Impact of Integration of the Production Systems and Reservoir of a Benchmark Based on Carbonate Fields

Integrating production system and reservoir is used in several studies of offshore oilfield development and management for improved production forecasts through more realistic boundary conditions. This study evaluates the influence of the parameters in a production strategy of a reference model (carbonate oil reservoir) on financial and production performance. We first considered nonintegrated system (NI) with the reservoir and fixed boundary conditions for well and gathering system. We then considered integrated system (I) with the variable boundary conditions for the wells and gathering system. Finally, we compared both systems. Our analysis involved several steps to define the best production strategy for both systems based on net present value (NPV) and how integrated modeling helps define production strategy. For NI, three stages were considered: number of wells, placement of wells, and platform capacity. For I, five stages were evaluated (all NI parameters) with diameters and gas lift evaluation, and platform placement. The results are similar, but the simplifications (NI) may affect financial performance. The cross analysis indicated (in the hypothesis that the integrated system is closer to reality) that integrating the NI case resulted in considerable financial and production differences and may be useful in simplified systems. Since the main aspects of the object-function financial return were related to reservoir model behavior, one can first apply the nonintegrated optimization cycles, then add the integrated cycles, obtaining an intermediate time of the integrated model optimization in similar cases.