Volume 18: Sustainable Energy Solutions for a Post-COVID Recovery towards a Better Future: Part I

A Practical Method for Production Decline Analysis of the Single Well During Natural Depletion in Tight Reservoirs After Fracturing Ke Sun, Huiqing Liu, Liangyu Ma, Renjie Liu, Yabin Feng, Zhijiang Kang, Yun Zhang

Abstract

The development of tight oil reservoirs has made remarkable progress all over the world currently, but how to quickly and accurately forecast the production decline trend of the single well after fracturing is quite a huge challenge in practical terms. Based on the production characteristics of tight oil reservoirs after fracturing during natural depletion and the fractional flow equation, as well as combined with the material balance equation and the Arps exponential decline model, a novel and practical method for production decline analysis (PDA) of the single well during natural depletion in tight reservoirs after fracturing was proposed. Then, a production well (JX) from the tight oil block X in the Junggar basin of China was selected as the case well for application and the production decline curve of the JX well was calculated and forecasted. Compared with the Logistic model and actual production data from the field, the accuracy of the practical PDA method was verified, the economic recoverable reserves and the corresponding oil recovery factor of the JX well were further predicted. The novel PDA method is of great help for field engineers to evaluate the current production status of oil wells and predict their future production trends quickly and conveniently.

Keywords Practical method, production decline analysis (PDA), natural depletion, tight reservoirs, fracturing