REACTION ENGINEERING INTERNATIONAL — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 02c

Description

Problem Statement: Well perforations, which have a significant impact on oil and gas production, are routinely performed in the well completion process using shaped-charge jets. Because of the complexity of the perforation process, charge designers rely on expensive experimentation and end-users (operators and service providers) of perforators rely primarily on vendor catalog data to select shaped-charges for their wells. Significant improvements could be achieved in shape-charge designs and in end-user selection of charges with predictive modeling and simulation capabilities for perforation with accurate representations of down-hole conditions and target formation properties. Industry experts estimate that optimized shaped-charges could increase production by 20-50%. Proposed Solution: Only recently has computer modeling of the complex phenomena of shaped-charge perforations been feasible due to advancements in high-performance computing and advanced geomaterials modeling by the DoE ASC Center (CSAFE) at the University of Utah. However, the computational requirements of the software are significant and the level-of-expertise required to set up and perform the simulations is high, making the use of the software prohibitive to most small and medium sized companies. Using our expertise, the Phase I work effort will demonstrate running the HPC model on cloud resources with a prototype web interface (using a Software-as-a-Service model), and live-fire tests will be conducted and used to further validate the modeling and simulation capabilities. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The final product of the proposed work, available following a Phase II effort, will be a turn-key, cloud-based, easy-to-use, computationally efficient solution for simulating well perforations using shaped-charge perforators into a library of formation types, using cutting-edge HPC perforation modeling capabilities. The customers of the SaaS HPC perforation model will be shaped charge manufacturers, looking to optimize charge designs, and end-users of charges, looking for optimal selection from vendor offerings. The market for end-users consists of both new well perforations and existing well re-perforations. A relatively low cost per simulation and the strong possibility of enhanced well productivity make an excellent customer value proposition for the model. Keywords: shaped-charge, well completion, geomaterials, penetration, HPC, software-as-a-service, modeling and simulation, oil, natural gas Summary for Members of Congress The production from oil and gas wells is strongly affected by the holes made from the well-bore into the surrounding rock using explosives charges. This project will enhance production by providing cloud-based, high-performance computing software to assist in the design and selection of the penetrating charges.