Abstract:
A process of managing inventory and delivery logistics of one or more chemical additives used at a well treatment site. The process includes placing one or more bulk containers at the well treatment site to maintain inventory capacity for one or more chemical additives on-site for a well treatment procedure. Monitoring chemical additive inventory within the one or more bulk containers. Making a determination, based on monitored chemical additive inventory, whether additional additive is needed in the one or more bulk containers; generating, based on the determination, initiation of an order for delivery of additional additive. delivering the additional additive in a delivery bulk container to the well treatment site. Also included is an automated additive inventory and delivery logistics control system.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Hydraulic fracturing is a technique by which the production of natural resources, such as natural gas and petroleum, for example, can be stimulated or increased. The process of hydraulic fracturing includes inducing fractures in a rock layer using pressurized fluid. The process may also include the use of chemical additives mixed into the fluid. In addition to chemical additives, sand, which is typically stored in sand silos, may also be used as an additive in the process. Some additives may need to be continuously delivered during the production process, but the treatment may stop and start at undetermined intervals. As a result, the exact amount of additive needed may not be easily determined a priori. 
         [0002]      FIG. 1  illustrates the current process for managing hydraulic fracturing chemical additive supply logistics on oil and gas well sites  1 . The chemical additives are typically supplied from a manufacturer  2  packaged in drums or portable totes  3  to one or more intermediate warehousing or inventory storage facilities  4 , which stores a thirty day inventory of each chemical additive for each well site. A typical truckload can transport  14  totes at a time. When a site  1  requires 32,000 gal of each of four liquid additive products, a delivery of 28 truckloads will be required to provide nearly 400 totes  3  at the site  1 . When additional additives are required at a site  1 , as determined via manual intervention in measuring and/or requesting additional additives, the drums or portable totes  3  containing the needed additional additives are then delivered from the district warehouse  4  to a site  1  and dropped off at the site  1 . Each of the drum or totes  3  must be transferred and/or plumbed into the hydraulic fracturing fluid processing system using conveyances such as hoses. As can be appreciated, a typical job will result in a large number of totes  3  on sites  1  with packaging, handling, delivery, and facilities costs to absorb, as well as a large number of interconnections to manage and delivery logistics to arrange. . 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    A process of managing inventory and delivery logistics of one or more chemical additives used at a well treatment site, the process includes placing one or more bulk containers at the well treatment site to maintain inventory capacity for one or more chemical additives on-site for a well treatment procedure; monitoring chemical additive inventory within the one or more bulk containers; making a determination, based on monitored chemical additive inventory, whether additional additive is needed in the one or more bulk containers; generating, based on the determination, initiation of an order for delivery of additional additive; and, delivering the additional additive in a delivery bulk container to the well treatment site. 
         [0004]    An automated additive inventory and delivery logistics control system includes one or more bulk containers positioned at a well treatment site, the one or more bulk containers configured to indicate a quantity of an additive therein; and, a monitoring system positioned remotely from the one or more bulk containers, the monitoring system configured to automatically receive information from the one or more bulk containers regarding the quantity of an additive therein. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0005]    Referring now to the drawings wherein like elements are numbered alike in the several Figures: 
           [0006]      FIG. 1  illustrates the current process for managing hydraulic fracturing chemical additive supply logistics for well sites; 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a system to automatically manage an additive inventory and delivery logistics according to an embodiment of the invention; 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of the system of  FIG. 2  to automatically generate an additive delivery alert; and, 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an exemplary method to automatically generate an additive delivery alert according to an embodiment of the invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0010]    As noted above, current hydraulic fracturing processes include manual measurement of additive levels or manual generation of requests for additional additives (chemicals or sand). Embodiments of the invention described herein include a system and method to automatically monitor the level information of one or more additives at one or more hydraulic fracturing sites. The system is also capable of determining a need for additional additives and generating alerts for additional deliveries as needed. 
         [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates an exemplary embodiment of an automated additive inventory and delivery logistics control system  10 . The system  10  includes one or more bulk containers or tanks  12  such as liquid additive system (“LAS”) tanks that store chemical additives, for example. The system  10  also includes other additive storage containers such as one or more sand silos  14 , for example. In an exemplary embodiment, one or more of the containers  12  and silos  14  are intermodal containers also known as ISO containers, which are standardized containers with sizes standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (“ISO”). Intermodal containers can be moved from one mode of transport to another without unloading and reloading the contents of the container. The one or more containers  12  and silos  14  are hereinafter referred to as bulk containers and may include a height and width or radius of about 8 feet, a typical length of at least 20 feet, and a volume of at least 1,000 cubic feet, having a capacity of at least approximately 7,500 gallons, which is far greater than the typical 275 gallon capacity of a tote. 
         [0012]    While various sizes of the bulk containers are available within the ISO container specifications, it should be understood that the bulk containers and silos  12 ,  14  described herein are differentiated from smaller pallet-sized tote boxes. Conventionally, as shown in  FIG. 1 , chemical additives for use at hydraulic fracturing sites  1  are deposited within totes  3  by various chemical manufacturers  2 , and delivered and stored at a supply center  4  that services one or more hydraulic fracturing sites  1 . Up to a 30 day supply of totes  3  for each additive at each hydraulic fracturing site  1  is typically housed within the supply center  4 , and an average of fourteen totes  3  can be delivered within a truckload. The hydraulic fracturing site  1  itself can include hundreds of totes  3  for holding the chemical additives necessary for a hydraulic fracturing operation. After each tote  3  is depleted of chemical additive, the empty tote  3  must be stored on site  1  until removed. Also, when a new tote  3  is needed, hosing connections must be moved from an empty tote  3  to a new tote  3  which increases a risk of leaks and spills. Thus, the bulk containers  12 ,  14  replace the previously employed totes  3  for storage of large volume additives, and are able to be refilled at the hydraulic fracturing site as needed rather than being replaced, as will be further described below. 
         [0013]    With reference again to  FIG. 2 , an exemplary embodiment of the automated additive inventory and delivery logistics control system  10  monitors additive levels and controls additive delivery to a first hydraulic fracturing site  16 , a well treatment site, and a second hydraulic fracturing site  18 . While two hydraulic fracturing sites  16 ,  18  are illustrated, it should be understood that any number of hydraulic fracturing sites could be monitored for controlling an inventory of additives by the system  10 . Site  16  includes first, second, third, and fourth bulk containers  20 ,  22 ,  24 ,  26 . In an exemplary embodiment, each of the first through fourth bulk containers  20  to  26  includes a different additive from each other. Similarly, site  18  includes first, second, third, and fourth bulk containers  28 ,  30 ,  32 ,  34  each including a different additive from each other. While four bulk containers are shown at each site  16 ,  18 , each site  16 ,  18  may alternatively include more or less bulk containers. The bulk containers  20  to  34  may be trailer mounted bulk additive tanks for ease in delivery to and relocatability within the sites  16 ,  18 . Also, one or more of the bulk containers  20  to  34  are connected by a connection, such as by hosing and/or piping, to a portion of a hydraulic fracturing system, such as a hydraulic fluid processing system. The hydraulic fluid processing system (not shown) may include a blender for blending one or more of the additives with water and proppant as needed for a particular job. Each of the bulk containers  20  to  34  further includes an additional connector for connecting with the hosing or connection feature of a transport vehicle for on-site refilling. In an exemplary embodiment, the first bulk containers  20 ,  28  include a first additive, the second bulk containers  22 ,  30  include a second additive, the third bulk containers  24 ,  32  include a third additive, and the fourth bulk containers  26 ,  34  include a fourth additive. Instead of storing all of the first, second, third, and fourth additives at a distribution center  36  or supply center, the first, second, third, and fourth additives are directly supplied to the sites  16 ,  18  by first, second, third, and fourth suppliers  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44 , respectively, that include chemical additive manufacturers, chemical distributors, and sand suppliers. Alternatively, one or more of the first to fourth additives may be supplied by a same supplier. The distribution center  36  may be used to store “back-up” or emergency inventory in the event the additive is not immediately available from the supplier. 
         [0014]    The bulk containers  20  to  34  are equipped with level sensors and GPS navigation devices. Site  16  also includes a monitoring system  46 , which communicates with the level sensors and GPS navigation devices of each bulk container  28  to  34 , and site  18  also includes a monitoring system  48 , which communicates with the level sensors and GPS navigation devices of each bulk container  28  to  34 . The monitoring systems  46 ,  48  receive the information from the bulk containers  20  to  34  and may include processors (not shown) for additionally processing the information. The system  10  further includes a dispatching system represented at  50 . The dispatching system  50  can be located at the distribution center  36  or elsewhere within the system  10 . The dispatching system  10  receives and monitors site inventory data from multiple sites  16 ,  18  via the monitoring systems  46 ,  48  for inventory management and reorder dispatch. Communication between the level sensors and GPS navigation devices of the bulk containers  20  to  34 , the monitoring systems  46 ,  48 , and the dispatching system  50  occurs wirelessly and automatically without manual intervention. Inventory management data can be automatically processed by a processor (not shown) located within the dispatching system  50  and can be used to generate a delivery alert in the event a level of an additive in a particular container is low and in need of refill. The delivery alert is sent to the supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 , or  44  that provides the additive. While an automated system  10  is described that does not require manual intervention to generate a delivery alert, manual override may be enabled or the delivery alert may be set up to require manual approval prior to sending to the supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 , or  44 . Once the delivery alert is sent to the respective supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 , or  44 , a transport vehicle  52 ,  54 ,  56 , or  58  is sent from the respective supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 , or  44  with the first, second, third, or fourth additive. The transport vehicles  52 ,  54 ,  56 , and  58  deliver the additional additive in bulk containers rather than in replacement totes. The additive can be delivered to the site of the container in need of refilling, and can then be subsequently delivered to any nearby sites to deliver additional additive to containers containing the same additive, thus reducing the number of future truck deliveries required. After refilling, the transport vehicle  52 ,  54 ,  56 ,  58  returns to the supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 , or  44  for receiving more additive in the event of another delivery alert. The transfer of additional additive from the bulk container of the transport vehicle to one or more of the bulk containers  20  to  34 , via their respective connectors, can be accomplished while maintaining the connection between the one or more bulk containers  20  to  34  and the hydraulic fracturing system. 
         [0015]      FIG. 3  illustrates the exemplary embodiment of the automated additive inventory and delivery logistics control system  10  with further details provided regarding the interaction between the bulk containers, monitoring systems, and dispatch system. For ease in description, only first hydraulic fracturing site  16  is shown instead of multiple sites, and only one bulk container  12  is depicted instead of multiple bulk containers, although it should be understood that any number of sites each including any number of bulk containers would be within the scope of these embodiments. At the hydraulic fracturing site  16 , the system  10  includes the monitoring system  46  that houses a processing system  60  with one or more processors  62  and one or more memory devices  64 . The monitoring system  46  is located remotely from the containers  12 ,  14  and may be in communication with a server  66  located at a site other than the hydraulic fracturing site  16  that is accessible via a network  68 , for example. In addition to components at the hydraulic fracturing site  16  and the server  66 , the system  10  also includes the dispatching system provided at a dispatch site  70 . The dispatch site  70  could be located at the distribution center  36 , but could be located elsewhere. In alternate embodiments, the monitoring system  46  may communicate directly with the dispatching system  50  rather than with the server  66 . The dispatch site  70  may supply the additional additives via a distribution center  36 , or alternatively directs a chemical supplier  38 ,  40 ,  42 ,  44  ( FIG. 2 ) to supply the additional additives. In either case, the dispatching system  50  directs one or more transport vehicles  52  (and  54 ,  56 , or  58  as shown in  FIG. 2 ) carrying bulk containers of additional additive to supply the hydraulic fracturing site  16  with additional additive. The dispatching system  50  includes a processing system  72  with one or more processors  74  and one or more memory devices  76 . Each of the different sites—hydraulic fracturing site  16 , dispatch site  70 , and sever  66  site—may communicate with each other wirelessly over the network  68  or may communicate via a satellite  78  such as one in a low earth orbit (“LEO”) satellite system, VSAT (very small aperture terminal), cellular, or real time. Each of the containers  12 ,  14  includes a level sensor  80  that communicates the level of the respective container  12 ,  14  to the monitoring system  46 . In the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , the level sensor  80  communicates level information wirelessly. 
         [0016]    The level information is processed to determine whether an additive delivery alert should be issued. In an exemplary embodiment enabled by the configuration of system  10 , automatic processing determines whether or not an additive delivery alert should be issued. Such processing may be done by the processing system  60  of the monitoring system  46 , at the server  66 , or by the processing system  72  of the dispatching system  50 . The processing to determine whether an additive delivery alert should be issued may include predicting an amount of additive that will be used over a specified period of time based on the level information provided by the level sensor  80 . In the event that more than one hydraulic fracturing site  16  is serviced by the dispatching system  50 , then the system  10  may further include a global positioning system (“GPS”) navigation device  82  associated with each of the containers  12 ,  14 . The navigation device  82  provides location information of the containers  12 ,  14  to at least one of the monitoring system  46 , server  66 , and dispatching system  50  for proper dispatching of the transport vehicles  52  to a correct location. 
         [0017]    The system  10  is configured to enable the generation of an additive delivery alert.  FIG. 4  is a flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a method using the system  10  to automatically generate the additive delivery alert. At block  100 , determining level information of the additive in the container  12 ,  14  is performed by the level sensor  80  that transmits the level information. At block  102 , receiving the level information at the monitoring system  46  may include relaying the level information to the server  66  or may be followed by processing the level information, as depicted with reference to block  108 . At block  104 , receiving the level information at the server  66 , when relayed by the monitoring system  46 , may include relaying the level information to the dispatching system  50  or may be followed by processing the level information (block  108 ). At block  106 , the method includes receiving the level information at the dispatching system  50 . At block  108 , processing the level information may include predicting usage of the additive over a specified period of time (e.g., over the next three hours or any other time span entered by an operator). The processing at block  108  includes determining whether or not additional additive must be delivered to the hydraulic fracturing site to ensure that the fracturing process is not interrupted. At block  110 , the method includes generating an additive delivery alert when the delivery of additional additive is determined to be needed. The delivery alert can then be automatically sent to the chemical supplier for subsequent additive delivery, although manual override may prevent the actual delivery for any reason, such as, but not limited to, if the operation is nearing completion and the additional additive is not required. 
         [0018]    Embodiments of the present invention provide several advantages when compared with traditional systems for managing additive inventories for oilfield treatment services. For example, embodiments of the present invention can eliminate or reduce packaging costs by using refillable bulk containers versus smaller totes that are replaced after every empty. The system also reduces handling and facility costs at the sites since the number of bulk containers is far less than a number of totes. Handling and facilities costs at the distribution center are substantially reduced. The system further reduces operational labor costs due to less equipment to manage and due to the automated delivery alerts. Furthermore, the system reduces the risks related to possible spills and leaks because fewer connections are required. The savings per year in packaging, distribution center facilities/labor, location efficiencies, risk abatement, district trucking, and trucking management far exceeds the one time cost of mobile, instrumented bulk containers. The use of automated ordering helps ensure that adequate quantities of the additive are on site when needed, and can reduce the amount of time between deliveries. The use of bulk containers compared with numerous totes that are typically required also substantially reduces the equipment footprint at the well site. 
         [0019]    While one or more embodiments have been shown and described, modifications and substitutions may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the present invention has been described by way of illustrations and not limitation. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the invention without departing from the essential scope thereof Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims. Also, in the drawings and the description, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention and, although specific terms may have been employed, they are unless otherwise stated used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention therefore not being so limited. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denote any order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. are used to distinguish one element from another. Furthermore, the use of the terms a, an, etc. do not denote a limitation of quantity, but rather denote the presence of at least one of the referenced item.