PTRL6003 Well Pressure Testing - Course Guide

School of Petroleum Engineering, University of New South Wales

February 2017

Must Do ASAP!

Log on to the UNSW Moodle site for this subject as soon as possible. This is where
I communicate with you, where you send your solutions and receive feedback and
where you can chat with others taking the same course. I also post additional files,
explanations and other items of interest to you.

In order for you to receive credit for assignments you submit, the submission must
be made using Moodle.

If you have any problems with the website or any other purely administrative matters
contact Altaf Syed and he will help.

General
Welcome to PTRL6003 in the UNSW Distance Learning Program in Petroleum
Engineering. Please take the time to read this document carefully. The document
contains instructions that will allow you to get the most out of the course.

The course manual is organized as a self-study guide. It should be used in conjunction

with a recommended text or texts. The manual is not a substitute for a text. The
recommended texts for this subject are:

L.P.Dake
Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering
Elsiever, 1978

John Lee
Well Testing
SPE Text Book Series, 1982

R.C. Earlougher Jr.

Advances in Well Test Analysis
SPE Monograph Volume 5, 1977

It is important that you have access to at least one of these texts during the course of
your study. All three books are available from the Society of Petroleum Engineers
(SPE) on-line bookshop which you can access through the SPE website at
www.spe.org.

The course manual is broken up into chapters. Each chapter deals with a specific topic
or area. Each chapter contains problems that you should submit electronically using
Moodle as soon as you complete them. The problems will be marked and you will
receive feedback that will help you assess your understanding of the course material.

This is a self-paced course. You should look over the course material and set up your
own timetable for problem submission. The aim is to complete the course in 12-14
weeks and to have all the problems submitted and marked by the start of the exam
period. If you have any problems in this area contact me and we can discuss. I have
included a "typical" schedule at the end of this communication which you can use as a
guide.

Problem Submission
You will probably use a spreadsheet of one type or another or you may have access to
industry software to produce your solutions to the problems in the course manual. All
are acceptable. However, you must submit solutions electronically using the
communication tool on Moodle. Please keep all your communications with me
through Moodle. I am handling up to a total of 4 on-line subjects at any one time and
unless we use Moodle, things will quickly become unmanageable. Do not send
original spreadsheets and files that are read by the spreadsheets. Cut and Paste from
the spreadsheet and files into Word and send only the Word file or make pdf files and
send these my preference is pdf.

The file you send for your problem solution should start with a summary page
summarising the results of the calculations and any comments/conclusions that you
have drawn. Problems will be marked out of 10 with 5 of the 10 points reserved for
the quality of the submission. If you have any problems in preparing your electronic
submissions contact me and I will try to help. Answers are provided (in most cases)
for the problems that you will be attempting.

A folder is provided with scientific spreadsheets which you will find useful in solving
the problems. The spreadsheets are for Mathcad (see section below). Mathcad may be
unfamiliar to you and you will be tempted not to use it. Mathcad has a very steep
learning curve but once mastered it is extremely powerful and very useful for all your
engineering calculations. Make sure you try it particularly if you intend to follow
other subjects in the reservoir engineering series of our program.

The spreadsheets are live in that they are presented in spreadsheet format where the
input can be modified to allow you to use the spreadsheet to solve other problems.
You can also change input data to see the effect of the change on the answer. You
may need to change some of the inputs for the worked examples to obtain the
solutions given in the course notes. If you believe that any of the answers are incorrect
please let me know.

Mathcad
The worked examples have been solved using a scientific spreadsheet program called
Mathcad. If you have done PTRL6001 Reservoir Engineering-I you already have an
installed copy of Mathcad if not, a copy of Mathcad is provided with your Moodle
for
your private use. You will need to install Mathcad on your computer in order to view
the example solutions. The Mathcad files for the worked examples are located in
folders that can be found on UNSW Moodle. The higher-level folders are named
after the chapter number to which they refer. The Mathcad files for the worked
problems are located in folders after the examples or problems to which they refer.

The files for a worked problem consist of a Mathcad file named [File name.mcd] and
may include simple plain text data files with extensions [Data file name.prn]. These
files must all be located in the same folder. The data files may be viewed and
modified using any convenient plain text editor such as {\em Notepad}. The [File
name.mcd]} files can only be viewed (and modified) using the installed Mathcad
software.

I have chosen Mathcad to solve the example problems for two reasons:

(i) Mathcad provides an easy to read solution outline much the same as if it
was written by hand or typed, and,

(ii) Mathcad can automatically account for arbitrary systems of units and has
no problems with mixed unit systems.

These advantages come at a price - a steep and sometimes difficult learning curve.
However, you do not need to learn Mathcad in order to successfully complete the
course. At a minimum you can simply use Mathcad as a viewer to view and print the
solutions.

As a next step you could learn how to change the numbers on a Mathcad spreadsheet
and how to resize graphs. This would allow you to use the spreadsheets as live
solutions that you could then use to solve some of the homework problems as well.

If you manage to master a few basic Mathcad skills, you could modify the example
spreadsheets or create your own spreadsheets from scratch to solve all the homework
problems. As far as the homework problems themselves are concerned, you are free to
use any spreadsheet that you are comfortable with or any combination of spreadsheets
and hand calculations.

After installing Mathcad, open the application, click on the Help button go to
Resource Center then to Overview and Tutorials. I recommend that you spend an hour
or so learning basic Mathcad skills. A good sequence of tutorials is Entering Text,
Building Mathematical Expressions, Defining Variables, Defining Range Variables,
Defining Vectors and Matrices, Creating Graphs and Using Units. To make my
spreadsheets a little easier to use, I have highlighted, in yellow, areas where you are
expected to enter data. You might surprise yourself and become a Mathcad convert!
All engineering students are now taught to use scientific spreadsheets like Mathcad
during the course of their undergraduate studies.

A word of warning on units. The equations in the course manual are written for any
consistent system of units. Since Mathcad handles systems of mixed units
automatically, the equations in the spreadsheets appear the same as the ones in the
manual. If you are doing calculations in using a different spreadsheet, Excel for
example, or by hand, you will need to change dimensions manually and calculate the
dimensional constant for each equation individually. This constant will, of course, be
different for different systems of units.

Using Other Software

If you have access to commercial or in-house well pressure test analysis software
and wish to use it you are free to do so. You may also write your own software in
Mathcad, Excel or any other software you are familiar with.

Study Guidelines
In covering the material in the manual, a chapter at a time, I recommend that you
follow the procedure outlined below:

1. Carefully read the entire chapter to familiarise yourself with the material.

2. Locate the topic area in your text book and study this material in conjunction
with the course material.

3. When working with the Examples in the course notes, open the Example
Mathcad on your PC screen. The spreadsheet is alive and you can play around
with it try solving a similar example already solved in your text book. You
may need to disable the lock on the files if they are protected go to Help to
find out how to do this. Make sure that you have made a back-up file before
you start making changes.

4. When you feel that you have mastered a topic area, attempt the problem for
the topic. As I have said before, you can solve the problems any way you like.
When you have solved a problem prepare a summary of your method and
results and email the summary and solution. I will look at the solution and
email you comments and a mark out of 10. You can also fax or mail me this
material if you prefer.
Timing Guide and Course Problems
Your rate of progress will depend on your background and the time you are able to
devote to the material. The program is designed to be completed in a nominal 14
weeks. I offer the following schedule only as a guide to assist you in managing your
time.

Ch-1 (1 weeks) Introduction

Ch-2 (3 weeks) Flow to a Well in an Idealized Reservoir: Important basic concepts

and theory. If you master this chapter you are well on the way to understanding well
test interpretation.

Ch-3 (1 weeks) Introduction to Interpretation Methods.

Ch-4 (2 weeks) Skin and Wellbore Storage.

Ch-5 (2 weeks) Pressure Drawdown for a Variable Rate Well.

Ch-6 (2 weeks) Pressure Buildup Tests.

Ch-7 (3 weeks) Pressure Response in Heterogeneous Reservoirs.

Problem Submission
All your problems will be solved on a spreadsheet of one type or another and
submitted electronically using the communication tool (email facility) on Moodle.
Please keep all your communications through Moodle.

Do not send spreadsheets and files which are read by the spreadsheets. Cut and Paste
from the spreadsheet and files into Word and send only the Word file. The Word file
should contain a summary page showing the results of the calculations and any
comments/conclusions which you have drawn from looking at the Example or
Problem. Examples/Problems will be marked out of 10 with 3 of the 10 points
reserved for the quality of the summary. If you have any problems in preparing your
electronic submissions contact me and I will try to help.

Course Assessment
Over the years that I have given the course I have found that the following assessment
mix seems to work best.

Problems - 25%
Exam - 75%

If you submit problems on time and you act on my feedback you will score the full
25% for the problems part of the assessment. The pass mark is 50% so you do not
need a great score in the exam to pass (33%). You should, of course, be aiming at
much higher than a pass and to achieve this you will need to do well in both
categories.

Electronic Manual

An electronic copy of the complete manual (in colour) is available for download on
the course website. The electronic copy is in Adobe pdf format and requires Adobe
Acrobat to view.

I hope that you will find the course interesting, informative and enjoyable. If you
experience any difficulties at any time do not hesitate to contact me immediately.

Email: p.mostaghimi@unsw.edu.au

Dr. Peyman Mostaghimi

Course Instructor