Journal of Petroleum Technology

Home / Issues / 2013-07

Featured this monthWell Capping Becomes an Industry of Its OwnThe new influx of well capping companies finds ways to shut down wells by employing equipment used for everyday tasks. Their challenge today is to anticipate and develop equipment to prevent the potential blowouts of tomorrow.

Features

/jpt/img/posts/p3926/Meisenhelder_Jeff.jpg

Guest Editorial Horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing have enabled shale development. In the next stage of shale recovery, the focus will be more effective development to achieve greater production with fewer wells and fewer total resources.

Sour Gas Interest Grows in Middle East In the Middle East, developing sour gas fields have become a priority of local governments because of soaring regional gas consumption.

/jpt/img/posts/p3937/AlJarwan_Ali_Rashad.jpg

Q&A – Ali Rashid Al-Jarwan An interview with Ali Rashid Al-Jarwan, chief executive officer of Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company.

Management An analysis of US Gulf of Mexico producing assets reveals that reducing downtime can significantly improve operating efficiency. How does downtime affect profits and what strategies can be implemented to reduce it?

Conference Review Attendance hit a 30-year high at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, which focused on addressing energy challenges and safety concerns.

Conference Preview This year’s SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition to be held in Aberdeen will focus on challenges of the future and solutions for maintaining a strong oil and gas supply chain in the UK.

Young Technology Showcase Exploration wells, unconventional plays, and development wells can benefit from NeoScope, a sourceless formation evaluation-while-drilling solution. Two case studies share how the technology mitigates the risks or logistic complications associated with chemical nuclear sources.

Technology Focus

Reservoir Simulation

Martin Crick, SPE, Chief Petroleum Engineer, Tullow Oil

Looking back through previous editions of this article, I note that, in 2011, I wrote, "there’s a growing tendency in some quarters to use very simple models." That may be true, but there is also a growing tendency among vendors to offer models with more and more features.

Massively Parallel Simulation of Oceanic-Gas-Hydrate Production Large volumes of gas can be produced at high rates with conventional horizontal- or vertical-well configurations for long periods of time from some methane-hydrate accumulations by means of depressurization-induced dissociation. However, most assessments of hydrate production use simplified or reduced-scale 3D or 2D production simulations. This study used a message-passing-interface parallel code to make the [...]

Quality-Assured Initialization Optimizes the Value of Reservoir Simulation Initializing a reservoir simulator requires populating a 3D dynamic-grid-cell model with subsurface data and fit-for-purpose interrelational algorithms. In practice, these prerequisites rarely are satisfied fully. Implementation of four key points has enhanced the authentication of reservoir simulators through more-readily attainable history matches with less tuning required. This outcome is attributed to a more-systematic initialization process [...]

Scaling Up a 900-Million-Cell Static Model to a Dynamic Model The Greater Burgan field began producing in 1946. It remains under primary depletion with natural waterdrive. Subsurface modeling is an integral part of reservoir management. In 2001, the first comprehensive full-field geological model was built with 65 million cells, encompassing all of the major reservoirs. A reservoir-simulation study (1.6-million-cell dynamic model) was conducted in 2003 by [...]

Artificial Lift

Shauna Noonan, SPE, Staff Production Engineer, ConocoPhillips

Artificial-lift reliability is strongly influenced by how well the equipment is selected, designed, and operated for its particular application. The required artificial-lift knowledge is more than simply entering data into a software program or taking one class on the subject.

High-Reliability Gas Lift Flow-Control-Device Technology and Erosion/Endurance Tests High-reliability gas lift flow-control devices (GLFCDs) enable gas lift for wells with the potential for H2S in the produced gas and where casing is not qualified for H2S service. Valve specifications are such that no leakage is allowed at both high (8,000-psi) and low (1-psi) differential pressures across the valve. A series of tests was [...]

Foamer Technology Optimizes Artificial Lift in the Alliance Shale-Gas Field Recently, Quicksilver Resources and Eni E&P, through its subsidiary Eni US Operating, began a common effort to optimize production and lift costs in the Alliance shale-gas field in the prolific Barnett shale play in Texas. Such efforts included a deeper analysis of artificial-lift performance and exploitation of other deliquefication technologies. Previously, foaming agents had been [...]

Measured Plunger-Fall Velocity Used To Calibrate New Fall-Velocity Model Fall velocities for various plungers have been measured under many different field and simulator conditions. A new theoretical plunger-fall-velocity model uses a specific pressure and temperature for calibration. The model can then be used to calculate fall velocity at other conditions for the same plunger or can be used to show how changing a feature [...]

Unconventional Resources

Simon Chipperfield, SPE, Manager, Special Projects, Santos

Unconventional gas is poised to enter its Golden Age and to effect positive global change if it can meet three challenges. Consider the 7 billion people on Earth who use energy each day. Consider the World Health Organization statistic that 3% of all world health issues are related to indoor burning of fossil fuels.

Drilling and Completion Technique Selection for Coalbed Methane Wells Many different completion techniques, such as vertical-well multiseam completions and multiple lateral wellbores drilled into a single coal seam, have been used to develop coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs. Stimulation techniques include openhole underream, cavity creation, and hydraulic fracturing. This paper reviews the various techniques that have been used, providing rationales for use of each and [...]

Focus on Unconventional Reservoirs Requires Advancements in Technology In the current high-oil-/low-gas-price North American environment, and considering the new options available for well-completions technology in unconventional reservoirs, recent industry activities have turned their focus to the areas of liquid-rich shale (LRS) and light tight oil (LTO) along with unconventional tight and shale gas. Integrated workflows are important to the successful execution of this [...]

Holistic Appraisal Strategy Aims To Get the Most Out of Unconventional Reservoirs This paper presents a pragmatic approach to frame, evaluate, and compare appraisal strategies in resource plays. The unique approach starts with framing the overall field-appraisal plan, holistically, and then progresses to evaluating the most commonly encountered individual appraisal decisions, enabling teams to answer the following questions: What are the key uncertainties, and which appraisal options [...]

CO2 Applications

John D. Rogers, SPE, Vice President, Operations, Fusion Reservoir Engineering Services

Research-and-development modeling has shown that CO2 can diffuse a small distance into the thick shale caprocks above brine aquifers used for sequestration and cause migration of siderite (iron carbonate), magnesite (magnesium carbonate), calcite, and other precipitates back into the target zone, which is what is wanted for mineral sequestration of CO2.

Simulating the Chemical Interaction of Injected CO2 and Carbonic Acid The M4-field reservoir is approximately 2000 m below sea level in a water depth of approximately 120 m. A carbon dioxide (CO2) geological-storage study was carried out to determine the feasibility of injecting and storing CO2 in the depleted M4 carbonate gas reservoir. The study used 3D coupled-geomechanical modeling. The water level in the reservoir [...]

Controlled-Freeze Technology for Processing Sour-Gas Resources A single-step cryogenic-distillation process that removes carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and other impurities from natural gas has been developed by ExxonMobil. Rather than avoiding the freezing of CO2 at cryogenic temperatures, solidification is allowed to take place in a very controlled fashion. The technology has potential to separate CO2 and other impurities from [...]

Lacq Carbon-Capture and -Sequestration Pilot Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) holds promise for use on an industrial scale. Total has been involved in CO2 injection and geological storage for more than 15 years, in Canada (Weyburn oil field) for enhanced oil recovery and in Norway (Sleipner and Snohvit fields) for aquifer storage. In 2006, the company decided to set up [...]

CO2-Sequestration Projects Adding Value Carbon capture, use, and storage (CCUS) in geological media can be an important means for reducing anthropogenic greenhouse-gas emissions. Several geological settings are appropriate for geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), including depleted oil and gas reservoirs, deep brine-saturated formations, CO2-flood enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) operations, and enhanced coalbed-methane recovery. The US Department of Energy is pursuing [...]