Modeling Take‐or‐Pay Contract Decisions
针对天然气等自然资源长期采购合同中的照付不议条款，构建混合整数规划模型，帮助买方在考虑补提期、买断或降级选项下，最小化采购、库存、罚金及合同变更成本。
ABSTRACT Long‐term purchase contracts for natural resources, such as natural gas, often contain take‐or‐pay provisions that penalize the buyer for not purchasing (taking) a minimum quantity of output over some period of time. In some contracts for a limited time interval, known as the make‐up period, the penalty payments can be credited against future “takes” in excess of the take‐or‐pay level. Additionally, options to “buy down” or “buy out” existing contracts, or to initiate new contracts, may exist. The purchaser, faced with projected requirements over some planning horizon, must determine purchase levels from a selected set of take‐or‐pay contracts so as to minimize purchase, inventory holding, penalty costs, contract initiation, and buy‐out or buy‐down costs. This paper presents a mixed‐integer programming model of take‐or‐pay decisions with and without make‐up provisions.