US 12,405,399 B2
Hydrocarbon flow simulation
Alejandro Rodriguez Martinez, Courbevoie (FR); and Stefano Frambati, Courbevoie (FR)
Assigned to TotalEnergies OneTech, Courbevoie (FR)
Appl. No. 17/433,453
Filed by TotalEnergies OneTech, Courbevoie (FR)
PCT Filed Mar. 5, 2019, PCT No. PCT/IB2019/000300
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Aug. 24, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/178609, PCT Pub. Date Sep. 10, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0171091 A1, Jun. 2, 2022
Int. Cl. G01V 20/00 (2024.01)
CPC G01V 20/00 (2024.01) 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer implemented method comprising:
(i) a computer-implemented step of designing a geological simulation grid configured for hydrocarbon flow simulation in a geological environment, the designing of the geological simulation grid comprising:
providing a geometrical grid having cells and representing the geological environment;
providing a structural model that represents geological surfaces of the geological environment, the geological surfaces comprising one or more geological surfaces each in contact with at least one other geological surface; and
determining, for each geological surface of the structural model, pairs of cells that represent the geological surface, the pairs of cells determined for at least one respective geological surface in contact with at least one respective other geological surface each including a first cell and a second cell located both on a same side of the at least one respective other geological surface;
wherein the determining comprises:
identifying a set of pairs of cells arranged along the at least one respective geological surface; and
removing, from the set, each pair of cells including a first cell and second cell located on different sides of the at least one respective other geological surface;
wherein the designing of the geological simulation further comprises providing a hierarchy between the geological surfaces, and the removing comprises, for each identified pair of cells of the cell:
a loop iterated on each geological surface in contact with and higher in the hierarchy than the at least one respective geological surface, an iteration of the loop comprising for a given geological surface:
testing whether the identified pair of cells are located on different sides of the given geological surface;
and:
if the test is positive, then eliminating the identified pair of cells and exiting the loop; alternatively
if the test is negative, then continuing the loop;
ii. the computer-implemented step of performing one or more hydrocarbon flow simulations based on the geological simulation grid; and
iii) based on the one or more hydrocarbon flow simulations, performing one or more physical actions of extracting hydrocarbons and/or injecting fluid in a subsoil to enhance hydrocarbon extraction, and/or operating one or more hydrocarbon production and/or injections wells.