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When the reservoir energy is too low for the well to flow, or the production rate desired is greater than
the reservoir energy can deliver, using some kind of artificial lift method to provide the energy to bring
the fluid to the surface, seems to be necessary. Continuous flow gas lift is one of the most common
artificial lift methods widely used in the oil industry during which, at appropriate pressure, gas is
injected in a suitable depth into the tubing to gasify the oil column, and thus assist the production.
Each well has an optimal point at which it will produce the most oil. In ideal conditions, at which there
is no limitation in the total amount of available gas, a sufficient amount of gas could be injected into
each well to get the maximum amount of production. However, often the total amount of available gas
is insufficient to reach the maximum oil production for each well. Therefore, allocating an optimum
amount of gas to each well to obtain field maximum oil production rate is necessary. In this work,
a continuous ant colony optimization algorithm was used to allocate the optimum amount of gas to
a group of wells for three fields with a different number of wells. Based upon the total production
rates of the studied oil fields resulting from the gas allocation to the wells, the continuous ant colony
optimization algorithm shows better gas allocation to the wells in comparison with the previous works
with other optimization methods.
Keywords: ant colony algorithm, gas allocation, gas lift, genetic algorithm, production optimization
1. INTRODUCTION
When the reservoir energy is too low for the well to flow, or the production rate desired is greater
than the reservoir energy can deliver, it becomes necessary to use some kind of artificial lift
methods to provide the energy to bring the fluid to the surface. The gas lift is considered as
the most economical method for artificial lifting of oil (Ayatollahi et al., 2004; Nakashima and
Camponogara, 2006).
In a gas lift, as the gas injection rate into the well increases, the oil production rate enhances
until a point called the optimal point, after which the oil rate declines with increasing the gas
injection rate. Having no concerns about the total amount of available gas, which is not often
Address correspondence to Prof. Cyrus Ghotbi, Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department, Sharif University
of Technology, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran. E-mail: ghotbi@sharif.ac.ir
Color versions of one or more of the figures in the article can be found online at www.tandfonline.com/ueso.
1234
1235
the case, sufficient gas could be injected into each well to get the maximum oil production rate.
However, due to the limitation in available gas sources, it seems necessary to allocate an optimum
amount of gas to each well to obtain the field maximum oil production rate.
To allocate an optimum amount of gas to each well, gas lift performance curves (GLPC) are
used. The GLPC shows the injected gas rate versus oil production rate for each well. The GLPC
can be either measured in the field, or iteratively generated by computer simulations, by means
of nodal analysis (Alarcn et al., 2002).
Kanu et al. (1981) were the first to use the method of the equal slope allocation under both
limited and unlimited gas supply. Later, Nishikiori et al. (1995) presented an extension of the
equal slope allocation method, based on the application of nonlinear optimization techniques of
the quasi-Newton type. Buitrago et al. (1996) reported a novel nonlinear methodology for the
optimal distribution of a given amount of gas to some set of wells.
Alarcn et al. (2002) improved upon Nishikiori et al.s (1995) method by replacing the quasiNewton algorithm with sequential quadratic programming (SQP). Fang and Lo (1996) reformulated
the problem as a linear-programming problem. Wang et al. (2002) suggested a mixed-integer
non-linear programming (MINLP) model to generalize the previous approaches. Camponogara
and Nakashima (2003) developed recursive algorithms for lift-gas allocation. Camponogara and
Conto (2005) proposed a piecewise-linear reformulation, thereby rendering a mixed-integer linear
programming problem. Ray and Sarker (2007) used genetic algorithm (GA) for gas lift allocation.
Zerafat et al. (2009) used both GA and ant colony optimization (ACO) to allocate gas lift to wells.
In this work, a continuous ant colony optimization (CACO) algorithm was used to allocate
optimum amount of gas to a group of wells for three fields with a different number of wells.
Based upon the fields oil total production rate resulting from the gas allocation to the wells, the
CACO algorithm shows better gas allocation to the wells in comparison with the previous works
with other methods.
n
X
Qoi D
i D1
n
X
(1)
i D1
QoT is the total oil production, which must be maximized. Instead of maximization, the problem
can define the minimization of 1=QoT . Thus, the gas lift optimization problem can be defined as:
min f .x/ D
1
1
D n
X
QoT
Qoi
i D 1; 2; : : : ; n;
(2)
i D1
n
X
(3)
i D1
i D 1; 2; : : : ; n;
(4)
i D 1; 2; : : : ; n:
(5)
1236
M. GHAEDI ET AL.
Qgi min is a minimum amount of injection needed to start the oil production and Qgi max is the
gas injection rate at which the well produces the maximum amount of oil and beyond this point
by increasing gas injection rate, oil production rate declines.
3. CACO TECHNIQUE
In recent decades, use of evolutionary algorithms, such as genetic algorithm, simulated annealing,
and more recently, ant colony optimization (ACO), have been considered extensively. Ant colony
optimization technique was introduced in the early 1990s by Dorigo and Stutzle (2004). The
inspiring source of ant colony optimization is the foraging behavior of real ant colonies.
ACO has been applied successfully to solve various combinatorial optimization problems,
especially discrete problems, such as the traveling salesman problem (Dorigo and Gambaredella,
1997). Optimization problems can be formulated as continuous optimization problems too. These
problems are characterized by the fact that the decision variables have continuous domains, in
contrast to the discrete domains of the variables in a combinatorial optimization problem. ACO
has been also applied to continuous domains (Jalalinejad et al., 2007; Jayaraman et al., 2000;
Razavi and Jalali-Farahani, 2008).
Optimization of gas lift allocation is considered as a continuous problem. In this article, the
CACO algorithm introduced by Jalalinejad et al. (2007), Jayarman et al. (2007), and Razavi and
Jalali-farahani (2008) was used, and here by some modification applied it for gas lift allocation.
3.1. Data Structure for Continuous ACO Algorithm
In order to apply ACO algorithm in continuous domain a new data structure is needed. The data
structure, which has been used in this work, is shown in Figure 1. The two dimensional n m
matrices are the search area where n is the number of optimization variables and m is the number
of ants (i.e., regions in continuous domain), which are used to search with m n (Jalalinejad
FIGURE 1
1237
et al., 2007; Jayaraman et al., 2000; Razavi and Jalali-Farahani, 2008). fi and i are 1 m vectors
representing the ith region objective function and pheromone trail amount, respectively.
/:xparent2 .j /;
(6)
i .t/
m
X
(7)
i .t/
i D1
In this work, complex algorithm introduced by Box (1965) has been used as the local search
procedure.
1238
M. GHAEDI ET AL.
.tC1/
i
8
<.1
:.1
it D
/it C it
Fitness improved,
/it
Otherwise.
(8)
1
;
fi
(9)
1239
1240
M. GHAEDI ET AL.
Ants
20
Crossover
Probability
Mutation
Probability
Evaporation
Rate
% Local
Ants
Maximum
Iteration
0.6
0.4
0.9
40
40
1241
FIGURE 2
Best and average value of fitness at each generation for the set of six wells with CACO algorithm.
TABLE 2
Comparison between the Results of Proposed CACO Algorithm and Previous Works for the Set of Six Wells
Total Available Gas D 4,600 MSCF/Day
Kanu et al. (1981)
(Equal Slope)
Well
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total
Qg =Qo
Qg ,
MSCF/day
Qo ,
STB/day
Qg ,
MSCF/day
Qo ,
STB/day
186.7
479.2
708
589.9
742.6
1,667.3
4,373.7
316.1
703.2
1,039
585.6
697.4
168.9
3,510.2
364.8
836.8
1,237.1
611
1,378
0
4,427.7
351.9
761.6
1,137.6
589
788.9
0
3,629
1.25
1.22
475.525
743.4451
1,350.922
827.7491quad
1,199.585
0.212049
4,597.438
1.22
CACO
Qo ,
STB/day
Qg ,
MSCF/day
365.053
755.421
1,146.155
622.693
774.668
0
3,663.99
482.25
768.52
1,132.41
898.75
1,285.87
32.2
4,600
Qo ,
STB/day
366.72
758.05
1,132.38
631.32
784.86
0.0003
3,673.33
1.25
TABLE 3
CACO Algorithm Parameters for the Set of 56 Wells
Ants
Crossover
Probability
Mutation
Probability
Evaporation
Rate
% Local
Ants
Maximum
Iteration
400
0.8
0.4
0.9
40
50
1242
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Well
225
0
60
0
0
0
0
58
1,295
0
201
617
0
128
153
69
0
0
0
215
189
270
0
399
0
0
0
0
0
Qg ,
MSCF/day
290
487
481
280
281
287
790
209
1,568
233
727
459
108
277
493
198
892
1,151
310
213
251
195
944
1,420
487
82
353
1,044
184
Qo ,
STB/day
504.9
234.6
725.7
478.8
54.3
363.9
221
333.5
431.7
365
591.6
2,435.4
194.9
184.2
649.6
228.8
188.4
428.8
644.7
929.5
542.3
385.8
44.5
1,713.9
805.4
591.6
247.8
140.2
268.5
Qg ,
MSCF/day
357.1
583
626.6
304.2
287.1
356.6
833.6
279.6
813.2
206.7
871.4
657.9
118.3
301.2
655.2
295.3
918.9
1,234.3
340.7
383.1
384.6
214.9
945.6
1,752.6
546.6
127.2
355.9
1,052.7
196.4
Qo ,
STB/day
672
450
521
0
0
157
235
268
1,295
0
1,048
800
0
186
598
460
0
282
0
975
772
370
0
1,030
0
120
0
0
0
Qg ,
MSCF/day
386
626
605
280
281
333
836
276
1,568
233
957
510
108
302
648
361
892
1,213
310
391
455
214
944
1,680
487
105
353
1,044
184
Qo ,
STB/day
812.3447
447.2224
150.8009
25.72567
2.681695
428.4005
443.1134
550.4224
1,431.407
9.943476
1,186.703
1,797.354
0.292891
381.3879
855.1724
966.7526
572.052
835.341
53.06131
1,417.769
674.1595
260.7425
0.062342
738.5139
142.1995
3.961657
1.579943
180.759
25.61667
389.2922
621.576
521.0045
279.6338
279.3014
360.2759
861.4855
296.3572
1,567.67
231.1562
968.2653
644.1792
105.0039
330.8143
683.0084
381.7123
964.1574
1,275.154
311.4512
435.0734
434.5178
190.4233
941.0026
1,580.227
502.8872
79.96662
350.0281
1,051.767
182.767
Qo ,
STB/day
TABLE 4
Comparison between the Results of Proposed CACO Algorithm and Previous Works for the Set of 56 Wells
614.258
537.250
404.258
42.147
510.985
418.321
510.721
506.214
1,069.475
330.252
646.258
709.872
104.698
367.258
413.258
702.522
125.268
236.147
117.258
534.214
717.253
447.147
79.254
832.140
368.125
184.258
110.247
654.214
89.124
Qg ,
MSCF/day
381.109
637.447
586.311
284.011
305.840
361.708
870.224
300.202
1,477.112
259.210
889.307
487.768
116.961
331.386
603.203
566.769
908.563
1,204.862
319.259
314.906
446.680
222.757
946.991
1,617.447
527.245
111.793
355.021
1,061.503
188.848
Qo ,
STB/day
(continued )
CACO
1243
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
Total
Qg =Qo
Well
0
0
0
184
0
0
0
0
112
168
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3,042
1,633
1,418
1,301
2,224
2,830
1,304
2,594
2,317
1,655
22,508
1.059
Qg ,
MSCF/day
308
354
618
185
209
179
64
270
174
0
372
372
200
0
47
397
83
441
197
232
146
223
317
186
278
152
403
21,265
Qo ,
STB/day
68.7
309.2
1.5
354
451.8
681.2
358.8
220
459
215.6
772.3
265.6
198.5
216.3
170.5
73.2
668.2
325
235.1
190.6
114.9
27.9
315.1
373.4
33.7
201.2
1,284
404.9
95.6
404.7
33.2
83.4
289.3
65.8
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
20,453.9
21,789.9
0.939
Qg ,
MSCF/day
0
0
131
280
0
195
108
0
157
301
98
0
0
797
0
0
14
3,042
2,466
1,418
0
0
0
1,484
0
0
1,770
22,500
0.994
Qg ,
MSCF/day
308
354
654
211
209
216
204
64
282
207
27
372
200
337
397
83
50
441
483
232
0
0
0
267
0
0
452
22,632
Qo ,
STB/day
2.85942
2.491896
175.8315
500.2639
1.078196
211.7989
0.031785
1.727461
242.6654
313.905
13.69307
329.8575
0.099835
1,199.252
34.83983
59.72461
2.538431
1.812014
2572.13
0.075651
0.044171
0.37171
5.910134
11.68654
16.88857
5.103219
2,274.167
22,376.39
1.016
Qg ,
MSCF/day
304.0543
354
657.6575
240.9669
207.0639
216.4891
176.0157
61.10487
292.9252
206.4406
5.077453
371.1076
198.0036
390.0909
398.9659
81.55598
45.06269
0
459.3049
1.015529
0
0
10.72841
0
34.24514
0
501.3664
22,033.4
Qo ,
STB/day
TABLE 4
(Continued)
69.214
0.000
398.214
467.254
82.619
208.147
396.145
99.472
358.214
667.721
381.217
429.214
105.269
702.150
174.125
64.214
481.257
82.125
59.300
427.932
139.245
2,741.210
510.250
115.241
545.842
121.249
278.147
22,487.38
Qg ,
MSCF/day
0.886
CACO
309.228
354.000
655.833
239.341
209.959
217.946
231.477
70.626
311.640
236.547
31.792
373.409
203.454
313.846
407.958
83.677
158.918
0.000
0.000
2,479.870
0.000
461.404
585.219
0.000
599.316
0.000
154.807
25,374.71
Qo ,
STB/day
1244
M. GHAEDI ET AL.
FIGURE 3 Best and average value of fitness at each generation for the set of 56 wells with CACO algorithm.
obtained by mixed integer linear programming (Wang et al., 2002) method, is 22,376.39 STB/day.
CACO algorithm resulted in 2,742.7 STB/day more in the field total oil production rate than the
best result of previous works.
4.3. The Set of Nine Wells
This set of nine wells belongs to an Iranian southern west field. Wells 1 through 6 have been
completed in the Asmari reservoir, while wells 7 through 9 produce from the Bangestan section.
Tables 5 and 6 show the reservoir data and the production data of these nine wells respectively.
GLPCs of these wells were calculated with VFPi module of Eclipse commercial software. Without
any gas lift operation in this field, total oil production rate of the field is 6,502 STB/day. If there
is not any limitation in the amount of available gas, and gas is optimally injected into each well
to reach the maximum oil production rate as well, the total oil production rate of the field would
be 23,344.88 STB/day. Table 7 shows the optimum gas injection rate as well as the oil production
rate of each well.
It is supposed that only 100 MMscf/day of gas is available and this amount of gas optimally
distributed among the wells. CACO algorithm parameters for this set of nine wells are shown in
Table 8. Figure 4 represents the best and average values for each generation. Table 9 shows the
gas injection rate along with oil production rate of each well.
5. CONCLUSIONS
1. A CACO algorithm for optimization of gas allocation to a group of wells in gas lift was
introduced.
2. The applied CACO technique seems to be an efficient optimization method for optimizing
the gas lift allocation (improvement of 9.3 STB/day relative to the best previous results of
previous works for a field with 6 wells and of 2,742.7 STB/day relative to the best previous
results of previous works for a field with 56 wells, confirms this fact).
1245
7,910
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5
7
1.56
880
1.16
0.751
Well 1
7,720
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5
7
1.7
810
1.16
0.751
Well 3
7,825
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5
7
1.82
805
1.16
0.751
Well 4
Well 5
7,865
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5
7
1.9
945
1.16
0.751
Straight
Vogels equation for IPR below bubble point pressure
7,635
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5 1/2
9 5/8
2.2
970
1.16
0.751
Well 2
Asmari Reservoir
7,900
3,738
2,925
853
30.2
0
190
100
5
7
2.15
935
1.16
0.751
Well 6
TABLE 5
Asmari and Bangestan Reservoir Data of One of the Iranian Southern West Fields
10,250
5,304
2,995
940
28.4
0
238
100
4 1/2
5
1.41
1,720
1.14
0.65
Well 7
10,200
5,304
2,995
940
28.4
0
238
100
4
5
1.59
1,710
1.14
0.65
Well 8
Bangestan Reservoir
10,265
5,304
2,995
940
28.4
0
238
100
5
7
1.7
1,690
1.14
0.65
Well 9
1246
M. GHAEDI ET AL.
TABLE 6
Production Data of One of the Iranian Southern Field Wells
Well
Well
Well
Well
Well
Well
Well
Well
Well
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Rate,
BPD
FWHP,
psia
FBHP,
psia
P.I.,
bbl/dayay/psi
Drawdown,
psi
AOF,
BPD
502
1,020
650
720
930
1,060
480
540
600
880
970
810
805
945
935
1,720
1,710
1,690
3,415
3,275
3,355
3,340
3,250
3,245
4,965
4,960
4,950
1.56
2.2
1.7
1.82
1.9
2.15
1.41
1.59
1.7
322
463
383
398
488
493
339
339
354
3,366
4,842
3,693
3,943
4,200
4,743
4,295
4,830
5,150
TABLE 7
Optimum Gas Injection Rate and Oil Production Rate of Each Well,
for the Set of Nine Wells with CACO
Total Available Gas D Unlimited
Well
Qg ,
MSCF/day
Qo ,
STB/day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
41,769.5
54,678.3
41,342.3
41,206.2
42,305.9
43,867.9
45,812.2
46,256.8
45,926.1
403,165.2
2,211.167
3,383.803
2,344.323
2,551.114
3,005.679
3,252.963
2,066.432
2,187.667
2,341.732
23,344.88
TABLE 8
CACO Algorithm Parameters for the Set of Nine Wells
Ants
Crossover
Probability
Mutation
Probability
Evaporation
Rate
% Local
Ants
Maximum
Iteration
200
0.8
0.4
0.9
40
50
3. It is recommended to use stochastic optimization methods like the CACO algorithm in the
case of dealing with a large number of wells (as in the mentioned problem with 56 wells).
4. The effect of optimum gas allocation was very well shown by the studied three practical
cases.
5. This work shows very well the effect of gas lift on increasing the field production rate. For
instance, in the last studied case (Iranian field), a 280.6% increase in the field production
rate could be reached by optimally allocating only 100 MMSCF/day of gas to the wells
(from 6,502 STB/day to 18,249.69 STB/day).
FIGURE 4
1247
Best and average value of fitness at each generation for the set of nine wells with CACO algorithm.
TABLE 9
Gas Injection Rate and Oil Production Rate for the Set of Nine Wells
with CACO Algorithm When the Amount of Available Gas is Limited
Total Available Gas D 100,000 MSCF
Well
Qg ,
MSCF/day
Qo ,
STB/day
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Total
8,621.677
10,806.63
17,082.79
11,480.12
8,440.89
7,946.661
10,548.68
12,037.9
13,034.65
100,000
1,644.183
2,755.742
1,942.741
1,986.983
2,488.846
2,610.393
1,478.036
1,587.696
1,755.076
18,249.69
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lift using nonlinear constrained programming. ASME J. Energy Resour. Technol. 124:262268.
Ayatollahi, S., Narimani, M., and Moshfeghian, M. 2004. Intermittent gas lift in Aghajari Oil 488 Field, A mathematical
study. J. Pet. Sci. Eng. 42:245255.
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