Multi-objective optimization of natural gas supply chain in shortage period

ABSTRACT

Natural gas consumption usually has the characteristics of seasonal fluctuations. Some countries have experienced gas shortages in recent years due to the imbalance between supply and demand, especially in winter or peak gas consumption periods. Under the conditions of a gas shortage, it is necessary to ensure the benefits of marketers and improve their satisfaction from users’ perspectives, so it is difficult to find the optimal purchase and sales strategy. Considering that different pipeline transportation pricing mechanisms and different gas distribution schemes have a great impact on the benefits of marketers, this paper proposes a multi-objective optimization model that maximizes the marketer’s benefits and minimizes the hypoxia index for different pipeline transportation mechanisms because of the supply-side gas shortage in the upstream gas source. The object-weighted method is used to process the multi-objective problem. The CPLEX solver is adopted to solve the optimization problem. Finally, the model is applied to a long-distance natural gas supply chain system to prove its applicability. After multi-objective optimization, under the two pipeline transport mechanisms, profits increased by 17.5% and 6.9%, respectively, and the hypoxia index decreased by 1.11 and 1.93, respectively, which greatly improved economic benefits and user satisfaction. Overall, the optimized scheme can maintain the stable operation of the natural gas supply chain and make up for the losses caused by the gas shortage.

KEYWORDS:

• Multi-objective optimization
• natural gas supply chain
• shortage period
• objective weighting method
• natural gas sale

Acknowledgments

This work was part of the program “Study on the optimization method and architecture of oil and gas pipeline network design in discrete space and network space,” funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant number 51704253. The authors are grateful to all study participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Nomenclature

Table

Statement of data availability

All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the submitted article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [51704253].

Notes on contributors

Jun Zhou

Jun Zhou received the B.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in oil-gas storage and transportation engineering from China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China, in 2015. From 2015 to 2019, he was a Lecturer in Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China. Since 2020, he has been an Associate Professor. He is mainly engaged in the optimization design of oil&gas pipeline network and underground gas storage.

Daixin Zhang

Daixin Zhang received the B.S. degree in oil-gas storage and transportation engineering from Jilin Institute of Chemical Technology, Jilin, China, in 2020. She is currently pursuing the master's degree in oil-gas storage and transportation engineering at Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China. Her research interest includes optimization of natural gas pipeline network operation and optimization of natural gas supply chain.

Guangchuan Liang

Guangchuan Liang received the B.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in oil-gas storage and transportation engineering from Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China, in 2003. Since 1996, he works at the School of Petroleum Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University. He has been an Associate Professor in 2013. His research interest mainly includes the optimization design of oil&gas gathering and distribution system and multiphase flow research.

Guancheng Wu

Guancheng Wu received the B.S degree in oil and gas storage and transportation from China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China, in 2010. He is currently a engineer with Natural Gas Marketing Company. His research interest mainly includes construction and operation management of underground gas storage.

Nengjia He

Nengjia He received the B.S. degree in oil-gas storage and transportation engineering from Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China, in 2017. He is currently a teacher with graduate school of Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China. His research interest includes optimization of oil and gas gathering, transportation and processing and optimization of natural gas pipeline network operation.