Optimal Planning & Scheduling of Investment, Development & Operation of a Portfolio of Offshore Gas Fields

S. VASANTHARAJAN; S. CULLICK; A. VECCHIETTI

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA)

Conferencia; INFORMS; 1999

INFORMS

In this work a  bilevel multiperiod optimization model for the optimal planning and scheduling of offshore gas fields is presented. It is a relevant problem because of the significant investment cost involved in the well drillings, well and production platforms installment and the operation cost of the whole facilities. Given a long term plan horizon, a forecast of gas demands and prices for several markets, the facilities configuration in terms of gas wells, reservoirs, fields, well and production platforms; the model predicts the hierarchy of reservoirs, fields and wells to be exploited and their startup time. The model also determines the production flow of wells, fields and reservoirs, and the well and production platform capacities. Several thousand variables and constraints are involved. The application of this strategy to an industrial example is discussed.