Brunei
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Evening
Distinguished
Lecture Series:
“Well Testing Management: Impact on Reservoir Evaluation and Well Productivity”
by Mr Giovanni Da Prat
Date: May 2004
Venue: Seri Kandi Restaurant, Kuala Belait
An
overview of past and current well testing methods is presented. Although current
testing practices may involve the use of modern testing equipment and optimized
testing programs and procedures, it is emphasized that getting the desired
reservoir evaluation objectives in the best economical way depends in many cases
on the formation nature (homogeneous or naturally fractured), fluid properties,
and well environment response to the particular testing equipment and field
practices.
The
benefits of considering the design of the test and a contingency plan in every
testing job are presented. Learned lessons from many field cases of tests
conducted in both onshore and offshore exploratory wells are indicative that the
key for a successful layer testing lies in that the analysis of the acquired
pressure and production data as well as fluid type should be done in conjunction
and during the testing time with the project leader and the drilling,
geophysical, geology, petrophysical, and testing teams. Decisions regarding
extending the testing time or not continuing with the testing program for the
particular layer should be a team conclusion. In the case of offshore wells,
optimizing total testing time is a critical issue. The testing program should be
based on the value of information to be gained from such a test. The benefits
and limitations involved in the use of permanent pressure gauges for continuous
monitoring of bottomhole well pressures are presented.
Even though there is breakthrough technology presently available for the analysis and interpretation of the obtained pressure and production data obtained when conducting a well test, either in an exploratory well or data been acquired continuously during the life of the well, still there is a need of more professionals in the operating company trained in this area and dedicated mainly to testing design and interpretation in order to show the benefits and rewards linked to reservoir evaluation and well productivity that are obtained by testing the well and interpreting the results.
BIOGRAPHY
Giovanni Da Prat received MS and a PhD degree in geophysics and petroleum engineering respectively from Stanford U. Presently he is the President of Da Prat Consulting. He has more than 21 years experience in the oil and gas industry dedicated mainly to the area of well testing design and pressure transient analysis and well production optimization methods. He has been designing and implementing well testing programs aimed to evaluate exploratory as well as development wells in many oil and gas fields worldwide. He worked for more than 9 years with Schlumberger as the District Reservoir Engineer and 3 years with Halliburton as the Regional Reservoir Engineer in charge of the interpretation and quality control of well testing data. Soon after he graduated from Stanford, he worked for Intevep, the R&D company of PDVSA (Petróleos de Venezuela), during 6 years in the development and field implementation of well test analysis methods. He has published several technical articles in the area of well test interpretation; more than 18 are SPE published and presented articles. He also wrote the book Well Test Analysis for Fractured Reservoir Evaluation, published by Elsevier in 1990. Da Prat has been an SPE member since he was a student (1977). He was the President of the SPE Caracas Section (1983–85) and member of the organizing committee for the SPE VII LACPEC hold in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 25–28, 2001.
PICTURE FROM THE EVENING
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