Abstract
AbstractFor the last decade shale gas has made a significant contribution to the oil and gas market by introducing multi-fractured horizontal wells. Forecasting the production for these wells is a challenging task due to reservoir properties and fracture network complexity created by hydraulic fracturing. Two methods ‘Analytical and simulation’ proposed in this paper to forecast the well performance, and quantify the differences one might expect to encounter in a well’s Estimated Ultimate Recovery "EUR". Analytical models are widely used as tools for history matching and forecasting production in unconventional resources due to the advantages of simplicity and efficiency. On the other hand there is an increasing interest in the use of numerical simulation for unconventional reservoirs to predict well performance and Estimated Ultimate Recovery "EUR". The two Methods used to match and predict the production of hydraulically fractured unconventional horizontal wells, and the results comparison was made to check on the efficiency and quality of these two methods.This study will help to quantify the differences one might expect to encounter in a well’s Estimated Ultimate Recovery "EUR" when using analytical model-based Rate Transient Analysis "RTA" versus numerical simulation-based workflows in unconventional reservoirs. This workflow provides multiple history-matched models that are constrained by historical production data. The probabilistic forecast method employed in this work provides P90 (conservative), P50 (most likely), and P10 (optimistic) values for EUR. All the results obtained with the numerical method were compared to the analytical, the findings between these two methods will help to know which most reliable method to be used in predicting the future wells performance to Estimated "EUR". The operators looking for fast and reliable answer to predict the well performance for increasing the success of the models used in the completion, and help for better business planning. This study will help us to know what the most consistent method to use along with hydraulic fractures properties.