Abstract
Remote live monitoring of field operations, such as injection, has been very restricted, although real-time data are often collected at field sites. The difficulties lie in the data access and limitations to obtain computing resources for data analysis, which restricts the engineers’ abilities to provide useful and timely remote assessment and assurance to the operations. Cloud computing combined with web-based apps, however, makes it much easier and cheaper to monitor field operations in real time from anywhere around world. The current work provides our first attempt to apply the cloud computing and web-powered apps to monitor slurry injection at one injection site in Texas, USA. The site provides injection data that is stored automatically in a cloud database. The data are accessed and analyzed remotely through a web-based app in real time. Monitored injection pressure and rate provide the basis for pressure fall off analysis. If the fall off analysis yields an unanticipated fracture geometry, advanced 3D fracture simulations would be conducted to gain a better understanding of the effects of a specific injection on fracture geometry. The results of remote real-time data analysis set up early warnings to alert both onsite and offsite staff ahead of operational upsets. Compared to traditional desktop applications and isolated local data servers, cloud computing and web-based apps provide a more convenient and cost-effective way to monitor field operations in real time. The technique and workflow presented here may also be applicable to monitor other field operations.
Highlights
Real-time monitoring has an important value in promoting an effective, safe, and efficient operation, for expensive offshore operations (BSEE 2016; Harder et al 2015; Wang and Salehi 2015; Jahanbakhshi and Keshavarzi 2012; Dupriest and Koederitz 2005)
While most real-time monitoring work to date is done at field sites, only a small portion is conducted remotely, such as at remote Real-Time Monitoring Centers (RTMC) that are owned by either big operating companies or service contractors (BSEE 2014a)
To access field data in real time at remote locations, remote real-time monitoring requires live data to be transmitted from field sites to a centralized data repository at frequencies ranging from seconds to minutes without serious delay
Summary
Real-time monitoring has an important value in promoting an effective, safe, and efficient operation, for expensive offshore operations (BSEE 2016; Harder et al 2015; Wang and Salehi 2015; Jahanbakhshi and Keshavarzi 2012; Dupriest and Koederitz 2005). The current paper reports on a novel application to access and analyze real-time injection data on any web-enabled device This cloud-based application facilitates remote real-time monitoring for injection. Besides data transmission and storage, another bottleneck for remote real-time monitoring is to access, view, and analyze data from any web-enabled devices, because conventional desktop applications must be installed on these devices to perform the task. A cloud-based web application has been developed to facilitate remote real-time monitoring for injection (Fig. 3). Because the pressure falloff data of each patch injection after well shut-in provide valuable information about fracture geometry, injected zone properties, and stress state, a tool for pressure falloff analysis is built in the web application to enhance its capability for real-time injection data analysis (Fig. 9). They remotely access the real-time injection data and help modify injection parameters whenever there is a need
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