Method and system for modeling multi-well communication considering multiple flow regimes for hydrocarbon management

Abstract

A methodology for modeling multi-well communication considering multiple flow regimes for hydrocarbon management is disclosed. Understanding well communication scenarios in unconventional reservoirs may assist in assessing hydrocarbon asset development planning. Typically, well communication is determined by using a suitably-designed interference test, wherein the observation well is kept closed and the choke of a neighboring signal well is manipulated, with the resulting deviation in the pressure trend being used to determine the well communication. The interference test is not suitable due to requiring wells to be closed and to being applicable to only certain types of wells. Thus, a producer-producer connectivity model is used to analyze well communication and to quantify well communication strength. Such as connectivity model may use production data (not requiring wells be kept closed), does not require the building of a reservoir model, and may consider the simultaneous interaction amongst multiple wells through time.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for determining well communication between a plurality of wells for hydrocarbon management, the method comprising:
 accessing a model for determining the well communication between the plurality of wells;   determining, using the model and production data, at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells and a plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells; and   using the at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells over time and the plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells over time for hydrocarbon management.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of flow regimes comprises linear, bi-linear, and pseudo-steady state. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one metric of communication comprises a plurality of coefficients indicative of flow for each of the linear, bi-linear, and pseudo-steady state flow regimes. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of coefficients are normalized across the plurality of flow regimes. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of coefficients are determined based on the production data in the plurality of wells and pressure drops between the plurality of wells. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the production data is obtained without shutting down of any of the plurality of wells. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein data is obtained from at least one of:
 direct instrumental measurement comprising at least one of an individual flow meter, a test separator for test measurement, or a downhole pressure gauge for pressure measurement; or   an indirect measurement comprising a virtual metering technique based on sensing temperature and pressure at one or more sections of the well.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein data frequency of the data is dependent on one or both of a phase of hydrocarbon management or a type of data source. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein depending on the data frequency, the at least one metric indicative of the well communication determined comprises a short-term early well communication of no more than 1 week or a long-term production interference of at least more than one week. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells and the plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells is based on imposing one or more equality constraints on the at least one metric as part of an optimization process. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the one or more equality constraints comprise contribution from a respective well's linear flow to an adjacent well's pressure drop is equal to the contribution from the adjacent well's linear flow to the respective well's pressure drop. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more equality constraints does not include actual contribution to pressure loss being the same for the respective well and the adjacent well. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more equality constraints comprise each respective flow regime's contribution lasting throughout an entire designated time period thereby capturing an average impact of each respective flow regime across the entire designated time period. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells and a plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells is time dependent. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating a gun barrel plot indicative for a respective well contributions to flow of the respective well and its neighboring wells. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the production data is during a primary depletion stage of hydrocarbon management. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the production data is during an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) stage of hydrocarbon management in which gas is injected into a reservoir. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein using the at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells over time and the plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells over time for hydrocarbon management comprises determining spacing of wells based on the at least one metric. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein using the at least one metric indicative of the well communication between the plurality of wells over time and the plurality of flow regimes between the plurality of wells over time for hydrocarbon management comprises configuring completions of wells based on the at least one metric. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the model is based on a pressure drop between wells for a plurality of flow regimes and based on flow rate between the wells. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 20 , wherein the model comprises: 
       
         
           
             
               
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         wherein n w  is a number of wells, n f  is a number of flow regimes, Q ij  is a feature generated based on well i's rate under flow regime j, and wherein α ij  is indicative of well communication for well i under the flow regime j; and
 wherein determining the at least one metric comprises determining α ij  by data fitting the model based on production data. 
 
       
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein Q ij  is determined based on different weighting functions for each of the flow regimes. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the at least one metric for a respective well α i  comprises a combination of α ij  for each of the flow regime j.