Monitoring of modern wells equipped with permanent downhole gauges and flowmeters provides large datasets of pressure, temperature and flowrate measurements. On a limited scale, selected events from these datasets are traditionally used in well performance analysis and monitoring, reservoir simulation, and many other tasks employing physics-based models. New methods that combine model- and data-driven approaches for full-scale analysis of these large datasets have recently attracted interest, suggesting new metrics for knowledge extraction. Most recent studies have used a combination of Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA), which is a key reservoir engineering tool, with hybrid methods, such as PTA-metrics and AI-powered models. The emergence of hybrid methodologies combining model- and data-driven approaches has opened new perspectives for comprehensive analysis and knowledge extraction from big well monitoring data sets, accumulated in the industry. Despite their potential, these methodologies often face challenges in reliability, effective data processing, interpretation and feature engineering.This paper introduces a novel PTA-feature extraction and pattern recognition methods for analysis of time-lapse pressure transient responses and their Bourdet derivatives. The pattern recognition method builds on an unsupervised classification method to extract PTA-features, associated with different flow regimes commonly used in PTA. Each pressure transient in a time-lapse series is first processed by an autonomously fine-tuned algorithm that measures the signal's distance to an ensemble of physically meaningful responses defined by PTA-feature library, thus breaking the transient into a series of likely PTA-features. A set of hyperparameters is used in the unsupervised classification, where an optimization procedure is employed for automated tuning of the hyperparameters to a particular transient. Subsequently, recognition of underlying patterns governed by sequences of these PTA-features in the time-lapse transient responses is performed. Testing of the combination of these new methods through synthetic and field cases is further carried out with verification via comparison with expert’ interpretation results. Added value to the previously introduced PTA metrics, which provide on-the-fly well and reservoir performance analysis, is finally demonstrated. The proposed pattern recognition method improves reliability and automates the calculation of the PTA metrics.The developed methodology serves as a new tool for knowledge extraction from big well monitoring datasets, available in the companies operating in the oil and gas industry, as well as the emerging industries such as carbon capture and storage and geothermal energy production. The article concludes with a discussion of the main advantages and limitations of the suggested feature extraction and pattern recognition methods. Besides the combined use of the methods described in this article, these methods may also be integrated with conventional physics-based approaches widely used in the industry for well data interpretation and reservoir simulations, improving their performance and efficiency for big data sets.
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Sep 19, 2024
Wei Chen + 1
Open Access