Well-Candidate-Recognition Solution Offers Time Savings, Production Enhancement

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 213329, “Data-Driven Well-Candidate-Recognition Solution: Case Study in a Digital Oil Field in Abu Dhabi,” by Erismar Rubio, SPE, Nagaraju Reddicharla, SPE, and Mayada Ali Sultan Ali, ADNOC, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. A well-candidate-recognition (WCR) data-analytics solution was developed to expedite the process of identifying unhealthy wells that may require rig or rigless interventions based on data integration, automation, and advanced data-driven models. The solution expedites the well-performance-review process to pinpoint candidates for stimulation, nitrogen lift, gas lift conversion, and water or gas shutoff, providing a flexible visualization platform to highlight hidden well-performance insight. Mature oil fields will face challenges in terms of increasing water cut, lack of pressure support, and the requirement of artificial lift. The critical concern is prioritization of remedial actions that are economically attractive with high returns and low risk. In the past, the asset was prioritizing the rig and rigless intervention candidates on a manual basis with no technical framework, mostly relying on engineers’ backgrounds and experience. Lack of understanding and failure to apply lessons learned from previous jobs were frequent outcomes because no single, comprehensive database or documentation existed that effectively captured well-intervention history. Every year, the operator requested a well-performance-review report for every reservoir containing hundreds of diagnostic plots that required massive manual updates, although the subject asset is a digital oil field fully instrumented with real-time data streaming. However, no tools were available to integrate periodic and nonperiodic required data. The complete paper addresses these challenges of integrating huge amounts of data and model frameworks and developing a systematic workflow to identify opportunities for production enhancement. Data-driven models, combined with the integration of static and dynamic data, enable proactive surveillance routines that allow engineers to focus on problematic wells and opportunity generation in a timely manner. The WCR data-analytics solution was developed as part of the operator’s digital transformation strategy to streamline the process of improving diagnostics, identifying unhealthy wells, and reviewing value gain. The solution aims to help achieve the following objectives: - Facilitate well-performance review to pinpoint candidates for rig and rigless intervention - Provide a flexible visualization platform to highlight hidden well performance insight - Integration of real-time data and official databases - Create a collaborative environment for improved decision-making - Improve rigless success factor for the most-expensive activities - Optimize and prioritize the reservoir-monitoring plan (RMP)