METHOD FOR DYNAMICALLY ASSESSING PETROLEUM RESERVOIR COMPETENCY AND INCREASING PRODUCTION AND RECOVERY THROUGH ASYMMETRIC ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE METRICS

• US 20110168391A1
• Filed: 02/25/2009
• Published: 07/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QRI Group, LLC
• Original Assignee: QRI Group, LLC
• Inventors: Saleri, Nansen G., Toronyi, Robert M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,963,327 B1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 166/250.15
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/00 Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells applicable only to water E03B
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/80 Management or planning

Abstract

Methods for accurately assessing the condition of a petroleum reservoir and designing and implementing a plan of action to increase production and recovery of petroleum from the reservoir. Information is gathered using a unique set of metrics and information gathering techniques and analyzed in a targeted fashion by properly weighting the data in the context of the particular reservoir and goals of the producer. A reservoir rating is generated using asymmetric analysis of metrics and then used to formulate a plan of action. Production architecture (e.g., number, location and manner of constructing oil and injector wells) is then constructed according to the plan of action. Reservoir performance can be continuously monitored and used to verify production and recovery goals and/or provide triggers or alarms to alter production equipment.

Claims

1. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir relative to production and recovery for purposes of initiating a plan of action to increase production and/or recovery of petroleum from the petroleum reservoir, comprising:

establishing a plurality of reservoir performance metrics that relate to the production and recovery of petroleum from the reservoir, the performance metrics including one or more leading indicators and one or more lagging indicators;

weighting one or more of the reservoir performance metrics more heavily than at least one other of the reservoir performance metrics, including weighting at least one of the leading indicators more heavily than at least one of the lagging indicators, to facilitate asymmetric analysis of the reservoir performance metrics;

obtaining data relating to the reservoir performance metrics for the petroleum reservoir, the data being generated by at least one of (i) measuring a physical property of one or more producing oil wells and/or injector wells of the reservoir, (ii) taking and analyzing one or more core samples from the reservoir, or (iii) establishing a relationship between one or more different types of data from (i) or (ii);

generating the reservoir performance metrics for the petroleum reservoir from the data; and

determining a competency rating for the petroleum reservoir based on asymmetric analysis of the reservoir performance metrics, the competency rating relating to at least one of production or recovery of petroleum from the petroleum reservoir.

2. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the one or more leading indicators being selected from the group consisting of dead well index, dead well gradient, gas oil ratio, gas oil ratio gradient, reservoir pressure change, oil decline rate, oil decline rate gradient, waterflood efficiency, waterflood efficiency gradient, water cut, water cut gradient, recovery deficiency indicator, and production gain index.

3. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the one or more lagging indicators being selected from the group consisting of average producer liquid rates, oil rate, water rate, depletion rate, expected ultimate recovery depletion rate, 1P depletion rate, depletion state, expected ultimate recovery depletion state, mobile oil initially in place depletion state, dimensionless pressure drawdown, dimensionless productivity index, dimensionless injectivity index, gas rate, liquid rate, maximum efficient rate, oil rate, water rate, pressure gradient, productivity index gradient, rate restrictions, dimensionless rate restrictions, recovery efficiency, oil recovery factor, mobile oil depletion efficiency, theoretical maximum recovery efficiency, transmissibility index, voidage replacement ratio, surface voidage replacement ratio, and reservoir voidage replacement ratio.

4. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the competency rating for the petroleum reservoir further being determined based on a reservoir management rating for the petroleum reservoir, the reservoir management rating being determined by asymmetrically weighting performance metrics relating to the following categories:

reservoir management design, reserves appreciation, development and operating plan, reservoir surveillance, technology application, and knowledge management.

5. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 4,

the performance metrics relating to reservoir management design including recovery design, field depletion rate, well rate/drawdown, displacement process risk, and plateau sustainability,

the performance metrics relating to reserves appreciation including oil OIIP/GIIP verification, sweep efficiency, displacement efficiency, reserves verification, and risk mitigation,

the performance metrics relating to development and operating plan including production plan achievement, field productivity, pressure management, gas management, water management, and drawdown management,

the performance metrics relating to reservoir surveillance including master plan design and master plan implementation,

the performance metrics relating to technology application including drilling technology, completion technology, stimulation technology, and reservoir dynamics technology, and

the performance metric relating to knowledge management including knowledge management index.

6. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 4, the performance metrics being weighted according to the following weighting criteria:

reservoir management design≈

reserves appreciation>

development and operating plan>

technology application>

reservoir surveillance>

knowledge management.

7. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the method further including establishing one or more other metrics selected from unit development metrics, workload metrics, business plan metrics or stretch goals and determining the competency rating using the one or more other metrics.

8. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the method further comprising performing gap analysis by comparing the difference between a producer goal or ideal and current production and/or recovery.

9. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, the competency rating being determined, at least in part, by analyzing at least one of reservoir performance metrics or data relating to the reservoir performance metrics by means of a computer system having a processor and system memory and displaying information relating to the competency rating, the displayed information comprising at least one of a spreadsheet or a graph representative of or devised from performance metrics.

38. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 1, wherein measuring a physical property of one or more producing oil wells and/or injector wells of the reservoir includes at least one of 1) taking down hole fluid samples of oil, water and gas, 2) measuring pressure using RFT or other devices, or 3) determining fluid saturations from well logs.

39. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 6, the performance metrics being weighted according to the following weighting factors:

weighting factor for reservoir management design is about 25%, weighting factor for reserves appreciation is about 25%, weighting factor for development and operating plan is about 20%, weighting factor for technology application is about 15%, weighting factor for reservoir surveillance is about 10%, and weighting factor for knowledge management is about 5%.

40. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 7,

the unit development metrics including one or more of cost factor, drilling cost factor, workover cost factor, efficiency factor, drilling efficiency factor, workover efficiency factor, median reservoir contact of producers, or median reservoir contact of injectors;

the workload metrics including one or more of professional training, number of papers, number of training days, number of in-house courses, number of third party courses, studies, ongoing studies lasting less than twelve months, ongoing studies lasting more than twelve months, simulation, or ongoing lab or field trials of new methods or technologies;

the business plan metrics including one or more of fluid rate forecast, oil rate forecast for a business planning cycle, water rate forecast for a business planning cycle, or water cut forecast for a business planning cycle; and

the stretch goals including one or more of historical performance, business plan forecast that considers current rate of implementation of new technologies and best practices, production development cost, voidage replacement ratio, surface voidage replacement ratio, or water cut.

10-18. -18. (canceled)

19. A method of implementing a plan of action for increasing production and recovery of petroleum from a petroleum reservoir, comprising:

obtaining a plan of action designed using asymmetric analysis of the petroleum reservoir to determine reservoir competency, the asymmetric analysis being performed by weighting one or more reservoir performance metrics more heavily than at least one other reservoir performance metric, including weighting at least one leading indicator more heavily than at least one lagging indicator, the plan of action including production architecture relating to at least one of

     1) new producing oil wells, including the number, location and how they are designed,

     2) injection of ancillary fluids to help drive oil in the reservoir toward the producing wells, including the placement of one or more injector wells and volume of ancillary fluids injected through one or more injector wells,

     3) establishing maximum contact well,

     4) stimulation of one or more existing producing wells to increase productivity, or

     5) modifying one or more existing producing wells to decrease output; and

performing one or more of the following;

placing new producing oil wells in locations at the petroleum reservoir and constructing the new producing oil wells according to the plan of action;

placing injector wells in locations at the petroleum reservoir according to the plan of action in order to help drive oil in the reservoir toward the new producing oil wells and optionally toward pre-existing oil wells of the petroleum reservoir;

beginning to operate a maximum contact well at the petroleum reservoir having a primary well bore from which petroleum is removed and multiple well bore branches that extend laterally from the primary well bore, at least some of which well bore branches connecting to the primary well bore at different locations along the primary well bore;

stimulating one or more first producing wells at the petroleum reservoir to increase productivity of the first producing wells;

or

modifying one or more second producing wells at the petroleum reservoir to decrease output of the second producing wells.

20. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, wherein performing asymmetric analysis of the petroleum reservoir to determine reservoir competency includes determining a reservoir management rating for the petroleum reservoir, the reservoir management rating being determined by asymmetrically weighting performance metrics relating to the following categories:

reservoir management design, reserves appreciation, development and operating plan, reservoir surveillance, technology application, and knowledge management.

21. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, wherein performing asymmetric analysis and designing a plan of action are carried out at least in part by means of a computer system having a processor and system memory and displaying information relating to the petroleum reservoir.

22. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, the new producing oil wells being constructed so as to include one or more subsurface production control devices selected from the group consisting of down hole valves, down hole flow devices, impellers, choking devices, down hole submersible pumps, separation devices to pack or seal off a portion of the petroleum reservoir, and perforations in well pipe to increase reservoir contact area.

23. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 22, at least one of the new producing oil wells being constructed as a maximum reservoir contact well having a plurality of branched and at least partially horizontal well bores.

24. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 22, the new producing oil wells being constructed to as to include well pipe perforations, wherein the number and direction of the perforations are in accordance with the plan of action.

25. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, further comprising redesigning the interior of a pre-existing oil well in order to increase reservoir contact area and thereby increase well productivity.

26. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, wherein placement of the injector wells and the volume of ancillary fluids injected through the injectors are in accordance with the plan of action.

27. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, further comprising constructing and/or placing equipment for separating the ancillary fluids from petroleum extracted from the reservoir and processing the ancillary fluids.

28. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, further comprising stimulating one or more existing oil wells to increase productivity by at least one of high pressure fracking, acid fracking, or acid washing.

29. A method of implementing a plan of action as in claim 19, further comprising shutting down one or more pre-existing oil wells so as to alter flow of petroleum through the reservoir in a manner that ultimately drains more oil from the reservoir than if the pre-existing oil wells were not shut down.

41. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 19,

the at least one leading indicator being selected from the group consisting of dead well index, dead well gradient, gas oil ratio, gas oil ratio gradient, reservoir pressure change, oil decline rate, oil decline rate gradient, waterflood efficiency, waterflood efficiency gradient, water cut, water cut gradient, recovery deficiency indicator, and production gain index,

the at least one lagging indicator being selected from the group consisting of average producer liquid rates, oil rate, water rate, depletion rate, expected ultimate recovery depletion rate, 1P depletion rate, depletion state, expected ultimate recovery depletion state, mobile oil initially in place depletion state, dimensionless pressure drawdown, dimensionless productivity index, dimensionless injectivity index, gas rate, liquid rate, maximum efficient rate, oil rate, water rate, pressure gradient, productivity index gradient, rate restrictions, dimensionless rate restrictions, recovery efficiency, oil recovery factor, mobile oil depletion efficiency, theoretical maximum recovery efficiency, transmissibility index, voidage replacement ratio, surface voidage replacement ratio, and reservoir voidage replacement ratio.

42. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 20, the performance metrics being weighted according to the following weighting criteria:

reservoir management design≈

reserves appreciation>

development and operating plan>

technology application>

reservoir surveillance>

knowledge management.

30. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking performance of a petroleum reservoir relative to at least one of production or recovery, comprising:

taking or receiving measurements relating to oil well performance at a petroleum reservoir and inputting the measurements into a computer system having a processor and system memory;

the computer system relating the measurements to performance metrics, at least some of which are leading indicators and lagging indicators of oil well performance at the petroleum reservoir, the computer system weighting at least one leading indicating indicator more heavily than at least one lagging indicator;

the computer system comparing at least some of the measurements and/or performance metrics relating to oil well performance at the petroleum reservoir to predetermined alarm levels or triggers; and

upon a measurement or performance metric exceeding an alarm level or trigger point by falling below a minimum or exceeding a maximum, the computer system performing at least one of

     1) altering at least one production parameter by an oil well at the petroleum reservoir or

     2) alerting a reservoir manager, owner and/or third party that an alarm level or trigger point has been exceeded relative to the petroleum reservoir.

31. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 30, the computer system further displaying information relating to at least one measurement and/or performance metric relating to oil well performance.

32. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 31, the computer system displaying the information graphically and/or so as to appear as a dial.

33. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 30, wherein exceeding an alarm level or trigger point results in at least one of increasing or reducing oil production by one or more oil wells of the reservoir.

34. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 30, wherein exceeding an alarm level or trigger point results in at least one of increasing or reducing oil production by putting one or more new oil wells into production at the reservoir or stopping production by one or more oil wells.

35. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 30, wherein exceeding an alarm level or trigger point results in at least one of increasing or reducing ancillary fluid injection into the reservoir.

36. A computer implemented method of monitoring and tracking reservoir performance as in claim 30, wherein exceeding an alarm level or trigger point results in stimulation of at least one oil well to increase well productivity.

37. A computer program product comprising one or more tangible computer readable media having executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a computer system having a processor and system memory, cause the computer system to perform the method of claim 30.

43. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir relative to production and recovery for purposes of initiating a plan of action to increase production and/or recovery, comprising:

establishing a plurality of reservoir performance metrics that relate to the production and recovery of petroleum from the reservoir;

weighting one or more of the reservoir performance metrics more heavily than at least one other of the reservoir performance metrics to facilitate asymmetric analysis of the reservoir performance metrics;

obtaining data relating to the reservoir performance metrics, the data being generated by at least one of (i) measuring a physical property of one or more producing oil wells and/or injector wells of the reservoir, (ii) taking and analyzing one or more core samples from the reservoir, or (iii) establishing a relationship between one or more different types of data from (i) or (ii);

generating the reservoir performance metrics from the data; and

determining a competency rating for the petroleum reservoir relating to at least one of production or recovery of petroleum from the petroleum reservoir, the competency rating being based at least in part on a reservoir management rating for the petroleum reservoir,

the reservoir management rating being determined by asymmetrically weighting performance metrics relating to the following categories;

reservoir management design, reserves appreciation, development and operating plan, reservoir surveillance, technology application, and knowledge management,

the performance metrics relating to reservoir management design including recovery design, field depletion rate, well rate/drawdown, displacement process risk, and plateau sustainability,

the performance metrics relating to reserves appreciation including oil OIIP/GIIP verification, sweep efficiency, displacement efficiency, reserves verification, and risk mitigation,

the performance metrics relating to development and operating plan including production plan achievement, field productivity, pressure management, gas management, water management, and drawdown management,

the performance metrics relating to reservoir surveillance including master plan design and master plan implementation,

the performance metrics relating to technology application including drilling technology, completion technology, stimulation technology, and reservoir dynamics technology, and

the performance metric relating to knowledge management including knowledge management index.

44. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir relative to production and recovery for purposes of initiating a plan of action to increase production and/or recovery, comprising:

establishing a plurality of reservoir performance metrics that relate to the production and recovery of petroleum from the reservoir;

weighting one or more of the reservoir performance metrics more heavily than at least one other of the reservoir performance metrics to facilitate asymmetric analysis of the reservoir performance metrics;

obtaining data relating to the reservoir performance metrics, the data being generated by at least one of (i) measuring a physical property of one or more producing oil wells and/or injector wells of the reservoir, (ii) taking and analyzing one or more core samples from the reservoir, or (iii) establishing a relationship between one or more different types of data from (i) or (ii);

generating the reservoir performance metrics from the data; and

determining a competency rating for the petroleum reservoir relating to at least one of production or recovery of petroleum from the petroleum reservoir, the competency rating being based at least in part on a reservoir management rating for the petroleum reservoir,

the reservoir management rating being determined by asymmetrically weighting performance metrics relating to the following categories;

reservoir management design, reserves appreciation, development and operating plan, reservoir surveillance, technology application, and knowledge management, wherein the reservoir management design and the reserves appreciation are weighted more heavily than the development and operating plan, the technology application, the reservoir surveillance, and the knowledge management.

45. A method of assessing the competency of a petroleum reservoir as in claim 44, wherein the development and operating plan is weighted more heavily than the technology application, which is weighted more heavily than the reservoir surveillance, which is weighted more heavily than the knowledge management.