Software's used for Petroleum production optimization

Computer Simulations software provides geoscientists and engineers with insights into the behavior of the well under changing conditions. The simulations have moved on from their ‘run’ on time-consuming and expensive supercomputers to faster and cost-effective intelligent platforms. 

New systems provide more accurate results, a better understanding of extractable reserves enabling timely reactions to ever-changing market conditions and significantly lower total cost. The IPM suite Integrated Production Modelling – is developed by Petroleum Experts (Petex). IPM model is an oil or gas production system which includes reservoir, wells and the surface network.

Open Server Communication

IPM allows the integration with the reservoir simulation models – Eclipse, VIP, etc. to evaluate the impact on production. PIPESIM- SCHLUMBERGER  is a flow simulator that can create well models to help increase production and understand reservoir potential. PIPESIM simulator models multiphase flow from the reservoir to the wellhead and considers artificial lift systems, including rod pumps, ESP, and gas lift. PIPESIM enables to

(i)   design optimal well completions and artificial lift systems;
(ii)  diagnose problems that are limiting well production potential;
(iii) optimize production from existing wells by quantifying actions to increase flow rates.

SAND MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE – SCHLUMBERGER

Sand CADE is a gravel-pack design and evaluation software. Sand CADE software performs engineering calculations to assess the sand control treatment design and supports job execution and evaluation for open-hole and cased-hole gravel-pack completions.

Sand Advisor Software supports screen and gravel selection in open-hole applications by analyzing the formation of particle-size distributions.

Credits: Oil and Gas portal

Technologies involved in petroleum system production optimization

Production optimization allows to increase productivity from the existing fields and uses encompass several areas of interest. In this context, contributes can come from the application of different technologies.

1. Intelligent Well Completion

An Intelligent (Smart) completion is a well that contains a “Remotely Operated Adaptive Completion System” which provides real-time data and the capability to re-configure the Well architecture without well interventions.

Intelligent completion for a multilateral well

Intelligent Well completion system

The system is able to collect, transmit, and analyze reservoir production data and to proof completion integrity, and to enable remote action to better control reservoir, well, and production processes.

2. WELL PRODUCTIVITY

Ideal Well productivity is the final goal of Production Optimization. In particular, well productivity is determined by a well inflow performance and in this context, a common approach is “Nodal Analysis”. It is a system analysis approach applied to analyze the performance of systems composed of interacting components.

Well Performance Analysis

3. WELL STIMULATION

Well stimulation is a term describing a variety of operations performed on a well to improve its productivity. Stimulation operations can be focused on the wellbore or in the reservoir. They can be conducted on old wells and new wells and they can be also designed for remedial purposes.

There are two main types of stimulation operations:

• Matrix stimulation

• Hydraulic fracturing

Matrix stimulation is performed below the reservoir fracture pressure in an effort to restore the natural permeability of the reservoir rock. Well matrix stimulation is achieved by pumping acid mixtures (acidizing) into the near-wellbore area to dissolve the limestone and dolomite formations or the formation damage particles between the sediment grains of the sandstone rocks.

Hydraulic fracturing is the most common mechanism for increasing well productivity.

4. SAND CONTROL MANAGEMENT

When the oil is produced from relatively weak reservoir rocks, small particles and sand grains are dislodged and carried along with the flow. This sand production can create erosion in flowlines and other equipment. Sand management can be considered as a key issue in field development in most of the world’s oil and gas fields. 

Step process for sanding

Methods of sand control

Credits: Oil and Gas portal

Fundamentals of Petroleum Production Optimization

Production Optimization refers to the various activities of measuring, analyzing, modeling, prioritizing and implementing actions to enhance the productivity of a field: reservoir/well/surface. Production Optimization is a fundamental practice to ensure the recovery of developed reserves while maximizing returns. Production Optimization activities include:

• Near-wellbore profile management

              gas–water coning and fingering
              near-wellbore conformance management

• Removal of near-wellbore damage 

              matrix stimulation or acidizing

• Maximize the productivity index

              hydraulic fracturing
              maximum-reservoir-contact well with multilateral completion

• Prevention of organic and inorganic solid deposition in the near-wellbore/completion/pipeline

• Well integrity

              prevention and remediation of casing and cement failure

• Design of Well completion

              optimization of artificial lift performance at field and well level
              sand control management

• The efficiency of oil and gas transport

• Design of surface facilities and fluid handling capacity

• Production system debottlenecking

Production Optimization, along with Reservoir Management, is a central part of a company’s field development and deliverability strategy. The key factor in production optimization is the capability to mitigate formation damage during well construction and production routine operations. Formation damage mitigation can be accomplished assuring that operational details are achieved before reaching the pay zone to the last production parameters recorded.

Credits: Oil and gas portal

New Technologies and Innovations used for well drilling

New technologies have also helped reduce the environmental impact of energy production by allowing more oil and gas to be produced with fewer wells. Well completion is the final step of the drilling process, where the connection to hydrocarbon-bearing rock is established. Advancements in drilling technology have also enabled the recent growth in production from shale and other unconventional oil and gas reservoirs in many parts of the world, using a combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal, extended reach drilling.

1. Horizontal Drilling

Horizontal drilling is a directional drilling process aimed to target an oil or gas reservoir intersecting it at the entry point with a near-horizontal inclination, and remaining within the reservoir until the desired bottom hole location is reached. Horizontal drilling provides more contact to a reservoir formation than a vertical well and allows more hydrocarbons to be produced from a given wellbore.

There are many kinds of the reservoir where the potential benefits of horizontal drilling are evident:

• in conventional reservoirs

Thin reservoirs; Reservoirs with natural vertical fractures; Reservoirs where water (and gas) coning will develop; thin layered reservoirs; heterogeneous reservoirs;

• in unconventional reservoirs

shale gas/oil, tight gas/oil, CBM, heavy oil, oil sands, etc

2. Multilateral Drilling

Sometimes oil and natural gas reserves are located in separate layers underground and multilateral drilling allows producers to branch out from the main well to tap reserves at different depths. A multilateral well is a single well with one or more wellbore branches radiating from the main borehole.

General multilateral configurations include:

Multi-branched wells, forked wells, wells with several laterals branching from one horizontal main wellbore, wells with several laterals branching from one vertical main wellbore, wells with stacked laterals, and wells with dual-opposing laterals.

Multilateral Well Configurations

• Multilateral wells configuration enhances productivity.
• In shallow or depleted reservoirs, branched horizontal wellbores are often most efficient, whereas, in layered reservoirs, vertically stacked drain-holes are usually best.
• In fractured reservoirs, dual-opposing laterals may provide maximum reservoir exposure, particularly when fracture orientation is known.

3. Extended Reach Drilling

Extended Reach Drilling allows producers to reach deposits that are great distances away from the drilling rig and this helps producers tap oil and natural gas deposits undersurface areas where a vertical well cannot be drilled, such as underdeveloped or environmentally sensitive areas.
The current world record (around 2013) for the longest measured depth ERD well is the Chayvo Z-42 well (Exxon Neftegas Limited, Sakhalin Island, Russia) with a measured depth of 41,667 ft. and a horizontal departure of 38,514 ft.

The objective of the hole- cleaning program in ERW is to improve drilling performance by avoiding stuck pipe, avoiding tight hole on connections and trips, maximizing the footage drilled between wiper trips, eliminating back reaming trips prior to reaching the casing point and maximizing daily drilling progress.

4. Automated drilling

• Automated drilling is one of the oil industry’s most important innovation targets.
• The sources now being tapped, such as shale gas and coal-bed methane, require a very large number of wells, and automating the drilling process would be an obvious way to keep the costs under control, and also gets around a problem which many sectors of engineering are experiencing
• Automated drilling would be faster, more efficient, and safer, as it reduces the number of workers on site.

This technique would have a number of advantages:

• First, it reduces the amount of energy needed to drill the bore; wider bores need more energy because they have to displace more material, so for a given depth of bore, less rock has to be removed.

• It also uses less steel, less cement grouting, and less drilling mud; as well as a smaller drilling rig.

• It also allows for greater depths to be achieved.

Credits: Oil and gas portal