Identifying Applications of Machine Learning and Data Analytics Based Approaches for Optimization of Upstream Petroleum Operations

Abstract

In the mid-19th century, the first oil well was drilled, which marked the beginning of the world oil economy. This era embarked on the phase of evolution and development of society in every aspect, with huge dependence on petroleum products, which subsequently led to tremendous growth in terms of technological advancements in the exploration and production activities over time. With the existing petroleum fields approaching toward depletion, the global need for energy resources is increasing simultaneously. This continuously rising demand has led us to move to complex environments for oil and gas exploration and production activities. Moreover, the real-time monitoring of reservoirs and well operations produces enormous data, which require efficient processing and analysis tools for decisionmaking regarding field development and asset management. [1,2] Subsequently, the need for optimum facilities design, [3] transportation [4] and refining [5] activities at reduced cost has also grown. Several attempts [6-9] are also being made to develop unconventional fields commercially based on technoeconomic viability. The implementation of computer-based techniques has proven to be promising toward many challenging problems for various oilfield operations. Several researchers have shown that the machine learning (ML) and data analytics (DA) approaches hold promising solutions toward the operational challenges being encountered at present in the industry and can efficiently help in resolving the issues related to interpretation and analysis of large datasets. [10-15] Nikravesh and Aminzadeh [16] have shown the use of neural networks (NNs) and fuzzy logic for mining petroleum data. Li and Li [17] combined a NN and cluster analysis to put forth a predictive model for identifying complex lithology. Fath et al. [18] proposed a novel approach for bubble point pressure prediction using an NN model with reservoir temperature, solution gas oil ratio (GOR), oil gravity, and gas specific gravity as input attributes. Ahmadi and Bahadori [19] showed the use of a supervised learning algorithm to determine the well placement and conning occurrence in horizontal wells. Maucec et al. [20] performed data mining and ML on well stimulation data for enhancing the prediction capabilities. Gupta et al. [21] applied DA for safeguarding real-time electrical submersible pumping operations. Cadei et al. [22] forecasted operational upsets using advanced analytics in an upstream production system. Dongxiao et al. [23] presented in their research that long short-term memory (LSTM), cascaded LSTM, and a fully connected NN can be utilized for generating synthetic well logs by supplementing the missing logging input data. Ghorbani et al. [24] proposed an artificial Intelligence (AI)based approach to predict the flow rate of oil from an orifice

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An Overview of Recent Developments and Understandings of Unconventionals in the Vaca Muerta Formation, Argentina

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