bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
1980-89: Surviving Industry Turbulence
Authors: Donnelly John
Published: February 2015

SPE made additional strides in internationalization and membership growth during the 1980s. Despite the free fall in oil prices that would mark a low point for the oil and gas industry during the decade—and lead to massive layoffs and restructurings—SPE not only survived, but in some ways thrived.

In 1980, membership rose 14% from the year before to 38,799. By now, a fifth of the society's membership resided outside the US and several regional meetings around the globe had developed. As membership and the diversity of members' technical interests grew, SPE was challenged to ensure that its meetings and publications were relevant to the specialist while appealing to a broad spectrum of disciplines. The scope of SPE's defined technical focus began to expand and include such interests as unconventional resources, geothermal energy, shale oil recovery, and facilities.

Ken Arnold, Senior Executive Vice President of AMEC Paragon and SPE's first Technical Director for Projects, Facilities, and Construction, was instrumental in getting SPE to offer more programs and services for facilities engineers. He chaired an ad hoc committee in the early 1980s in investigating SPE's relation to facilities engineering. "We presented to the SPE Board a plan outlining how we could provide more service to this group, with hopes of increasing its membership," Arnold said. "In those days, facilities engineering was not even considered a specialty; it was part of production operations. … One of the key recommendations that was implemented was the creation of a committee within SPE for facilities. It started to create programming for at least three or four sessions at each SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), and that began to generate papers. Another thing we did was, when the SPE Production Engineering technical journal was first put together, we added a review chairperson and a technical editor committee for facilities topics to make sure that journal had facilities content."

Early in the decade, an ad hoc committee began to review the society's first Long-Range Plan, which had been adopted in 1976. It advised several changes that reflected the society's increased international presence and the importance and strength of local sections. The committee recommended adding director positions representing the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and South America, in addition to the one non-US director on the board from Europe. It proposed several other additions, including recommendations thatSection financial procedures include annual budgets and auditsThe society offer more continuing education support to sectionsSections establish their own newslettersSections create annual section awards and plans for officer rotationSPE become more involved in intersociety activitiesChanges should be made to SPE election procedures, including allowing members, for the first time, to select SPE regional director nominees through regional nominating committees.
Technical Papers Have Been the Backbone of SPE's Mission
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

In 1957, tail fins were big on the popular, if not all, cars. A 1957 Plymouth Belvedere was placed in an underground vault as part of a time capsule in Tulsa (they could have used better seal technology). A color TV was rare, and it had a round picture tube. Even most movies were still in black and white. Oil companies still constructed new derricks to drill new wells; the drawworks were moved, but the derricks usually stayed over the wellhead. Drilling rigs that could be moved from location to location were just beginning to be used. And SPE became an independent organization.

I would not be a part of the industry officially for another 11 years, but my father already had spent several years with a big oilwell cementing company, so I knew what it was like to be in the oil patch. He joined the Panhandle Section of SPE in 1958 and transferred to the Amarillo Petroleum Section when it was formed in 1964. New technology was improving exploration and production. My father was excited about new types of well logs that could do more than just measure the self-potential and natural gamma radiation of the formations. He also was excited about technology that had moved from military uses during World War II to casing-perforation technology—jet perforating. I even got to take sample jet-perforating guns to school for science class show and tell. (I would not recommend trying that today.) Technology was improving the industry, and SPE was at the forefront of sharing that knowledge.

SPE's mission is "To collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for professionals to enhance their technical and professional competence." JPT has been a main link in the dissemination and exchange of technical knowledge among petroleum engineers for more than 50 years. Before the Internet existed, JPT was the only link for many engineers and the main link for many more.

SPE's online electronic library, the eLibrary, contains 150 papers that were written in 1958, the first full calendar year that SPE existed as an independent society. JPT published 86 papers in 1958. In 2006, the latest full calendar year, there were 2,251 papers added to the eLibrary. From 1958 through June 2007, 45,450 papers were made part of the permanent record of technical papers available to members and to the public through SPE. With the help of many industry experts over the years, SPE and JPT have presented important advancements in technology to engineers and other scientists.
As the Industry Has Changed, So Has Petroleum Engineering Education
Authors: Greenberg Jerry
Published: February 2015

Petroleum industry technologies have advanced significantly since the birth of SPE 50 years ago. The industry today is drilling wells 6 or 7 miles long, and nearly as deep. Offshore, operators are "routinely" drilling and completing wells in 7,000 to 10,000 ft of water, using state-of-the-art drillships that were not available to the industry just a few years ago. Robust electronics measure downhole temperature, pressure, and other parameters as wells become "smarter" than ever before. The industry is learning to mine data and, even better, learning how to use the data better to construct optimally performing wells.

And although the basic structure of the courses offered for bachelor and master's degrees in petroleum engineering has not changed dramatically during the past 50 years, curricula have kept pace with the evolving technology and the changes in the profession. In addition, students are expected to learn much of the new technology post-graduate on the job or in specialized short courses offered by the industry rather than just by a textbook course at the university level. Several universities now offer distance-education programs, providing engineers already working in the field a means to continue their educations toward a master's degree, and engineers also can take several courses Lee toward a PhD degree in a distance-education program.

Many changes have occurred in the teaching of petroleum engineering over the decades. "One thing that was essential 50 years ago for most petroleum engineering and, arguably, most other engineering curricula, is that they were more concerned with technology and nuts and bolts," said W. John Lee, who has been a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M University for 30 years and holds the L.F. Peterson Endowed Chair at the school. "Today, they are much more concerned with the fundamentals and the applications of what I would call engineering science to solve engineering problems."

For example, Lee said, most engineers 50 years ago took such courses as surveying, machine shop, and welding, "hands-on courses that all engineers took. Today, that is all gone. Engineers now concentrate on just the fundamental math and science."

Part of the reason is the computer technology available that, of course, was not available or widely used decades ago. However, Lee emphasized that the move toward the sort of curriculum concentrating on math and science fundamentals began before computers took over.

"Now there is a need to develop and use mathematical models for everything," he said. "To understand the mathematical models you have to understand the basic physics and, in turn, have some understanding of the math that is involved in solving the equations of the physics models. That was beyond our capability for the most part 50 years ago. We could not begin to think about solving some of the problems. The arithmetic was just too horrendous, so we used very simple assumptions and approximations."
Why Our Approach to Sustainability Is Unsustainable
Authors: Bruni Thomas
Published: February 2015

You may advocate peak oil theory or rather see yourself among its detractors, but irrespective of your views on the subject, you will unmistakably agree that resources and reserves are finite, thus making our industry nonsustainable by definition. Although these premises might lure us into the vicious circle of "We will not try to fix something that cannot be fixed in the first place," the oil and gas industry should aim higher and avoid receding into isolation from one of the most potent issues driving today's (and likely tomorrow's) big business—sustainability and its multiple declinations.

The underlying popular fronts have long grown to coalesce into a critical mass that has made its presence felt to a number of socioeconomic constituencies, including investors. The corporate world naturally followed suit, and organizations have adopted sustainability as one of the key elements of their strategies and, in some cases, as a core value.

The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI) includes the top 10% of the biggest 2,500 companies worldwide based on long-term economic, environmental, and social criteria. One often-assumed mantra that must be quickly dismissed is the equivalence of sustainability and the environment. While the association may have been true when these ideas were first born, the broader concept of sustainability has developed into a more systemic and companywide scheme. This index, for example, evaluates corporations based on several criteria, including climate-change strategy, energy consumption, human resources development, knowledge management, stakeholder relations, and corporate governance, as well as more financially conventional metrics such as returns to investors, customer management, and business models. Ideally, all decisions and actions and their consequences should "meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," according to the United Nations' Report of theWorld Commission on Environment and Development.

Our oil and gas sector, which represents approximately 20% of the world's economy, makes up only 8.8% of the sustainability index, and, while some worthy exceptions do stand out (e.g., BP and Total), the overall presence is not satisfying (the classification is size-biased, so a very green but minute oil and gas company would go undetected).

According to a recent survey in SPE's magazine for young professionals, The Way Ahead, this trend is transparent to younger members. Young professionals see their companies inactive regarding climate change and underinvesting in alternative energy. Widespread discomfort among young professionals is such that up to one-third of respondents in the survey said they would consider moving to the renewable energy sector as good for their career security.
Your SPE: Dateline October 2008: Planning for the Year Ahead
Authors: Roodhart Leo
Published: February 2015

President's column

I start my term as 2009 SPE President with the good fortune to follow in the footsteps of Bill Cobb and the long chain of Presidents who came before him who have provided strong leadership and clear vision to the Society. It is thanks to these people that SPE is what it is today: the largest and most inter-nationally diverse professional society serving our industry.

Like Bill and other presidents, my primary goal will be to give direction to the Long Range Plan, a plan that has been made and is owned by the entire Board of Directors. However, all presidents—and I am not different—also set out on their journey with personal aims, and have only 12 months to start to make them a reality. As I said in my JPT interview last month, one of my main objectives is to continue the drive for true globalization. We will be truly global when every member feels that SPE is not only the local section or a loosely connected group of national or regional organizations, but rather a single organization of professionals, united for a common purpose, that belongs to each and every one of us. "Your SPE" means it does not matter what job you do, where you are located, or what nationality you are—SPE is yours.

My priority will be to interact with our members by visiting as many regions and sections as possible to listen and report back to both all of you and the SPE Board of Directors. My monthly column will take the form of a "paper blog" in which I will describe my visits to sections around the world, share their good ideas, and seek solutions to local challenges. In support of this, I asked staff to set up a "debating forum" on SPE's home page: the President's Forum. Your feedback through this new forum will provide invaluable support to this effort. It is my vision that all members can debate and react to my column on this platform and I can join in to learn more about your needs and issues. I don't know whether this will work, but we will give it a try!

With 170 local sections worldwide and regional offices in London, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, and Moscow, I have a hectic schedule ahead of me. In the next few months I will be visiting Russia, Australia and New Zealand, the U.S., the Middle East, and Malaysia. My first blog will feature a recent trip to China, which offered many fascinating insights.
Comments: Industry Pioneers
Authors: Donnelly John
Published: February 2015

Editor's column

Elsewhere in this issue is the obituary of Charles S. Matthews, coauthor of SPE's first monograph and the recipient of some of the Society's highest honors. The longtime Shell reservoir engineer and manager did pioneering work in well testing, enhanced recovery, tar sands, and geothermal energy.

His monograph, coauthored with D.G. Russell, Pressure Buildup and Flow Tests in Wells, was published in 1967 at a time when SPE was putting great effort into building up technical offerings to members and to the industry, and enhancing member services in general. In addition to the monograph series, the 1960s saw the creation of the Distinguished Lecturer Program, continuing education courses, standing technical committees in the major disciplines, the SPE Journal, and the Videotape and Traveling Lecture Series. The standing committees improved the content of SPE's Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) by securing papers in the major technology fields.

Matthews’ and Russell's monograph was followed by publication of Hydraulic Fracturing by G.C. Howard and C.R. Fast. Both monographs were widely praised for their technical accuracy and breadth, and quickly became required reading in both college petroleum engineering courses as well as continuing education courses. Fast, who was involved in the first hydraulic fracturing job in 1947 on the Klepper No. 1 well in the Hugoton field in Kansas and conducted the first commercial fracturing job in 1950 on Willis Wooley No. 7 in the East Texas field, died earlier this year as well. His obituary was in the July JPT.

Howard and Fast were honored in a special event at ATCE 2 years ago called "The Legends of Hydraulic Fracturing." The reception paid tribute to several of the pioneers in the first generation of hydraulic fracturing technology. Similarly, at last month's ATCE, pioneers in the drilling field were honored as "JPT Legends of Drilling." Honorees included William C. Maurer, Martin Chenevert, William Rehm, Marvin Gearhart, and Leon Robinson.

SPE, and the industry at large, dole out lots of awards, recognizing excellence in technical innovation, competence, and the transfer of knowledge. That dissemination of technical knowledge is a crucial need today, given rising global demand projections and the increasing difficulty of finding and producing oil. As 2008 SPE President Bill Cobb pointed out during ATCE, the challenges facing the industry now appear to be as great as they ever have been. Even as alternative energy use grows, hydrocarbons are likely to be in great demand for at least another quarter- to half-century. Some projections show global oil demand during the next 25 years rising 50%, to more than 120 million BOPD. With current decline rates, that means the industry will have to double current production of 80 million BOPD in the next 25 years. That makes efforts to transfer technical knowledge as critical as ever, and it makes honoring those who have played a key role in developing and disseminating knowledge equally as important.
Nanotechnology Products Hold Promise for E&P
Authors: Rae Alan
Published: February 2015

Technology Update

The oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry is going through an interesting transition. When new reservoirs were being discovered on land, at reasonable depths and with reasonable chemistries, the need to change materials was limited, and there was little pressure to improve the technologies used to explore for and extract hydrocarbons. How things have changed! Sour wells, complex reservoirs, high temperatures, low temperatures, high viscosities—to name just a few changing parameters. Combine this with tightening environmental regulations at the well, on the platform, and at the refinery and you have a ‘perfect storm’ of changing materials needs.

Some things haven't changed. E&P is still a mature industry that counts every penny. We may have discovered all of the readily extractible, large-scale reservoirs—such discoveries are now scarce at best—and hence we need to extract the remaining molecules as efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. We certainly don't need costly "rocket science" solutions to our materials problems.

It always seems to be an exciting time in the materials business. In the 1950s it was aerospace alloys. In the 60s and 70s it was plastics and the space race, the 70s and 80s ceramics; the 90s had optoelectronics and the other materials of the information technology revolution. The last decade has been nanotechnology's time in the sun. Those who have spent careers in the materials industry recognize a number of common factors in all of these—for high performance you need pure, small-grained, and reactive materials in pure or composite form.

Nanotechnology isn't really new; it only became an area for research when we could image and measure it, and therefore manage it. New tools such as the atomic-force microscope and improved electron microscopes enable us to measure—and thus control—the size and the size-related properties of nanometer- (nm-) scale particles and structures.

Micron- (1000 nm-) sized products such as paint pigments are common; subnanometer-sized products are atoms and small molecules. So what is so special about the 1–100-nm realm? It all comes down to structure and reactivity. Small particles have relatively more surface atoms looking to form bonds with their neighbors than large particles. Their size means they are too small to scatter light (hence their use in sunscreens and automobile clear-coat). They can react at low temperatures, below 200°C, to form useful structures (as in printed electronics). Their structures may contain nanosized pores for selective absorption and controlled release (zeolites and nanotubes) or can develop exceptional strength (as seen with carbon nanotubes in sporting goods). They can have unusual biological, thermal, magnetic, optical, or electrical properties (giant magneto resistance, quantum dots).
Troll West Oil Field - A Giant Gas Field Becomes the Largest Oil Field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 112616, "Troll West Oilfield Development-How a Giant Gas Field Became the Largest Oil Field in the NCS Through Innovative Field and Technology Development," by Richard Dyve Jones, StatoilHydro, and Erland Saeverhagen, SPE, Arve K. Thorsen, SPE, and Sveinung Gard, SPE, Inteq, prepared for the 2008 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Orlando, Florida, 4-6 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

The Troll West oil field has been developed with more than 110 horizontal subsea wells including 53 multilateral (ML) wells. The thin oil rim was developed through extensive use of multilateral drilling and wells containing up to 7 horizontal branches. The process of drilling the ML wells and the benefit/risk evaluation for the ML process are discussed.

Introduction

The Troll field is offshore Norway on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) in 300-m water depth, as shown in Fig. 1. The field was discovered in 1979 and covers an area of 750 km2. Drilling of the production wells began in 1994, and production began September 1995. Oil production to September 2007 was 188.3×106 m3 of oil, all from horizontal wells. The 250 horizontal sections have drilled 900 000 m, including 560 000 m of reservoir section.

Field Description and Challenges

Gas and oil are found mainly in the Sognefjord formation and in the underlying Fensfjord formation. The oil in the Troll West is from a 22- to 26-m thick oil column under a small gas cap. In the Troll West gas province, there is a 12- to 14-m-thick oil column and a gas column up to 200 m thick. The Troll reservoir sands are of two distinct types, with large grading between. The C sand is a clean coarse sandstone, with permeability ranging from 1 to more than 10 darcies. The M sand is micaceous, with a finer grain size than the C sand, and, in general, has permeabilities in the range of 1 to 100 md. The sorting in this sand is poorer than in the C sand; therefore, the permeability is less.

Recovery Strategy.

Oil production is through long horizontal wells drilled just above the oil/water contact (OWC) in the thin oil zone. The main recovery strategy is pressure depletion, but with simultaneous expansion of the gas cap above and the water zone below the oil. In the Troll West oil province, some of the gas produced has been injected back into the reservoir to optimize the oil production. One important aspect is to recover the oil quickly, because less oil can be extracted when the pressure declines in Troll East. Therefore, limits were placed on gas extraction from Troll East.
Technology Focus: Tight Reservoirs (November 2008)
Authors: Kubala Gregory
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

Attention to tight reservoirs has moved beyond the boundaries of North America as the importance of these hydrocarbon systems as global energy assets continues to grow. In addition to the complex geology, petrophysics, and reservoir heterogeneities dealt with in our industry today, tight reservoirs (<0.1-md permeability) provide unique challenges related to hydrocarbon storage and flow.

Over the coming years, drilling wells with an ever-reducing surface spacing will strain available resources. New technologies and processes (e.g., improvements to drilling and completion of horizontal wells) will be developed to increase reservoir contact and drainage, which in turn will improve operations efficiency, production, and recovery significantly. Effective exploitation of tight reservoirs will depend on new technologies and on improving the fundamental understanding of tight reservoirs over the life cycle of the field.

The evolution in fundamental understanding will rely on obtaining critical reservoir data including saturations, wettability, capillary pressure, structural features, deposition and diagenetic effects, volumes, mineralogy, lithology, in-situ stress effects, and rock strength. It will also rely on the ability to incorporate the structural, mechanical, and petrophysical properties of the reservoir into simulators so one may simulate and assess different reservoir-drainage strategies.

Achieving continuous subsurface monitoring and measurement during drilling, completion, stimulation, and production will be critical to evaluate the drainage behavior and to validate the optimization of the field-development strategy. In this way, we will not only lower capital expenditures, investment-recovery times, and operating costs but also ensure maximizing the recovery of the hydrocarbon from the reservoir over the life of the field.

Papers selected for this month's feature focus on the industry's progress in building the tight-reservoir knowledge base and how we are crafting methodologies to improve our decision making in reservoir development, characterization, and production.

Tight Reservoirs additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

SPE 110050 • "A Comparative Study of Capillary-Pressure-Based Empirical Models for Estimating Absolute Permeability in Tight Gas Sands" by J.T. Comisky, SPE, Apache Corporation, et al.

IPTC 11545 • "A Case Study: Using Wireline Pressure Measurements To Improve Reservoir Characterization in Tight Gas Formation—Wamsutter Field, Wyoming" by R.A. Schrooten, BP plc, et al.

SPE 110809 • "Barnett Shale Completions: A Method for Assessing New Completion Strategies" by R. Leonard, ProTechnics, et al.
Integrated Development of the Changbei Tight-Gas Project
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper IPTC 11408, "Integrated Development of Changbei Tight Gas Project," by Guilin Luan, SPE, Lin Li, Gary Nettleship, SPE, Luc Van Son, and Taco Hoekstra, Shell China E&P; Robert Deutman and Sieward Veeman, Sarawak Shell Bhd.; and Hua Wang, PetroChina ChangQing Oilfield Co., originally prepared for the 2007 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Dubai, UAE, 4-6 December. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Changbei is an onshore tight gas field in north Shaanxi Province, China. The main reservoir is a thin and fairly complex braided-channel sandstone formation with a 5% average porosity and a 0.7-md permeability. For field development, a dual-lateral well with two 2000-m horizontal sections was selected. After a summary of the development-concept selection and the status of the project, the full-length paper details some of the development challenges.

Introduction

A production-sharing contract (PSC) was signed between PetroChina and Shell in 1999 to develop the Changbei gas field, followed by a 2-year extensive evaluation and appraisal period to prepare a development plan. Appraisal activities performed included fracturing existing and newly drilled vertical wells and drilling/testing horizontal wells.

The Changbei tight-gas development is the largest onshore cooperative venture between an integrated oil company and one of the three Chinese oil majors in terms of investment and development scale. In addition to difficult reservoir conditions, challenges specific to the local environment had to be overcome [e.g., technology and equipment availability; local-contractor competence; community relations; and high health, safety, and environment (HSE) standards].

Field History

Exploration drilling in the Changbei Block began in 1991. The first small-scale gas production to supply the local community was recorded in 1995. Seismic was used to predict the lateral continuity of the reservoir-sand body and reservoir boundary, leading to an extensive exploration campaign during 1996–97, culminating in a successful well test. Two-hundred-fifty 2D-seismic lines with a 3800-km approximate length were acquired. Twenty exploration wells, nine development wells, and two appraisal wells were drilled before field-scale development planning and project execution. All wells were vertical except the two appraisal wells, where both vertical and horizontal sections were drilled. Basic well tests were conducted on most of the wells. Trial production on 16 wells began in November 1999, which provided valuable information on well/reservoir dynamic behavior and helped gain production experience with vertical and hydraulically fractured wells in the tight gas reservoir.
Conversations: Discover the Best in Yourself!
Authors: Fattahi Behrooz
Published: February 2015

President's column

This is my first column for JPT. My promise to you is that my comments will always be short, so that you will take the time to read them, and that I will be clear and concise in conveying my thoughts to you. My comments will be intended to stimulate conversations with you. I hope that you also will initiate conversations, letting me know about things that are important to you. I need your engagement to make our conversations meaningful. Contact me by email at president@spe.org, or through the President's Forum on www.spe.org, and let me know what you think!

This month, I would like to talk about our professional society and the challenges it faces. In future months, I will elaborate on each of these challenges and offer ideas on how you can help meet those challenges. My message throughout the year will be to emphasize the critical need for each of us to contribute to the mission of the SPE, by getting involved. We represent many different backgrounds and technical disciplines, but we share a common mission—to discover and to learn. As members of our professional community of roughly 90,000, we should look around and find out how we can be relevant in this process. Ours is a member-driven society; without your involvement, we will not succeed.

For SPE, there are immense strategic challenges ahead. These challenges are global, multi-dimensional, complex, and interlaced. Failure in one will have detrimental effects on others.

Our Society is one of the most global professional societies in existence, with 170 sections in more than 66 countries. However, even with this global reach, the level of participation in SPE volunteer activities in some areas of the world is still fairly low. In our attempt to extend our reach, we face increasing challenges in adapting to the diversity in cultures, languages, habits, and geographical and political constraints.

Attracting young people to the industry, and addressing their needs while trying to engage our experienced workforce, will continue to be a hot topic for the years to come. It is estimated that as many as 50% of our experienced professionals will be eligible for retirement in the next 10 years. This is occurring at the same time that the demand for energy is expected to increase by 50% in the next 20 years. We all realize that the ability to make complex decisions and to exploit advanced technology requires years of on-the-job experience.

Another significant challenge for us is to maintain or improve the quality and integrity of our services and to deliver them to all of our members wherever they may be and at the highest possible quality. The diversity and the variation of our products, funding, and the logistics for timely delivery of these products to wide-ranging geographical locations demand a significant effort for the organization.
Technology Focus: Field Development Projects (October 2009)
Authors: Rebelo Mauricio P.
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

The increasing oil price over the past years, combined with the dwindling of new oil reserves in places with low exploration-and-production cost, has led oil companies to explore for oil in new frontiers. The industry is forced to face new and unknown difficulties. Among the challenges are ultradeep water, ultradeep wells, subsalt drilling, complex reservoirs, and increasing environmental risk, to mention just a few.

After achieving success in the exploratory phase with new discoveries, deciding to move into the development-and-production phase leads companies to face yet bigger challenges, such as developing fields that will need to use new technologies and making the development and production of these fields economically viable. Furthermore, some projects will have to deal with the unavailability of resources in the industry (i.e., rigs, new drilling/completion techniques and equipment, human resources, and others), as is often expected.

The projects presented in the following selected papers bring some of these issues to our attention. Each project, in a different area of the globe, has its own particularity and challenges, which require enormous effort on the part of oil industry as a whole. Oil companies and service companies jointly will have to continue working hard to make these projects become a new chapter in the success history of the oil industry.

Field Development Projects additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org

OTC 19861 • "Tahiti Subsurface—Drilling- and Completion-Technology Challenges and Accomplishments" by Luis F. Rivas, Chevron, et al.

SPE 115367 • "Implementing i-field Initiatives in a Deepwater Green Field, Offshore Nigeria" by O.S. Adeyemi, SPE, Chevron, et al.

SPE 118840 • "Field-Development Optimization Applied to Giant Oil Fields" by Michael L. Litvak, BP plc, et al.

SPE 121680 • "Southern North Sea Tight-Gas-Field Development Planning Using Hydraulic Fracturing" by Bart Vos, Pinnacle Technologies, et al.
CO2 Applications - Discussion and Reply
Authors: Evans Ronald T. , Jenvey Nigel , Wehner T. Scott C. , Gomersall Sam
Published: February 2015

Discussion and Reply

Editor's note: Several readers responded to the Technology Focus article on CO2 Applications written by Sam Gomersall, director of CO2DeepStore, that appeared in the July issue. Excerpts from some of those letters, along with a reply from the author, follow.

Discussion

Ronald T. Evans, SPE, Denbury Resources, writes:

In the Technology Focus article on CO2 Applications (July 2009 JPT, p. 68) the ultimate conclusion that "Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) … is not a CO2-abatement technique" fails to assess CO2 EOR accurately. CO2 EOR projects that use anthropogenic CO2 have the ability to sequester more CO2 than the oil produced will ultimately release. According to the US Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), CO2-EOR projects sequester up to 70% of the CO2 that will ultimately be released by the oil. This report is based on west Texas, water-alternating-gas CO2 EOR projects that inject 5 to 6 Mcf of CO2 for each barrel of oil produced. The report discusses "Next-Generation CO2-EOR Technologies" that have the capacity to inject as much as 160% of the CO2 ultimately released by the oil.

Continuous-injection CO2-EOR projects inject 10 to 12 Mcf of CO2 to produce each barrel of oil. Continuous-injection CO2-EOR projects have the capacity to sequester significantly greater CO2 volumes than the oil releases when consumed.

Not only does CO2 EOR with anthropogenic CO2 have an important role to play in energy security, it is a significant CO2-abatement technique. It is the only carbon-capture/sequestration (CCS) method that can be conducted today, and it is the only CCS method that produces additional domestic energy and economic benefits while sequestering CO2. For additional reading material, please see:

CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery. World Resources Institute, www.wri.org/publication/content/8355.

Tapping into Stranded Domestic Oil: Enhanced Oil Recovery with Carbon Dioxide is a Win-Win-Win. Natural Resources Defense Council, www.nrdc.org/energy/eor.pdf.

Storing CO2 with CO2 enhanced oil recovery. US National Energy Technology Laboratory, www.netl.doe.gov/energy-analyses/pubs/Storing%20 CO2%20w%20EOR_FINAL.pdf.
Shared Vision (November 2004)
Authors: Paccaloni Giovanni
Published: February 2015

President's column - No abstract available.
Comments (November 2004)
Authors: Donnelly John
Published: February 2015

Editor's column - No abstract available.
The Future of Reservoir Performance Monitoring
Authors: JPT staff _
Published: February 2015

Technology Update - No abstract available.
Microhole Technology: Potential Impact of Microholes Is Far From Diminutive
Authors: Langley Diane
Published: February 2015

Microhole Technology - No abstract available.
Improved Horizontal-Well Stimulations in the Bakken Formation
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 90697, "Improved Horizontal-Well Stimulations in the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin, Montana," by C.B. Wiley, SPE, Lyco Energy Corp.; R.D. Barree, SPE, Barree & Assocs.; and M.J. Eberhard, SPE, and T.G. Lantz, SPE, Halliburton, prepared for the 2004 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 26-29 September.
Optimization of Horizontal-Well Completion Design
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 90579, "Optimization of Horizontal-Well Completion Design," by K. Furui, SPE, (now with Baker Oil Tools), D. Zhu, and A.D. Hill, SPE, U. of Texas at Austin, and E.R. Davis, SPE, and B.R. Buck, SPE, ConocoPhillips, prepared for the 2004 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 26-29 September.
Overview: Knowledge Management (November 2004)
Authors: Xiong Hongjie
Published: February 2015

Overview - No abstract available.
Developing Knowledge-Sharing Communities
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 88655, "Benefits of Developing Knowledge-Sharing Communities," by A. van Unnik, Shell E&P, prepared for the 2004 SPE Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, 10-13 October.
Interventionless Monobore Technology Used for Offshore Horizontal Gas-Injection Wells
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper OTC 17458, “Interventionless Monobore Technology Used To Complete Challenging Offshore Horizontal Gas-Injection Wells Successfully,” by M.O. Etuhoko, SPE, P. Essel, and C. Terre, Total E&P–Elf Petroleum Nigeria, and L. Proctor, SPE, Halliburton Energy Services Inc., prepared for the 2005 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 2–5 May. Copyright 2005 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

Elf Petroleum Nigeria Ltd. is developing the Amenam/Kpono oil field on the Nigerian Continental Shelf in the eastern offshore Niger delta. The field development was extremely challenging, with high-reach departures of up to 2 miles. New technologies [e.g., reservoir drilling fluid, fluid-spring-operated valve, gravel-pack packer, tubing-tester flapper valve (TTFV), production packer, and permanent gauge] were integrated to satisfy all well needs, especially those of the challenging horizontal gas injectors.

Introduction

The first phase of the field development was for reservoirs R4, R9, R10, and R11 in the western and central parts of the field. Two drilling platforms, AMD1 and AMD2, were installed 345 ft apart and connected to a production platform (AMP1). The development involves drilling and completing 34 wells, of which 18 are oil producers, 5 are gas injectors, and 11 are water injectors. At the R4 reservoir level, gas injectors are required for pressure maintenance from initial production because the bubblepoint pressure is approximately equal to the reservoir pressure. A primary target in the developmental plan was to use enhanced completion equipment to reduce operational risks while completing as quickly as possible. A monobore-completion design with interventionless technology was chosen.

All wells were to be developed with interventionless technology, which would allow running and pressure testing the completion string as often as necessary without deploying a slickline. It also would allow setting the production packer without a slickline.

Well-Completion Design

A detailed design used software to deter-mine the tubing stresses and fluid-temperature profiles. The packer/tubing link would be standard for all wells. The value of the thermal derating factor used was 0.05%/°C. Because of the well pressure and temperature conditions, a premium-joint tubing connection was used in the tubing-stress simulations. The calculations were run with 100% efficiency for tension strength and 80% efficiency for compression strength. The values were designated to meet the following criteria.
Designing the Perfect Drilling-Fluid Additive: Can It Be Done?
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 95196, “Designing the Perfect Drilling-Fluid Additive: Can It Be Done?,” by J. Hall, SPE, Halliburton, prepared for the 2005 SPE Asia Pacific Health, Safety, and Environment Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, 19–20 September.

The environmental effects and technical performance of drilling-fluid additives are important characteristics of these products, which at times seem to be at odds with each other. For example, materials that show good stability at high temperatures frequently do not biodegrade well. In addition to the paradox of performance vs. environmental acceptability, international drilling-fluid companies face diverse environmental regulations when operating in geographically distinct areas. The full-length paper discusses real-life examples of drilling chemicals that were designed to fit stringent environmental criteria, according to the areas where they were used.

Introduction

Use and discharge of drilling fluids and cut-tings during well-construction activities have occurred since the beginning of off-shore drilling. However, it was not until relatively recently that these discharges have been regulated. Some of the most active drilling regions in the world also contain important commercial fisheries. Where regulations have been established, government agencies have been charged with establishing a control system to ensure that long-term effects do not occur in areas where drilling and well-construction discharges take place. These control systems rely on a range of tools to predict, rank, or otherwise categorize the expected effect of discharged materials. There may be a heavy reliance on laboratory-based toxicity and biodegradation tests, or attempts to predict the potential for materials to bioaccumulate.

For example, it is easy to demonstrate that many organic materials will almost completely biodegrade when tested by a commonly used test to assess biodegradation in seawater. However, this is not much help in predicting when a base fluid discharged on cuttings will no longer be detected on the seafloor, or when the effects of a drilling-fluid spill will no longer be detected. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, the marine environment is a dynamic place, and materials dispersal can be rapid. Also, to obtain test results in a useful time frame, the conditions of testing may be idealized. For example, in the biodegradation test, the water oxygen content, test temperature, and nutrient mixture available to the bacteria present are optimized to produce a result in 28 days. In the natural environment, seafloor temperature may be as low as 2°C, and if the material is buried in a pile of drill cuttings, influx of nutrient-containing, oxygenated seawater may be severely limited so that degradation of the same materials showing good laboratory results may be reduced. However, the laboratory test provides the regulator an indication of the relative performance of a range of oilfield chemicals.
Petroleum Industry 2020: People First: Full Engagement
Authors: Al-Khalifa Abdul-Jaleel
Published: February 2015

When oil prices dipped in the mid-1980s, many companies went through downsizing or "rightsizing" initiatives. A major surge of mergers and industry restructuring followed through the 1990s. Companies had to scale down their workforce to lower their annual direct expenditure, and the notion of doing more with less became very familiar. Unfortunately, the layoffs caused many talented experts to migrate to what they perceived to be more stable industries. Student enrolment in petroleum engineering schools had also suffered a drastic decline, drying the pool of new graduates joining the industry for many years. The recent growth and expansion of industry activities is faltering because of a scarce talent pool, a skewed demographic of an ageing workforce, and a thin pool of new graduates. Striving to recruit additional human resources, some companies were more creative in revising their human resources policies, including salary structures and benefit plans. Industry-wide, the process was a zero-sum game where companies continued to poach professionals from other companies within the same industry. The painful and inefficient "hiring and firing" cycles have to be eradicated in favor of a 10- to 15-year staffing plan that results in more efficiency and enduring stability.

The current unprecedented industry growth and strained human resources calls for full engagement and utilization of the current industry workforce. Indeed, it is quite alarming to hear many industry experts complaining that their potential is not fully utilized. It is also often reported that new graduates joining our industry are initially very inspired and motivated, but tend to lose their energy and passion after being in the industry for only few years. What can the industry do to ensure the full utilization of our employees' potential? To better assess the situation, in December 2005 SPE conducted a survey to assess attributes related to employee engagement and job satisfaction.
Overview: Horizontal and Complex Trajectory Wells (November 2006)
Authors: Stone Charles R.
Published: February 2015

Horizontal drilling required approximately 15 years to evolve into a mature technology. During this time, the petroleum industry witnessed amazing feats of extended-reach technology, updip horizontal drilling, rotary-steerable technology, and now directional drilling with casing.

Horizontal drilling became feasible in the 1980s with the emergence of measurement-while-drilling downhole survey tools. Horizontal drilling continues to be a powerful application for exposing more reservoir per motherbore (multilaterals), increasing productivity from tight rock, acquiring exposure to multiple subsurface compartments, producing heavy-oil reservoirs (with steam-assisted gravity drainage), and managing waterdrive reservoirs.

It is a particularly strong application in clean sandstones with low-vertical-permeability barriers. However, horizontal drilling also can address thin-layered petroleum traps with poor-to-low horizontal permeability. Horizontal completions are limited only by the imaginations of those who drill horizontally.

There soon will be a day when one builds a curve considerably below the level of the lateral and places a subsurface pump below the level of production. How many of Earth's petroleum reservoirs are shallow, have no reservoir pressure, cannot be drilled vertically economically, and yet will respond to gravity drainage in a horizontal wellbore?

Horizontal and Complex-Trajectory Wells additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

IPTC 10966 "Reservoir-Screening Methodology for Horizontal Underbalanced-Drilling Candidacy" by T. van der Werken, SPE, Weatherford, et al.

SPE 102678 "Analyzing Under performance of Tortuous Horizontal Wells: Validation With Field Data" by M. Kerem, SPE, Shell Intl. E&P B.V., et al.

SPE 101129 "Development of Small- and Medium-Sized Oil Fields Through Horizontal Wells—The Way Ahead" by R.D. Tewari, SPE, Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., et al.

SPE 92804 "Coiled-Tubing Reverse Circulation—An Efficient Method of Cleaning Horizontal Wells in a Mature Pressure-Depleted Field" by P. Santhana Kumar, SPE, Petroleum Development Oman, et al.