Capillarity and rapid flow effects on gas condensate well tests

The state-of-the-art of gas condensate well tests for pressures below the dewpoint are basically based upon a two-zone composite radial model, which consists of a near-wellbore region having liquid condensation and a monophasic flow zone with no gas condensate saturation. Information obtained from laboratory tests suggests the presence of three zones having different fluid mobilities: (1) a far region from the well with initial liquid condensate saturation of zero, (2) a near wellbore zone having an increased condensate saturation and a reduced gas mobility, and (3) an intermediate zone from the well with both high capillary and increasing gas relative permeability which leads to gas mobility restoring due to condensate blocking. The gas condensate saturation is higher than its critical value, then the condensate phase is mobile. In this study, both the rapid flow and capillary number effects on gas condensate reservoirs from well pressure test data are dealt with. We observed that the nondarcy effect originates additional pressure drop which is proportional to the flow rate while, the capillary number causes a reduction of condensate saturation in the near wellbore area and the reservoir providing a negative skin factor which contributes to fluid mobility, and therefore, production. Besides that, we also included the possitive coupled effect, defined here as the simoultaneous action of nondarcy flow and capillary number; which is more relevant at relatively low gas rates. We found out that the capillary number dominates the nondarcy effect leading to a reduction in condensate saturation. Los trabajos publicados para el análisis de pruebas de presión en yacimientos de gas condensado cuando la presión cae por debajo de la presión de rocío son basados fundamentalmente en un modelo radial compuesto de dos zonas, el cual representa la región de formación de líquido alrededor del pozo y una zona de flujo monofásico con saturación de líquido condensado igual a cero. Los experimentos de laboratorio sugieren que existen tres zonas con diferente movilidad: 1) una zona lejana al pozo, con saturación inicial de líquido condensado, 2) una zona cercana al pozo, en donde se incrementa la saturación de condensado y disminuye la movilidad del gas y 3) una zona inmediata a la vecindad del pozo con alto número capilar e incremento en la permeabilidad relativa al gas, resultando en una recuperación de la movilidad del gas debido al bloqueo por condensado. La fase de condens