Optimal Design of Natural Gas Gathering
Systems with Production Capacity Expansion
Yuan Xu 1 , Wei Zhao 2 , Bowen Ren 2 , Bohong Wang 2 , Yi Wang 2(B) , and Yongtu Liang 2
1 PetroChina Planning & Engineering Institute, NO. 3 Zhixin West Road, Haidian District,
Beijing 100089, China
2 National Engineering Laboratory for Pipeline Safety/MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum
Engineering/Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China
University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
wangyi1031@cup.edu.cn
Abstract. In the mid to late stages of gas field development, new blocks would
be added to the existing gas gathering system (GGS) for stable production. Consequently, new compressor stations (CSs) and pipelines should be constructed to
adjust the original gas pipeline networks (GPNs) for minimizing energy consumption. In this paper, an optimal design framework for GPNs is developed considering
the future production capacity expansion and possible extensions of the pipeline
network structures. The objective function of the present study includes investment and operating costs. A two-stage hybrid algorithm which is composed of
a modified genetic algorithm (MGA) and a modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. The MGA is first used
for layout optimization of new pipelines and then MPSO is employed to determine the design variables, including the diameter of each pipeline, the locations
of new CSs, and the optimal operation conditions of compressor facilities. This
method can also give the reconstruction scheme of the built CSs. Finally, a real
pipeline network of a gas field in China is studied, size and operation conditions
are optimized. The results illustrate that the model can tackle complex gas network
reconstruction problems, and there is a 3.68% decrease in the total costs compared
to the design scheme without modification of the original CSs.
Keywords: Layout design · Gas field development · Pipeline networks ·
Heuristic algorithm
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
In a gas gathering system, gas flows from gas production wells through pipelines, purification equipment, pressure regulators, valves, and compressor stations (CSs) and finally
reaches the purification plant. The dominant part of the total investment cost as well as
almost all of the overall operating and maintenance costs pertain to the pipelines and CSs
[1]. As the design optimization of gas pipeline networks (GPNs) involves a lot of design
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. N. Atluri and I. Vušanovi´ c (Eds.): ICCES 2020, MMS 97, pp. 258–275, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64690-5_26
Systems with Production Capacity Expansion
Yuan Xu 1 , Wei Zhao 2 , Bowen Ren 2 , Bohong Wang 2 , Yi Wang 2(B) , and Yongtu Liang 2
1 PetroChina Planning & Engineering Institute, NO. 3 Zhixin West Road, Haidian District,
Beijing 100089, China
2 National Engineering Laboratory for Pipeline Safety/MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum
Engineering/Beijing Key Laboratory of Urban Oil and Gas Distribution Technology, China
University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China
wangyi1031@cup.edu.cn
Abstract. In the mid to late stages of gas field development, new blocks would
be added to the existing gas gathering system (GGS) for stable production. Consequently, new compressor stations (CSs) and pipelines should be constructed to
adjust the original gas pipeline networks (GPNs) for minimizing energy consumption. In this paper, an optimal design framework for GPNs is developed considering
the future production capacity expansion and possible extensions of the pipeline
network structures. The objective function of the present study includes investment and operating costs. A two-stage hybrid algorithm which is composed of
a modified genetic algorithm (MGA) and a modified particle swarm optimization (MPSO) algorithm is proposed to solve this problem. The MGA is first used
for layout optimization of new pipelines and then MPSO is employed to determine the design variables, including the diameter of each pipeline, the locations
of new CSs, and the optimal operation conditions of compressor facilities. This
method can also give the reconstruction scheme of the built CSs. Finally, a real
pipeline network of a gas field in China is studied, size and operation conditions
are optimized. The results illustrate that the model can tackle complex gas network
reconstruction problems, and there is a 3.68% decrease in the total costs compared
to the design scheme without modification of the original CSs.
Keywords: Layout design · Gas field development · Pipeline networks ·
Heuristic algorithm
1 Introduction
1.1 Background
In a gas gathering system, gas flows from gas production wells through pipelines, purification equipment, pressure regulators, valves, and compressor stations (CSs) and finally
reaches the purification plant. The dominant part of the total investment cost as well as
almost all of the overall operating and maintenance costs pertain to the pipelines and CSs
[1]. As the design optimization of gas pipeline networks (GPNs) involves a lot of design
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
S. N. Atluri and I. Vušanovi´ c (Eds.): ICCES 2020, MMS 97, pp. 258–275, 2021.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64690-5_26