share

COinS