Exxonmobil Upstream Research Company

Exxonmobil Technology and Engineering Company

Marco De Mattia

Curtis J Holub

Amr S El-Bakry

Mahsa Memarzadeh

Neeraj R Dani

Richard D Garrett

A method for producing hydrocarbons in a gas lift well is disclosed. A gas lift rate of the well is monitored while producing hydrocarbons according to an initial gas lift performance curve. One or more well performance parameters for the well are monitored. Disturbances in the well are detected while monitoring the well performance parameters. Transience in the well is modeled. A new gas lift performance curve is derived based on the detected disturbances, the modeled transience, and the initial gas lift performance curve. An optimal allocation of gas lift is determined from the new gas lift performance curve. Hydrocarbons are produced using the determined optimal allocation of gas lift.

Opportunistic techniques for production optimization of gas-lifted wells

A method of predicting hydrocarbon production from one or more artificial lift wells is disclosed. Test data is obtained from the artificial lift well. A decline curve model, representing well performance, is generated for one or more fluids in the artificial lift well. Measurement values are obtained from an artificial lift operation. For each of the obtained measurement values, a measurement model is generated that correlates the measurement values to the decline curve. A Kalman filter is used to predict production outputs of at least one of oil, gas, and water for the well, and to generate an uncertainty range for the predicted production outputs. The Kalman filter uses the decline curves to predict the production outputs, and uses the measurement models to correct and/or update the predicted production outputs. Hydrocarbon production activities are modified using the corrected and/or updated predicted production outputs.

Method and system of producing hydrocarbons using data-driven inferred production

A method is provided for determining the frequency of a multi-rate well testing operation in a gas-lifted hydrocarbon well. A well performance characteristic of the well is monitored using single-rate well tests. The monitored well performance characteristic is compared to a current well model performance characteristic. If the monitored well performance characteristic differs from the current well model performance characteristic by less than a predetermined amount, an amount of gas is injected into the well based on the current well model performance characteristic. If the monitored well performance characteristic differs from the current well model performance characteristic by more than a predetermined amount, a multi-rate well test is initiated the results of the multi-rate well test are fitted to a revised well model performance characteristic, and an amount of gas is injected into the well based on the revised well model performance characteristic.

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Marco De Mattia