A Brief History of Eclipse

Past, Present and Future

1981 ECL
1987 Intera
1995 GeoQuest
Exploration Consultants Ltd.- ECL

– ECLIPSE = ECL’s Implicit Program for

Simulation Engineering

– Oct. ‘81 Eclipse Development started

– John Appleyard
– Jon Holmes
– Ian Cheshire

– Nov.‘83 First release

– Graf, Fill, VFP, Edit.
 Eclipse First Release 1983
•Fully Implicit - reliability

•Nested Factorisation - fast linear solver

•Memory Management - minimum memory usage

•Corner Point Geometry - realistic reservoir models

•Dual Porosity and Permeability - carbonates

•Machine Independent - PCs, Workstations

•Extensive data checking - user friendly

 Memory Management
Active Cell Addressing

9 16 Save memory and work

by eliminating inactive
4 10 17 23 cells.
1 5 11 18 24 27
Eclipse works only with
2 6 12 19 25 26 active cells.
3 7 13 20 26
8 14 21 Work and space are
reduced by about 30%
15 22 in practical
applications
Corner Point Geometry

Cells are defined as

distorted shoe boxes in
space defined by beads
sliding on co-ordinate
lines.

Allows a faithful
representation of
reservoir geology
including sloping faults
and pinch-outs.
Corner Point Geometry
 Eclipse System History

– 84 Pseudo, Endpoint Scaling

– 85 Vertical Equilibrium
– 86 PVT and E300 Compositional
– 87 Grid Surface Networks
– 88 API and Tracers
– 89 Coal Bed Methane
– 90 Polymers
 Eclipse History

– 91 Flux Boundary Conditions

– 92 Gas Lift Optimisation
– 93 LGR, Gas Field Operations
– 94 Reservoir Coupling
– 95 Schedule, Adaptive Implicit Method
– 96 Weltest200, PVTi
– 97 FloGrid, Parallel
– 98 Eclipse Office, SimOpt, Segmented Wells
– 99 FrontSim, GridSim
Flux Boundary Conditions 91
History Matching Aid

– Sector Modeling

– Define reservoir regions

– Full field run

– Store inter-region flows

– Flux runs - 1 or more regions

– Drainage Regions
 Gas Lift Optimization 92

Determine how much lift gas to

allocate to each well to meet or
maximise well, group or field
Oil Production Rate

production targets

If production targets cannot be

met, preferentially allocate lift
gas to wells that make best use
of it
Lift Gas Injection Rate
 Gas Field Operations 93
Use automatic compressors to
model increasing & decreasing
compressions levels to suit seasonal
demands
Model gas field production constraints
& contracts
• Multiple contract groups are possible
• Model monthly pattern of demand with
seasonal profile
Adjust DCQ to allow for swing,
ensuring reservoir will always be able
to produce DCQ profile times swing
• Variety of “swing” interpretations possible
Control & output SALES gas rate (i.e.,
net of import & fuel gas)
Constantly estimate & report delivery
capacity
Local Grid Refinement 93
Enhance grid definition around areas
of interest

Produce local grids, radial or

Cartesian, with more layers than global
model
• Gain efficiency by solving local grids
independently of global grid for heavily
refined grids
• Use fully-coupled solution method for
moderate refinements
• Switch refinements on/off as needed during
the run

Amalgamate areas of little

interest/activity into a single cell with
grid coarsening
Reservoir Coupling 94
Independently history-matched
reservoirs can be linked
together
• Reservoirs may be coupled through
surface facilities & network
constraints
• Different types of models can also
be linked

One Master reservoir (with the

network constraints) controls
several Slave reservoirs
• pvm is used for the communication
between the different models
 Parallel Eclipse 97

18

16 1.5 million cells

14

12

relative speedup
10

Processors Speed-up 8

16 1 6

32 1.9
4

64 1.8
2

128 1.6 0 20 40 60 80 100

number of processors (IBM SP)

120 140
 Segmented Wells 98

Deviated and multi-branch Wellbore is split into segments

horizontal wells • Each segment has its local pressure
and fluid properties.
• Perforations are at true depth
– not at cell centre!
 Segmented Wells 98
Modelling of multi-phase flow
effects in the wellbore Modelling of ICDs and chokes
• Counterflow in slowly flowing • “Smart” chokes (pressure drop
horizontal wells changes as GOR/WC changes!)
• Fluid fall-back, variable wellbore • Labyrinth devices
storage • Downhole separators
• Friction

Remaining mixture
flows to surface

Down-hole
separator
Separated water Oil & water mixture
pumped back into Pump from the formation
the formation
 ECLIPSE OFFICE 98
Interactive Simulation Desktop
Study organiser,
Run controller,
Data generator,
2D/3D graphics,
Open architecture,
Uncertainty analysis.
ECLIPSE OFFICE 2000a
Frontsim and Thermal
Speed
Summary file reading: 60*
Print file reading: 5*
Restart file reading: 5-10% faster
Case import: 40-50% faster
Results Viewer
More GRF-commands
2D radial grids displayed
Report Generator
Monthly and annual averages
 SIMOPT 98
History-Matching using Gradients
 SIMOPT
Gradient Calculation

∂R
R( X + δ X ) = R + δX = 0
∂X

∂R  ∂R  ∂R  ∂X 
R( X + δ X , λ + δλ ) = R + δX +  +   δλ = 0
∂X  ∂λ  ∂X  ∂λ 

 ∂R  ∂X ∂R
  =−
 ∂X  ∂λ ∂λ
 SIMOPT
Parameters defined regionally

– Pore Volumes

– Transmissibilities

– Permeabilities

– End Point Scaling

– Fault transmissibility

– Aquifers

– Sigma (DP)
 SIMOPT
• Gradient calculations in E100
• Graphical front end for analysis and regression

Multipliers

Gradients
 SIMOPT 2000a

RFT observed data

• Pressures and saturations at well connections
New parameters
• Numerical Aquifers, Inter-region Transmissibility, Rock
Compressibility
Improved E100 compatibility
• Friction and multi-segmented wells
• API, Brine, Surfactants
 SIMOPT 2001+
•HUTS History matching Using Time 
lapsed Seismic
•Improved Optimization ­ backtracking
•Improved Workflow
•Improved Graphics ∆vι
•E300 

Gradients
Unstructured Grids 96

Voronoi/PEBI Grids-
PErpendicular BIsection

Distribute points based on

features such as wells,
faults etc.

Construct PEBI cells by

joining perpendicular
bisectors of edges
Unstructured Grids
FloGrid 97
 FloGrid
Corner-Point Grids
Unstructured Grids 2000a
Unstructured LGRs

Local (3D) unstructured

grids generated in
FloGrid can be
run as LGRs in
E100 2000a
 2000a Release (May2000)

One release per annum of all programs starting with 2000a

ECLIPSE 100/300 FLOGRID

FRONTSIM FLOVIZ
ECLIPSE OFFICE PVTi
SCAL
SCHEDULE
Maintenance mode: SIMOPT
• GRID, GRAF, GRIDSIM
VFPi
WELTEST200
ECLIPSE Unification 2000a

Enhanced E100/E300
compatibility

• Single, unified manual

• Input/Output of data
• Well controls
• Error reporting
• Consistency checking

Simplified Licensing
 Parallel ECLIPSE 2000a
E100:
– Flux
– Horizontal pinch-outs
– Inplace LGRs, LGRs + tracers, Auto-refinement

E300:
– Flux
– Grid coarsening
– Multisegment wells
ECLIPSE 300 2001+
Compositional
– Black Oil
– Linear solver
– Gradients
– PEBI
– Tracers
– Endpoint Scaling
– Extended well model
– Flash - Pedersen, Li, speed
 ECLIPSE Thermal

Athabasca Reservoir
Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage
After 2 years After 4 years

Temperature

0 130 260ºC

Oil Saturation

0 0.5 1

Horizontal Well-Pair Spacing = 100 m

Vertical Well Spacing = 5 m
Eclipse Thermal 2001a

SAGD with Segmented Wells

Hysteresis
Improved Steam Tables
 Surface Network Modelling 2001a
Drivers
• Network limitations control development decisions
• Network problems becoming more compositional
• Need to tightly couple Network/Reservoir models

Vision
• E100 networks
in E300 for 2001
• compositional networks
• Network optimization
• Injection and Production
 Geomechanics
Prototype
•Stress equations solved fully coupled with 
flow equations in E300
•Porosity and Permeability effects 
•IMPES 
•Slowdown = 3
•AIM and Implicit are untested
•Far Field boundary conditions
•Parallel
•LGR and PEBI
•Office Integration
 PLANOPT
Prototype
Field Development Planning

• An Office extension
• Automatic well placement
• Vertical production wells only
• Simple heuristic algorithm

• Improved Algorithm
• Horizontal wells
• Injection wells
 PRODOPT
Conceptual Product
Setting optimum well rates
•New project - not yet launched

•Use of the adjoint (time reversed) method to optimise well

production rates

•Will exploit the existing segmented well model

•Another Office module

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

 Near Well Modelling 2001a
• Extract a near well region from a full-field
model
• Get flux boundary conditions from full field
model
 Near Well Modelling

• 3D PEBI LGR for accurate near well modelling

• Segmented well model for accurate well bore
phenomena
Near Well Modelling
• Study near well effects.
• Edit rock properties.
• History match
• Re-integrate as a full-field
unstructured upscaled LGR.
NWM Workflow
Reservoir Coupling 2001+
Coupling of Black Oil
and Compositional
Models
 Weltest 200 - 96
Analytical and
Multi-phase Numerical
Well Test Analysis
 Frontsim 99
Streamline Simulator

Features:
• 3D, 2-phase (oil/water)
• Compressibility
• Gravity
• Faults, LGRs, pinch-outs
• Tracers

Applications:
• Fast simulation
• Flow (streamline) visualisation
• Geological Model simulation
Frontsim 2000a

Streamlines can now be

visualised using FloViz

Data and controls that are the

same in Eclipse and Frontsim
now have the same keywords.

Accessible via Eclipse Office

 FrontSim 2001a

3D 3-Phase Blackoil

3D Compositional

Geologic Uncertainty
 Eclipse Development Team
50 developers in Abingdon, Houston and Oslo
Jeff Allen - Manager
Garf Bowen - Eclipse
Jon Holmes - Wells
Mike Wells - Modeling
Tommy Miller,Kirsty Foster - Office
Jim Nolen - Networks
John Wallis - Linear Solvers
Kyrre/Frode Bratvedt - FrontSim
Peter Yerburgh - FloViz
Jon Cox - Near Well Modeling
Jon Norris - SCAL
Jim Flynn - Product Planning
Dayal Gunasekera - FloGrid
John Bulman - Tools
Marie Ann Giddins - Process
Paul Crumpton - Parallel
Terry Stone - Thermal
Kieran Neylon - SimOpt
Raj Banerjee - Weltest200
PVTi - Mike Williams
Philip Gilchrist - Schedule
Ian Cheshire - Fellow