METHOD OF PERFORMING INTEGRATED OILFIELD OPERATIONS

• US 20080172272A1
• Filed: 01/16/2008
• Published: 07/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Inventors: Tyler, Peter, Back, Michael, Mason, Dave, MacDonald, Doug, Fichter, Daniel, Gallant, Roger
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,458 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0637 Strategic management or analysis, e.g. setting a goal or target of an organisation; Planning actions based on goals; Analysis or evaluation of effectiveness of goals
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining

Abstract

A method of performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with a reservoir therein is provided. The method involves generating a business analysis of the oilfield based on business inputs, generating an operational analysis of the oilfield based on operational inputs, and selectively integrating the business analysis with the operational analysis by using the operational outputs as at least a portion of the business inputs and by using the business outputs as at least a portion of the operational inputs to form an integrated oilfield analysis. The business analysis includes business outputs for characterizing the business impact of projects performed on the oilfield. The operational analysis includes operational outputs for characterizing the operational impact of projects performed on the oilfield. The integrated oilfield analysis includes integrated oilfield outputs for characterizing the business and operational impact of projects performed on the oilfield. The method may also involve developing an oilfield plan based on the integrated oilfield analysis and implementing the oilfield plan.

Claims

1. A method of performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with an underground reservoir therein, the oilfield being provided with at least one wellsite with oilfield equipment for extracting fluid from the underground reservoir, comprising:

generating a business analysis of the oilfield based on business inputs, the business analysis comprising business outputs for characterizing the business impact of projects performed on the oilfield;

generating an operational analysis of the oilfield based on operational inputs, the operational analysis comprising operational outputs for characterizing the operational impact of projects performed on the oilfield;

selectively integrating the business analysis with the operational analysis by using the operational outputs as at least a portion of the business inputs and by using the business outputs as at least a portion of the operational inputs to form an integrated oilfield analysis, the integrated oilfield analysis comprising integrated oilfield outputs for characterizing the business and operational impact of projects performed on the oilfield;

developing an oilfield plan based on the integrated oilfield analysis; and

implementing the oilfield plan.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating a business analysis comprises performing one of an economic analysis, a financial analysis, portfolio management, reserves management and combinations thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of generating an operational analysis comprises performing one of a drilling analysis, a geological analysis, a geophysical analysis, a reservoir engineering analysis, a drilling analysis, a reservoir analysis, a wellbore analysis, a surface analysis, a process analysis and combinations thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the business inputs comprise economic, financial, reserves management, and portfolio management parameters and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the operational inputs comprises geophysical, geological, reservoir engineering, drilling, production, costs, reservoir, wellbore, surface, and process parameters and combinations thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising monitoring the oilfield operation to obtain monitored parameters.

7. The method of claim 4 further comprising selectively adjusting the oilfield plan based on the monitored parameters.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating the steps of the method.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising selectively customizing one of the business analysis, the operational analysis, the integrated analysis and combinations thereof.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising providing security to restrict the ability to perform the step of selectively customizing.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising generating reports of the outputs.

12. A method of performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with an underground reservoir therein, the oilfield being provided with at least one wellsite with oilfield equipment for extracting fluid from the underground reservoir, comprising:

performing an economic simulation of oilfield data to generate an oilfield revenue forecast having an oilfield production forecast, at least a portion of the oilfield data collected from the wellsite;

determining an economic production limit based on the oilfield revenue forecast;

characterizing the underground reservoir using at least one of a plurality of volume estimating techniques to generate reservoir information, the at least one of the plurality of volume estimating techniques comprising the oilfield production forecast and the economic production limit; and

generating output using the reservoir information.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising adjusting an oilfield operation of the oilfield based on the output.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising performing an economic simulation of the reservoir information to generate an updated oilfield revenue forecast.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the oilfield data is collected from a data hierarchy specifying the wellsite, the data hierarchy selectively overriding a portion of the oilfield data of the wellsite at a higher level of granularity.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining an archived oilfield revenue forecast for the wellsite;

modifying input of the archived oilfield revenue forecast and performing a modified economic simulation having the modified input to generate a migrated oilfield revenue forecast; and

comparing the migrated oilfield revenue forecast to the archived oilfield revenue forecast to isolate the affect of the modified input in the oilfield revenue forecast.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the oilfield data is collected using an Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema, the XML schema defining data attributes required for performing the economic simulation.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein performing the economic simulation of the oilfield data comprises:

generating the production forecast based on the oilfield data and user-defined inputs; and

performing an economic analysis of the production forecast to obtain the oilfield revenue forecast, the economic analysis based on at least one economic input of a group consisting of operating cost, capital expenditures, ownership data, actual production, and price.

19. A system for performing oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with an underground reservoir therein, the oilfield being provided with at least one wellsite with oilfield equipment for extracting fluid from the underground reservoir, comprising:

an economic analysis tool for;

performing an economic simulation of oilfield data to generate an oilfield revenue forecast having an oilfield production forecast, at least a portion of the oilfield data collected from the wellsite, and

determining an economic production limit based on the oilfield revenue forecast;

a reserves management tool for characterizing the underground reservoir using at least one of a plurality of volume estimating techniques to generate reservoir information, the at least one of the plurality of volume estimating techniques comprising the oilfield production forecast and the economic production limit; and

a reporting tool for generating output using the reservoir information.

20. The system of claim 19, further comprising an interface for adjusting an oilfield operation of the oilfield based on the output.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein the economic analysis tool is further for performing an economic simulation of the reservoir information to generate an updated oilfield revenue forecast.

22. The system of claim 19, further comprising an interface for collecting the oilfield data from a data hierarchy specifying the wellsite, the data hierarchy selectively overriding a portion of the oilfield data of the wellsite at a higher level of granularity.

23. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a performance analysis tool for;

obtaining an archived oilfield revenue forecast for the wellsite;

modifying input of the archived oilfield revenue forecast and obtaining a modified economic simulation for the modified input; and

comparing the migrated oilfield revenue forecast to the archived oilfield revenue forecast to isolate the affect of the modified input in the oilfield revenue forecast,

wherein the economic analysis tool is further for performing a modified economic simulation having the modified input to generate a migrated oilfield revenue forecast.

24. The system of claim 19, further comprising an interface for collecting the oilfield data using an Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema, the XML schema defining data attributes required for performing the economic simulation.

25. The system of claim 19, further comprising:

a decline curve analysis tool for generating the production forecast based on the oilfield data and user-defined inputs,

wherein the economic analysis tool performs the economic simulation by performing an economic analysis of the production forecast to obtain the oilfield revenue forecast, the economic analysis based on at least one economic input of a group consisting of operating cost, capital expenditures, ownership data, actual production, and price.

26. A computer readable medium storing instructions to perform oilfield operations for an oilfield having a subterranean formation with an underground reservoir therein, the oilfield being provided with at least one wellsite with oilfield equipment for extracting fluid from the underground reservoir, the instructions comprising functionality to:

perform an economic simulation of oilfield data to generate an oilfield revenue forecast having an oilfield production forecast, at least a portion of the oilfield data collected from the wellsite;

determine an economic production limit based on the oilfield revenue forecast;

characterize the underground reservoir using at least one of a plurality of volume estimating techniques to generate reservoir information, the at least one of the plurality of volume estimating techniques comprising the oilfield production forecast and the economic production limit; and

generate output using the reservoir information.