Method For Predicting Composition of Petroleum

• US 20100155078A1
• Filed: 10/05/2009
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Clifford C. Walters, Howard J. Freund Jr, Paul J. Hicks Jr, Simon R. Kelemen
• Original Assignee: Clifford C. Walters, Howard J. Freund Jr, Paul J. Hicks Jr, Simon R. Kelemen
• Inventors: Freund, Howard J. JR., Kelemen, Simon R., Hicks, Paul J. JR., Walters, Clifford C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,552,462 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 166/369
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/00 Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/241 for hydrocarbon content
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 20/30 Prediction of properties of chemical compounds, compositions or mixtures
• CPC Class Codes: G16C 20/70 Machine learning, data mining or chemometrics

Abstract

A method for predicting petroleum expulsion is provided. An exemplary embodiment of the method comprises defining a chemical structure of a kerogen and identifying a plurality of reaction products of the kerogen under geologic heating rates. The exemplary method also comprises grouping the plurality of reaction products into a plurality of product lumps based on their chemical composition and predicting petroleum expulsion for each of the plurality of product lumps based on secondary cracking reactions.

Claims

1. A method for predicting petroleum expulsion, the method comprising:

defining a chemical structure of a kerogen;

identifying a plurality of reaction products of the kerogen under geologic heating rates;

grouping the plurality of reaction products into a plurality of product lumps based on their chemical composition; and

predicting petroleum expulsion for each of the plurality of product lumps based on secondary cracking reactions.

2. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, comprising computing petroleum expulsion at a plurality of varying heating rates.

3. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, comprising defining a production rate curve for each of the plurality of product lumps.

4. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, comprising defining a plurality of stoichiometric coefficients for each of the plurality of product lumps.

5. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, wherein predicting petroleum expulsion comprises employing a theoretical model.

6. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, comprising comparing predicted petroleum expulsion to known data.

7. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 6, comprising redefining the chemical structure if the predicted petroleum expulsion is outside a specified range with respect to the known data.

8. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, comprising preparing an outline of secondary cracking reactions.

9. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, wherein predicted petroleum expulsion comprises a quantity of expelled petroleum.

10. The method for predicting petroleum expulsion recited in claim 1, wherein predicted petroleum expulsion comprises timing data regarding petroleum expulsion.

11. A method for producing hydrocarbons from an oil and/or gas field, the method comprising:

defining a chemical structure of a kerogen deposited in the oil and/or gas field;

identifying a plurality of reaction products of the kerogen under geologic heating rates;

grouping the plurality of reaction products into a plurality of product lumps based on their chemical composition;

predicting petroleum expulsion for each of the plurality of product lumps based on secondary cracking reactions; and

extracting hydrocarbons from the oil and/or gas field using the predicted petroleum expulsion.

12. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, comprising computing petroleum expulsion at a plurality of varying heating rates.

13. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, comprising defining a production rate curve for each of the plurality of product lumps.

14. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, wherein predicting petroleum expulsion comprises employing a theoretical model.

15. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, comprising comparing predicted petroleum expulsion to known data.

16. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 15, comprising redefining the chemical structure if the predicted petroleum expulsion is outside a specified range with respect to the known data.

17. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, comprising preparing an outline of secondary cracking reactions.

18. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, wherein predicted petroleum expulsion comprises a quantity of expelled petroleum.

19. The method for producing hydrocarbons recited in claim 11, wherein predicted petroleum expulsion comprises timing data regarding petroleum expulsion.

20. A tangible, machine-readable medium, comprising:

code adapted to define a chemical structure of a kerogen;

code adapted to identify a plurality of reaction products of the kerogen under geologic heating rates;

code adapted to group the plurality of reaction products into a plurality of product lumps based on their chemical composition; and

code adapted to predict petroleum expulsion for each of the plurality of product lumps based on secondary cracking reactions.