Measuring low flows in Devonian shale gas wells with a tracer-gas flowmeter

Journal Article · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991 · SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/18556-PA· OSTI ID:5889348

Bennett, R ^[1]; Schettler, Jr, P D; Gustafson, T D; Gillette, I E ^[2]

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1. Columbia Gas System Service Corp. (US)
2. Juniata Coll., Huntingdon, PA (United States)

In this paper a design for a downhole flowmeter that can locate and quantify gas-entry points in a well is presented. The instrument has a gas-tracer injector at its lower end and a tracer detector at its upper end. The authors determine gas flow in the well by injecting tracer gas at a precisely measured rate into the natural gas flow and measuring the concentration with the detector. The result is a wireline log that locates and quantifies natural gas sources from the decrease in measured flow as the wireline instrument passes each source. The new design has been tested against calibrated gas flows in the laboratory and in Devonian shale gas wells in the field. The new flowmeter is compared with spinner, temperature, sonic, and television logs. The instrument provides an expanded flow range compared with spinner logs and furnishes quantitative mass-flow information compared with incomplete and qualitative indications provided by temperature and sonic logs.

• OSTI ID: 5889348
• Journal Information: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States) Vol. 6:2; ISSN 0885-923X; ISSN SFEVE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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