Economic production of tight gas reservoirs looks better

Outlook for economic production from tight gas reservoirs is better now than ever before. Technological advances in the past 3 yr make these reservoirs good candidates for exploitation. Recent changes in gas price structure mean that economic incentives for drilling and exploitation of tight gas sands are greatly improved. Fracture treatments hold the answer, apparently, by promising higher producing rates and increased ultimate recovery within a reasonable time span. For this discussion, a tight reservoir is one with an unstimulated in situ productivity which disallows economic production rates. This tight productivity depends on permeability, reservoir pressure, net gas pay, and drainage radius. Graphical representations provide the following: (1) tight-reservoir performance; (2) tight-reservoir efficiency; (3) effect of stimulation; (4) productivity ratio vs. real time; and (5) influence of fracture.