Natural gas network optimization from gas wells in multicomponent and multiphase conditions

Following global population growth, energy demand is also increasing in Indonesia. Indonesia's demand for natural gas continues to increase, reaching a year-on-year growth rate of 10%, which is the highest among other Asian countries. Furthermore, the availability of petroleum reserves, particularly in Indonesia, is estimated to last for only 9.5 years. Presently, the primary challenges associated with natural gas production pertain to transportation and elevated energy consumption. Consequently, an optimization scheme is imperative with the ultimate goal is to minimize the effort required or to maximize the desired profit as well as to minimize the costs incurred. Superstructure optimization is capable of addressing intricate settings, as the problem can be defined mathematically. This study aims to obtain an optimal multiphase multicomponent natural gas network design by maximizing the net sales gas production flow rate and minimizing compressor power requirements based on the existing operational network. Additionally, it seeks to ascertain the impact of well gas flow rate sensitivity analysis on the natural gas network configuration. Based on these two objectives, it is determined that optimizing the natural gas network in the Existing Operation Case using GAMS can reduce the total compressor power requirement by 37.6%, while the net gas flow rate is considered more profitable than the natural gas network based on the Existing Operation Case network. The sensitivity analysis of increasing the flow rate at the gas well to the net natural gas production shows that as the feed natural gas flow rate is increased, the amount of net natural gas product after deducting the use for compressor fuel will increase.