Production Decline Analysis Lessons from Classic Shale Gas Wells

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this paper is to expose long-term production data from "classic" Devonian shale wells to modern reserve assessment methods, in particular production analysis techniques such as the Power Law Exponential of Ilk et al. (2008) and the method of Duong (2010). Many of the wells selected for analysis will have been producing for more than 25 years prior to workovers or recompletions. The observations derived from this analysis will shed light on the long-term applicability of these techniques to estimate reserves in contemporary, high-profile shale gas plays. For comparison, the techniques will also be applied to classic Barnett shale wells with more than a decade of production history.