Patent ID: 8775141

Claim:
A method of simulating operations of an oilfield having at least one wellsite, each wellsite having a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation for extracting fluid from or injecting fluid to an underground reservoir therein, the method comprising: selecting a plurality of wellsite simulators comprising a wellbore simulator, a surface network simulator, a first reservoir simulator having a full reservoir simulation model, a second reservoir simulator having a tank model proxy of the full reservoir simulation model, and a third reservoir simulator having a lookup table proxy of the full reservoir simulation model; selecting a plurality of non-wellsite simulators comprising a process simulator and an economic simulator; establishing a fast productivity index (PI) coupling between the wellbore simulator and a reservoir simulator selected from a group consisting of the first reservoir simulator, the second reservoir simulator, and the third reservoir simulator to impose a hydraulic response between the plurality of wellsite simulators; establishing a plurality of general node couplings between the process simulator, the economics simulator, and the surface network simulator; and modeling a fluid injection by selectively communicating between the plurality of non-wellsite simulators using at least the plurality of general node couplings and by: querying, using the fast PI coupling, the reservoir simulator for a well linear inflow performance relationship (IPR) curve at a current operating point; passing, using the fast PI coupling, the well linear IPR curve as a boundary condition to the network simulator to calculate a network pressure and a flow rate; and setting, using the fast PI coupling, the flow rate calculated by the network simulator in the reservoir simulator.