SPE 153072

Production Data Analysis in Eagle Ford Shale Gas Reservoir

Bingxiang Xu, SPE, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, University of Adelaide; Manouchehr Haghighi, and
Dennis Cooke, SPE, University of Adelaide; Xiangfang Li, SPE, China University of Petroleum-Beijing
Copyright 2012, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE/EAGE European Unconventional Resources Conference and Exhibition held in Vienna, Austria, 20-22 March 2012.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
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Abstract
Eagle Ford shale in South Texas is one of the recent shale play in US which the development began in late 2008. So far many
horizontal wells have been drilled and put into production using hydraulic fracturing. Production behaviour in shale gas
reservoirs unlike conventional reservoirs is different in various plays and there are no published reports for production data
analysis in Eagle Ford shale.

We have used the linear dual porosity type curve analysis technology to analyse the production behaviour and to estimate the
essential parameters for this reservoir. This type curve was constructed based on transient production rate with constant well
pressure in a closed boundary of stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) with double porosity approach. In order to analyse the
early production data we used Bellos and Nobakhts approach to account for apparent skin.

In this study, three flow regimes were identified consisting of 1- bilinear flow; 2- matrix linear flow; and 3- boundary
dominated flow. For the analysis of early flow regime, two possibilities of transition flow and apparent skin have been
considered. First, the fracture permeability was estimated to be around 820 nano Darcy based on transition flow analysis.
Second, the matrix permeability was estimated to be either 181 or 255 nano Darcy based on two different approaches in matrix
linear flow regime. Furthermore, original gas in place (OGIP) and SRV were estimated from the boundary dominated flow
regime. To validate the estimated matrix permeability, a single porosity numerical model with high permeability transverse
fractures was built to match the production history. The permeability from simulation was in a good agreement with type curve
analysis.

Production forecasting has also been carried out using different adsorption isotherms. The results showed that the effect of
desorption depends on the reservoir pressure and the shape of adsorption isotherm curve. In early time of production,
desorption is usually not effective, however, for long-term production forecasting, it is necessary to account for this
phenomenon by providing an accurate isotherm.

Introduction
Decline curve analysis (DCA) has been used as an effective method for the production forecasting and reserves estimation in
shale gas reservoirs. Since production of shale gas reservoirs is usually from a stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) generated
by hydraulic fracturing in a horizontal well and also because the shale gas reservoirs have very different petrophysical
properties from conventional gas reservoirs, the production data analysis is different from conventional DCA methods
developed first by Arps (1945), and modified by other authors such as Fetkovich (1987), Palacio and Blasingame (1993),
Agarwal et al. (1999). The petrophysical difference makes naturally fractured shale gas reservoirs generate more complex
fracture network than traditional bi-wing fracture (Cipolla et al., 2009). This fracture network leads to a SRV region. The
initial active region of a shale gas reservoir only exists in the SRV, which is usually monitored by micro-seismic technique
(Inamdar et al., 2010; Bello and Wattenbarger, 2010). Due to ultra-low matrix permeability and high fracture conductivity, the
flow does not follow the radial behaviour similar to the conventional gas reservoirs; however, it follows a linear flow instead
(Bello and Wattenbarger, 2010; Al-Ahmadi et al., 2010). Also shale gas reservoirs contain both free gas in macro pores and
adsorbed gas on matrix surface area.


2 SPE 153072
To use production analysis technique for shale gas, Lee and Gatens III. (1985), Hazlet et al. (1986), constructed a set of type
curves for the Devonian shales using a solution for constant pressure in a bounded dual-porosity reservoir based on the
Warren-Root model. Lewis and Hughes (2008) proposed production data analysis for shale gas using a modified material
balance time to account for desorption. However, these methods were based on radial flow. Matter et al. (2008) showed that
using conventional type curve technique to analyse the shale gas well performance may result in false radial flow when the
fracture conductivity is finite. It was found that the best-fit match with the Arps hyperbolic decline gives constant values (b)
greater than 1 (Baihly et al., 2010). This can cause to have physically unreasonable properties (Lee and Sidle, 2010). As a
result, Valk and Lee (2010) developed a stretched exponential production decline model. Duong (2010) also introduced a
derived decline model that is based on long-term linear flow in a large number of wells in tight and shale-gas reservoirs.
Wattenbarger et al. (1998) presented a linear flow approach to analyse production of fractured tight gas wells. The model was
based on homogeneous and linear reservoirs with infinite conductivity hydraulic fracture. El-Banbi (1998) developed a
transient dual porosity model for linear reservoirs. Recently many authors developed and applied type curves based on the
transient dual porosity model and analysed shale gas production data, such as Bello and Wattenbarger (2008; 2009; 2010),
Moghadam et al.(2010), Nobakht et al.(2010), Al-Ahmadi et al.(2010), and Anderson et al.(2010). However, desorption was
ignored in these literatures, and also production was assumed to be from SRV only. Ozkan et al. (2009), Brown et al. (2009)
and Brohi et al. (2011) recently presented tri-linear flow solutions for tight gas and shale gas reservoirs. It was concluded that
outer unstimulated reservoir is subject to supply gas in later times, which depends on the permeability of the outer region.

In current study, we have used the same dual porosity linear flow type curves presented by Bello and Wattenbarger (2010) to
analyse the Eagle Ford Shale gas production data. Different flow regimes have been identified and the reservoir properties
such as matrix permeability and completion efficiency or SRV have been evaluated. Also we have predicted the estimated
ultimate recovery (EUR) and the future gas rate based on different assumptions.

Basic Theory and Methodology
Most shale gas production data show a long-term transient linear flow regime. This linear flow can be detected by a one-half
slope on log-log plot of rate versus time. Dual porosity transient linear flow type curves for multi-stage hydraulic fractured
horizontal well for shale gas were developed by Bello and Wattenbarger (2010). Four flow regimes exist in these type curves
as follows:
Regime1: Early linear flow in fracture system
Regime2: Bilinear flow caused by both fracture and matrix system
Regime3: Linear flow in matrix system
Regime4: Boundary dominated flow
The combination of area with permeability can be calculated based on the following equations:
Early linear flow:
( )
1
1 1262
m
C
T
k A
m f t
f cw
! =
+
" #
(1)
Bilinear flow:
( ) [ ]
2
25 . 0
1 4070
m
C k
T
k A
m f t m
f cw
! =
+
" #
(2)
Matrix linear flow:
( )
3
1 1262
m
C
T
k A
m f t
m cm
! =
+
"
(3)
Where m
1
, m
3
are straight line slopes on the [ ]
g wf i
q p m p m / ) ( ) ( ! vs t plot, and m
2
is the straight line slope from the
[ ]
g wf i
q p m p m / ) ( ) ( ! vs
25 . 0
t plot.

Following two approaches are available to include the apparent skin effects. Apparent skin is the result of flow convergence
around a horizontal well (Bello and Wattenbarger, 2009); and an extra pressure drop caused by bottom-hole pressure
calculation (Nobakht et al., 2010); or pressure drop within finite conductivity fractures (Anderson et al., 2010) in early linear
flow or bilinear flow.

1. Bellos approach
Bello (2009) demonstrated that the effect of skin on the linear reservoir response diminishes gradually with time. When the
effect of skin is considered, the straight line through origin becomes a curve with a nonzero intercept on the specified plot
[ ]
g wf i
q p m p m / ) ( ) ( ! vs. t . The following empirical equation (Bello and Wattenbarger, 2009) was derived.
SPE 153072 3
b
t m
b
t m
q
p m p m
g
wf i
3
3
45 . 0
1
) ( ) (
+
+ =
!
(4)

2. Nobakhts approach
Nobakht et al. (2010) stated that the effect of skin yields a straight line with intercept as it is shown in equation (5).
b t m
q
p m p m
g
wf i
+ =
!
3
) ( ) (
(5)

Eagle Ford Reservoir and Well Description
Eagle Ford shale is a calcareous shale play located in South Texas, US, which lies beneath the Austin chalk and extends
laterally all the way across Texas from the southwest to the northeast part of the state (Inamdar, 2010; Stegent et al., 2010;
Mullen et al., 2010). Its depth ranges from 2,500 to 14,000 ft; the thickness ranges from 50 to more than 300 ft, the pressure
gradients are between 0.4 and 0.8 psi/ft, and TOC ranges from 2 to 9% (Stegent et al., 2010). Core data analysis shows that the
gas saturation is between 83% and 85%, permeability varies between 1 to 800 nd (Inamdar, 2010). Fig. 1 displays the general
areas where the reservoir produces oil (top), high liquids or condensate (middle), and predominately dry gas (bottom). In late
2008 the first few exploration wells in the Eagle Ford were drilled in LaSalle County in the gas window of the play (Stegent et
al., 2010).

Fig. 1: Lateral extent of Eagle Ford shale in south Texas (Mullen, 2010)

Well A is a horizontal dry gas producer which was completed with a ten stages proppant fracture stimulation treatment in a
4,000 ft lateral. Each 400 ft stage was perforated with four, two-foot clusters spaced 75 ft apart. According to the results of
production log and radioactive log, only 20 transverse fractures are effective on production. Stimulated reservoir volume
(SRV) of 169 MMft
3
was estimated by fracturing modelling. The pay zone height is 283 ft. Summary of reservoir and fluid
properties data in Table 1 is from Bazan et al. (2010).

Table 1: Properties Data for Well A (Bazan et al., 2010)
Well radius (ft) 0.333
Lateral length (ft) 4000
Pay zone height (ft) 283
Depth, TVD (ft) 10875
HC* porosity (%) *(!hc = !eff (1-Sw)) 5.76
Reservoir pressure (psi) 8,350
Temperature (
o
R) 745
Gas compressibility(10
-5
psi
-1
) 6
Viscosity(cp) 0.03334
Effective fracture number 20
SRV (MMft
3
) 169

The daily gas rate in Fig. 2 and original bottom-hole flowing pressure (BHFP) in Fig. 3 for 250 days are also from Bazan et al.
(2010). In order to minimize the effect of data fluctuation, BHFP was smoothed using an exponential smoothing algorithm
(Lewis and Hughes, 2008). The equation used in the smoothing is
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) 1 1 ! " ! + " = t x t x t x
smth smth
# # (6)
4 SPE 153072
The dampening factor (!) is 0.25. From the smoothed plot (Fig. 3), the BHFP can be assumed constant after 50 days.
Therefore, the type curve with constant BHFP can be used to analyse the data.

Fig. 2: Gas rate and cumulative production (Bazan et al., 2010) Fig. 3: Original and smoothed bottom-hole flowing pressure

Flow Regimes Identification
Based on Fig. 4 and Fig. 5, three following flow regimes were identified: 1-bilinear flow or apparent skin effect, 2- matrix
linear flow, and 3- boundary dominated flow. Fig. 4 is a log-log plot of normalized rate [ ] ) ( ) ( /
wf i
p m p m q ! versus time. In
the very early times the data exhibits a negative " slope indicating either a bilinear flow or apparent skin effect, while in the
later times the data exhibits negative one-half slope indicating matrix linear flow.

Fig. 4: Normalized rate vs time Fig. 5: Normalized pseudo-pressure vs square root of time

Fig. 5 is the normalized pseudo-pressure [ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! versus t . In this figure, we observed a deviation of early time
data from straight line and having an intercept on the axis of normalized pseudo-pressure. This behaviour indicates to have a
non-linear flow such as skin effect, while in later times; the data indicate a straight line, which is a typical characteristic of
linear flow. In very late times, the data begin to derivate from the straight line at about 225 days indicating the boundary
effect. Since this time period is relatively short, the boundary effect cannot be identified from the log-log plot.

Linear Flow Parameters Analysis
The half-width of the drainage area (rectangular geometry) can be calculated from in following simple calculation (Fig. 6). We
have assumed bi-wing hydraulic fracture geometry and slab matrix bulk. The half-width is equivalent to SRV divided by 2x
e
h.
ft 75
283 4000 2
10 169
2
6
!
" "
"
= =
h x
SRV
y
e
e

It is noted that y
e
can also be estimated from OGIP if SRV is not known. Average fracture spacing L was calculated from well
length 4,000 ft divided by the number of effective fractures which is 20.
ft 200
20
4000
= = L
Well-face cross-sectional area to flow is:
2 6
ft 10 264 . 2 283 4000 2 2 ! = ! ! = " " = h x A
e cw

Total matrix-fracture surface area in a double porosity slab model was calculated from the below equation:
2 6
ft 10 698 . 1 20 2 2 ! = ! ! ! = h y A
e cm

SPE 153072 5


Fig. 6: Reservoir geometry for dual porosity slab model

Based on the flow regimes identification two possibilities were analysed below.

Bilinear Flow Followed by Matrix Linear Flow
We have plotted
[ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! vs
25 . 0
t
and [ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! vs t in Figs. 7a and 7b respectively to obtain m
2
=
283333 and m
3
= 111250.


(a) [ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! vs t (b) [ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! vs
25 . 0
t
Fig.7: Specialized plot analysis

Then
m cm
k A was determined based on the following calculation:
( )
0.5 2 4
3
md ft 10 49 . 2
111250
1
03334 . 0 0.00006 0576 . 0
745 1262 1 1262
! " = !
" "
"
= ! =
+
m
C
T
k A
m f t
m cm
#

Since the fracture porosity can be negligible compared to the matrix porosity, ( )
m t
C ! was assumed to be equal to ( )
m f t
C
+
! .
Due to high reservoir average pressure in early production, the gas desorption is negligible. And also the rock compressibility
is ignored. Therefore, the total compressibility C
t
was assumed to be equal to C
g
.
Matrix permeability was evaluated from the following calculation:
md 10 15 . 2
10 ! 1.698
10 ! 2.49
4
2
6
4
2
!
" =
#
#
$
%
&
&
'
(
=
)
)
*
+
,
,
-
.
=
cm
m cm
m
A
k A
k
Fracture permeability K
f
was estimated from the following:
( ) [ ]
[ ]
0.5 2 4
25 . 0
4 4
2
25 . 0
md ft 10 48 . 6
283333
1
03334 . 0 0.00006 0576 . 0 10 15 . 2 10 0 . 3
745 4070
1 4070
! " =
"
" " " " " "
"
=
! =
# #
+
m
C k
T
k A
m f t m
f cw
$ %

6 SPE 153072
Where matrix block shape factor, for slab model is
2 4
2
ft 10 0 . 3
12
! !
" = =
L
#
md 10 2 . 8
10 ! 2.264
10 ! 6.48
4
2
6
4
2
!
" =
#
#
$
%
&
&
'
(
=
)
)
*
+
,
,
-
.
=
cw
f cw
f
A
k A
k
This fracture permeability is low because the well-face cross-sectional area has been used.

Matrix Linear Flow with Apparent Skin

Bellos Approach
In this approach, two parameters of m
3
=111250 and intercept b=2.1#10
5
were obtained from Fig.7a, and then substituted into
the equation (4). The initial relation of production rate versus time accounting for apparent skin is given:
5
5
10 1 . 2
111250 45 . 0
1
10 1 . 2
111250
) ( ) (
!
!
+
!
+ =
"
t
t
q
p m p m
wf i
(7)
We used above equation to match the production data and fortunately obtained acceptable results by initial guess (Figs. 8a and
8b). In case of not good matching, we need to assume m
3
and b as matching parameters to reach reasonable results. Based on
m
3
= 111250, we estimated the matrix permeability as 2.15#10
-4
md.


(a) Log-Log plot (b) Square root of time plot
Fig. 8: Fitting the results with Equation 7.

Nobakhts Approach
From the plot of [ ]
g wf i
q p m p m / ) ( ) ( ! vs t , (Fig. 9), a straight line has been drawn through the data points and the intercept
5
10 5 . 1 ! = b was obtained.


Fig. 9: Specialized plot to obtain intercept b for Nobakhts approach
SPE 153072 7

Then calculating modified normalized pressure as follow:
b
q
p m p m
q
p m p m
wf i
m
wf i
!
!
=
"
#
$
%
&
' ! ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
(8)
Plotting [ ] { }
m
wf i
q p m p m ) ( ) ( ! versus time on log-log plot, as shown in Fig. 10, indicated a one-half slope even in the early
time. Plotting [ ] { }
m
wf i
q p m p m ) ( ) ( ! vs t , as shown in Fig.11, the slope is m
3
=93750.
( )
4
10 95 . 2
93750
1
03334 . 0 0.00006 0576 . 0
745 1262 1 1262
! = "
! !
!
# " =
+
m
C
T
k A
m f t
m cm
$

So the estimated matrix permeability was calculated below.
md 10 02 . 3
10 ! 1.698
10 ! 2.95
4
2
6
4
2
!
" =
#
#
$
%
&
&
'
(
=
)
)
*
+
,
,
-
.
=
cm
m cm
m
A
k A
k
In Fig. 11, we also found out the time at the end of straight line has been changed, which is at 132 days.


Fig. 10: Modified normalized rate vs time on log-log plot Fig. 11: Modified [ ] q p m p m
wf i
/ ) ( ) ( ! vs t

Estimation of OGIP
The approach for estimating OGIP has been previously presented by Wattenbarger et al (1998). This method is based on the
assumption that boundary dominated flow begins when the pressure at the centre of the matrix block starts to decline. The
formula is given in Equation (9).

( )
3
6 . 200
OGIP
m
t
B C
TS
esl
i
g t
gi
! =

(9)
In our case we have
3
0032 . 0 00006 . 0 03334 . 0
745 6 . 200
OGIP
m
t
esl
!
" "
"
=
For Bellos approach:
m
3
=111250, t
esl
=225 days, then OGIP= 3.15 Bscf
For Nobakhts approach:
m
3
=93750, t
esl
=132 days, then OGIP= 2.87 Bscf

When OGIP is known, the SRV can be obtained using the following equation:
gi
gi
S
B
!
"
=
OGIP
SRV (10)
Then Bellos approach: SRV=175 MMft
3
; Nobakhts approach: SRV=159 MMft
3
. Comparing the estimated SRV with
previous given value of 169 MMft
3
, Bellos approach overestimates 6 MMft
3
in SRV, while Nobakhts approach
underestimates 10 MMft
3
. However, both methods give a reasonable value.

8 SPE 153072
Numerical Simulation and Discussion
A numerical simulation has been designed to validate the results from type curve matching. We have developed a single
porosity single phase model. In this model, 20 transverse fractures have been defined as very high permeable path along the
horizontal wellbore evenly (Fig. 12). The well is placed in the centre of the reservoir. The reservoir area is assumed to be equal
to the area of SRV. Other parameters for simulation are shown in Table 1.


Fig. 12: Simulation model for well A, 20 transverse fractures

Fig. 13: History matching of well A
Fig. 13 shows the good matching of simulated data with actual production history except some points in the initial data which
is affected by the fracture system. The matching matrix permeability was 1.25 #10
-4
md. Comparing this matching
permeability from simulation with the above results from type curve analysis indicates the permeability from type curve is
higher especially 172% of Bellos and 242% of Nobakhts (Table 2). Ibrahim & Wattenbarger (2006) stated that the effect of
drawdown on transient linear flow could lead to overestimation of
m cm
k A and OGIP, and developed the following empirical
equation to estimate the correction factor.
2
0857 . 0 0852 . 0 1
D D cp
D D f ! ! = (11)
Where D
D
is the drawdown parameter defined by the following equation:

) (
) ( ) (
i
wf i
D
p m
p m p m
D
!
= (12)
We used an average bottom-hole pressure of 1500 psi and obtained D
D
=0.941, then the correction factor of 0.884 is
determined as following:
844 . 0 941 . 0 941 . 0 0857 . 0 941 . 0 0852 . 0 1 = ! ! " ! " =
cp
f
The correction factor was applied to modify matrix permeability, OGIP and SRV. The results are shown in Table 2. The
modified matrix permeability is still higher than the permeability from simulation. We believe this difference is related to the
assumption of dual-porosity flow behaviour in type curve analysis while we have used a single porosity model in reservoir
simulation. The reason a single porosity model was used is that we could not get good results by using matrix shape factor "
of 3.0#10
-4
ft
-2
in double porosity simulation. Also in Bellos approach, only the effect of convergence skin was considered,
and the pressure drop in horizontal wellbore was not included. In overall, the permeability from simulation was in the range of
acceptable agreement with type curve analysis. Since the effect of skin exhibits a curve deviated from the straight line with
having an intercept (Fig. 9), Bellos approach is closer to the numerical simulation result (Table 2).
SPE 153072 9
Table 2: Parameters estimation and modification
Approach
OGIP, Bscf SRV, MMft
3
Matrix permeability, 10
-4
md
Original Modified Original Modified Original Modified
Numerical
simulation
Bellos 3.15 2.66 175 148 2.15 1.81
1.25
Nobakhts 2.87 2.42 159 134 3.02 2.55

It is needed to mention that the modified SRV are lower than the SRV reported from hydraulic fracture modelling, especially
86% for Bellos case and 79% for Nobakhts case (Table 2). However, these results are also in the acceptable range of
estimation. The modified OGIP is either 2.66 or 2.42 Bscf, which represents the total free gas in SRV region because the
adsorbed gas has not been included in the calculation.

Production Forecasting
Dual porosity linear flow model can be used to predict the shale gas production. However, many parameters are required and
this would lead to uncertainties of the results. For boundary dominated flow in this case, material balance and pseudo-steady
flow equation were combined and used for production forecasting. The material balance for volumetric gas reservoirs
accounting for desorption (King, 1990) is given:

!
!
"
#
$
$
%
&
' =
G
G
z
p
z
p p
i
i
1
* *
(13)

p
zRTC
z
z
E
!
+
=
1
*
(14)
Where, C
E
is equilibrium isotherm. The rock and water compressibility is assumed to be negligible. Pseudo-steady flow
equation for gas reservoir is given below.
[ ] ) ( ) (
wf cp g
p m p m J q ! = (15)
Where, J
cp
is the production index for the constant bottom-hole pressure. For well A, the latest production data were used to
calculate an average J
cp
. This value depends on average pressure or OGIP. Then two results can be obtained for two different
OGIP values of Bellos and Nobakhts cases.

Fig.14 is the production forecasting of 15 years for well A at constant bottom-hole pressure 1500 psi. Due to the larger OGIP
value in Bellos approach, we have obtained a little higher production rate than Nobakhts case. The gas rate decline with time
and the decline rate gradually close to a constant value after 15 years. It is noted that the production forecasting in our
calculation is underestimated because the contribution of un-stimulated zone to production was not considered.

Fig. 14: 15 years production forecasting, no desorption Fig. 15: Adsorption isotherms Barnett Shale (Bartenhagen,
2009); Woodford Shale (Jack Breig, 2010)
In order to investigate the effect of desorption, two adsorption isotherms (Fig. 15) were used for production forecasting
(adsorption isotherm for Eagle Ford was not available), Isotherm 1 has a low Langmuir pressure which is around 300 psi,
while isotherm 2 has the value of 1500 psi. Fig. 16 is the production forecasting of 15 years for different adsorption isotherms
at constant bottom-hole pressure of 500 psi. It is illustrated that the higher Langmuir pressure releases more adsorbed gas and
results in higher gas production. However, the effect of desorption using isotherm 1 is not significant due to the relative high
average reservoir pressure not allowing gas desorption in this case. However, for long-term production forecasting, it is always
needed to account for desorption. As seen in Table 3, gas desorption can make the EUR to be up to 27% higher.
10 SPE 153072

Fig.16: Production forecasting for different adsorption isotherms

Table 3: EUR comparison

EUR at 30 years, Bscf
Bello Nobakht
No desorption 2.38 2.22
Isotherm 1 2.58 2.42
Isotherm 2 3.00 2.82


Conclusions
Three flow regimes of bilinear flow; matrix linear flow; and boundary dominated flow are found in Eagle Ford shale
production data.
Fracture permeability was calculated to be around 820 nd based on bilinear flow analysis and the assumption of slab
model.
The effect of apparent skin has been considered based on two different approaches of Bello and Nobakht methods.
OGIP was estimated by boundary dominated flow to be 2.42 or 2.66, and SRV was estimated to be 134 or 148 MMft
3

which is close to the reported value of SRV in hydraulic fracture modelling.
Matrix permeability was estimated to be 181 or 255 nd by matrix linear flow analysis. The results are validated by
numerical simulation. The permeability from simulation was in the range of acceptable agreement with type curve
analysis.
Production forecasting has been carried out with different adsorption isotherms. The results showed that the effect of
desorption depends on both reservoir pressure and adsorption isotherm. In early times when the reservoir pressure is high
the gas desorption is usually not important; however, for long-term production forecasting, it is needed to account for
desorption based on a laboratory measured isotherm.

Nomenclature
A
cw
= well face cross-sectional area to flow, ft
2

A
cm
= total matrix surface area draining into fracture system, ft
2

B
g
= formation volume factor at initial reservoir pressure, rcf/scf
b = intercept of field data on the [m(p
i
) m(p
wf
)]/q
g
vs. t
0.5
plot, psi
2
/cp/Mscf/day
C
f
= hydraulic fracture conductivity, md-ft

C
t
= total compressibility at initial reservoir pressure, psi
-1
C
E
=equilibrium isotherm, 1b-moles/ft
3

D
D
=drawdown parameter, fraction
f
CP
= drawdown correction factor, dimensionless
G = gas in place, scf
G
p
= cumulative gas production, scf
h = reservoir thickness, ft
J
cp
= production index for the constant bottomhole pressure, Mscf/day/psi
2
/cp
k
f
= fracture permeability, md
k
m
= matrix permeability, md
L = fracture spacing for slab model, ft
m
1
= slope of the line matching the early linear flow data and passing through the origin on the square root of time plot
m
2
= slope of the line matching the bilinear flow data and passing through the origin on the quarter root of time plot
SPE 153072 11
m
3
= slope of the line matching the matrix linear flow data and passing through the origin on the square root of time plot
m(p) = pseudopressure (gas), psi
2
/cp
p
i
= initial reservoir pressure, psi
p
wf
= wellbore flowing pressure, psi
p = average reservoir pressure, psi
q
g
= gas rate, Mscf/day
R = gas constant, J K
$1
mol
$1

S
gi
= initial gas saturation, fraction
T = absolute temperature,
o
R
t = time, days
t
esl
= time to end of straight line on the square root of time plot, days
x
e
= drainage area length (rectangular geometry), ft
y
e
= drainage area half-width (rectangular geometry), equivalent to fracture half-length, ft
z = compressibility factor, fraction
z
*
=modified compressibility factor account for gas desorption, fraction
Greek symbols
! = dampening factor, dimensionless
% = dimensionless interporosity parameter
= viscosity, cp
& = dimensionless storativity ratio
" = porosity
'=shape factor, ft
-2
Subscript
i = initial
f = fracture
m = matrix
f+m = total system (fracture + matrix)

References
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