The shale revolution has turned the United States from an oil importer into an oil exporter. The success of shale oil production in the U.S. has inspired many countries, including China, to begin the exploitation and development of shale oil resources. In this study, the production curves of over 30,000 shale oil wells in the Bakken, Eagle Ford (EF) and Permian are systematically analyzed to provide reference and guidance for future shale oil development. To find out the most suitable decline curve models for shale oil wells, fifteen models and a new fitting method are tested on wells with production history over 6 years. Interestingly, all basins show similar results despite of their varieties in geological conditions: stretched exponential production decline (SEPD) + Arps model provides most accurate prediction of estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) for wells with over 2 years' production, while the Arps model can be used before the two years’ switch point. With the EUR calculated by decline curve analysis, we further construct simple regression models for different basins to predict the EUR quickly and early. This work helps us better understand the production of shale oil wells, as well as provide important suggestions for the choices of models for shale oil production prediction.
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Accurate construction of a seepage model for a multifractured horizontal well in a shale gas reservoir is essential to realizing the forecast of gas well production, the pressure transient analysis, and the inversion of the postfracturing parameters. This study introduces a method for determining the fracture control region to characterize the flow area of the matrix within the hydraulic fracture network, distinguishing the differences in the flow range of the matrix system between the internal and external regions caused by the hydraulic fracture network structure. The corresponding derivation and solution methods of the semi-analytical seepage model for fractured shale gas well are provided, followed by the application of case studies, model validation, and sensitivity analysis of parameters. The results indicate that the proposed model yields computational results that closely align with numerical simulations. It is observed that disregarding the differentiation of matrix flow area between the internal and external regions of the fracture network led to an overestimation of the estimated ultimate recovery, and the boundary-controlled flow period in typical well testing curves will appear earlier. Because hydraulic fracture conductivity can be influenced by multiple factors simultaneously, conducting a sensitivity analysis using combined parameters could lead to inaccurate results in the inversion of fracture parameters.

The complexity of the pore structure, spatial development, fractures, and pore distribution of fractured-vuggy carbonate reservoirs influences the water invasion dynamics of gas reservoirs, which is crucial in the dynamic research of strongly heterogeneous reservoirs. In this study, the collocation relationship of pore-vuggy fractures is described by the quantitative characterization of their attribute parameters. The discrete fracture network model is used to match and construct the fractures in different modes. The distribution classification method is used to model three-dimensional geological reservoirs in terms of their geometric and attribute characteristics. Bottom-water and edge-water gas reservoirs are constructed separately using numerical simulation, and the dynamic characteristics of water invasion are described. The results show that the proposed method is suitable for the geological modeling of fractured-vuggy gas reservoirs with strong heterogeneity and complexity. The modeling accuracy is improved because the gas reservoir heterogeneity and water invasion’s dynamic characteristics can be described accurately. Six stages of water invasion are identified from the numerical simulation of water invasion. This method provides theoretical guidance for the study of heterogeneous gas reservoirs with water.