WELL TESTING AND INTERPRETATION FOR HORIZONTAL WELLS

The use of transient well testing for determining reservoir parameters and productivity of horizontal wells has become common because of the upsurge in horizontal drilling. Initially, horizontal well tests were analyzed with the conventional techniques designed for vertical wells. During the last decade, analytic solutions have been presented for the pressure behavior of horizontal wells. New flow regimes have been identified, and simple equations and flow regime existence criteria have been presented for them. The flow regimes are now used frequently to estimate horizontal and vertical permeabilities of the reservoir, wellbore skin, and reservoir pressure. Although the existing tools and interpretation techniques may be sufficient for simple systems, innovation and improvement of the present technology are still essential for well testing of horizontal wells in many reservoirs with different geological environments and different well-completion requirements.