Optimization of Smart Wells in the St. Joseph Field

The St Joseph field has been on production since September 1981 under natural depletion supported by crestal gas injection As part of a major redevelopment study. the scope for waterflooding was addressed using "smart" completions with multiple Inflow control valves (ICVs) in the wells to be drilled for the redevelopment Optimal control theory was used to optimize monetary value over the remaining producing life of the field, and in particular to select the optimal number of ICVs. the optimal configuration of the perforation zones, and the optimal operational strategies for the ICVs A gradient-based optimization technique was implemented in a reservoir simulator equipped with the;dimly functionality to compute gradients of an objective function with respect to control parameters For computational reasons, an initial optimization study was performed on a sector model, which showed promising results