March 3, 2016 - 5:58 PM EST
Print Email Article Font Down Font Up
"System and Method for Performing Downhole Stimulation Operations" in Patent Application Approval Process (USPTO 20160047207)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Energy Weekly News -- A patent application by the inventors Lecerf, Bruno (

Houston, TX
); Usoltsev, Dmitriy (
Richmond, TX
); Pope, Timothy L. (
Cheyenne, WY
); Pena, Alejandro (
Katy, TX
); Itibrout, Tarik (
Richmond, TX
); Weng, Xiaowei (
Fulshear, TX
); Onda, Hitoshi (
Houston, TX
); Enkababian, Philippe (
Richmond, TX
), filed on August 6, 2015, was made available online on February 25, 2016, according to news reporting originating from
Washington, D.C.
, by VerticalNews correspondents.

This patent application has not been assigned to a company or institution.

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: "The present disclosure relates to techniques for performing oilfield operations. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to techniques for performing stimulation operations, such as perforating, injecting, and/or fracturing, a subterranean formation having at least one reservoir therein. The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.

"Oilfield operations may be performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids, such as hydrocarbons. Oilfield operations may include, for example, surveying, drilling, downhole evaluation, completion, production, stimulation, and oilfield analysis. Surveying may involve seismic surveying using, for example, a seismic truck to send and receive downhole signals. Drilling may involve advancing a downhole tool into the earth to form a wellbore. Downhole evaluation may involve deploying a downhole tool into the wellbore to take downhole measurements and/or to retrieve downhole samples. Completion may involve cementing and casing a wellbore in preparation for production. Production may involve deploying production tubing into the wellbore for transporting fluids from a reservoir to the surface. Stimulation may involve, for example, perforating, fracturing, injecting, and/or other stimulation operations, to facilitate production of fluids from the reservoir.

"Oilfield analysis may involve, for example, evaluating information about the wellsite and the various operations, and/or performing well planning operations. Such information may be, for example, petrophysical information gathered and/or analyzed by a petrophysicist; geological information gathered and/or analyzed by a geologist; or geophysical information gathered and/or analyzed by a geophysicist. The petrophysical, geological and geophysical information may be analyzed separately with dataflow therebetween being disconnected. A human operator may manually move and analyze the data using multiple software and tools. Well planning may be used to design oilfield operations based on information gathered about the wellsite."

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent application, VerticalNews journalists also obtained the inventors' summary information for this patent application: "This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.

"The techniques disclosed herein relate to stimulation operations involving staging design. In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the method may involve generating a plurality of quality indicators from a plurality of logs, and combining the plurality of quality indicators to form a composite quality indicator. The composite quality indicator may be combined with a stress log to form a combined stress and composite quality indicator, the combined stress and composite quality indicator comprising a plurality of blocks with boundaries therebetween. The method may further comprise identifying classifications for the plurality of blocks; defining stages along the combined stress and composite quality indicator based on the classifications; and selectively positioning perforations in select stages based on the classifications thereon.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

"Embodiments of the method and system for performing a downhole stimulation operation are described with reference to the following figures. Like reference numerals are intended to refer to similar elements for consistency. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing.

"FIGS. 1.1-1.4 are schematic views illustrating various oilfield operations at a wellsite;

"FIGS. 2.1-2.4 are schematic views of data collected by the operations of FIGS. 1.1-1.4.

"FIG. 3.1 is a schematic view of a wellsite illustrating various downhole stimulation operations.

"FIGS. 3.2-3.4 are schematic views of various fractures of the wellsite of FIG. 3.1.

"FIG. 4.1 is a schematic flow diagram depicting a downhole stimulation operation.

"FIGS. 4.2 and 4.3 are schematic diagrams depicting portions of the downhole stimulation operation.

"FIGS. 5.1 is a schematic diagram and FIG. 5.2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of staging a stimulation operation in a tight gas sandstone formation.

"FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram depicting a set of logs combined to form a weighted composite log.

"FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram depicting a reservoir quality indicator formed from a first and a second log.

"FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram depicting a composite quality indicator formed from a completion and a reservoir quality indicator.

"FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram depicting a stage design based on a stress profile and a composite quality indicator.

"FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram depicting stage boundary adjustment to enhance the homogeneity of composite quality indicators.

"FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram depicting stage splitting based on a composite quality indicator.

"FIG. 12 is a diagram depicting perforation placement based on a quality indicator.

"FIG. 13 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of staging a stimulation operation for a shale reservoir.

"FIG. 14 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of performing a downhole stimulation operation.

"FIGS. 15.1 is a schematic diagram and FIG. 15.2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of staging a stimulation operation in a tight gas sandstone formation with a diverter.

"FIGS. 16-19 are diagrams illustrating a method of staging a stimulation operation for a shale reservoir in a vertical well.

"FIG. 20 is a diagram showing a continuum of stresses along the lateral (reported as fracture initiation pressure P.sub.ini) used for the determination of preferred locations of mechanical isolation devices based on the initiation pressure differential that can be overcome with the diverter.

"FIG. 21 is a wellbore and its corresponding stress log, where perforations are located at local minima and local maxima of the stress log.

"FIG. 22 is a stimulated wellbore and its corresponding stress log, where induced fractures have propagated in the zones of lower stress and where changes in stress of the rock have generated stress relief fractures.

"FIG. 23 is a stimulated wellbore and its corresponding stress log, where induced fractures have been diverted from and perforations in high stress regions have been stimulated to form complex fractures."

URL and more information on this patent application, see: Lecerf, Bruno; Usoltsev, Dmitriy; Pope, Timothy L.; Pena, Alejandro; Itibrout, Tarik; Weng, Xiaowei; Onda, Hitoshi; Enkababian, Philippe. System and Method for Performing Downhole Stimulation Operations. Filed August 6, 2015 and posted February 25, 2016. Patent URL: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=3630&p=73&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=20160218.PD.&OS=PD/20160218&RS=PD/20160218

Keywords for this news article include: Energy, Patents, Oilfield, Oil & Gas.

Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world. Copyright 2016, NewsRx LLC

DISCLOSURE: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors, and do not represent the views of equities.com. Readers should not consider statements made by the author as formal recommendations and should consult their financial advisor before making any investment decisions. To read our full disclosure, please go to: http://www.equities.com/disclaimer


Source: Equities.com News (March 3, 2016 - 5:58 PM EST)

News by QuoteMedia
www.quotemedia.com

Legal Notice