Integrated Design and Operation of Natural Gas Production, Transportation and Processing Infrastructure under Uncertainty

The recent changes in the natural gas regime in Europe with market deregulation and the increasing importance of market demand in the natural gas value chain means higher demands for efficiency in the exploitation of natural gas resources. As the infrastr ucture at the Norwegian continental shelf reaches maturity, new questions arise as how to exploit smaller gas fields in a cost-efficient manner. The ongoing development of natural gas resources in the Arctic also calls for new methodologies to better acc ount for uncertainties and to achieve high efficiency. The objectives of this research area: *Develop optimization methods/decision support tools for infrastructure analysis in the natural gas value chain *Develop methodology for analysis of robustness , flexibility and risk in long term infrastructure investments in the gas value chain *Study how operational flexibility should be incorporated in long term investments and infrastructure analysis *Demonstrate the methodology for analysis in important i ndustrial cases *Publish the results in peer reviewed international journals