Decision Management System and Method

• US 20110060573A1
• Filed: 11/15/2010
• Published: 03/10/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Landmark Graphics Corporation (Halliburton Company)
• Original Assignee: Landmark Graphics Corporation (Halliburton Company)
• Inventors: Wilson, Glenn E., Cullick, Alvin Stanley, Narayanan, Keshav
• Granted Patent: US 8,712,747 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

A system and method may be configured to support the evaluation of the economic impact of uncertainties associated with the planning of a petroleum production project, e.g., uncertainties associated with decisions having multiple possible outcomes and uncertainties associated with uncontrollable parameters such as rock properties, oil prices, etc. The system and method involve receiving user input characterizing the uncertainty of planning variables and performing an iterative simulation that computes the economic return for various possible instantiations of the set of planning variables based on the uncertainty characterization. The system and method may (a) utilize and integrate highly rigorous physical reservoir, well, production flow, and economic models, and (b) provide a mechanism for specifying constraints on the planning variables. Furthermore, the system and method may provide a case manager process for managing multiple cases and associated “experimental runs” on the cases.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a computer system assembling in a memory a plurality of models that represent components of a value chain in a petroleum exploration and/or production project, wherein each of the models includes one or more variables, where each of said one or more variables is defined on a corresponding user-specified range;

the computer system creating instantiated models by selecting for each model a value of each of the one or more variables included in that model, wherein the value of each variable is selected from the corresponding user-specified range;

the computer system assembling the instantiated models into a workflow, wherein said assembling includes formatting the instantiated models for access by a plurality of user-identified simulation engines;

the computer system executing the simulation engines on the workflow to generate data output; and

the computer system storing the selected values of the variables and the corresponding data output from the simulation engines to the memory;

the computer system repeatedly performing a set of operations including said creating instantiated models, said assembling the instantiated models, said executing and said storing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a first of the models is a hierarchical tree of data structures, wherein a first of the instantiated models is a leaf of the hierarchical tree, wherein one or more of said selected values are used to specify a path from a root of the hierarchical tree to the leaf of the hierarchical tree.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the models include a schedule, wherein the schedule includes one or more time-interval variables for one or more corresponding tasks, wherein said selecting includes selecting a value for each of the time-interval variables, wherein said creating instantiated models includes determining event dates for the schedule based on the selected values of the one or more time-interval variables.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a first of the instantiated models includes one or more well plans that correspond to wells associated with a first hydrocarbon reservoir, the method further comprising:

executing a well-perforator program on the one or more well plans included in a first model in order to determine perforation locations for the one or more well plans.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the components of the value chain include one or more reservoirs, one or more wells, and a surface-pipeline network, the method further comprising:

estimating an economic value of the value chain based on the stored data output.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the simulation engines include one or more physics-based flow simulators for simulating hydrocarbon reservoir behavior.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the models is a model of a subsurface reservoir.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the subsurface reservoir model is a high-resolution geocellular reservoir model, the method further comprising:

executing a reservoir model scaling engine to scale said the high-resolution geocellular reservoir model to a lower resolution.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said repeatedly performing covers all possible combinations of values of the variables in their respective ranges.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said repeatedly performing uses an experimental design algorithm to generate combinations of variable values in each iteration of said repeating.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said storing the selected values of the variables and the corresponding data output from the simulation engines to the memory comprises storing the selected values of the variables and the corresponding data output in a relational database format.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving user input that identifies the simulation engines to be used in said executing.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input that characterizes a probability distribution for at least one of the variables of at least one of the models, wherein said creating instantiated models include randomly selecting a value of said at least one variable based on the probability distribution.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input specifying the range for each variable of each model.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the models include one or more economic models, wherein the simulation engines include an economic simulation engines configured to operate at least one the one or more economic models.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the economic models include one or more of:

a tax model, a royalty model, a capital expenditure model and an operating expenditure model.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the instantiated models include:

a model of physical characteristics of a reservoir;

a model of locations of a plurality of wells;

a model of well plans for the plurality of wells.

18. The method of claim 18, wherein the instantiated models also include:

a model that represents a schedule for the drilling of one or more wells; and

a model that represents a schedule for production from the one or more wells.

19. A computer-readable non-transitory memory medium storing program instructions, wherein the program instructions, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to:

assemble in a memory a plurality of models that represent components of a value chain in a petroleum exploration and/or production project, wherein each of the models includes one or more variables, where each of said one or more variables is defined on a corresponding user-specified range;

create instantiated models by selecting for each model a value of each of the one or more variables included in that model, wherein the value of each variable is selected from the corresponding user-specified range;

assemble the instantiated models into a workflow, wherein said assembling includes formatting the instantiated models for access by a plurality of user-identified simulation engines;

execute the simulation engines on the workflow to generate data output; and

store the selected values of the variables and the corresponding data output from the simulation engines to the memory;

repeatedly perform a set of operations including said creating instantiated models, said assembling the instantiated models, said executing and said storing.

20. A computer system comprising:

a memory storing program instructions;

a processor configured to read the program instructions from the memory, wherein the program instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

assemble in a memory a plurality of models that represent components of a value chain in a petroleum exploration and/or production project, wherein each of the models includes one or more variables, where each of said one or more variables is defined on a corresponding user-specified range;

create instantiated models by selecting for each model a value of each of the one or more variables included in that model, wherein the value of each variable is selected from the corresponding user-specified range;

assemble the instantiated models into a workflow, wherein said assembling includes formatting the instantiated models for access by a plurality of user-identified simulation engines;

execute the simulation engines on the workflow to generate data output; and

store the selected values of the variables and the corresponding data output from the simulation engines to the memory;

repeatedly perform a set of operations including said creating instantiated models, said assembling the instantiated models, said executing and said storing.