Integrated Asset Model Enables Simulation of Complex, Multifield Asset
Authors: Feder Judy 
Published: June 2019

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Judy Feder, contains highlights of paper SPE 192603, “New-Generation Integrated Asset Modeling: High-Resolution Reservoir Multimodels Coupled With an External Steady-State Network Solver,” by Pietro Selvaggio, Fabrizio Freni, Roberto Rossi, Danielle Christian Di Giorgio, and Ivan Colombo, Eni, prepared for the 2018 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, Abu Dhabi, 12–15 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

This paper presents an innovative application of the integrated-asset-model (IAM) approach to simulate a surface network collecting many complex fields and multiple constraints. The use of a last-generation high-resolution reservoir simulator (HRRS) made it possible to perform the reservoirs-network coupling directly by a field-manager (FM) process, which acts as an orchestrator for a variety of reservoirs and network-simulation instances. No third-party controller application was required because the FM of the HRRS directly managed the communication between the different reservoir models and the surface-network model.

Introduction

The ability to predict reservoir behavior has always played a fundamental role in the definition of a development project, and numerical simulation can be considered the first tool for a quantitative evaluation of reservoir performance. In the past decades, improvements in information technology have increased calculation capabilities, enabling development of dynamic simulators able to solve for more-complex reservoirs and dynamic processes. During the production-forecast phase, for example, technical constraints must be considered, primarily related to hydrocarbon rate (i.e., gas sale limitation, gas/water injection limits, flaring policies, limitations in export pipelines, and treatment capacity) and pressures (i.e., minimum required pressure to reach a treatment, separator working conditions, and export-pipeline design).

The increasing development of fields located in remote or offshore areas and the growing interest in near-field exploration make it necessary to exploit common surface networks. In these situations, the previously mentioned technical constraints and limitations must be defined for the entire asset, thus accounting for the intrinsic connection between fields that become interdependent. With standard standalone reservoir simulation no longer able to identify and address these kinds of problems and constraints, integrating the reservoir and network is key to an optimized development strategy.

The IAM brings together reservoir, well, and surface-facility models in a unique system for reservoir and well optimization. This methodology ensures that the interactions between all the components are accounted for correctly and, by coupling dynamic reservoir and facilities models into a single IAM, addresses backpressure, the mixing of different fluids, and flow assurance.

Currently, two approaches are avail-able to perform the integration. The first is based on combining the reservoir models with a dedicated network simulator with optimization capabilities in a fully integrated model. The second approach is focused on using the capabilities offered by some commercial simulators in which the network solver, on the basis of precomputed hydraulic tables, is included in the simulator together with some features of reservoir coupling.