Patent Document ID: 20100185427
Application ID: 12356137
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. In a system for generating a Field Development Plan with at least one platform location, borehole trajectories and well completions for an oil or gas field, a method of selecting an optimized Field Development Plan comprising the steps of: a) providing a Shared Earth Model including a static three-dimensional, finite element map for the geological subsurface of an oil or gas field; b) determining a set of connected flow volumes from the three-dimensional, finite element map of the geological subsurface for the oil or gas field, each connected flow volume corresponding to a distinct subsurface flow unit; c) upscaling the set of connected flow volumes into a set of cuboid, analytical model elements suitable for use in a fast analytical reservoir simulator that dynamically models flow within respective cuboid elements, wherein each cuboid element is defined by its dimensions, position and orientation within the geological subsurface as well as physical parameter values for the cuboid; and d) selecting an optimized Field Development Plan having one or more platform locations, borehole trajectories and well completions for the set of cuboid elements describing the geological subsurface of the oil or gas field, wherein the optimized Field Development Plan is selected based on optimization of an objective function for a Figure of Merit for candidate Field Development Plans, the objective function comprising use of the fast analytical reservoir simulator to forecast production from the set of cuboid, analytical model elements.