Method for producing hydrocarbons through a well or well cluster of which the trajectory is optimized by a trajectory optimisation algorithm

摘要

A method is disclosed for producing hydrocarbon fluid, such as crude oil and/or natural gas, through a well or well cluster of which the trajectory is at least partly defined and iteratively optimized by an well trajectory optimization algorithm which is coupled to a finite difference reservoir simulation program that represents a hydrocarbon fluid containing reservoir as a set of grid cells with a specified permeability and fluid content and which algorithm: provides a virtual well (101) with a series of virtual well branches ( 102 ) that extend into cells in the vicinity of inflow points of the virtual well (101); and subsequently iteratively moves the inflow points of the virtual well or well cluster through the reservoir in order to optimize a reservoir depletion strategy that provides an optimized life cycle value of the well and/or well cluster and/or optimized NPV of the produced crude oil and/or natural gas.