Reservoir Engineering I

Well Performance
Arron Singhe

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Well Performance
Introduction

OUTLINE

SKIN EFFECT
 Definition
 Example
PRODUCTIVITY INDEX
 Definition

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Well Performance
Introduction

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

Van EVERDINGEN and HURST noticed:

 “at a given flow rate, the measured bottom hole flowing

pressure, pwf, is less than the calculated one from theory”

 This observation indicated the existence of an additional

pressure drop around the well bore.

 This additional pressure drop is called a skin effect

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Well Performance
Introduction

SKIN FACTOR

 It is not unusual for materials such as mud filtrate, cement slurry, or clay
particles to enter the formation during drilling, completion or Workover
operations
 Those effects may reduce the permeability around the wellbore

 It is referred to as wellbore damage and the region of altered

permeability is called the skin zone
 The skin zone can extend from a few inches to several feet into the
formation

 On the other hand, many wells are hydraulically fractured which will also
cause a change in the near wellbore permeability

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Well Performance
Introduction

INTRODUCTION OF THE SKIN EFFECT

 Near the wellbore, the permeability of the layer changed

due to the skin effect

(p) skin p  141.2   qo Bo   s

kh
s
141.2q o Bo skin  kh 
 

Field units: ft, bbl/d, mD, psia, cp

 Skin is dimensionless

 Skin zone is a zone of

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changed permeability
due to mud filtrate invasion
or cement during drilling
or completion of the well
Well Performance
Introduction

EFFECT OF THE SKIN EFFECT

Skin can be

 Positive
□ In this case in the reservoir the
permeability decreased around
the well
□ reason: overbalanced drilling,
closing the pores, swelling of the
shale etc.

 Negative
□ In this case the permeability

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increased around the well.
□ reason: well stimulation
Well Performance
Introduction

SKIN EFFECT

 The pressure drop across the skin zone is the difference between
the actual pressure in the well when it is flowing and the pressure
that would have been seen, if the well were undamaged.

 Assuming radius of the skin zone, rs with reduced permeability ks,

then the skin can be calculated from (Hawkins, 1956)

k  rs
s    1 ln
 k s  rw
 Or the skin can be described in terms of effective well-bore radius

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s
rweff  rwe
Well Performance
Introduction

EXAMPLE

Example 10.1:
A 6 inch (0.5 ft) diameter hole has a damaged region 24 inches (2 ft)
deep measured from the well center.
The permeability of the damaged zone is one tenth that of the
undamaged region (i.e ks = 0.1*k).
A) What is the skin?
B) What is the effective wellbore radius?
C) What, if the 24 inch deep zone was stimulated and the
permeability was 10 times larger (i.e ks = 10 * k)?

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Use the following equations:

k   rs  s
s    1  ln   rweff  rw  e
 k s   rw 
Well Performance
Introduction

SOLUTION

What is the skin?

Calculate rw and rs
rw  0.25 ft
rs  2 ft
Calculate skin for damaged zone
k  r
s    1 ln s
 k s  rw
 10  1 ln
2
 18.7

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0.25
What is the effective wellbore radius?

rweff  rwe  s
 0.25e 18.7  1.9 x10 9 ft
Well Performance
Introduction

SOLUTION

What is the skin for the stimulated case?

k  rs
s    1 ln
 k s  rw
 0.1  1 ln
2
 1.9
0.25

Calculate the effective wellbore radius?

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rweff  rwe  s
 0.25e1.9  1.67 ft
Well Performance
Introduction

SKIN FACTOR

Example 10.2:

Calculate the pressure drops in the skin zones in a vertical well

and for a 1000 ft long horizontal well. The skin factor is 1.
h=25 ft; Bo= 1.06; kv= kh=10 mD, o=0.8 cp, qo = 1000 STB/d

 q B 
pskin  141.2   o o   s
 kh 
Vertical well
Horizontal well

141.2  qo  o Bo

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pskin  s 141.2  qo  o Bo
kh pskin  s
kh( well length )
141.2 1000  0.8 1.06
 1 141.2 1000  0.8 1.06
10  25  1
10 1000
 479 psi
 12 psi
Well Performance
Introduction

WELL DELIVERABILITY EXAMPLE

Example 10.3:
The following data is available for a production well:

k = 0.01 D
pe = 2000 psia pwf = 500 psia
o = 0.5 cP h = 40 ft
re = 1000 ft Bo = 1.25 rw = 0.35 ft
The well production rate is 738 bbl/d

What is the effective wellbore radius, r‘w and the skin factor?

7.078 khP

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q
re
 o Bo ln ,
rw
rw,  rw e  s
Well Performance
Introduction

WELL DELIVERABILITY EXAMPLE

Example 10.3:
The following data is available for a production well:
k = 0.01 D
pe = 2000 psia pwf = 500 psia
o = 0.5 cP h = 40 ft
re = 1000 ft Bo = 1.25 rw = 0.35 ft
The well production rate is 738 bbl/d

What is the effective wellbore radius, r‘w and the skin factor?

7.078khP 7.078  0.01 40  (2000  500) 6794 .9

q    738
re re 1000
 o Bo ln , 0.5 1.25  ln , ln ,

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rw rw rw
1000 6794 .9 1000
ln ,
  9. 20718  rw
,
 9.20718
 0.1 ft
rw 738 e
rw, 0.1
r  rw exp( s )   s  ln  ln
,
w  1.25  s  1.25
rw 0.35
Well Performance
Introduction

PRODUCTIVITY INDEX (PI or J)

 A well produces or injects with a rate q.

 As a consequence, there is a pressure difference between
the bottom hole and any other point in the formation:

p  pwf  pr 
 The rate is a function of the pressure difference and goes to
zero, if the pressure difference goes to zero

 q 
J  lim  
p 0 p 
 

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 A productivity index PI or J is defined as
q
J
p