Smart oil field management

This technology is a method for better managing oil extraction through seismic analysis of the underlying oil before and during rig operation.

Unmet Need: Intelligent management of oil fields

Oil extraction induces underlying flow patterns that marginalize the efficiency of extraction at the site of the rig and can force operations to move around and follow the most oil-rich location. As a result, additional operating costs are incurred, extraction prolongs, and profitability is reduced.

The Technology: Spatiotemporal monitoring of oil flow patterns during extraction

This technology enables intelligent management of oil fields by analyzing oil flow patterns via seismic data and producing a model to predict future oil movement. This technology contains an algorithm for reservoir flow modeling that can rapidly interpret and analyze seismic data, yielding a dynamic feedback protocol that provides managers with the ability to precisely control resources and generate time-lapse images depicting current and future locations of the oil. Recommendations regarding how to best allocate engineering resources in accordance with seismic analysis facilitate simple implementation of this software within an oil field setting.

This technology has been validated in an experimental setting.

Applications:

• Intelligent management of oil and gas fields
• Oil and natural gas exploration
• Soil stability analysis
• Mudslide risk assessment
• Erosion modeling

Advantages:

• Integrates physical data with computational framework and oil reservoir flow modeling
• Includes engineering and resource management components
• Operates continuously with real-time feedback
• Combines data from local sensors with down-field measurements to improve modeling accuracy

Lead Inventor:

Roger N. Anderson, Ph.D.

Patent Information:

Patent Status

Related Publications:

• Anderson RN, Boulanger A, He W, Mello U, Xu L. “LEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT-11: Martingale control of 4D reservoir performance provides constant watch on field profitability” Oil Gas J. 2006 May 15; 104(19)

• Anderson RN, Boulanger A. “LEAN ENERGY MANAGEMENT—7: Knowledge management and computational learning for lean energy management” Oil Gas J. 2004 Nov 22; 102(44): 36-40.

Tech Ventures Reference:

• IR M08-095

• Licensing Contact: Richard Nguyen