Applying Optimal Control Approach to Optimize Placement and Flow Rates of Oil Wells

Abstract

An approach based on application of optimal control methods to optimize positions and production rates of oil wells is studied. Optimizing positions of wells and setting of the values of their flow rates is the first priority task that determines the efficiency of the development of hydrocarbon fields. Currently, various approaches are used to find rational well placement. These approaches include traditional methods based on the use of various regular grids, oil and gas field simulators, artificial intelligence, etc. In this paper, we solve the considered problem as a special case of a more general problem of optimizing the location of lumped sources and their powers in a dynamic system with distributed parameters. Computational experiments for model problems are carried out and their results are presented.