Optimal drainage area and surface pad postioning for SAGD development

• Author / Creator

  Kumar, Abhay

• The optimal allocation of drainage areas and surface pads for SAGD development is challenging because of several surface and subsurface constraints. It becomes more complex due to uncertainty in reservoir properties. This Thesis presents a heuristic methodology to maximize the recovery of bitumen by optimal placement of drainage areas and surface pads. Multiple realizations of reservoir variables are used to quantify the uncertainty. The optimization problem can be seen as space packing and optimal allocation of well pairs. Space packing ensures the maximum access to available resource and optimal allocation of well pairs guarantees the maximum combined recovery over the field. A DASP (drainage area surface pad) software tool is developed and examples are presented to explain the optimization steps. Optimization considers the compact and non overlapping arrangements of drainage areas. Problem is converted into unconstrained optimization one by including penalties for different constraints.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • SAGD

• Graduation date

  Spring 2011

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3NC9Z

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.