PhD position in Numerical Methods for Reservoir Simulation Norway 2015

Scholarship Description:

PhD position in Numerical Methods for Reservoir Simulation Norway 2015 is open for . The scholarship allows level program(s) in the field of taught at . The deadline of the scholarship is .

A PhD position within the fields of numerical methods and petroleum reservoir simulation is available from July 1, 2015, at the Department of Mathematical Sciences, NTNU. The appointment has a duration of 3 years. The position is funded by the Research Council of Norway.

Workplace

The PhD candidate will work on the project “Full-field simulation of water-based EOR”, funded by the PETROMAKS 2 program. The project is a collaboration between the Department of Applied Mathematics at SINTEF ICT in Oslo and the Department of Mathematical Sciences at NTNU. The primary workplace will be in Trondheim, but the candidate should be prepared to spend shorter or longer periods working at SINTEF's offices in Oslo. The candidate is also required to spend a six months period at Stanford University during 2017.

Job description

Falling oil production at the Norwegian Continental Shelf is a major challenge for the Norwegian industry and national income. In particular, there is a limited time window to increase the tail production from large and mature fields, but there is also an urgent need to make development plans that aim at higher recovery for new fields. The aim of the project is to contribute to full-field implementation of water-based methods for enhanced oil recovery (EOR), which may potentially increase recovery factors by several percent.

In water-based EOR, various chemical or biological substances are added to the injected water to enable it to sweep a larger part of the mobile oil in the reservoir and/or to contribute to mobilize immobile oil droplets by modifying the physical properties of the oil-water interface. In field-scale simulations, EOR effects are often unresolved and masked by numerical diffusion. The aim of the PhD research is to develop new simulation methods that overcome this problem by combining higher-order implicit schemes, for accuracy and robustness, with optimal nonlinear solvers that utilize operator splitting and ordering of unknowns for efficiency. The PhD candidate will contribute to formulate discretization methods and solution algorithms and implement these in open-source software environments (MRST and OPM) that can be used to demonstrate and validate the new simulation technology on realistic field-scale scenarios.

Qualifications

The successful applicant is a highly competent, motivated, and ambitious student. The student should hold very good grades and a Master of Science in applied mathematics or an equivalent education with a strong focus on numerical methods and simulation technology.

The regulations for PhD programmes at NTNU state that a Master degree or equivalent with at least five years of studies and an average grade of A or B within a scale of A-E for passing grades (A best) for the two last years of the MSc is required and C or higher of the BSc. Candidates from universities outside Norway are kindly requested to send a Diploma Supplement or a similar document, which describes in detail the study and grade system and the rights for further studies associated with the obtained degree.

The position requires spoken and written fluency in the English language. Applicants from non-English-speaking countries outside Europe must document English skills by an approved test.

Terms of employment

The appointment of the PhD fellows will be made according to Norwegian guidelines for universities and university colleges and to the general regulations regarding university employees. Applicants must agree to participate in organized doctoral study programs within the period of the appointment and have to be qualified for the PhD-study (seehttp://www.ntnu.edu/ime/research/phd ).

NTNU has a personal policy objective that the staff must reflect the composition of the population to the greatest possible extent. Applications from female candidates are particularly encouraged.

The appointment will be made according to the general regulations regarding university employees. The applicants must agree to the conditions laid down for public employees. Candidates must sign a contract regulating the starting date and duration of employment as well as the mandatory work.

PhD research positions are remunerated in salary code 1017, normally at start wage level 50 on the Norwegian Government pay scale, gross NOK 429 400 per year before tax. There is a 2% deduction for superannuation contribution.

Further information can be obtained from Xavier Raynaud (e-mail: Xavier.Raynaud@sintef.no) or Knut-Andreas Lie (e-mail: Knut-Andreas.Lie@sintef.no)

For information about NTNU and Trondheim, see www.ntnu.no and www.trondheim.no/engelsk

The application

Application with CV, certificates from both Bachelor and Master, possible publications and other scientific works, copies of transcripts, and reference letters should be submitted. Applicants who do not master a Scandinavian language must provide evidence of good English language skills, written and spoken. The following tests can be used as such documentation: TOEFL, IELTS or Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) or Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE). Minimum scores are:

• TOEFL: 600 (paper-based test), 92 (Internet-based test)


• IELTS: 6.5, with no section lower than 5.5 (only Academic IELTS test accepted)


• CAE/CPE: grade B or A.

Under Section 25 of the Freedom of Information Act, information about the applicant may be made public even if the applicant has requested not to have his or her name entered on the list of applicants.

Applications must be submitted electronically through the link at this page (www.jobbnorge.no). We prefer to have all attachments in one file.

Applications submitted elsewhere will not be considered.

The reference number of the position is: IME 028-2015.

Further Information

Application Deadline : 15 May 2015

Degree Level:

PhD position in Numerical Methods for Reservoir Simulation Norway 2015 is available to undertake level programs at .

Available Subjects:

Following subject are available to study under this scholarship program.