Systems and methods for inferring free gas production in oil and gas wells

1. A method of inferring gas production utilizing a conduit having an outlet controlled by a valve in communication with a well space within a well through which a gas volume is being produced, comprising:

taking a selected number of measurements during a selected period of time, each measurement including:

closing the outlet valve to allow gas pressure within the conduit to change;

sampling the gas pressure within the conduit over a sampling time period; calculating a rate of pressure change from samples taken over the sampling time period; and

calculating a rate of gas production in the well space from the calculated rate of change of pressure, the gas volume, well characteristics, and gas properties, wherein calculating the rate of gas production comprises calculating the rate of production using the real gas equation multiplied by k, the ratio of specific heats determined for the gas properties, such that the gas volume within the well space is an adiabatic gas volume; and

summing the calculated rates of gas production for the selected number of measurements to determine an inferred rate of gas production through the well space during the selected period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein summing the calculated rates of gas production comprises summing the calculated rates of gas production during the selected period of time using the trapezoidal rule.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas volume is an adiabatic volume within the space above a fluid level.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the gas volume is an adiabatic volume within the well space within the well and a space outside the well casing.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the space comprises an annular space between a well casing and well tubing and above a fluid level of the well.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the well comprises a gas well and the space comprises a space within at least a selected one of tubing and casing of the well.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the inferred rate with a gas rate measured with standard meter equipment to sense a fracture volume outside of the well.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising comparing the inferred rate with a measured rate to compute a correction factor for correcting the inferred rate.

9. A method of allocating produced gas to a selected well among a plurality of wells at a central facility comprising:

for each well in the facility, inferring gas production up the annulus of the well disposed between the outer wall of tubing of the well and the inner wall of the casing of the well, comprising:

taking a selected number of measurements during a selected period of time, each measurement including closing the annulus to allow gas pressure within the annulus to change, sampling the pressure within the annulus over a sampling time period, calculating the time rate of pressure change from samples taken over the sampling time period;

calculating the production rate of gas in the annulus, wherein a gas volume within the annulus is an adiabatic gas volume such that the production rate of gas in the annulus is calculated using the real gas equation multiplied by k, the ratio of specific heats determined for the properties of the gas; and

summing the calculated production rates for the selected number of measurements to determine an inferred rate of gas production through the annulus of the well during a selected period of time;

for each well in the facility, determining the amount of gas produced through the tubing of the well during a selected period of time;

for each well in the facility, determining the amount of gas used for utilitarian purposes during the selected period of time;

for each well in the facility, determining the total gas production value during the selected period of time as the sum of the inferred production up the annulus and the determined amount of gas through the tubing less the determined amount of gas from the well used for utilitarian purposes;

calculating an allocation factor for the selected well as the ratio of the total gas production value for the selected well described above to the sum of the total gas production values for all of the plurality of wells in the facility; and

determining an allocation to the selected well as the product of the allocation factor and the total amount of gas sold from all of the plurality of wells in the facility during the selected period of time.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising determining total gas production for a selected well as the sum of the allocation to the selected well plus the amount of gas used by the selected well for utilitarian purposes.