warpinski

While on my extensive travels, I get quite a bit of time to read. Over the last two months, I read two interesting books on very different subjects, but with the same underlying theme. The first, Lee Smolin’s book on The Trouble With Physics, deals with funding, education, and publication difficulties in the physics community (particularly in North America). His contention is that string theorists have monopolized government funding, tenure positions, and journal publications even though string theory has not been able to prove or predict anything after three decades of research. The second book, Bones: Discovering the First Americans by Elaine Dewar, deals with the Clovis-first orthodoxy in archeology/anthropology by presenting a thesis that the American archeology community does not readily sanction any research or publications that suggest a hominid arrival into the Americas much earlier than the end of the last ice age, even though there are several sites in South America and elsewhere that appear to be too early to support the Clovis-first theory.

I am not enough of an expert on either of these topics to have an opinion on their worthiness, but it does bring up an important set of questions for all of us who work in research and deal with issues of funding, tenure, education, publication, and policy. How do we deal with ideas that may run counter to the current “dogma”? If I get a paper to review that presents a theory counter to what the industry has done for the last 10 years, how should I approach it? I suspect that many, if not most, of us would consider rejecting it immediately for being incorrect or inappropriate. However, what if the paper was right, or at least partially right and heading in a new and potentially-advantageous direction?

I would not want to be remembered as the guy who turned down tenure for Wegener over his continental drift (plate tectonics) theory that everyone condemned at the time. He turned out to be right (except in the mechanism), and he is only one of many similar examples of people who were ridiculed, denied tenure, or rejected for publication in attempts to offer new theories that we now accept as truth.

People have obviously struggled with this problem for longer than we have been around, so there are no easy solutions. I think the first thing we have to do is to respect the current dogma. Since it has been around for a while and has obviously passed some tests for reasonableness, I would guess that most of the time it is going to be correct. Then, we need to look at the competing theory (or lab/field data) and determine if the ideas are logical and self consistent. If it is rational, then we need to decide if any supporting data are appropriate and have not been cherry picked (only use data that support the theory). If these conditions are met, then we probably should publish it since our job is the dissemination of valid ideas and data and not the support of any orthodoxy. However, if there are no supporting data, then the task is difficult. After all, we are dealing with processes that often occur in reservoirs or tubulars several kilometers underground and cannot easily be observed or measured; therefore supporting information of any kind is often very indirect. I hope I do not need to deal with many of these types of papers, but we will do our best to get it right. We don’t want to dampen the flow of valid new ideas.

The first paper in this issue is Implementation of a Total-System Production Optimization Model in a Complex Gas-Lifted Offshore Operation. It discusses the formulation of a network model of wells, pipelines, and compressors to optimize gas-lift operations in offshore Dubai oil fields using a sequential linear programming solver.

Effective Gas-Shut Off Treatments in a Fractured Carbonate Field in Oman is a field study of the use of particle gel and foam cement for gas shutoff in both horizontal and vertical wells undergoing a Gas-Oil-Gravity-Drainage recovery process.

Use of Wavelet Transform in Pressure-Data Treatment considers the application of wavelet transforms on downhole pressure data from permanent gauges to denoise and/or find a fundamental scale that is best suited for further interpretation and analysis.

Acidizing is the topic of the next two papers. In Stimulation of High-Temperature Sandstone Formations From West Africa With Chelating Agent-Based Fluids, the results of both slurry-reactor and linear-coreflood laboratory tests on sandstones are used to assess the effectiveness of chelant fluids for stimulation of high temperature reservoirs in West Africa. Both laboratory and simulation studies were performed in Effect of Reservoir Mineralogy and Texture on Acid Response in Heterogeneous Sandstones to study acid behavior in turbidite reservoirs.

The next three papers deal with various aspects of oilfield chemistry. An Investigation of Two Phase Oil/Water Paraffin Deposition is a laboratory study of the effects of water cut on paraffin deposition for both freshwater and brine. In Analysis of the Mechanism of Transport and Retention on Nonaqueous–Scale-Inhibitor Treatments in Cores Using Novel Tracer Techniques, the title says it all; three coreflood tests were described to show how the tracer testing can provide additional quantitative information. String Corrosion and String Protection During Constructing and Operating Gas Storage Facility in Bedded Salt Deposit gives an assessment of corrosion factors in these salt-cavern gas storage wells and concludes that the velocity of the injection water, the amount of dissolved water, and the partial pressure of CO2 are the main corrosive factors.

Rigless Tubing Repair Using Permanent and Retrievable Straddles on the North Slope, Alaska is a study of 263 various applications of electric-line-run packer systems for tubing patching, including diagnostics and failure analyses.

Artificial lift is covered in the following two papers. Auto, Natural, or In-Situ Gas-Lift Systems Explained is an overview of these systems with specific emphasis on the downhole valving requirements and modeling approaches. Investigation of Gas Carryover With a Downward Liquid Flow is a flow loop laboratory study of multiphase flow issues surrounding downhole pumps in gas wells.

Mechanistic/Probabilistic Modeling of Slug Initiation in a Lower Elbow of a Hilly-Terrain Pipeline contains both theoretical modeling and some experimental data in a study of pipeline flow and concludes that critical liquid level is an appropriate initiation criterion for slug flow.

Finally, Experience in the AA-LDHI Usage for a Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Dry-Tree Oil Well: Pushing the Technology Limit is a study of hydrate issues during cold restarts and the development of a strategy to displace the wellbore fluid below the mudline during extended shutdowns and then outrun the water upon restart.

I would like to thank the authors for their contributions to this issue.