Drilling and Production Equipment, Methods and Materials - Method of Establishing a Stabilized Back Pressure Curve for Gas Wells Producing from Reservoirs of Extremely Low Permeability

A method of establishing stabilized back-pressure curves for gas wells producing from formations of extremely low permeability is presented. Actual well performance under many different operating conditions is shown by the stabilized back-pressure curve. By use of the method. it is possible to conduct back-pressure tests with a critical-flow prover on wells that stabilize slowly, and save approximately 88% of the gas ordinarily vented to obtain satisfactory test data, with a great reduction in time required for testing. INTRODUCTION The reasons for establishing dependable back-pressure curves on gas wells have been pointed out by previous publications. The publication most referred to. of course, is the United States Bureau of Mines Monograph 7, titled "Back-Pressure Data on Natural Gas Wells and Their Application to Production Practices". The technique generally established therein has been accepted and used by many engineers; and, when proper tests are conducted, the results can be used for the analysis and solution of several practical problems concerning field operation and development. Even where formations of low specific permeability are encountered, the determination of a well's actual performance by the back-pressure test method permits the engineer to analyze many problems in individual well operation and also to predict necessary future field development. Such problems as the determination of the ability of a well to produce into a pipe line at a predetermined line pressure, the design of gas gathering systems and meter settings, and the determination of the time and the number of wells required to be drilled to meet future market obligations, can be solved, in part., by the use of a reliable back-~ressure curve. In addition, the computed well delivery rates determined by data from backpressure tests ordered by state regtilatory bodies, when compared with the true back-Pressure curve, permit the operator to ascertain whether such data represent unstable or relatively stabilized delivery rates for given pressure conditions of the well. The technique of back-pressure testing, as described in this report, was developed by Phillips Petroleum Company engineers from data obtained during a testing program that started in 1944 and has been continued to date. Three hundred and eleven back-pressure tests were conducted on 299 wells located in the southern part of the Hugoton Field. The gas-bearing zone is composed of several dolomitic formations of the Permian Age; the important ones are the Herington, Upper Krider, Lower Krider, and Winfield. The average bottom-hole temperature is approximately 91 °F.. and the initial wellhead shut-in pressures range from 400 to 440 psig. The spacing pattern is 640 acres per well with each well located near the center of the section. The range of back-pressure potentials on wells tested was from 500 to 23,000 Mcfd. All gas wells were acidized, and the quantity of acid used, expressed in 1574 hydrocloric acid, varied from 12,000 to 22,000 gallons per well. The quantity and concentration of each treatment depended on the stage, the formation being treated, and experience gained from previously completed wells. The gas in the Hugoton Feld is a "dry" gas. It has a gasoline content of approximately 0.25 gallons per thousand cubic feet, as determined by charcoal test, and its specific gravity averages about 0.71 as compared to air (air = 1.00 at 60°F.). Of the wells tested, 71 were completed with 7" casing, 3 with 9 5/8" casing, and 1 with 6%" casing set on top of the upper producing formation with the well bore through the gas bearing formations being open hole. Two hundred and twenty-four were completed with 5 1/2'' O.D. casing set through the gas bearing formations and perforated. For the purpose of establishing reliable back-pressure curves in the area, Phillips Petroleum Company personnel has computed data on the basis of 24-hour flows per point. Early in the program, many tests were actually permitted to flow 24 hours to obtain data for each plotting point, at great expense in man power and time. Presently, however, such tests have been replaced by tests of short duration flows which can be made to effect results that correspond to the tests obtained by flows of much longer duration. METHOD When a gas well producing from a reservoir of low permeability is opened for production through a constant size orifice, both the rate of flow and working pressure decline. first at a high rate and later at a lower rate until after several hours the decline becomes difficult to ascertain. In this paper the rae of flow and working pressure are considered to be stabilized when it becomes difficult to observe changes in working pressure during a period of three hours by the use of a deadweight pressure gage. Stalibization of pressure in the literal sense is never obtained in a producing gas well. In formations of low permeability. such as those in the Hugo-ton Field, most wellhead working pressures approach stabilization closely enough to be used satisfactorily in the determination of a back-Pressure potential curve after flow periods of 24 hours. We shall therefore describe the backpressure curve calculated from ohserved rates of flow and working pressure at the end of 24-hour flow periods.