Optimal parameters design of oilfield surface pipeline systems using fuzzy models

Establishing and operating an oilfield surface pipeline system involves a large capital expenditure, which includes pipeline cost, power consumption cost, and thermal energy cost, etc. In this process, there exists a vast amount of fuzzy information, in both the objective and the constraint functions for an optimal design. System design based on such a huge volume of fuzzy information about multi-objectives and multi-constraints cannot be well handled by conventional mathematical tools. In this paper, a mathematical model from the fuzzy optimization approach is formulated for such oilfield surface pipeline systems. Both the multi-objective and multi-constraint functions are defined in a feasible fuzzy domain within the design parameters space. An optimal solution is selected from this domain for the design, for which the degree of expert satisfaction reaches the maximum. The methodology presented in this paper offers a new approach and a significant improvement of cost savings in the establishment and operation of an oilfield surface pipeline network system, beneficial for the oil industry.