Patents Assigned to BP Corporation North America
  • Patent number: 10996360
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, there is provided a method of correcting recorded seismic data where each receiver clock is potentially inaccurate. Since the seismic wave field is not random, and contains coherent events that are recorded by all receivers in a local area, it is possible to estimate the differences in the time reference by comparing the recordings of different receivers in a local area. With no external time reference, time signal, or pilot trace, an entire seismic data itself can be used to determine how each receiver's clock is drifting from true time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA, INC.
    Inventor: John Theodore Etgen
  • Publication number: 20210116592
    Abstract: A method includes receiving, via a processor, input data based upon received seismic data, migrating, via the processor, the input data via a pre-stack depth migration technique to generate migrated input data, encoding, via the processor, the input data via an encoding function as a migration attribute to generate encoded input data having a migration function that is non-monotonic versus an attribute related to the input data, migrating, via the processor, the encoded input data via the pre-stack depth migration technique to generate migrated encoded input data, and generating an estimated common image gather based upon the migrated input data and the migrated encoded input data. The method also includes generating a seismic image utilizing the estimated common image gather, wherein the seismic image represents hydrocarbons in a subsurface region of the Earth or subsurface drilling hazards.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 7, 2020
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: John T. Etgen, Imtiaz Ahmed
  • Publication number: 20210087922
    Abstract: A system for stimulating a well extending through a subterranean earthen formation includes a surface pump configured to pressurize a well stimulation fluid to a current surface pressure measurable by a surface sensor package, a well stimulation line extending between the surface pump and a wellhead positioned at an upper end of the well, wherein the well stimulation line is configured to flow the well stimulation fluid into the well, and a monitoring system in signal communication with the surface sensor package and including a screen-out predictor module stored in a memory of the monitoring system, wherein the screen-out predictor module is configured to predict a future surface pressure of the well stimulation fluid based on the current surface pressure measured by the surface sensor package, and wherein the monitoring system is configured to provide an indication of the predicted future surface pressure of the well stimulation fluid.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 21, 2020
    Publication date: March 25, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Sarita SALUNKE, Ivan GIL, Laryssa Petry LIGOCKI, Bryan DOTSON
  • Publication number: 20210047916
    Abstract: A method of characterizing an inflow into a wellbore includes obtaining an acoustic signal from a sensor within the wellbore. In addition, the method includes determining a plurality of frequency domain features from the acoustic signal. Further, the method includes identifying at least one of a gas phase flow, an aqueous phase flow, or a hydrocarbon liquid phase flow using the plurality of the frequency domain features. The method also includes classifying a flow rate of the at least one of the gas phase flow, the aqueous phase flow, or the hydrocarbon liquid phase flow using the plurality of frequency domain features. The acoustic signal comprises acoustic samples across a portion of a depth of the wellbore.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Publication date: February 18, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America, Inc.
    Inventors: Pradyumna THIRUVENKATANATHAN, Fei CAO
  • Patent number: 10920579
    Abstract: A well monitoring system particularly useful in detecting kicks in the well includes a well, a well system, and a computing apparatus. The well defines a wellbore and the well system includes at least one sensor measuring at least one well condition. The computing apparatus hosts a well monitoring software component that performs a method to detect a kick in a well. The method includes: storing a set of real-time data from a measurement of a well condition by the sensor, the measurements being correlative to an unplanned fluid influx into the well; modeling the operation of the well with a physics-based, state space model of the well system to obtain an estimate of the well condition; and applying the real-time data set and the estimate to a probabilistic estimator to yield a probability of an occurrence of a kick and a confidence measure for the probability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignees: Board of Regents, The University of Texas System, BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Joseph J. Beaman, Jr., Scott Fish, David A. Foti, Warren J. Winters
  • Patent number: 10913891
    Abstract: A method for producing hydrocarbons within a reservoir includes (a) injecting an aqueous solution into the reservoir. The aqueous solution includes water and a thermally activated chemical species. The thermally activated chemical species is urea, a urea derivative, or a carbamate. The thermally activated chemical agent is thermally activated at or above a threshold temperature less than 200° C. In addition, the method includes (b) thermally activating the thermally activated chemical species in the aqueous solution during or after (a) at a temperature equal to or greater than the threshold temperature to produce carbon-dioxide and at least one of ammonia, amine, and alkanolamine within the reservoir. Further, the method includes (c) increasing the water wettability of the subterranean formation in response to the thermally activation in (b). Still further, the method includes (d) waterflooding the reservoir with water after (a), (b) and (c).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2021
    Assignee: BP CORPORATION NORTH AMERICA INC.
    Inventors: James Neil, Spencer Taylor, Huang Zeng, Allan Peats, Giovanna Boccardo, John V. Bullen, Ian Ralph Collins, Andrew Rees
  • Publication number: 20210025256
    Abstract: A system for remediating a blockage in a subsea a subsea fluid system includes a hot tap system connected to an outer surface of a subsea fluid conduit of the subsea fluid system, a first flowpath extending from a fluid source, through the first coiled tubing and the hot tap system, and into the subsea fluid conduit, and a second flowpath extending from the subsea fluid conduit and through the hot tap system, wherein the second flowpath is separate from the first flowpath, wherein the hot tap system is configured to inject a first fluid into the subsea fluid conduit along the first flowpath and receive a second fluid from the subsea fluid conduit along the second flowpath.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Shane Wells, Ronald K. Berger, James Longville
  • Publication number: 20210025529
    Abstract: A hot tap assembly for accessing a subsea fluid system includes a landing structure configured to releasably attach to a subsea fluid conduit of the subsea fluid system, a clamp assembly positionable on the landing structure, where in the clamp assembly includes a hot tap clamp including a first jaw and a second jaw, wherein a first annular seal assembly and a second annular seal assembly are disposed on an engagement surface of the second jaw, and a drill assembly positionable on the landing structure, wherein the drill assembly includes a drill disposed in a central conduit that is insertable through a central passage formed in the second jaw of the clamp assembly, wherein the hot tap clamp is configured to actuate between an open position configured to receive the subsea fluid conduit and a closed position configured to sealingly engage the subsea fluid conduit with the first seal assembly and the second seal assembly of the clamp assembly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 22, 2020
    Publication date: January 28, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Shane Wells, Ronald K. Berger, James Longville
  • Publication number: 20210010385
    Abstract: A hydrocarbon production system includes a well at a remote location. The well is configured to produce hydrocarbon production fluids comprising natural gas. The system also includes a turbo-generator coupled to the well and configured to receive the natural gas and produce electricity from the natural gas. In addition, the system includes a high performance computing (HPC) data center coupled to the turbo-generator and configured to be powered by the electricity from the turbo-generator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Publication date: January 14, 2021
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher Steele Spears
  • Patent number: 10883054
    Abstract: A method comprises correlating—in a system which comprises a non-aqueous phase comprising a hydrocarbon fluid, and an aqueous phase—partitioning levels of a basic contaminant and/or an acid of interest into the aqueous phase with the pH of the aqueous phase. The partitioning levels of the basic contaminant and the acid of interest, as well as the pH of the aqueous phase, are obtained under conditions which are representative of those used in a partitioning process in which a basic contaminant is removed from a hydrocarbon fluid. The correlations may be used in a method for selecting an acidic environment for use in a partitioning process, for estimating corrosion risk downstream of a partitioning process, or for controlling a partitioning process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Chengxiang Zhou, Ming Wei, Jason English, Craig Hackett
  • Publication number: 20200409452
    Abstract: A method for performing an inspection includes (a) concurrently viewing a real object through a display screen of a head-worn display device worn by a user and a virtual object projected on the display screen of the head-worn display device. In addition, the method includes (b) comparing the virtual object to the real object. Further, the method includes (c) generating an inspection result in response to the comparison in (b).
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 22, 2020
    Publication date: December 31, 2020
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Khoa Nguyen, Max C. Lyoen, Minh Giang
  • Patent number: 10877174
    Abstract: A technique for estimating a depth of investigation of a seismic survey includes in various aspects a method and an apparatus. The method is for use in seismic exploration and includes: forward modeling on a subsurface attribute model of a subterranean region to generate a set of low frequency seismic data, the subsurface attribute model being generated from data representative of the subterranean region; performing a reverse time migration on the low frequency seismic data to obtain a plurality of gathers with large opening angles; stacking the gathers to yield a diving wave illumination image; and estimating a full-waveform inversion depth of investigation from the diving wave illumination image. The apparatus may include a computing apparatus programmed to perform the method and/or a program storage medium encoded with computing instructions that, when executed, perform the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventor: Imitaz Ahmed
  • Patent number: 10877175
    Abstract: A method for use in seismic exploration includes: obtaining a diving wave illumination image of a subterranean region from a set of seismic data representative of the subterranean region using a selected acquisition geometry; clipping an inverse of the diving wave illumination image to a range of values; and performing a weighted full-waveform inversion. The weighted full-waveform inversion further includes: weighting a full-waveform inversion gradient with the clipped inverse of the diving wave illumination image; and performing the full-waveform inversion using the weighted gradient.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America inc.
    Inventor: Imitaz Ahmed
  • Patent number: 10857490
    Abstract: A process for the separation of the components of a solid/liquid mixture. The process Includes the use of a rotary pressure filter apparatus having improved capacity.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Thomas Bartos, Anders Bitsch-Larsen, Timothy Keyes
  • Patent number: 10844298
    Abstract: A method for recalculating the solvent power of a light oil, SP(LO recalculated), is provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Soban Balashanmugam, Ronald Fisher, Rosa Rueda-Velásquez, Devin Halliday
  • Patent number: 10843995
    Abstract: A process for manufacturing a carboxylic acid is provided, in one aspect, the process comprises oxidizing a feedstock comprising a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon to form a liquid-phase aromatic carboxylic acid; crystallizing at least a portion of the liquid-phase aromatic carboxylic acid in the presence of oxygen and an oxidation catalyst in a first crystallizer to form solid aromatic carboxylic acid, under reaction conditions suitable to oxidize unreacted feedstock to form additional aromatic carboxylic acid; and crystallizing at least a portion of the first crystallization effluent in the presence of oxygen and an oxidation catalyst in a second crystallizer to form additional solid aromatic carboxylic acid, under reaction conditions suitable to oxidize unreacted feedstock to form additional aromatic carboxylic acid, wherein the oxygen is present in a gaseous phase inside the second crystallizer in an amount of no more than 11% by volume on a dry basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventor: Anders Bitsch-Larsen
  • Publication number: 20200348434
    Abstract: A method of performing single trace inversion to characterize changes in a subsurface region includes obtaining a base seismic trace and a monitor seismic trace of the subsurface region at different respective times. The method includes generating a predicted monitor seismic trace from the base seismic trace by a process including applying a time shift to the base seismic trace, the time shift being derived from estimated velocity perturbations occurring between the base seismic trace and the monitor seismic trace, compensating for amplitude changes between the base seismic trace and the monitor seismic trace, wherein the time shift is applied to the amplitude changes, and minimizing a difference between the predicted monitor seismic trace and the monitor seismic trace by iteratively estimating the velocity perturbations to obtain final estimated velocity perturbations. Changes of at least part of the subsurface region may be characterized using the final estimated velocity perturbations.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 6, 2020
    Publication date: November 5, 2020
    Applicant: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Tingting Zhang, Simon Luo, Anar Yusifov
  • Patent number: 10822992
    Abstract: A hydrocarbon production system includes a well at a remote location. The well is configured to produce hydrocarbon production fluids comprising natural gas. The system also includes a turbo-generator coupled to the well and configured to receive the natural gas and produce electricity from the natural gas. In addition, the system includes a high performance computing (HPC) data center coupled to the turbo-generator and configured to be powered by the electricity from the turbo-generator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventor: Christopher Steele Spears
  • Patent number: 10809399
    Abstract: A method for use in vertical seismic profiling includes: independently and simultaneously shooting a plurality of seismic sources in a plurality of shooting areas to impart seismic signals into a water bottom: receiving reflections of the seismic signals from a subterranean formation beneath the water bottom at a plurality of seismic receivers; and recording the received reflections; wherein, one of the seismic sources and the seismic receivers are disposed in a wellbore in the water bottom.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 20, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Raymond Lee Abma, Brian Hornby, David John Howe, John Naranjo, Min Zhou
  • Patent number: 10799852
    Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for converting a feed mixture comprising an aromatic C8 mixture of xylenes and ethylbenzene in which the para-xylene content of the xylene portion of the feed is less than equilibrium to produce a product mixture of reduced ethylbenzene content and a greater amount of para-xylene, which method comprises contacting the feed mixture at conversion conditions with a first catalyst having activity for the conversion of ethylbenzene, and with a second catalyst having activity for the isomerization of a xylene.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: BP Corporation North America Inc.
    Inventors: Philip Nubel, Jeffrey Amelse