40-acre spacing

vertical well

Horizontal well
draining 101
acres
(Vy* = 2.5)

Figure 3-7. Horizontal and vertical well drainage areas for a given time.

Example 3-6 Calculating Drainage Area of Horizontal Well Using Figure 3-7

Solution Half major axis of an ellipse, a = 2000/2 + 660 = 1660 ft; half
minor axis of an ellipse, b = 660 ft; drainage area of horizontal well = irab/
43,560 - (22/7 x 1660 x 660)/43,560 ^ 80 acres.
The pseudo-steady-state equations for vertical wells, fracture vertical
wells, and horizontal oil wells on the basis of circular drainage area are

(3-28)

where

(3-29)

(3-30)

(3-31)

where
s equivalent negative skin factor due to either well stimulation or due
to horizontal well
sm mechanical skin factor, dimensionless
sCA = shape-related skin factor, dimensionless
 C shape factor conversion constant, dimensionless
k = permeability, mD
h = reservoir height, ft
pR = average reservoir pressure, psia
pwj> = well flowing pressure, psia
q = oil flow rate, stb/day
JL oil viscosity evaluated at some average pressure between Jp^ a n d / ^ /
/3f = high-velocity flow coefficient, I/ft
^lg = gas gravity, dimensionless
rw = wellbore radius, ft
hp = perforated interval, ft
ka = permeability in the near wellbore region, mD
AC 0.75 for a circular drainage area and 0.738 for rectangular drainage
area.
Eq. 3-30 for /3' is given in Ref. 7 while Eq. 3-31 is given in References 2 and 7.
Depending upon /3; definition used a somewhat different answer will be obtained.
We can also write similar equations on the basis of square drainage area as

(3-3Ia)

Shape-Related Skin Factors for Vertical

and Fractured Oil Wells
In the above equations, definitions of SCA and C depend upon the type of
well as listed below.
Vertical well: C = O and sCA from Table 3-10.
Fractured vertical well (Figure 3-8 is an aerial view of a fractured vertical
well): C = 1.386 and SCA = SCAJ-

Cf is obtained from Tables 3-7 through 3-9.

Shape Factors for Horizontal Oil Wells

Horizontal well (Figure 3-9 shows a horizontal well located in a rectan-
gular drainage volume): C = 1.386 and SQA scA,h, where SCA,H is obtained
from Table 3-10 or from Figures 3-10 through 3-13. 8 Dq is a turbulence
 Figure 3-8. An aerial view of fractured vertical oil well.

Table 3-7
Shape Factors Cf for Fractured
Vertical Wells in a Square
Drainage Area3

x//xe Shape factor, c/

0.1 2.6541
0.2 2.0348
0.3 1.9986
0.5 1.6620
0.7 1.3127
1.0 0.7887

term and is called turbulence skin or rate-dependent skin factor. Eqs. 3-28
and 3-3 Ia can be used for different well flowing pressures to calculate oil
flow rates. Eq. 3-3 Ia can be rewritten as

(3-32)

Eqs. 3-3 Ia and 3-32 are quadratic equations and can be written as
(3-33)
(3-34)
 Table 3-8
Shape Factors, c/, for Off-Centered-Fractured
Vertical Wells 8

< Influence of yw/y*e >

yw/ye xflxe 0.25 0.50 1.00

xelye = 1
0.1 0.2240 0.8522 2.0200
0.3 0.2365 0.7880 1.8220
0.5 0.2401 0.7165 1.6040
0.7 0.2004 0.5278 1.3170
1.0 0.1451 0.3606 0.7909
xe/ye = 2
0.1 0.2272 0.7140 1.4100
0.3 0.3355 0.7700 1.3610
0.5 0.4325 0.8120 1.2890
0.7 0.4431 0.7460 1.1105
1.0 0.2754 0.4499 0.6600
X6Iy6 = 5
0.1 0.0375 0.09185 0.2110
0.3 0.1271 0.20320 0.2864
0.5 0.2758 0.38110 0.4841
0.7 0.3851 0.49400 0.5960
1.0 0.2557 0.31120 0.3642
< ^ ^ Influence of xw/xe* >
xw/xe xff I xe 0.50 0.75 1.00

xelye = 1
0.1 0.9694 1.7440 2.0200
0.3 1.1260 1.7800 1.8200
0.5 1.2708 1.7800 1.6000
X6Iy6 = 2
0.1 0.3679 1.0680 1.4098
0.3 0.5630 1.2980 1.3611
0.5 0.8451 1.5470 2.2890
X6Iy6 = 5
0.1 0.0058 0.0828 0.2110
0.3 0.0317 0.2540 0.2864
0.5 0.1690 0.7634 0.6050
* xw and yw represent the distance of the fracture center from the nearest y- and jc-boundary,
respectively (see Figure 3-7).
 Table 3-9
Shape Factors, c/, for Fractured Vertical Wells Located Centrally
in the Rectangular Drainage Area9

cf9xf/xe 1 2 3 5 10 20

0.1 2.020 1.4100 0.751 0.2110 0.0026 0.000005

0.3 1.820 1.3611 0.836 0.2860 0.0205 0.000140
0.5 1.600 1.2890 0.924 0.6050 0.1179 0.010550
0.7 1.320 1.1100 0.880 0.5960 0.3000 0.122600
1.0 0.791 0.6662 0.528 0.3640 0.2010 0.106300

Table 3-9a
Values of Dimensionless Function, F, for Estimation
of Horizontal Well Productivity11

< yw/2ye = 0.50 and xw/2xe = 0.50

< L/4xe >
yelXey/kJ*y 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
0.25 3.80 2.11 1.09 0.48 0.26
0.50 3.25 1.87 1.12 0.69 0.52
1.00 3.62 2.30 1.60 1.21 1.05
2.00 4.66 3.34 2.65 2.25 2.09
4.00 6.75 5.44 4.74 4.35 4.19
< yw/2ye = 0.25 and xw/2xe = 0.50 >
0.25 4.33 2.48 1.36 0.70 0.46
0.50 3.89 2.42 1.58 1.10 0.92
1.00 4.47 3.13 2.41 2.00 1.83
2.00 6.23 4.91 4.22 3.83 3.67
4.00 9.90 8.58 7.88 7.49 7.33
< y*>/2ye = 0.25 and xw/2xe = 0.25
0.25 9.08 7.48 6.43 5.65 5.05
0.50 6.97 5.56 4.71 4.12 3.71
1.00 6.91 5.54 4.76 4.24 3.90
2.00 8.38 7.02 6.26 5.76 5.44
4.00 11.97 10.61 9.85 9.36 9.04
< yw/2ye = 0.50 and xw/2xe = 0.25 >
0.25 8.44 6.94 5.98 5.26 4.70
0.50 6.21 4.83 4.02 3.47 3.08
1.00 5.86 4.50 3.73 3.23 2.90
2.00 6.73 5.38 4.62 4.12 3.81
4.00 8.82 7.46 6.71 6.21 5.89
 Table 3-10
Shape Factor-Dependent Skin Factors, SCA,
for Vertical Wells (after Fetkovich and Vienot, Feb. 1985)4

Geometry CA SCA *DApss

Figure 3-9. A schematic of a horizontal well located in a rectangular drainage volume.
Pseudo-skin factor, sCAh

Dimensionless length, LD

Figure 3-10. Shape-related skin factor, sCA,h, for a horizontal well in a square
drainage area (xe/ye = 1).8

(3-35)

(3-36)

To solve Eqs. 3-35 and 3-36 we need to calculate turbulence factor D

using Eqs. 3-29 and 3-30 and assuming k = ka.
 Pseudo-skin factor, sCAh

Dimensionless length, LD

Figure 3-11. Shape-related skin factor, sCA,h, for a horizontal well located in a
rectangular drainage area (xe/ye = 2).8
Pseudo-skin factor, sCAh

Dimensionless length, LD

Figure 3-12. Shape-related skin factor, sCA,h, for a horizontal well located in a
rectangular drainage area (xe/ye = 5).8
 Shape factor, C^y1

Dimensionless length, LD

Figure 3-13. Shape factor, CA,h, for a horizontal well located in a square drainage
area for different dimensionless length.8

Calculation of Skin Factor for Horizontal Oil Well

(3-37)

(3-38)

Figure 3-14 shows a graphic correlation for shape factor C9A to convert
this shape factor c'r to c/, the following equation can be used: c/ = 0.25cff.
Instead of calculating shape factors, one can adjust effective wellbore radius
of a fractured vertical well to account for both fracture length as well as
shape factor. Figure 3-15 shows a plot of effective wellbore radius for
vertical wells with uniform flux and infinite-conductivity fractures for
different fracture penetrations. The effective wellbore radius, r'w, calculated
from Figure 3-15 can be directly substituted in place of rw in the following
equations to calculate gas flow rate in fractured vertical wells, where the
vertical well is located centrally in a square drainage area. These results can
also be extended to rectangular drainage boundaries for varying (2xe/2ye)
ratios by replacing (x//xe) with (2x//y/A) on the x-axis in Figure 3-15.

(3-39)
 Well centrally
located in
drainage area

Ref. 5
Ref.6

Figure 3-14. Shape factors for fractured vertical wells for different fractured pene-
tration (after Grlngarten, Oct. 1978).9
Reciprocal effective wellbore radius, XfI (rw)2

Uniform flux

Infinite-conductivity
Constant pressure boundary
Closed boundary

Reciprocal fracture penetration ratio, Xj-Zx6

Figure 3-15. Effective wellbore radius for fractured vertical wells for different
fracture penetration (after Gringarten, Aug. 1974).10