Field deployable system to measure clumped isotopes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11237146-B2
Application number	US-201615049833-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2016
Priority date	Mar 2, 2015
Publication date	Feb 1, 2022
Grant date	Feb 1, 2022

Abstract

A system and method is provided for enhancing hydrocarbon production. The method and system involve geochemistry analysis and include multiply substituted isotopologue and position specific isotope geochemistry. The method and system involve using clumped isotope and position-specific isotope signatures to enhance reservoir surveillance operations.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for enhancing hydrocarbon production comprising:
providing a field deployable system in fluid communication with a subsurface formation, wherein the field deployable system comprises mass spectrometric instrumentation that is in fluid communication with drilling equipment or attached to pipelines flowing produced fluids, and wherein the field deployable system is configured to measure a position specific isotope signature of a hydrocarbon compound, wherein the position specific isotope signature provides an indication of a concentration of at least one structurally distinct isotopologue of the hydrocarbon compound that contains at least one rare isotope;
providing a mud sampling system in fluid communication with the subsurface formation;
obtaining a plurality of mud gas samples from the mud sampling system and analyzing the mud gas samples to determine whether there the variation in signatures of the mud gas samples exceeds a predetermined threshold;
when the variation in the signatures of the mud gas samples exceeds the predetermined threshold, obtaining one or more hydrocarbon samples from the subsurface formation at a first time and analyzing each of the hydrocarbon samples with the field deployable system to determine a baseline position specific isotope signature, wherein the hydrocarbon sample is a mud gas sample or a produced gas sample;
when the variation in the signatures of the mud gas samples exceeds the predetermined threshold, obtaining one or more hydrocarbon sample from the subsurface formation at a second time, wherein the second time is after the first time, and analyzing each of the hydrocarbon samples with the field deployable system to determine a monitored position specific isotope signature, wherein the hydrocarbon sample is a mud gas sample or a produced gas sample;
comparing the monitored position specific isotope signature with the baseline position specific isotope signature;
hydraulic fracturing of a wellbore in the subsurface formation or adjusting an injection of gas or liquid into the subsurface formation based on the comparison; and
producing hydrocarbons from the subsurface.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
analyzing each of the hydrocarbon samples collected at the first time from the subsurface formation for a baseline geochemical signature and converting each baseline geochemical signature into a baseline temperature;
analyzing each for the hydrocarbon samples collected at the second time from the subsurface formation for a monitored geochemical signature and converting the monitored geochemical signatures into a monitored temperature; and
comparing the monitored temperature with the baseline temperature.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying a source contribution for the monitored position specific isotope signature based on the baseline position specific isotope signature.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second time is from 1 hour to 3 hours after the first time.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second time is based on a specified event.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the specified event is the detection of elevated hydrocarbon presence from a monitoring module.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring module comprises monitoring for changes in the mixture of hydrocarbon and non-hydrocarbon compounds in the sample.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the monitoring module comprises monitoring for changes in the relative amounts of methane, ethane, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen in the sample.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring module comprises monitoring for stable isotope geochemistry changes in one or more of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring module comprises monitoring using mud gas and or produced gas sampling techniques to provide a quantitative analysis of certain hydrocarbon components.

11. The method of claim 6 , wherein the monitoring module comprises monitoring changes in the produced gas.

12. The method of claim 6 , wherein the specified event is a change in oil field operations.

Assignees

• Formolo Michael J
• Lawson Michael
• Davis Cara L
• Exxonmobil Upstream Res Co

Inventors

• Formolo Michael J
• Lawson Michael
• Davis Cara L

Classifications

• G01N33/241 Primary

  for hydrocarbon content · CPC title

• E21B49/00

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title

• E21B47/11

  using tracers; using radioactivity · CPC title