WELL SELECTION METHODOLOGY FOR THE DEPLOYMENT OF IN-SITU SHOCK WAVE STIMULATION PROCESSES IN CARBONATE RESERVOIRS

Abstract

A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the computer program causing the machine to select the oil field in response to determining that a reservoir beneath the oil field contains by-passed oil. The reservoir and by-passed oil can meet threshold requirements. The computer program further causes the machine to determine, based on well availability data characterizing one or more wells of the oil field, whether an available well is present at the selected oil field. The computer program also causes the machine to perform select the available well in response to determining that the available well is present at the selected oil field and meets requirements based on well availability data. Furthermore, the computer program causes the machine to deploy ISS equipment to the selected available well to extract the by-passed oil.

Claims

1. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the computer program comprising a routine of set instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of: selecting the oil field in response to determining that a reservoir beneath the oil field contains by-passed oil, wherein the reservoir and by-passed oil meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes; determining, based on well availability data characterizing a type and availability of one or more wells of the oil field, whether an available well is present at the selected oil field; selecting the available well in response to determining that the available well is present at the selected oil field and that the available well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on well availability data; and deploying ISS equipment to the selected available well to extract the by-passed oil.

2. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the types of wells characterized by well availability data comprises abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells.

3. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the selected available well is an abandoned well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of an observation or surveillance well, a low production producer well, and an injector well, such that an abandoned well is prioritized over other wells.

4. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the selected available well is an observation or surveillance well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of a low-production producer well and injector well, such that observation or surveillance wells are prioritized over low production producer wells and injector wells.

5. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the selected well is a low production producer well and the selected oil field lacks abandoned wells and observation or surveillance wells, such that low production producer wells are prioritized over injector wells and the well has a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold requirement based on the well availability data.

6. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the predetermined water cut threshold requirement is a water cut of 97%.

7. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, the set of instructions further comprising selecting the well in response to: determining that the well has a wellhead pressure below a predetermined pressure threshold based on the well availability data; and determining that the risk associated with deploying the ISS equipment to the well is acceptable, such that a predicted lifetime of the ISS equipment at the well exceeds a predetermined length, wherein the oil field lacks abandoned wells, low production producer wells, and observation or surveillance wells.

8. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the predetermined pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (Mpa) and the grade threshold is an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of 13.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the oil field is a first oil field of a plurality of oil fields and the set of instructions further comprise selecting a second oil field of the plurality of oil fields, wherein the second oil field is selected in response to deploying the ISS equipment to the selected well of the first oil field.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, the set of instructions further comprising selecting a third oil field of the plurality of oil fields in response to determining that the reservoir corresponding to the second oil field lacks by-passed oil or that by-passed oil and the reservoir fail to meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the ISS equipment is deployed to another selected well of the third oil field in response to selecting the another selected well of the third oil field based on well availability data and reservoir attributes characterizing the third oil field.

12. The machine readable storage medium of claim 11, the set of instructions further comprising: providing, by the ISS equipment, a shockwave with a frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the first oil field based on the reservoir attributes corresponding to the first oil field; and providing, by the ISS equipment, another shockwave with an altered frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the third oil field based on reservoir attributes corresponding to the third oil field.

13. A system for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the system comprising: a database configured to store data characterizing an oil field and one or more wells of the oil field, said data comprising: reservoir attributes including whether by-passed oil is present at a reservoir corresponding to the oil field, an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of by-passed oil present at the reservoir, and a coefficient of variation representative of heterogeneity of the reservoir; and well availability data characterizing availability and types of wells at each of the plurality of oil fields, the types of wells including abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells; a well selection engine configured to: select the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir has by-passed oil with an API grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes provided by the database; select an available well of the oil field in response to determining that the well is available and that the well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on the well availability data provided by the database; and deploy ISS equipment to the selected available well of the second oil field to extract the by-passed oil.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the well selection engine prioritizes abandoned wells over observation or surveillance wells, observation or surveillance wells over low production producer wells, and low production producer wells over injector wells.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the well selection engine is configured to: select a given low production producer well if the low production producer well is available and has by-passed oil with a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data, wherein the water cut threshold is 97%; and select a given injector well if the injector well is available and has a wellhead pressure less than a pressure threshold based on well availability data, wherein the pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (MPa).

16. The system of claim 15, wherein a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, or pressure threshold are adjusted by the well selection engine in response to receiving an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the well selection engine selects and deploys the ISS equipment to a well of another oil field in response to determining that the oil field.

18. A method for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment for oil extraction, the method comprising: selecting the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir to the oil field has by-passed oil with an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes stored in a database; selecting an available well of the oil field based on well availability data stored in the database, the well being of a type including: an abandoned well; an observation or surveillance well, wherein the observation or surveillance well is selected if the abandoned well is unavailable; a low production producer well, wherein the low production producer well is selected if: the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; and the low production producer well has by-passed oil above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data stored in the database; and an injector well, wherein the injector well is selected if: the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; the low production producer well is unavailable or has a water cut that is below the water-cut threshold; the injector well has a wellhead pressure that is below a predetermined pressure threshold; and a predicted lifetime of ISS equipment deployed to the injector well has a lifetime greater than predetermined length based on well availability data stored in the database; and deploying ISS equipment to the selected well.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising altering a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, pressure threshold, or length threshold in response to an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the oil field is a first oil field, the method further comprising: selecting a second oil field in response to deploying the ISS equipment; selecting a third oil field in response to determining that the second oil field does not have by-passed oil above the API grade threshold in a reservoir having a coefficient of variation above the heterogeneity threshold; and selecting an available well of a fourth oil field in response to determining that the third oil field lacks an available well.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example well selection system configured to select a well of a plurality of oil fields to implement in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment.

[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an example set of oil fields and oil wells.

[0011] FIG. 3 is an example flow diagram of a method for selecting a well to deploy ISS equipment.

[0012] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of oil movement within formation grains of a carbonate reservoir in response to a high energy shockwave produced by ISS equipment.

[0013] FIG. 5 is an example computing system for executing a well selector tool.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] Embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying Figures. Like elements in the various figures may be denoted by like reference numerals for consistency. Further, in the following detailed description of embodiments of the present disclosure, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments disclosed herein may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description. Additionally, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the scale of the elements presented in the accompanying Figures may vary without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0015] Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure generally relate to in-situ shockwave stimulation (ISS) and, more particularly, to well selection and methods of deployment of in-situ shockwave stimulation. By-passed oil can be left in reservoirs of oil fields after initial production of oil from the reservoirs. The by-passed oil can be extracted by employing ISS equipment to mobilize the by-passed oil. However, oil fields can be complex, such that oil reservoirs of oil fields can have varying degrees of heterogeneity, as well as fluid composition and volume. Therefore, ISS equipment is not universally applicable to all oil fields with by-passed oil. Furthermore, not all oil fields have abandoned oil wells that are available to deploy ISS equipment. Rather, oil fields can have wells of types including injector wells, low production producer wells, and observation and surveillance wells. Thus, implementing ISS equipment to extract oil from an oil field of a plurality of oil fields requires knowledge and processing of numerous variables that impact the reservoirs and recovery of by-passed oil. For example, ISS equipment can improve production if placed in a suitable well by disruption of interfacial tension of a well and lowering capillary pressure. However, if placed in an unsuitable well, the interfacial tension and capillary pressure does not change to increase production, such that deployment of ISS equipment to unsuitable wells poses a greater risk to the equipment relative to production. This and other factors make well selection for ISS complex and non-trivial, and requires taking into account many variables as described herein.

[0016] A well selector tool can select the most appropriate well of an oil field in response to determining that by-passed oil is present at the oil field. For example, an abandoned well may be most preferable for ISS equipment because the abandoned well may be in better condition than other wells and easier to adapt for oil extraction. Furthermore, integrity of an abandoned well may likely be higher than other wells, such that an abandoned well is safer for technicians to deploy ISS equipment compared to other wells. In certain situations, an observation or surveillance well can be more preferable to a low production producer well for similar reasons. Additionally, the well selector tool can select wells of the oil field considering factors such as water in the low production producer well, wellhead pressure of injector wells, and the risk of damage to ISS equipment if deployed in particular wells. For example, tools employed by ISS equipment may not be able to stand high wellhead pressure. Thus, the well selector tool can select wells of a plurality of oil fields to safely and efficiently extract by-passed oil, while extending the life of the ISS equipment. The well selector tool further provides a uniform system for analyzing heterogeneity of reservoirs, oil properties, and well types, as well as deploying ISS equipment compared to existing systems with distinct components for separately analyzing oil fields.

[0017] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example well selection system 100 configured to select a well 104 of a plurality of oil fields 108 to implement in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment 112. Communication within well selection system 100 can be conducted via private network (e.g., wireless carrier network), a public network, (e.g., Internet), or a combination thereof. The well selection system 100 can include a computing platform 116. The computing platform 116 can include a memory 120 for storing machine readable instructions and data, as well as a processing unit 124 for accessing the memory 120 and executing the machine readable instructions. The memory 120 represents a non-transitory machine-readable memory (or other medium), such as random access memory (RAM), a solid state drive, a hard disk drive, or a combination thereof. The processing unit 124 can be implemented as one or more processor cores. The computing platform 116 can further include a network interface (not shown in FIG. 1), such as a network interface card configured to communicate with other nodes of the well selection system 100.

[0018] The computing platform 116 can be implemented in a computing cloud. In such a situation, features of the computing platform 116, such as the processing unit 124, the network interface, and the memory 120 can be representative of a single instance of hardware or multiple instances of hardware with applications executing across the multiple instances (e.g., distributed) of hardware (e.g., computers, routers, memory, processors, or a combination thereof). Alternatively, the computing platform 116 can be implemented on a single dedicated server or workstation. Furthermore, in some examples, the computing platform 116 can be employed to implement other nodes of the well selection system 100 in a similar manner. However, for purposes of simplification, only some details of the computing platform 116 are illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0019] The memory 120 can include a well selector tool 128. The well selector tool 128 can be configured/programmed to select a well 104 in which to deploy ISS equipment 112. The well selector tool 128 can select a given well 104 based on characteristics of the respective oil field 108, as well as suitability of a plurality of wells 104 of the respective oil field 108. More specifically, the well selector tool 128 can select an oil field 108 that has an oil reservoir with by-passed oil. The given well 104 of the selected oil field 108 is selected in response to the well selector tool 128 determining that the given well 104 is a suitable candidate for ISS equipment 112 in view of the factors described hereinbelow. Moreover, the well selector tool 128 can select multiple wells 104 belonging to different oil fields 108.

[0020] The well selector tool 128 can include modules that execute specific operations to assist with the well selection. Specifically, the well selector tool 128 can include a well selection engine 132. The well selection engine 132 can receive data characterizing the oil fields 108 and wells 104 to select a well 104 of an oil field 108 for ISS deployment. In some examples, the data characterizing oil fields 108 and wells 104 can be stored on a database 136, which can be another module of the well selector tool 128. In other examples, the database 136 can be implemented in memory 120 separate from the well selector tool 128 or by another computing platform. More specifically, the database 136 can store historical well 104 and oil field characteristics 108, such as well availability (and attribute) data 140 and reservoir attributes 144. Accordingly, the well selection engine 132 can select an oil field 108 and a well 104 of the oil field based on the well availability data 140 and reservoir attributes 144 stored in the database.

[0021] In some examples, data characterizing the wells 104 and oil fields 108 including reservoir attributes 144 and well availability data 140 can be provided by a user as inputs 148. Furthermore, a technician or user of the well selector tool 128 can initiate the well selector tool 128 via interaction with a peripheral component of the computing platform 116, which can be another input 148. Additionally or alternatively, the inputs 148 can be provided to the well selection engine 132 of the well selector tool 128 over a network 152. The network can be an Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) network, 5G broadband network, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, or local area network (LAN) compatible with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802 standards. Particularly, the inputs 148 can be provided to the well selection engine 132 by a user via a remote device or another computing platform, such that the well selection engine 132 can receive data characterizing wells 104 and oil fields 108 via a network and/or the database 136. Furthermore, the well selection engine 132 can provide data indicating a selected well 104 to the ISS equipment 112 over the network 152. Accordingly, the well selection tool 132 can initiate ISS equipment 112 operations, which can include transporting and activating the ISS equipment 112 at a selected well 104 and stimulating the well 104 with shockwaves via the ISS equipment 112.

[0022] As mentioned above, selection of an oil field 108 of a plurality of oil fields by the well selection engine 132 can be based on reservoir attributes 144. Each oil field 108 can have a plurality of reservoir attributes 144. That is, beneath each oil field 108 is a reservoir that can hold oil or have a subsurface pool of hydrocarbons contained within fractured rock formations. Accordingly, a reservoir attribute 144 can be indicia of whether the oil field 108 has a reservoir that contains by-passed oil. By-passed oil is oil that has not been extracted in previous production processes at the oil-field. Thus, by-passed oil in an oil reservoir of an oil field 108 can potentially be dislodged and extracted using shockwave stimulation via ISS equipment 112. Alternatively, if the oil reservoir of the oil field 108 does not contain, or contains small amounts of by-passed oil, extraction may not render any or enough oil to be desirable for deployment of ISS equipment 112. Presence of by-passed oil can be a reservoir attribute 144 provided as an input from reservoir simulation and modeling, oil production data analysis, seismic surveys, well logging and testing, well intervention and reservoir monitoring, core sample analysis, and/or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques. In an example, presence of by-passed oil can be a reservoir attribute 144 provided to the database 136 in response to another computing system performing reservoir simulation and modeling or by a technician entering the input 148 to computing platform in response to analyzing core samples.

[0023] Another reservoir attribute for a given oil field 108 to be considered by well selectin engine 132 is American Petroleum Institute (API) grade (e.g., API gravity grade), which is based on a ratio of the density of the oil in the reservoir to the density of water at 15.6 degrees Celsius. For example, light crude oil have an API grade above 31.1, medium crude oil have an API grade between 22.3 and 31.1, and heavy crude oil has an API grade below 22.3. Thus, oils with higher API grades are less viscous and can flow more easily. Therefore, reservoirs of oil fields 108 with higher API grades are preferable compared to oil fields 108 with reservoirs with lower API grades to deploy ISS equipment 112 because the oil of such reservoirs with higher API grades are more responsive to shockwaves and agitation to induce extraction. Accordingly, if an oil field 108 has by-passed oil and an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold, the oil field 108 can be selected by the well selection engine 132. The API grade of by-passed oil of a reservoir can be provided as an input 148 in response to performing oil sampling and analysis, historical data based on the geological properties of the reservoir, and/or comparing the reservoir under observation to an adjacent reservoir.

[0024] Yet another reservoir attribute for a given oil field 108 for consideration by well selection engine 132 can be reservoir heterogeneity, which refers to variations in the structure of the fractured rock formations and the composition of oil within the reservoir beneath a respective oil field 108. For example, a heterogeneous reservoir can have porous and permeable rock formations, such that more pore space of the rock formations can hold more fluids including oil and permeability impacts ability of the fluids to move through the rock formation. Additionally, fluids in the rock formation can be heterogeneous by having low viscosity and low saturation, such that heterogeneity can be related to API grade. Therefore, a heterogeneous reservoir renders a corresponding oil field 108 favorable for shock wave stimulation. Although related to API grade, heterogeneity of a reservoir can be determined with similar methods used to determine the presence of by-passed oil, such that the heterogeneity can be an input 148 provided to the well selector tool 128 in a manner similar to presence of by-passed oil. Moreover, heterogeneity of a reservoir can also be quantified with a coefficient of variation, which is the degree of variability in reservoir porosity, permeability, and saturation. Therefore, a reservoir with a coefficient of variation that is above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold can be preferable for deployment of ISS equipment 112 because oil mobility will increase with heterogeneity of a reservoir. Thus, the predetermined heterogeneity threshold can also be provided as an input 148

[0025] In some examples, each oil field 108 can be associated with a single oil field site. Alternatively, the plurality of oil fields 108 can be part of a given oil field site. In either example, the plurality of oil fields 108 can include N number of oil fields 108, such that N is an integer greater than or equal to one. Accordingly, the Nth oil field 108 can represent the last oil field 108 of the plurality of oil fields 108 if arranged logically in series from 1-N. For purposes of simplification, the oil fields can be referred to as a first oil field 108(1), second oil field 108(2), and Nth oil field 108(N) as illustrated in FIG. 1.

[0026] In an example, the first oil field 108(1) can be chosen by the well selection engine 132 to determine whether to select the first oil field 108(1) for deployment of the ISS equipment 112. Accordingly, the well selection engine 132 can determine that first oil field 108(1) does not have by-passed oil in the reservoir associated with the first oil field 108(1) based on reservoir attributes 144 for the first oil field 108(1). Thus, the well selection 108(1) can choose the next oil field 108(2) to determine whether ISS equipment 112 can be deployed at the second oil field 108(2) based on reservoir attributes 144 associated with the reservoir of the second oil field 108(2). Because the first oil field 108(1) does not have by-passed oil according to the reservoir attributes 144, the well selector engine 132 can move to the second oil field 108(2) without determining whether the first oil field 108(1) has an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold because there is no oil at the first oil field 108(1). In contrast, the second oil field 108(2) can have by-passed oil as indicated by the reservoir attributes 144, such that the well selection engine 132 can determine whether the oil of the second oil field 108(2) has an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold. Thus, the well selection engine 132 can determine that the second oil field 108(2) has an API grade that is below a predetermined grade threshold, such that the well selection engine 132 chooses another oil field 108. That is, the well selection engine 132 can select another oil field 108, rather than selection a well 104 of a given oil field based on the reservoir attributes 144.

[0027] The well selection engine 132 can select the Nth oil field (N) in response to analyzing and/or selecting the first or second oil fields 108(1-2). Similarly, the well selection engine 132 can determine whether the Nth oil field 108(N) has a reservoir with by-passed oil that has an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold, in addition to heterogeneity of the reservoir. In response to determining that the Nth oil field 108(N) has an oil reservoir with by-passed oil with an API grade above the predetermined grade threshold and acceptable heterogeneity, the well selection engine 132 can select the Nth oil field 108(N) and determine whether to select any of the wells 104 of the Nth oil field 108(N).

[0028] The well selection engine 132 can determine whether to select a well 104 of a selected oil field 108 based on well availability data 140. For example, well availability data 140 can indicate whether any wells 104 of a selected oil field are available abandoned wells, available observation or surveillance wells, available low production produced wells, or available injector wells. That is, well availability data 140 can indicate a type and availability for each well 104 of an oil field 108. Accordingly, the well selection engine 132 can select a given well 104 of a selected oil field 108 if the well availability data 140 indicates that the given well is available for ISS equipment 112. For example, not all oil fields 104 may have an abandoned well available and not all oil fields 108 may have an observation surveillance well. Additionally, injector well types can have a wellhead pressure more than 13.7 MegaPascals (MPa) (e.g., 2000 pounds per square inch (PSI)) and low production producer wells can have a water cut less than 97%, such that these wells 104 are not suitable for ISS equipment 112 even if these wells 104 are available. For example, wells that are not suitable for ISS equipment 112 can pose a risk to damaging the ISS equipment 112. Documentation and records stored in the database 136 can be employed by the well selection engine 132 to determine the available wells 104, as well as the types of wells 104. Alternatively, availability and types of wells 104 can be inputs 144 provided in response surveys, aerial imagery, seismic data, or indication by a technician.

[0029] FIG. 2 illustrates an example set of oil fields 108(1)-(8) and oil wells 104. The set of oil fields 108(1)-(8) can be a subset of a plurality of oil fields 108 having N number of oil fields 108. The first and second oil fields 108(1)-(2) can be the first and second oil fields 108(1)-(2) of FIG. 1. Thus, the first oil field 108(1) can have reservoir attributes (e.g., reservoir attributes 144 of FIG. 1) indicating that the first oil field 108(1) does not have by-passed oil. Again, the second oil field 108(2) can have reservoir attributes indicating that the second oil field 108(2) does not have an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold and/or have a heterogeneous reservoir. Thus, the wells 104 of the first and second oil fields 108(1)-(2) can be unanalyzed wells 104, such that a well selection engine (e.g., well selection engine 132 of FIG. 1) does not determine whether the wells 104 are available and of a type that is suitable for ISS equipment (e.g., ISS equipment 112 of FIG. 1). In a situation where the reservoir of a given oil field 108 is not heterogeneous having by-passed oil of an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold, the well selection engine 132 can skip analysis of the wells 104 of given oil field 108.

[0030] Oil fields 108(3)-(8) can each have reservoir attributes indicating a heterogeneous reservoir with by-passed oil having an API grade above a predetermined grade threshold. Each of the oil fields 108(3)-(8) can also have oil wells 104 that are available and suitable for deployment of ISS equipment. For example, the third oil field 108(3) can have an available abandoned well 205, which can be determined by the well selection engine based on well availability data (e.g., well availability data 140 of FIG. 1). Accordingly, the well selection engine 132 can select the available abandoned well 205 for deployment of ISS equipment. A fourth oil field 108(4) can have an available observation or surveillance well 210. Therefore, the well selection engine can select the available observation or surveillance well 210 for deployment of ISS equipment. Additionally, the third oil field 108(3) can also have an available observation or surveillance well 210. However, the available abandoned well 205 can be selected instead of the available observation or surveillance well 210 because the available abandoned well 205 is preferable to observation or surveillance wells 210 for ISS equipment. Additionally, the fourth oil field 108(4) can also have an available low production producer well 215. However, the available observation or surveillance well 210 is more preferable for implantation of ISS equipment than the available low production producer well 215.

[0031] A fifth oil field 108(5) can also have an available low production producer well 215 and be devoid of available abandoned wells 205 or available observation or surveillance wells 210. However, a well selection engine may select a low production producer well 215 based on availability in addition to water cut, which can also be a characteristic or data point stored in well availability data. The available low production producer well 215 of the fifth oil field 108(5) can have a water cut of less than a predetermined water cut threshold. For example, the available low production producer well 215 of the fifth oil field 108(5) can have a water cut below 97%, such that the low production producer well 215 is not suitable for implementation of ISS equipment. Instead, the sixth oil field 108(6) can have a low production producer well 215 that has a water cut above 97%, such that the low production producer well 215 of the sixth oil field 108(6) exceeds the predetermined water cut threshold. Therefore, the low production producer well 215 of the sixth oil field 108(6) can be suitable for implementation of ISS equipment and selected by the well selection engine.

[0032] The seventh oil field 108(7) can include an available injector well 220 and be devoid of available abandoned wells 205, available observation or surveillance wells 210, or available low production producers wells 215. Well selection engine 132 can select the injector well 220 based on availability, in addition to wellhead pressure, which can be another characteristic or data point stored in well availability data. The wellhead pressure of the available injector well 220 at the seventh oil field 108(7) can be above a pressure threshold. For example, the available injector well 220 of the seventh oil field 108(7) can have a well head pressure above 13.7 MegaPascals (MPa), such that the available injector well 220 is unsuitable for ISS equipment 112.

[0033] The eighth oil field 108(8) can also include an available injector well 220 and be devoid of available abandoned wells 205, available observation or surveillance wells 210, or available low production producers wells 215. The wellhead pressure of the available injector well 220 of the eighth oil field 108(8) can be less than the pressure threshold, such that the available injector well 220 could be suitable for ISS equipment. However, if an injector well 220 is available and has a wellhead pressure less than the pressure threshold, the well selection engine can perform additional analysis to determine whether to implement ISS equipment at the injector well 220. Particularly, the well selection engine can perform a risk analysis to whether ISS equipment deployed at the injector well 220 will have a long enough life span to justify extraction of the by-passed oil at the eighth oil field 108(8). Specifically, the well selection engine 132 can deploy ISS equipment 220 if the well selection engine determines that the cost and lifespan of the ISS equipment is outweighed by the value of by-passed oil extracted at the eighth oil field 108(8).

[0034] FIG. 2 illustrates different complexities, such as variation in oil reservoirs of oil fields 108, as well as considerations and variations among oil wells 104 at the oil fields 108 that can impact a decision to implement ISS equipment. Well selection engine 132 can make determinations based on historical data characterizing the oil fields 108 and wells 104 to accurately and efficiently select oil wells 104 suitable for ISS implementation. More specifically, the well selection engine 132 can prioritize and select wells to extend the life of the ISS equipment and extract oil from oil fields 108 in the most safe and efficient manner presented by the wells 104 for each oil field 108.

[0035] In view of the structural and functional features described above, example methods will be better appreciated with reference to FIGS. 1-2. While, for purposes of simplicity of explanation, the example method of FIG. 3 is shown and described as executing serially, it is to be understood and appreciated that the present examples are not limited by the illustrated order, as some actions could in other examples occur in different orders, multiple times and/or concurrently from that shown and described herein. Moreover, it is not necessary that all described actions be performed to implement the method, and conversely, some actions may be performed that are omitted from the description.

[0036] FIG. 3 is an example flow diagram of a method 300 for selecting a well to deploy ISS equipment. The method 300 can be implemented by the well selector tool 128 to deploy ISS equipment 112 to an oil field 108, as shown in FIGS. 1-2. Thus, reference can be made to the examples of FIGS. 1-2 in the example of FIG. 3. The method 300 can begin at 302 by initiating analysis by a well selection engine (e.g., the well selection engine 132 of FIG. 1) of the well selector tool in response to receiving an input (e.g., inputs 148 of FIG. 1) from a peripheral device of a computing platform (e.g., computing platform 116 of FIG. 1) executing the well selector tool. The input can be, for example, a user selection of oil fields to be analyzed via a peripheral component coupled to the computing platform 116. In other examples, the input can be provided to the well selection engine 132 via a network connection (e.g., network 152 of FIG. 1) in response to a user interacting with the remote device. The inputs can indicate a plurality of oil fields to be analyzed, as well as predetermined thresholds such as the water cut threshold, the pressure threshold, and the API threshold. Alternatively, indicia of the plurality of oil fields and the predetermined thresholds can be stored in a database (e.g., database 136 of FIG. 1) of the well selector tool along with well availability data (e.g., well availability data 140 of FIG. 1) and reservoir attributes (e.g., reservoir attributes 144) that are available to the well selection engine in response to instantiation.

[0037] At 304, the well selection engine can select an oil field of the plurality of oil fields in response to instantiation of the well selection engine at 302. For example, the well selection engine 132 can select a first oil field (e.g., oil field 108(1) of FIGS. 1-2) of the plurality of oil fields. Particularly, the well selection engine can select a next oil field of the plurality of oil fields as if arranged in series with an N number of oil fields. Alternatively, the oil fields can be arranged in series based on proximity to available ISS equipment, which can be indicated by the inputs by a user of the well selector tool. At 306, the well selection engine can query the database for reservoir attributes to determine whether the selected oil field has an oil reservoir with by-passed oil. If the selected oil field does not have a reservoir with by-passed oil (e.g., NO), the method can return to step 304 to choose the next oil field of the plurality of oil fields. For example, the first oil field (e.g., oil field 108(1) of FIGS. 1-2) can be an oil field without by-passed oil. Therefore, the well selection engine can determine that the first oil field does not have by-passed oil in response to querying reservoir attributes from the database and select the second oil field (e.g., oil field 108(2) of FIGS. 1-2).

[0038] If the selected oil field at 306 does have by-passed oil as indicated by the reservoir attributes (e.g., YES), the method can proceed to 308 where the well selection engine determines whether the corresponding reservoir is heterogeneous and the by-passed oil has an API grade above a predetermined API grade threshold. For example, the second oil field can have by-passed oil and be analyzed by the well selection at 308. However, the second oil field does not have an API grade above the API grade threshold and/or a heterogeneous reservoir (e.g., NO), such that the method returns to 304 where the well selection engine selects a third oil field (e.g., third oil field 108(3) of FIG. 2). Accordingly, the third oil field can have a reservoir with by-passed oil (e.g., YES at 306), the reservoir being heterogeneous and having an API grade above the API grade threshold (e.g., YES at 308). In some examples, the third oil field has an API grade above the API grade threshold and the reservoir has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold. Therefore, the method proceeds to 310, where the well selection engine determines whether the selected oil field has available abandoned wells. At steps 306-308, the well selection engine can make determinations about the oil fields, whereas determinations about available abandoned wells can be made based on the well availability data.

[0039] At 310, if the selected oil field has available abandoned wells according to well availability data (e.g., YES), the well selection engine can select the available abandoned well(s) and deploy ISS equipment to the selected available abandoned wells. For example, the third oil field has an available abandoned well (e.g., available abandoned oil well 205 of FIG. 2) (e.g., YES), such that the ISS equipment is deployed by the well selection engine at 312 to the available abandoned well of the third oil field. In some examples, the method can end at 312 once the ISS equipment has been deployed, such that the well selector tool can terminate or wait until the ISS equipment becomes available. Alternatively, more ISS equipment can be available for deployment or the well selector tool can prioritize oil fields based on the wells available. In response to deploying ISS equipment at 312, the well selection engine can determine whether there are more oil fields in the plurality of oil fields that have not been analyzed by the well selection engine at 314. Thus, if the well selection engine determines at 314 that there are no more oil fields to be analyzed (e.g., NO), the well selector tool can pause or stop at 316. Alternatively, if the well selection engine determines there are more oil fields at 314 (e.g., YES), the well selection engine can select the next oil field again at 304. Thus, a fourth oil field (e.g., oil field 108(4)) can be selected at 304 in response to well selection engine deploying ISS equipment at 312 and determining there are more oil fields at 314.

[0040] The fourth oil field can satisfy steps 306-308 (e.g., YES) in response to being selected and return to step 310. However, the fourth oil field lacks available abandoned wells (e.g., NO). In response to determining that the selected oil field does not have available abandoned wells (e.g., NO), the well selection engine can determine whether the selected oil field has an available observation or surveillance well (e.g., available observation or surveillance well 210 of FIG. 2) at 318. In response to the well selection engine determining at 318 that the selected oil field has an available observation or surveillance well (e.g. YES), the well selection engine can again deploy ISS equipment at 312 to identified available observation or surveillance well of the selected oil field. If the well selection engine determines that the selected oil field does not have an available observation or surveillance well available at 318 (e.g., NO), the well selection engine can determine whether any low production producer wells are available at 320. For example, the well selection engine can deploy ISS equipment at 312 to the observation and surveillance well of the fourth oil field in response to determining that the fourth oil field has an available observation or surveillance well at 318 (e.g., YES).

[0041] A fifth oil field (e.g., oil field 108(5) of FIG. 2) can be selected in a manner similar to the fourth oil field, the fifth oil field satisfying steps 306-308, but lacking an available abandoned, observation, or surveillance well at steps 310 and 318. At 320, the well selection engine can determine whether a low production producer well is available at the selected oil field. Specifically, the well selection engine query well availability data to determine whether the selected oil field includes a low production producer well with a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold. For example, the fifth oil field can have an available low production producer well with a water cut less than the water cut threshold (e.g., NO). Accordingly, the well selection engine can determine whether the fifth oil field has an available injector well at 322. Alternatively, a sixth oil field can be selected in a manner similar to the fourth and fifth oil fields, the sixth oil field having a low production producer well available with a water cut above the water cut threshold. Therefore, the well selection engine can determine based on well availability data that the sixth oil field has a low production producer well available at 320 with water cut above the water cut threshold (e.g., YES). Therefore, the well selection engine can deploy ISS equipment to the available low production producer well at the sixth oil field at 312.

[0042] The well selection engine at 322 can determine whether the selected oil field has an available injector well (e.g., available injector well 220 of FIG. 2) with a wellhead pressure less than a predetermined pressure threshold. For example, the fifth oil field does not have an available injector well (e.g., NO) with, such that the well selection engine can select the next oil field at 304 in response to determining there are more oil fields at 314. The sixth oil field was determined to have an available production producer well with a water cut above the pressure threshold (e.g., YES at 320), such that ISS equipment is deployed to the sixth oil field at 312 and the sixth oil field is not analyzed for availability of injector wells. A seventh oil field (e.g., oil field 108(7) of FIG. 2) can be selected by the well selection engine. The seventh oil field can have an injector well with wellhead pressure that exceeds the pressure threshold (e.g., NO). Although the seventh oil field has an available injector well, the well selection engine proceeds to 314 to determine whether there are more oil fields to select at 304 rather than deploy ISS equipment (e.g., 312) to the seventh oil field because the seventh oil field's injector well has a wellhead pressure greater than the pressure threshold.

[0043] An eighth oil field can be selected at 304, the eight oil field having an injector well. That is, the eight oil field can satisfy steps 306-308, but lack an available abandoned, observation, surveillance, or low production producer well at steps 310 and 318-320 that is suitable for ISS equipment. Again, at 322 the well selection engine can determine whether the injector well has a wellhead pressure less than the pressure threshold. For example, the available injector well of the eighth oil field can have a wellhead pressure less than the pressure threshold (e.g., YES). However, the well selection engine does not deploy ISS equipment to the injector well of the eighth oil field at 312 in response to determining that the available injector well has a wellhead pressure less than the pressure threshold at 322 (e.g., YES). Rather, the well selection engine can determine whether the risk associated with the ISS equipment at the available injector well is acceptable. For example, if the ISS equipment will not have a lifetime greater than a predetermined length or the ISS equipment will sustain damage greater than acceptable predetermined amount of damage over that lifetime (e.g. NO at 324), the well selection engine will determine if there are more oil fields at 314. A life span of one to two years is typical for economical ISS deployment. The well selection engine can make the determination at 324 about the risk based on well availability data, or other data about the injector well stored in the database. Alternatively, if the well selection engine determines at 324 that risks associated with the ISS equipment at the injector well are acceptable (e.g., YES), the well selection engine can deploy the ISS equipment to injector well at 312.

[0044] As explained and illustrated in FIG. 3, the well selection engine may not select a given oil fields to deploy ISS equipment to the wells of the given oil field if the given oil field does not have by-passed oil in a heterogeneous reservoir. For example, instead of determining whether the first oil field has available abandoned wells at 310, the well selection engine can select the next oil field (e.g., second oil field) in response to determining the first oil field does not have by-passed oil. Moreover, the third oil field can have a reservoir with by-passed oil (e.g., YES at 306) with an API grade above a grade threshold (e.g., YES), in addition to an available abandoned well (e.g., YES at 310). Further, the third oil field can also have an observation or surveillance well. However, the well selection engine can deploy ISS equipment to the available abandoned well of the third oil field move on to the next oil field because the available abandoned well is preferable to the available observation or surveillance well. That is, more by-passed oil can be extracted with the ISS equipment at the available abandoned well compared to the observation or surveillance wells. Thus, the well selection engine can employ the method 300 to efficiently extract oil from the plurality of oil fields. Additionally, by considering water cut at low production producer wells and wellhead pressure of injector wells, as well as the risks associated with ISS equipment at the injector wells, the well selection engine can extend the life of ISS equipment. Similarly, by considering the wellhead pressure of injector wells, the safety of technicians operating and deploying the ISS equipment is enhanced.

[0045] FIG. 4 is a schematic view 400 of oil movement within formation grains 404 of a carbonate reservoir in response to a high energy shockwave 408 produced by ISS equipment (e.g., ISS equipment 112 of FIG. 1). Particularly, the view 400 of oil movement is shown to occur discretely over three time steps, although it is to be understood that the process is in fact continuous. At a first time step 410, the formation grains 404 can have a film of oil 415 surrounding or lodged to the formation grains 404. The formation grains 404 are illustrated with a cross-hatched surface and the film of oil 415 is illustrated as a solid line surrounding formation grains 404.

[0046] A second time step 420 can occur subsequent to the first time step 410. At the second time step 420, a high energy shockwave 408 can have travelled through a subset of the formation grains 404. For example, the shockwave 408 can have moved from left to right. Accordingly, formation grains 404 to the left of the shockwave in time step 420 have been passed through by the shockwave and are no longer surrounded by a film of oil 415. Rather, the shockwave 408 can have generated oil droplets 425 from the films of oil 415 that surrounded the formation grains 404 to left of the shockwave in the first time step 410. Accordingly, the oil droplets 425 are positioned near the shockwave 408 in the second time step 420. That is, the shockwave 408 can dislodge films of oil 415 from formation grains 404 of a carbonate reservoir and move resultant oil droplets 425 through the carbonate reservoir. Additionally, the shockwave 408 can increase mobility of the oil, such as the films of oil 415 and the oil droplets 425, as well as enhance the coalescence of the oil droplets 425. Formation grains 404 to the right of the shockwave 408 at the second time step 420 have not yet been passed through, such that the surface of these formation grains 404 are still lodged with a film of oil 415.

[0047] At a third time step 430, the shockwave has moved through each of the formation grains 408. Accordingly, films of oil 415 are no longer lodged to each of the formation grains 404 in response to the shockwave 408. Instead, each oil the oil droplets 425 have mobilized through the formation grains 404 with the shockwave 404. Accordingly, the shockwave 408 can be employed to mobilize by-passed oil through formation grains 404 of an oil reservoir. The shockwave 408 can be produced by ISS equipment deployed by a well selection engine of a well selector tool (e.g., well selector tool 128 of FIG. 1). The shockwave 408 can be a low-frequency and high-energy shockwave capable of mobilizing and generating oil droplets 425 of an oil reservoir. Moreover, deployment of the ISS equipment and application of the shockwaves can be altered based on reservoir attributes (e.g., reservoir attributes 144 of FIG. 1) that can be stored in a database (e.g., database 136 of FIG. 1). For example, the reservoir attributes can also include water to oil ratio of the by-passed oil, a distance from the surface, and distance of the by-passed oil from the surface of the well. Thus, these reservoir attributes can be provided by the well selector tool to ISS equipment to alter frequency and magnitude of shockwave(s) 408 used to mobilize oil droplet of the reservoir. Increasing the frequency and power of the shock wave will increase the disruption the interfacial tension thereby lowering capillary trapping and increasing recovery.

[0048] In view of the foregoing structural and functional description, those skilled in the art will appreciate that portions of the embodiments may be embodied as a method, data processing system, or computer program product. Accordingly, these portions of the present embodiments may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware, such as shown and described with respect to the computer system of FIG. 5. Furthermore, portions of the embodiments may be a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code on the medium. Any non-transitory, tangible storage media possessing structure may be utilized including, but not limited to, static and dynamic storage devices, volatile and non-volatile memories, hard disks, optical storage devices, and magnetic storage devices, but excludes any medium that is not eligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. 101 (such as a propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals per se). As an example and not by way of limitation, computer-readable storage media may include a semiconductor-based circuit or device or other IC (such, as for example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC), a hard disk, an HDD, a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an optical disc, an optical disc drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disc, a magneto-optical drive, a floppy disk, a floppy disk drive (FDD), magnetic tape, a holographic storage medium, a solid-state drive (SSD), a RAM-drive, a SECURE DIGITAL card, a SECURE DIGITAL drive, or another suitable computer-readable storage medium or a combination of two or more of these, where appropriate. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium may be volatile, nonvolatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, as appropriate.

[0049] Certain embodiments have also been described herein with reference to block illustrations of methods, systems, and computer program products. It will be understood that blocks and/or combinations of blocks in the illustrations, as well as methods or steps or acts or processes described herein, can be implemented by a computer program comprising a routine of set instructions stored in a machine-readable storage medium as described herein. These instructions may be provided to one or more processors of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus (or a combination of devices and circuits) to produce a machine, such that the instructions of the machine, when executed by the processor, implement the functions specified in the block or blocks, or in the acts, steps, methods and processes described herein.

[0050] These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory result in an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function specified. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to realize a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in flowchart blocks that may be described herein.

[0051] In this regard, FIG. 5 illustrates one example of a computer system 500 that can be employed to execute one or more embodiments of the present disclosure. Computer system 500 can be implemented on one or more general purpose networked computer systems, embedded computer systems, routers, switches, server devices, client devices, various intermediate devices/nodes or standalone computer systems. Additionally, computer system 500 can be implemented on various mobile clients such as, for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA), laptop computer, pager, and the like, provided it includes sufficient processing capabilities. For example, the computer system can be the computing platform 116 of FIG. 1.

[0052] Computer system 500 includes processing unit 502, system memory 504, and system bus 506 that couples various system components, including the system memory 504, to processing unit 502. System memory 504 can include volatile (e.g. RAM, DRAM, SDRAM, Double Data Rate (DDR) RAM, etc.) and non-volatile (e.g. Flash, NAND, etc.) memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures also can be used as processing unit 502. System bus 506 may be any of several types of bus structure including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. System memory 504 includes read only memory (ROM) 510 and random access memory (RAM) 512. A basic input/output system (BIOS) 514 can reside in ROM 510 containing the basic routines that help to transfer information among elements within computer system 500.

[0053] Computer system 500 can include a hard disk drive 516, magnetic disk drive 518, e.g., to read from or write to removable disk 520, and an optical disk drive 522, e.g., for reading CD-ROM disk 524 or to read from or write to other optical media. Hard disk drive 516, magnetic disk drive 518, and optical disk drive 522 are connected to system bus 506 by a hard disk drive interface 526, a magnetic disk drive interface 528, and an optical drive interface 530, respectively. The drives and associated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage of data, data structures, and computer-executable instructions for computer system 500. Although the description of computer-readable media above refers to a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk and a CD, other types of media that are readable by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks and the like, in a variety of forms, may also be used in the operating environment; further, any such media may contain computer-executable instructions for implementing one or more parts of embodiments shown and described herein.

[0054] A number of program modules may be stored in drives and RAM 510, including operating system 532, one or more application programs 534, other program modules 536, and program data 538. In some examples, the application programs 534 can include a well selector tool (e.g., well selector tool 128 of FIG. 1) and well selection engine (e.g., well selection engine 132 of FIG. 1), as well as a database (e.g., database 136 of FIG. 1) storing well availability data (e.g., well availability data 140 of FIG. 1) and reservoir attributes 144 (e.g., reservoir attributes 144 of FIG. 1). Further, the program data 538 can include selected oil fields (e.g., oil fields 108 of FIGS. 1-2), selected wells (e.g., wells 104 of FIGS. 1-2) of the oil fields, instructions for deployment of ISS equipment (e.g., ISS equipment 112 of FIG. 1). The application programs 534 and program data 538 can include functions and methods programmed to deploy ISS equipment to extract by-passed oil from suitable reservoirs of oil fields, such as shown and described herein.

[0055] A user may enter commands and information into computer system 500 through one or more input devices 540, such as a pointing device (e.g., a mouse, touch screen), keyboard, microphone, joystick, game pad, scanner, and the like. For instance, the user can employ input device 540 to edit or modify inputs to the well selection engine or well selector tool, such as identification of a plurality of oil fields and wells for analysis, well availability data, and reservoir attributes. These and other input devices 540 are often connected to processing unit 502 through a corresponding port interface 542 that is coupled to the system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, serial port, or universal serial bus (USB). One or more output devices 544 (e.g., display, a monitor, printer, projector, or other type of displaying device) is also connected to system bus 506 via interface 546, such as a video adapter.

[0056] Computer system 500 may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer 548. Remote computer 548 may be a workstation, computer system, router, peer device, or other common network node, and typically includes many or all the elements described relative to computer system 500. The logical connections, schematically indicated at 550, can include a local area network (LAN) and/or a wide area network (WAN), or a combination of these, and can be in a cloud-type architecture, for example configured as private clouds, public clouds, hybrid clouds, and multi-clouds. When used in a LAN networking environment, computer system 500 can be connected to the local network through a network interface or adapter 552. When used in a WAN networking environment, computer system 500 can include a modem, or can be connected to a communications server on the LAN. The modem, which may be internal or external, can be connected to system bus 506 via an appropriate port interface. In a networked environment, application programs 534 or program data 538 depicted relative to computer system 300, or portions thereof, may be stored in a remote memory storage device 554.

[0057] Embodiments disclosed herein include: [0058] A. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the computer program comprising a routine of set instructions for causing the machine to perform the steps of: selecting the oil field in response to determining that a reservoir beneath the oil field contains by-passed oil, wherein the reservoir and by-passed oil meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes; determining, based on well availability data characterizing a type and availability of one or more wells of the oil field, whether an available well is present at the selected oil field; selecting the available well in response to determining that the available well is present at the selected oil field and that the available well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on well availability data; and deploying ISS equipment to the selected available well to extract the by-passed oil. [0059] B. A system for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment, the system comprising a database configured to store data characterizing an oil field and one or more wells of the oil field, said data comprising reservoir attributes including whether by-passed oil is present at a reservoir corresponding to the oil field, an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of by-passed oil present at the reservoir, and a coefficient of variation representative of heterogeneity of the reservoir; and well availability data characterizing availability and types of wells at each of the plurality of oil fields, the types of wells including abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells; a well selection engine configured to select the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir has by-passed oil with an API grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes provided by the database; select an available well of the oil field in response to determining that the well is available and that the well meets requirements associated with the type of well based on the well availability data provided by the database; and deploy ISS equipment to the selected available well of the second oil field to extract the by-passed oil. [0060] C. A method for selecting a well of an oil field to deploy in-situ shockwave (ISS) equipment for oil extraction, the method comprising selecting the oil field in response to determining that the corresponding reservoir to the oil field has by-passed oil with an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade above a predetermined API grade threshold and has a coefficient of variation above a predetermined heterogeneity threshold based on the reservoir attributes stored in a database; selecting an available well of the oil field based on well availability data stored in the database, the well being of a type including an abandoned well; an observation or surveillance well, wherein the observation or surveillance well is selected if the abandoned well is unavailable; a low production producer well, wherein the low production producer well is selected if the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; and the low production producer well has by-passed oil above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data stored in the database; and an injector well, wherein the injector well is selected if the abandoned and observation or surveillance wells are unavailable; the low production producer well is unavailable or has a water cut that is below the water-cut threshold; the injector well has a wellhead pressure that is below a predetermined pressure threshold; and a predicted lifetime of ISS equipment deployed to the injector well has a lifetime greater than predetermined length based on well availability data stored in the database; and deploying ISS equipment to the selected well.

[0061] Each of embodiments A through C may have one or more of the following additional elements in any combination: Element 1: wherein the types of wells characterized by well availability data comprises abandoned wells, observation or surveillance wells, low production producer wells, and injector wells. Element 2: wherein the selected available well is an abandoned well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of an observation or surveillance well, a low production producer well, and an injector well, such that an abandoned well is prioritized over other wells. Element 3: wherein the selected available well is an observation or surveillance well and the selected oil field comprises one or more of a low-production producer well and injector well, such that observation or surveillance wells are prioritized over low production producer wells and injector wells. Element 4: wherein the selected well is a low production producer well and the selected oil field lacks abandoned wells and observation or surveillance wells, such that low production producer wells are prioritized over injector wells and the well has a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold requirement based on the well availability data.

[0062] Element 5: wherein the predetermined water cut threshold requirement is a water cut of 97%. Element 6: the set of instructions further comprising selecting the well in response to determining that the well has a wellhead pressure below a predetermined pressure threshold based on the well availability data; and determining that the risk associated with deploying the ISS equipment to the well is acceptable, such that a predicted lifetime of the ISS equipment at the well exceeds a predetermined length, wherein the oil field lacks abandoned wells, low production producer wells, and observation or surveillance wells. Element 7: wherein the predetermined pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (Mpa) and the grade threshold is an American Petroleum Institute (API) grade of 13.

[0063] Element 8: wherein the oil field is a first oil field of a plurality of oil fields and the set of instructions further comprise selecting a second oil field of the plurality of oil fields, wherein the second oil field is selected in response to deploying the ISS equipment to the selected well of the first oil field. Element 9: the set of instructions further comprising selecting a third oil field of the plurality of oil fields in response to determining that the reservoir corresponding to the second oil field lacks by-passed oil or that by-passed oil and the reservoir fail to meet threshold requirements based on reservoir attributes. Element 10: wherein the ISS equipment is deployed to another selected well of the third oil field in response to selecting the another selected well of the third oil field based on well availability data and reservoir attributes characterizing the third oil field. Element 11: the set of instructions further comprising providing, by the ISS equipment, a shockwave with a frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the first oil field based on the reservoir attributes corresponding to the first oil field; and providing, by the ISS equipment, another shockwave with an altered frequency and magnitude to the selected well of the third oil field based on reservoir attributes corresponding to the third oil field.

[0064] Element 12: wherein the well selection engine prioritizes abandoned wells over observation or surveillance wells, observation or surveillance wells over low production producer wells, and low production producer wells over injector wells. Element 13: wherein the well selection engine is configured to select a given low production producer well if the low production producer well is available and has by-passed oil with a water cut above a predetermined water cut threshold based on well availability data, wherein the water cut threshold is 97%; and select a given injector well if the injector well is available and has a wellhead pressure less than a pressure threshold based on well availability data, wherein the pressure threshold is 13.7 MegaPascals (MPa).

[0065] Element 14: wherein a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, or pressure threshold are adjusted by the well selection engine in response to receiving an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device. Element 15: wherein the well selection engine selects and deploys the ISS equipment to a well of another oil field in response to determining that the oil field. Element 16: further comprising altering a frequency of a shockwave provided to a the selected well by the ISS equipment, the API grade threshold, heterogeneity threshold, water cut threshold, pressure threshold, or length threshold in response to an input from a remote computer or a peripheral device.

[0066] Element 17: wherein the oil field is a first oil field, the method further comprising selecting a second oil field in response to deploying the ISS equipment; selecting a third oil field in response to determining that the second oil field does not have by-passed oil above the API grade threshold in a reservoir having a coefficient of variation above the heterogeneity threshold; and selecting an available well of a fourth oil field in response to determining that the third oil field lacks an available well.

[0067] By way of non-limiting example, exemplary combinations applicable to A through C include: Element 1 with Element 2; Element 1 with Element 3; Element 3 with Element 4; Element 1 with Element 4; Element 4 with Element 5; Element 1 with Element 6; Element 6 with Element 7; Element 1 with Element 8; Element 8 with Element 9; Element 9 with Element 10; Element 10 with Element 11; Element 12 with Element 13; Element 13 with Element 14; Element 14 with Element 15; and Element 16 with Element 17.

[0068] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, for example, the singular forms a, an, and the are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms contains, containing, includes, including, comprises, and/or comprising, and variations thereof, when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

[0069] Terms of orientation used herein are merely for purposes of convention and referencing and are not to be construed as limiting. However, it is recognized these terms could be used with reference to an operator or user. Accordingly, no limitations are implied or to be inferred. In addition, the use of ordinal numbers (e.g., first, second, third, etc.) is for distinction and not counting. For example, the use of third does not imply there must be a corresponding first or second. Also, if used herein, the terms coupled or coupled to or connected or connected to or attached or attached to may indicate establishing either a direct or indirect connection, and is not limited to either unless expressly referenced as such.

[0070] While the disclosure has described several exemplary embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes can be made, and equivalents can be substituted for elements thereof, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. In addition, many modifications will be appreciated by those skilled in the art to adapt a particular instrument, situation, or material to embodiments of the disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, or to the best mode contemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the invention will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims. Moreover, reference in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, or component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative.