Well optimisation

well optimisation

This method attempts to provide a new way of optimising well trajectories. A number of candidate entrance and exit points are set up at the beginning and end of the well, and the paths between these points are found by using the Fast Marching Method (FMM). The optimal path is defined to be the one with the maximum benefit-to-cost ratio. In order to ensure that the trajectory is drillable in the field, a dogleg constraint can be applied, which restricts the curvature of the well path.

The method can be used where field data is available to describe the geology of the domain of interest, in which case, the kriging method is used to interpolate the data. The method can also be used in the absence of field data, when the material parameters are estimated. In this code, the productivity potential map (required by the FMM) may be based on the permeability field, so this is either calculated by using field data and the kriging method, or it must be estimated in some way.

The code was tested with Kroon's implementation of the FMM (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/29025-ordinary-kriging?s_tid=srchtitle) and Schwanghart's implementation of the kriging method (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/24531-accurate-fast-marching?s_tid=srchtitle).