Opportunities in Utilization of Digital Twins in Unconventional Gas Fields: Enhancing Efficiency and Performance through Virtual Replication
Authors: Alsulaiman Nouf , Reddy Karri , Odi Uchenna , Rabines Jaime , Temizel Cenk 
Published: February 2024

Objective

Digital twin technology offers significant opportunities for the utilization and optimization of unconventional gas fields by providing virtual replicas of physical assets and processes. The idea of a digital twin is to build a model completely devoid of the typical physics and equations that the analytical or numerical simulation model usually depends on. A virtual twin is a model that is purely data driven without any physical context. This paper explores the potential benefits and applications of digital twins in unconventional gas fields, focusing on enhancing operational efficiency, improving production performance, and enabling proactive decision-making. This study is solely based on synthetic/public data, it doesn't include any privileged or confidential data.

Methods

Digital twins serve as virtual counterparts of physical assets, capturing real-time data and simulating their behavior in a dynamic and integrated environment. In the context of unconventional gas fields, digital twins enable operators and engineers to monitor, analyze, and optimize various aspects of field operations, including reservoir behavior, well performance, hydraulic fracturing, surface facilities, and production systems. One of the key opportunities provided by digital twins is the ability to enhance reservoir understanding and optimize production performance. By integrating real-time data from sensors, downhole monitoring devices, and production measurements, digital twins enable the modeling and simulation of reservoir behavior, predicting key performance indicators such as production rates, pressure profiles, and fluid flow. This facilitates proactive decision-making for reservoir management, well placement, and production optimization.

Digital twins also enable the optimization of hydraulic fracturing operations in unconventional gas fields. By integrating geological, geophysical, and engineering data, digital twins provide insights into fracture propagation, stimulation effectiveness, and fracture network connectivity. This allows for the optimization of completion designs, well spacing, and fracturing parameters, leading to improved well performance and increased hydrocarbon recovery.

Results

Digital twins enhance the monitoring and control of surface facilities and production systems in unconventional gas fields. By capturing real-time data from sensors and equipment, digital twins facilitate predictive maintenance, early fault detection, and optimization of operational parameters. This results in improved operational efficiency, reduced downtime, and optimized production rates.

The paper discusses the applications and benefits of digital twins in unconventional gas fields through case studies and industry examples. It highlights the successful implementation of digital twin technology, showcasing the achieved improvements in operational efficiency, production performance, and cost optimization.

Novelty

The findings of this study contribute to the advancement of digital twin utilization in the oil and gas industry, specifically in unconventional gas fields. By leveraging digital twins, operators and engineers can gain real-time insights, optimize operations, and make informed decisions, leading to increased operational efficiency, reduced costs, and improved overall performance in unconventional gas field developments.