Superstructure optimization of subsea processing layouts

Abstract

As the oil and gas industry expands the use of subsea processing, the complexity of subsea layouts increases, making manual design processes cumbersome and suboptimal. Here we propose a method to support subsea field design where optimization is performed on a model of the subsea system, to maximize the net present value of the project. The proposed mixed-integer nonlinear (MINLP) model is solved to compute a global optimum design considering constraints in production, equipment duties and cost, and reliability and maintenance aspects. The subsea layout, equipment capacity, oil and gas production rates, and system pressures are optimized. The method was applied on a synthetic field based on the Goliat field in the Barents Sea. The method successfully finds the best designs, while the second and third-best layouts give general insights for subsea processing layout optimization.