Mathematical optimisation is almost as widespread as humans’ desire to improve things, with applications in economy, mechanics, and engineering disciplines. Our research has been motivated from petroleum engineering applications, with the goal of providing better reservoir management strategies. This does not only provide higher net income for the operating company, but will also contribute to better energy efficiency and reduced geographical and environmental footprint.
NORCE pioneered the development of ensemble methods for optimisation (Lorentzen et al.), and has a long history of developing improved reservoir management tools by using ensemble methods for optimisation and model updating (data assimilation) in a closed-loop fashion. Recently the effort has been extended to also include decision support that uses the ensemble of models as input in the decision-making process. These topics are currently addressed through the project DIGIRES, hosted by NORCE, and through our research in The National IOR Centre.
Some of the most recent research activities include
- Optimising and evaluating IOR strategies
- Further development of the ensemble optimisation methodology
- Participation in the Olympus optimisation challenge
- Use of derivative-free methods
- Proactive geosteering
- Participation in the Brugge optimisation challenge
