Autonomous design and placement of hydrocarbon wells in numerical reservoir simulator

Abstract

A method to perform drilling operations in a field is disclosed. The method includes performing, through simulation time-steps corresponding to time points in a multi-year duration, a reservoir simulation based on a reservoir model of the field, generating, in response to determining a new well is to be drilled during a simulation time-step, a sweet spot map for drilling the new well, the sweet spot map excluding existing well locations in the reservoir model at the simulation time-step, generating, based on the sweet spot map, a well trajectory of the new well for adding to the reservoir model, generating, based at least on the well trajectory of the new well added to the reservoir model, a simulation result of the reservoir simulation, and drilling, based on the simulation result and at the time point of the multi-year duration, the new well according to the well trajectory in the field.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method to perform drilling operations in a field, comprising:
 obtaining a field development plan of the field, the field development plan comprising a new well drilling schedule for a multi-year duration;   performing, through a sequence of simulation time-steps corresponding to a sequence of time points in the multi-year duration, a reservoir simulation based on a reservoir model of the field;   determining, during a first simulation time-step of the reservoir simulation, that the new well drilling schedule comprises drilling a first new well at a first time point corresponding to the first simulation time-step;   generating, in response to said determining, a first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well, the first sweet spot map excludes a first plurality of existing well locations in the reservoir model at the first simulation time-step;   generating, based on the first sweet spot map, a first well trajectory of the first new well for adding to the reservoir model;   generating, based at least on the first well trajectory of the first new well added to the reservoir model, a first simulation result of the reservoir simulation; and   drilling, based at least on the first simulation result and at the first time point of the multi-year duration, the first new well according to the first well trajectory in the field.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map is further in response to a request specified in the new well drilling schedule to optimize well placement of the first new well.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well is based on a reservoir opportunity index.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein generating the first well trajectory of the first new well comprises:
 generating, using a pre-determined clustering algorithm, a plurality of clusters of the first sweet spot map; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein generating the plurality of well paths comprises:
 applying a pre-determined regression algorithm to each of the plurality of clusters to generate a regression line segment; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 ,
 wherein the pre-determined regression algorithm comprises Orthogonal Distance Regression (ODR) algorithm.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 further determining, during a second simulation time-step of the reservoir simulation subsequent to the first simulation time-step, that the new well drilling schedule comprises drilling a second new well at a second time point corresponding to the second simulation time-step;   generating, in response to said further determining, a second sweet spot map for drilling the second new well, the second sweet spot map excludes a second plurality of existing well locations in the reservoir model at the second simulation time-step, the second plurality of existing well locations comprise the first well trajectory of the first new well;   generating, based on the second sweet spot map, a second well trajectory of the second new well for adding to the reservoir model;   generating, based at least on the second well trajectory of the second new well added to the reservoir model, a second simulation result of the reservoir simulation; and   drilling, based at least on the second simulation result and at the second time point of the multi-year duration, the second new well according to the second well trajectory in the field.   
     
     
         8 . A well design and placement analyzer to facilitate drilling operations in a field, comprising:
 a computer processor; and   memory storing instructions, when executed by the computer processor comprising functionality for:
 obtaining a field development plan of the field, the field development plan comprising a new well drilling schedule for a multi-year duration,
 wherein a reservoir simulation is performed through a sequence of simulation time-steps corresponding to a sequence of time points in the multi-year duration based on a reservoir model of the field, and 
 wherein the new well drilling schedule comprises drilling a first new well at a first time point corresponding to a first simulation time-step of the sequence of simulation time-steps; 
 
 generating, during the first simulation time-step, a first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well, the first sweet spot map excludes a first plurality of existing well locations in the reservoir model at the first simulation time-step; and 
 generating, based on the first sweet spot map, a first well trajectory of the first new well for adding to the reservoir model, 
 wherein a first simulation result of the reservoir simulation is generated based at least on the first well trajectory of the first new well added to the reservoir model; and 
 wherein the first new well is drilled, based at least on the first simulation result and at the first time point of the multi-year duration, according to the first well trajectory in the field. 
   
     
     
         9 . The well design and placement analyzer of  claim 8 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map is further in response to a request specified in the new well drilling schedule to optimize well placement of the first new well.   
     
     
         10 . The well design and placement analyzer of  claim 8 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well is based on a reservoir opportunity index.   
     
     
         11 . The well design and placement analyzer of  claim 8 , wherein generating the first well trajectory of the first new well comprises:
 generating, using a pre-determined clustering algorithm, a plurality of clusters of the first sweet spot map; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         12 . The well design and placement analyzer of  claim 11 , wherein generating the plurality of well paths comprises:
 applying a pre-determined regression algorithm to each of the plurality of clusters to generate a regression line segment; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         13 . The well design and placement analyzer of  claim 12 ,
 wherein the pre-determined regression algorithm comprises Orthogonal Distance Regression (ODR) algorithm.   
     
     
         14 . A system comprising:
 a wellsite for performing drilling operations in a field;   a reservoir simulator comprising the functionality for:
 obtaining a field development plan of the field, the field development plan comprising a new well drilling schedule for a multi-year duration; 
 performing, through a sequence of simulation time-steps corresponding to a sequence of time points in the multi-year duration, a reservoir simulation based on a reservoir model of the field; and 
 determining, during a first simulation time-step of the reservoir simulation, that the new well drilling schedule comprises drilling a first new well at a first time point corresponding to the first simulation time-step; and 
   a well design and placement analyzer comprising the functionality for:
 generating, in response to said determining, a first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well, the first sweet spot map excludes a first plurality of existing well locations in the reservoir model at the first simulation time-step; and 
 generating, based on the first sweet spot map, a first well trajectory of the first new well for adding to the reservoir model, 
   wherein the reservoir simulator further comprising the functionality for generating, based at least on the first well trajectory of the first new well added to the reservoir model, a first simulation result of the reservoir simulation, and   wherein the first new well is drilled, based at least on the first simulation result and at the first time point of the multi-year duration, at the wellsite according to the first well trajectory.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map is further in response to a request specified in the new well drilling schedule to optimize well placement of the first new well.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein generating the first sweet spot map for drilling the first new well is based on a reservoir opportunity index.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein generating the first well trajectory of the first new well comprises:
 generating, using a pre-determined clustering algorithm, a plurality of clusters of the first sweet spot map; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein generating the plurality of well paths comprises:
 applying a pre-determined regression algorithm to each of the plurality of clusters to generate a regression line segment; and   generating a plurality of well paths from the plurality of clusters,   wherein the first well trajectory is generated based on the plurality of well paths.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 ,
 wherein the pre-determined regression algorithm comprises Orthogonal Distance Regression (ODR) algorithm.   
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 14 ,
 wherein the reservoir simulator further comprises the functionality for further determining, during a second simulation time-step of the reservoir simulation subsequent to the first simulation time-step, that the new well drilling schedule comprises drilling a second new well at a second time point corresponding to the second simulation time-step, and   wherein the well design and placement analyzer further comprises the functionality for:
 generating, in response to said further determining, a second sweet spot map for drilling the second new well, the second sweet spot map excludes a second plurality of existing well locations in the reservoir model at the second simulation time-step, the second plurality of existing well locations comprise the first well trajectory of the first new well; and 
 generating, based on the second sweet spot map, a second well trajectory of the second new well for adding to the reservoir model, 
   wherein a second simulation result of the reservoir simulation is generated based at least on the second well trajectory of the second new well added to the reservoir model, and   wherein the first new well is drilled, based at least on the second simulation result and at the second time point of the multi-year duration, according to the second well trajectory in the field.