Analysis of Oil and Gas Production Performance

Steven W. Poston is a retired professor emeritus from Texas A&M University, with more than 18 years of teaching experience at the graduate and undergraduate levels in applied reservoir engineering analysis and subsurface description of petroleum reservoirs both in the United States and internationally. His industry experience includes more than 14 years in a variety of subsurface engineering, geological, and managerial roles for Gulf Oil Exploration and Production Company in Nigeria, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Texas. Poston has coauthored numerous industry technical papers, has served on a number of SPE committees, and was coauthor of the SPE books Overpressured Gas Reservoirs and Analysis of Production Decline Curves.

The practical aspects of analyzing production performance has changed due to the increased exploitation efforts in unconventional reservoirs. Analysis of Oil and Gas Production Performance expands on these developing well-evaluation procedures and includes the latest best practices for new areas of shale and tight formation reservoirs. Built on the core fundamentals of curve analysis found in Poston and Poe's book, Analysis of Production Decline Curves, this new book is intended for engineers, geologists, and anyone working in the oil and gas industry with an interest in production forecasting of conventional and unconventional resources for evaluation and development.This book is intended for engineers, geologists, and anyone working in the oil and gas industry with an interest in production forecasting of conventional and unconventional resources for evaluation and development. The majority of the book is concerned with commonly observed oilfield practice and practical solutions to the problems encountered therein. Each chapter begins with a workflow diagram that, in essence, provides the reader with the learning objectives of the chapter. A primary focus of the book is to instill each reader with the competency to solve typical operational problems with minimal exposure to the complexity of the underlying mathematics and equations. The basics and utility of each equation are discussed; however, the focus is on the practical application of the underlying technology to real-life problems. There are numerous illustrations and solutions to typical field problems included for the reader.