T.P.

2547

EFFECTS OF TRANSIENT CONDITIONS IN GAS RESERVOIRS

D. T. MacROBERTS, MEMBER AIME, UNITED GAS PIPE LINE COMPANY, SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA
ABSTRACT

r. = distance to any point between

rand rw
r
radius of drainge
r. = radius of well
potential (P for incompressible
fluids, p 2 for perfect gases)
Up to the time the effect reaches the
point r the production from the well
will be:

=
'" =

A simple disturbance in a gas reservoir travels with a finite velocity which

is nearly independent of the amplitude
of the disturbance. As a result very
complex transients may be set up which
seriously affect observation at a well.
The time of transient is much longer
than commonly supposed.

11'

t r'F

Pb

Pm= average pressure between

rand rw
Pb
atmospheric Pressure
All pressures will sub,equently be
stated in atmospheres and the constant
P b will be omitted.
This will be produced at a rate:

dw

dB

11'

t k !Pc'- Pw')
r"

= pressure at the
= permeability
o = time
'" = viscosity
p"
k

. (3)

log_r_

(P,-Pm) . (2)

W = volume produced
t
sand thickness
F = fractional porosity
Pr
reservoir pressure

INTRODUCTION

well

A change in pressure at a gas well is

not propagated through the reservoir
instantaneously but with a definite finite velocity. Knowledge of the period
of this transient is of value because:

1. Observations of pressure and

flow-rate during the transient may
affect interpretation of back-pressure tests.
2. Interference effects between
wells may be used to determine
continuity of formation.
3. Additional information concerning the physical characteristics may possibly be deduced from
the behavior of a well during the
transient.

MATHEMATICAL
DEVELOPMENT
It will be assumed that the well is
initially closed in and that the pressure
is constant throaghout the reservoir.
As the initial disturbance passes outward from the well it is further assumed that a logarithmic pressure distribution is established between the
most distant point reached and the
well, so that:

1.
1,000

<:>=("',-"'..,)

IO"!::...)
"':"
+",,,.(1)

10,000

FIG. 1 - EFFECT OF TRANSIENT CONDITIONS ON BACK PRESSURE TEST.

( logrw

Manuscript received at office of the Branch

September 15, 1948. Paper presented at Braneh
Fall Meeting, Dallas, Texas, Oct. 4-6. 1948.

36

PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME

February, 1949

T.P. 2547

D. T. MacROBERTS
The average value of '" between r
and rw is:

+ cp.

1
)
2Iog_r_
r",

. (4)

The average pressure for a perfect gas

will lie between the following limits:

1
Pm>(P,-Pw)(1--- r
2 log-

)+

(5)
(6)

p"

r"

For conditions of interest in actual

gas reservoirs the limiting values of
(5) and (6) are practically identical.
The simpler incompressible fluid aver
age (6) may be used.
Setting x = r/rw and substituting
(6) in (2):
W

dw
dx

7r

7r

t rw'f

t rw'f

(P'-Pw)(~)
log x

(7)

(P'.-Pw)(_x_)
2
log x

( 2-

lo~ x) . (8 )

If the well pressure is dropped to and

maintained at Pw, from (3):
do =

7r

}J.log x
t k (P/ _ P,/) dw
}J.rw,f

2k(Pr

+ Pw)

(9)

JX xdx

JX

Disregarding the correction term for

the moment, the variations of time with
the other variables is seen to be:
1. Inversely proportional to the permeability
2. Independent of the sand thickness
3. Directly proportional to the porosity
4. Practically independent of the rate
of production
As an illustration of the time in
volved Table 1 has been calculated for
a sand having the following characteristics:
porosity
viscosity

20%
.015 centipoise

permeability

.050 darcy

Reservoir pressure

300 at mos.

Flowing pressure

295 atmos.

Radius of Well

10 cm.

TABLE 1
r (feet)

Time

10

4.0 seconds

50

1.75 minutes

100

7.0 minutes

500

3.0 hours

1000

12.2 hours

5000

13.0 days

10,000

51.5 days

CONCLUSIONS
The great length of time which may
be involved in transients may be calculated from the appropriate constants.
Thus the Monroe gas field contains
areas having transient time of the order
of years. This produced the anomaly of
a field effectively depleted in one portion but with virgin pressure in another even though both were connected.
Some attempts have been made to
establish or disprove continuity of formation by the observance of interference effects between wells. Although
this is theoretically possible and such
interference effects have been observed
the observational difficulties are formidable and the probable existence of
complex transients further decreases the
likelihood of an extensive application
of this method.
The same conclusions, even more
forcibly, apply to' attempts to measure
reservoir constants by transient observation. Although equations (2) and
(11) contain both porosity and permeability in such fashion that, at least
theoretically, they may be determined
from field observation, it is unlikely
that the permeability is ever sufficiently
uniform to permit an evaluation of the

--

xdx ]
log x .. (10)

Taking the lower limit of integration

such that time is zero when r
rw:

. . . . . . . . . . (11)

Residual terms of Euler constant and

log 2 have been dropped as negligible.
The expression E, (210g x) is the exponential integral.
By another, possibly more direct, approach this expression becomes:
0-

2k(Pr

pfr'

+ Pw) (

1)

l--r
210f:-

Q) UNDISTURBED CONDITIONS
(g) STAGES IN INITIAL TRANSIENT
@ CONDITIONS AFTER FIRST INCREASE IN RATE
@ CONDITIONS AFTER SECOND INCREASE IN RATE
FIG. 2 - PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION IN RESERVOIR.

. (12)

r\\

February, 1949

PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME

37

T.P. 2547

EFFECTS OF TRANSIENT CONDITIONS IN GAS RESERVOIRS

porosity to any usable degree of accuracy. However, a basic method very

similar to this has been proposed for
water reservoirs by Theis" and applied
by WenzeF and others.
Whether the transient phenomenon
can be used or not its effects must be
recognized: in particular its effects on
the observations constituting back-pressure tests on gas wells. The basic difficulty arises from the fact that the velocity of propogation of each disturbance
is practically independent of the intensity. The vicinity of a well soon becomes an area of complex disturbances.
Although movement of gas is always
toward the well the rate of movement
is neither uniform nor uniformly distributed. Although the pressure decreases toward the well the time derivatives of pressure may have values differing in magnitude and sign. When

38

more than one well is considered the

complexity is compounded and even the
direction of flow and of pressure gradients is not uniform. A field of moderate
permeability and dimensions should,
if closed in after producing for some
time, show strange pressure behavior
at many wells.

2,000-

-----

MINUTES

1,500-

w
1,000- :;:

a:

500-

10
I

20
I

25
I

30
,

TIME
FIG. 3 - DECLINE IN RATE OF FLOW
DURING INITIAL TRANSIENT.

PETROLEUM TRANSACTIONS, AIME

As a result of these complex tran

sients, pseudo-stabilization readily occurs and test values may easily be recorded which have no validity. In backpressure testing it has long been noted
that in many instances the test was
affected by the "direction" of the test,
i.e., whether conducted from low to
high rates of flow or vice versa. The
differences are readily explained by
transient theory.

***

:?

American Geophysical Union, 1935, p.519

American Geophysical Union, 1944, p.940

February, 1949