Semi-analytical modeling of productivity analysis for five-spot well pattern scheme in methane hydrocarbon reservoirs

Abstract Five-spot well pattern (FSWP) scheme has shown appealing potentialities to enhance the recovery of coal-bed methane (CBM) from methane hydrocarbon reservoirs (MHR). In this paper, a new framework aimed at systematically investigating productivity performance of FSWP scheme with inter-well pressure interference (IWPI) is presented. First, mathematical models which are used to characterize the fluid flow within MHR and hydraulic fractures (HFs) are separately derived. Second, Laplace transformation and Stehfest numerical algorithm are utilized to couple those two flow systems and obtain the pressure-transient solutions of FSWP scheme. Finally, pressure characteristics are discerned and sensitivity analysis of key parameters is implemented as well. This semi-analytical approach outperforms numerical simulation from the point of computational efficiency. Several common flow regimes, e.g., linear and bi-linear flow regimes, are essentially deformed induced by IWPI. Several significant parameters, including gas rate, fracture half-length, and well spacing on the occurrence of IWPI are systematically analyzed. This work gains some new knowledge about the productivity performance of FSWP scheme with the existence of IWPI when extracting CBM from methane hydrate reservoirs (MHR), which provides energy engineers considerable instructions on optimizing the development of methane hydrate reservoirs.