Tunable-Release Well Tracers for Production Zone Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current tracer technologies for monitoring hydrocarbon production in oil and gas wells are costly, environmentally toxic, and lack controlled release mechanisms, making it difficult to accurately monitor production from different zones and stages after stimulation, especially requiring production to be halted during use.
Innovation Solution
Introduce a fluoro-based small molecule tracer into a subterranean formation, which undergoes hydrolysis at downhole temperatures to produce a fluorinated tracer, allowing for controlled release and monitoring of hydrocarbon production by analyzing the concentration of the fluorinated tracer in produced fluids.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If production logging tools are used to determine production from different zones, then measurement precision is improved, but productivity deteriorates because production must be halted during use
Solution Approach 1:
The tracer is injected into the formation during stimulation operations before production begins, allowing the tracer to distribute throughout the formation and be carried by produced fluids. This preliminary injection eliminates the need to halt production for monitoring, as the tracer is already in place to be detected in produced fluids.
2Measurement precision
If current chemical tracers are used for production monitoring, then measurement precision is improved, but object-generated harmful factors worsen due to environmental toxicity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses common, inexpensive chemical compounds as tracers that are already widely used in oil and gas operations. These tracers are selected to be environmentally benign and readily biodegradable, replacing toxic specialized tracer chemicals with common substances that pose minimal environmental risk.
3Measurement precision
If current chemical tracers are used for production monitoring, then measurement precision is improved, but loss of substance worsens due to lack of controlled release
Solution Approach 1:
The tracer is injected during stimulation operations and allowed to distribute throughout the formation before production begins. The tracer remains in the formation, carried by produced fluids, and can be monitored over extended periods without requiring re-injection or additional materials.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Provides accurate, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly monitoring of hydrocarbon production by enabling controlled release of tracers, reducing the need for production halts and enhancing the precision of production logging.
Implementation Method 1
the fluoro-based small molecule tracer comes into contact with water at a downhole temperature resulting in hydrolysis of the fluoro-based small molecule tracer to produce a fluorinated tracer and a nonfluorinated group
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes introducing a fluoro-based small molecule tracer into a stimulation fluid, injecting the stimulation fluid into a target zone of a subterranean formation, and maintaining the fluoro-based small molecule tracer inside the target zone of the subterranean formation for an amount of time. While being maintained inside the target zone, the fluoro-based small molecule tracer comes into contact with water at a downhole temperature resulting in hydrolysis of the fluoro-based small molecule tracer to produce a fluorinated tracer and a nonfluorinated group. Then, produced fluid that includes the fluorinated tracer is recovered, a concentration of the fluorinated tracer in the hydrocarbons is determined, and the concentration of the fluorinated tracer is correlated to a productivity of the target zone of the subterranean formation.