Production systems optimisation methods for petroleum fields, Dr Cheng Seong Khor, Prof. Ali Elkamel

Dr Cheng Seong Khor
University of Waterloo
Canada
Professor Ali Elkamel
University of Waterloo
Canada
Abstract/Summary: In this review, we survey the widespread use of optimisation or mathematical programming approaches in the upstream sector of the petroleum industry, specifically to problems in the area of 1 production systems design and operations, < (>2 lift gas and production rate allocation and 3 reservoir development, planning, management and optimisation. Early applications have adopted Linear Programming LP alongside heuristics-based methods, but the recent ongoing explosion in computing power and advances in optimisation, simulation and computational techniques have enabled the adoption of increasingly complex models. These formulations include non-linear programming and Mixed-Integer Linear MILP and Non-Linear MINLP programming models. Within these representations, various algorithms and approaches have been employed, for example, metaheuristics such as genetic algorithms to address non-smooth objective functions; techniques for simultaneous decision making in design, planning and scheduling and stochastic programming to handle uncertainty in reservoir information, with the ultimate aim of improving solution quality while reducing computational intensity.
Citation: Khor, C. S., Elkamel, A. (2007): Production systems optimisation methods for petroleum fields. In Ahmed, A. (Ed.): Science,Technology and Sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa, Vol. 1, pp. 132 - 157. WASD: Brighton, United Kingdom.