A mathematical programming model for the long term development of an off-shore gas field

Commercial mathematical programming codes can solve practical problems in combinatorial optimization. But the formulation is not always straightforward, partly because of nonlinearities and partly because the code may work badly if the LP relaxation of the model does not provide a good guide to the integer solution.This paper describes a model that has been developed by Scicon and BP Petroleum Development (UK) Ltd., and used to study alternative developments of an off-shore gas field. The formulae defining gas production rates, and the capacities of compressors and pipelines are nonlinear, and their transformation to a form suitable for a general mathematical programming code is discussed in detail.Computational experience is summarized.