초록 ▼

A system and method is provided for estimating an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a production well that includes estimating, at least periodically, a measure of water in the fluid produced from one or more production zones and estimating the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at l

A system and method is provided for estimating an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a production well that includes estimating, at least periodically, a measure of water in the fluid produced from one or more production zones and estimating the occurrence of the water breakthrough utilizing at least in part a trend of the estimated measures of the produced fluid. A controller determines one or more actions to be taken to mitigate an effect of the water breakthrough and may automatically initiate one or more such actions.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A method of predicting an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a well that is producing a fluid from at least one production zone, comprising: producing a formation fluid from one or more production zones; measuring, using one or more sensors, water content or water cut in t

What is claimed is: 1. A method of predicting an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a well that is producing a fluid from at least one production zone, comprising: producing a formation fluid from one or more production zones; measuring, using one or more sensors, water content or water cut in the produced fluid received from the one or more production zones periodically; determining a trend of the water content or water cut from the water content or water cut measurements over a time period; providing porosity and permeability of the production zone; providing a parameter of the wellbore; providing a simulation model; and predicting, using a processor, the water breakthrough utilizing the simulation model, the parameter of the wellbore, the trend of the water content or water cut and one of the porosity and permeability of the one or more production zones. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring water content or water cut comprises using at least one of: (i) a measurement of water content in the fluid received at the surface; (ii) a measurement obtained from a sensor in the well; (iii) a density of the produced fluid; (iv) a resistivity measurement of the produced fluid; (v) measurements of a parameter of interest made at a plurality of locations in the well; (vi) a release of a tracer placed in the well; (vii) an optical sensor measurement in the well; and (viii) acoustic measurements in the well. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting the water breakthrough comprises comparing the trend with a predetermined anticipated trend. 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a physical condition of one of: (i) a casing in the well and, (ii) a cement bond between the casing and a formation, and correlating the determined physical condition with a predetermined physical condition to estimate a location of the predicted water breakthrough. 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising using an acoustic measurement in the well to confirm the prediction of the occurrence of the water breakthrough. 6. The method of claim 1, further comprising predicting a time of an occurrence of the water breakthrough. 7. The method of claim 6, further comprising performing at least one operation relating to the well in response to the predicting of the time of the occurrence of the water breakthrough. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one operation is selected from a group consisting of: (i) closing a choke; (ii) changing operation of an electrical submersible pump installed in the well; (iii) operating a valve in the well; (iv) changing an amount of an additive supplied to the well; (v) closing fluid flow from a selected production zone; (vi) isolating fluid flow from a production zone; (vii) performing a secondary operation to reduce probability of the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough; (viii) sending a message to an operator informing about the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough; and (ix) sending a suggested operation to be performed by an operator. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein predicting the water breakthrough is accomplished substantially in real time. 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising logging the well to estimate a location of the water breakthrough. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the logging of the well is one of: (i) logging to determine a condition of a cement bond between a casing in the well and a formation surrounding the well; and (ii) logging to determine one or more defects in the casing in the well. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more production zone includes a plurality of production zones and wherein the method further comprises predicting the water breakthrough corresponding to a particular zone in the plurality of production zones. 13. A computer-readable medium accessible to a processor for executing instructions contained in a computer program embedded in the computer-readable medium, the computer program comprising: instructions to at least periodically compute a measure of water content or water cut in a fluid produced by one or more production zones of a well; instructions to define a model that utilizes at least one parameter of the wellbore and at least one of a permeability and porosity of the well; instructions to determine a trend of the measure of water from the periodically computed measure of water content or water cut; and instructions to predict in real-time when a water breakthrough will occur utilizing at least in part the trend of the measure of water and the model. 14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to estimate the occurrence of the water breakthrough using at least one of: (i) a measure of water in the produced fluid received at the surface; (ii) a measurement obtained from a sensor in the well; (iii) a density of the produced fluid; (iv) a resistivity measurement of the produced fluid; (v) measurements of a parameter of interest made at a plurality of locations in the well; (vi) a release of a tracer placed in the well; (vii) an optical sensor measurement in the well; and (viii) acoustic measurements in the well. 15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to predict the occurrence of the water breakthrough further comprises instructions to compare the trend with a predetermined trend to provide the prediction of the occurrence of the water breakthrough when the difference between the trend and a predetermined trend crosses a threshold. 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the computer program further comprises instructions to send a signal to perform an operation that is selected from a group consisting of: (i) closing a choke; (ii) changing operation of an electrical submersible pump installed in the well; (iii) operating a valve in the well; (iv) changing an amount of an additive supplied to the well; (v) closing fluid flow from a selected production zone; (vi) isolating fluid flow from a production zone; (vii) performing a secondary operation to reduce probability of an occurrence of the water breakthrough; (viii) sending a message to an operator informing about the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough; and (ix) sending a suggested operation to be performed by an operator. 17. An apparatus for predicting an occurrence of a water breakthrough in a well that is producing fluid from at least one production zone, comprising: a processor configured to: measure water content or water cut in the produced fluid received from the one or more production zones periodically; determine a trend of the water content or water cut from the water content or water cut measurements over a time period; provide porosity and permeability of the production zone; provide a parameter of the wellbore; provide a simulation model; and predict the water breakthrough utilizing the simulation model, the parameter of the wellbore, the trend of the water content or water cut and one of the porosity and permeability of the one or more production zones. 18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to control least one device at the well to control an effect of the estimated occurrence of the water breakthrough, which device is selected from a group consisting of: (i) a choke; (ii) an electrical submersible pump installed in the well; (iii) a valve in the well; (iv) an injection device supplying an additive to the well; (v) a flow control device closing fluid flow from a selected production zone; (vi) a flow isolation device isolating fluid flow from a production zone; (vii) a downhole tool configured to reduce a probability of an occurrence of the water breakthrough; and (viii) a transmitter sending a message to an operator relating to performing an operation relating to the well. 19. The apparatus of claim 17 further comprising a remote controller in data communication with the processor, wherein the processor is further configured to send information to the remote controller relating to the occurrence of the water breakthrough and wherein the remote controller is configured to send commands to the processor to control at least one device at the well. 20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to compare the trend with a predetermined trend to predict the occurrence of the water breakthrough. 21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the processor is further configured to execute instructions contained in a computer program containing an algorithm for predicting a time of the occurrence of the water breakthrough.