Miskimins

As I write this editorial, the calendar is turning over to 2010 and I have just finished my first year as executive editor of SPE Production & Operations. It has been a year full of learning and many, many questions sent frequently to the SPE editorial staff. I want to take this opportunity to thank them and say what a pleasure it is to work with such a professional and fun group of people. Specifically, thank you to Stacie Hughes for handling my weekly (sometimes daily) questions about the peer review system, to Glenda Smith for keeping all of us executive editors informed and in line, to Chris Carpenter for answering my various questions about editing and making me laugh, and, finally, to Jeff Andrews for allowing my deadlines to be very flexible and not holding my choice of professional hockey teams against me.

In addition to the SPE staff, I would not be able to carry out my editorial duties without the aid of an excellent team of associate editors (AEs) including John Bagzis, Harold Brannon, Craig Cipolla, Ian Collins, Joyce Holtzclaw, Shauna Noonan, Liang-Biao Ouyang, and Joseph Smith. Harold has stepped down from his AE role after numerous years in that capacity, and I would like to thank him for his service. I would also like to welcome Craig Cipolla into the AE ranks.

It takes a tremendous amount of volunteer work to review and edit the numerous papers that are submitted each year to SPEPO, and, in addition to the AE’s listed above, SPE Prod & Oper has more than 150 technical editors (TEs) that contribute to the journal's publication. Their names are published in this edition under the editorial staff listing, and I encourage you to peruse the list and thank those people that you know personally for volunteering their time and expertise. SPE Prod & Oper would not be possible without their help. I would also like to point out seven specific TEs who were chosen as 2009 Outstanding Technical Editors including Olivia O. Bommarito, Frank F. Chang, Gerald R. Coulter, E. Dwyann Dalrymple, Michael J. Mayerhofer, Kenneth J. Saveth, and Michael L. Wiggins.

As you can see, it takes a tremendous number of people to bring this journal to the SPE membership. It may seem that we have enough people to handle the job, but we are always looking for additional volunteers. So, if you have an interest in becoming a TE, just contact me or one of the AEs listed above. And remember that this is your journal. If you ever have suggestions for improvements, please don’t hesitate to forward them to me or one of the SPE staff.

In this issue, we have 14 papers for your consideration. These papers cover a wide range of production and operational topics, and I have attempted to group them into five categories for the following discussion.

From the area of gas lift, we have included three papers. The paper entitled New Single-Well Standalone Gas Lift Process Facilitates Barnett Shale Fracture-Treatment Flowback discusses a new closed-loop gas lift system and associated case study being used in Texas. Real-Time Diagnostics of Gas Lift Systems Using Intelligent Agents: A Case Study discusses the benefits of using monitoring agents to diagnose and analyze the conditions of continuous gas lift wells. The paper Retrofit Gas Lift System for Tension-Leg-Platform Wells shows use of gas lift in a tension-leg platform where it was used to return a loaded well back to production.

Heavy-oil systems are the subject of the next three papers. The development, laboratory testing, and associated case studies of a new antifoamer are the focus of Successful Field Application of Novel, Nonsilicone Antifoam Chemistries for High-Foaming Heavy-Oil Storage Tanks in Northern Alberta. A Case History of Heavy-Oil Separation in Northern Alberta: A Singlular Challenge of Demulsifier Optimization and Application discusses the challenges with combining two demulsifiers into one project in a wide-ranging temperature environment. Simultaneous reservoir and wellbore modeling are used to optimize tubing landing positions in Optimization of SAGD Wellbore Completions: Short-Production-Tubing-String Sensitivities.

Flow modeling is the subject of the next two papers. An approach for analyzing the liquid loadup and subsequent formation damage in a multilateral condensate gas well is discussed in A Combined Well-Completion And Flow-Dynamic Modeling for a Dual-Lateral-Well Loadup Investigation. While Flow-Rate Estimation From Wellhead-Pressure and -Temperature Data discusses two techniques for estimating flow rates, one of which uses the entire wellbore while the second uses transient-temperature formulations from a single point.

Four papers are included from the area of stimulation. Frac-Fluid Recycling and Water Conservation: A Case History discusses a successful fracturing-fluid-recycling program and the associated economic benefits applied in Canada. The behavior of slickwater systems in both straight and coiled large-diameter-tubing systems and associated correlations are the subjects of Investigation of Flow Behavior of Slickwater in Large Straight and Coiled Tubing. Small- and large-scale laboratory testing of viscoelastic-foamed fluid systems is discussed in Successful Optimization of Viscoelastic Foamed Fracturing Fluids With Ultralightweight Proppants for Ultralow-Permeability Reservoirs. The paper What Is Stimulated Reservoir Volume? discusses how stimulated reservoir volume can be estimated from microseismic events and the importance of this volume and fracture spacing on ultimate recovery.

The final two papers in this edition focus on near-wellbore formation damage issues. Laboratory testing on three drilling fluid systems and associated filter-cake damage are the subjects of Impact of Water-Based Drilling-In Fluids on Solids Invasion and Damage Characteristics. The effects of long-term viscosified squeeze treatments in a series of coreflood tests and the potential formation damage mechanisms are the focus of Impact of Successive Squeezes on Treatment Lifetime and Well Productivity: Comparative Assessment of Viscosified and Nonviscosified Treatments.

I hope you enjoy the papers brought to you in this issue of SPE Prod & Oper and that they can be applied in your daily activities.