System and Method for Water Breakthrough Detection and Intervention in a Production Well

• US 20080262735A1
• Filed: 04/19/2007
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated (Baker Hughes Company)
• Inventors: Yeriazarian, Garabed, Chok, Chee M., Lee, Jaedong, Thigpen, Brian L., Sann, Clark, Vachon, Guy P., Liu, Xin
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/6
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/32 Preventing gas- or water-coning phenomena, i.e. the formation of a conical column of gas or water around wells
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 47/10 Locating fluid leaks, intrusions or movements

Abstract

A system and method for estimating an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a production well is provided that includes estimating, at least periodically, a measure of water in the fluid produced from one or more production zones and estimating the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at least in part a trend of the estimated measures of the produced fluid. A controller determines one or more actions to be taken to mitigate an effect of the water breakthrough and may automatically initiate one or more such actions. It is emphasized that this abstract is provided to comply with the rules requiring an abstract which will allow a searcher or other reader to quickly ascertain the subject matter of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims.

Claims

1. A method of predicting an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a well that is producing a fluid from at least one production zone, comprising:

(a) estimating a measure of water in the fluid produced from the at least one production zone at least periodically; and

(b) predicting the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at least in part a trend of the estimated measures of water.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the measure of water comprises estimating the measure of water using at least one of:

(i) a measurement of water content in the fluid received at the surface;

(ii) a measurement obtained from a sensor in the well;

(iii) a density of the produced fluid;

(iv) a resistivity measurement of the produced fluid; and

(v) measurements of a parameter of interest made at a plurality of locations in the well;

(vi) a release of a tracer placed in the well;

(vii) an optical sensor measurement in the well; and

(viii) acoustic measurements in the well.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting the occurrence of the water breakthrough comprises comparing the trend with a predetermined anticipated trend.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining a physical condition of one of:

(i) a casing in the well and, (ii) a cement bond between the casing and a formation, and correlating the determined physical condition with a predetermined physical condition to estimate a location of the predicted water breakthrough.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising using an acoustic measurement to the well to confirm the estimate of the occurrence of the water breakthrough.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising predicting a time of the occurrence of the water breakthrough.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising performing at least one operation relating to the well in response to the predicting of the time of the occurrence of the water breakthrough.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one operation is selected from a group consisting of:

(i) closing a choke;

(ii) changing operation of an electrical submersible pump installed in the well;

(iii) operating a valve in the well;

(iv) changing an amount of an additive supplied to the well;

(v) closing fluid flow from a selected production zone;

(vi) isolating fluid flow from a production zone;

(vii) performing a secondary operation to reduce probability of the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough;

(viii) sending a message to an operator informing about the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough; and

(ix) sending a suggested operation to be performed by an operator.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the occurrence of the water breakthrough is done substantially in real time.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising logging the well to estimate a location of the water breakthrough.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the logging of the well is one of:

(i) logging to determine a condition of a cement bond between a casing in the well and a formation surrounding the well; and

(ii) logging to determine one or more defects in the casing in the well.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one production zone includes a plurality of production zones and wherein the method further comprises estimating water breakthrough corresponding to a particular zone in the plurality of production zones.

13. A computer-readable medium accessible to a processor for executing instructions contained in a computer program embedded in the computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising:

(a) instructions to at least periodically compute a measure of water in the fluid produced by the at least one production zone; and

(b) instructions to estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at least in part a trend of the computed measures of water.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough using at least one of:

(i) the measure of water in the produced fluid received at the surface;

(ii) a measurement obtained from a sensor in the well;

(iii) a density of the produced fluid;

(iv) a resistivity measurement of the produced fluid;

(v) measurements of a parameter of interest made at a plurality of locations in the well;

(vi) a release of a tracer placed in the well;

(vii) an optical sensor measurement in the well; and

(viii) acoustic measurements in the well.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough further comprises instructions to compare the trend with a predetermined trend and provide the estimate of the occurrence of the water breakthrough when the difference between the trend and the predetermined trend cross a threshold.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to send a signal to perform an operation that is selected from a group consisting of:

(i) closing a choke;

(ii) changing operation of an electrical submersible pump installed in the well;

(iii) operating a valve in the well;

(iv) changing an amount of an additive supplied to the well;

(v) closing fluid flow from a selected production zone;

(vi) isolating fluid flow from a production zone;

(vii) a performing a secondary operation to reduce probability of an occurrence of the water breakthrough;

(viii) sending a message to an operator informing about the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough; and

(ix) sending a suggested operation to be performed by an operator.

17. An apparatus for estimating an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a well that is producing fluid from at least one production zone, comprising:

a processor programmed to;

(i) estimate a measure of water in the fluid produced from the at least one production zone at least periodically; and

(ii) estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at least in part a trend of the estimated measures of water.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor controls at least one device at the well to control an effect of the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough, which device is selected from a group consisting of:

(i) a choke;

(ii) an electrical submersible pump installed in the well;

(iii) a valve in the well;

(iv) an injection device supplying an additive to the well;

(v) a flow control device closing fluid flow from a selected production zone;

(vi) a flow isolation device isolating fluid flow from a production zone;

(vii) a downhole tool configured to reduce a probability of an occurrence of the water breakthrough; and

(viii) a transmitter sending a message to an operator relating to performing an operation relating to the well.

19. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising a remote controller in data communication with the processor, wherein the processor sends information to the remote controller relating the occurrence of the water breakthrough and the remote controller sends commands to the processor to control at least one device at the well.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor compares the trend with a predetermined trend to estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the processor executes a computer program containing an algorithm for predicting a time for the occurrence of the water breakthrough to estimate the time of the occurrence of the water breakthrough.