US20240093604A1
2024-03-21
18/527,366
2023-12-03
Smart Summary: A new method allows for measuring how much gas a coalbed methane well can produce without needing to stop its operation. First, basic data about the methane is collected. Then, scientists create tables that show how pressure relates to certain gas properties. They track daily gas production and pressures at different stages of production. Finally, using this information, they calculate the well's productivity without shutting it down. 🚀 TL;DR
A method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well includes steps of: obtaining coalbed methane basic data; based on PVT experimental data, determining a relationship table between a pressure and a coalbed methane deviation factor, and a relationship table between the pressure and a pseudo-pressure; recording daily gas production rates, bottomhole flow pressures, and cumulative gas productions at each stabilized flow pressure test moment in at least three different production stages; determining formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment based on a material balance equation; according to the formation pressures, the bottomhole flow pressures and the production rates, determining coefficients in a deliverability equation of the coalbed methane well for determining the deliverability equation; substituting the formation pressures and the bottomhole flow pressures into the deliverability equation for obtaining corresponding productivity.
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E21B49/087 » CPC main
Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells; Obtaining fluid samples or testing fluids, in boreholes or wells Well testing, e.g. testing for reservoir productivity or formation parameters
E21B43/006 » CPC further
Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells Production of coal-bed methane
E21B49/08 IPC
Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells Obtaining fluid samples or testing fluids, in boreholes or wells
E21B43/00 IPC
Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells
E21B47/06 » CPC further
Survey of boreholes or wells Measuring temperature or pressure
The present invention claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(a-d) to CN 202311456011.6, filed Nov. 3, 2023.
The present invention relates to coalbed methane development and research, and more particularly to a method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well.
Determining the deliverability equation and productivity of coalbed methane wells is a very important daily work in dynamic analysis, which is also an important basis for the prediction of gas well production law, analysis of production potential and optimization of working system. To determine the productivity of gas wells, it is necessary to determine the deliverability equation thereof, and the determination of the deliverability equation of gas wells mainly adopts a well test method, which requires shutting down the wells to carry out the pressure build-up test, thus affecting the production of the well. On the other hand, due to the large fracturing scale of conventional coalbed methane wells, the amount of fluid used is often over 1 ten-thousand cubic meters, even up to 5 ten-thousand cubic meters or more. As a result, it is easy to water flooded and difficult to resume production after shutting down the wells. There are few reports in the literature on determining the deliverability equations of gas wells without shutting down the wells, and less than five articles are available. The method of determining the deliverability equation of a gas well without shutting down the well reported in the literature needs to satisfy two conditions: one is that the formation pressure remains basically unchanged during different stabilized bottomhole flow pressure tests of the gas well; and the other is that the gas well must maintain a stabilized seepage state during the bottomhole flow pressure tests of the gas well under various production conditions. Stabilized bottomhole flow pressure tests under three different production conditions are often required to determine the gas well deliverability equation. The permeability of coal seams is generally less than 0.1 mD, and the permeability is relatively poor, which leads to the fact that it usually takes a long time to re-achieve a stabilized seepage state after the production rate of a coalbed methane well is changed, resulting in significant changes in the formation pressure corresponding to the moment of the stabilized bottomhole flow pressure tests, and it is difficult to keep it basically unchanged. Consequently, for coalbed methane wells, the reported method for determining the gas well deliverability equation without shutting down the wells has application conditions that are difficult to satisfy, so it cannot be applied to coalbed methane wells. The following is a brief introduction to the related knowledge.
Validation of the application conditions of conventional method for determining the gas well deliverability equations without shutting down the wells:
It is known from the literature that a period required for a gas well to re-attain a stabilized seepage state after the operating regime is changed (i.e., after the production rate is changed) can be calculated by equation (1).
t = 7 4 . 2 4 1 ∅ S g u ¯ g r 2 K P r ( 1 )
wherein t is a time period required for the gas well to stabilize seepage, hours; ∅ is a porosity of a gas layer, decimal; Sg is a gas saturation, decimal; ūg is a gas viscosity, mPa·s; r is a gas drainage radius, m; K is a gas formation permeability, mD; Pr is a formation pressure, MPa.
The following is an example of the relevant parameters of a typical deep coalbed methane horizontal well in a block to verify that for coalbed methane wells, the application conditions of the conventional method for determining the gas well deliverability equation without shutting down the well are difficult to satisfy. The corresponding average reservoir porosity of a coalbed methane well is ∅=0.05; gas saturation is Sg=0.7; gas viscosity under formation conditions is ūg=0.02 mPa·s; drainage radius of gas wells is r=160 m; effective formation permeability is K=0.1 mD; and formation pressure is Pr=28 MPa. Based on the above parameters, the calculation using equation (1) shows that it takes 475.14 hours, about 19.8 days, for the gas well to re-achieve a stabilized seepage state after changing the working regime. If the continuous stabilized flow pressure test is carried out under three different production rates (4.5 ten-thousand cubic meters per day, 3 ten-thousand cubic meters per day, and 1.5 ten-thousand cubic meters per day), it will take about 59.4 days, and the cumulative gas production from the gas well during this period will be 4.5*19.8+3*19.8+1.5*19.8=178.2 ten-thousand cubic meters. The average dynamic reserve of the deep coalbed methane horizontal well in this area is about 5500 ten-thousand cubic meters, then according to the material balance equation, after extracting 178.2 ten-thousand cubic meters of gas, the formation pressure will significantly change about 178.2/5500*28=0.9072 MPa. Therefore, for coalbed methane wells, the prerequisite of “the formation pressure remains basically unchanged during the gas well flow pressure test” required by the conventional method for determining the gas well deliverability equations is difficult to be satisfied.
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well, thereby solving a technical problem that applicable conditions of conventional method for determining a deliverability equation of a gas well without shutting down the well are difficult to be satisfied.
Accordingly, in order to accomplish the above objects, the present invention provides a method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well, comprising steps of:
Preferably, in the step 4, the formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment are determined as follows:
Preferably, in the step 5, the coefficients A and B in the binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well are determined by:
y ( i ) = P R ( i ) 2 - P wf ( i ) 2 q sc ( i ) ,
FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is functional relationship fitting between a pseudo-pressure and a pressure; and
FIG. 3 is linear fitting for observation points.
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the present invention provides a method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well, comprising steps of:
y ( i ) = P R ( i ) 2 - P wf ( i ) 2 q sc ( i ) ,
PRi: original formation pressure, MPa; Pwf: bottomhole flow pressure, MPa; qsc: gas well production rate, ten-thousand cubic meters per day; P: pressure, MPa; Z: gas deviation factor, dimensionless, decimal; Ps (Ps=P/Z): pseudo-pressure, MPa; gsc(i): daily production rate corresponding to stabilized flow pressure test point i, ten-thousand cubic meters per day; Pwf(i): stabilized bottomhole flow pressure corresponding to the production rate qsc(i); GP(i): cumulative gas production corresponding to stabilized flow pressure test point i, ten-thousand cubic meters; PRm(i): formation pressure corresponding to stabilized flow pressure test point i based on material balance equation; PRp(i): formation pressure corresponding to stabilized flow pressure test point i based on deliverability equation; i: stabilized flow pressure test point number, i=1, 2, . . . , n; PR: formation pressure, MPa; G0: dynamic reserve, ten-thousand cubic meters.
Preferably, in the step 4, the pseudo-pressure material balance equation is
P R s = ( 1 - G P G 0 ) P R s i ,
which is specifically derived as follows:
An expression for generalized material balance equation is:
P R z = ( 1 - G P G 0 ) P R i z i ( 2 )
A ratio of the formation pressure PR to its corresponding deviation factor Z is defined as the pseudo-pressure PRs, and a ratio of the original formation pressure PRi to its corresponding deviation factor Zi is defined as the pseudo-pressure PRsi, i.e.:
P R s = P R z ( 3 ) P R s i = P R i z i ( 4 )
P R s = ( 1 - G P G 0 ) P R s i ( 5 )
Eq. (5) is the pseudo-pressure material balance equation to be used in the present invention. If the pseudo-pressure PRsi of the original formation pressure PRi, the cumulative production GP of the gas well and the dynamic reserve G0 have been determine, the pseudo-pressure PRs of the corresponding formation pressure PR can be determined by Eq. (5). Then, according to the relationship table between pressure and the pseudo-pressure of the formation pressure, the corresponding formation pressure can be determined by an interpolation method or function fitting method.
Preferably, in the step 5, the coefficients in the binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well are determined by:
P R 2 - P w f 2 = A q sc + B q s c 2 ( 6 )
P R 2 - P w f 2 q s c = A + B q s c ( 7 )
Since the coefficients A and B in the binomial deliverability equation are constants related to formation characteristics, they can be obtained by linear fitting based on the bottomhole flow pressure and the corresponding formation pressure under different production rate conditions.
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x(i)=qsc(i) (9)
This embodiment is achieved by obtaining the basic data of a coalbed methane well; based on the coalbed methane PVT experimental data, determining a relationship table between a pressure and a coalbed methane deviation factor, and further determining a relationship table between the pressure and a pseudo-pressure (the pseudo-pressure is equal to the pressure divided by the deviation factor); performing stabilized bottomhole flow pressure test under constant production conditions in no less than three production stages of the coalbed methane well, and recording daily gas production rates, bottomhole flow pressures and cumulative gas productions; setting an initial iterative assumption value of a gas well dynamic reserve, combining the cumulative gas productions at each stabilized flow pressure test moment in different production stages, and determining formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment based on a material balance equation; according to the formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment, the bottomhole flow pressures and the production rates, determining coefficients in a binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well; based on the binomial deliverability equation, combining the bottomhole flow pressures and the production rates corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment, and determining formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment; and performing an error test between the formation pressures based on the material balance equation and the formation pressures based on the binomial deliverability equation corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment; if an error between the formation pressures obtained by different methods fails to meet a preset accuracy requirement, then iterating until the preset accuracy requirement is satisfied, wherein the binomial deliverability equation obtained when the preset accuracy requirement is met is a deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well; substituting the formation pressures and the bottomhole flow pressures into the deliverability equation of the coalbed methane well for solving, thereby obtaining the productivity of the coalbed methane well under corresponding formation pressure and bottomhole flow pressure conditions. The method effectively overcomes the shortcomings of conventional well test method in determining the deliverability equation of gas wells, which requires shutting down the wells and affects the production. The method also avoids the problem that applicable conditions of conventional method for determining the deliverability equation of a gas well without shutting down the well are difficult to be satisfied, and fills in the blank of “determining the productivity of coalbed methane wells without shutting down the wells”. The method is simple, highly operable, effective and practical, which deserves popularization and utilization.
In addition, the technical solutions of the present invention will be further illustrated below with specific examples, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.
A coalbed methane well has a vertical depth of 2880 m in the central part of the formation, an original formation pressure of 28 MPa, and a formation temperature of 81.3° C.
According to the method for determining the productivity of the coalbed methane well without shutting down the well of the embodiment:
| TABLE 1 |
| relationship between pressure, deviation factor and pseudo-pressure |
| deviation | pseudo- | |
| pressure | factor | pressure |
| P | Z | Ps = P/Z |
| (MPa) | (decimal) | (Mpa) |
| 31 | 0.9133 | 33.943 |
| 28 | 0.8805 | 31.800 |
| 25 | 0.8716 | 28.683 |
| 22 | 0.8609 | 25.555 |
| 19 | 0.8631 | 22.014 |
| 16 | 0.8619 | 18.564 |
| 13 | 0.8715 | 14.917 |
| 10 | 0.8770 | 11.403 |
| 8.5 | 0.8843 | 9.612 |
| 6 | 0.9047 | 6.632 |
| 3 | 0.9405 | 3.190 |
P R s = ( 1 - G P G 0 ) P R s i
to determine the formation pseudo-pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment to be PRs(1)=31.0102 MPa, PRs(2)=28.2527 MPa and PRs(3)=26.8419 MPa; and then using the functional relationship Ps=1.127P+0.1596 between the pressure P and the pseudo-pressure Ps obtained in the step (2) to determine the corresponding formation pressure based on the material balance equation to be PRm(1)=27.3741 MPa, PRm(2)=24.9273 MPa and PRm(3)=23.6755 MPa.
y ( i ) = P R ( i ) 2 - P wf ( i ) 2 q sc ( i ) ,
P R 2 - Pwf 2 = Aq sc + B q s c 2 ,
| TABLE 2 |
| Data table for observation point construction |
| qsc(i) | y(i) = | ||||
| observation | (ten-thousand | [Pr2(i) − | |||
| point No. | Pr(i) | Pwf(i) | cubic meters | x(i) = | pwf2(i)]/ |
| (i) | (Mpa) | (MPa) | per day) | qsc(i) | qsc(i) |
| 1 | 27.3741 | 8.8 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 80.9520 |
| 2 | 24.9273 | 8.7 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 72.7574 |
| 3 | 23.6755 | 7.1 | 7.2 | 7.2 | 70.8499 |
The above is preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the embodiments of the present invention are not limited by the above description. Any modifications without deviating from the present invention shall be equivalent replacement methods, and are included in the protection scope of the present invention.
1. A method for determining a productivity of a coalbed methane well without shutting down the well, comprising steps of:
step 1: obtaining basic data of a target coalbed methane well, comprising coalbed methane PVT experimental data, an original formation pressure PRi, a bottomhole flow pressure Pwf of the coalbed methane well during production, and a daily production rate qsc;
step 2: based on the coalbed methane PVT experimental data obtained in the step 1, determining a relationship table between a pressure P and a coalbed methane deviation factor Z, and further determining a relationship table between the pressure P and a pseudo-pressure Ps, wherein Ps=P/Z;
step 3: performing stabilized bottomhole flow pressure test under constant production conditions in no less than three production stages of the coalbed methane well, and recording daily gas production rates qsc(1), qsc(2), . . . , qsc(n), bottomhole flow pressures Pwf(1), Pwf(2), . . . , Pwf(n), and cumulative gas productions GP(1), GP(2), . . . , GP(n) of the coalbed methane well at each stabilized flow pressure test moment;
step 4: setting an initial iterative assumption value G0 of a gas well dynamic reserve, combining the cumulative gas productions GP(1), GP(2), . . . , GP(n) at each stabilized flow pressure test moment in different production stages, and determining formation pressures PRm(1), PRm(2), . . . , PRm(n) corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment based on a material balance equation;
step 5: according to the formation pressures PRm(1), PRm(2), . . . , PRm(n) corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment determined based on the material balance equation, the bottomhole flow pressures Pwf(1), Pwf(2), . . . , Pwf(n) and the production rates qsc(1), qsc(2), . . . , qsc(n), determining coefficients A and B in a binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well: PR2−Pwf2=Aqsc+Bqsc2, wherein PR is the formation pressure, Pwf is the bottomhole flow pressure of the coalbed methane well, and qsc is the daily production rate of the coalbed methane well;
step 6: based on the binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well PR2−Pwf2=Aqsc+Bqsc2 determined in the step 5, combining the bottomhole flow pressures Pwf(1), Pwf(2), . . . , Pwf(n) and the production rates qsc(1), qsc(2), . . . , qsc(n) corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment obtained in the step 3, and adopting PR=√{square root over (Pwf2=Aqsc+Bqsc2)} to determine formation pressures PRp(1), PRp(2), . . . , PRp(n) corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment, which means obtaining the formation pressures PRp(1), PRp(2), . . . , PRp(n) based on the binomial deliverability equation; and
step 7: performing an error test between the formation pressures PRm(1), PRm(2), . . . , PRm(n) based on the material balance equation and the formation pressures PRp(1), PRp(2), . . . , PRp(n) based on the binomial deliverability equation corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment; if an error between the formation pressures obtained by different methods fails to meet a preset accuracy requirement, then repeating the steps 4-6 to iterate until the preset accuracy requirement is satisfied, wherein the binomial deliverability equation obtained when the preset accuracy requirement is met is a deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well; substituting the formation pressures and the bottomhole flow pressures into the deliverability equation of the coalbed methane well for solving, thereby obtaining the productivity of the coalbed methane well under corresponding formation pressure and bottomhole flow pressure conditions.
2. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein in the step 4, the formation pressures corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment are determined as follows:
determining formation pseudo-pressures PRs(1), PRs(2), . . . , PRs(n) corresponding to each stabilized flow pressure test moment based on a pseudo-pressure material balance equation, and then adopting interpolation or function fitting to calculate the corresponding formation pressures PRm(1), PRm(2), . . . , PRm(n) based on the relationship table between the pressure P and the pseudo-pressure Ps.
3. The method, as recited in claim 1, wherein in the step 5, the coefficients A and B in the binomial deliverability equation for the coalbed methane well are determined by:
making
y ( i ) = P R ( i ) 2 - P wf ( i ) 2 q sc ( i ) ,
x(i)=qsc(i), i=1, 2, . . . , n; according to the gas production rates qsc(1), qsc(2), . . . , qsc(n) of the coalbed methane well at each stabilized flow pressure test moment in different production stages and corresponding bottomhole flow pressures Pwf(1), Pwf(2), . . . , Pwf(n), obtaining a series of observation points (y(i), x(i));
processing observation point data with linear fit, so that A is equal to an intercept of a linear equation obtained from the linear fit, and B is equal to a slope of the linear equation obtained from the linear fit.