Systems and methods for developing hydrocarbon reservoirs

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10060227-B2
Application number	US-201615226127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 2, 2016
Priority date	Aug 2, 2016
Publication date	Aug 28, 2018
Grant date	Aug 28, 2018

Abstract

Provided in some embodiments are systems and methods for developing a hydrocarbon reservoir. A method may include, for each of a plurality of prosed hydrocarbon wells, determining a reservoir entry point corresponding to a location at a top limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir, determining a reservoir exit point corresponding to a location at a bottom limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir, and determining a well trajectory that includes a path that extends downward gradually from the reservoir entry point at the top limiting surface to reservoir exit point at the bottom limiting surface. The method also including generating a field development plan (FDP) for the hydrocarbon reservoir, the FDP including development information for each well of the plurality of wells, including the determined well trajectory for the well.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for developing a hydrocarbon reservoir, the system comprising:
a seismic system configured to conduct seismic testing of a hydrocarbon reservoir to generate seismic data for the hydrocarbon reservoir;
a logging system configured to conduct logging of one or more wells in the reservoir to generate log data for the hydrocarbon reservoir;
a field development system configured to:
determine, based on the seismic data and the log data for the hydrocarbon reservoir, a subsurface mapping of the reservoir, the mapping comprising:
a top limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir; and
a bottom limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir;

for each well of a plurality of wells proposed to be drilled into the hydrocarbon reservoir:
determine well parameters comprising:
a proposed well location indicative of a surface location of the well;
a well azimuth indicative of a direction of a borehole for the well; and
a well length indicative of a horizontal distance for the well;

determine a reservoir entry location at or near the proposed well location;
determine a reservoir exit location located a distance from the reservoir entry location corresponding to the well length and in a direction corresponding to the well azimuth;
determine a reservoir entry point corresponding to a location at a depth of the top limiting surface directly below the reservoir entry location;
determine a reservoir exit point corresponding to a location at a depth of the bottom limiting surface directly below the reservoir exit location; and
determine a well trajectory comprising:
a main bore section extending from the reservoir entry location to the reservoir entry point; and
a reservoir contact section extending from the reservoir entry location to the reservoir exit location,
 the reservoir contact section being contained between the top limiting surface and the bottom limiting surface, and
 the reservoir contact section comprising a series of well trajectory points from the reservoir entry point to the reservoir exit point, a depth for each point of the series of well trajectory points is determined according to the following relationship:

Z

(

X
,
Y

)

=

D

(

X
,
Y

)

×

(

n

N
-
1

)

+

Z

top
,

(

X
,
Y

)

 where Z (X,Y) is a depth of a well trajectory point located directly below a surface location (X,Y), Z top,(X,Y) is the depth of the top limiting surface directly below the surface location (X,Y), D (X,Y) a distance between the top limiting surface and the bottom limiting surface directly below the surface location (X,Y), N is a total number of points in the series of well trajectory points, and n is the index in the series of points with the reservoir entry point being the first point in the series and having an index of 0 such that the well trajectory includes a path that extends downward gradually from the reservoir entry point at the top limiting surface to the reservoir exit point at the bottom limiting surface; and

generate a field development plan (FDP) for the hydrocarbon reservoir, the FDP comprising development information for each well of the plurality of wells, the development information for each well comprising the determined well trajectory for the well; and

a well drilling system configured to drill a borehole for one or more of the plurality of wells, the borehole for each of the one or more wells comprising a borehole having a trajectory corresponding to the well trajectory for the well.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the top limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir comprises a top limiting surface of a pay-zone of the hydrocarbon reservoir, and wherein the bottom limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir comprises a bottom limiting surface of the pay-zone of the hydrocarbon reservoir.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the field development system is further configured to determine, based on the well trajectories determined for the plurality of wells, a ranking of the wells of the plurality of wells, wherein the FDP comprises the ranking.

4. A system for developing a hydrocarbon reservoir, the system configured to:
determine a top limiting surface of a hydrocarbon reservoir;
determine a bottom limiting surface of the hydrocarbon reservoir;
for each well of a plurality of wells proposed to be drilled into the hydrocarbon reservoir:
determine well parameters comprising:
a proposed well location indicative of a surface location of the well;
a well azimuth indicative of a direction of a borehole for the well; and
a well length indicative of a horizontal distance for the well;

determine a reservoir entry location at the proposed well location;
determine a reservoir exit location located a distance from the reservoir entry location corresponding to the well length and in a direction corresponding to the well azimuth;
determine a reservoir entry point corresponding to a location at a depth of the top limiting surface directly below the reservoir entry location;
determine a reservoir exit point corresponding to a location at a depth of the bottom limiting surface directly below the reservoir exit location; and
determine a well trajectory comprising:
a main bore section extending from the reservoir entry location to the reservoir entry point; and
a reservoir contact section extending from the reservoir entry location to the reservoir exit location,
the reservoir contact section being contained between the top limiting surface and the bottom limiting surface, and
the reservoir contact section comprising a series of well trajectory points from the reservoir entry point to the reservoir exit point, a depth for each point of the series of well trajectory points is determined according to the following relationship:

Z

(

X
,
Y

)

=

D

(

X
,
Y

)

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Khan Waqas Ahmed
• Dai Keyang
• Rayo Lautaro
• Alfaleh Abdulhamed
• Nasser Khalid Ali

Classifications

• E21B41/0092 Primary

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic

• E21B43/30 Primary

  Specific pattern of wells, e.g. optimising the spacing of wells · CPC title

• E21B7/04

  Directional drilling · CPC title

• G06Q50/00

  Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism (healthcare informatics G16H) · CPC title

• E21B47/022

  of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism · CPC title