RISK ASSESSMENT-BASED DESIGN METHOD FOR DEEP COMPLEX FORMATION WELLBORE STRUCTURE

Abstract
A risk assessment-based design method for a deep complex formation wellbore structure includes: (1) preliminarily determining casing layers and setting depths; (2) calculating to obtain the risk coefficients of each layer of casing; (3) analyzing and coordinating, according to the principle that a shallow casing shares more risks and a deep casing shares less risks, the risks of each layer of casing: determining whether the risk coefficients of each layer of casing are greater than a safety threshold value K; checking the setting depth: if the safety coefficient of an ith-layer casing satisfies RNi>K, selecting a casing layer with the minimum safety coefficient from upper casing layers, and deepening the setting depth h of the casing layer; and (4) repeating the steps (2) to (3) until the casing risk coefficients of each layer of casing are less than the safety threshold value K.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a risk assessment-based design method for a deep complex formation wellbore structure, and belongs to the technical field of oil and gas drilling.


BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wellbore structure design is one of the important contents of drilling engineering design, and the rationality of a wellbore structure design scheme directly affects safe and efficient implementation of drilling and completion construction.


There are many factors affecting the wellbore structure design, mainly including: safe density window of drilling fluid, a geological setting position, a geological target, drilling cost and the like. Through the research and development of domestic and foreign experts and scholars, basic methods for wellbore structure designs of bottom to top, top to bottom, middle to two sides and mixed designs are gradually formed, which provides a guarantee for safe and efficient construction of drilling and completion in different regions, reservoirs and working conditions. However, as oil and gas exploration gradually moves into the fields of deep water and deep formation, the complexity and uncertainty of a deep formation bring greater challenges to the wellbore structure design: for example, the prediction accuracy of formation pressure is an important guarantee for the rationality of the wellbore structure design, but the prediction of the formation pressure before drilling at present has the problems of high upper formation prediction accuracy and low deep formation prediction accuracy, which results in that, in the wellbore structure design and construction processes, a shallow formation has redundancy in wellbore structure safety, while the deep formation often has risks in wellbore structure safety due to large prediction error of the formation pressure before drilling, and downhole complex situations often occur because of an imperfect wellbore structure design in a construction process. On the other hand, the design coefficient of a common wellbore structure at present is a value range recommended according to a drilling design manual and regional characteristics. In design, only one fixed value can be selected within the value range for designing according to experience and regional drilling data. As a result, the design coefficient of the whole well is a single numerical value, and if the design coefficient is selected too large, there may be redundancy for the shallow formation; and if the design coefficient is selected too small, it may be insufficient for the deep formation.


Therefore, it is necessary to develop a wellbore structure design method with the coordination of risks of each layer of casing based on the concept of risk assessment aiming at the characteristics of deep complex formation drilling and considering the formation prediction error of different well depths and the risk bearing capacity of each layer of wellbore structure.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Aiming at the defects in the prior art, the present invention discloses a risk assessment-based design method for a deep complex formation wellbore structure.


SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, in view of the characteristics of insufficient understanding of deep formation information and frequent occurrence of downhole complex situations, the risk of a deep wellbore structure is moderately moved upwards by coordinating the risks borne by the casings of all layers, more design space is provided for the casing layers and the setting depth of a deep formation, the comprehensive risk of the whole wellbore structure is reduced to the maximum extent, and a guarantee for safe and efficient drilling is provided.


The specific technical scheme of the present invention is as follows:


A risk assessment-based design method for a deep complex formation wellbore structure, including:


(1) preliminarily determining casing layers and setting depths;


(2) calculating risk coefficients of each layer of casing;


(3) analyzing and coordinating, according to a principle that a shallow casing shares more risks and a deep casing shares less risks, the risks of each layer of casing:


determining whether the risk coefficients of each layer of casing are greater than a safety threshold value K, and setting the safety threshold value K according to the safety requirement of a target well;


checking the setting depths: if the safety coefficient of an ith-layer casing satisfies RNi>K, selecting a casing layer with the minimum safety coefficient from upper casing layers, and deepening the setting depth h of the casing layer; and


(4) repeating (2) to (3) until the risk coefficients of each layer of casing are less than the safety threshold value K.


According to the present invention, preferably, the method for preliminarily determining the casing layers and the setting depths in (1) at least includes:


(1-1) determining a geological setting position; namely, determining a setting horizon according to geological data, wherein the “determining a setting point” here is a necessary link in the wellbore structure design, that is, a blocked horizon is determined by analyzing the geological data and regional drilling data according to the horizon and the depth at which the geology is complex and a downhole accident occurs easily, so that a layer of casing must be designed correspondingly for blocking the setting position at the depth (horizon) in actual construction;


(1-2) preliminarily determining a safety pressure window, wherein the safety pressure window is preliminarily determined according to prediction results of formation pore pressure, formation fracture pressure and formation collapse pressure before drilling and a pressure balance relationship of an open hole section; and


(1-3) preliminarily determining the casing layers and the setting depths thereof by a conventional “top to bottom” design method according to the results of (1-1) and (1-2) and a regional wellbore structure design coefficient. The present invention mainly focuses on the prominent problem of the drilling risks of the deep formation in a deep drilling process; therefore, a “top to bottom” method is adopted, which makes each layer of casing go to the deepest and maximizes a design window of the deep formation.


According to the present invention, preferably, the method for calculating to obtain the risk coefficient of each layer of casing in (2) is as follows:


(2-1) probabilistic distribution of formation pressure


the prediction error ΔPi of the formation pressure Pi is a function of the well depth H:





ΔPi=f(H)ϵ[Pi0,Pi1]  (1)


in formula (1), Pi0 is the lower limit value of the error, Pi1 is the upper limit value of the error, and i represents the type of the formation pressure;


the characteristic that the prediction error of the formation pressure before drilling is increased along with the increase of the well depth is introduced into the method of the present invention, and the prediction error of the formation pressure is given by others before design and is subjected to probabilistic distribution in the present invention,


wherein the probabilistic distribution of the prediction error of the formation pressure satisfies the following rule:










f


(

P
i

)


=


1



2

π




σ

p
i






exp
(

-



(


P
i

-



P

i

1


+

P

i

0



2


)

2


2


σ

p
i

2




)






(
2
)







in formula (2), σPi the standard deviation of Pi and is selected according to the prediction accuracy, and the value range is (0, 1); and in the present invention, the risk coefficient is calculated by the cumulative probability of the formation pressure and the cumulative probability of other wellbore structure design coefficients, where σPi determines the “width” of a probabilistic distribution function, namely, the width of the upper and lower limits of a prediction function. The wider the probabilistic distribution function is, the more likely a real value falls into a predicted interval, that is to say, the higher the prediction accuracy is, but a large prediction range is not conducive to design.


According to the present invention, a specific error does not need to be obtained, and the prediction accuracy of the function is controlled by selecting different σPi values. For example:


for a shallow formation with high prediction accuracy of the formation pressure, in order to increase the design window of a wellbore structure, the width of the upper and lower limits of the prediction function can be reduced moderately, and σPi selected between 0.4 and 0.6;


and for the deep formation with low prediction accuracy of the formation pressure, in order to reduce the risk of the wellbore structure, the width of the upper and lower limits of the prediction function can be increased moderately, and σPi selected between 0.6 and 0.8.


The cumulative probability corresponding to the predicted value Pi of the formation pressure is:










P


(

P
i

)


=




-



P
i





1



σ
p

i




2

π






e

-



(


P
i

-



P

i

1


+

P

i

0



2


)

2


2


σ

p
i

2







dP
i







(
3
)







for the formation pore pressure, the prediction error is ΔPpϵ[Pp0, Pp1], and for the formation fracture pressure, the prediction error is ΔPfϵ[Pf0, Pf1];


(2-2) probabilistic distribution of wellbore structure design coefficient


if the value range of the wellbore structure design coefficient K is [K0, K1], then the probabilistic distribution formula thereof is as follows:










f


(
K
)


=


1



2

π




σ
K





exp
(

-



(

K
-



K
1

+

K
0


2


)

2


2


σ
K
2




)






(
4
)







in formula (4), σK is the standard deviation of K and is actually selected according to the drilling of a region where a target well is located, and the value range is (0, 1);


if the occurrence frequency of a downhole engineering risk in a regional drilling practice is low, a relatively small σK value can be selected with regard to a shallow wellbore structure design coefficient; if the occurrence frequency of the downhole engineering risk in the regional drilling practice is high, a relatively large σK value can be selected with regard to a deep wellbore structure design coefficient; for example: for the shallow formation, σK is selected between 0.4 and 0.6; for the deep formation, σK is selected between 0.6 and 0.8;


a credibility J is set to obtain the distribution interval of each design coefficient K as [f0(K), fn(K)]; in the distribution interval, the cumulative probability corresponding to the design coefficient fi(K) is:










P


(


f
i



(
K
)


)


=




-




f
i



(
K
)






1


σ
K




2

π






e

-



(



f
i



(
K
)


-




f
1



(
K
)


+


f
0



(
K
)



2


)

2


2


σ
K
2







d


(


f
i



(
K
)


)








(
5
)







the distribution intervals of kick tolerance Sk, formation fracture pressure safety factor Sf, additional drilling fluid density Δρ and suction pressure factor Sb are respectively expressed as: [f0(Sk),fn(Sk)], [f0(Sf), fn(Sf)], [f0(Δφ,fn(Δρ)] and [f0(Sb),fn(Sb)];


according to the present invention, preferably, the value of the credibility J is 70%˜95%;


at present, a common wellbore structure design coefficient is a value range recommended according to a drilling design manual and regional characteristics, and a fixed value is selected from the value range for designing; according to the present invention, a probability statistical method is adopted, regional well structure design coefficients are subjected to probabilistic distribution, and different design coefficients are selected with regard to the risk bearing capacity of each casing layer;


(2-3) downhole engineering risk calculation for an Nth-layer casing at the well depth H


the downhole engineering risk R(H) at the well depth H is calculated according to the pressure balance relationship:










kick





risk


:










(
6
)








R

J

Y




(
H
)


=


m


[

1
-

P


(


P
p



(
H
)


)



]


×

[

1
-

P


(


f
n



(

S
b

)


)



]

×

[

1
-

P


(


f
n



(

Δ

ρ

)


)



]













where
,

m
=

{



0




ρ
m

>



P
p



(
H
)


+


f
n



(

S
b

)


+


f
n



(

Δ

ρ

)








1




ρ
m





P
p



(
H
)


+


f
n



(

S
b

)


+


f
n



(

Δ

ρ

)





















risk of lost circulation:











R

J

L




(
H
)


=

m
×

P


(


P

f

0




(
H
)


)


×

[

1
-

P


(


f
n



(

S
k

)


)



]

×

[

1
-

P


(


f
n



(

S
f

)


)



]






(
7
)






where
,

m
=

{



0




ρ
m

<




f
n



(

S
k

)


×

H

H

n
-
1




+


f
n



(

S
f

)


+


P

f

0




(
H
)








1




ρ
m






f
n



(

S
k

)


×

H

H

n
-
1




+


f
n



(

S
f

)


+


P

f

0




(
H
)





















in formulas (6) and (7), ρm is the equivalent density of drilling fluid, and Hn-1 is the depth of the last casing shoe;


(2-4) determination of risk coefficients of each layer of casing


the downhole engineering risks at the well depth H calculated in (2-3) are integrated within the range of the layer of casing to obtain the overall risk coefficient RN of the Nth-layer casing






R
N=∫HnHm(RJY(H)+RJL(H)dH  (8)


in formula (8), Hn is the minimum depth of the Nth-layer casing; and Hm is the maximum depth of the Nth-layer casing.


The present invention has the technical advantages that:


According to the present invention, the above defects can be overcome by performing probabilistic distribution on each of the design coefficients and the prediction errors of the formation pressure and selecting the formation pressure prediction values and the design coefficients of different accuracy for different depths. Meanwhile, the risk coefficient of each layer of casing further can be calculated on that basis, the risks borne by each layer of casing are coordinated, and the overall wellbore structure risk is comprehensively reduced, so that the present invention has great advantages for the wellbore structure design of a deep well complex formation. According to the present invention, the wellbore structure design scheme that each layer of casing shares the risks based on the principle that the shallow casing shares more risks and the deep casing shares less risks is realized, which greatly reduces the safety risk caused by the wellbore structure during the drilling process.





BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS


FIG. 1 is a specific design contrast diagram for a wellbore structure in an embodiment of the present invention;



FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the present invention.





DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

A specific implementation mode is introduced by taking a well A as an example. The design well depth is 6500 m; the kick tolerance Sk=0.05 g/cm3, the formation fracture pressure safety factor Sf=0.04 g/cm3, the additional drilling fluid density Δρ=0.05 g/cm3 and the suction pressure coefficient Sb=0.04 g/cm3. A formation pressure profile is as shown in FIG. 1.


A wellbore structure scheme of the well is preliminarily determined by adopting a top to bottom method according to (1) to (3) of the present invention.


In (2), the error cumulative probability formulas of the formation pore pressure and the formation fracture pressure are respectively obtained as follows by selecting the standard deviation of the formation pressure prediction error σPi=0.6:


formation pore pressure:







P


(

P

p

i


)


=





-



P
pi





1

σ



2

π






e

-



(


P
pi

-



P

pi





1


+

P

pi





0



2


)

2


2


σ
2






d


P

p

i




=




-



P
pi





5

3



2

π






e

-


2

5



(


P
pi

-



P

pi





1


+

P

pi





0



2


)

2



1

8





d


P

p

i









formation fracture pressure:







P


(

P
fi

)


=





-



P
fi





1

σ



2

π






e

-



(


P
fi

-



P

fi





1


+

P

fi





0



2


)

2


2


σ
2






d


P
fi



=




-



P
fi





5

3



2

π






e

-


2

5



(


P
fi

-



P

fi





1


+

P

fi





0



2


)

2



1

8





d


P
fi








According to the drilling experience of an adjoining well in the region, kick and lost circulation easily occur in the downhole with the depth interval of 4000 to 5000 m, so that the wellbore structure design coefficient σPi=0.7 is selected for the depth greater than 4000 m, and σPi=0.5 is selected for other depths. The credibility J=90% is set to obtain the distribution intervals and the cumulative probability calculation formulas of each of the coefficients as follows:


Kick tolerance: the distribution interval is







{




[



0
.
0


4

,


0
.
0


6


]




H
<

4000





m







[



0
.
0


3

6

,






0
.
0


6

4


]




H


4000





m











the cumulative probability formula is







P


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)


=

{







-




f
i



(

S
K

)







2
π




e


-
2




(



f
i



(

S
K

)


+
0.05

)

2





d


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)







H
<

4000





m










-




f
i



(

S
K

)








5

0


4

9

π





e

-


5

0



(



f
i



(

S
K

)


+
0.05

)

2



4

9






d


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)







H


4000





m










Formation fracture pressure safety factor: the distribution interval is







{




[



0
.
0


3

2

,


0
.
0


4

8


]




H
<

4000





m







[



0
.
0


3

,






0
.
0


5


]




H


4000





m











the cumulative probability formula is







P


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)


=

{







-




f
i



(

S
f

)







2
π




e


-
2




(



f
i



(

S
f

)


+
0.04

)

2





d


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)







H
<

4000





m










-




f
i



(

S
f

)








5

0


4

9

π





e

-


5

0



(



f
i



(

S
f

)


+
0.04

)

2



4

9






d


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)







H


4000





m










Additional drilling fluid density: the distribution interval is







{




[



0
.
0


4

,


0
.
0


6


]




H
<

4000





m







[



0
.
0


3

6

,






0
.
0


6

4


]




H


4000





m











the cumulative probability formula is







P


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)


=

{







-




f
i



(

S
K

)







2
π




e


-
2




(



f
i



(

S
K

)


+
0.05

)

2





d


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)







H
<

4000





m










-




f
i



(

S
K

)








5

0


4

9

π





e

-


5

0



(



f
i



(

S
K

)


+
0.05

)

2



4

9






d


(


f
i



(

S
K

)


)







H


4000





m










Suction pressure coefficient: the distribution interval is







{




[



0
.
0


3

2

,


0
.
0


4

8


]




H
<

4000





m







[



0
.
0


3

,


0
.
0


5


]




H


4000





m











The cumulative probability formula is








P


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)


=

{







-




f
i



(

S
f

)







2
π




e


-
2




(



f
i



(

S
f

)


+
0.04

)

2





d


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)







H
<

4000





m










-




f
i



(

S
f

)








5

0


4

9

π





e

-


50



(



f
i



(

S
f

)


+
0.04

)

2



4

9






d


(


f
i



(

S
f

)


)







H


4000





m







.




According to (2) to (3) in the present invention, in the embodiment, there are five layers of casings in total, and the downhole engineering risks of each layer of casing at different well depths are respectively calculated:


a first-layer casing: the kick risk RJY=0; the lost circulation risk RJL=0;


a second-layer casing: the kick risk







R

J

Y


=

{




0



H
<

2000





m








9
×
1


0

-
6




x
2


-


0
.
0


3

5

x

+

3


5
.
2


79





H


2000





m





;






the lost circulation risk RJL=0;


a third-layer casing: the kick risk







R

J

Y


=

{




0



H
<

3500





m








2
×
1


0

-
6




x
2


-

0.0127

x

-
23.657




H


3500





m





;






the lost circulation risk







R
JL

=

{






2
×
1


0

-
6




x
2


-

0.0091

x

+
10.052




H
<

2150





m






0



H


2150





m





;






a fourth-layer casing: the kick risk







R

J

Y


=

{




0



H
<

5150





m








2
×
1


0

-
6




x
2


-

0.0217

x

+
56.027




H


5150





m





;






the lost circulation risk







R
JL

=

{







-
9

×
1


0

-
7




x
2


-

0.0067

x

-
11.819




H
<

3700





m






0



H


3700





m





;






a fifth-layer casing: the kick risk







R

J

Y


=

{




0



H
<

6380





m








2
×
1


0

-
6




x
2


-

0.0255

x

+
81.718




H


6380





m





;






the lost circulation risk







R
JL

=

{







-
5

×
1


0

-
7




x
2


+

0.0055

x

-
15.312




H
<

5400





m






0



H


5400





m





.






According to (2) to (4) in the present invention, the overall risk coefficient of each layer of casing is obtained:


R1=0; R2=∫3002100 (RJY(H)+RJL(H)dH=0.532; R3=∫21003600 (RJY(H)+RL(H)dH=0.483;


R4=∫36005100(RJY(H)+RJL(H)dH=0.447; R5=∫51006500(RJY(H)+RJL(H)dH=0.408.


According to (3) to (4) in the present invention:


{circle around (1)}: a safety threshold value K=0.5 is set according to actual conditions, wherein the overall risk coefficient of the second-layer casing is greater than the value;


{circle around (2)}: the setting depth of the first-layer casing is increased by 50 m;


{circle around (3)}: if the safety coefficient of the ith-layer casing satisfies RNi>K, the casing layer with the minimum safety coefficient is selected from upper casing layers, and the setting depth h of the casing layer is deepened; and


{circle around (4)}: until the risk coefficient of each layer of casing is less than the safety threshold value K.


In order to reflect the technical advantages of the present invention, a comparison is made between embodiments of the present invention and comparative examples, wherein the comparative example described in Table 1 refers to a comparative technical scheme formed according to (1) to (2) of the present invention.












TABLE 1









Comparative Example
The Present Embodiment












Drilling

Drilling















Casing
Fluid

Casing
Fluid



Casing
Setting
Density
Risk
Setting
Density
Risk


Layer
Depth
(g/cm3)
Factor
Depth
(g/cm3)
Factor


















1
300
m
1.17
0
350
m
1.18
0.035


2
2100
m
1.35
0.532
2125
m
1.37
0.0486


3
3600
m
1.68
0.483
3635
m
1.72
0.043


4
5100
m
2.07
0.447
5110
m
2.23
0.0421


5
6500
m
2.63
0.408
6500
m
2.62
0.0413










In combination with Table 1 and FIG. 1, it can be seen that, after the processing and design of the method disclosed by the present invention, the risks of the five layers of casings are all less than the safety threshold value K=0.5, the casing setting depth of the shallow formation is deeper, and the depth of the open hole section of the deep formation (the setting depths of the fourth and fifth layers of casings) is reduced, which facilitates the reduction of downhole risk of the deep formation drilling, transfers the risk of a deep casing layer to a shallow casing layer, and reduces the overall risk.

Claims
  • 1. A risk assessment-based design method for a deep complex formation wellbore structure, comprising: (1) preliminarily determining casing layers and a setting depth;(2) calculating risk coefficients of each layer of casing;(3) analyzing and coordinating, according to a principle that a shallow casing shares more risks and a deep casing shares less risks, the risks of each layer of casing:determining whether the risk coefficients of each layer of casing are greater than a safety threshold value K;checking the setting depths: if a safety coefficient of an ith-layer casing satisfies RNi>K, selecting a casing layer with the minimum safety coefficient from upper casing layers, and deepening the setting depth h of the casing layer; and(4) repeating (2) to (3) until the risk coefficients of each layer of casing are less than the safety threshold value K.
  • 2. The risk assessment-based design method for the deep complex formation wellbore structure according to claim 1, wherein the method for preliminarily determining the casing layers and the running depths in (1) at least comprises: (1-1) determining a geological setting position;(1-2) preliminarily determining a safety pressure window, wherein the safety pressure window is preliminarily determined according to prediction results of formation pore pressure, formation fracture pressure and formation collapse pressure before drilling and a pressure balance relationship of an open hole section; and(1-3) preliminarily determining the casing layers and the setting depths thereof by a conventional “top to bottom” design method according to the results of (1-1) and (1-2) and a regional wellbore structure design coefficient.
  • 3. The risk assessment-based design method for the deep complex formation wellbore structure according to claim 1, wherein the method for calculating the risk coefficients of each layer of casing in (2) is as follows: (2-1) probabilistic distribution of formation pressurethe prediction error ΔPi of the formation pressure Pi is a function of the well depth H: ΔPi=f(H)ϵ[Pi0,Pi1],  (1)in formula (1), Pi0 is the lower limit value of the error, Pi1 is the upper limit value of the error, and i represents the type of the formation pressure,wherein the probabilistic distribution of the prediction error of the formation pressure satisfies the following rule:
Priority Claims (1)
Number Date Country Kind
2019111037553 Nov 2019 CN national