bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Technology Test Site: Value Proposition for a "Live Field Laboratory"
Authors: Sanni Modiu L. , Allen John T. , Jennings Scott S. , Jervis Michael A. , Ayadiuno Chris B. , Ali Razally M. , Najrani Husain N.
Published: December 2014

In order to accelerate the development, early uptake and deployment of new technologies being developed in-house by Saudi Aramco's EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC-ARC), and technologies being developed in collaboration with industry service providers and academia, Saudi Aramco started the development of a Technology Test Site (TTS) in a producing oil field environment. The TTS, when completed, will be a ‘live field lab’ where many emerging new technologies and innovative ideas can be tested and tried under normal reservoir conditions.

To date, six wells have been drilled and completed. Extensive and comprehensive geoscience and engineering data were acquired for detailed reservoir characterization and description; including over 11,000 ft. of core data. The preliminary results from the on-going elaborate data analyses, including dual energy CT (X-ray computed tomography) scan, geomechanical data, and log data yield some intriguing insights into the often ignored non-hydrocarbon bearing Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary formations. The on-going data analyses showed why certain intervals are incompetent to withstand mud weight of 8.33 ppg (fresh water equivalent) while drilling. Attempts are being made to extract requisite information that may help to resolve some of the challenges (e.g. loss circulation while drilling and "near surface" seismic anomalies) frequently encountered across the Tertiary and Cretaceous shallow formations.

This paper highlights the value proposition for a ‘live field lab’ technology test site, lessons learned during the first phase of the TTS development, some results of on-going analysis, and some of the best practices that were developed.
Rock-typing In Carbonates: A Critical Review Of Clustering Methods
Authors: Rebelle Michel , Lalanne Bruno
Published: December 2014

Carbonate reservoir Rock-Types are generally complex to identify due to the intricate impact of diagenesis on the porous network. Based on a many years of experience working with carbonates, TOTAL has developed over time a dedicated Rock-Typing workflow contingent on the integration of all core and log data at all possible scales (from SEM to field). The result is designated as SRT standing for Static Rock-Types.

Considering that the key point of Rock-Typing is to capture as straightforward as possible a relationship between geology and petrophysics, SRT could be considered as a geologically and petrophysically homogeneous group of rocks with specific distributions and relationships between K, Φ and Sw, reflecting the main petrophysical properties. The petrophysical distributions within each Rock-Type must be stationary or homogeneous within petrophysical domain and follow certain geostatistical behaviors. Moreover, there must be a specific and comprehensible link with the geology (lithology, stratigraphy, sedimentology and diagenesis) in order the petrophysics to be extrapolated in 3D.

This paper presents a critical review of the most common clustering methods (Lucia, Pittman, RQI, FZI …). Some are geologically driven, others petrophysically driven, some are defined at plug or even core scale, others at log scale. After comparing the pros and cons of each method, the SRT approach reconciles plug to log scale on one side and geology (including diagenesis) and petrophysics on the other side.

The discriminating parameters for SRT building have to be found among CCA (Φ, K, ρ), SCAL (Pc, PTR), accurate thin sections description (texture, porosity types, cement types, crystals size), and logs responses (core logs, well logs including imagery and NMR).

SRT can consequently be propagated in non-cored intervals through electro-SRT models based on the sedimento-diagenetical model provided by the sedimentologists allowing the 3D distribution of petrophysical properties between the wells.
Managing Drilling Risks Associated with Wellbore Departure: Modeling Increases System Reliability while Reducing Operational Costs
Authors: Zhang Zhengxin , Chen Wei , Yun Geng , Liu Xinghan , Dong Yani , Shen Yuelin , Alsup Shelton
Published: December 2014

A typical method to sidetrack from a cased well is to use a milling assembly to traverse an anchored whipstock to create a window, and then continue to drill a rathole deviating from the original well. A sidetrack can also be conducted in an open, uncased wellbore. The operation usually utilizes a directional BHA to traverse anchored or cemented whipstock and drill ahead while steering away from the original wellbore.

To achieve a successful wellbore departure, it is critical to minimize shock/vibration to avoid failure of the milling assembly and drillstring components. The milled window should allow sufficient clearance for the subsequent BHA to pass through without issues. The rathole also needs to deviate away to avoid collision into the original wellbore. Modeling with the capability to evaluate wellbore departure is valuable to plan the operation and avoid unexpected malfunctioning.

The authors describe how a time-based modeling system was used to simulate drillstring dynamics and the cutting action of casing mills. Extensive laboratory tests were done to capture the interaction between the cutting elements/casing, whipstock, cement and formation. The data and the parameters from the specific application were then fed into the model for simulation. The results include milled window profile, rathole wellpath, BHA shock/vibration, and drillstring bending moment/stresses. By studying different scenarios, the milling assembly, BHA and drilling parameters were optimized to reduce the potential for vibration and chance of breakage, and to ensure appropriate window size and rathole length.

Gantry milling tests were conducted in the laboratory. Milling assemblies were used to cut windows in casings cemented in steel containers. Drilling dynamics data including applied weight, RPM and flow rate were collected and analyzed. The geometry of the windows and the profiles of the whipstock were measured after the tests. This information was used to validate the model and good agreement was observed between laboratory tests and modeling results. Validation was also conducted with results from actual field milling runs/operations. The authors will present actual field examples to show the effectiveness of the model to help diagnose and prevent component failure and provide operating parameters recommendations for optimal results.
Field Deployment of an Innovative Acoustic Monitoring System for Remote Real-time Pipeline Asset Integrity
Authors: Schiavon R. , Bernasconi G. , Giunta G. , Borghi G. P. , Okere N.
Published: December 2014

Real-time monitoring of pipeline integrity is a key factor for the environmental sustainability of oil & gas industry.

eni launched in 2009 an R&D project for developing a real-time technology based upon vibroacoustic sensing. In principle any interaction with a pipe filled with gas or liquid generates pressure waves that are guided within the fluid for long distances, carrying information on the source event. Among these events, leaks (due to corrosion, incidents, theft, etc.) are the ones where real-time monitoring has a paramount value.

Starting from 2010, acquisition campaigns in controlled scenarios were carried out and a validation of the mathematical models of pressure wave's propagation in fluid filled pipes was performed. More recently, background noise removal algorithms have been developed to further increase the sensitivity of the system in terms of decreased leak size and false alarm rate. In late 2013 the technology fulfilled the technology innovation qualification system of eni.

Since 2007, NAOC (eni's Nigerian affiliate) has registered a significant increase of oil spill events due to sabotage and oil theft activities. The situation that has arisen posed such risks for the safety of people and for the protection of the environment, that it has been decided to investigate new detection and monitoring systems. In fact, monitoring of the pipelines with other real-time systems which require the presence of sensors all along the pipes (for instance fiber optics technologies) are neither difficult nor economic to implement in the Nigerian existing pipelines. The innovative technology presented here overcomes this weakness, by allowing detecting and locating leaks taking place up to a distance of 35 km from the sensors.
Treatment of Contaminated Synthetic Based Muds (SBM) Drilling Waste in Block 47 Oman
Authors: Nahmad D. , Lepe A. , Rasheed R. , Sajid S. , Al Sabahi J. , Elder R. , Allen M.
Published: December 2014

The development and use of Non Aqueous Fluids (NAF) like Oil Based Muds (OBM) and Synthetic Based Muds (SBM) for drilling operations during exploration and production of Oil & Gas has made the process more efficient and has helped develop new techniques in high depth drilling, offshore drilling and directional and horizontal drilling. The use of OBM's and SBM's carries an additional environmental liability for the operator, as the generated drilling waste ("cuttings") is contaminated with traces of the hydrocarbon base material used to prepare the drilling muds as well as crude oil, that posse an environmental hazard for on-site disposal.

Typically 0.25 bbl of SBM are retained on cuttings per meter of hole drilled, the use of separation equipment and dryers can reduce the final percentage to < 5 % retention on the cuttings. However, this concentration is still high for a safe environmental disposal of the cuttings in most countries thus requiring treatment for further disposal of these solids.

There are 3 main processes currently being used in the industry to deal with these wastes:

The first option is Thermal Desorption (TD) where the cuttings are heated up to 800 C and the cuttings reduced to minerals and ash. The vapors are processed through a condenser and scrubbing system to avoid air emissions. This is an expensive process and requires regular PMS (preventive maintenance)

Second option encapsulation where the cuttings are mixed with lime or silica and cement in varying ratios a concrete block is formed that can be buried in a land fill. Depending on the size of the block and percentage of cement, lime or silica the blocks can end up leaching and releasing the base fluid.

The third and industry accepted application is bioremediation where active enzymes are mixed with water and the oils are digested into cell material, CO2 and H2O, the process is usually applied using land farming techniques.

In this paper, we discuss the use of a technique that uses chemical, physical and biological processes to treat the solids under a land farming protocol that is more effective than straight bio-remediation.
Amine Unit Optimization with High Performance Solvent
Authors: Cadours R. , Turner A. , Suarez Yesika
Published: December 2014

Amine technology is widely used for natural gas sweetening because of its performance and its operability. The main drawback remains the significant energy requirement for the solvent regeneration. To minimize it, amine solvent compositions are today optimized to control the CO2 co-absorption. Mixtures of MethylDiEthanolAmine with proprietary additives are today the state of the art for H2S elimination with controlled CO2 co-absorption. These solvents allow energy saving, and optimized acid gas composition for the downstream processing steps. However, the optimization of the solvent composition may results in less flexibility of the unit. Deep review of the operating conditions may be considered to maintain the benefit of theses formulated solvents.

Results and conclusions

The GASCO industrial complex, one of the biggest in the United Arab Emirates, is composed of four plants: Asab, Bu Hasa, Habshan and Bab and Ruwais, for the extraction of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) from associated and natural gas. In some units, the optimization of the NGL extraction process has resulted in an optimization of the CO2 co-absorption and GASCO has implemented formulated solvents. The sour gas feed to these units is affected by the upstream operation, including production wells management. The operating conditions of the amine units must be adjusted accordingly, to ensure that the CO2 co-absorption will not result in severe issues in the amine unit or in the downstream processing steps.

Technical contributions

This paper presents GASCO operational feedback with formulated solvents. In particular, it describes how GASCO has reviewed the operation of these units, to deal with the flexibility of the sour feed gas (composition or flowrate), with the constraint of a formulated solvent. Impact on the amine unit equipment's and on the downstream process steps is also commented upon.
Water Saturation in Transition Zone in Carbonate Reservoirs: Reconciling Open Hole Log and Capillary Pressure
Authors: Zahaf Kamel , Bourdarot Gilles , Low Steven
Published: December 2014

Modeling initial water saturation in transition zones in Carbonate has been a long lasting challenge particularly in heterogeneous reservoirs. The variation of water saturation has a considerable impact on initial volumes estimation, oil recovery prediction as well as the design of field development plans.

Log-derived saturation can suffer from interpretation uncertainties particularly in the transition zone associated with the lack of knowledge of Archie exponents and especially n variability related to wettability. Moreover in the transition zone True Formation Resistivity ("Rt") evaluation presents a wide range of uncertainties as Laterolog and Induction Log domains overlap. Therefore there is a strong need for an independent source of water saturation profile.

Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP), Porous Plate and Oil-Displacing-Brine Capillary Pressure measurements on core samples, at reservoir conditions, are used for building a reliable saturation profile for different rock types. In this paper the reconciliation process of water saturation from revised log analysis, laboratory measurements and Water Oil Contact takes into account the uncertainties on each source of data acquisition.

The proposed methodology has been applied to a giant carbonate reservoir in Abu Dhabi and has improved the robustness of the water saturation evaluation in the transition zone. Production data are in a good agreement which supports the consistency of the methodology.
Wastage Profile Study in Giant Offshore Oilfield, a Well Integrity approach to Optimize ICD Well Completion Design and Improve Corrosion Management for MRC wells.
Authors: Alvarez Adriana , Samad S. , Jackson A. , Bachar S. , Kofoed C. W. , Edmonstone G. , Abdouche G. , Shuchart C. , Troshko A. , Mayer C.
Published: December 2014

For the last 30 years, wells in the field have been suffering from medium to high corrosion rates in both near surface and downhole components. Remedial measures had been implemented in order to restore Well Integrity with different techniques. Corrective actions aside, a strong preventive approach is needed to better understand the root causes of such corrosion rates and scenarios where the integrity of specific wells has been seriously compromised due to corrosion problems.

Taking a step further and considering the big implications of new projects such as Artificial Islands project, where the company will be drilling & completing over 300 Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) wells, Well Integrity input as a discipline becomes critical in order to ensure previous problems will not be repeated and all lessons learned throughout the years will be wisely taken into consideration when designing a new well to remain integral during its whole expected life.

Understanding of the current corrosion mechanisms in the field was the key to find not only solutions, but also, to create an approach aimed to improve the future completion for Island wells in terms of design, materials and many other factors.

An extensive multidisciplinary approach was carried out in order to successfully complete a full study in one of the pilot wells completed with Inflow Control Devices (ICDs), which will be analyzed in detail in this paper, covering the following areas: Well design and configurationWell monitoring and performance reviewWell diagnosis and failure investigationPost-Failure modelling and well predictionPreventive/Corrective actions for future wells.

Corrosion management and prevention of scale deposits were the two main challenges encountered during this project, which was launched and completed with the main objective of evaluate and optimize the ICD completion design in one Maximum Reservoir Contact (MRC) pilot well in the field, the findings and lessons learnt were used to upgrade the current well design and improve the development plan for the field.
First Installation of Efficient and Accurate Multilaterals Stimulation Technology in Carbonate Reservoir
Authors: Rice Kevin , Jorgensen Thomas , Waters Jeremy
Published: December 2014

In many cases, carbonate oil wells are stimulated with open hole acid flush or acid fracturing treatments to increase productivity. Some of the challenges with fracturing stimulation are reservoir related, such as consistently stimulating all targeted intervals and intersecting the natural fracture network. The growth of hydraulic fractures in the vertical direction is difficult to predict, leading to the risk for entering unsought gas or water-bearing formation. Operations can be complex, costly and pose environmental challenges. A multilaterals stimulation technology (MST) has been developed and field tested to be a simple, efficient and more controllable method of stimulation with less environmental impact. The method uses less fluid, reduces the risk of groundwater contamination and eliminates stimulation fluid flowback disposal. This paper discusses the evolution of the technology, leading to the first pilot installation in a horizontal well in the Austin Chalk carbonate reservoir in Texas, during April of 2014. The pilot installation proved the stimulation technology's efficiency by creating 60 laterals, each 40 feet long, in a few hours pumping time. This installation is believed to be a world record for creating 60 laterals in less than 5 hours. The well's production response was significant, and productivity index was increased by 30 times compared to before the stimulation.
Microbial Corrosion. New Investigation Techniques
Authors: Hoxha G , Di Iorio C. , De Ferra F.
Published: December 2014

Microbiological corrosion (MIC) is a form of localized corrosion due to microorganisms activity. By-products of specific metabolic reaction modify locally the ambient in contact with metallic surface, thus triggering and accelerating corrosion attack.

Oil and gas plants, in particular those of mature fields, can be affected by this corrosion form. Despite that the influence of microbiological activity on corrosion phenomena has been for years overlooked. One of the reasons of this approach could be that traditional investigation techniques were unable to correctly evidence and estimate the entity and complexity of microbiological contamination. The application of methods of molecular biology has opened new possibilities for identification and evaluation of effect of microorganisms on corrosion phenomena.

The aim of this paper is to describe the approach of eni e&p for the monitoring and investigation of MIC.
Outstanding Production Performance Through the Extreme-Lean Profile Well Design: an Example of Drilling Operational Excellence that Allowed Reaching the Reservoir Target with a Bigger Hole Size in a Mature Field
Authors: Puliti Alessandro , Molaschi Claudio , Maliardi Alberto , De Grandis Giuseppe
Published: December 2014

This paper highlights how the implementation of an extreme lean casing profile for the well construction, can really make the difference to achieve operational excellence.

This is the case of the successful application in a mature field, where, for the first time, the reservoir target has been reached with a horizontal 8½″ hole section within naturally fractured carbonate formations.

In such occasion, the extreme lean profile has made it possible to reach the reservoir with a bigger production hole diameter, compared to the previous wells drilled in the same area; this has allowed the accomplishment of an outstanding production performance, also thanks to the lower pressure losses inside the 8 ½″ open hole section.

The reduced clearance between casing and borehole represents a distinctive characteristic of the extreme lean profile; this enables using two additional casing strings, as a contingency for well construction or as extra casings to reach deeper targets with the same production hole diameter or, as in this case, start with a smaller surface hole while simultaneously reaching the reservoir with a production hole diameter larger than those of conventional wells.

Furthermore, the specific well design has allowed to reduce the drilling time, improve borehole stability thanks to the smaller hole sections, and decrease the environmental impact as a result of the reduced volume of cuttings produced.

This paper provides a comprehensive description of the well requirements, the associated operational issues, the chosen solutions and the actual challenges encountered during drilling operations. The achieved results are also described.
Production Performance in Marcellus Shale: Multidisciplinary Study of Hydraulic Fracturing
Authors: Izadi Ghazal , Junca Jean-Philippe , Cade Randall , Rowan Tom
Published: December 2014

The Marcellus Shale is one of the main U.S. shale plays with more than 140 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of recoverable gas/condensate (E.I.A) in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Using the appropriate completion and stimulation designs for reservoirs in a given location is crucial to increase the productivity of the play. Understanding rock properties and reservoir characteristics in gas condensate area and their behaviors during the well stimulation is necessary in order to optimize treatment design. This case study aims at optimizing well and completion design parameters such as well spacing, lateral length, azimuth or hydraulic fracturing properties and improving well productivity. An integrated reservoir study involving geomechanics, fracture design and production analysis was carried out, coupled to a multivariable statistical analysis. The purpose of this paper is to apply multivariable statistical analysis in conjunction with production analysis to understand the relationships between rock properties and hydraulic fracturing efficiency within the reservoir. Fifty percent of the Marcellus Shale is composed of clay in the area of interest and typically, clay shales are anisotropic in strength and deformability. The brittle failure characteristics vary from east to west of the play which can affect the proppant transport and ultimately the well productivity. The investigation is based on both proprietary and public information data for the Marcellus formation (around the area of interest in Marshal County, West Virginia). Production proxies, such as maximum gas and condensate rate in the first 12 producing months were selected and merged with well completion and stimulation data. Final data sets were then subjected to a multivariable statistical analysis and a commercial Geographic Information Systems (GIS) application was used to understand geographical performance variation within the play. Fracture modeling and Rate Transient Analysis (RTA) were applied to this study to identify flow regimes and obtain determine some hydraulic fracture and reservoir properties. At last, the relationships between well performances, completion design and reservoir behavior were better understood.
Case History - The First S4 Survey in Abu Dhabi
Authors: Marmash Samer , Al Jenaibi Mahfoud Salah , Al Jeelani Omar Sultan , Haggag Ismail B. , Morrison David , Glushchenko Anna
Published: December 2014

Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) had a need for an exploration survey to delineate a low relief structure in onshore Abu Dhabi. The terrain is characterized by sand dunes of variable heights with some oilfield infrastructure, farms and conservation areas. ADCO tendered for a conventional survey but the successful bidder offered an economically attractive Single Sensor / Single Source (S4) option with the MD low frequency enhanced sweep. ADCO has tested some of the processing technology associated with S4 recording on vintage datasets and were keen to try them on a true S4 dataset.

In particular it was very important that a good near surface model was obtained because of the low relief target. The use of the low frequency MD sweep, Shear Wave Inversion (SWI) and Simultaneous Joint Inversion (SJI) was an ideal approach to resolving the near surface model. There was an uphole program planned to calibrate the derived near surface model. The SWI volume was generated before the upholes were drilled so that any anomalies could be investigated.

The crew with 50,000 channels mobilized and commenced operations on October 26th 2013 and completed the 604 Sq.km survey by December 25th. The survey consisted of 241,860 VP's and generated 3.5 billion traces. Despite this volume of data a field QC volume was generated on the crew utilizing a pre-defined velocity field developed in collaboration with ADCO and was delivered two days after the last shot. This volume was interpretable to guide the main processing team.

Whilst the full processing and evaluation of the data is still ongoing, the early results have clearly shown that the S4 technique is ideally suited to acquisition in sand dune areas with infrastructure. This presentation outlines the details of this survey and the lessons learned.
Success of Rigless Multi-Stage Selective Stimulation in Super-Giant Tight Reservoirs - Case History from UAE
Authors: Fahim Mohamed Abdullah , Abdullah Ali , Abdallah Dalia , ElBarbary Abdalla , Daghmouni Hamdi Bouali , Waheed Syed Arshad , Tawakol Moataz
Published: December 2014

Enhancing hydrocarbon recovery is the ultimate goal in the oil and gas business; nowadays there are many technologies that can be applied effectively to reach that goal; Maximum reservoir contact (MRC) wells, Under-balanced drilling (UBD), Multi-laterals (ML), fishbone. etc. However, still the preferable, economical option is to improve the well production by stimulation which is applied easily and riglessly in existing or newly drilled wells.

In many horizontal or long pay zone wells; the optimum results cannot be achieved through conventional stimulation techniques because it is difficult to ensure even stimulation fluid distribution (i.e. acid in the case of carbonate stimulation) across the entire lateral hole unless some sort of selective stimulation can be performed. This is a prerequisite for successful result. It becomes more challenging in heterogeneous open hole completions which have natural fractures. Even more challenging is trying to achieve selective stimulation in such complex geological environment when specific reservoir compartments need to be treated specifically.

A tight gas carbonate reservoir with no oil rim in a super-giant onshore gas field in Abu Dhabi was particularly targeted for stimulation during a field review to increase field production. Conventional stimulation treatments performed to restore well productivity resulted in rapid performance decline as a result of undesired worm-holing throughout the existing bore hole and uneven flow contributions. PLTs’ were run in three wells to understand the well productivity. The results showed that most of the gas production (approximately 95%) was from upper zones while the remaining production came from the lower zones which were of poor reservoir quality. It became necessary to look at selective fracturing stimulation techniques that could be applied riglessly and allow contribution from the non-producing zones.

This paper describes a unique engineering approach, the Hydrajet Fracturing (HJF) technique that was successfully executed for this purpose. The objective was to apply an economically feasible, rigless, selective fracturing technique with efficient placement approach that would lead to proper reservoir drainage. Pin-point stimulation at selected points was considered an important factor for the development of this field. After the unique stimulation treatment, a new technology based on spectral noise logging and temperature distribution survey was used to evaluate the contribution of the targeted fractured zones in conjunction with pressure buildup well test analysis. Several lessons were learnt from the first use of this technology and some interesting conclusions were reached from these investigations.
First Full Field Application of Distance Separated Simultaneous Shooting to 3D OBC Survey Offshore Abu Dhabi, UAE
Authors: Nakayama Shotaro , Al-Mansouri Khalfan Hassan , Benson Mark Allen , Mercado Gary , Belaid Kamal
Published: December 2014

ADMA-OPCO undertook a large 3D-4C OBC survey over an oil and gas field offshore Abu Dhabi, UAE. The survey was designed to acquire high fold datasets (400 at 4,000 m inline and crossline offsets with 12.5 m × 12.5 m bin size) along with having wide azimuth sampling for each offset range. The survey utilizes simultaneous source technique so-called DS3 (distance separated simultaneous shooting) to enhance survey productivity and minimize HSE exposures in the field.

The DS3 employs two source-vessels traveling at a distance and firing simultaneously so that two wave fields can be recorded with minimal seismic interferences. However, this technique still has potential to introduce certain level of seismic interference from the other sources in an OBC survey. Thus, optimum spatial and temporal separations between two source-vessels are analysed to minimize seismic interferences. Field tests are then performed with the main objective of confirmation of seismic interference patterns and their significances prior to field wide application.

With DS3, the survey achieve remarkable enhancement of survey productivity (i.e., a peak acquisition rate of more than 12,000 SPs / day) as compared to conventional single source-vessel configuration. DS3 along with proper spatial and temporal source-vessel separations, based on analysis of seismic interference patterns and field tests, enable recorded data to be handled as non-simultaneous source survey. Consequently, DS3 does not require any specific algorithms for de-blending so processing of DS3 datasets is fairly simple and straightforward.

In this paper, we introduce first field wide 3D OBC survey incorporating DS3 technique along with analysis on seismic interference wave fields and field tests which are performed prior to 3D survey. Additionally, we show some of the operational challenges associated with DS3 for OBC surveys.
Microbial-Induced Oil Viscosity Reduction by Selective Degradation of Long-Chain Alkanes
Authors: Sugai Yuichi , Komatsu Keita , Sasaki Kyuro , Mogensen Kristian , Bennetzen Martin Vad
Published: December 2014

Application of a thermophilic anaerobic bacterium which degrades long-chain alkanes of crude oil preferentially and induces oil viscosity reduction to MEOR in our target oilfield was evaluated in this study. Although the salinity of formation-water in our target reservoir is approximately 10 % which is considerably higher than the optimum salinity for the bacterium, the bacterium can grow well and induce oil viscosity reduction in the formation-water which was diluted with sea-water whose salinity was approximately 4 % and contained yeast extract as a nitrogen source. Oil viscosity was reduced to 70 percent of its original viscosity after two-week incubation of the bacterium in the culture medium consisting of sea-water supplemented with 1.0 g/L of yeast extract.

The performance of MEOR using this bacterium was evaluated by numerical simulation using two dimensional oil-water two-phase flow model. This model consists of 6 compositions: degraded oil, undegraded oil, brine, bacterium, sodium chloride and yeast extract. Undegraded oil and yeast extract are carbon source and nitrogen source for the bacterial growth respectively. Growth rate of the bacterium is calculated by Monod equation depending on the variables of the concentration of yeast extract and sodium chloride. Conversion of undegraded oil into degraded oil is depended on the proliferation of the bacterium. Growth of the bacterium is stopped by deficiency of either yeast extract or undegraded oil. Oil viscosity is reduced as the percentage of degraded oil in oil phase increases. Residual oil saturation is improved by oil viscosity reduction and enhancement of oil recovery can be obtained.

According to the numerical experiments, growth of the bacterium and oil viscosity reduction were found only around the injection well because the bacterium consumed whole yeast extract around there. Recovery factor therefore can be increased by increase of injection volume of yeast extract. As a result, enhancement of oil recovery reached to 5 % by 1.0 pore volume injection of sea-water containing the bacterium and 1.0 g/L of yeast extract. 100 bbl of oil was recovered additionally by using 1.0 tons of yeast extract in that case.
The Future Leaders Conference – An Effective Tool for Nurturing Young Leaders for Sustainable Growth
Authors: Al Mazroui Ali , Al Shamlan Omar Salem , Farea Seena M. , Al Ghaithi Sultan , Jamaluddin Shaju
Published: December 2014

The emergence of U.A.E as a knowledge society, whirling with high potential transformation, has created a huge demand for leaders of high caliber. Under the vast support of Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) stepped ahead and introduced the concept of ‘Future Leaders’ Conference', (FLC) in 2006, with the objective of empowering Young Professionals of UAE to be Future Leaders with guaranteed skills, matching the needs of a dynamic economy.

The FLC, a powerful two-day learning event with its novel objectives, is a first of its kind in the Oil Industry of UAE. Conducted every year, FLC is attended by the ADMA-OPCO Senior Management, representatives from ADNOC sister-companies and industry peers from within and outside UAE. Delegates to the event are star performers from the Competency Assurance Management System (CAMS), a scientific and systematic development scheme, spearheaded by ADNOC. The ‘power packed’ event, showcasing role models through well planned sessions and an exhibition, provides ample opportunity for industry focused personal development. The entire event revolves around a central theme selected for each year, like – ‘Team Work’, ‘Collaboration’, ‘Accountability’, ‘Journey to Excellence’, ‘Strategy to Success’, all cascaded from Leadership Conferences attended by middle and senior level managers of ADMA-OPCO. More importantly, the FLC is aligned with Objective No. 25 of ‘The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030’, nurturing the Nationals to meet the challenges of a vibrant economy.

The feedback from the Young Professionals on the impact of FLC is highly positive and encouraging. One of the quantifiable impacts of FLC is- ‘Zero Percent Delay’ in integrating the Young Professionals into target positions, through well-defined developmental programs. The benefits of FLC for the Nationals include valuable insights into aspects like the culture and value system of ADMA-OPCO, synergy between various stakeholders and business elements, professional networks for sharing knowledge, facilitating a new outlook for their career and future.

Over the years, FLC has evolved into a very effective tool in empowering the Young Professional as Future Leaders for sustainable growth and to face business challenges in the Oil & Gas industry of fast growing UAE.
Making Un-Drillable HPHT Well Drillable using Mud Cap Drilling
Authors: Al-Awadhi Farhaad Khaled , Al Ameri Fahed Salem , Kikuchi Shuichi , A Afify Hassan Alhussieny
Published: December 2014

The operator of Well-A, a HPHT gas well in offshore Abu Dhabi faced a difficulty to drill ahead in a high-pressure fractured gas reservoir of "K" formation due to severe lost circulation followed by gas influx into the wellbore, namely loss/kick incident. The sudden and huge amount of mud losses at the bottom part of the reservoir led to gas flowing from the upper one observing a rapid pressure hump in the annulus between the wellbore and drill pipe. The operator then experienced complex well control situations including the burning of the entry gas to the atmosphere. The hole was finally plugged for the sidetracking due to a sticking occasion during the remedial action for the losses.

The integrated drilling team recognized a little or no success of drilling to the intended well total depth in case of continuously using conventional drilling methods, began to pursue alternatives and soon initiated Mud Cap Drilling, one of the MPD methods at the multiply fractured reservoir while drilling the 8–3/8″ sidetracked hole. The application of the Mud Cap Drilling permitted efficient drilling resulting in 27 days' time saving compared with the planned duration. Furthermore, it completely prevented the well from flowing and could make the un-drillable well drillable.

This successful drilling of the problematic gas reservoir using Mud Cap Drilling in the Well A has made a further encouragement of drilling HPHT gas exploration wells, which contain a lot of uncertainties in the formation pore pressure and fracture gradient profiles. The MPD as a flow control and pressure steering tool will prevent the forthcoming HPHT gas exploration wells from several drilling hazards resulting in NPT such as kick control, losses, wellbore instability, and differential sticking, slow ROP, etc. Moreover, it will allow minimizing the number of casing to be run and reducing formation damage to the gas reservoir.

This paper describes the positive impacts of the application using PMCD equipment, lessons learned from the implementation and areas for the further improvement of MPD application in future.
First Wireline and Elevated Pressure Coring in UAE - Saved 30% of Coring Time for Shallow Reservoirs & Delivered Realistic Fluids and Gas Saturations
Authors: Ali M. , Hegazy G. M. , Aftab M. N. , Negm A. M. , Syed A. A. , Anis A. , Schipper B.
Published: December 2014

For many years, coring operations suffered from frequent jamming due to abrupt changes in lithology and rock properties. Core jamming leads to potential core damage, excessive number of trips, longer operation time and thus higher cost. Frequent and abrupt lithology and rock property changes are natural occurring phenomena. To mitigate the implications of core jamming, a robust coring technology platform has been deployed, which allows alternating between coring, pressure coring and drilling without pulling out the drillstring. The applied wireline-retrievable coring technology offers an efficient and cost effective way to trip-out large diameter core, thus achieving high recoveries of high quality cores. It also allows the Operator to almost decide real-time to drill ahead or to retrieve additional cores without performing additional trips. The coring/pressure-coring/drilling assembly is designed in such a way that it is efficient to switch from coring to pressure-coring or to drilling modes and vice versa, without tripping the drill pipes. By eliminating trips, this technology is extremely cost effective for multiple coring targets, especially when incorporating inter-drilling sections. The wireline-retrievable coring technology was also successfully applied to obtain pressure core, deploying breakthrough technology for the first time in the Middle East that retains the hydrocarbon content in its native state, with no lost gas, until core retrieval and evaluation on surface.

This paper describes a case history of the first deployment of the wireline-retrievable coring/pressure-coring in the UAE and the Middle East, while saving significant rig time compared to conventional coring.
A Record Breaking Achievement Confirming Assets Quality & Reliability The First Oil & Gas Company to Obtain the New International Standard ISO55001:2014 Certification.
Authors: Daoud Mohamed , Mohamed Alaa , Fawzy Mohamed , Khalifa Fatima , Helmy Aymen , Badeyab Ahmed
Published: December 2014

Today's economy is driving the need for smarter asset management with increased expectations from companies, regulators, and shareholders at a time when assets are becoming much more interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent.

ISO 55000 is the first worldwide attempt to capture the generically applicable ‘must do’ items for the asset management that provides significant opportunities to refine asset owner and service provider relationships, governance and regulatory frameworks and insurance, customer relations and other stakeholder confidence.

ADCO has invest a lot in developing, implementing and maintaining systems to manage its assets, that crowned by attainment of BSI PAS-55 certification on 2012 as the 1st Oil Company among GCC, complimented by acquiring ISO-55001 certification on 2014 as a part of its vision to provide the required level of asset management sustainability to its Facility Management.

The purpose of this paper is to share ADCO's experience gained during its journey for getting ISO-55001 certification for assets management system.
Accounting for Multi-scale Permeability Systems in Reservoir Models of a Giant Offshore Oil field, Abu Dhabi – Balancing Matrix Versus Excess Permeability and its Impact on Reservoir Performance
Authors: Skene Kenneth I. , Yamamoto Kazuyuki , Brantferger Ken , Quintero Maria , Kompanik Gary , Ottinger Gary , Manal Al Harbi
Published: December 2014

It is well known that the permeability of porous media represents a first order control on fluid flow in hydrocarbon reservoirs and that the magnitude of the permeability often depends on the rock volume under consideration. Core plug permeability does not necessarily equal whole core permeability and permeability from core may not necessarily reflect well test permeability. Each of these disparate data sources measures permeability at a particular scale. For the purposes of reservoir modelling, the permeability systems characterizing a giant offshore oil field have been broadly categorized as either matrix permeability or excess permeability. Matrix permeability further subdivides into two categories based on the abundance and type of microporosity. Excess permeability subdivides into three sub-categories depending whether it is the result of depositional processes emplacing anomalously high permeability storm beds (HKS or high permeability streaks), diagenetic processes creating dissolution enhancement of permeability, or fractures. Although not all these permeability systems are active in any reservoir interval, each reservoir interval possesses at least two if not three of these systems. The multi-scale nature of permeability arises because of 1) differences in the spatial extent of these permeability systems and 2) permeability contrasts between the systems.

Several techniques have been developed and will be explored in this paper that attempt to account for the influence of multi-scale permeability systems on reservoir performance behaviour. In what might be the simplest case, the mixture of permeability systems includes only matrix permeability without significant microporosity and excess permeability resulting from HKS. In this case, matrix permeability was modelled independently of excess permeability creating significant short-range permeability contrasts that better predicted reservoir pressures and water movement in the reservoir during history – matching. In another case with the same type of matrix permeability, the excess permeability represents the contributions from a mixture of fractures and HKS. In this case, matrix permeability was also modelled independently of excess permeability. Estimates of the relative contributions of HKS and fractures to excess permeability were tested as a history-matching parameter. Ultimately, this approach to characterizing permeability attempts to capture some of the rudimentary aspects of a dual permeability model without incurring the associated computational expense.
Mercury Removal Units Operation at Front-end Location
Authors: JUBIN Clotilde , DUCREUX Olivier
Published: December 2014

Mercury is present as elemental mercury in natural gas reservoirs and has to be removed in the natural gas processing plants to protect health, environment and equipment. The mercury removal options are mainly non-regenerative products. The adsorption mechanism is a chemical reaction between mercury and the sulfur of the active phase to form non-hazardous and very stable cinnabar phase.

The trend is to implement mercury removal vessels the closest to the production wells to minimize mercury contaminations in natural gas plants. This up-front location implies adsorbents able to remove mercury from high operating pressure water saturated natural gas. Metal sulphide active phase adsorbents have been developed for this purpose.

This paper will present examples of commercial application with existing mercury removal solutions to illustrate the benefits available from use of the new technology focused on engineered alumina based products. A case study based on performances comparison with different solutions at up-front locations will be presented.
Decommissioning Process for Subsea Pipelines
Authors: Philip N. S. , Wilde S. , Arshad R. , Washash I. , Al-Sayed T. A.
Published: December 2014

The method and standards employed in the decommissioning and abandonment of offshore oil and gas pipeline assets at the end of their useful life are determined by a framework of national legislation, international protocols and treaties, and corporate governance standards. The framework will impose legal obligations upon operators to ensure marine environments are protected. Fines and penalties may be imposed if the asset owner fails to meet these requirements.

A regulatory, or any similar, body will not prescribe a detailed planning process. Nonetheless, the body will usually expect to approve details from an asset owner on how the decommissioned activities will be planned, executed, and monitored within the regulatory framework. Additional requirements from other stakeholders within an operating company and corporate governance standards will also impose obligations on the decommissioning project.

This paper describes an overview of a decommissioning plan which could be used to meet typical obligations required by regulatory frameworks. It will cover: Interpretation of national regulations and international treaties.Identification of technically credible options to decommission the asset.Identification of data gathering requirements. Environmental data is particularly important and in some cases needs to be collected over an extended period of time leading up to decommissioning.Evaluation of the options based on legislation, environmental impact, safety, technical feasibility, and cost.Development of detailed methodologies.Estimation of costs.Definition of ongoing obligations in terms of surveillance and maintenance requirements.Preparation of scopes of work for tendering to contractors, including supporting procedures and work packs.