Influence of well and gathering systems parameters on integrated petroleum reservoir and production system simulations

Comprehensive studies of oil reservoir and production systems present many variables which evaluation may lead to increase in both computational time and potential discontinuities. Using a reduced number of variables, we can effectively evaluate oil production and indicate decisions to be made for production management. The work was divided into two steps. In step one, decoupled production system, focusing on well and gathering systems were analyzed to identify the influence of parameters on field production. This decreases the number of variables, which promotes simulations with less computational effort and more robust optimization studies. In step two, an integrated reservoir and production system is considered, including the parameters that most impacted the production (from step one), and its influence on net present value. The integrated and decoupled analyses showed that, even if the reservoir can produce at a particular flow rate, there is no guarantee that production will be as forecasted. We also noted that future changes in the production system can contribute to maintain or to increase production and may improve financial return. The integrated analysis showed more realistic results for the production of this field, in an analysis combining oil production and financial return.