Well testing in the framework of system identification

Well testing in the framework of system identification

Kuiper, I.T.J.

Van den Hof, P.M.J. (mentor)

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

DCSC

2009-01-22

Well testing has been subject of research for many decades. Well testing is performed to estimate reservoir properties. These estimations are needed to predict the amount of oil that can be produced, and to determine a strategy how to produce this predicted amount. The currently used procedure to estimate the properties seems cumbersome and inefficient and uncertainty regions of the estimated properties are not yet available. In this report the focus is on evaluating the current well test methods from a system identification point of view and on improving the well test analysis. The latest and best performing well test method in literature is evaluated by simulations and the results are compared with results of a new well test analysis method using Prediction Error Identification (PEI). PEI is a black box identification method. Both methods contribute to improvements in the field of well testing. The new method estimates a full expression for the system, consisting of the reservoir and well bore. Direct property estimation, without the interpretation of so called type curves, reliable uncertainty regions and large cost reduction are now within reach.

well testing
system identification

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e63225e3-0949-45be-bcf1-aa8089706978

Student theses

master thesis

(c) 2009 Kuiper, I.T.J.