A New Methodology for Assisted History Matching Using Independent Objective Functions

Abstract

History matching is a complex inverse problem for which the degree of difficulty and the computational effort (in terms of number of simulations) increase with the increasing of the number of matching parameters. This article presents a new methodology for assisted history matching based on independent objective functions that decrease the number of simulations. The proposed approach consists of the optimization of several objective functions related to each region of the reservoir to be matched, such as a well or a group of wells. Optimization processes, one for each objective function, are started simultaneously, modifying the same data file, yielding a more efficient process, allowing speedup and preserving the quality of the results. The methodology was successfully applied to an offshore field. The results show that the quality of results is practically the same when compared to the conventional procedures, i.e., matching of the wells individually or combining several wells. The advantage is a significant reduction on the number of simulations, preserving the quality of the results.