Field synthesis system and method for optimizing drilling operations

• US 20050267719A1
• Filed: 04/15/2005
• Published: 12/01/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services Incorporated (Halliburton Company)
• Original Assignee: Halliburton Energy Services Incorporated (Halliburton Company)
• Inventors: Foucault, Hubert
• Granted Patent: US 8,145,462 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/10
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 2200/22 Fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, neural networks or the like
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions

Abstract

A system and method for optimizing the performance of a drilling device utilizes well logs and drilling parameters from multiple offset wells located in proximity to the location of a desired wellbore. The well logs and drilling parameters data from the offset wells is synthesized to determine major drilling contexts including both geological trends, mechanical properties and the different well profiles. The performance of one or more drilling devices and or drilling parameters is then simulated within the selected drilling contexts of the offset wells. The simulation information is then used to select an optimized drilling device or parameter for drilling the selected wellbore.

Claims

1. A method for optimizing the performance of a drilling device for drilling a selected well bore comprising:

obtaining well logs and drilling data from at least three offset wells associated with the selected well bore;

synthesizing the well logs and drilling data from the at least three offset wells;

evaluating the synthesized field data in a plurality of drilling contexts;

selecting at least one drilling context for predicting drilling performance; and

simulating the performance of a drilling device in the at least one selected drilling context.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the drilling device comprises a drill bit.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

simulating the performance of a first drill bit in a selected drilling context;

simulating the performance of a second drill bit in the selected drilling context; and

comparing the simulated performance of the first drill bit and the simulated performance of the second drill bit in the selected drilling context.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

simulating the performance of a plurality of drill bits in the selected drilling context; and

comparing the simulated performances of the plurality of drill bits in the selected drilling context.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

simulating the performance of a first drill bit in a selected drilling context within the at least three offset wells;

modifying at least one design parameter of the first drill bit; and

simulating the performance of the modified drill bit in the selected drilling context within the at least three offset wells.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising the at least one design parameter selected from the group consisting of:

number of blades, cutter type, bit profile, sharp slope, dull slope, friction slope, wear exponent, max work, initial contact area, and final contact area.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to determine rock strength data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected rock strength interval.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to determine plasticity data.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected plasticity interval.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to determine abrasivity data.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected abrasivity interval.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the well logs and drilling data comprises a plurality of formation types.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected formation type.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein synthesizing the well logs and drilling data further comprises identifying at least one field trend.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one field trend further comprises variations in lithology.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one field trend further comprises variations in mechanical properties.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one field trend comprises variations in depth of formation

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the at least one field trend comprises variations in formation thickness.

20. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

simulating the performance of at least two drilling devices in the at least one selected drilling context of the at least three offset wells;

selecting a drilling device;

drilling the selected well bore using the selected drilling device;

obtaining lithology data of the drilled selected well bore; and

synthesizing the lithology data from the drilled selected well bore with the well logs and drilling data from the at least three offset wells to predict the drilling performances of a second selected well bore.

21. The method of claim 1 wherein synthesizing the well logs and drilling data further comprises selecting a critical drilling context for simulating drilling performance of the drilling device.

22. The method of claim 21 further comprising simulating the performance of the drilling device in the critical drilling context of the at least three offset wells.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

initiating drilling of the selected wellbore using a selected drilling device;

obtaining well logs and drilling data from the drilling of the selected wellbore in real time;

synthesizing the newly obtained well log data and drilling data with the well log data and drilling data from the at least three offset wells; and

selecting at least one modified drilling context for predicting drilling performance; and

simulating the performance of a drilling device in the at least one modified drilling context.

24. A method for optimizing at least one drilling parameter to drill a selected well bore with a selected drilling device comprising:

obtaining well logs and drilling data from at least three offset wells associated with the selected well bore;

synthesizing the well logs and drilling data from the at least three offset wells;

evaluating the synthesized data in a plurality of drilling contexts;

selecting at least one drilling context for predicting drilling performance; and

simulating the performance of the drilling device in at least one selected drilling context in the at least three offset wells using a first drilling parameter value;

simulating the performance of the drilling device in the at least one selected drilling context in the at least three offset wells using a second drilling parameter value; and

comparing the simulated performance of the drilling device using the first drilling parameter and using the second drilling parameter.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein the first drilling parameter value and the second drilling parameter value comprise a first weight on bit value and a second weight on bit value.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein the first drilling parameter value and the second drilling parameter comprises a first revolutions per minute (rpm) value and a second rpm value.

27. The method of claim 24 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to obtain rock strength data.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected rock strength interval.

29. The method of claim 24 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to obtain plasticity data.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected plasticity interval.

31. The method of claim 24 further comprising processing the well logs and drilling data to obtain abrasivitiy data.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the selected drilling context comprises an abrasivity interval.

33. The method of claim 24 wherein the selected drilling context comprises a selected formation type.

34. The method of claim 24 wherein synthesizing the well logs and drilling data further comprises identifying at least one field trend.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein the at least one field trend further comprises variations in lithology.

36. The method of claim 34 wherein the at least one field trend further comprises variations in mechanical properties.

37. The method of claim 34 wherein the at least one field trend comprises variations in depth of formation

38. The method of claim 34 wherein the at least one field trend comprises variations in formation thickness.

39. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

simulating the performance of a drilling device using the at least two drilling parameters in the at least one selected drilling context;

selecting a drilling parameter;

drilling the selected well bore using the selected drilling parameter;

obtaining well logs and drilling data of the drilled selected well bore; and

synthesizing the well logs and drilling data from the drilled wellbore and the well logs and drilling data from the at least three offset wells.

40. The method of claim 24 wherein synthesizing the lithology data further comprises selecting a critical drilling context for simulating drilling performance of the drilling device.

41. The method of claim 40 further comprising simulating the performance of the selected drilling device at the selected utilizing the selected drilling parameters in the critical drilling context of the at least three offset wells.

42. The method of claim 24 further comprising:

initiating drilling of the selected wellbore using the selected drilling parameters;

obtaining well logs and drilling data from the drilling of the selected wellbore in real time;

synthesizing the newly obtained well log data and drilling data with the well log data and drilling data from the at least three offset wells; and

selecting at least one modified drilling context for predicting drilling performance; and

simulating the performance of using the selected drilling parameters and modified drilling parameters in the at least one modified drilling context.

45. The system of claim 42 further comprising the simulation module operable to simulate the performance of the drilling device in the at least three offset wells in a selected critical drilling context.

43. A system for optimizing the performance of a drilling device for drilling a selected well bore comprising:

an input module operable to receive well logs and drilling data from at least three offset wells associated with the selected well bore;

a field synthesis module operable to synthesize the well logs and drilling data from the at least three offset wells;

a context analysis module operable to divide the synthesized field data into a plurality of selected drilling contexts; and

a simulation module operable to simulate the performance of the drilling device in the at least three offset wells in the at least one selected drilling context.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the input module further comprises:

a well log analysis module operable to process the well log; and

a mechanical properties module operable to determine the mechanical properties of the at least three offset wells.

46. A method for optimizing the performance of a drilling device, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

47. A system for optimizing the performance of a drilling device, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.