Columbia University

Wei He

Roger N Anderson

Albert Boulanger

Ulisses Mello

Liqing Xu

Edward P Bagdonas

Jody Winston

Liquing Xu

Wendell Wiggins

A computer-aided lean management (CALM) controller system recommends actions and manages production in an oil and gas reservoir/field as its properties and conditions change with time. The reservoir/field is characterized and represented as an electronic-field ('e-field'). A plurality of system applications describe dynamic and static e-field properties and conditions. The application workflows are integrated and combined in a feedback loop between actions taken in the field and metrics that score the success or failure of those actions. A controller/optimizer operates on the combination of the application workflows to compute production strategies and actions. The controller/optimizer is configured to generate a best action sequence for production, which is economically 'always-in-the-money.'

Martingale control of production for optimal profitability of oil and gas fields

A single intranet, internet, or World Wide Web-accessible interface is provided for, initiation of, interactive adjustments to, and access to the outputs of an integrated workflow of a plurality of analytical computer applications for characterization and analysis of traits and optimal management of the extraction of oil, gas, and water from a subsurface reservoir. By combining disparate analytical application tools in a seamless and remotely accessible, package, incompatibility problems caused by the disparate nature of petroleum analysis methods is reduced. The assumptions, analytic processes, and input data used for one analysis may be readily retrieved and re-evaluated for that reservoir or for future evaluations of the same or other reservoirs. Thus a flexible database of analysis tools and data may be implemented for access, input, and output of workflow and analytical data in the field, in conjunction with standard main computer servers, software and plug-ins, and portable remote computers.

Petroleum reservoir simulation and characterization system and method

A method is disclosed for inverting 3-D seismic reflection data obtained from seismic surveys to derive impedance models for a subsurface region, and for inversion of multiple 3-D seismic surveys (i.e., 4-D seismic surveys) of the same subsurface volume, separated in time to allow for dynamic fluid migration, such that small scale structure and regions of fluid and dynamic fluid flow within the subsurface volume being studied can be identified. The method allows for the mapping and quantification of available hydrocarbons within a reservoir and is thus useful for hydrocarbon prospecting and reservoir management. An iterative seismic inversion scheme constrained by actual well log data which uses a time/depth dependent seismic source function is employed to derive impedance models from 3-D and 4-D seismic datasets. The impedance values can be region grown to better isolate the low impedance hydrocarbon bearing regions. Impedance data derived from multiple 3-D seismic surveys of the same volume can be compared to identify regions of dynamic evolution and bypassed pay. Effective Oil Saturation or net oil thickness can also be derived from the impedance data and used for quantitative assessment of prospective drilling targets and reservoir management.

Method for inverting reflection trace data from 3-D and 4-D seismic

The invention utilizes 3-D and 4-D seismic surveys as a means of deriving information useful in petroleum exploration and reservoir management. The methods use both single seismic surveys (3-D) and multiple seismic surveys separated in time (4-D) of a region of interest to determine large scale migration pathways within sedimentary basins, and fine scale drainage structure and oil-water-gas regions within individual petroleum producing reservoirs. Such structure is identified using pattern recognition tools which define the regions of interest. The 4-D seismic data sets may be used for data completion for large scale structure where time intervals between surveys do not allow for dynamic evolution. The 4-D seismic data sets also may be used to find variations over time of small scale structure within individual reservoirs which may be used to identify petroleum drainage pathways, oil-water-gas regions and, hence, attractive drilling targets. After spatial orientation, and amplitude and frequency matching of the multiple seismic data sets, High Amplitude Event (HAE) regions consistent with the presence of petroleum are identified using seismic attribute analysis. High Amplitude Regions are grown and interconnected to establish plumbing networks on the large scale and reservoir structure on the small scale. Small scale variations over time between seismic surveys within individual reservoirs are identified and used to identify drainage patterns and bypassed petroleum to be recovered. The location of such drainage patterns and bypassed petroleum may be used to site wells.

Method for identifying subsurface fluid migration and drainage pathways

In the exploration for petroleum or natural gas, drilling targets are identified by locating local maxima of horizontal gradient in the top-of-geopressure surface of a region of exploration. The probability of finding hydrocarbon deposits is significantly improved where the drilling targets are local maxima of the horizontal gradient in the top-of-geopressure surface which coincide with local maxima of subsurface heat flow in the region of exploration, particularly where the local maxima in the horizontal gradient of the top-of-geopressured surface is concentrated across major fault offsets and are parallel to the predominant strike directions of the faults. The top-of-geopressure surface may be remotely sensed by performing complex trace analysis on reflection seismic traces gathered for the region of exploration to derive corresponding reflection strength attribute traces. The corresponding reflection strength traces are first smoothed and then subject to further complex trace analysis to derive the envelope amplitudes of the smoothed reflection strength traces, which are referred to as second reflection strength traces. The second reflection strength traces are then analyzed to locate an uppermost distinct subsurface boundary between high and low amplitude components thereof. Such a distinct boundary is then identified as the top-of-geopressure surface for the region of exploration.

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Tappan, NY, United States of America

Wei He