Flexible Well Completions

Abstract

A method of completing a well is described. The well may be a producing well or an injection well. In one embodiment, the method includes identifying technical issues associated with a well; selecting a technology to address each technical issue; defining criteria for each selected technology to determine when to deploy the selected technology in the well, wherein each selected technology remains dormant until the criteria are met; and integrating the technologies into a well completion profile stored in. memory and utilized in the deployment of the technologies into the well. The method provides the ability to proactively address technical issues to reduce workovers and interventions for a well.

1 . A method of completing a well comprising:
 identifying a plurality of technical issues associated with a well;   selecting a plurality of self-governing technologies, wherein each of the self-governing technologies is configured to autonomously vary its operational functionality under varied well conditions; and   integrating the plurality of technologies into a well completion profile for use in completing the well; wherein the self-governing technologies are selected to provide an adaptive completion responsive to the varied well conditions to address at least one of the technical issues.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the steps of completing the well according to the well completion profile and producing hydrocarbons from the well. 
   
   
       3 . (canceled) 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  comprising identifying for each of the plurality of technical issues one of a plurality of technologies to address the associated technical issue. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  comprising configuring the plurality of technologies to operate in a single production zone of the well. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising establishing a set of criteria defining well conditions under which one or more of the selected technologies activate to vary its operational functionality. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the set of criteria includes one or more well conditions selected from the presence of water within the well, the formation of an annular sand bridge within the well, the rupture of a primary sand screen in the well, and the presence of hydrocarbons in the well. 
   
   
       8 - 10 . (canceled) 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein identifying a plurality of technical issues is based at least in part on one or more of sample well cores from the well, modeling tools, and data from previously completed wells similar to the well. 
   
   
       12 . (canceled) 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the well is one of a production well or an injection well. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the well completion profile is stored in the memory of a processor based device. 
   
   
       15 . A method of completing a well comprising:
 identifying at least three technical issues associated with a well;   identifying at least three technologies, wherein each of the at least three technologies addresses at least one of the at least three technical issues, and wherein at least one of the technologies is a self-governing technology configured to autonomously vary its operational functionality under varied well conditions;   integrating the at least three technologies into a well completion profile for use in completing the well, wherein the at least one self-governing technology is selected to provide an adaptive completion responsive to the varied well conditions to address at least one of the technical issues;   completing the well according to the well completion profile; and   utilizing at least one of the at least three technologies to facilitate production of hydrocarbon natural resources from the well.   
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the well completion profile is created prior to the production of hydrocarbon natural resources from the well. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the well completion profile is created for a well that has previously produced hydrocarbon natural resources from the well. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising establishing a set of criteria defining well conditions under which the at least one self-governing technology activates to vary its operational functionality. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the at least three technical issues are selected from one or more of water breakthrough, gravel placement, rupture of a primary screen, flow impairment, and zonal isolation. 
   
   
       20 - 23 . (canceled) 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the well is one of a production well or an injection well. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the well completion profile is stored in the memory of a processor based device. 
   
   
       26 . A method of producing hydrocarbons comprising:
 identifying a plurality of technical issues associated with a well;   determining one or more self-governing technologies to address each of the plurality of technical issues, wherein each of the self-governing technologies is adapted to autonomously vary its operational functionality under varied well conditions;   designing a well completion profile that includes the one or more self-governing technologies to address the plurality of technical issues;   completing the well according to the well completion profile; and   producing hydrocarbons from the well based on the well completion profile.   
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein at least one of the technologies remains dormant until a specific event occurs. 
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 26  comprising defining criteria to activate each of the technologies. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 26  comprising disposing the technologies adjacent to a subsurface formation within the well. 
   
   
       30 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein the one or more self-governing technologies are adapted to vary the functionality in response to one or more well conditions selected from the presence of water within the well, the formation of an annular sand bridge within the well, the rupture of a primary sand screen in the well, and the presence of hydrocarbons in the well. 
   
   
       31 . The method of  claim 26  comprising configuring the technologies to operate in multiple production zones of the well. 
   
   
       32 . The method of  claim 26  comprising storing the well completion profile in the memory of a processor based device. 
   
   
       33 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein completing the well comprises utilizing the one or more self-governing completion technologies and at least one controlled technology responsive to external intervention. 
   
   
       34 . The method of  claim 26  wherein identifying a plurality of technical issues is based at least in part on one or more of sample well cores from the well, modeling tools, and data from previously completed wells similar to the well. 
   
   
       35 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the well completion profile includes the plurality of self-governing technologies and at least one controlled technology responsive to external intervention. 
   
   
       36 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein completing the well comprises utilizing the at least three self-governing technologies and at least one controlled technology responsive to external intervention.