Smart fields: model-based control and optimization of subsurface flow
‘Smart’ or ‘Intelligent’ oil field technology, also known as ‘Closed-loop reservoir management (CLRM)’, has developed over the past decade from a hardware-driven niche application to a concept for model-based control and optimization of subsurface flow. Inspired by systems and control theory, as applied in refineries and the process industry, and data assimilation methods, as applied in meteorology and oceanography, CLRM aims to form a bridge between the geosciences and the reservoir and production engineering disciplines. The underlying hypothesis is that recovery can be significantly increased by changing reservoir management from a ‘batch-type’ to a near-continuous model-based controlled activity. Key elements are the optimization of field development and production strategies under geological uncertainty, data assimilation for frequent updating of geo- and reservoir models, and model reduction to limit the computational efforts to simulation of only the essential processes. The underlying theory makes use of system-theoretical concepts like controllability, observability and identifiability of subsurface flow and the relevant parameters. In this presentation I’ll give an overview of CLRM and the underlying concepts, and will discuss barriers to implementation and potential solutions.
Bio:
Jan Dirk Jansen is professor of Reservoir Systems and Control and department chair in the Department of Geoscience and Engineering of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. In 2010-2011 he spent a year as Cox visiting professor at the Department of Energy Resources of Stanford University. Earlier, he spent many years in the petroleum industry in research and operational positions in the Netherlands, Norway and Nigeria. His current research is focused on the application of systems and control theory to subsurface flow, and in particular the use of adjoint-based optimization and model-order reduction methods.