FLOW BALANCING FOR A WELL

• US 20160369590A1
• Filed: 06/18/2015
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Tonkin, Trevor Graham, Gottumukkala, Varma, Blekhman, Vadim
• Granted Patent: US 9,864,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/12 Methods or apparatus for controlling the flow of the obtained fluid to or in wells E21B43/25 takes precedence; valve arrangements E21B34/00
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30

Abstract

Flow balancing includes selecting, for each down hole flow control valve of a well, a transformed well performance curve corresponding to a first down hole flow control valve pressure to obtain transformed well performance curves. The well includes a lateral including the down hole flow control valves. Using a constraint set that includes a balancing condition for the lateral, a network optimization analysis is performed on the transformed well performance curves to generate a set of choke positions corresponding to each down hole flow control valve. Network modeling of the well is performed based on the set of choke positions to obtain a second down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve. Using the set of choke positions, a field operation is performed for the well based on the second down hole flow control valve pressure being within a threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve.

Claims

1. A method for flow balancing, the method comprising:

selecting, for each of a plurality of down hole flow control valves of a well, a transformed well performance curve corresponding to a first down hole flow control valve pressure to obtain a plurality of transformed well performance curves, wherein the well comprises a lateral comprising the plurality of down hole flow control valves;

performing, using a constraint set comprising a balancing condition for the lateral, a network optimization analysis on the plurality of transformed well performance curves to generate a set of choke positions corresponding to each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves;

performing network modeling of the well based on the set of choke positions to obtain a second down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves; and

performing a field operation for the well using the set of choke positions based on the second down hole flow control valve pressure being within a threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an initial down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves,

wherein selecting the transformed well performance curve, performing the network optimization analysis, and performing the network modeling is performed iteratively starting with the initial down hole flow control valve pressure until the second down hole flow control valve pressure is within the threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

for each down hole flow control valve;

obtaining a plurality of well performance curves mapping pressure to flow rate, wherein each well performance curve of the plurality of well performance curves corresponds to a choke position of a plurality of choke positions; and

transforming the plurality of well performance curves into a set of transformed well performance curves for the down hole flow control valve, wherein each transformed well performance curve for the down hole flow control valve maps flow rates to choke positions and corresponds to a particular pressure,

wherein the transformed well performance curve for each down hole flow control valve is selected from the set of transformed well performance curves for the down hole flow control valve.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the field operation comprises sending a control signal to a down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves to change a choke position of the down hole flow control valve.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the field operation comprises displaying the set of choke positions on a graphical user interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the balancing condition comprises each down hole flow control valve within the lateral having a flow rate within a flow rate threshold of each other down hole flow control valve within the lateral.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraint set further comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a constraint to delay breakthrough of water and a constraint to minimize breakthrough of water.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the constraint set further comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a constraint to delay breakthrough of gas and a constraint to minimize breakthrough of gas.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

repetitively selecting the transformed well performance curve, performing the network optimization analysis, and performing the network modeling for a plurality of times to determine the set of choke positions for the plurality of times.

10. A system for flow balancing comprising:

a data repository for storing;

a well model for a well, the well comprising a lateral comprising a plurality of down hole flow control valves, and

a constraint set comprising a balancing condition for the lateral; and

a computer processor, operatively connected to the data repository, for executing;

a field control module that;

selects, for each of the plurality of down hole flow control valves, a transformed well performance curve corresponding to a first down hole flow control valve pressure to obtain a plurality of transformed well performance curves, and

performs a field operation for the well using a set of choke positions based on a second down hole flow control valve pressure being within a threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves,

a network optimization analyzer, operatively connected to the field control module, that;

performs a network optimization analysis on the plurality of transformed well performance curves to generate the set of choke positions corresponding to each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves, and

a network modeling module, operatively connected to the field control module, that;

performs network modeling of the well based on the set of choke positions to obtain the second down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

field equipment for

receiving, from the field control module, a control signal to a down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves to change a choke position of the down hole flow control valve, and

changing the choke position of the down hole flow control valve.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer processor further executes:

a user interface for displaying the set of choke positions, wherein the user interface receives the set of choke positions from the field control module.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium for flow balancing, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer readable program code for:

selecting, for each of a plurality of down hole flow control valves of a well, a transformed well performance curve corresponding to a first down hole flow control valve pressure to obtain a plurality of transformed well performance curves, wherein the well comprises a lateral comprising the plurality of down hole flow control valves;

performing, using a constraint set comprising a balancing condition for a lateral of the plurality of laterals, a network optimization analysis on the plurality of transformed well performance curves to generate a set of choke positions corresponding to each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves;

performing network modeling of the well based on the set of choke positions to obtain a second down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves; and

performing a field operation for the well using the set of choke positions based on the second down hole flow control valve pressure being within a threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code for:

selecting an initial down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve of the plurality of down hole flow control valves,

wherein selecting the transformed well performance curve, performing the network optimization analysis, and performing the network modeling is performed iteratively starting with the initial down hole flow control valve pressure until the second down hole flow control valve pressure is within the threshold difference of the first down hole flow control valve pressure for each down hole flow control valve.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code for:

for each down hole flow control valve;

obtaining a plurality of well performance curves mapping pressure to flow rate, wherein each well performance curve of the plurality of well performance curves corresponds to a choke position of a plurality of choke positions; and

transforming the plurality of well performance curves into a set of transformed well performance curves for the down hole flow control valve, wherein each transformed well performance curve for the down hole flow control valve maps flow rates to choke positions and corresponds to a particular pressure,

wherein the transformed well performance curve for each down hole flow control valve is selected from the set of transformed well performance curves for the down hole flow control valve.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein performing the field operation comprises displaying the set of choke positions on a graphical user interface.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the balancing condition comprises each down hole flow control valve within the lateral having a flow rate within a flow rate threshold of each other down hole flow control valve within the lateral.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the constraint set further comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a constraint to delay breakthrough of water and a constraint to minimize breakthrough of water.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the constraint set further comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of a constraint to delay breakthrough of gas and a constraint to minimize breakthrough of gas.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 13, further comprising computer readable program code for repetitively selecting the transformed well performance curve, performing the network optimization analysis, and performing the network modeling for a plurality of times to determine the set of choke positions for the plurality of times.