NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE

Optimal Placement of Vertical Wells in a 3D Reservoir using Mixed Integer Nolinear Programming
Russell Mahmood, Matric Number: U094794H

Introduction
As the discovery of new reservoirs become increasingly difficult, optimal recovery of mature oil fields become more and more important. The first step to oil recovery is the drlling of wells at optimal locations with optimal trajectories. This project considers placement of vertical wells in a 3D reservoir and perforation of the wells at different layers so that production of oil from the reservoir for a given budget and time could be maximized. Previously our team developed mathematical programming models to address the optimal vertical and horizontal well drilling problem (Tavallali et al, 2012).This project would be an extension of the previous works utilizing the OA/ER/AP algorithm used before for 2D wells. Given an oil reservoir with existing wells, the goal is to maximise the net present value (NPV) of oil production over a fixed planning horizon through selection of vertical producer wells locations and perforations at different layers in the wells. It is assumed that the reservoir is a 3D region which could be divided into smaller cells. Capillary pressure in the reservoir is negligible and the main driving mechanism is the waterdriven injections through the injector wells. The geological and PVT data of the reservoir and the fluids are to be obtained through preliminary studies and lab tests. Also given are relevant economic data such as projected demand curve, associated costs of production and other financial parameters as well as operational data such as water cut limits, pressure limits and capacity expansion plan for surface facilities are also provided.

Method
The well placement model formulated in the project forms Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) problem. The MINLP is solved using Outer Approximation/ Equality Relaxation/ Augmented Penalty (OA/ER/AP) algorithm, which breaks down the problem into a nonlinear programming (NLP) primal problem and a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) master problem. The basic idea in OA is to generate an upper bound and a lower bound on the MINLP solution at each iteration. The upper bound results from the solution of the primal problem, while the lower bound results from solution of the master problem. Linearization of the primal problem gives the master problem. The linear supports are targets of the function and underestimate the objective function. The OA/ER algorithm handles the nonlinear equality constraints by relaxing them into inequalities with the usage of slack variables and subsequently apply the OA algorithm. The addition of the AP penalizes the deviation in values (slack variables) in the inequalities, giving a more optimal solution. This binary solution obtained from the MILP would be utilized in the primal problem to continue the optimization in a cyclical manner. The General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) is used for modelling linear, nonlinear and mixed integer optimization problems. The system is especially useful with large, complex problems. The key advantage of GAMS is that it is able to allow the user to implement his formulation in a clear, concise language. The system is simple to use and allows easy usage
2

of different solvers. The second strength in GAMS is the ability to pinpoint the location and type of errors in the code. This saves the user a lot of time in debugging.

Progress (Model Developed)

Objective Function:

Subjected to: Mass Balance Oil Phase:

Mass Balance Water Phase:

+
Mobilities:

=0

<

Liquid-oil flow rate relation:

Pipe flow (vertical injector)

Oil Flow from a grid: 3

Total Oil Flow from a Well:

Total Flow from a grid and grids vertically below it:

Total Oil Flow from a grid and from grids vertically below it:

Total Pipe flow from a vertical well:

; is an error function. Pressure due to fluid flow in a vertical well, where k determines the vertical location of the grid:

Total Oil Production

Total Production

Flow Rates Logical Constraints

Oil demand

Water Cut

Well to well distance:

Bounds

The bottom hole pressure of a certain layer is given by summation of pressure drops due to flow and the bottom hole pressure of the grid immediately above it:

For a well output excluding surface layer is given by:

Total flow in term of the intermediate free variable is written by:

Modelling in GAMS:
My first case study will model a 3D reservoir with three layers and only two perforations could be done in each well. Therefore the result will include 1) Total production profile from the reservoir 2) The locations of the wells 3) The perforation locations for each well

Future Plan
1) 2) 3) 4) Fully implement the equations into GAMS Run and Debug the code Purify the model if required Get results for different cases

Project Timeline:
6 Aug 13 Aug 20 Aug 27 Aug 3 Sept 10 Sept 17 Sept 24 Sept 1 Oct 8 Oct Understand multiphase flow reservoir modeling. Search and read journal papers on optimal well placement mainly from ScienceDirect and OnePetro. Basics of reservoir simulation were studied: Balance equations: mass and momentum (Darcy) Multiphase flow (PVT Properties of Oil/Water) Equations for fluid and rock properties, constraint equations Production equations. Discretisation and difference approximation of continuous forms of reservoir equations Reference papers (J.D 2011) Review paper (Zhang, Li et al. 2010) Placement of injectors (Zandvliet, Handels et al. 2008) Simultaneous placement of wells (Aziz 2005) Efficient adjoint algorithm Cullick (2004)- 2 stage determination of well location in 3D Ierapetritou- decomposition approach to find well location 15 Oct 22 Oct 29 Oct 5 Nov Understand the GAMS file and the outer approximation algorithm with equality relaxation and augmented penalty (OA/ER/AP algorithm). Additional literature review The complete model G is broken down into master sub problem GM and primal sub problem GP. GP is further decomposed into smaller sub problems along the temporal domain by discretizing each period. Then, instead of solving the GP for the entire planning horizon, it is solved for each time period. The next step of the algorithm is to exploit the characteristics of mass balance and pipe flow equations to develop appropriate linearizations for use in GM. In the termination step a two step local search is used. In the first step, all the new wells are fixed except the least productive well which form a new master sub-problem. If the worst well could be improved, it is used as the incumbent for the next iteration. If it cannot be improved, the second step is executed. In the second step neighbourhood search is performed. 12 Nov 19 Nov 26 Nov 3 Dec Model the reservoir in 3D. Adjust the well flow model accordingly. The reservoir has been modeled as a number of rectangular cells. The transmissibility in the zdirection was defined. General mass balance for each cell was written. Reference Texts Munka, M. and P. Jozsef, 4D numerical modeling of petroleum reservoir recovery2001, Budapest: Akadmiai Kiad.

17 Dec

14 Jan

The equation for maximum output oil flow from well was designed. A simple case study is solved using GAMS and the new model Rectified error in previous formulation. Review problem on pressure functions for multiple completions Update well-specific code to vertical well setting Compact model by reducing equations through condition settings. Modify primal and master codes based on new formulation Run a very simple case problem.

Debug: Identify, investigate and solve issues causing unexpected results Case Studies: Use a more complicated case Report writing: Final report writing Progress to the model and code: Refine vertical pipeflow equation if necessary and try to add more practical constraints eg. Minimum distance between perforations. Trace out error due to inadequate initialization Further define variables to make model more robust Further troubleshooting and report write-up for January 15 submission of report.