Well testing

and
Inflow Performance

Well Testing

Main Purpose

Why we need well testing?

&

How to do it?

1
 Well Testing

Why we need well testing?

- Production assessment for different zones

- Physical and chemical properties for the produced fluid

- Performance evaluation for the completion equipment and

techniques (such as gravel pack, screens,….etc.)

- Evaluation of any production recovery techniques (acidizing,

fracturing, water shut off, perforation quality……etc.)

- Production evaluation for unknown wells

Inflow Performance

2
Well Productivity
fluid always flows from high potential toward low
potential.

Most rocks are not solid and some have much more
empty space (porosity) than others.

Very porous rocks make good reservoirs for holding

oil, water or gas.

Oil reservoirs are simply rock formations that fill up

the empty space with oil.

This oil is under some amount of pressure

Pr is the average
reservoir closed-in
pressure

Reservoir
Perforations

Pr
Pr

3
Well Productivity
Pr, the average reservoir pressure, is the maximum
pressure there is in the rock. This is also a measure
of the total energy available in the reservoir.
Remember that
Pressure is just one way to measure Energy
The higher the Pr, the more energy is available to
produce fluids from the well.
Pr is the initial energy value. If we drill a hole into a
reservoir and open the hole up for fluid flow, a lower
pressure will exist at the well-bore than deep inside
the reservoir.
If we did not have a lower pressure, there could be
no flow since we have to have a pressure difference
to get flow.

Well Productivity
Now that we know the nature of the problem, it is
simply a matter of figuring out how to calculate the
flow rate we will get from the reservoir as the
pressure in the well-bore is lowered.

Henry Darcy, while working with pressure losses in

sand filters, proposed what we now call Darcy's law.

Darcy's law works for many different applications but

we will look specifically at the form of his equation for
flow of fluid from a radial reservoir in to a wellbore.

The problem can be seen pictorially as follows:

4
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a well-bore:

Pr
Fl
ui d ow
Fl
ow Fl
uid
Fl
Pr Q=?
Pwf Fluid Flow
Fluid Flow

Fluid Flow

Pr Reservoir outer
"drainage"
boundary

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
For the system just described, Darcy's Law looks
like:
-3
7.08 x 10 k o h ( Pr P wf )
qo =
re
μ o Bo ln 0.75
rw
qo = flow rate ko = effective permeability
h = effective feet of pay μo = average viscosity
Pr = reservoir pressure Pwf = wellbore pressure
re = drainage radius rw = wellbore radius
Bo = formation volume factor

Note: (Pr - Pwf) is the drawdown pressure

5
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
But what is this equation?

-3
7.08 x 10 k o h ( Pr P wf )
qo =
re
μ o Bo ln 0.75
rw

Complicated!

Note: (Pr - Pwf) is the drawdown pressure

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a wellbore:

All of the data necessary for this equation is usually

not available. But if we make the assumption that
ko, h, re, rw, Bo and µo are constant for a particular
well (this is a pretty good assumption), the equation
becomes:

k 1 k2 k 3 ( Pr P wf )
qo =
k6
k 4k5 ln k8
k7

6
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:

Since constants times constants are still

constants, etc. this equation can be
simplified to:

qo = K (Pr − Pwf )

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

Let's rearrange this equation to get pressure on the

LHS and flow on the RHS:

1
( P − P ) = qo
r wf K

7
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:

Remember that Pr is not going to change as

the flow changes so let's move it over to the
RHS.

What is this equation?

1
Pwf = − qo + Pr
K

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
It is an equation of the form" y= mx+b" which
is a straight line. Furthermore, the line has
a slope of "m" and a Y-intercept of "b".

In this case the slope is "-1/K" and the Y-

intercept is Pr.
1
Pwf = − qo + Pr
K

8
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
Graphically it would look like this:
Pressure -
PSI

Intercept = Pr

Slope = -1/K
Pwf

0
0 Q - Flow Rate (BPD)

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
If we could determine a value for Pr and -
1/K, we could find the flowing wellbore
pressure at any flow rate we wanted to.

The constant, K, has a special name:

Productivity Index or "PI" for short.
1
Pwf = − qo + Pr
K

9
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:

The Productivity Index is equal to the

flow rate divided by the "drawdown":

qo
PI =
(P − P )
r wf

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

We either need to be given the PI and the

Pr, or we need to be given the Pr and one
measured flow rate at some value of Pwf.

If we have the flow test point, we can

calculate the PI from the following:
qo
PI =
(P − P )
r wf

10
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
This information is usually available but it is
absolutely necessary if we need to calculate
a fluid level.

1
Pwf = − x qo + Pr
PI

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

Let's try an example. Say we are told that the

reservoir pressure is 2,300 psi and that the
well flowing pressure was measured at 1,200
psi at a flow rate of 1,150 BPD. What is the PI
for the well and what is the maximum possible
flow rate for this well?
1
Pwf = − x qo + Pr
PI

11
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
We can calculate the PI from the following
equation.

What is it?

qo
PI =
(P − P )
r wf

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

The PI is 1.046

1150
PI = = 1.046 bbl/day/psi
( 2300
)
- 1200

12
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
What is the maximum flow rate the well will
produce?

The maximum flow rate occurs at the

maximum drawdown (Pwf = 0).

qmax
PI = or qmax = Pr x PI
(P r −0 )

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
Qmax = 2,406 bpd.

This is the maximum flow that this well is

capable of producing. To produce any more
would require a negative pressure which is
impossible!

qmax = 2300 x 1.046 = 2406 bpd

13
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
If Pr is a measure of the energy available in
the reservoir, the drawdown (Pr-Pwf) is a
measure of how much energy is lost in getting
the fluid into the wellbore.

What would Qmax be if the PI were 2.0?

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

Qmax = 4,600 bpd.

The higher the PI, the more fluid the well can
give up -- or less energy is lost in flowing the
fluid into the wellbore.

q max = 2300 x 2.0 = 4600 bpd

14
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
There is no real limit on what the PI of a well
could be but PI's in the range of 0.5 to 3 are
common. If the PI is too low, the well may
not be economical to produce. A PI can be
almost infinite if there is a strong water drive
behind the oil.

The PI can also be improved slightly by

acidizing or fracturing in some cases.

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:

Acidizing cleans up "skin" on the

perforations and can improve porosity in
limestone reservoirs by making larger holes
for oil flow.
Before After

Skin Damage Acid

15
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
Fracturing also can improve porosity by
making large cracks near the wellbore.
Before After

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
The area of the reservoir around the wellbore is the
most critical in terms of flow restrictions.

Why is this the case?

Since the fluid is flowing inward from the radial
direction, the velocity of the fluid increases as it nears
the wellbore.

As we saw before, higher velocity means higher

friction -- more pressure loss.

This does not really concern us in sizing a pump but

it does explain why "stimulating" a well can be so
beneficial.

16
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
Darcy's law works great for single phase
fluid (i.e. water, oil, or water/oil*) flowing
into a wellbore but what happens if gas
comes "out of solution" in the reservoir?

* Even though water and oil are two separate

phases, they are considered single phase
since they are both liquid.

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
Crude oil is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of
varying molecule sizes.

We are all familiar with boiling water. If you heat a

pot of water up to 212F, it begins to boil (at sea
level). What you may not know is that the water in
that pot will stay at 212F until all the water is boiled
off.

This is why we say that the boiling point of water is

212F.

17
 212 °F

Water

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
Note we are keeping the pressure constant
since the pot is open to the air.

We can increase the boiling point by increasing

the pressure.

This is why pressure cookers are so useful.

18
 P = 14.7 psi P = 50.0 psi

281 °F
212 °F

Water Water

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
Now mix the alcohol and water.

The mixture will begin to boil at the same

temperature that the pure alcohol did but
the temperature will steadily rise until to
reaches the boiling point of water and will
stay there until all the liquid is gone.

The mixture would have a "boiling range"

rather than a "boiling point".

19
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
This analogy holds for crude oil even
though the mixture is much more complex.
If we were to take a pot of crude oil, we
could actually measure the boiling range
temperature.

In the well, however, this is not very useful

since we have no control over temperature
and it will not change very much.

What does change is the pressure.

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
If we take our pot of crude oil and place it
under a very high pressure, it will all be
liquid.

If we slowly reduce the pressure, we will

eventually get to a pressure where some
gas bubbles begin to form.

This pressure at which the first gas bubbles

begin to come out of solution is called the
"bubble point" or Pb for short.

20
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
At pressures above the bubble point, we
have only single phase liquid.

At pressures below the bubble point, we

have a two phase mixture of liquid and gas.

What happens if the flowing pressure in the

reservoir drops below the bubble point?

Pressure drops as we
move toward the
wellbore
Pb Gas will
begin
to form here

Pr
Pr

21
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
What happens when the gas comes out of
solution? Darcy's law works just as well for a
single phase gas as it does for a single phase oil.

Let's look qualitatively at what will happen to the

flow rate of gas.

-3
7.08 x 10 kg h Pr P wf
qg =
re
μ g Bg ln 0.75
rw

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
First of all, the permeability, k, will be much
higher for gas. What will this do to the flow rate?

Secondly, the viscosity of gas, µg, is typically

about 50 times lower than that of oil. What will
this do to the flow rate?

-3
7.08 x 10 kg h Pr P wf
qg =
μ g Bg re
ln 0.75
rw

22
Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
These two factors will give the gas a much higher
flow rate inside the reservoir.
Qg>>Qo
The gas also takes up more space than it did
when it was dissolved in the oil. This will cause
the rock pores to be filled up eliminating any
place for the oil to go.

-3
7.08 x 10 kg h Pr P wf
qg =
re
μ g Bg ln 0.75
rw

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
What will this do to the flow of oil?

The oil flow we get as the pressure is

lowered will be less than we would predict
using Darcy's law!

(Or energy is being lost that we have not

accounted for).

23
 Darcy's Law for radial flow into a
wellbore:
Graphically it would look like this:
Pressure -
PSI

Pr < Pb

Pwf Darcy's law

predicted
Actual Qmax
Qmax

0
0 Q - Flow Rate (BPD)

Darcy's Law for radial flow into a

wellbore:
As you can see, if we tried to size a well for
near the maximum rate we would expect
from Darcy, the well could not deliver it.

For the actual inflow curve, the wellbore

pressure is much lower than Darcy would
predict. This means lower fluid levels
which, in turn, means larger pumps (i.e.
more stages) will be required.

24
 Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

Vogel performed a field study on several reservoirs to

actually measure the decrease in pressure caused by
the gas interference and came up with a new
equation for estimating Pwf in relation to Q. It is
called Vogel's IPR curve. The equation is:

2
qo Pwf Pwf
= 1 - 0.2 - 0.8
q o(max) Pr Pr
Qo max is the maximum flow rate the well can
produce.

Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

Using this curve, if we know Qmax and Pr, we can calculate
the wellbore pressure for any flow rate
Pwf/Pr
1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Q/Qmax

25
 Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

In order to construct this curve, we need to

know either the Pr and a Pwf at some flow
rate Q or we need to know two Q's and two
Pwf's.

Let's look at our previous example where we

were told that Pr is 2300 psi and the Pwf is
1200 at a flow rate of 1150 bpd.

Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

First we need to calculate qmax:

qo
q o(max) =
2
Pwf Pwf
1 - 0.2 - 0.8
Pr Pr

1150
q o(max) = 2 = 1696 bpd
1200 1200
1 - 0.2 - 0.8
2300 2300

26
 Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:
Compare this to the q max we got from Darcy's
equation of 2406 bpd. The well has lost 710 bpd in
capability due to gas interference.

More importantly, if we wanted to produce 2000 bpd

and sized a pump for this based on Darcy's PI, we
would be pretty disappointed.
Now let's calculate the well flowing pressure at a flow
rate of 1000 bpd.

The first thing to do is to calculate q/qmax:

q/qmax = 1000/1696 = 0.5896

Now we can use the curve to get Pwf/Pr

Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

Read Pwf/Pr on the Y axis - we can't actually read it
this closely so we used the equation to calculate it.
Pwf/Pr
1

0.8

0.602
0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
0.5896
Q/Qmax

27
Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

Pwf/Pr = 0.602
so
Pwf = Pr * 0.602.

2300*0.602 is 1384 psi. This is

the wellbore pressure for a flow
rate of 1000 bpd.

Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

We can also solve for Pwf directly with the

following equation:

Pwf= 0.125 Pr -1 + 81-80(q o / q o(max) )

Pwf = 0.125 x 2300 -1 + 81-80(1000/1696)

Pwf = 1384 psi

28
Inflow Performance Relationship - IPR:

It is important to recognize that gas

production in a reservoir can decrease the
production and there are correlations available
to calculate this.

We saw that we could use Darcy's law when

gas was not a problem (as in a high water cut
well).

We also saw how to use Vogel's IPR for cases

where Pr < Pb. What about a case where Pr >
Pb > 0?

Combined IPR:

All we have to do in this case is use Darcy's

law for Pr > Pwf > Pb and Vogel's IPR for
the portion where Pb > Pwf > 0.

Let's say, for our problem, we have a Pb of

1800 psi.

Graphically it would look like:

29
 Combined IPR:

Pr=2300
2500 We use a straight line PI above Pb
2000
Pb=1800
1500 We use the IPR below Pb
Pressure - psi
1000

500

0
0 500 1000 1500 2000
Flow Rate - BPD Qmax=1706

Combined IPR:
In order to solve this problem, we need to combine
Vogel's equation with Darcy's law. First we need to
rearrange the Vogel IPR equation:

2
qo Pwf Pwf
= 1 - 0.2 - 0.8
q o(max) Pr Pr

to solve for qo :

2
Pwf Pwf
qo = q o(max) 1 - 0.2 - 0.8
Pr Pr

30
 Combined IPR:
We can then take the first derivative of this equation
with respect to Pwf and will get:

dq o 0.2 Pwf
= q o(max) +1.6
dPwf Pr Pr
2

But the slope of the line, J, is simply the same thing as -

1/PI for Darcy's law.

dq o
= J
dPwf

Combined IPR:
If we take the slope of the Vogel curve at Pwf = Pb, we will get:

dq o
= J
dP wf

0.2 Pb 1.8 q o(max)

J = q o(max) +1.6 2
=
Pb Pb Pb
1.
8 q o(max)
or : J=
Pb

31
 Combined IPR:
So we can calculate the maximum oil rate for the Vogel
portion of the curve as:
PI
q J Pb 2500
o(max) =
1.8 2000

1500
We can calculate the oil Pressure
- psi IPR
rate for the Darcy's Law 1000
portion of the curve as:
500
q q o(max)
q b = J(Pr Pb ) 0
b

0 1000 2000
Flow Rate - BPD

Combined IPR:
We can simply add the two to get the total maximum for the
well as:

q (max) J Pb
= qb + PI
1.8
Remember that "J" is the slope of
Pressure -
psi

the IPR curve at the bubble point IPR

and the slope of the PI curve
down to the bubble point.

At the bubble point, the

slopes of the two curves q (max)
are equal.
Flow Rate - BPD

32
 Combined IPR:
If we know the value of J (i.e. we know the Productivity Index),
we can calculate the flow rate for any flowing well pressure
above the bubble point pressure as:

q b = J(Pr Pb )

and below the bubble point pressure as:

2
Pwf Pwf
q o = (q (max) q b ) 1 - 0.2 - 0.8
Pb Pb

Combined IPR:
If we are given a test rate and pressure rather than a PI and the
test pressure is below the bubble point, we first must solve
for J with the following:

q
J=
2
Pb Pwf Pwf
(Pr Pb )+ 1 - 0.2 - 0.8
1.8 Pb Pb

Once J is determined, we can solve the equations as before.

33
 Composite IPR:

Vogel's relationship works reasonably well

for water cuts below 50%.

For higher water cuts, a method has been

developed which takes an arithmetic
average of the PI and IPR equations to yield
a "composite IPR".

Composite IPR:
Graphically it would look like this where qt is the composite flow:

Pressure - psi

Oil Composite
IPR IPR

Water PI

qb qo(max) qt(max) qw(max)

Flow Rate - BPD

34
 Composite IPR:
In order to solve this, we need to calculate the well
flowing pressure as if only oil were flowing by the
equation:

qd qb
Pwf(oil) = 0.125 Pb -1 + 81-80 q qb
(max)

and we need to calculate the well flowing pressure as if

only water were flowing by the equation:

qd
Pwf(water) = Pr
J

Composite IPR:
Once these two pressures are determined, the composite
pressure is calculated as the arithmetic average of the two
based on the fraction of oil and water being produced.

Pwf = fo Pwf(oil) + fw Pwf(water)

35
 Composite IPR:
Some care must be exercised when applying
this particular technique.

The concept of a composite IPR is reasonable

in certain cases and is not applicable in
others.

The difference lies in where the water is

coming from.

Composite IPR:

If the water being produced is connate

water, this technique will give optimistic
results and should not be used.

If the water is coming from below (or even

above) the producing oil zone or if the
water is fingering through long fractures,
this method can be used with some
success.

36
 Inflow Performance Curve

Summarizing:

If we do not have a fluid level, we must use

some type of inflow relation to calculate a
wellbore pressure. We can then convert
this pressure to feet using a specific gravity.
Depending on the reservoir fluid, we may
use a straight line PI, and IPR, or a
combination of the two.

Well Testing

Main Purpose

Why we need well testing?

&

How to do it?

37
 Well Testing

How to do it?

- Logistic Limitation
well Location, availability and mobility of the
equipment, intervention methods)

- Technical Limitations
well profile in terms of deviation, clearance, dog legs,
depth, expected GOR, temperature, viscosity, corrosion,
erosion,….etc

Well Testing

Equipment selection
Produced Fluid handling and control
Tanks, surface separator, valves, flow rate
measuring, piping, Gas venting and handling
techniques, other related lifting and safety
equipment and gears
Pressure handling and control
BOP, BOP can, BOP penetration systems (electrical,
and hydraulic), valves, pressure sensors and gauges,
pressure switches,…etc.)

38
 Well Testing

Equipment selection
Down hole equipment
pressure sensors, memory gauges, pumping
sections, power sections (motor), seal sections,
power cables, gas separation and/or gas handling,
packer, packer penetrator, crossovers and plugs,
shrouds, Y-tool, consumables, auxiliary equipment,
back up equipment, handling and essential
tooling…..etc)
Power supply and power package
Power generation, fuel supply and storage, variable
speed drives, transformer, Junction box, surface
cables, sensor surface units, meters, …etc

Well Testing

Equipment selection
Data Management
- Procedures
- Scenarios
- Monitoring and reporting
- Data Gathering
- Data Entries
- Data processing
- The proper using of the delivered data

39
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