System and method for determining retained hydrocarbon fluid

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10012764-B2
Application number	US-201214427751-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2012
Priority date	Sep 12, 2012
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining an amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in a rock of a hydrocarbon-producing reservoir is provided. The rock comprises organic matter and porous and permeable inorganic matter. The method comprises the steps of receiving data relating to chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter, rock lithology data, rock thickness and reservoir temperature and pressure data, inputting the received data into a computer-implemented model, and operating the model. The model operates to a) simulate hydrocarbon fluid generation in the rock based on the input data and thereby determine an amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid, b) generate predicted data, and c) determine a total amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in the rock based on the predicted data. The generated predicted data is indicative of i) an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid adsorbed onto a surface of the organic matter within the rock, ii) an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the organic matter by determining the porosity of the organic matter, based on the chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter, and iii) an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the inorganic matter by determining the porosity of the inorganic matter, based on the rock lithology data. A corresponding system, a computer program and a computer readable medium are also provided.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for determining an amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in a rock of a hydrocarbon-producing reservoir, the rock comprising organic matter and porous and permeable inorganic matter, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving data relating to chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter, rock lithology data, rock thickness, and reservoir temperature and pressure data;
inputting the received data into a computer-implemented model; and
operating the model so as to:
a) simulate hydrocarbon fluid generation in the rock based on the input data and thereby determine an amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid;
b) generate predicted data indicative of:
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid adsorbed onto a surface of the organic matter within the rock;
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the organic matter, by determining the porosity of the organic matter based on the chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter; and
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the inorganic matter, by determining the porosity of the inorganic matter based on the rock lithology data; and
c) determine a total amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in the rock based on the predicted data;

determining an operating mode of an artificial fracturing system based on the determined total amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in the rock;
applying the determined operating mode to the artificial fracturing system; and
performing a fracturing operation using the artificial fracturing system to which the determined operating mode has been applied;
wherein the step b) of operating the model so as to generate predicted data comprises:
determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid exceeds an adsorption threshold value;
if the adsorption threshold value is exceeded, determining a hydrocarbon storage capacity of the organic matter based on the predicted organic matter porosity and determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid also exceeds the storage capacity of the organic matter;
if the storage capacity of the organic matter is exceeded, determining a hydrocarbon storage capacity of the inorganic matter based on the predicted porosity of the inorganic matter and determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid also exceeds the storage capacity of the inorganic matter; and
if the storage capacity of the inorganic matter is exceeded, determining a predicted amount of expelled hydrocarbon fluid corresponding to the excess amount by which the storage capacity of the inorganic matter is exceeded.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein operating the model comprises generating the predicted data for each of a plurality of time steps to simulate hydrocarbon fluid generation in the rock over time, each time step corresponding to reservoir temperature data, and wherein:
if any of the adsorption threshold value, the storage capacity of the organic matter or the storage capacity of the inorganic matter are not exceeded when operating the model for a current time step, the model proceeds to recalculate the predicted data for a subsequent time step and corresponding reservoir temperature data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating predicted data indicative of an amount of hydrocarbon fluid generated by the rock comprises predicting one or both of thermogenic ally and biogenically generated hydrocarbon fluid.

4. The method of claim 1 , comprising configuring the predictive model to model the adsorbed hydrocarbon fluid as a single phase hydrocarbon fluid having a gas fraction that increases as temperature increases.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the predicted data comprises determining gas-oil ratios of the predicted hydrocarbon fluid amounts such that corresponding amounts of oil and gas are predicted.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising predicting one or more fluid properties of the generated hydrocarbon fluid based on the chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter and the temperature data.

7. A system for determining an amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in a rock of a hydrocarbon-producing reservoir, the rock comprising organic matter and porous and permeable inorganic matter, the system comprising a processor and a data receiver, wherein:
the data receiver is arranged to receive data relating to chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter, rock lithology data, rock thickness and reservoir temperature and pressure data; and
the processor is configured to:
a) simulate hydrocarbon fluid generation in the rock based on the input data and thereby determine an amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid;
b) generate predicted data indicative of:
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid adsorbed onto a surface of the organic matter within the rock;
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the organic matter, by determining the porosity of the organic matter based on the chemical and kinetic properties of the organic matter; and
an amount of the generated hydrocarbon fluid present in the pores of the inorganic matter, by determining the porosity of the inorganic matter based on the rock lithology data; and

c) determine a total amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in the rock based on the predicted data;
d) determine an operating mode of an artificial fracturing system based on the determined total amount of hydrocarbon fluid present in the rock;
e) apply the determined operating mode to the artificial fracturing system; and
f) cause the performance of a fracturing operation using the artificial fracturing system to which the determined operating mode has been applied,
wherein the processor is configured in step b) to generate predicted data by:
determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid exceeds an adsorption threshold value;
if the adsorption threshold value is exceeded, determining a hydrocarbon storage capacity of the organic matter based on the predicted organic matter porosity and determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid also exceeds the storage capacity of the organic matter;
if the storage capacity of the organic matter is exceeded, determining a hydrocarbon storage capacity of the inorganic matter based on the predicted porosity of the inorganic matter and determining whether the predicted amount of generated hydrocarbon fluid also exceeds the storage capacity of the inorganic matter; and
if the storage capacity of the inorganic matter is exceeded, determining a predicted amount of expelled hydrocarbon fluid corresponding to the excess amount by which the storage capacity of the inorganic matter is exceeded.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the steps according to claim 1 .

Assignees

• Barwise Tony
• Osborne Mark James
• Bp Exploration Operating Co Ltd

Inventors

• Barwise Tony
• Osborne Mark James

Classifications

• G01V2210/62

  Physical property of subsurface · CPC title

• G06F17/18

  for evaluating statistical data {, e.g. average values, frequency distributions, probability functions, regression analysis (forecasting specially adapted for a specific administrative, business or logistic context G06Q10/04)} · CPC title

• G01V1/50 Primary

  Analysing data · CPC title

• G06F30/20

  Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) · CPC title

• G01V99/005 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic