Patent ID: 8170801

Claim:
A method of determining rate and phase of fluid produced from or injected into a hydrocarbon well, the method comprising the steps of: for a plurality of wells in a production field, performing a plurality of steps comprising: obtaining temperature and pressure measurements, from sensors at the well, one or more of the measurements corresponding to a first point in time; evaluating a function to calculate a value for a model parameter, the value corresponding to the first point in time; operating a computer to apply the temperature and pressure measurements and the calculated model parameter value to at least one predictive well model, to calculate fluid rate and phase composition values from those measurements; storing the fluid rate and phase composition values and an associated time indicator corresponding to the first point in time, in a memory; repeating the obtaining step for at least one of the temperature and pressure measurements corresponding to a second point in time; and then repeating the evaluating and operating step to calculate fluid rate and phase composition values corresponding to the second point in time; and the method further comprising: obtaining export data corresponding to a sum total of production from the plurality of wells over a period of time; reconciling the stored calculated fluid rate and phase composition values for the plurality of wells over the period of time with the export data by adjusting one of the export data or the stored calculated fluid rate and phase composition values by a reconciliation factor corresponding to a difference between the stored calculated fluid rate and phase composition values for the plurality of wells over the period of time with the export data.