Apparatus and method for increasing the ultimate recovery of natural gas contained in shale and other tight gas reservoirs
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- obtaining a model associated with production of natural gas from a well, the well having a choke valve that controls flow of material including natural gas from the well;
identifying, using the model, a solution that increases an amount of natural gas obtained from the well over a specified time horizon; and
adjusting operation of the choke valve based on the identified solution;
wherein the model models a natural gas reservoir as a continuous stirred bed with a rock or shale void fraction.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method includes obtaining a model associated with production of natural gas from a well, where the well has a choke valve that controls flow of material including natural gas from the well. The method also includes identifying, using the model, a solution that increases an amount of natural gas obtained from the well over a specified time horizon. In addition, the method includes adjusting operation of the choke valve based on the identified solution. The model could be generated using geological data associated with the well and/or historical data associated with natural gas production from the well. A natural gas reservoir can be modeled as a continuous stirred bed with a rock or shale void fraction using mass or volumetric unit balances. Gas content versus pressure for the well can be plotted, and Langmuir adsorption parameters for the well can be identified using the plotted gas content versus pressure.
51 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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obtaining a model associated with production of natural gas from a well, the well having a choke valve that controls flow of material including natural gas from the well; identifying, using the model, a solution that increases an amount of natural gas obtained from the well over a specified time horizon; and adjusting operation of the choke valve based on the identified solution; wherein the model models a natural gas reservoir as a continuous stirred bed with a rock or shale void fraction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one memory device configured to store a model associated with production of natural gas from a well that has a choke valve for controlling flow of material including natural gas from the well; and at least one processing device configured to; identify, using the model, a solution that increases an amount of natural gas obtained from the well over a specified time horizon; and adjust operation of the choke valve based on the identified solution; wherein the model models a natural gas reservoir as a continuous stirred bed with a rock or shale void fraction. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a computer program, the computer program comprising computer readable program code for:
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obtaining a model associated with production of natural gas from a well having a choke valve that controls flow of material including natural gas from the well; identifying, using the model, a solution that increases an amount of natural gas obtained from the well over a specified time horizon; and adjusting operation of the choke valve based on the identified solution wherein the model models a natural gas reservoir as a continuous stirred bed with a rock or shale void fraction. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification