Research on the production performance of multistage fractured horizontal well in shale gas reservoir

• The linear flow model may reflect the performance characteristics in shale.
• The Langmuir volume VL mainly influences the productivity at later flow period.
• The larger VL is, the more production rate and less pressure drop will be.
• The large kf1 represents not only higher flow rate but also earlier and rapider decline.

This paper extends a linear flow model to research the production performance of a multi-fractured horizontal well in a shale gas reservoir. The model considers desorption, diffusion (Knudsen), discontinuous micro-fractures and stimulated reservoir volume (SRV), which are widely accepted as the obvious characteristics of shale gas reservoirs. The solution was derived in the Laplace domain, and then inverted to the real time domain using the numerical algorithm proposed by Stehfest (1970). After that, the log–log curves of rate decline and accumulative production are plotted. Based on the curves, the effects of diffusion, desorption gas, net-fracture system, micro-fractures, fracture permeability and Langmuir volume on production performance were analyzed. These analyses have significant importance for understanding the production decline dynamic in shale gas reservoirs.