1.1 Role of Oil Well Tests and Information in Petroleum Industry

Oil well test analysis is a branch of reservoir engineering. Information obtained from flow and pressure transient tests about in situ reservoir conditions are important to determining the productive capacity of a reservoir. Pressure transient analysis also yields estimates of the average reservoir pressure. The reservoir engineer must have sufficient information about the condition and characteristics of reservoir/well to adequately analyze reservoir performance and to forecast future production under various modes of operation. The production engineer must know the condition of production and injection wells to persuade the best possible performance from the reservoir.

Pressures are the most valuable and useful data in reservoir engineering. Directly or indirectly, they enter into all phases of reservoir engineering calculations. Therefore accurate determination of reservoir parameters is very important. In general, oil well test analysis is conducted to meet the following objectives:

• To evaluate well condition and reservoir characterization;

• To obtain reservoir parameters for reservoir description;

• To determine whether all the drilled length of oil well is also a producing zone;

• To estimate skin factor or drilling- and completion-related damage to an oil well. Based upon the magnitude of the damage, a decision regarding well stimulation can be made.

1.2 History of Oil Well Testing and Uses of Oil Well Tests

Two monographs ^[1], ^[3] and numerous additional oil well test analysis technical papers have been published. Those papers have extended the scope of oil well test analysis, publicized many...