Duong Decline Forecast


Spreadsheet

27 rows x 3 columns

fx
A B C
1 Duong Decline Forecast - Unconventional Well
2 Inputs
3 Decline Constant (a) 1 -
4 Decline Exponent (m) 1.35 -
5 Initial Rate (q1) 15000 bbl/month
6 Infinite Rate (q_inf) 0 bbl/month
7 Economic Rate (q_econ) 60 bbl/month
8 Production Forecast
9 t (months) q (bbl/month) Np (Mstb)
10 1 15000 15
11 3 8473.785128 37.34144684
12 6 5054.261458 56.77562089
13 12 2754.473305 78.87388809
14 24 1398.505602 102.0820509
15 36 916.0484587 115.5917462
16 48 671.6759465 124.9785456
17 60 525.2664126 132.0942214
18 120 238.6507261 152.9880265
19 180 148.1734123 164.2056757
20 240 105.0528977 171.6695278
21 360 64.23854156 181.4696695
22
23 EUR Summary
24 EUR (to q_econ) 182.7515393 Mstb
25 30-Year Cum 181.4696695 Mstb
26 5-Year Cum 132.0942214 Mstb
27 10-Year Cum 152.9880265 Mstb

Description

Decline curve forecast using the Duong model, specifically designed for unconventional reservoirs exhibiting transient linear flow. The Duong model captures the power-law behavior common in tight oil and shale gas wells.

Parameters:

  • qi: Initial production rate
  • a: Decline constant (typically 1.0-2.0)
  • m: Decline exponent (typically 1.0-1.5)
  • q_inf: Infinite time rate (often set to 0)

Picking a and m: EUR is bounded only because m > 1, and it is far more sensitive to m than the ranges above suggest. For q_inf = 0 the ultimate is (q1/a)·exp(a/(m-1)), so the exponent a/(m-1) sets everything — and the share of that ultimate recovered by time t is exp(-(a/(m-1))·t^(1-m)). At a=2.0, m=1.2 the exponent is 10, the ultimate is ~165 MMbbl, and 30 years of production captures under 5% of it. The values here (a=1.0, m=1.35) put the exponent near 2.9, so the 30-year forecast below captures about 70% of the ultimate and the economic limit is reached just past the end of the table. If you fit a and m to data, check the forecast window against the EUR before trusting either.

Units: rates are bbl/month against a time column in months, so the cumulative column is a true volume (shown as Mstb). The Duong functions are unit-agnostic — rate and time must share the same time base.

How to use this blueprint
  1. In Excel, go to the Petroleum Office ribbon tab and click Blueprint Manager
  2. Search for Duong Decline Forecast
  3. Click on the blueprint to preview
  4. Click Insert to place it into your worksheet. Modify the input values to match your data.
Tags:
declineDuongunconventionalshaletightforecast

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