Data Mining and Predictive Analytics Transforms Data to Barrels

Abstract

Abstract BP's Field of the Future Technology Flagship is developing data-driven technologies that complement existing capabilities for reservoir management and operations. Widespread adoption of BP's proprietary wells and equipment real time surveillance and monitoring applications provides efficient workflows that deliver real time data to decision-makers. Data Analytics applications are transforming this data into information that will improve the management of operational risk, increase production and maximize both recovery and workforce efficiency. This paper describes our progress made in the areas of operational risk and increasing production and outlining our future activities. So far we have created data-driven corrosion assessment tools and have developed new technology for virtual flow meters. Corrosion assessment is now able to evaluate the efficiency of our pipeline inspection programs. Following successful proof of concept and field trials, we will package this capability and deploy it globally as a standard workflow as soon as possible. Data-driven virtual flow meters are being implemented to provide a 3-phase metering capability. Better well and zonal flow allocation will improve reservoir management. Other soft sensors are being developed to create well diagnostic and prognostic capabilities for BP's real-time surveillance toolkit. This helps assets identify well work and optimization opportunities. Future activities include new predictive technologies to increase recovery and reduce well-integrity risks. We are developing an innovative approach to diagnose and optimize waterflood performance designated as Top-Down Waterflood Diagnostics and Optimization. This novel approach combines BP's proprietary production event detection and association technology with visualization and parametric models that can quantify the subsurface connections between injectors and the producers. Successful trials have demonstrated how this can powerfully complement the conventional waterflood management and optimization workflows. In conjunction with other activities, the benefit to operations is derived from improving sweep efficiency so increasing recovery. Use of data mining and predictive analytics for business intelligence has created significant value in finance, medicine, power generation, and other industries. BP now has an established, active program to bring the business intelligence approach into its E&P operations and particularly to its reservoir management.