Ambastha

It is with a great sense of honor, privilege, humility, and responsibility that I begin my 3-year journey as your Executive Editor for the Reservoir Engineering portion of SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering. As you know, I am replacing Behrooz Fattahi, who improved our peer-review system tremendously, recruited numerous extremely-talented reviewers, and set a new standard in timeliness and quality of reviews for each paper. We owe Behrooz a heartfelt "thank you" for his excellent work and wish him all the success as he prepares to become the 2010 SPE President!

Behrooz established two teams to review the quality of SPE Res Eval & Eng. The two teams have now merged into one team after their initial work. The merged team is now in the process of formulating a unified course of action to pursue in the coming months.

In my effort to synthesize the information contained in the papers appearing in this issue, I was quickly struck by the international flavor of the papers. These papers were presented originally in conferences held in the US, UAE, UK, Indonesia, and Mexico. The authors of these papers are based in countries such as Brazil, China, Greece, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, and the US. Similarly, these papers describe technology development and application based on the work carried out for oil and gas fields in countries as far flung as the US, Brazil, China, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. We all know about the international character of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and it shows in this issue. This brings me to my own personal reflection. During my teaching years at the University of Alberta, I often told sophomores, who were still deciding on their eventual study program, that one attraction of a petroleum engineering career lies in the adventure and possible opportunities to work in international locations, if one so chooses. It has been true in my own career to date. While I received my formal education in India and the US, I have worked in India, Canada, the US, and Kuwait. Presently, I am based in Indonesia. I find this international aspect of a petroleum engineering career fascinating and hope that all of you practicing petroleum professionals and academics also consider the opportunity to work on numerous fields in various countries equally rewarding and challenging.

Further synthesis of the papers in this issue of SPE Res Eval & Eng shows that there are a number of papers devoted to tackling various aspects of carbonate reservoirs along with papers in areas of rock and fluid properties, enhanced oil recovery (EOR), general reservoir engineering, artificial intelligence, formation evaluation, microseismic mapping, and carbon sequestration. The following is a brief outline of the papers in this issue: "Application of Artificial Neural Networks to Downhole Fluid Analysis" discusses application of artificial-neural-network (ANN)-based calculation algorithm for downhole fluid analysis (DFA) to develop predictions of gas/oil ratio. This paper compares ANN results with those from other algorithms used by DFA tools. "Long-Term Field Development Opportunity Assessment Using Horizontal Wells in a Thin, Carbonate Reservoir of the Greater Burgan Field, Kuwait" presents a comprehensive discussion of methodology used to develop a full-field reservoir simulation model for the Mauddud reservoir in Kuwait. This model has been used to history-match available data from past horizontal wells and to assess the future potential for this reservoir. "Optimized EOR Design for the Eileen West End Area, Greater Prudhoe Bay" discusses pattern water-alternating-miscible-gas (WAG) flood implemented in Eileen West End (EWE) of the Prudhoe Bay field. This paper describes the technical process used to select the major design parameters of the pattern WAG flood to optimize EWE recovery, including fine-gridded compositional simulation and ongoing surveillance program. "Modeling Conformance as Dispersion" describes appropriate dispersivity value to be used in numerical simulation models with discussions around physical dispersivity associated with dispersion (in-situ mixing) and apparent dispersivity associated with conformance. For the assumptions used in this paper, conformance reflects the combined effects of heterogeneity, well areal pattern and completion intervals, and drift (regional flow gradient). "Imaging Seismic Deformation Induced by Hydraulic Fracture Complexity" shows the usefulness of seismic moment density within the context of microseismic mapping of hydraulic fracture networks in the Barnett Shale. "Identifying the Potential Upside of Hydrocarbon Saturation From Electric Logs" discusses the use of validated electrical type curves to impart some additional quality assurance to the petrophysical evaluation of water saturation by revisiting seven public-domain case histories. "Analysis and Comparison of Decline Models: A Field Case Study for Intercampo Field, Venezuela" applies various decline analysis models, including two new models, to 13 horizontal and 13 vertical wells in Intercampo heavy oilfield in Venezuela. "EOR Pilot Tests With Modified Enzyme: Dagang Field, China" describes recovery mechanisms associated with a modified enzyme EOR on the basis of laboratory experiments as well as a field pilot test in China. "An Investigation of PVT Effects on Geochemical Fingerprinting of Condensates From Gas Reservoirs" presents a number of best practices for the collection and analysis of gas-condensate samples for geochemical fingerprinting studies to decipher reservoir compartmentalization. "Gravity Drainage and Oil Reinfiltration Modeling in Naturally Fractured Reservoir Simulation" describes single-porosity, fine-grid simulation to study gravity drainage and oil reinfiltration in the gas-cap zone of naturally-fractured reservoirs, development of matrix-fracture transfer pseudofunction based on single-porosity simulations, and testing of these pseudofunctions in dual-porosity, coarse-grid simulation models. "Artificial-Intelligence Technology Predicts Relative Permeability of Giant Carbonate Reservoirs" presents an ANN model to predict water/oil relative permeability. The ANN models of relative permeability were developed using experimental data from waterflood core tests on samples collected from carbonate reservoirs of giant Saudi Arabian oil fields. "Predicting Accelerating Subsidence Above the Highly Compacting Luconia Carbonate Reservoirs, Offshore Sarawak Malaysia" describes a geomechanical study involving core work to determine if the formation compressibility for the Luconia carbonate reservoir in Malaysia is sensitive to brine flow from the rising aquifer, and a 3D geomechanical finite-element model developed to predict future subsidence and lateral movements for the F23 offshore platform. "Real-Time Performance Analysis of Water-Injection Wells" presents a complete reformulation of the Hall method involving both pre- and post-breakthrough situations. Several simulated and field examples demonstrate the value of reformulated Hall analysis. "Carbon Dioxide Transport and Sorption Behavior in Confined Coal Cores for Carbon Sequestration" describes laboratory measurements of sorption isotherms and transport properties of CO₂ in a coal core under confining pressure which would be useful for designing enhanced coalbed methane/CO₂ sequestration field projects. "Improving LWD Image and Formation Evaluation by Utilizing Dynamically Corrected Drilling-Derived LWD Depth and Continuous Inclination and Azimuth Measurements" illustrates the improvements in logging while drilling (LWD) images and subsequent formation evaluation by utilizing a new methodology to correct depth and survey measurements. "Case Studies Illustrating the Use of Reservoir Simulation Results in the Reserves Estimation Process" provides three case studies that illustrate how results from various models have been used to assist in quantifying reserves. Two of the examples are based on history-matched models, while the third focuses on a preproduction reservoir where no adequate history is available and probabilistic methods were incorporated to help understand the uncertainty in the forecasts. "Extended Analysis for Gas Condensate Systems" shows that two straight lines are needed for a more accurate description of mole percent; one from C₈ to C₁₂ and the other from C₁₃ and beyond. An average absolute deviation of less than 6.0% between the predicted and experimental mole percent was obtained using parameters from two straight lines. "A Methodology To Reduce Uncertainty Constrained To Observed Data"  presents a practical way to increase the reliability of prediction through reservoir simulation models by testing their proposed methodology on three examples, including a Campos basin, Brazil problem.

As you evaluate your favorite paper(s) to enhance your own knowledge and/or apply in your work activities, please recognize that SPE welcomes further "discussion" of any of the papers published in any SPE journal, including this one. Therefore, please feel free to submit discussion of a paper either online or by mail to SPE.

Sincerely,

Anil Ambastha, Chevron