Systems and methods for starting, restarting, monitoring, and increasing performance of a production and/or injection system

Abstract

A system includes a distributed control system and a subsea tree that includes subsea tree chokes and a subsea control module communicatively coupled to flow control valves. The distributed control system communicatively couples to the subsea control module, is located at a surface level, and includes processors that send a first instruction to the flow control valves to adjust hydrocarbon production flow when water or gas cut is above a threshold. The processors also send a second instruction to the subsea tree chokes to adjust the flow of the production when a quality of commingling of the production flow with additional production flows is less than a threshold, an arrival pressure is less than a threshold, or an arrival flow rate is less than a threshold. The processors further continue the production of the fluids with current settings when a production rate is above a production rate threshold.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for starting production of fluids comprising hydrocarbons from a well disposed in a reservoir located at a subsurface level, comprising:
 a subsea tree coupled to the well and configured to control a flow of the production of the fluids comprising the hydrocarbons, wherein the subsea tree comprises:
 one or more subsea tree chokes configured to control the flow of the production at the subsea tree; 
 one or more subsea tree valves configured to at least partially enable the flow of the production, inject additional fluids, inject gas, or any combination thereof, at the subsea tree; and 
 a subsea control module configured to communicatively couple to one or more flow control valves located in the well, the one or more subsea tree chokes, the one or more subsea tree valves, or any combination thereof, wherein the one or more flow control valves are configured to reduce water cut in the production, reduce gas cut in the production, control the flow of the production at the well, reduce solids in the production, or any combination thereof; 
   a distributed control system communicatively coupled to the subsea control module and located at a surface level, wherein the distributed control system comprises one or more processors configured to:
 send a first instruction to the one or more flow control valves to adjust the flow of the production of the well when the water cut or the gas cut in the production is above a water cut threshold or a gas cut threshold; 
 send a second instruction to the one or more subsea tree chokes to adjust the flow of the production when a quality of commingling of the flow of the production with one or more additional flows of production from one or more additional wells is less than a commingling threshold, an arrival pressure is less than an arrival pressure threshold, or an arrival flow rate is less than an arrival flow rate threshold; and 
 continue the production of the fluids comprising the hydrocarbons with current settings when a rate of the production is above a production rate threshold. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the subsea control module is communicatively coupled to one or more downhole water cut sensors located in the well, wherein the water cut or the gas cut is based at least in part on water cut information or gas cut information provided by the one or more downhole water cut sensors. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the subsea control module is communicatively coupled to one or more multiphase flowmeters located at a pipeline end manifold comprising one or more pipeline end manifold chokes configured to control the flow of the production at the pipeline end manifold and one or more pipeline end manifold valves configured to control the commingling of the flow of the production with one or more additional flows of production from one or more additional wells, wherein the quality of commingling the production is based at least in part on commingling information provided by the one or more multiphase flowmeters. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the distributed control system is communicatively coupled to one or more pressure sensors or one or more temperature sensors located at the surface level, wherein the arrival pressure or the arrival flow rate is based at least in part on arrival pressure information or arrival flow rate information provided by the one or more pressure sensors or the one or more temperature sensors. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to send a third instruction to a water injection system of the system to increase bottom hole pressure of the well when the bottom hole pressure of the well is less than a bottom hole pressure threshold. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the subsea control module is communicatively coupled to one or more downhole pressure sensors located in the well, wherein the bottom hole pressure is based at least in part on bottom hole pressure information provided by the one or more downhole pressure sensors. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to send a third instruction to the one or more flow control valves, the one or more subsea tree chokes, the one or more subsea tree valves, or any combination thereof to adjust the flow of the production when the rate of the production is less than the production rate threshold. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the well comprises a plurality of zones, wherein the first instruction is sent to a first set of the one or more flow control valves located in a first zone of the plurality of zones to adjust the flow of the production in the first zone when the water cut or the gas cut in the production at the first zone is above the water cut threshold or the gas cut threshold. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the first instruction is configured to prevent a second set of flow control valves located in a second zone of the plurality of zones to adjust the flow of production when the water cut or the gas cut in the production at the second zone is below the water cut threshold or the gas cut threshold. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the well comprises a plurality of downhole water cut sensors, wherein at least a first downhole water cut sensor of the plurality of downhole water cut sensors is located at the first zone, wherein at least a second downhole water cut sensor of the plurality of downhole water cut sensors is located at the second zone. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the water cut or the gas cut in the production in the first zone is based at least in part on water cut information or gas cut information provided by at least the first downhole water cut sensor, wherein the water cut or the gas cut in the production in the second zone is based at least in part on water cut information or gas cut information provided by at least the second downhole water cut sensor. 
     
     
         12 . A system for restarting production of fluids comprising hydrocarbons from a well after stopping the production, comprising:
 the well configured to produce the fluids comprising hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon reservoir;   a subsea tree mounted to the well and configured to transfer the production of the hydrocarbons from the well, wherein the subsea tree comprises a subsea control module configured to control one or more subsea components of the system;   a plurality of pipelines configured to transfer the production of the fluids at least partially from the subsea tree to a surface level, wherein the plurality of pipelines comprises a flowline configured to transfer the production of the fluids from the subsea tree to a riser coupled to the flowline, wherein the riser is configured to transfer the production of the fluids from the flowline to the surface level;   a gas injection system coupled to the subsea tree and the well and configured to inject gas into the subsea tree and the well;   a pig launcher configured to displace the production with dead oil;   a distributed control system communicatively coupled to the subsea control module and located at the surface level, wherein distributed control system comprises one or more processors configured to:
 send a first instruction to the gas injection system to inject the gas into the subsea tree to preserve the subsea tree; 
 send a second instruction to the pig launcher to displace the production in at least one pipeline of the plurality of pipelines with the dead oil to preserve the at least one pipeline; 
 send a third instruction to the gas injection system to inject the gas into the well to preserve the well; and 
 restart the production at the well. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors is configured to receive an indication that the system has shutdown prior to sending the first instruction. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the indication is based at least in part on sensor information provided by one or more sensors located at the surface level, a subsea level, a subsurface level, or any combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to send a fourth instruction to a chemical injection system coupled to the flowline and the riser, wherein the fourth instruction is configured to inject chemicals into the flowline and the riser to depressurize the riser and the flowline. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to restart the production at the well by injecting chemicals into the well. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine a chemical injection rate to inject the chemicals into the well based at least in part on a water cut at the subsea tree, a pressure at the subsea tree, or both. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 12 , wherein the plurality of pipelines comprises a jumper coupled to the subsea tree, wherein sending the second instruction to the gas injection system to inject the gas into the subsea tree comprises injecting the gas into the jumper. 
     
     
         19 . A system for monitoring and increasing performance of production of fluids comprising hydrocarbons from a well, comprising:
 the well configured to produce the fluids comprising the hydrocarbons from a hydrocarbon reservoir, wherein one or more flow control devices and one or more inflow control devices are located in the well, wherein the one or more flow control devices are configured to reduce water cut in the production, reduce gas cut in the production, control a flow of the production at the well, or any combination thereof, wherein the one or more inflow control devices are configured to reduce flow of one or more undesired liquids into the well, from the well, or a combination thereof;   a subsea tree mounted to the well and configured to transfer the production of fluids comprising the hydrocarbons from the well to a pipeline end manifold, wherein the subsea tree comprises a subsea control module and at least a first choke of a plurality of chokes, wherein the subsea control module is configured to control one or more subsea components of the system, wherein at least the first choke is configured to control the flow of the production at the subsea tree;   the pipeline end manifold coupled to the subsea tree and comprising at least a second choke of the plurality of chokes, wherein at least the second choke is configured to control a flow of the production at the pipeline end manifold;   a distributed control system communicatively coupled to the subsea control module and located at a surface level, wherein the distributed control system comprises one or more processors configured to:
 send a first instruction to adjust the one or more flow control devices, the one or more inflow control devices, at least the first choke, at least the second choke, or any combination thereof, when the water cut or a solid production in the production is above a water cut threshold or a solid production threshold; 
 determine whether a measured flow rate, a measured pressure, a measured temperature, or any combination thereof, approximately matches a flow rate, pressure, a temperature, or any combination thereof, of the production corresponding to increasing the production; 
 send a second instruction to adjust the one or more flow control devices, the one or more inflow control devices, or any combination thereof, when the measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination, does not approximately match the flow rate, the pressure, the temperature, or any combination thereof, corresponding to increasing the production; and 
 continue the production with current settings when the measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination, approximately matches the flow rate, the pressure, the temperature, or any combination thereof, corresponding to increasing the production. 
   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive subsea or subsurface information from the subsea control module comprising the measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination, of the production. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 19 , wherein the well comprises a plurality of zones, wherein each zone of the plurality of zones comprises a respective measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination, of the production. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the water cut or the solid production in the production is above the water cut threshold or the solid production threshold at each zone of the plurality of zones. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 22 , wherein the first instruction is sent only to the one or more flow control devices, the one or more inflow control devices, at least the first choke, at least the second choke, or any combination thereof, in each zone of the plurality of zones where the water cut or the solid production at the zone is above the water cut threshold or the solid production threshold. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 21 , wherein each zone of the plurality of zones comprises a respective flow rate, pressure, temperature, or any combination thereof, of the production, corresponding to increasing the production. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to determine whether the measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination thereof, approximately matches the flow rate, pressure, temperature, or any combination thereof, by determining whether the respective measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination, at each zone of the plurality of zones approximately matches the respective flow rate, pressure, temperature, or any combination thereof, at the zone. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the second instruction is sent only to the one or more flow control devices, the one or more inflow control devices, or any combination thereof, in each zone of the plurality of zones where the measured flow rate, the measured pressure, the measured temperature, or any combination at the zone does not approximately match the respective flow rate, the pressure, the temperature, or any combination thereof, corresponding to increasing the production at the zone.