Petroleum reservoir operation using geotechnical analysis

• US 9,946,986 B1
• Filed: 10/21/2016
• Issued: 04/17/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: QRI Group, LLC
• Original Assignee: QRI Group, LLC
• Inventors: Saleri, Nansen G., Toronyi, Robert M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Boswell, Beth V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sadananda, Abhijit B
• Application Number:
  US15/299,828
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• Field of Search: 705 737, 705 738, 705 727
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 36/00 Heating, cooling or insulating arrangements for boreholes or wells, e.g. for use in permafrost zones
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/168 Injecting a gaseous medium
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/20 Displacing by water
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0633 Workflow analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/02 Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining

Abstract

A method of improving operation of a petroleum reservoir using geotechnical analysis includes classifying a petroleum reservoir using a Reservoir Ranking Analysis (RRA) and then making one or modifications to the operation of the reservoir. RRA classification includes establishing reservoir classification metrics for at least resource size and recovery potential, and optionally profitability. The reservoir can be classified based on at least one metric in the profitability classification category, and also based on at least one metric in one or more of the resource size classification category or the recovery potential classification category. Classification of reservoirs can aid in reservoir management, planning, and development.

Claims

1. A method of increasing petroleum recovery efficiency, the method comprising:

establishing one or more reservoir classification metrics for a plurality of petroleum reservoirs, including at least a resource size metric and a recovery potential metric;

measuring, using one or more sensors placed in each petroleum reservoir of the plurality of petroleum reservoirs, physical characteristics directly or indirectly relating to each of an amount of oil, vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, reservoir thickness, reservoir permeability, fluid viscosity, reservoir depth, and production of oil;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to the amount of oil, the resource size metric of each petroleum reservoir;

determining the recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir, including;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, a compartmentalization factor for each petroleum reservoir;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to reservoir thickness, reservoir permeability, and fluid viscosity, a transmissibility index for each petroleum reservoir; and

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to reservoir depth, a depth factor for each petroleum reservoir; and

based on at least the corresponding resource size metric and the corresponding recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir, classifying each petroleum reservoir into at least one classification relating to recovery efficiency of petroleum;

based at least in part on the at least one classification, manually or automatically adjusting operation of one or more reservoir production units of a petroleum reservoir having a higher classification than the at least one other petroleum reservoir to increase petroleum recovery efficiency, wherein the reservoir production units are selected from producing oil wells, water injection wells, gas injection wells, heat injectors, or sub-components thereof, and wherein adjusting the operation of the one or more reservoir production units is selected from change in volume, change in pressure, change in temperature, change in well bore path, drilling one or more new production units, or shutting down one or more existing production units.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein determining the recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir includes determining a geo-technical index (GTI) for each petroleum reservoir as follows:

GTI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)

where;

A=the compartmentalization factor,

B=the transmissibility index,

C=the depth factor, and

n_n=weighting coefficients.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein determining the recovery potential metric includes determining a reservoir development quality index (RDQI) as follows:

RDQI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)+(n_d*D)+(n_e*E)

where;

A=GTI,

B=crude quality,

C=reserves,

D=well productivity index,

E=drilling costs, and

n_n=weighting coefficients.

4. A method as in claim 1, wherein determining the resource size metric includes determining at least one of an amount of oil initially in place (OIIP) within each reservoir or an amount of remaining oil in place (ROIP) within each reservoir.

5. A method as in claim 1, further comprising determining a profitability metric for each petroleum reservoir comprising one or more of an internal rate of return (IRR) metric, a return on revenues (ROR) metric, or a net present value (NPV) metric.

6. A method as in claim 5, further comprising:

based on the corresponding recovery potential metric and the corresponding profitability metric, classifying each petroleum reservoir as belonging to one of the following classes;

a first class characterized by high profitability;

a second class characterized by medium profitability and high recovery potential;

a third class characterized by medium profitability and low recovery potential;

a fourth class characterized by low profitability and low resource size;

or

a fifth class characterized by low profitability and high resource size.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein at least one petroleum reservoir is classified as a high profitability reservoir, the method further comprising classifying the at least one petroleum reservoir based on at least one additional metric in a resource size classification category to categorize the at least one petroleum reservoir as a tier 1 reservoir or a tier 2 reservoir.

8. A method as in claim 6, wherein at least one petroleum reservoir is classified as a medium profitability reservoir, the method further comprising classifying the at least one petroleum reservoir based on at least one metric in a recovery potential classification category to categorize the at least one petroleum reservoir as a high recovery potential or a low recovery potential reservoir.

9. A method of increasing petroleum recovery efficiency, the method comprising:

inputting into a computing system having a processor and system memory, data relating to one or more classification metrics for a plurality of petroleum reservoirs, including at least a resource size metric and a recovery potential metric;

measuring, using one or more sensors placed in each petroleum reservoir of the plurality of petroleum reservoirs, physical characteristics directly or indirectly relating to each of amount of oil, vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, reservoir thickness, reservoir permeability, fluid viscosity, reservoir depth, and production of oil;

inputting into the computing system data relating to the physical characteristics measured using the one or more sensors, including data relating to each of amount of oil, vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, reservoir thickness, reservoir permeability, fluid viscosity, reservoir depth, and production of oil;

determining, by the computing system, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to amount of oil, the resource size metric of each petroleum reservoir;

determining, by the computing system, the recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir including;

determining, at least in part from the data relating to the vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, a compartmentalization factor for each petroleum reservoir;

determining, at least in part from the data relating to reservoir thickness, reservoir permeability, and fluid viscosity, a transmissibility index for each petroleum reservoir; and

determining, at least in part from the data relating to reservoir depth, a depth factor for each petroleum reservoir; and

based on at least the resource size metric and the recovery potential metric of the petroleum reservoir, classifying each petroleum reservoir into at least one classification relating to recovery efficiency of petroleum from each petroleum reservoir; and

based at least in part on the at least one classification, manually or automatically adjusting operation of one or more reservoir production units of a petroleum reservoir having a higher classification than the at least one other petroleum reservoir to increase petroleum recovery efficiency, wherein the reservoir production units are selected from producing oil wells, water injection wells, gas injection wells, heat injectors, or sub-components thereof, and wherein adjusting the operation of the one or more reservoir production units is selected from change in volume, change in pressure, change in temperature, change in well bore path, drilling one or more new production units, or shutting down one or more existing production units.

10. A method as in claim 9, wherein determining the resource size metric of each petroleum reservoir includes determining one or more of an oil initially in place (OIIP) metric or a remaining oil in place (ROIP) metric.

11. A method as in claim 9, wherein determining the recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir includes determining a geo-technical index (GTI) for each petroleum reservoir based on the following:

GTI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)

where;

A=the compartmentalization factor,

B=the transmissibility index,

C=the depth factor, and

n_n=weighting coefficients.

12. A method as in claim 11, further comprising determining a reservoir development quality index (RDQI) for each petroleum reservoir based on the following:

RDQI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)+(n_d*D)+(n_e*E)

where;

A=GTI,

B=crude quality,

C=reserves,

D=well productivity index,

E=drilling costs, and

n_n=weighting coefficients.

13. A method as in claim 9, further comprising determining a profitability metric of each petroleum reservoir comprising one or more of an internal rate of return (IRR) metric, a return of revenues (ROR) metric, or a net present value (NPV) metric.

14. A method as in claim 9, further comprising applying a pre-filtering to each petroleum reservoir, including one or more of determining that each petroleum reservoir is active or that a resource size of each petroleum reservoir is above a threshold.

15. A method as in claim 9, further comprising classifying, by the computer system, each petroleum reservoir as belonging to one of the following classes:

a first class characterized by high profitability;

a second class characterized by medium profitability and high recovery potential;

a third class characterized by medium profitability and low recovery potential;

a fourth class characterized by low profitability and low resource size;

or

a fifth class characterized by low profitability and high resource size.

16. A method of increasing petroleum recovery efficiency, the method comprising:

establishing one or more reservoir classification metrics for a plurality of petroleum reservoirs, including at least a resource size metric and a recovery potential metric;

measuring, using one or more sensors placed in each petroleum reservoir of the plurality of petroleum reservoirs, physical characteristics relating to an amount of oil, a vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, a reservoir thickness, a reservoir permeability, a fluid viscosity, a reservoir depth, and a production of oil;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to the amount of oil, the resource size metric of each of the petroleum reservoirs;

determining the recovery potential metric of each of the petroleum reservoirs, including;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to the vertical and/or horizontal discontinuity, a compartmentalization factor for each of the petroleum reservoirs;

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to the reservoir thickness, the reservoir permeability, and the fluid viscosity, a transmissibility index for each of the petroleum reservoirs; and

determining, at least in part from data obtained by the one or more sensors relating to the reservoir depth, a depth factor for each of the petroleum reservoirs;

based on at least the corresponding resource size metric and the corresponding recovery potential metric for each of the petroleum reservoirs, classifying each of the petroleum reservoirs into at least one classification relating to recovery efficiency of petroleum; and

based at least in part on the at least one classification, manually or automatically adjusting operation of one or more reservoir production units of the petroleum reservoir having a highest classification of the plurality of petroleum reservoirs to increase petroleum recovery efficiency, wherein the one or more reservoir production units selected from producing oil wells, water injection wells, gas injection wells, heat injectors, or sub-components thereof, and wherein adjusting the operation of the one or more reservoir production units is selected from change in volume, change in pressure, change in temperature, change in well bore path, drilling one or more new production units, or shutting down one or more existing production units.

17. The method as in claim 16, wherein determining the recovery potential metric of each petroleum reservoir includes determining a geo-technical index (GTI) for each the petroleum reservoir as follows:

GTI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)

where;

A=the compartmentalization factor,

B=the transmissibility index,

C=the depth factor, and

n_n=a weighting coefficient.

18. The method as in claim 17, wherein determining the recovery potential metric includes determining a reservoir development quality index (RDQI) as follows:

RDQI=(n_a*A)+(n_b*B)+(n_c*C)+(n_d*D)+(n_e*E)

where;

A=the GTI,

B=a crude quality,

C=an amount of reserves,

D=a well productivity index,

E=one or more drilling costs, and

n_n=the weighting coefficient.

19. The method as in claim 16, wherein determining the resource size metric includes determining at least one of an amount of oil initially in place (OIIP) within each of the reservoirs or an amount of remaining oil in place (ROIP) within the each of the reservoirs.

20. The method as in claim 16, further comprising determining a profitability metric for each of the petroleum reservoirs comprising one or more of an internal rate of return (IRR) metric, a return on revenues (ROR) metric, or a net present value (NPV) metric.

21. The method as in claim 20, further comprising:

based on the corresponding recovery potential metric and the corresponding profitability metric, classifying each of the petroleum reservoirs as belonging to one of the following classes;

a first class characterized by high profitability;

a second class characterized by medium profitability and high recovery potential;

a third class characterized by medium profitability and low recovery potential;

a fourth class characterized by low profitability and low resource size;

or

a fifth class characterized by low profitability and high resource size.

22. The method as in claim 21, wherein at least one of the petroleum reservoirs is classified as a high profitability reservoir, the method further comprising classifying at least one of the petroleum reservoirs based on at least one additional metric in a resource size classification category to categorize the at least one of the petroleum reservoirs as a tier 1 reservoir or a tier 2 reservoir.

23. The method as in claim 21, wherein at least one of the petroleum reservoirs is classified as a medium profitability reservoir, the method further comprising classifying at least one of the petroleum reservoirs based on at least one metric in a recovery potential classification category to categorize the at least one of the petroleum reservoirs as a high recovery potential or a low recovery potential reservoir.