About Bob Von Rhee Expertise How do you know where to drill for oil or gas? How do you accomplish this task? How many people are involved? How much money? What is the chance of success? the economics? Why don`t all oil and gas wells make tons of money? Why do we need oil and gas in our country? How can we tell if a property has any oil or gas potential? Why can`t we believe everything we see on tv or in the newspapers about oil and gas? What rocks contain oil and gas?
Experience 30 years as a petroleum geologist. Began my career with Exxon in West Texas; worked for many smaller independent companies and now own and operate my own production company and geological consultancy.
Organizations American Association of Petroleum Geologists, and Certified Petroleum Geologist. Tulsa Geological Society, Oklahoma City Geological Society Licensed Petroleum Geologist in Texas
Publications American Association of Geologists Web-based "Search and Discovery"
Education/Credentials BA Geology Lafayette College & MS Geology University of Illinois.
Expert: Bob Von Rhee Date: 1/21/2008 Subject: Need to know if there is a possibility.
Question I have been a production tester for 10 years and I have come across a well or two where we had it on single point test for say a few days and without any changes on our end it was noticed that the well would flow great during the day and during the night it would deplete but in the morning it would come back. There would be no change in methanol injection or choke size or anything , I have also seen it flow better at night and worse in the day time but also without changing any conditions on surface , so my question is , could there be a possibilty that the moon can affect the production of a well the same as it affects the tides of the ocean? thanx for your time
Answer Gabe. I've been in this business over 30 years, and although I'm not a well tester, I've never heard of diurnal variation in production rates. If it were due to the moon like the tides, then there the variation should occur 4 times a day - since tides occur every 6 hours. Since you're talking about "flowing" wells, I suspect you're testing natural gas wells. Some gas wells can be very sensitive to liquid loading (slugging water), surface facility pressures (what's happening to your separator at night when the temperature drops?), produced hydrocarbon, choke freezing or partial freezing, and especially your gathering system line pressure. Before you reach for the moon - so to speak :-) - you probably ought to confirm that all other production variables are constant during both day and night.
Having said all that, I cannot say unequivocally that moon tides are not the cause. Sorry I cannot be of more assistance.
Good luck
Bob VR
