Roland Horne of Stanford University presented “Listening to the Reservoir - Interpreting Data from Permanent Downhole Gauges” during the 2009-2010 Society of Petroleum Engineers Distinguished
Lecturer Series.
About the Lecture
The permanent downhole pressure gauge is a class of tool that has become popular in the industry. These tools are installed during the well completion and provide a continuous record of pressure changes during production.
Permanent downhole gauges (PDGs) have potential to provide more information than is available with traditional well testing, which is carried out for a relatively short duration. PDGs may provide useful information regarding changes in reservoir properties or well conditions with time as the reservoir is produced.
However, interpretation of PDG data is a new problem. Unlike the traditional well test in which "disturbances" in the reservoir (i.e., rate changes) are created and pressure and rates are both known, the changes in rates associated with the record from the PDG may not be known. Moreover, the dynamic changes in the reservoir, along with changes in the flowing temperature or changes in the gauge itself, make the data more complicated to interpret.
