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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

BrazilNorway Production Optimization Consortium - Phase 2

Alternative title: BrasilNorge Konsortium innen produksjonsoptimalisering - Fase 2

Awarded: NOK 1.8 mill.

Production optimization involves the systematic use of mathematical models and real-time data to optimize production while taking account of operational constraints related to safety, environmental regulations and equipment capacity. This results in complex optimization problems requiring the use of computers to find the solution. While the optimal solutions may sometimes be implemented automatically, more commonly the solutions are presented to production engineers as decision support tools for optimal production system operation. Production optimization methodology is applicable to many types of complex system operation, including chemical processes, energy systems and transportation systems. The focus for this project will be on production optimization for the petroleum industry. Production optimization in the petroleum industry provide a rich selection of research challenges, related to both the range of timescales involved and the high uncertainty with regards to the behavior of parts of the system. In 2023 it was at long last again possible to have more or less normal activity in the project after COVID. The focus of the project is to facilitate research cooperation, dissemination and education, while the research as such is funded from other sources. A workshop in the area was arranged at Petrobras' research centre in Rio in March, with very strong participation. A cotutelle agreement (joint PhD degree) has been established for a PhD candidate, and an additional one is being negotiated. In addition to participation in the workshop mentioned above, the project has also enabled an extended research stay at UFSC for a PhD candidate, professor Camponogara (UFSC) has contributed to teaching production optimization at NTNU, and participation at the November Conference of Innovation Norway in Rio for two NTNU faculty.

The project has enabled exchanges on Master, PhD and Faculty level. Two workshops on production optimization have been held, with substantial attendance both from industry and academia both in Brazil and Norway. These workshops have provided effective venues for dissemination and for improving contacts between sectors and countries. It is the belief of the project manager that workshop participation and exposure has been helpful for SolutionSeeker when they established offices in Brazil. Workshop participation has clearly also improved contacts between Petrobras and Equinor Brazil on one side and NTNU/BRU21 on the other side. In addition to dissemination at the workshops, the project has resulted in five papers in scientific journals and one conference publication. The project has contributed to education at NTNU also through prof. Camponogara (UFSC) teaching an intensive course on production optimization for Master students. A joint PhD degree between UFSC and NTNU was completed during the project, a second one has been established, and the third is in the process of being established. These PhD projects will contribute to further advances in the field of production optimization.

The term production optimization denotes systematic methods combining mathematical models, numerical optimization techniques, and real time data for the purpose of optimizing operations in energy distribution, manufacturing, processing and resource extraction. The focus of the present project will be petroleum production. The focus on petroleum production poses several distinct challenges that will be foci of research in the project: i) Any mathematical model describing physical system of non-trivial complexity will be imperfect. Hence it is critical to continuously update/correct the model from available real time data, to maximize the predictive capabilities of the model, and thus also maximize the reliability of the model in representing the potential for improved operation. This is a significant challenge, in particular for the upstream (reservoir) side of petroleum production, due to the relative lack of online data for a very large and complex system. ii) The very complex and computationally demanding models that are used to describe petroleum reservoirs and wells. This means that in order for the the production optimization methods developed to have reasonable computational demands, the models must be used with the utmost efficiency in the optimization. In addition to the research aims of the project, the project will also ensure that high quality and specialized education in production optimization is offered to Master students at NTNU, and ensure good contact between industry and academia in both countries in the production optimization area.

Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Thematic Areas and Topics

No thematic area or topic related to the project