Performance of multiple fractured horizontal wells in shale gas reservoirs with consideration of multiple mechanisms

Summary Gas flow in shales is believed to result from a combination of several mechanisms, including desorption, diffusion, viscous flow and the effect of stress-sensitivity of reservoir permeability. However, little work has been done in literature to simultaneously incorporate all these mechanisms in well testing models for shale gas reservoirs. This paper presents a new well testing model for multiple fractured horizontal wells (MFHW) in shale gas reservoirs with consideration of desorption, diffusive flow, viscous flow and stress-sensitivity of reservoir permeability. Comparing with current well testing models for MFHW, the model presented here takes into consideration more mechanisms controlling shale gas flow, which is more in line with the actual reservoir situation. Laplace transformation, point source function, perturbation method, numerical discrete method and Gaussian elimination method are employed to solve the well testing model. The pressure transient responses are then inverted into real time space with Stehfest numerical inversion algorithm. Type curves are plotted, and different flow regimes in shale gas reservoirs are identified. The effects of relevant parameters are analyzed as well. The presented model can be used to interpret pressure data more accurately for shale gas reservoirs and provide more accurate dynamic parameters which are important for efficient reservoir development.