A well test measures the pressure response of a reservoir to a controlled change in rate. From that response, the interpreter extracts permeability-thickness, skin, wellbore storage, reservoir heterogeneity, fracture properties, boundary distances and average reservoir pressure. These parameters feed directly into completion decisions, stimulation design, well spacing, deliverability forecasts and reserves estimates. Few other measurements sample so large a volume of rock, and none carry more weight in dynamic reservoir characterisation.

The difficulty is that the inverse problem is not unique. Several combinations of model and parameters can reproduce the same pressure history within measurement noise, particularly when the test is short, the rate history is poorly recorded or wellbore storage masks the early-time response. Reliable interpretation therefore depends on flow regime identification from the pressure derivative, on constraining the model with independent geological, petrophysical and production data, and on quantifying the resolution limits of the test. Working the calculations in an open spreadsheet forces those judgements into the open, which is exactly where they belong when the result will be used to commit capital.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Compute and smooth the pressure derivative correctly and identify flow regimes from log-log diagnostic plots
• Apply superposition in time to handle variable rate histories and correct for previous production
• Select an appropriate well and reservoir model from the derivative signature rather than by trial and error
• Analyse wellbore storage, skin, partial penetration and near-wellbore effects and separate them from reservoir behaviour
• Interpret dual porosity and dual permeability responses and estimate interporosity flow and storativity parameters
• Analyse tests in hydraulically fractured and horizontal wells, including bilinear, linear and pseudo-radial flow regimes
• Convert gas well test data using pseudo-pressure and pseudo-time and determine deliverability and non-Darcy skin
• Detect and quantify reservoir boundaries, faults and drainage area from late-time response
• Assess the uniqueness and confidence limits of an interpretation and report results with defensible uncertainty

The course is delivered as an advanced technical programme structured around interpretation practice. Each analytical model is introduced through its governing solution and its characteristic derivative signature, then constructed as a spreadsheet calculation, then applied to real pressure and rate data from oil and gas wells. Interpretations are worked through in full, including the cases where the first model chosen turns out to be wrong and has to be revised. Diagnostic reasoning, uniqueness testing and cross-checking against petrophysical and production data are treated as core content, and participants are given a consistent interpretation workflow they can apply directly to their own well test data.

Organisations sending participants to this training will

• Extract more reliable permeability, skin and boundary information from tests already acquired
• Improve the technical quality of well test reports issued to partners, regulators and reserves auditors
• Reduce dependence on service company interpretations by building the internal capability to review.
• Design better tests, with realistic durations and rate sequences matched to the objectives being pursued
• Improve dynamic reservoir characterisation and the data that constrains simulation and field development planning
• Support sounder stimulation, completion and well spacing decisions through defensible transient analysis

Participants will:

• Interpret complex pressure transient data with confidence rather than relying on default software output
• Recognise flow regime signatures quickly and diagnose the correct reservoir and well model
• Understand where an interpretation is well constrained and where it rests on an unsupported assumption
• Handle difficult data, including short tests, noisy gauges, poor rate history and storage-dominated responses
• Communicate test results and their uncertainty clearly to subsurface and management audiences
• Build a reusable set of interpretation models that continues to serve them after the course

• Reservoir engineers and senior reservoir engineers involved in well test design and interpretation
• Production engineers and well performance engineers
• Petroleum engineers responsible for deliverability testing and forecasting
• Well test operations and data acquisition specialists
• Petrophysicists and geoscientists working with dynamic reservoir data
• Reserves evaluators and technical auditors reviewing transient analysis results
• Subsurface team leads and technical managers approving well test programmes

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.