US 12,742,768 B2Granted

In situ concentration of hydrocarbons in rock

AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company

InventorsMohammed Boudjatit, Abdulhameed Azzouni, Ali Al Sultan

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Abstract

Methods and systems may include obtaining, from a rock coring system, rock samples, determining, using a nuclear magnetic resonance system, a hydrocarbon-filled porosity for each rock sample, determining, using a pyrolysis system, a concentration of hydrocarbons within each rock sample, and determining, using regression analysis, a relationship between the concentration of hydrocarbons and the hydrocarbon-filled porosity. The methods and systems may further include obtaining, from a well logging system, well logs along a well that penetrates an in situ rock, determining a total hydrocarbon-filled porosity for the in situ rock using the well logs, and obtaining the relationship. The methods and systems may still further include determining an in situ concentration of hydrocarbons within the in situ rock using the relationship and the total hydrocarbon-filled porosity and determining a recovery factor for the in situ rock based on the in situ concentration of hydrocarbons.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

obtaining, from a well logging system, a plurality of well logs along an interval of a well located within a subterranean region of interest that comprises a hydrocarbon reservoir,
wherein the well penetrates an in situ rock within the subterranean region of interest at a discrete depth within the interval, and
wherein the in situ rock is of a rock type;
determining a total hydrocarbon-filled porosity for the in situ rock using the plurality of well logs;
obtaining a relationship between a concentration of hydrocarbons and a hydrocarbon-filled porosity for the rock type;
determining an in situ concentration of hydrocarbons within the in situ rock using the relationship and the total hydrocarbon-filled porosity;
determining a recovery factor for the in situ rock based on the in situ concentration of hydrocarbons;
using a production management system:
determining a hydrocarbon production rate based on the recovery factor, and
designing a production management plan for the subterranean region of interest based on the hydrocarbon production rate;
and
producing hydrocarbons from the hydrocarbon reservoir based on the production management plan.

9 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.