Evaluation of the Stretched Exponential Production Decline Model and Comparison to Other Decline Models for Shale Reservoirs

The discovery and development of shale oil/gas has changed the energy industry. By 2040, shale gas production will account for 50% of the total natural gas production of the U.S. Due to the extremely low permeability of shale reservoirs, shale gas wells exhibit much longer transient flow periods than conventional wells, and this makes it inappropriate to use conventional methods of evaluating estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) of wells in these reservoirs. Therefore, new methods of forecasting shale wells are needed. In this study, I focused on the stretched exponential production decline model (SEPD), and particularly Yu’s modification of the model (YM-SEPD). I compared the results with other methods, including Duong’s method, and the Arps hyperbolic model. SEPD provided the most reliable EURs for shale gas well when excluding early off-trend data. YM-SEPD gave results comparable to SEPD and is much easier to apply. It is therefore the method we recommend for shale wells.