Well selection methodology for the deployment of in-situ shock wave stimulation processes in carbonate reservoirs

Abstract

A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the computer program causing the machine to select the oil field in response to determining that a reservoir beneath the oil field contains by-passed oil. The reservoir and by-passed oil can meet threshold requirements. The computer program further causes the machine to determine, based on well availability data characterizing one or more wells of the oil field, whether an available well is present at the selected oil field. The computer program also causes the machine to perform select the available well in response to determining that the available well is present at the selected oil field and meets requirements based on well availability data. Furthermore, the computer program causes the machine to deploy ISS equipment to the selected available well to extract the by-passed oil.

The invention claimed is: 
     
         1 . A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the computer program comprising a routine of set instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of:
 selecting the oil field in response to determining that a reservoir beneath the oil field contains by-passed oil, wherein the reservoir and by-passed oil meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes;   determining, based on well availability data characterizing a type and availability of one or more wells of the oil field, whether an available well is present at the selected oil field;   selecting the available well in response to determining that the available well is present at the selected oil field and that the available well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on well availability data; and   deploying ISS equipment to the selected available well to extract the by-passed oil.   
     
     
         2 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 1 , wherein the types of wells characterized by well availability data comprises abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells. 
     
     
         3 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the selected available well is an abandoned well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of an observation or surveillance well, a low production producer well, and an injector well, such that an abandoned well is prioritized over other wells. 
     
     
         4 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the selected available well is an observation or surveillance well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of a low-production producer well and injector well, such that observation or surveillance wells are prioritized over low production producer wells and injector wells. 
     
     
         5 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the selected well is a low production producer well and the selected oil field lacks abandoned wells and observation or surveillance wells, such that low production producer wells are prioritized over injector wells and the well has a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold requirement based on the well availability data. 
     
     
         6 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 5 , wherein the predetermined water cut threshold requirement is a water cut of 97%. 
     
     
         7 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , the set of instructions further comprising selecting the well in response to:
 determining that the well has a wellhead pressure below a predetermined pressure threshold based on the well availability data; and   determining that the risk associated with deploying the ISS equipment to the well is acceptable, such that a predicted lifetime of the ISS equipment at the well exceeds a predetermined length, wherein the oil field lacks abandoned wells, low production producer wells, and observation or surveillance wells.   
     
     
         8 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 7 , wherein the predetermined pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (Mpa) and the grade threshold is an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of 13. 
     
     
         9 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 2 , wherein the oil field is a first oil field of a plurality of oil fields and the set of instructions further comprise selecting a second oil field of the plurality of oil fields, wherein the second oil field is selected in response to deploying the ISS equipment to the selected well of the first oil field. 
     
     
         10 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 9 , the set of instructions further comprising selecting a third oil field of the plurality of oil fields in response to determining that the reservoir corresponding to the second oil field lacks by-passed oil or that by-passed oil and the reservoir fail to meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes. 
     
     
         11 . The machine-readable storage medium of  claim 10 , wherein the ISS equipment is deployed to another selected well of the third oil field in response to selecting the another selected well of the third oil field based on well availability data and reservoir attributes characterizing the third oil field. 
     
     
         12 . The machine readable storage medium of  claim 11 , the set of instructions further comprising:
 providing, by the ISS equipment, a shockwave with a frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the first oil field based on the reservoir attributes corresponding to the first oil field; and   providing, by the ISS equipment, another shockwave with an altered frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the third oil field based on reservoir attributes corresponding to the third oil field.   
     
     
         13 . A system for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the system comprising:
 a database configured to store data characterizing an oil field and one or more wells of the oil field, said data comprising:
 reservoir attributes including whether by-passed oil is present at a reservoir corresponding to the oil field, an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of by-passed oil present at the reservoir, and a coefficient of variation representative of heterogeneity of the reservoir; and 
 well availability data characterizing availability and types of wells at each of the plurality of oil fields, the types of wells including abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells; 
   a well selection engine configured to:
 select the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir has by-passed oil with an API grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes provided by the database; 
 select an available well of the oil field in response to determining that the well is available and that the well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on the well availability data provided by the database; and 
 deploy ISS equipment to the selected available well of the second oil field to extract the by-passed oil. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the well selection engine prioritizes abandoned wells over observation or surveillance wells, observation or surveillance wells over low production producer wells, and low production producer wells over injector wells. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the well selection engine is configured to:
 select a given low production producer well if the low production producer well is available and has by-passed oil with a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data, wherein the water cut threshold is 97%; and   select a given injector well if the injector well is available and has a wellhead pressure less than a pressure threshold based on well availability data, wherein the pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (MPa).   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, or pressure threshold are adjusted by the well selection engine in response to receiving an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the well selection engine selects and deploys the ISS equipment to a well of another oil field in response to determining that the oil field. 
     
     
         18 . A method for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment for oil extraction, the method comprising:
 selecting the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir to the oil field has by-passed oil with an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes stored in a database;   selecting an available well of the oil field based on well availability data stored in the database, the well being of a type including:
 an abandoned well; 
 an observation or surveillance well, wherein the observation or surveillance well is selected if the abandoned well is unavailable; 
 a low production producer well, wherein the low production producer well is selected if:
 the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; and 
 the low production producer well has by-passed oil above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data stored in the database; and 
 
 an injector well, wherein the injector well is selected if:
 the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; 
 the low production producer well is unavailable or has a water cut that is below the water-cut threshold; 
 the injector well has a wellhead pressure that is below a predetermined pressure threshold; and 
 a predicted lifetime of ISS equipment deployed to the injector well has a lifetime greater than predetermined length based on well availability data stored in the database; and 
 
   deploying ISS equipment to the selected well.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , further comprising altering a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, pressure threshold, or length threshold in response to an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the oil field is a first oil field, the method further comprising:
 selecting a second oil field in response to deploying the ISS equipment;   selecting a third oil field in response to determining that the second oil field does not have by-passed oil above the API grade threshold in a reservoir having a coefficient of variation above the heterogeneity threshold; and   selecting an available well of a fourth oil field in response to determining that the third oil field lacks an available well.