bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bendamustine: A New Treatment Option for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Authors: Glode Ashley E. , Jarkowski Anthony
Published: October 2009

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a slow‐growing hematologic malignancy and the most common type of leukemia in the western world. The lifetime risk for developing CLL is 1 in 216 men and women. Unfortunately, CLL is considered incurable with the chemotherapeutic agents available today. Bendamustine is a new agent that was recently added to the available regimens for the treatment of CLL. It was also recently approved for the treatment of non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma. Its mechanism of action is unknown, but it contains an alkylating group similar to that of other bifunctional alkylating agents such as chlorambucil, and it also contains a benzimidazole central ring thought to exhibit antipurine‐like properties. The United States Food and Drug Administration approved bendamustine based on results from an international phase III study of CLL in which bendamustine was compared with chlorambucil in treatment‐naïve patients. Ongoing clinical trials are assessing the utility of bendamustine in combination with other agents for the treatment of CLL, as well as for other malignancies.
War and Representation
Authors: Jameson Fredric
Published: October 2009

The problems of the representation of warfare are approached from two directions: on the one hand, the formal oppositions between the act and the scene; on the other, that between the individual or existential and the totality or collective. The texts examined include Grimmelshausen, Döblin's Wallenstein, Tolstoy, and Alexander Kluge.
The Laughing Doves of 1812 and the Satiric Endowment of Antiwar Rhetoric in the United States
Authors: Winter Aaron McLean
Published: October 2009

Antiwar activists in the United States have often made recourse to satire in order to rebut claims that their dissent is sententious and effeminate. Federalist opponents of the War of 1812 used the genre to posit, moreover, that they alone could manage the military and economic crisis that resulted from a disastrous second war against Great Britain. But satire, in an era of incipient nationalism, was problematically associated with British snobbery. I argue that wartime periodicals show Federalist satire pulling in diverging directions. Projects like Alexander Hanson's Federal Republican are regressive, reviving the Augustan archetype of the satirist as intellectual martyr, even as they unwittingly lay the groundwork for a liberal model of civil disobedience. Projects like George and Henry Helmbold's Tickler are progressive, phrasing Federalist principles in the post-Federalist vocabulary of liberal competition through their experiments with populist dialect, which also anticipate the postwar transformation of British American “satire” into all-American “humor.”
Emily Dickinson and the Battle of Ball's Bluff
Authors: Friedlander Benjamin
Published: October 2009

Emily Dickinson's response to the Civil War—once discounted as nonexistent or negligible, now embraced as part of the canon of Civil War writing—gives evidence of a conscious testing of alternatives. Among these alternatives, the most surprising, perhaps, is her potentially public positioning of herself as a war poet in works that celebrate military heroism. One such celebration, “When I was small, a Woman died—,” written in the aftermath of Ball's Bluff—a disastrous Union loss—revises the scenarios presented in two other Ball's Bluff poems and transforms the horrific death of a local soldier into a glorious ascent into the heavens, an uncharacteristically joyous response to an event that others (including Herman Melville) experienced as entirely mournful. Since the two other poems appeared in her local newspapers and since the soldier was Amherst's first casualty, Dickinson's poem is likely a carefully crafted bid for publication. Read in this way, moreover, “When I was small” reminds us that war presents a poet with unique rhetorical problems but also with opportunities, and that these opportunities can be tempting even for a writer as resistant to the literary marketplace as Dickinson.
The Mirror of Memory: Constructions of Hell in the Marukis' Nuclear Murals
Authors: Eubanks Charlotte
Published: October 2009

How does art cultivate moral reflexivity? Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi, eyewitnesses to the atomic aftermath at Hiroshima, were the first artists to publicly display works showing the effects of nuclear irradiation on the human body. While their work has long been considered antiwar, few attempts have been made to theorize how their compositions structure an ethical response to aggression. Three interconnected zones of representation are explored: the artists' murals, Toshi's testimonials regarding the creation of the murals, and the museum in which the murals are displayed. Bringing Japanese Buddhist traditions for the depiction of suffering (etoki ‘picture explanation,‘ hell screen art) into conversation with contemporary theories of performance (Turner's concept of the “subjunctive mood,” Taylor's notion of “the repertoire”), memory (Kansteiner's “collected memory,” Auron's “pain of knowledge”), and museum studies (Crane's “distortion”), I articulate a contemporary Japanese model of nuclear criticism.
The Desert of Experience:Jarheadand the Geography of the Persian Gulf War
Authors: Wright Geoffrey A.
Published: October 2009

The censored media coverage of the Persian Gulf War obscured the region's geography and erased the suffering of combatants and civilians. In contrast, the literature and film on the war emphasize the human rather than the technological dimension of the fighting. The words and images used to represent the foot soldiers' deeply personal experiences are bound to the landscape. This essay sets forth a geographic semiotics of Persian Gulf War combat narratives, which entails the study of an array of geographically oriented codes for making meaning out of wartime experience. The study of geographic signs in these narratives revolves around images and descriptions of the desert, which permeate such literary and filmic accounts of the ground fighting as Anthony Swofford's memoirJarhead(2003), Sam Mendes's film adaptationJarhead(2005), and David Russell'sThree Kings(1999). Practicing a geographic semiotics of Persian Gulf War combat narratives allows us to rethink the war, to reimagine what its stories might signify—morally as well as politically.
The Structuring Enemy and Archival War
Authors: Feldman Allen
Published: October 2009

In the wake of the collapse of the cold war bipolar world order, Jacques Derrida wrote:

Losing the enemy would simply be the loss of the political itself. … The invention of the enemy is where the urgency and the anguish are: this invention is what would have to be brought off, in sum to repoliticize, to put an end to depoliticization. Where the principal enemy, the “structuring” enemy, seems nowhere to be found, where it ceases it to be identifiable and thus reliable—that is, where the same phobia projects a mobile multiplicity of potential interchangeable metonymic enemies, in secret alliance with one another: conjuration. (Politics 84)
State Terrorism, Clandestine Language: Notes on the Argentine Military Dictatorship
Authors: Antonelli Mirta Alejandra
Published: October 2009

Today the argentine judiciary dispenses ritual punishment as it condemns the oppressors of the last military dictatorship (1976–83) in the name of historical truth. Human rights organizations and movements have contributed immeasurably to this end. More than two decades have passed since the historic military-juntas trial (1985), and over the years successive state policies have proved that traumatic memory is a contested site, subject in this postdictatorial democracy to both debate and governmental intervention.
Electronic Civil Disobedience: Inventing the Future of Online Agitprop Theater
Authors: Dominguez Ricardo
Published: October 2009

We see that a certain revolutionary type is not possible, but at the same time we comprehend that another revolutionary type becomes possible, not through a certain form of class struggle, but rather through a molecular revolution, which not only sets in motion social classes and individuals, but also a machinic and semiotic revolution.

—Félix Guattari (qtd. in Raunig)

We follow the speed of dreams.

—Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, The Speed of Dreams (2007)

Critical art ensemble staged the theory of electronic civil disobedience (ECD) as a gamble against a form of the all-too-present future of “dead capital,” otherwise known as late capital. In our 1994 book The Electronic Disturbance, Critical Art Ensemble argued that dead capital was being constituted as an electronic commodity form in constant flow (11). Capital had been, was, and would continue to be reensembling itself, as the contemporary elite moved from centralized urban areas to decentralized and deterritorialized cyberspace (13). For Critical Art Ensemble, it was clear that cyberspace, as it was called then, was the next stage of struggle. The activist reply to this change was to teleport the system of trespass and blockage that was historically anchored to civil disobedience to this new phase of economic flows in the age of networks: “As in civil disobedience, primary tactics in electronic civil disobedience are trespass and blockage. Exits, entrances, conduits, and other key spaces must be occupied by the contestational force in order to bring pressure on legitimized institutions engaged in unethical or criminal actions” (Critical Art Ensemble, Electronic Civil Disobedience 18). As we imagined it in the early 1990s, electronic disturbance was the core gesture that could initiate a new “performative matrix” (Electronic Disturbance 57).
War in the Mahabharata
Authors: Thapar Romila
Published: October 2009

The Mahabharata, composed in sanskrit, is generally described as an epic. Other sanskrit texts refer to it occasionally as a kavya, or poem, and more often as an itihasa, which literally means “thus indeed it was,” suggesting an element of history. As with many early epics, it carries a consciousness of history but does not claim historicity. It evokes a past society of clans and narrates the events that bound them together or tore them asunder, focusing on the actions of those regarded as heroes.
Voltaire, War Correspondent at Large
Authors: Brewer Daniel
Published: October 2009

Although the european eighteenth century was long called the “age of Voltaire” (at least in textbooks), it was also an age of war. Courts and cities were undergoing a progressive pacification, as Norbert Elias has argued, but elsewhere the “civilizing process” was more bellicose. To finance the expansionist wars of Louis XIV, whose reign ended in 1715, and those of Louis XV, including the War of Austrian Succession (1740–48) and the Seven Years' War (1756–63), the French state expended two-thirds of its revenues on war (Meyer 57). Despite the Anglomania that marked progressive intellectual and literary circles in France around mid-century, between 1689 and 1815 France and England were officially at war for sixty-two years, not including minor conflicts. Against this backdrop, the image of Voltaire is that of an unflagging pacifist. Standing for all wars, the fictional war between the Abares and the Bulgares in which the naive hero of Voltaire's Candide finds himself caught up is described by the text's narrator, in a bitingly ironic oxymoron, as “a heroic slaughter” (114). War for Voltaire represented yet another instance of infamous unreason, odious intolerance, and despicable evil. It was the collective, generalized form of the l'infâme (“the despicable”), against which he publicly and tirelessly railed. The phrase écrasez l'infâme (“crush the despicable”), appended to his letters beginning in the early 1760s, signified the Enlightenment project of rooting out error, superstition, and intolerance by means of reasoned argument, common sense, and often a healthy dose of sharp irony. Quickly becoming a battle cry, penned in condensed, symbolic form as “ÉCRLINF,” the phrase had preserved all its caustic energy when, a century later, Friedrich Nietzsche inserted it throughout his Ecco Homo. Voltaire's attempts to stamp out this evil took local forms, such as the highly public letter-writing campaigns he mounted to spark indignation and obtain justice for the victims of intolerance, as in the causes célèbres involving the protestant Calas and Sirven families, the young chevalier de La Barre, and Lally-Tollendal.
Representations of History: From Acedia to the Dialectical Image in Bourlem Guerdjou's Vivre au paradis
Authors: Bensmaïa Réda
Published: October 2009

Can a film based on fiction contribute to the restoration of historical memory? can films help fill in the blanks of history? What exactly is the filmmaker's position? What faculty and what means does he or she require to make such a prodigious feat possible? Are films capable of creating sites of memory, and by what means? What traces will make it possible to set up markers in a site of a scotoma? The questions become increasingly precise: Can cinema lift the veil that colonial history has thrown over the history of the Algerian War? And what can the nature of the blind spot be if every effort has been made to keep it hidden?
Afterword: War Play
Authors: Taylor Diana
Published: October 2009

On 27 February 2009, The Essays for this PMLA issue on war were coming in, against a background of various wars. The Iraq War had claimed over 100,000 civilian lives. The newly elected Obama administration vowed to amp up efforts in Afghanistan. The rubble in Gaza still smoldered from the recent Israeli attacks. The ongoing conflict in Darfur had already left 300,000 people dead, not to mention the 2.5 million displaced. When President George W. Bush left office, his boundless war on terror had exacted more lives, money, civil-liberty concessions, and international goodwill than one could even begin to tally. These were just the newsworthy wars that happened to be featured that month in the New York Times. Other, “low-intensity” wars—the devastating fighting in East Congo, the ongoing Zapatista uprising, Colombia's fifty-year-old armed conflict, Sri Lanka's civil war, and similar struggles—simmered on the back burner. The topic of war seemed as urgent that February morning as it had two years earlier, when the editors proposed this special issue. Ironically, that morning's Times showcased “Weekend at War” in its Escapes section (Sokol). The oversize image showed a crowded ballroom full of happy dancers in World War II outfits swinging to a big band orchestra—the uniforms, insignia, hats, hairdos all conjured up another time. The caption read, “It's winter 2009, but for hundreds of reenactors, it's December 1944 at the Battle of the Bulge.”
Language use in asynchronous computer-mediated communication in Taiwan
Authors: Huang Daphne Li-jung
Published: October 2009

This paper describes how Chinese-English bilinguals in Taiwan use their languages in asynchronous computer-mediated communication, specifically, via Bulletin Board System (BBS) and email. The main data includes two types: emails collected from a social network and postings collected from two BBS websites. By examining patterns of language choice and language use in these two types of data, the aim of this research is to investigate how a language contact phenomenon – code-switching (CS) – is realized via different writing systems in online environment

The data reveals that there are two levels of CS: CS between languages and CS between writing systems. In terms of CS between languages, three patterns are found: CS between Mandarin and Taiwanese, CS between Mandarin and English, CS between Mandarin, Taiwanese and English. In terms of CS between writing systems, three patterns are also identified: CS between Standard Written Chinese (SWC) and Zhuyin, CS between SWC and English alphabet, and CS between SWC, Zhuyin and English alphabet. This paper presents the two levels of CS by using the examples found in the data and describes the complex relationship between different writing systems and different languages. It is concluded that CS is found to be a common phenomenon on asynchronous CMC, where it fosters multilingualism and multi-orthography.
Roles of Managed Pressure Drilling Technique in Kick Detection and Wellcontrol—The Beginning of the New Conventional Drilling Way
Authors: Vieira Paco , Arnone Maurizio , Torres Fabian , Barragan Fernando
Published: October 2009

In times when the oil industry is looking for drilling technologies to optimize the development of their field, Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) has become in a very attractive technology, offering a considerable amount of tangible benefits. MPD is an optimized drilling process used to more precisely control the annular pressure profile throughout the well bore. The objectives are to ascertain the downhole pressure environment limits and to manage the annular hydraulic pressure profile accordingly. It means that the annular pressure profile is controlled from surface in such a way that the Bottom Hole Circulating Pressure (BHCP) is balanced with the pore pressure at all times. MPD is intended to avoid continuous influx of formation fluids to the surface. Any flow incidental to the operation will be safely contained using an appropriate process. MPD process employs a collection of tools and techniques that may mitigate the risks and costs associated with drilling wells that have narrow limits between pore and fracure pressures, meaning that the extra equipment used should be able to enhance the conventional kick detection capabilities and also to manage the formation influxes without increasing the NPT associate with this type of events compared to conventional operations in which the MPD equipment is not available. MPD includes control of back pressure, fluid density, fluid rheology annular fluid level, circulating friction and hole geometry, or combinations thereof. MPD may allow faster corrective action to deal with observed pressure variations. The ability to dynamically control annular pressures facilitates drilling of what might otherwise be economically unattainable prospects. This paper discuss about the benefits of the Managed Pressure Drilling Technique equipment in kick detection and wellcontrol and its direct impact in the reduction of NPT (Costs) and drilling safety in times where the access to new oil reserves are implying a concentration of efforts in these two areas.
The Role of Multilateral Drilling Technology in Increasing Productivity in the Middle East Fields
Authors: Paiaman Abouzar Mirzaei , Al-Anazi B. D. , Safian Gh. A. , Moghadasi J.
Published: October 2009

Multilateral drilling (ML) drilling technology is one of the unconventional drilling methods to increase the productivity of a well. It is thought that ML wells could be more economic with higher productivities than other types of wells such as vertical, directional, horizontal or extended reach horizontal wells. Advances in ML drilling has resulted in significant cost saving, greater flexibility and increased profit potential.

In the last two decades, thousands of ML wells have been drilled worldwide. Around 10 percent of the total wells are ML. During 1980s, advances in horizontal technology were adopted quickly in the Middle East to bring about dramatic improvements in well productivity. Many operators in the Persian Gulf region looked at ML drilling technology as a next step from horizontal drilling technology. These operators started to drill ML wells after experiencing successful drilling of horizontal wells. Since the early 1990, the use of ML drilling technology in the Middle East has seen significant growth to the extent that Middle East is one of the most active areas in the world for ML applications.

This paper investigates the benefits of ML drilling as one of the highly expanded methods. Advantages and challenges of the ML technology are highlighted. Since Middle East is one of the most active areas in the world for ML applications, therefore, two case studies from this region are reviewed. The first case study is the first Saudi Aramco's deep ML gas well, and the second is drilling a dual lateral well in Dukhan field in Qatar. For the former case study, productivity of ML wells is presented. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the productivity of a horizontal and dual ML in order to give a recommendation for one of them.
Advancements in Pressure Resistant Tool Joints for Intervention Riser, Under-Balanced Drilling, and Completion Applications
Authors: Muradov Andrei , Jellison Michael J. , Vinson Barry J.
Published: October 2009

Technical advancements in rotary shouldered connections (RSC) traditionally employed on drill pipe continue to evolve. Advancements in this area are being developed to address new challenges in drilling and completion of longer-reach and higher-pressure wells. This paper presents the results of a two-year comprehensive program to design, test, and qualify third generation double shoulder connections coupled with gas-tight metal-to-metal seal technology for 20,000 psi internal and 10,000 psi external pressure service. Extensive finite element analysis (FEA) and modified ISO 13679 testing methodologies were utilized in the development and testing of the gas-tight third generation double shoulder connection to simulate aggressive loading conditions and evaluate the connections pressure capability. The paper also provides details on how critical drilling and completion applications can benefit from the new connection technology.
Plug-Setting Aid Retooled for Uphole-Downdip Plugback Application Enables Pinpoint Slurry Placement in Complex Updip Wellbore
Authors: Rogers Hank , Winslow Donny , Boddy Paul
Published: October 2009

As drilling techniques advance and wellbores become more complex, placing successful cement plugs downhole on the first attempt becomes more challenging. Phenomena and well conditions can have a negative influence on the performance of the cement plug, significantly impacting drilling time and costs. When plug-cementing operations are required in an updip hole section, the following concerns become even more difficult to address:

Boycott or extrusion effects, especially in highly deviated wells. Lost circulation problems caused by the narrow mud-weight window. High concentrations of lost-circulation materials impede pumping at the desired rates for optimum displacement efficiency. Shorter plug-length requirements, because reentries are becoming more popular in mature fields as an alternate way to look for different production zones. Complex wellbore geometry. Difficulty of effectively placing small volumes of slurry under deep, high-temperature conditions and washed-hole sections.

This paper documents a Middle East field application where an abandonment plug was required to be set in an uphole-downdip section of the wellbore. After several failed attempts using a conventional plug-setting aid, an application-specific plug-setting aid was designed that incorporated torque-capability to help enable the workstring to be run in hole (RIH) in an updip wellbore and an annular isolation element to prevent slurry fallback in the uphole-downdip hole section. Detailed customer expectations and performance criteria will be provided, resulting in a conventional plug-setting aid that was successfully retooled to enable slurry placement in an uphole-downdip wellbore.
Additional Parameters for Better Vibration Control
Authors: Eltrissi Mohammad M.
Published: October 2009

Excess vibration of the drillstring is a serious concern in drilling because it accelerates the fatigue process and reduces the life of the bottomhole assembly (BHA). In extreme cases, excess vibration can lead to premature failure of the equipment. Drillstring vibration can also produce borehole washout, increase the risk of sticking pipe, and reduce the rate of penetration (ROP). Although weight-on-bit (WOB) and rotary speed are the primary parameters used to control vibration, the study of other parameters, such as ballooning, contact and frictional forces between the drillstring and the wellbore, and the finite displacement of the drillstring may provide additional tools and methods for controlling and minimizing drillstring vibration during drilling. The dynamic behavior of an active drilling assembly is complex to simulate and analyze, and finite element numerical models are used to investigate the influence of various factors on drillstring vibration.

The objective of this study is to derive additional options that will improve ROP by providing more flexibility in BHA design than those provided by traditional WOB-rotary speed methods. We focus on the influence of mud density, borehole inclination angle, and the choice of drilling fluid rheology model on the drillstring vibration.
New Approach to Drilling and Completing Horizontal Wells in Extremely Shallow and Unconsolidated Reservoirs
Authors: Saebi Shahryar , Staal Timo W. , Dawson Graeme , Miguel Dennis , Ooms Robert , Shield Chris , Paimin Mohd Razali
Published: October 2009

This paper discusses novel approaches that resulted in the successful drilling, completion, and production from shallow and unconsolidated clastic reservoirs, offshore Brunei.

As a result of these new approaches, detailed planning, continuous and open communication throughout the development project, the candidate well was drilled successfully, with the directional, well placement, and completion requirements being achieved. In addition, the application of new sand control technologies coupled with specifically engineered procedural solutions assured sand-free production at a rate above expectations.
Deployment Strategies to Reduce Risk in the Acquisition of Formation Evaluation Data
Authors: Kuchinski Robert
Published: October 2009

Effective reservoir management requires sound decision making that is based on formation evaluation data acquired during all stages of the life of the well. Without this data, reservoir understanding is compromised, which can impact long term well productivity. Given the increasing challenges of acquiring data in today's geometrically complex wells, new methods of data acquisition are constantly being developed and refined. This has led to a new area of oilfield innovation called conveyance. This paper is an analysis of the risks associated with the acquisition of formation evaluation data.

These risks are generally classified as follows: Non Productive time due to the inability of logging tools getting to bottom. (bridging)Non Productive time due to delays associated with making last minute arrangements for alternative logging methods when bridging problems become too severe.Lost in hole charges associated with permanently sticking logging tools due to challenging hole conditions.Unsound decision making throughout the life of the well, because challenging hole conditions, made the acquisition of formation evaluation data impossible.

The risks outlined above can also be assessed depending upon the data requirements and the conveyance method employed. A new risk assessment will be presented that discusses the risks associated with acquiring the data that provides insight into the six main formation properties required by the industry to understand reservoirs. Several conveyance techniques that assure the acquisition of data will be discussed along with case history's of some of these applications.

This paper will serve as a means to understand and assess the risks associated with the acquisition of formation evaluation data. It will also increase awareness of the techniques that exist for acquiring data, and ultimately allow for developing the best strategy to acquire formation evaluation data.
A New Riserless Method Enable Us to Apply Managed Pressure Drilling in Deepwater Environments
Authors: Rajabi M. Mir , Nergaard A. I. , Hole O. , Vestavik O. M.
Published: October 2009

Managed Pressure Drilling has been proven to be a tool for extending access to previously unattainable drilling targets in many deepwater areas across the world, such as deepwater Gulf of Mexico. 21" Low-Pressure risers do not allow for application of Constant Bottom Hole Pressure (CBHP) technique by floaters. Since it is not designed to hole the pressure, it prevents setting up a closed circulation loop in our drilling system which is an essential tool for MPD.

A high-pressure riser along with a surface Rotating Control Device is required to perform CBHP drilling technique. However, we know that deployment of such high pressure risers in long lengths and harsh environments has not come to be practical.

An alternative drilling method from floaters at any water depth proves to be Reelwell Drilling Method (RDM). Reelwell AS, Shell, StatoilHydro, and the Research Council of Norway launched a JIP in 2005 to develop RDM, which is a riserless drilling method based on concentric drill pipe. Mud is circulated in a closed loop in this system. The pressure and flow of mud is dynamically controlled by a computer system on the return path on the surface. Many tests including the latest pilot test in March 2009 has proven that the downhole pressure can be controlled precisely and that the system fits perfectly for CBHP.

Deployment of this technology by smaller floating rigs is possible with no limitation on water depth as huge and long 21" LP riser is eliminated from the system. The volume of mud is limited to bring about even more cost and rig space savings.
Improving Drilling Efficiency Through Wellbore Stability Analysis in the Gulf of Suez, Egypt
Authors: Van Steene Marie , Dutta Dhruba J. , El Fotoh Ahmed Abu
Published: October 2009

An increasing number of deviated wells are being drilled to maximize production and hydrocarbon recovery in the mature reservoirs of the Gulf of Suez (GoS). Successfully drilling a high-angle well in a tectonically disturbed and structurally complex area like the GoS is very challenging, especially in depleted reservoirs. Selecting the optimal mud weight is absolutely essential. Stress orientation and magnitude also have a major impact on wellbore stability.

The region poses significant drilling challenges that vary widely from reactive shale and salt creep to stress-related instability. From the findings of multiple wellbore stability projects we conducted in the GoS, we review the dominant mechanisms of wellbore instability in the GoS. We provide a summary of the failure mitigation measures and an overview of stress magnitude and orientation in the region, demonstrating how it impacts the knowledge of the most stable drilling direction.

Understanding the main causes of rock failure in the GoS resulted in improved drilling efficiency and reduced drilling costs. We show an example, where a new, nearly horizontal (86º) well was successfully drilled through the Asl formation with less than half a day of non productive time during the entire drilling process.

We conclude that acquisition of new, high-quality data would considerably reduce the uncertainty surrounding drilling complex wells in the area and reduce their cost.
Utilizing Top Drive for Casing Running System Reduce Well Construction Costs and Increase Safety
Authors: Shahin Nazir , El Messiri A. Amir , Haddad Abdel Hamid A.
Published: October 2009

A new portfolio of remotely operated casing running and casing drilling tools that connect to the rig's top drive and use the top drive's rotational power, hoisting and circulation capabilities for improved casing running operations. The value is increased safety and efficiency compared to conventional running operations, plus the ability to instantly push down or reciprocate while rotating and circulating, helping to get strings to bottom.

Applications include normal casing installation in pre-drilled wells on most rigs with a top drive system, and extended reach, deviated, and troublesome wells. Additional application includes casing drilling technology where the entire well bore can be drilled with the casing string; eliminating the need for drill pipe and bottom hole assemblies.

The new system combines several conventional casing handling tools into one: Power TongMain Hoisting ElevatorSingle Joint ElevatorFill-up and Circulation ToolWeight CompensatorLink Tilt (Stabber)Safety Interlock SystemTorque turn monitoring

Lab and field test results have proven that the new technology provides: Greater casing running efficiencyIncreased safety by reduction of personnel and remote operation.

Step change in technology will allow oil & gas operators to increase drilling performance and reduce well construction costs.
Study of Jilh Formation Overpressure and its Prediction
Authors: Zhou Shaohua , Al-Hajhog Jamil , Simpson Michael A. , Luo Maolin , Mohiuddin Mohammed , Tan Chee
Published: October 2009

The Jilh formation (JILH) is a tight, predominantly dolomitic Triassic formation occurring from 8,000 ft true vertical depth (TVD) to 10,000 ft TVD across the Ghawar field in Saudi Arabia. Drillers experienced extremely high pressured saltwater, oil and/or gas flows in about 20% of the wells that traverse it. The highest recorded flow rate from the JILH was 25,000 barrels per day (BPD) of saltwater and the highest mud weight required to control the JILH flow was 164 pounds per cubic foot (pcf) (22 ppg). The majority of the observed flows have been saltwater, which required a mud weight of 120 pcf to 155 pcf (16 ppg to 20.7 ppg) to control the well. This unpredictable nature of the JILH flow has not only mystified the drillers, but also plagued them across the Ghawar field.

If abnormal pressure is encountered in the JILH, a casing string is required to isolate it prior to drilling the Khuff gas reservoirs. If abnormal JILH pressure could be reliably predicted, 80% of the Khuff gas wells could be drilled with a "Slim Hole" casing design resulting in substantial reductions in overall well costs.

This paper presents a recent pilot study for predicting abnormal pressure in the JILH in the central area of the Ghawar field, Saudi Arabia. The 3D pore pressure distribution is estimated using a state-of-the-art integrated 3D pore pressure modeling software (PP3D), which is a combination of basin modeling and data inversion techniques. All available data sets (geological, logs and drilling reports) in the area of interest were used to conduct extensive log analyses.

This study identified the main cause of abnormal pressure in the JILH as fluid migration from the Sudair shale, due to formation compaction during burial. Well developed anhydrite stringers at the bottom of the base Jilh Dolomite (BJDM) blocked fluid migration to the JILH from the Sudair shale. Abnormal pressure exists in areas where these anhydrite layers did not develop well.

The pore pressure along well trajectories of four wells was blind tested with the predicted 3D pore pressure distribution. The average difference in pore pressure for these blind tested wells was −4.5 pcf (−0.6 ppg). Pore pressure in eight additional wells was also blind tested and good agreement between the actual and predicted pressures was found (average difference of −0.75 pcf i.e., −0.1 ppg). It was concluded that the accuracy of the model prediction would be adequate to optimize the drilling plans and casing programs in future wells.
Successful Casing Cementation in Total Loss Conditions—Case Histories
Authors: Dasgupta D. , Suyan K. M. , Banerjee S. , Ravi S. A. , Chakraborty Soumitra , Mondal Pradip , Jain V. K.
Published: October 2009

Total loss of circulation is a common problem during drilling through the fractured limestone in western offshore fields and coal seams in the CBM fields of eastern India. Most of the the times the wells are completed in total loss conditions either by drilling blind or by use of sub hydrostatic drilling fluid as conventional loss control measures were not effective. Moreover requirement of long cement column to cover multiple coal seams with excellent zonal isolation for fracturing in CBM wells during the production stage makes the cementation a big challenge in these wellls. To overcome these challenges, an inert dispersible fiber based cement system alongwith an improved placement techniques have been tested in the field with great success the details of which has been presented in this paper.

An innovative inert fiber based cement system has been formulated and evaluated in the laboratory for plugging fractured formations under simulated conditions prior to its application in total loss condition. Computer simulation studies were performed with field data and permissible slurry density and displacement rate were determined to minimize losses and formation damage during cementing. Limiting friction pressure by adjusting the rheological properties & displacement rate of the slurry during slurry placement also minimizes the lost circulation problems. Using this combination of improved cement system and placement techniques, circulation of the slurry was regained while cementing and the designed cement top could be achieved thereby avoiding anticipated repair jobs. Case histories of wells drilled with total loss conditions where successful implementation of this cementation technique prevented cement invasion into the production zone and lead to improved zonal isolation are presented in this paper.

This paper established the significance of application of these innovative cement system and cementing techniques in terms of better well completion and improved productivity in cementing across formations having total loss condition during drilling.
Minimum Requirements for Multi-Station Analysis of MWD Magnetic Directional Surveys
Authors: Nyrnes Erik , Torkildsen Torgeir , Wilson Harry
Published: October 2009

Multi-Station Analysis (MSA) is a technique widely used in MWD directional surveying to provide additional quality control and to correct for systematic errors. Although the method's potential to enhance survey quality has been demonstrated through several publications, experience has shown that MSA can produce unstable solutions and poorly interpretable results. In such cases, it is likely that the uncertainty estimate assigned to the data is invalid. Unfortunately, there is no standard in the oil industry defining the correct use of MSA. Different companies have developed different requirements and acceptance criteria, making it difficult to judge and compare survey quality between companies. The industry should therefore seek to establish a common standard for the application of MSA.

This paper presents a set of fundamental requirements that have to be fulfilled in order to ensure the correct application of MSA in drilling operations. The requirements consist of a set of mathematical rules and corresponding acceptance limits. Survey quality can be verified against any MWD error model by using the same mathematical framework, but changing the acceptance limits. Requirements and acceptance criteria are presented for two specific error models: Basic MWD without axial interference correction (Williamson 2000) and the same model assuming enhanced geomagnetic referencing.

The results presented in this paper show which systematic errors can be estimated for any given data set. A mechanism for determining tolerable survey noise is also included. This prevents misapplication of MSA under poor surveying conditions such as magnetic storms and drill-string vibration. The objective has been to develop requirements that are easy to apply in operations and which can form the basis for standardization across the industry.
Ultra Slim Rotary Steerable System Achieves World Record Performance in the Middle East
Authors: Barton Steve , Teasdale Paul , Robson Ian , Cartier Paul , Gohel Prashant
Published: October 2009

A 3 ¼″ ultra slim rotary steerable system (US-RSS) has been developed for use in through tubing rotary drilling (TTRD), with the objective of extending the production profile of offshore maturing fields. The introduction of RSS increases the capability of enhanced reservoir development by extending the reach of TTRD, improving drilling performance, increasing production from precise directional control, and lowering overall drilling costs. This development project was a collaborative effort involving several major operators to partially fund production of this ultra slim RSS that could pass through 5″ completion tubing.

This paper provides an overview of the RSS tool development including system testing at a full scale rig. This testing clearly demonstrated the directional functionality as well as successful communication between the measurement tools and RSS. The testing also allowed design iterations to be made to the drill bit so that the stability, side cutting and hydraulics were optimized and specifically matched to the operating mechanism of the tool. Due to the success in testing, the RSS and bit was taken forward into field trial.

Several runs were undertaken with the US-RSS for Dubai Petroleum. In an initial application, the assembly was utilized to drill a dual lateral oil producer / injector that traditionally would have been cost prohibitive due to time, or impossible due to torque and drag considerations. This lateral was achieved, including successful completion of the first ever ultra slim open-hole sidetrack.

The objective of a recent application was to drill the horizontal drain of a re-entry well. Use of the US-RSS delivered a saving of 6 days in time and approximately $1.8million in cost. The assembly also achieved a world record for footage with a US-RSS, drilling over 2000' with ROP 30% higher than the average produced with downhole motors.
Combined Technologies Offer Time-Saving and Efficient Alternatives for Zonal Isolation
Authors: Dickenson Robert , Fritsch Jerry , Noel Greg
Published: October 2009

Effectively managing resources encompasses accurate engineering of target formations and prudent execution of project capital. Attaining both requires employing current technologies and implementing efficient operations, especially with today's challenging drilling environments and economic climate.

In multiple cases these objectives have been realized by combining solid expandable tubulars and swellable elastomers to effectively isolate zones without cementing. Swellable elastomers on openhole expandable systems installed in hard rock eliminated not only the need for cementing, but also for underreaming (usually a necessity when installing expandables). The dual technology, when coupled with coiled tubing, enabled isolating multiple zones while optimizing casing diameter to accommodate high-rate fracturing operations. This approach enabled implementing a flexible fracturing process for operational efficiency.

In addition to drilling and completion applications, solid expandable tubulars and swellable elastomers provide a solution for challenges encountered when producing from mature reservoirs. A major challenge in reservoir management lies in controlling water production as the well life ages. An intervention project that combined solid expandable and swellable elastomer technology shut off unwanted water production that resulted in a sustained increase in oil production.

This paper describes how the respective evolution of solid expandable tubulars and swellable elastomers provided a step change in technology. Applications and case histories will be cited to illustrate the resulting savings of time, money, and consumables, and exemplify the technology's efficiency, reliability, and cost effectiveness.
Remote Real-Time Monitoring of Particle Size Distribution in Drilling Fluids During Drilling of a Depleted HTHP Reservoir
Authors: Ronaes Egil , Vik Siv Elisabeth , Taugbøl Knut , Sjåholm Åse , Kaageson-Loe Nils
Published: October 2009

This paper describes the successful use of Focused Beam Reflectance Measurement (FBRM) for remote real-time monitoring and management of drilling fluid Particle Size Distribution (PSD) while drilling in a depleted HTHP gas reservoir in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea.

Drilling into depleted reservoirs is challenging as the fracture strength of the reservoir is reduced due to pressure depletion from production. Experience has shown that adding suitably-sized blends of calcium carbonate and synthetic graphite to the drilling fluid can significantly improve the fracture strength. Optimum particle blends and size distributions are designed based on expected fracture and formation pore size. In order to maintain the formation strengthening effect, the PSD of the designed blend must be maintained during drilling and circulation of fluid. Furthermore, the method employed must be able to capture the changes in size distribution from the accumulation of drill solids and the mechanical attrition of particles in circulation. Monitoring and managing PSD effectively while drilling has been hindered by lack of suitable equipment for real-time measurement. The successful application of the FBRM technique has shown that reliable data can be obtained and that these data compare well with other conventional PSD measurement techniques.

This paper describes how the online PSD measurements were utilized to improve engineering of the drilling fluid to obtain full effect of the formation strength enhancement provided by the added particulate material. The improved PSD control can be used both to ensure sufficient concentration of correctly sized particles to effectively bridge the pore throats in the sandstone formation and at the same time include an ideal concentration of larger sized particles to plug fractures. Good solids control management allowed efficient screening of particles and when combined with addition of new material, provided full control of the total particle concentration.