Analysis of production decline for reservoir characterization

Abstract

Two of the numerical models used for the analysis of production declining data in oil wells which have been adapted to geothermal and water wells conditions are presented in this work. Important information, which is useful to design optimal exploitation strategies, is usually obtained from production monitoring data obtained during continuous exploitation of wells. The methods for the analysis of production declining in wells are based either on analytical approaches or on type curves technique. The results include both the declining rates of wells and the physical properties of the formation (permeability, porosity, damage factor, drainage radius, etc. among others). With the used methodologies and taking into account the economic limit established for the production, the remaining useful life and the reserves feasible to be extracted can also be estimated. The use of this methodology allows a reliable characterization of the production of geothermal wells in order to make decisions on their commercial exploitation. It has been demonstrated in this work that the use of more than one methodology helps to verify the certainty of the developed analyses.