<p>Gas flaring monitoring using satellite imagery provides a precise, cost-effective means to quantify flared gas, assess environmental impacts, and ensure regulatory compliance, especially in remote or inaccessible locations. While existing methods enable real-time tracking and early intervention, there remains a need for enhanced techniques that improve radiant heat estimation and support better production control in oil and gas fields at operational phase of development. Addressing this gap, this work integrates a novel algorithm with Satellite-Derived base to estimate gas production during hydrocarbon liquid extraction through detection and quantification of associated and non-associated gas flaring. This method incorporates temporal flare information to refine radiant heat estimates, applying a cut-off to revert to the previous model in cases of poor prediction accuracy. Using data from two satellites (typically four observations per night), optimal performance is achieved by averaging the two largest radiant heat values per location per night. Additionally, this approach enables gas-oil-ratio (GOR) monitoring of the Main Limestone (ML) reservoir in northern Iraq, which is considered in this work, improving dissolved gas back-allocation with oil and water production. Daily production changes, such as well start-ups, shut-ins, or choke adjustments, are accounted for using time-series data. The studied field averaged 95 MMscf/d flared gas over the period, decreasing to 74 MMscf/d in 2022 due to reduced production. Despite the novelty of this paper, the proposed approach is subject to certain limitations, including the relatively low resolution of available satellite imagery, which can constrain the precision of flare detection; the insufficient number of flow counters, which reduces the robustness of gas allocation estimates; and the absence of multivariate data integration, which limits the ability to capture complex interdependencies between operational and environmental variables. To address these limitations, future work should explore the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence for automated reporting of flared gas, predictive modelling of flaring events, and improved radiant heat-to-volume conversion accuracy. The use of drones and thermal cameras can enhance spatial coverage and measurement precision, while the adoption of higher resolution satellite imagery would significantly improve flare detection and quantification capabilities. Collectively, these enhancements could increase the accuracy, timeliness, and operational applicability of flare monitoring and gas allocation systems. Application of the method revealed can reduce a significant gas flare average and these results demonstrate the potential of remote sensing as a cost-effective tool for enhancing production monitoring, supporting regulatory compliance, and guiding strategies to reduce flaring in Iraq’s energy sector.</p>

错误:搜索内容不能为空,请输入英文关键词
错误:关键词超出字数限制,请精简
高级检索

Remote sensing and algorithmic methods for GOR monitoring to improve gas production allocation in hydrocarbon production for an oil field in North of Iraq

  • Farhad A. H. Khoshnaw,
  • Maha Raoof Hamoudi,
  • Pshtiwan Jaf

摘要

Gas flaring monitoring using satellite imagery provides a precise, cost-effective means to quantify flared gas, assess environmental impacts, and ensure regulatory compliance, especially in remote or inaccessible locations. While existing methods enable real-time tracking and early intervention, there remains a need for enhanced techniques that improve radiant heat estimation and support better production control in oil and gas fields at operational phase of development. Addressing this gap, this work integrates a novel algorithm with Satellite-Derived base to estimate gas production during hydrocarbon liquid extraction through detection and quantification of associated and non-associated gas flaring. This method incorporates temporal flare information to refine radiant heat estimates, applying a cut-off to revert to the previous model in cases of poor prediction accuracy. Using data from two satellites (typically four observations per night), optimal performance is achieved by averaging the two largest radiant heat values per location per night. Additionally, this approach enables gas-oil-ratio (GOR) monitoring of the Main Limestone (ML) reservoir in northern Iraq, which is considered in this work, improving dissolved gas back-allocation with oil and water production. Daily production changes, such as well start-ups, shut-ins, or choke adjustments, are accounted for using time-series data. The studied field averaged 95 MMscf/d flared gas over the period, decreasing to 74 MMscf/d in 2022 due to reduced production. Despite the novelty of this paper, the proposed approach is subject to certain limitations, including the relatively low resolution of available satellite imagery, which can constrain the precision of flare detection; the insufficient number of flow counters, which reduces the robustness of gas allocation estimates; and the absence of multivariate data integration, which limits the ability to capture complex interdependencies between operational and environmental variables. To address these limitations, future work should explore the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence for automated reporting of flared gas, predictive modelling of flaring events, and improved radiant heat-to-volume conversion accuracy. The use of drones and thermal cameras can enhance spatial coverage and measurement precision, while the adoption of higher resolution satellite imagery would significantly improve flare detection and quantification capabilities. Collectively, these enhancements could increase the accuracy, timeliness, and operational applicability of flare monitoring and gas allocation systems. Application of the method revealed can reduce a significant gas flare average and these results demonstrate the potential of remote sensing as a cost-effective tool for enhancing production monitoring, supporting regulatory compliance, and guiding strategies to reduce flaring in Iraq’s energy sector.