Abstract: The present invention is a method of simulating fluid flows in an underground formation comprising a fracture network. A porosity model is constructed, comprising a first medium representative of an unfractured matrix, a second medium representative of fractures oriented in a first direction and a third medium representative of fractures oriented in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. From at least the porosity model, flow parameters of a grid representation of the formation are determined, which include conduction and convection transmissibilities between two neighboring cells for the second and third media, as well as mass and energy exchanges by convection and conduction between each medium taken two by two for a single cell. Flows in the formation are simulated by f a flow simulator implementing the porosity model.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for optimizing a fluid deposit traversed by a fracture network. For this method, the deposit is discretized in a meshed representation, a “dual medium” approach is used, and the exchange flows are determined between the meshes, together with corrective factors. The corrective factors are dependent on the initial pressure and the minimum production pressure of the deposit. The fluid flows in the deposit are simulated by means of these flows and these corrective factors.

Abstract: The invention simulates flows in a geological reservoir having a heterogeneous pore size. From laboratory measurements on samples taken in the geological reservoir, pore size distribution classes are determined and a triple-porosity model representative of each class is determined. The flow simulator according to the invention implements the triple-porosity model, a thermodynamic equation of state accounting for an equivalent dimension of the pores of the small-size medium, fluid exchanges exclusively between the large-pore and small-pore media and between the small-pore and fracture media, and the capillary pressure as a function of the saturation in a small-pore medium.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for optimizing a fluid deposit traversed by a fracture network. For this method, the deposit is discretized in a meshed representation, a “dual medium” approach is used, and the exchange flows are determined between the meshes, together with corrective factors. The corrective factors are dependent on the initial pressure and the minimum production pressure of the deposit. The fluid flows in the deposit are simulated by means of these flows and these corrective factors.

Abstract: A method of selecting the positions of wells to be drilled for the development of a petroleum reservoir from a set of reservoir images. Well configurations are optimized by calculating a first quality criterion using a flow simulator applied to a limited number of reservoir images. Previously obtained configuration simulation results previously obtained are used for configurations physically close to the configuration to be assessed. A second reservoir development quality criterion is calculated for the optimized configurations using a flow simulator applied to each image of the reservoir. Finally, the well location corresponding to the optimized configuration having the best second quality criterion is selected.

Abstract: A porous medium exploitation method having application to petroleum exploitation is disclosed using coupling between a reservoir model and a near-wellbore model for modelling fluid flows. Fluid flows within the medium are simulated using a reservoir simulator and a near-wellbore simulator. At each time step, the boundary conditions used by the second simulator are calculated by means of with the reservoir simulator. Numerical productivity indices used by the reservoir simulator are calculated by means of using the near-wellbore simulator. The fluid flows within the porous medium during a given period of time are modelled by repeating the previous stages for several time steps. An optimum medium exploitation scenario is deduced determined from this modelling by taking into accounting for, for example, a well damage due to a drilling fluid, an injection of a polymer solution or of an acid solution in the well.

Abstract: A method of developing a petroleum reservoir from a reservoir model and optimized history matching is disclosed having application for petroleum reservoir characterization. A global objective function measuring the differences between the measured historical data and the simulated historical data is defined according to M parameters. The global objective function is then decomposed into a sum of k local objective functions. Each local objective function measures the differences on a geographic region from mk parameters, selected from among the M parameters, and having a significant impact on the historical data of the region. The region is determined by minimizing this number mk of parameters. The model is then modified by minimizing the global objective function by a gradient method wherein the derivatives of the local objective functions are estimated by means of a parameter perturbation technique.

Abstract: A method of selecting the positions of wells to be drilled for the development of a petroleum reservoir from a set of reservoir images. Well configurations are optimized by calculating a first quality criterion using a flow simulator applied to a limited number of reservoir images. Previously obtained configuration simulation results previously obtained are used for configurations physically close to the configuration to be assessed. A second reservoir development quality criterion is calculated for the optimized configurations using a flow simulator applied to each image of the reservoir. Finally, the well location corresponding to the optimized configuration having the best second quality criterion is selected.

Abstract: A method is disclosed for determining well placements, or drainage areas, in a hydrocarbon reservoir to facilitate operation of the reservoir. Drainage area configurations are generated randomly, by generating, for each configuration, placements for each drainage area. The placements of each drainage area are determined to optimize a quality criterion, by an iterative optimization algorithm during which for first iterations, the quality criterion is evaluated by a flow simulator, and for subsequent iterations, an approximate evaluation model of the quality criterion is constructed. The quality of the approximate model is evaluated and the quality criterion is determined by the approximate model or by the flow simulator according to the quality of this approximate model.

Abstract: A method of developing a petroleum reservoir from a reservoir model and optimized history matching is disclosed having application for petroleum reservoir characterization. A global objective function measuring the differences between the measured historical data and the simulated historical data is defined according to M parameters. The global objective function is then decomposed into a sum of k local objective functions. Each local objective function measures the differences on a geographic region from mk parameters, selected from among the M parameters, and having a significant impact on the historical data of the region. The region is determined by minimizing this number mk of parameters. The model is then modified by minimizing the global objective function by a gradient method wherein the derivatives of the local objective functions are estimated by means of a parameter perturbation technique.

Abstract: Porous A porous medium exploitation method having application to petroleum exploitation is disclosed using coupling between a reservoir model and a near-wellbore model for modelling fluid flows. Fluid flows within the medium are simulated using a reservoir simulator and a near-wellbore simulator. At each time step, the boundary conditions used by the second simulator are calculated by means of with the reservoir simulator. Numerical productivity indices used by the reservoir simulator are calculated by means of using the near-wellbore simulator. The fluid flows within the porous medium during a given period of time are modelled by repeating the previous stages for several time steps. An optimum medium exploitation scenario is deduced determined from this modelling by taking into accounting for, for example, a well damage due to a drilling fluid, an injection of a polymer solution or of an acid solution in the well.