An investigation of constant-pressure gas well testing influenced by high-velocity flow

This paper presents the results of a study of transient pressure analysis of gas flow under either constant bottom-hole pressure conditions or the constant wellhead pressure conditions. The effects of formation damage, wellbore storage and high-velocity flow are included in the model. The analysis of simulated well tests showed that the interpretation methods used for liquid flow are generally accurate when the m(p) is used. For these conditions, a graph of 1/qD vs. log tD presents gradually lower values of 1.1513 as the value of pwf decreases: for pressure buildup conditions, a graph of mD(1, ΔtaD)/qD(ΔtaD = 0) vs. (taD + ΔtaD)/ΔtaD shows values of this slope within 1% of the 1.1513 value. However, when high-velocity flow influences constant pressure production tests, the slope can yield errors up to 13%. This upper limit occurs when the formation has a relatively ‘high’ permeability (around 1 mD) and the rate performance test is affected by high-velocity flow. It was found that pressure buildup tests are superior to rate performance tests because high-velocity flow does not affect the slope of the straight line portion of the buildup curve. Derivative analysis of simulated buildup tests showed that the skin factor is considerably miscalculated when the high-velocity flow effect is significant. This problem could lead to errors in the calculation of the skin factor, s, up to 300%.