New techniques for reservoir development are essential for dealing with the complexities of geological models. In this sense, numerical simulation is the tool used to define the quality of a production strategy. However, the process to define variables such as well numbers, completion layer, open timeline and operational conditions demand several simulations due to the high time consumption and computational effort. Sub-optimal results can be obtained from manual processes. Automatic processes can mitigate this problem but the computational effort is increased as a result of the number of simulations generated in the process. In order to minimize this problem, this paper proposes an assisted procedure for its automatic part using proxy models to accelerate the process. Furthermore, due to the reduced time to evaluate options, it allows a better evaluation of the solution space using better optimization techniques. Proxies have been used in important applications such as risk analysis and history matching but the use for definition of production strategy is not common. The proposed methodology involves the following components: statistical methods, experimental planning to generate the response surface methodology for the generation of proxies and consistency checking. The results show that it is possible to apply proxy models for this type of problem and they can identify the best production strategies, reducing the computational effort during the process. The suggested procedure is to use proxies in the automatic part of the assisted procedure used in the optimization process. The main contribution of this work was the demonstration that proxy models can be used for the definition of production strategies, bringing an additional option to the decision analysis process linked with petroleum field development.
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