Pressure transient behavior and flow regimes characteristics of vertical commingled well with vertical combined boundary: A field case in XC gas field of northwest Sichuan Basin, China

Abstract The multilayered deposition is the main feature of the XC gas reservoir in the northwestern Sichuan Basin. The boundaries among layers of the XC gas reservoir is different. In this paper, we propose an extended pressure transient analysis model for vertical commingle well, considering different boundary radii and boundary types, to capture the Vertical Combined Boundary (VCB) effect on the pressure transient behavior and flow regime characteristics. The analytical solution is yielded by the Laplace transform, Bessel functions, Duhamel's superposition principle, and Stehfest inversion algorithm, and new flow regimes under different boundary combinations are identified by the pressure derivative curve. Taking the dual-layer VCB model as a type example, nine combinations of boundaries are analyzed. Compared with the current vertical commingled well model with the same boundary radii or single boundary types, this model has novel flow regimes controlled by the VCB. The research results indicate that the pressure derivative type curve during the novel flow regimes stage can diagnosis the VCB type. On the one hand, there are quantitative linear relationships between the pressure derivative feature value and interlayer heterogeneity of the VCB model with the same boundary radii. These linear relationships provide a new perspective to quickly capture interlay heterogeneity through the of the pressure derivative feature value. One the other hand, the pressure behavior and flow regimes of the VCB model with different boundary radii obey the successive superposition rule. This rule provides a method to recognize the VCB type with different boundary radii based on that of the VCB with the same boundary radii. Finally, a field case from the northwestern Sichuan Basin gas reservoir is discussed in detail to exhibit the workflow of our model application and validate the capability of our model.