Duration is the parameter most often wrong. Radial flow appears only after wellbore storage has ended and before boundaries are felt, and the width of that window depends on storage volume, permeability, skin and reservoir size. In a well with a large storage coefficient and moderate permeability, storage can dominate for many hours, and a twelve hour buildup can end before radial flow has developed. Estimating the storage-dominated period before the test, and specifying downhole shut-in where it would otherwise consume the test, is a design decision with direct consequences for whether permeability can be determined.

Rate history matters as much as the shut-in. Buildup interpretation depends on the flow history that preceded it through superposition, and a variable or poorly measured rate history introduces error that no amount of careful pressure measurement can recover. Tests that record only a total volume produced, or that use an average rate over a flow period during which rate varied, produce buildups that cannot be analysed rigorously. Specifying rate measurement, its frequency and its accuracy is part of test design.

Interference testing has a feasibility question that must be answered before it is attempted. The pressure response at an observation well depends on distance, permeability, thickness, porosity and compressibility, and in low permeability rock over typical well spacings the response may be below gauge resolution for months. Calculating the expected response magnitude and arrival time before committing wells to the test avoids campaigns that produce no measurable signal.

Finally, permanent gauges have changed the economics of surveillance. A gauge installed at completion provides continuous pressure through every rate change and shut-in for the life of the well, which turns routine operational events into analysable transients. The design questions shift from test duration to gauge specification, data storage, drift management and the analytical methods, particularly deconvolution, that extract reservoir information from an uncontrolled rate history.

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

• Define test objectives precisely and translate them into design requirements
• Forward model expected pressure response and estimate the timing and duration of each flow regime
• Determine required test duration for permeability, boundary detection and average pressure objectives
• Design drill stem tests including string configuration, shut-in method, cushion and flow sequence
• Design production tests and buildups for completed wells including rate history requirements
• Assess interference and pulse test feasibility by calculating expected response magnitude and timing
• Specify pressure gauges, rate measurement and data acquisition appropriate to the objective
• Plan permanent downhole gauge deployment and the analysis programme that uses it
• Address well control, flow assurance, disposal and safety requirements in test planning
• Evaluate whether a completed test achieved its objective and diagnose why if it did not

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Reduce expenditure on tests that cannot answer the question being asked
• Increase the proportion of tests that deliver interpretable results
• Improve rig time utilisation during testing operations
• Improve surveillance value from permanent gauge installations
• Strengthen technical specification of testing services and contractor scope
• Improve safety and operational planning around well testing

Participants will:

• Design tests that deliver the required information rather than hoping they will
• Predict what a test will and will not be able to resolve before it is run
• Specify gauges, rates and durations with technical justification
• Assess interference test feasibility quantitatively
• Plan permanent gauge surveillance programmes
• Build a skill that saves substantial cost on every testing campaign

• Reservoir engineers specifying and interpreting well tests
• Petroleum and production engineers planning test operations
• Well test operations engineers and supervisors
• Well engineers and drilling engineers planning DST operations
• Surveillance engineers designing monitoring programmes
• Service company test design and operations staff
• Technical staff planning appraisal well 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.