Flow control device simulation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10488552-B2
Application number	US-201414562299-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2014
Priority date	Dec 6, 2013
Publication date	Nov 26, 2019
Grant date	Nov 26, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems simulate hydrocarbon production from a reservoir and predict impact of flow control devices on production for such reservoir simulation. The methods may transform equations capturing properties that describe flow of fluids through the flow control devices into input parameters desired for use with reservoir simulators. The equations may be determined based on physical properties of the flow control devices or fitted to match experimental or computational fluid dynamics data.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of improving steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in a reservoir, comprising:
a) determining a function for differential pressure through a well flow control device based on properties including flow rate, density, viscosity, steam quality, pressure and temperature of a fluid that includes both water and steam, wherein said well flow control device is modeled as a series of chokes separated by chambers, wherein pressure drop calculations are applied to said chokes and enthalpy steam flash calculations are applied to said chambers;
b) transforming the function for differential pressure to an input parameter of a reservoir model of a reservoir;
c) simulating hydrocarbon production in said reservoir model while accounting for both the flow control device and the reservoir; and
d) optimizing a SAGD completion in said reservoir based on said simulated hydrocarbon production from step c), thereby improving SAGD in said reservoir.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transforming includes using the function to provide multiple different input parameters for multiple different reservoir models.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining of the function includes fitting the function to data from one of field results from the flow control device in a production operation, measurements under different conditions in a test flow path having the flow control device disposed aboveground and performing computational fluid dynamic calculations.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transforming of the function includes generating one of an equation based on attributes different from the properties and a curve that corresponds to behavior of the flow control device and is used for the input parameter of the reservoir model.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the transforming of the function includes generating entries for a table that correspond to behavior of the flow control device and are used for the input parameter of the reservoir model.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the function estimates flashing of the fluid into the steam while passing through said chambers based on the following mass fraction being converted to vapor:
( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ),
where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke, H Lo is liquid enthalpy at pressure out of the choke and H Vo is vapor enthalpy at pressure out of the choke.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the function estimates the differential pressure across more than two chambers based on a calculation through only two chambers stages using a pressure equation and with the following mass fraction being converted to vapor:
( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ),
where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke, H Lo is liquid enthalpy at pressure out of the choke and H Vo is vapor enthalpy at pressure out of the choke.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the function estimates flashing of the fluid into the steam while passing through each of said chambers based on the following mass fraction being converted to vapor:
( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ))* C,
where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke, H Lo is liquid enthalpy at pressure out of the choke, H Vo is vapor enthalpy at pressure out of the choke and C is a scaling factor for amount of the steam that is released at each of said chambers.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the reservoir model uses an integrated wellbore hydraulics and reservoir model.

10. A method of improving steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) in a reservoir, comprising:
predicting a differential pressure of a fluid that includes both water and steam through chambers separated by chokes of a well flow control device based on a Bernoulli equation using the following mass fraction to estimate the amount of steam that flashes in said chambers:
(( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ))* C,

where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke, H Lo is liquid enthalpy at pressure out of the choke, H Vo is vapor enthalpy at pressure out of the choke and C is a scaling factor for amount of the steam that is released at said chambers stages;
simulating hydrocarbon production using the differential pressure that is predicted; and
optimizing a completion in a well based on said simulated hydrocarbon production, thereby improving SAGD in said reservoir.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the flow control device includes at least three chambers and the predicting uses a calculation through only two chambers.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for simulating hydrocarbon production from a reservoir, comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the following operations:
a) retrieving a function for differential pressure through a well flow control device based on properties including flow rate, density, viscosity, steam quality, pressure and temperature of a fluid that includes both water and steam, wherein said well flow control device is modeled as a series of chokes separated by chambers, and pressure drop calculations are applied to said chokes and enthalpy steam flash calculations are applied to said chambers;
b) transforming said function for differential pressure to an input parameter of a reservoir model of a reservoir;
c) simulating hydrocarbon production using said reservoir model while accounting for both the flow control device and the reservoir; and
d) displaying a simulated hydrocarbon production result on a user interface device.

13. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the transforming includes using the function for differential pressure to provide multiple different input parameters for multiple different reservoir models.

14. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the transforming of the function for differential pressure comprises generating one of i) an equation based on attributes different from the properties and ii) a curve that corresponds to behavior of the flow control device and is used for the input parameter of the reservoir model.

15. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the transforming of the function for differential pressure includes generating entries for a table that corresponds to behavior of the flow control device and said entries are used for the input parameter of the reservoir model.

16. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the function for differential pressure estimates the differential pressure using a Bernoulli equation scaled based on Reynolds number and the steam quality.

17. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the function for differential pressure estimates flashing of the fluid into the steam while passing through said chambers based on the following mass fraction being converted to vapor:
( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ),
where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke, H Lo is liquid enthalpy at pressure out of the choke and H Vo is vapor enthalpy at pressure out of the choke.

18. The medium according to claim 12 , wherein the function estimates the differential pressure across more than two chambers based on a calculation through only two chambers using a Bernoulli equation and the following mass fraction being converted to vapor:
( H Li −H Lo )/( H Vo −H Lo ),
where H Li is liquid enthalpy at pressure going in the choke,

Assignees

• Conocophillips Co

Inventors

• Vachon Guy

Classifications

• E21B43/24

  using heat, e.g. steam injection · CPC title

• G01V99/005 Primary

  Physics · mapped topic

• E21B43/12 Primary

  Methods or apparatus for controlling the flow of the obtained fluid to or in wells (E21B43/25 takes precedence; valve arrangements E21B34/00) · CPC title

• E21B41/00

  Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00 · CPC title

• G01V20/00 Primary

  Geomodelling in general · CPC title