SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS OF AIME PAPER

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Data Analysis for H gh Influx Wells

By

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H. K. van Poollen and J. B. Weber, Members AIME, H. K. van Poollen and Asso.

© Copyright 1970
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was prepared for the 45th Annual Fall Meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers
of AIME, to be held in Houston, Tex., Oct. 4-7, 1970. Permission to copy is restricted to an
abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain
conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after
publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is
usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give
proper credit is made.

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the
Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and,
with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

ABSTRACT of information available for reservoir data,

During drillstem tests, fluid influx into
the drillstem is measured as flowing pressure
increases. On moderate liquid producers, the
influx is essentially constant and the final
flowing pressure is in the order of 10 to 30
percent of the reservoir pressure. In good oil
wells, flow will reach the surface and the
final flowing pressure will be up to 80 percent
of the reservoir pressure. In both instances
cited, a subsequent pressure buildup will allow
transmissibility and wellbore damage
calculations.
Good producers of high density fluids,
such as water, will show an initially high
influx rate which slowly decreases to
essentially zero.and the final flowing pressure
is about equal to the reservoir pressure. The
same is true for a high permeability oil well
with low reservoir pressure. The resultant
test data cannot be interpreted with conven-
tional methods.
Presently a method is given which makes
use of type curves to interpret tests where the
well kills itself during the flowing period of
a drillstem test.
INTRODUCTION
Drillstem tests are often the only source
References and illustrations at end of paper.
especially early in the life of the field or
when the test is in the aquifer portion. In
the case of wells in the aquifer, subsequent
data are not usually obtained, even in later
stages of development when the aquifer
properties are needed for performance stu~ies.
In testing good producers of high density
fluids, such as water, the fluid influx into
the drillstem will be at an initially high rate,
but will decrease to almost zero. In this case,
the final flowing pressure will be nearly equal
to the reservoir pressure. When this happens,
the subsequent buildup portion of the test does
not lend itself to conventional interpretation
to determine transmissibility. The same
situation is true for high permeability oil
wells with low reservoir pressure.
Because drillstem test data on wells that
kill themselves are available, but not easily
solved, an investigation was made to find a way
to use this source of information. A method of
ru:alyzing DST' s for this type of well is
presented. The method uses type curves as
developed by ground water hydrologists and
provides for determination of both transmissi-
bility and storage.
DISCUSSION
Cooper, Bredehoeft and Papadopulos1
2 DST ANALYSES FOR HIGH INFLUX WELLS SPE 3017

presented a solution of the equation analysis as P/P0 vs time and plotted to the
same scale as the type curve. The curves are
a2h 1 3h s 3h • • (1) matched as discussed above, and values for S
-+--='fat>
ar2 r 3r and T are obtained.

which is the differential equation governing Figs. 3 and 4 show actual data from two
nonsteady radial flow of. confined ground water. wells in different aquifers, with the resulting
The equation is reduced to storage and transmissibility.

_ BH
_o_a J "'
e-Su 2 /a du _ • • • • • (2)
CONCLUSIONS
1. A method is presented to calculate

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H - 2 ut.( u) storage and transmissibility from DST data on
11
0 wells that kill themselves and cannot be
solved by conventional reservoir engineering
(See Appendix A for complete derivation.) techniques.

They presented values of H/H 0 vs;9, for each of 2. The calculation of storage by this
five values of ll, where method is of doubtful value, because the type
curves vary only slightly when rs2 S/rc2 varies
S = Tt/r c 2 • • • • • • • • • • • • (3) by an order of magnitude.
NOMENCLATURE
a =rs2 S/r 2 • • • • • • • • • • (4) h = head in aquifer at time t, m
c
H = fluid head at time t, m
H0 = initial fluid head in well, m
and made a plot of the type curves. p = pressure at any time t, psi
p 0 = final flowing pressure, psi
Their method of solution for T, trans- rc = radius of casing, em
missibility, and S, storage, was to plot H/Ho rdp = radius of drill pipe, em
vs time on the same scale as the type curves. rs = radius of sand screen or open hole, em
With the vertical log scales matched, the rw = radius of open hole, em
curves are translated horizontally until the S = storage, ¢ch (dimensionless in ground
plot of H/H 0 vs t matches one of the type water)
curves. The match of the type curve to the T = transmissibility, khj/c (sq em/sec in
actual data gives the storage, and the trans- ground water)
missibility is obtained from a time match, t, V = volume, cu em
to a value of p. This is similar to the Wenzel
and Greenlee3 method of type-curve technique. REFERENCES
They correctly point out that the co- 1. Co0per, H. H., Jr., Bredehoeft, J. D. and
efficient of storage obtained by matching Papadopulos, I. S.: "Response of a
curves is of questionable reliability, because Finite-diameter Well to an Instantaneous
the type curves vary only slightly when a Charge of Water", Water Resources Res.
differs by an order of magnitude. However, the (1967) l 1 No. 1, 263-269.
solution of T is not nearly so sensitive to the 2. Carslaw, H. S. and Jaeger, J. C.:
choice of curves matched. If the coefficient Conduction of Heat in Solids, Oxford U.
of storage can be estimated from other data, Press, London (1959).
the choice of curves for matching can be made 3. Wenzel, L. K. and Greenlee, A. L.: "A
easier. Method for Determining Transmissibility
and Storage Coefficients by Tests of
APPLICATION TO OILFIELD USAGE Multiple Well Systems", Trans., AGU (1944)
3.2_, 547-560.
As discussed in Appendix B, the analogy
between ground-water hydrology and petroleum APPENDIX A
reservoir engineering is very similar. Fig. 1
shows the general DST behavior of wells where Derivation of Equation Governing Non-
the final flowing pressure is nearly equal to steady Radial Flow of Confined Ground Water
the reservoir pressure. To use the method,
type curves are plotted from the data on Table As shown in Fig. 2, a volume of water is
1 as HLHo vs log Tt/r§ for the different values injected or withdrawn (injection is considered
of (rs2/rc2)S. positive and withdrawal is negative charge).
The water level instantaneously moves to the
Actual data are taken from the DST height
SPE '3017 H. K. van POOLLEN and J. B. WEBER 3

From Carslaw and Jaeger2, the solution h(r,t)

is
H0 = V/nrc 21 (A-1)
•••••••••••

and begins to return to its initial level with

h = 2 H~J~e-au
1f
2 /a {J 0
(ur/r >[uY (u)
s 0
some function of time, H(t).
0

The head in the surrounding aquifer varies

according to h(r,t).
The problem is described bv1
a2h 1 ah s aH
= ~- -- 2aJ 1 (ulJ}~~ ......... (A-14)

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- - -t - - (r > r ) • (A-2) -
ar~ r ar 'l' at s

with the following boundary conditions where a = Tt/rc 2 • • • • • • • • • • • (A-15)

h{r + O,t)
s
= H(t) (t > 0) (A-3) (Eq. 3 in text),

and
h(ao,t) =0 (t > 0) • • • • • (A-4)

aH(r + o ,t)
2nr T _ __!!..____
s ar
2 aH(t)
"1Trc - (t > O) • • (A-5)
at
The head H(t) inside the well obtained by
h(r,O) =0 (r > r 8 ) • • • • (A-6) substituting r = rs in Eq. A-14 is

H(O) = H0 - ~ ' ••••••• (A-7)

H= SH
__£_
n2
af GO

e-au 2 /a du
u4Cu)
, • • • • (A-17)
nr
c
0
B,y applying the Laplace transform with respect
to time, the problem reduces to which is Eq. 2 in the text.
2
-a h + -1 -ah = -s ph
- Table 1 lists values of H/H 0 for five
• • • • • • (A-8)
ar2 r ar T values of a vs ~.1

APPENDIX B
'h" (ao,p) = 0 • • • • • • • • (A-9)
Analogy Between Ground Water Hydrolo&y
and Petroleum Reservoir Engineering
-
3h(r ~ o,p) r 2
8
-__;; -=--·-- = ~-- rph(r8 + 0 ,p) - H 1 (See symbols for ground water terms.)
ar 2r8 T L oJ
Ground Water
• • • • (A-10)

and the solution is

- r s SH K ____________
(rq) , o~o

h(r,p) = 'TaiF q{-rrqT" + 2aK (r q)l · (A-ll) (for t large)

. "Ls o s o s J
h v
=wt
where 1 q = (ps/T)~ (A-12) 2 2
r-
rw ~ch
a=_!_S a = 2
2
and a = r 2S/r 2 . • • • • . • . • (A-13) r
c rdp
s c
(Eq. 4 in text). Tt kht
2 ~
r vrdp
c
 Table I

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Values of H/H for a Well of Finite Diameter computed from Eqn. (2)
0
H/H
2 0
Tt/r
c -1
a = 10 a = l0- 2 a = 10-3 a = 10-4 a = 10 -5
1.00 X 10- 3 0.9771 0.9920 0.9969 0.9985 0.9992

2.15 X 10- 3 0.9658 0.9876 0.9949 0.9974 0.9985

4.64 X 10 -3 0.9490 0.9807 0.9914 0.9954 0.9970

1.00 X 10- 2 0.9238 0.9693 0.9853 0.9915 0.9942

2.15 X 10- 2 0.8860 0.9505 0.9744 0.9841 0.9888

-2
4.64 X 10 0.8293 0.9187 0. 9 545 0.9701 0.9781

1.00 X 10- 1 0.7460 0.8655 0.9183 0.9434 0.9572

. -1
2.15 X 10 0.6289 o. 7782 ·o. 8538 0. 8935 0.9167
-1
4.64 X 10 0.4782 0.6436 o.• 7436 o. 8031 0.8410

1.00 X 10° 0.3117 0.4598 0.5729 0.6520 o. 7080

2.15 X 10° 0.1665 0. 2597 0.3543 0.4364 0.5038
0
4.64 X 10 0.07415 0.1086 0.1554 0.2082 0.2620

7.00 X 10° 0.04625 0.06204 0.08519 0.1161 0.1521

1.00 X 10 1 0.03065 0.03780 0.04821 0.06355 0.08378

·~

1.40 X 10 1 0.02092 0.02414 0.02844 0.03492 0.04426

2.15 X 10 1 0.01297 0.01414 0.01545 0.01723 0.01999

3.00 X 10 1 0.009070 0.009615 0.01016 0.01083 0.01169

4.64 X 10 1 0.00.5711 0.005919 0.006111 0.006319 0.006554

7.00 X 10 1 0.003722 0.003809 0.003884 0.003962 0.004046

1.00 X 10 2 0.002577 0.002618 0.002653 0.002688 0.002725

2.15. X 10 2 . 0.001179 O.OOll87 0.001194 0.001201 0.001208

 Final
flow
+
+ Fi na 1
....---, - -t-- - - --=-"":'!------~ shut in

Po

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____ j__

Time+

Fig. l

v
! /1- rWater level immediately
after injection

t
Ho
Water level at time t
Head in aquifer

z......=lniti~l head-
in aquifer
casing

.
F l.g. 2.1
 2
T • 1,0 X ~4.85) 2 T • 1,0 X ~8,9)
9 16 0

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1

0 = actual data o = actua 1 data

u
cu
Vl
0
Ll'l
.... \0

II
....
"
+>~u
1-r.. 0 II

... ....,,N U
1- r..
0
10 100 1000
0
t. Sec 100 1000 10 .ooo
t. Sec
Fig. 3
Fig. 4