Generalized Predictive Control applied to intelligent production of an oil well

The implementation of intelligent well technology into the petroleum production industry provides, for the first time, the opportunity to apply advanced control algorithms at the well or reservoir zone level. An “Intelligent” or “Smart” well is a well equipped with multiple, downhole chokes or Inflow Control Valves (ICVs) as well as downhole, real-time, data measurements of, for example, pressure, temperature and flow rate at a specific point within the well. This paper applies Generalized Predictive Control (GPC) to the ICVs for automatic regulation of the production rate or the pressure at a specified value within the flow system. A multi-zone, horizontal, intelligent well case study shows that the GPC works efficiently. The robustness of the technique was illustrated when noise and/or outliers were introduced into the output data.