Oil and Gas

Oil and Gas | Reservoir Engineering

Forecasting Production and Estimating Reserves in Unconventional Reservoirs

Course Code: N957
Instructors:  John Lee
Course Outline:  Download
Format and Duration:
4 days

Summary

Forecasts of future production and reserves are fundamentally important in evaluating the economics of any resource development and operation, and are critical for the evaluation of unconventional oil and gas resources, allowing for better business decisions. More accurate forecasts and reserves estimates also lead to greater credibility with investors in both public and private companies. 

Business Impact: This course provides engineers, geoscientists, and decision makers with the skills and understanding required to forecast production and estimate reserves in unconventional (ultra-low permeability) oil and gas reservoirs. The course will emphasize oil/gas-shale, as well as tight oil and gas formations.

Feedback

This was a great survey course, but the most useful discussion was the Bakken discussion for vertical -> horizontal of the DCA

Duration and Training Method

A four-day classroom course consisting of lectures with worked examples, hands-on exercises, and discussion.

Course Overview

Participants, including geoscientists, engineers, and ddecision-makerswill learn to:

  1. Appraise the strengths and limitations of empirical production decline models for forecasting production and estimating reserves in low permeability reservoirs.
  2. Predict future production and reserves using empirical production decline models in low permeability reservoirs.
  3. Evaluate the strengths and limitations of theoretical production decline models for forecasting production and estimating reserves in low permeability reservoirs.
  4. Predict future production using theoretical production decline models in low permeability reservoirs.
  5. Judge the strengths and limitations of selected rate-transient analysis and reservoir stimulation techniques for forecasting production and estimating reserves in low permeability reservoirs.
  6. Construct type wells (a.k.a. type curves) using both empirical and model-based techniques.
  7. Predict and evaluate the influence of interference in infill or "parent-child" well interactions.

Concepts covered in this course are:

  • Basic fluid flow theory
    • Transient flow
    • Radial and linear flow
    • Constant rate and constant BHP production
    • Radius of investigation
    • Boundary-dominated flow
  • Empirical production decline methods of forecasting production and estimating Reserves in Unconventional reservoirs
    • Arps decline model
    • Minimum terminal decline methodology
    • A priori determination of Arps decline parameter “b”
    • Advanced decline curve analysis and its limitations
    • Stretched exponential model
    • Blasingame modified power-law model
    • Long-duration linear flow model. Duong model
    • Comparison of models and recommended workflow
  • Use of analytical reservoir models in forecasting production and estimating Reserves in Unconventional reservoirs
  • Use of statistical resource analysis in estimating Reserves in Unconventional reservoirs
  • Applications of appropriate methodology to example situations

This Skilled Application level course is designed for mid to senior level engineers, geoscientists, and decision makers and engineering managers with interests in unconventional reservoir evaluation.

John Lee

Background
John Lee holds the DVG Endowed Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. John holds BChE, MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech. He worked for ExxonMobil early in his career and specialized in integrated reservoir studies.

He has taught at Mississippi State University, the University of Houston, and Texas A&M. While at A&M, he also served as a consultant with S.A. Holditch & Associates, where he specialized in reservoir engineering aspects of unconventional gas resources. He served as an Academic Engineering Fellow with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington during 2007-8, and helped with the modernized SEC rules for reporting oil and gas reserves. John is the author of four textbooks published by SPE and has received numerous awards from SPE, including the Lucas Medal (the society’s top technical award), the DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal (the society’s top service award) and Honorary Membership (the highest recognition awarded society members). He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences.

Affiliations and Accreditation
PhD Georgia Institute of Technology - Chemical Engineering
MSc Georgia Institute of Technology- Chemical Engineering
BSc Georgia Institute of Technology - Chemical Engineering
U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences
Lucas Medal, the DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal and Honorary Membership

Courses Taught
N908: Well Test and Pressure Transient Analysis
N957: Forecasting Production and Estimating Reserves in Unconventional Reservoirs

CEU: 2.8 Continuing Education Units
PDH: 28 Professional Development Hours
Certificate: Certificate Issued Upon Completion
RPS is accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and is authorized to issue the IACET CEU. We comply with the ANSI/IACET Standard, which is recognised internationally as a standard of excellence in instructional practices.
We issue a Certificate of Attendance which verifies the number of training hours attended. Our courses are generally accepted by most professional licensing boards/associations towards continuing education credits. Please check with your licensing board to determine if the courses and certificate of attendance meet their specific criteria.