US 2022/0003071 A1Published application

Smart Choke Valve to Assess and Regulate Production Flow

AssigneeSaudi Arabian Oil Company

InventorAbdulrahman Ahmari

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Abstract

Provided is a hydrocarbon well choke system that includes a choke valve and a choke control system adapted to obtain production data from production sensors of the well (e.g., including flowrate, wellhead pressure, wellhead temperature, water cut and gas-oil-ratio (GOR) data obtained by way of respective sensors of the well), generate (based on the data) a well profile that is indicative of the flow of production from the well for different settings of the valve, receive (from a well control system) a target production rate, determine (based on the well profile) whether the rate is obtainable, in response to determining that the rate is obtainable, determine (based on the well profile) a choke setting that corresponds to the rate, and control the choke valve to operate at the setting, and, in response to determining that the rate is not obtainable, communicate (to the well control system) a corresponding alert.

Claims21

Dependent claims

A hydrocarbon well choke valve system, the smart choke valve system comprising:

a choke valve configured to operate at different choke settings to regulate flow of production fluid from a wellbore of a hydrocarbon well;
and
a choke valve control system configured to perform the following operations:
obtain, from one or more production sensors of the hydrocarbon well, production data that is indicative of characteristics of the operation of the hydrocarbon well, the production data comprising:
production flowrate data that is indicative of observed values of flowrate of the production fluid obtained by way of a production flowrate sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead pressure data that is indicative of observed values of pressure of the production fluid obtained by way of an wellhead pressure sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead temperature data that is indicative of observed values of temperature of the production fluid obtained by way of a wellhead temperature sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
water cut data that is indicative of observed values of water cut of the production fluid of the hydrocarbon well obtained by way of a water cut sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
and
gas-oil-ratio (GOR) data that is indicative of observed values of GOR of the production fluid obtained by way of a GOR sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
generate, based on the production data, a well profile, the well profile being indicative of the flow of production fluid from the wellbore of the hydrocarbon well for each of the different choke settings;
receive, from a well control system, a target production rate;
determine, based on the well profile for the well, whether the target production rate is obtainable;
in response to determining that the target production rate is obtainable:
determine, based on the well profile, a choke setting that corresponds to the target production rate;
and
control the choke valve to operate at the choke setting;
and
in response to determining that the target production rate is not obtainable:
communicate, to the well control system, a target rate alert that indicates that the target rate is not obtainable.

17 more elements

A method of operating a hydrocarbon well choke valve system, the method comprising:

operating a choke valve of a hydrocarbon well choke valve system at a choke setting to regulate flow of production fluid from a wellbore of a hydrocarbon well, wherein the choke valve is configured to operate at different choke settings;
obtaining, by a control system of the hydrocarbon well choke valve system from one or more production sensors of the hydrocarbon well, production data that is indicative of characteristics of the operation of the hydrocarbon well, the production data comprising:
production flowrate data that is indicative of observed values of flowrate of the production fluid obtained by way of a production flowrate sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead pressure data that is indicative of observed values of pressure of the production fluid obtained by way of an wellhead pressure sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead temperature data that is indicative of observed values of temperature of the production fluid obtained by way of a wellhead temperature sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
water cut data that is indicative of observed values of water cut of the production fluid of the hydrocarbon well obtained by way of a water cut sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
and
gas-oil-ratio (GOR) data that is indicative of observed values of GOR of the production fluid obtained by way of a GOR sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
generating, by the choke valve control system based on the production data, a well profile, the well profile being indicative of the flow of production fluid from the wellbore of the hydrocarbon well for each of the different choke settings;
receiving, by the choke valve control system from a well control system, a first target production rate;
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile for the well, that the first target production rate is obtainable;
in response to the choke valve control system determining that the first target production rate is obtainable:
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile, a choke setting that corresponds to the first target production rate;
and
controlling, by the choke valve control system, the choke valve to operate at the first choke setting;
receiving, by the choke valve control system from the well control system, a second target production rate;
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile for the well, that the second target production rate is not obtainable;
and
in response to the choke valve control system determining that the second target production rate is not obtainable:
communicating, by the choke valve control system to the well control system, a target rate alert that indicates that the second target rate is not obtainable.

17 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processor to perform the following operations for operating a hydrocarbon well choke valve system:

operating a choke valve of a hydrocarbon well choke valve system at a choke setting to regulate flow of production fluid from a wellbore of a hydrocarbon well, wherein the choke valve is configured to operate at different choke settings;
obtaining, by a control system of the hydrocarbon well choke valve system from one or more production sensors of the hydrocarbon well, production data that is indicative of characteristics of the operation of the hydrocarbon well, the production data comprising:
production flowrate data that is indicative of observed values of flowrate of the production fluid obtained by way of a production flowrate sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead pressure data that is indicative of observed values of pressure of the production fluid obtained by way of an wellhead pressure sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
wellhead temperature data that is indicative of observed values of temperature of the production fluid obtained by way of a wellhead temperature sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
water cut data that is indicative of observed values of water cut of the production fluid of the hydrocarbon well obtained by way of a water cut sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
and
gas-oil-ratio (GOR) data that is indicative of observed values of GOR of the production fluid obtained by way of a GOR sensor of the hydrocarbon well;
generating, by the choke valve control system based on the production data, a well profile, the well profile being indicative of the flow of production fluid from the wellbore of the hydrocarbon well for each of the different choke settings;
receiving, by the choke valve control system from a well control system, a first target production rate;
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile for the well, that the first target production rate is obtainable;
in response to the choke valve control system determining that the first target production rate is obtainable:
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile, a choke setting that corresponds to the first target production rate;
and
controlling, by the choke valve control system, the choke valve to operate at the first choke setting;
receiving, by the choke valve control system from the well control system, a second target production rate;
determining, by the choke valve control system based on the well profile for the well, that the second target production rate is not obtainable;
and
in response to the choke valve control system determining that the second target production rate is not obtainable:
communicating, by the choke valve control system to the well control system, a target rate alert that indicates that the second target rate is not obtainable.

17 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 16/921,548Filed 6 Jul 2020
Published: 6 Jan 2022
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

E21B 34/025
In well heads: chokes or valves in wellheads and sub-sea wellheads for variably regulating fluid flow
G05D 7/0635
Characterised by the type of regulator means: by action on throttling means
E21B 34/08
In wells: responsive to flow or pressure of the fluid obtained
E21B 43/12
Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells: methods or apparatus for…