Oilfield operational system and method

• US 8,145,464 B2
• Filed: 11/01/2007
• Issued: 03/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Arnegaard, Truls, Schoen, Eric Jonathan, Brekke, Sherrill, Huguet, Kerry
• Primary Examiner(s): Silver, David
• Application Number:
  US11/934,052
• Publication Number:
  US 20080109490A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,608 Days
• Field of Search: 703/6, 703/10, 700/1, 717/100
• US Class Current: 703/10
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/00 Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/20 Software design

Abstract

Techniques relating to an oilfield application for performing at least one oilfield operation are provided. The oilfield application is provided with a plurality of oilfield application modules, an application shell for defining an oilfield application, an adapter for encapsulating at least one of the oilfield application modules for compatibility with the application shell, and integration services for integrating the application modules into the application shell. Each of the oilfield application modules performs at least one task of an oilfield operation. The application shell is adapted to selectively receive the oilfield application modules. The loading services load the application modules into the application shell, the loading services initializing the application modules. The integrating services integrate the application modules for operability with the application shell whereby the at least one oilfield operation is enabled.

Claims

1. A system for performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein, comprising:

a surface unit comprising a processor and memory storing instructions;

a plurality of oilfield application modules executing on the processor of the surface unit, each of the plurality of oilfield application modules performing at least one oilfield task of the oilfield operation;

an application shell for defining an oilfield application, the application shell adapted to define the oilfield application using the plurality of oilfield application modules,

wherein the application shell comprises a constraint and a requirement,

wherein the constraint specifies a restriction of the plurality of oilfield application modules restricting operation of a drilling equipment according to an operating parameter, and

wherein the requirement specifies a sequence of events for the at least one oilfield task performed by each of the plurality of oilfield application modules;

an adapter for encapsulating at least one of the plurality of oilfield application modules for compatibility with the application shell;

loading services for loading the plurality of oilfield application modules into the application shell, the loading services initializing the plurality of oilfield application modules; and

integration services for integrating the plurality of oilfield application modules into the application shell, the integrating services integrating the plurality of oilfield application modules for operability with the application shell whereby the at least one oilfield task of the oilfield operation is enabled,

wherein the oilfield application is adapted to;

perform, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, well planning using a well planning module of the plurality of oilfield modules to provide a well plan to a drilling controls module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

monitor, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, drilling of a wellbore using a drilling monitoring module of the plurality of oilfield modules to send drilling data to a drilling simulation module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

perform a simulation using the drilling simulation module to update the well plan based on the drilling data; and

monitor the operating parameter to prevent, during the drilling of the wellbore, the wellbore from performing at a level restricted based on the constraint.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a data repository operatively coupled to the application shell.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the plurality of oilfield application modules is provided by a different entity than the provider of the application shell.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the application shell is automatically generated from a tool-kit.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the oilfield application modules provides at least one selected from a group consisting of user interface function, display function, and business logic function based on the application shell.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the user interface (UI) function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of UI button, UI menu, UI form, form filling paradigm, advanced selector, and think ahead help.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the display function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of hierarchical data display, transparent layers, adaptive zooming paradigm, wireframe, storyboard, interactions to facilitate display on large or small devices, colorized composition, multiple data types for display, support for display component library, 2D and 3D drawing, fixed and adaptive documents, advanced typography, vector graphics, raster graphics, animation, data binding, audio, and video.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the business logic function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of generating reports, generating well plans, performing simulations, performing production operations, performing seismic operations, performing completions operations, and performing drilling operations.

9. A method for performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein, the method comprising:

obtaining an application shell for forming a first oilfield application;

obtaining a plurality of oilfield modules, each of the plurality of oilfield modules adapted to perform at least one oilfield task of the first oilfield application,

wherein the application shell comprises a constraint and a requirement,

wherein the constraint specifies a restriction of the plurality of oilfield application modules restricting operation of a drilling equipment according to an operating parameter, and

wherein the requirement specifies a sequence of events for the at least one oilfield task performed by each of the plurality of oilfield application modules;

loading, using a processor of a surface unit, the plurality of oilfield modules into the application shell to form the first oilfield application;

encapsulating, using the processor, at least one of the plurality of the oilfield modules for compatibility with the application shell;

integrating, using the processor, the plurality of oilfield modules into a format for operability with the application shell;

performing, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, well planning using a well planning module of the plurality of oilfield modules to provide a well plan to a drilling controls module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

monitoring, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, drilling of a wellbore using a drilling monitoring module of the plurality of oilfield modules to send drilling data to a drilling simulation module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

performing a simulation using the drilling simulation module to update the well plan based on the drilling data; and

monitoring the operating parameter to prevent, during the drilling of the wellbore, the wellbore from performing at a level restricted based on the constraint.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

inputting data into the first oilfield application from a data repository.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

coupling a second oilfield application to the application shell via an application programming interface and a linking module,

wherein the at least one oilfield task is performed cooperatively based on the first oilfield application and the second oilfield application.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein at least a portion of the application shell is automatically generated from a tool-kit.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein at least one of the oilfield application modules provides at least one selected from a group consisting of user interface function, display function, and business logic function based on the application shell.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the user interface (UI) function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of UI button, UI menu, UI form, form filling paradigm, advanced selector, and think ahead help.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the display function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of hierarchical data display, transparent layers, adaptive zooming paradigm, wireframe, storyboard, interactions to facilitate display on large or small devices, colorized composition, multiple data types for display, support for display component library, 2D and 3D drawing, fixed and adaptive documents, advanced typography, vector graphics, raster graphics, animation, data binding, audio, and video.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the business logic function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of generating reports, generating well plans, performing simulations, performing production operations, performing seismic operations, performing completions operations, and performing drilling operations.

17. A method for performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein, the method comprising:

coupling a first oilfield application to an application shell via an application programming interface and a linking module,

wherein the application shell comprises a constraint and a requirement,

wherein the constraint specifies a restriction of the plurality of oilfield application modules restricting operation of a drilling equipment according to an operating parameter, and

wherein the requirement specifies a sequence of events for the at least one oilfield task performed by each of the plurality of oilfield application modules;

obtaining a plurality of oilfield modules, each of the plurality of oilfield modules adapted to perform at least one oilfield task of a second oilfield application;

loading, using a processor of a surface unit, the plurality of oilfield modules into the application shell to form the second oilfield application;

encapsulating, using the processor, at least one of the plurality of the oilfield modules for compatibility with the application shell;

integrating, using the processor, the plurality of oilfield modules into a format for operability with the application shell; and

cooperatively performing the at least one oilfield task based on the first oilfield application and the second oilfield application by;

performing, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, well planning using a well planning module of the first oilfield application to provide a well plan to a drilling controls module of the second oilfield application;

monitoring, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, drilling of a wellbore using a drilling monitoring module of the second oilfield application to send drilling data to a drilling simulation module of the first oilfield application;

performing a simulation using the drilling simulation module to update the well plan based on the drilling data; and

monitoring the operating parameter to prevent, during the drilling of the wellbore, the wellbore from performing at a level restricted based on the constraint.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of inputting data into the second oilfield application from a data repository.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of the application shell is automatically generated from a tool-kit.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of the oilfield application modules provides at least one selected from a group consisting of user interface function, display function, and business logic function based on the application shell.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user interface (UI) function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of UI button, UI menu, UI form, form filling paradigm, advanced selector, and think ahead help.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the display function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of hierarchical data display, transparent layers, adaptive zooming paradigm, wireframe, storyboard, interactions to facilitate display on large or small devices, colorized composition, multiple data types for display, support for display component library, 2D and 3D drawing, fixed and adaptive documents, advanced typography, vector graphics, raster graphics, animation, data binding, audio, and video.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the business logic function comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of generating reports, generating well plans, performing simulations, performing production operations, performing seismic operations, performing completions operations, and performing drilling operations.

24. A computer readable medium, embodying instructions executable by a computer to perform method steps for performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein, the instructions comprising functionality to:

obtain an application shell for forming a first oilfield application;

obtain a plurality of oilfield modules, each of the plurality of oilfield modules adapted to perform at least one oilfield task of the first oilfield application,

wherein the application shell comprises a constraint and a requirement,

wherein the constraint specifies a restriction of the plurality of oilfield application modules restricting operation of a drilling equipment according to an operating parameter, and

wherein the requirement specifies a sequence of events for the at least one oilfield task performed by each of the plurality of oilfield application modules;

load the plurality of oilfield modules into the application shell to form the first oilfield application;

encapsulate at least one of the plurality of the oilfield modules for compatibility with the application shell;

integrate the plurality of oilfield modules into a format for operability with the application shell;

perform, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, well planning using a well planning module of the plurality of oilfield modules to provide a well plan to a drilling controls module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

monitor, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, drilling of a wellbore using a drilling monitoring module of the plurality of oilfield modules to send drilling data to a drilling simulation module of the plurality of oilfield modules;

perform a simulation using the drilling simulation module to update the well plan based on the drilling data; and

monitor the operating parameter to prevent, during the drilling of the wellbore according to the well plan, the wellbore from performing at a level restricted based on the constraint.

25. A computer readable medium, embodying instructions executable by a computer to perform method steps for performing an oilfield operation of an oilfield having a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from an underground reservoir therein, the instructions comprising functionality to:

couple a first oilfield application to an application shell via an application programming interface and a linking module,

wherein the application shell comprises a constraint and a requirement,

wherein the constraint specifies a restriction of the plurality of oilfield application modules restricting operation of a drilling equipment according to an operating parameter, and

wherein the requirement specifies a sequence of events for the at least one oilfield task performed by each of the plurality of oilfield application modules;

obtain a plurality of oilfield modules, each of the plurality of oilfield modules adapted to perform at least one oilfield task of a second oilfield application;

load the plurality of oilfield modules into the application shell to form the second oilfield application;

encapsulate at least one of the plurality of the oilfield modules for compatibility with the application shell;

integrate the plurality of oilfield modules into a format for operability with the application shell; and

perform the at least one oilfield task based on the first oilfield application and the second oilfield application by;

performing, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, well planning using a well planning module of the first oilfield application to provide a well plan to a drilling controls module of the second oilfield application;

monitoring, according to the sequence of events specified by the requirement, drilling of a wellbore using a drilling monitoring module of the second oilfield application to send drilling data to a drilling simulation module of the first oilfield application;

performing a simulation using the drilling simulation module to update the well plan based on the drilling data; and

monitoring the operating parameter to prevent, during the drilling of the wellbore, the wellbore from performing at a level restricted based on the constraint.