Productivity of horizontal and multilateral wells

This paper introduces a new semi-analytical technique that can be applied t o calculate the productivity of vertical, horizontal and multilateral wells . The well location and profile can be arbitrary. The reservoir region cont aining the well must be homogeneous (isotropic or anisotropic) and it may h ave constant potential or no-flow outer boundaries. Constant rate, constant bottom hole pressure and a combination of these constraints can be imposed on the wells. It is shown that under certain conditions the well productiv ity is strongly influenced by the pressure drop in the well and the type of conditions that exist at the reservoir boundaries. For multilateral wells the interaction among laterals can also influence productivity. In many cas es, conventional techniques can result in large errors.