Due to the special characteristics of petroleum research object and petroleum business, petroleum geology digital twin has very obvious differences compared to conventional equipment digital twin, mainly in the following aspects:
1.1 Uncertainty in the description of the objective entity
Conventional digital twin is generally a description of a specific device or visible entity, and the description of these entities are deterministic descriptions. But the object of petroleum geology research is the subsurface geological body, which cannot be directly observed, so the description of the subsurface geological body will always be the description of the researcher's subjective understanding, and there is a great deal of uncertainty. With the deepening of the understanding of the subsurface geological body, it can only approach the objective entity continuously.
1.2 Dynamic description of the objective entity
The description of the subsurface geology is constantly deepened and refined with the development of petroleum exploration and development business, so this "objective" entity is constantly changing, which is quite different from the uniqueness of the conventional entity. This change requires that the description of the subsurface geologic body be constantly updated in real time as the work progresses.
1.3 Synchronization of Digital Twin Establishment and Application
Conventional digital twins are usually built first, and then various applications are built on top of this twin system. The petroleum geology digital twin system is the establishment of the application, in the process of establishing the application, the application of the process and at the same time to establish and constantly improve the system, the two are synchronized, complement each other.
Petroleum exploration and development of research objects in the underground, research workers can not directly observe and describe, all the knowledge of the underground geological body are used in an indirect way. Petroleum geology digital twin is a new form of technology, through this technology can be the direct description of the underground geological body and knowledge into possible, so as to solve the business of many technical problems.
2.1 More accurate description of geological objects
It is an unchanging truth in industry that as long as it is possible to measure and describe, it is possible to improve, and this is also true for petroleum exploration and development. Regardless of the work carried out, the prerequisite is an accurate understanding of the object of our work, we need to carry out accurate measurements and descriptions of the geological body, to have a comprehensive understanding of the various attributes, parameters and dynamics of the geological body, so as to achieve accurate analysis and optimization of the work in the work.
In the past, the traditional method of describing the geologic body is generally one-dimensional, and there is a lack of effective correlation between the information of different dimensions, which results in a lack of more intuitive ways of displaying the geologic body.
Through the petroleum geology digital twin can be more comprehensive, image, and accurate description of the subsurface geologic body. The description of the underground geological body can be upgraded from the simple description in the past to the joint description of multiple business dimensions, which can realize the full three-dimensional description of the geological body and the four-dimensional dynamic description with the change of time. At the same time, using digital twin technology, it is possible to take advantage of the Internet of Things and big data technology, through the collection of limited direct data of physical sensor indicators, and with the help of large sample libraries, to infer some indicators and data that originally cannot be directly measured through machine learning.
2.2 Achieve more comprehensive analysis and prediction
All the work of oil exploration and development is based on the analysis and prediction of the geological body, especially on the future trends and indicators of change prediction is a key indicator of the impact of the work. Through conventional analysis methods and tools is difficult to achieve a more comprehensive predictive analysis, and the digital twin can be combined with the data collection of the Internet of Things, the processing of big data and artificial intelligence modeling and analysis, to achieve the current state of awareness and assessment, the summary of the problems that occurred in the past, as well as predictions of the future trend, and to give the results of the analysis to simulate the possibilities, to provide a more comprehensive decision-making support.
2.3 Realize the modeling and standardization of the work process
The business process of petroleum exploration and development is composed of a series of interrelated and interrelated businesses, and at the same time, the business process is also a deepening process of understanding, practicing, and reunderstanding of the underground geological body. Petroleum geology digital twin can well unify the business process of petroleum exploration and development and the process of understanding the underground geology.
In the petroleum industry, all petroleum exploration and development work is based on certain industry norms or standards, so the business process is standardized. The petroleum geological digital twin can model and standardize the petroleum exploration and development process to achieve standardized operation and management of the business.
2.4 Realize the digitization of past experience
The process of petroleum exploration and development is a cycle of continuous understanding of the underground geological body, and all the work is based on the experience and accumulation of the previous work, so the summary of past work and experience occupies a very important position in the work, and it is difficult to integrate and deepen the historical understanding using the traditional way. The traditional way is difficult to integrate and deepen the historical understanding.
But through the digital twin technology, we can manage and apply the past experience well, digitize the expert experience which cannot be preserved in the past, and provide the ability of preservation, reproduction, transfer and application, and deepen the deepening of the understanding of the geological body through the management and application of knowledge.
2.5 Realize the prediction of future trends and various understandings
Through the management of historical data, not only can we get the past experience, but also through the big data analysis and processing technology, we can make a good prediction of the future, and the results of this prediction have great significance in guiding the future work.
2.6 Realize the closed loop of the whole business of exploration and development
Our accurate understanding of the underground geological body is to make better decisions about the next step of the work, and the whole petroleum work is carried out in the continuous cycle and deepening of understanding, practice, re-understanding, and practice. Digital twin technology can provide an intuitive, objective work platform, on the one hand, the results of the understanding of the precipitation, while in the work of the platform to use the accumulated understanding of the results of new understanding, and guide the next step in the work of decision-making, to achieve the whole exploration and development of the work of the closed loop.