scholarly journals Use of Smart Controls in Intelligent Well Completion to Optimize Oil & Gas Recovery

Author(s):  
Austin Afuekwe ◽  
Kelani Bello

For the past few years, the oil and gas industry has faced several economic, geographic and technical challenges largely due to decline in crude oil prices and market volatility. In the quest to address some of these challenges to accelerate production and subsequently maximize ultimate recovery, operators are limited to remote hydraulic and electro-hydraulic monitoring and control of safety valves providing the means of obtaining downhole production data which demands periodic well intervention-based techniques with risk of loss of associated tools. This has highlighted the need for companies to adopt new technology to take advantage of low crude oil price environment, optimizing recovery without interventions and with minimal production interruption. One of the recent improvements in production technologies which can remedy these problems having unique capabilities to do so is the Intelligent Well Completion (IWC) technology. In this paper the utilization of IWC to optimize oil recovery was evaluated. The use of a reservoir simulator, the Schlumberger ECLIPSE-100 simulator, was employed to model an intelligent well. Case study simulations were performed for an active bottom-water drive. Modeling of the Intelligent Well Inflow Control Devices (ICDs) and downhole sensors for the multilaterals was achieved using the Multi-Segment Well model. Optimal IWC technology combination for maximum hydrocarbon recovery and minimal water production was determined using the reactive control strategy (RCS) which indicated a drastic reduction of about 52.1% in water production with a slight drop of 1.5% in field oil efficiency (FOE). The simulation results obtained clearly showed that the utilization of intelligent well-ICDs in Production wells can significantly increase the cumulative oil production and reduce water production.

Author(s):  
M. Chukunedum Onojake ◽  
T. Angela Waka

The petroleum industry includes the global processes of exploration, extraction, refining, transportation and marketing of natural gas, crude oil and refined petroleum products. The oil industry demands more sophisticated methods for the exploitation of petroleum. As a result, the use of oil field chemicals is becoming increasingly important and has received much attention in recent years due to the vast role they play in the recovery of hydrocarbons which has enormous  commercial benefits. The three main sectors of the petroleum industry are Upstream, Midstream and Downstream. The Upstream deals with exploration and the subsequent production (drilling of exploration wells to recover oil and gas). In the Midstream sector, petroleum produced is transported through pipelines as natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. Downstream sector is basically involved in the processing of the raw materials obtained from the Upstream sector. The operations comprises of refining of crude oil, processing and purifying of natural gas. Oil field chemicals offers exceptional applications in these sectors with wide range of applications in operations such as improved oil recovery, drilling optimization, corrosion protection, mud loss prevention, drilling fluid stabilization in high pressure and high temperature environment, and many others. Application of a wide range of oilfield chemicals is therefore essential to rectify issues and concerns which may arise from oil and gas operational activities. This review intends to highlight some of the oil field chemicals and  their positive applications in the oil and gas Industries.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-50
Author(s):  
G. Ijeomah ◽  
F. Samsuri ◽  
F. Obite ◽  
M.A. Zawawi

The global oil demand and the development of advanced techniques have made the regeneration of previously abandoned oilwells economically attractive. As conventional oil recovery methods near their economic limits, a revolutionary new technology is required to harness maximum oil from these stranded oilwells. Due to its potential to manipulate matter at molecular level, nanotechnology promises to dramatically transform oil and gas industry by enabling enhanced oil and gas recovery. Recently, there has been increasing research interest in the applications of nanotechnology in enhanced oil and gas recovery, where the unique aspects of reservoir management, drilling, production, processing and refinery are redesign. Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize the drilling process and accelerate the production of oil and gas by providing a platform that makes their separation in the reservoir more amenable. Nanotechnology can make the industry greener by drastically reducing the oil’s carbon footprint in contrast to oils obtained from conventional methods. In this paper, we review the latest trends in the applications of nanotechnology for enhanced oil and gas recovery. We further present scientific advance and new insight into possible future applications. The paper aims to broaden our understanding of the applications landscape of nanotechnology in oil and gas industry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (09) ◽  
pp. 57-57
Author(s):  
Jonathan Wylde

As production chemists, we are all aware of the overall concepts of improved oil recovery (IOR) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Perhaps, though, fewer of us are aware of the different idiosyncrasies that exist within (and even between) these two broad categories of recovery and then how chemistry and chemicals can have an effect upon these processes. I would like to propose that the lines once were quite distinct between IOR and EOR: IOR was a standard waterflood operation, and EOR (from a chemist’s perspective) was the addition of chemistry to that waterflood (typically polymer or surfactant). Nowadays, the science has evolved massively to create many sub-genres of IOR and EOR. A waterflood is rarely just a waterflood anymore. We can alternate water and gas injection. We can add chemical conformance aids to direct better the flow of water. We can change the salinity of the water to promote better wettability for higher recovery factors. The list goes on. One just has to search out the number of EOR papers vs. (pretty much) every other discipline of production chemistry to see the commitment this industry still has to the research of this discipline. In recent years, the focus has tended to move away from deep-reservoir EOR to focus on near-wellbore stimulation. Interestingly, the mechanistic considerations that we make as production chemists are nearly identical in all cases, and significant synergies exist between these subdisciplines. Therefore, from the recent research published by SPE, two focused topics of IOR/EOR have arisen: the use of nanoparticles and the use of water-shutoff technologies. Nanoparticle use is gaining significant traction in the oil and gas industry, and field applications are now being reported. The area of IOR/EOR is no exception. Water shutoff is not a new technology area. However, are these established, production-sustaining IOR techniques seeing a resurgence caused by the headwinds our industry has faced during the COVID-19 pandemic? Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. OTC 30123 - Thermal and Rheological Investigations on N,N’-Methylenebis Acrylamide Cross-Linked Polyacrylamide Nanocomposite Hydrogels for Water-Shutoff Applications by Mohan Raj Keishnan, Alfiasal University, et al. IPTC 20210 - Chemical and Mechanical Water Shutoff in Horizontal Passive ICD Wells: Experience and Lessons Learned in Giant Darcy Reservoir by Mohamed Abdel-Basset, Schlumberger, et al. SPE 203831 - Efficient Preparation of Nanostarch Particles and Mechanism of Enhanced Oil Recovery in Low-Permeability Oil Reservoirs by Lei Zhang, China University of Geosciences, et al.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (01) ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
Manas Pathak ◽  
Tonya Cosby ◽  
Robert K. Perrons

Artificial intelligence (AI) has captivated the imagination of science-fiction movie audiences for many years and has been used in the upstream oil and gas industry for more than a decade (Mohaghegh 2005, 2011). But few industries evolve more quickly than those from Silicon Valley, and it accordingly follows that the technology has grown and changed considerably since this discussion began. The oil and gas industry, therefore, is at a point where it would be prudent to take stock of what has been achieved with AI in the sector, to provide a sober assessment of what has delivered value and what has not among the myriad implementations made so far, and to figure out how best to leverage this technology in the future in light of these learnings. When one looks at the long arc of AI in the oil and gas industry, a few important truths emerge. First among these is the fact that not all AI is the same. There is a spectrum of technological sophistication. Hollywood and the media have always been fascinated by the idea of artificial superintelligence and general intelligence systems capable of mimicking the actions and behaviors of real people. Those kinds of systems would have the ability to learn, perceive, understand, and function in human-like ways (Joshi 2019). As alluring as these types of AI are, however, they bear little resemblance to what actually has been delivered to the upstream industry. Instead, we mostly have seen much less ambitious “narrow AI” applications that very capably handle a specific task, such as quickly digesting thousands of pages of historical reports (Kimbleton and Matson 2018), detecting potential failures in progressive cavity pumps (Jacobs 2018), predicting oil and gas exports (Windarto et al. 2017), offering improvements for reservoir models (Mohaghegh 2011), or estimating oil-recovery factors (Mahmoud et al. 2019). But let’s face it: As impressive and commendable as these applications have been, they fall far short of the ambitious vision of highly autonomous systems that are capable of thinking about things outside of the narrow range of tasks explicitly handed to them. What is more, many of these narrow AI applications have tended to be modified versions of fairly generic solutions that were originally designed for other industries and that were then usefully extended to the oil and gas industry with a modest amount of tailoring. In other words, relatively little AI has been occurring in a way that had the oil and gas sector in mind from the outset. The second important truth is that human judgment still matters. What some technology vendors have referred to as “augmented intelligence” (Kimbleton and Matson 2018), whereby AI supplements human judgment rather than sup-plants it, is not merely an alternative way of approaching AI; rather, it is coming into focus that this is probably the most sensible way forward for this technology.


Author(s):  
L.S. Leontieva ◽  
◽  
E.B. Makarova ◽  

The oil and gas sector of the economy in many states remains the main source of foreign exchange and tax revenues to the budget. Moreover, its share, for example, in Russia, accounts for about 12 % of all industrial production. However, this sector, as the practice of world oil prices shows, is experiencing not only a rise, but also a decline. Consequently, the problem of forming a balanced portfolio of oil and gas assets is an object of close attention on the part of national oil and gas companies. The issues of choosing the optimal combination of oil and gas assets in the portfolio are no less urgent, especially among the tasks that all oil and gas companies face, both in Russia and abroad. An investment portfolio or a portfolio of oil and gas assets, which includes new projects for the commissioning of fields, as well as measures to enhance oil recovery, and exploration are objects of real investment. The high volatility of the oil and gas industry is influenced by various factors, including: macroeconomic, innovation risks and a number of others. These circumstances stimulate the sector to increase the resilience of its project portfolios in order to respond flexibly to changes. In an increasingly challenging and uncertain environment, oil and gas companies around the world face constant pressures as difficult strategic decisions and building long-term plans lead to a sustainable portfolio. In order to achieve their goals and maximize profitability, companies should apply certain algorithms in their practice. The article substantiates the role and importance of project portfolio management in achieving the goals of the state and companies in the oil and gas sector. The main goal of the article is to build an algorithm that is aimed both at determining the stability of the portfolio and the ability to flexibly respond to changes in the environment. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the determination of an algorithm for assessing the sustainability of a portfolio of projects of oil and gas companies. Application of this algorithm will allow oil and gas companies to take into account the influence of external factors. The research methodology is based on such methods as analysis of internal regulations and reporting of companies for project portfolio management, risk analysis, project ranking; grouping and classification method.


Author(s):  
B.M. Das ◽  
D. Dutta

Nanotechnology encompasses the science and technology of objects with sizes ranging from 1 nm to 100 nm. Today, exploration and production from conventional oil and gas wells have reached a stage of depletion. Newer technologies have been developed to address this problem. Maximum oil production at a minimum cost is currently a huge challenge. This paper reviews nanotechnology applications in the oil and gas production sector, including in the fields of exploration, drilling, production, and waste management in oil fields, as well as their environmental concerns. The paper reviews experimental observations carried out by various researchers in these fields. The effect of various nanoparticles, such as titanium oxide, magnesium oxide, zinc oxide, copper oxide, and carbon nanotubes in drilling fluids and silica nanoparticles in enhanced oil recovery, has been observed and studied. This paper gives a detailed review of the benefits of nanotechnology in oil exploration and production. The fusion of nanotechnology and petroleum technology can result in great benefits. The physics and chemistry of nanoparticles and nanostructures are very new to petroleum technology. Due to the greater risk associated with adapting new technology, nanotechnology has been slow to gain widespread acceptance in the oil and gas industries. However, the current economic conditions have become a driving force for newer technologies.


2015 ◽  
Vol 799-800 ◽  
pp. 196-200
Author(s):  
Abhilash M. Bharadwaj ◽  
Sonny Irawan ◽  
Saravanan Karuppanan ◽  
Mohamad Zaki bin Abdullah ◽  
Ismail bin Mohd Saaid

Casing design is one of the most important parts of the well planning in the oil and gas industry. Various factors affecting the casing material needs to be considered by the drilling engineers. Wells partaking in thermal oil recovery processes undergo extreme temperature variation and this induces high thermal stresses in the casings. Therefore, forecasting the material behavior and checking for failure mechanisms becomes highly important. This paper uses Finite Element Methods to analyze the behavior two of the frequently used materials for casing - J55 and L80 steels. Modeling the casing and application of boundary conditions are performed through Ansys Workbench. Effect of steam injection pressure and temperature on the materials is presented in this work, indicating the possibilities of failure during heating cycle. The change in diameter of the casing body due to axial restriction is also presented. This paper aims to draw special attention towards the casing design in high temperature conditions of the well.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiola Oyatobo ◽  
Amalachukwu Muoghalu ◽  
Chinaza Ikeokwu ◽  
Wilson Ekpotu

Abstract Ineffective methods of increasing oil recovery have been one of the challenges, whose solutions are constantly sought after in the oil and gas industry as the number of under-produced reservoirs increases daily. Water injection is the most extended technology to increase oil recovery, although excessive water production can pose huge damage ranging from the loss of the well to an increase in cost and capital investment requirement of surface facilities to handle the produced water. To mitigate these challenges and encourage the utilization of local contents, locally produced polymers were used in polymer flooding as an Enhanced Oil Recovery approach to increase the viscosity of the injected fluids for better profile control and reduce cost when compared with foreign polymers as floppan. Hence this experimental research was geared towards increasing the efficiency of oil displacement in sandstone reservoirs using locally sourced polymers in Nigeria and also compared the various polymers for optimum efficiency. Starch, Ewedu, and Gum Arabic were used in flooding an already obtained core samples and comparative analysis of this shows that starch yielded the highest recovery due to higher viscosity value as compared to Ewedu with the lowest mobility ratio to Gum Arabic. Finally, the concentration of Starch or Gum Arabic should be increased for optimum recovery.


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