LAUSR

Abstract Removing wellbore storage (WBS) effects present in well test data is one of the long-standing problems in pressure transient analysis. The available (conventional) techniques for processing WBS distorted pressure transient data require accurate data of pressures and flow rates, which may not usually present in many tests. In this work, an approach for processing/deconvolving WBS distorted well test data using the robust deconvolution algorithm of von Schroeter is presented. The technique presented here can remove WBS effects inherent in well test pressure signal without requiring sandface rate measurements. In addition, the approach results in a longer pressure signal (extended over the entire test duration including drawdown and buildup periods) than previous WBS removal techniques. The developed technique is applicable to flow problems that obey linear diffusion equation (e.g. single-phase oil or water cases). Different simulated and field cases were used to validate the applicability of the proposed approach. The cases cover a wide variety of well/reservoir models with different levels of noise in data. The conventional deconvolution techniques were also applied to the same data. Comparison between conventional deconvolution techniques and this paper approach shows the superiority of the proposed technique.