bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Double-Edged Sword
Authors: Zakeri Bita H.
Published: February 2015

The model minority stereotype of Asian Americans creates a multitude of identity crises for Asian minorities. Asians who cannot meet the incredibly high standards set before them by such classifications face crises and end up either rebelling against their culture and the dominant White culture or wallowing in shame for their failure to meet said expectations. On a larger scale, the stereotype does not consider class or habitus and forms of capital that this heterogeneous and diverse community possesses. This chapter provides a theoretical examination of the effects of the model minority stereotype on Asian immigrants, with a focus on West Asians. The chapter reveals economic and cultural inequities the model minority stereotype causes within immigrant communities and the larger U.S. society, demonstrating how the stereotyping operates as a subsystem of Whiteness used to promote the inequitable ideology of achieving the American Dream through hard work while bringing racism to the forefront.
Participant Perception of the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) Scheme
Authors: Chan Clement
Published: February 2015

This chapter seeks to understand the participant perception of the Foreign Sports Talent (FST) scheme in Singapore and the pivotal role of the FST scheme in Singapore's elite sports development, through the analysis of the impact of FST on Singapore's sporting achievements since its inception in 1993. To facilitate the above, a survey questionnaire was used to solicit responses from participants collected by a group of 3rd year students from Republic Polytechnic. The findings demonstrated diverse opinions on various aspects of the FST scheme. Towards the end of this chapter, it considers and recommends suitable measures to enhance the FST scheme, such as programmes to enhance social assimilation into Singapore, post-career opportunities for the FST athletes, and transference of skills and knowledge to the younger generation.
Hosting the Youth Olympic Games
Authors: Aplin Nick
Published: February 2015

Athens 1896, Chamonix 1924, Singapore 2010, and Innsbruck 2012 represent the four major games innovations introduced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Being seen as an efficient and gracious host of the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) signified a growing reputation that enhanced Singapore's global status. The interactions and interdependencies between state institutions, international associations, private bodies, and the people themselves served to reinforce existing sentiments that Singapore was not only successfully integrating sporting initiatives into the broader strategy for nation building but also sending out a resounding message to the rest of the world. This chapter examines the motivations, organisational processes, and linked issues that helped to establish Singapore as a country capable of creating an Olympic event and simultaneously marketing the Singapore brand. Negative financial and logistic issues could not overshadow the benefits that emerged to enhance the regional and global identity of the small island state.
Perceived Importance and Extent of Implementation of Volunteer Management Practices
Authors: Huang Huijing , Chew Wai Cheong Eugene , Koh Koon Teck
Published: February 2015

Effective volunteer management practices have been shown to be linked to performance, commitment, satisfaction, and retention of volunteers. In addition, it has been shown that organisational contexts are crucial to successful implementation of such practices. Using a volunteer management framework comprising four main stages of management practices (concept, planning, implementation, review), the volunteer management practices of non-profit national sports associations are examined against those of for-profit event management companies. Findings reveal some differences in the level of perceived importance, and the extent of implementation between non-profit national sports associations and for-profit event management companies. Themes that emerged from the content analysis of the interviews conducted with key management staff in the organisations support the notion that the reasons underlying the perceived importance of volunteer management practices are associated with volunteer retention, and with support organisations' objectives. Implications for decision-makers are discussed.
An Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) Algorithm for Efficient Partitioning of Social Networks
Authors: Abu Naser Amal M. , Alshattnawi Sawsan
Published: February 2015

Social networks clustering is an NP-hard problem because it is difficult to find the communities in a reasonable time; therefore, the solutions are based on heuristics. Social networks clustering aims to collect people with common interest in one group. Several approaches have been developed for clustering social networks. In this paper the researchers, introduce a new approach to cluster social networks based on Artificial Bee Colony optimization algorithm, which is a swarm based meta-heuristic algorithm. This approach aims to maximize the modularity, which is a measure that represents the quality of network partitioning. The researchers cluster some real known social networks with the proposed algorithm and compare it with the other approaches. Their algorithm increases the modularity and gives higher quality solutions than the previous approaches.
Applying a Core Competence Model on Swedish Job Advertisements for IT Project Managers
Authors: Marcusson Leif , Lundqvist Siw
Published: February 2015

Recruitments of IT project managers are costly and time-consuming, which makes it important to handle them effectively. IT project managers' key function in IT projects conveys that the prerequisites in such job ads become extensive and hard to satisfy because of overloaded descriptions. The organization's core competence (henceforth CC) requirements need to be decisive and explicitly expressed. Hence, each recruitment process should involve the defining of what the CC qualifications are. Advertisements were collected (2010-2013) and a CC lens was tested for assessment of CC criteria in order to get an indication of its value. The study's practical implication is an added understanding of the importance to discern what core competence/-s a specific project requires and furthermore to match those with the job requirements during the recruitment process. The implication for research is an inspiration for further development of methods for determining core competence criteria for recruiting IT-project managers.
A Conceptual Framework to Improve Project Team Learning in Major Projects
Authors: Gharaibeh Hani
Published: February 2015

Organizational learning within project teams is a phenomenon that is gaining considerable attention lately by both researchers and professionals. Review and analysis of lessons-learned documents from major projects, indicates that mistakes are repeated and lessons might not be learnt. This leads us to question whether project teams are truly learning the lessons. The purpose of this paper was to present a framework to improve project team learning in major projects. The research used a focus group methodology to investigate issues related to: learning barriers and enablers, individual and group aspects of learning as well as the mechanism of learning itself. The findings were, to say the least, very surprising as they reveal a lack of incentive for learning, lack of documentation of learning, and absence of collaborative learning within project teams.
Accurate Phase Equilibria Predictions for Hydrates of Multi-Component Natural Gases
Authors: Mekala Prathyusha , Sangwai Jitendra S.
Published: February 2015

Information on the phase behavior of gas hydrate is vital for several mitigation techniques to control their formation in pipelines and surface facilities for efficient flow assurance during the production and transportation of natural gas and reservoir fluids. The pipeline environment (high pressure and low temperature) favors the formation of natural gas hydrate, which is one of the main elements in the flow assurance issues and this has to be taken in to account very seriously.

New thermodynamic computing approach is being developed for predicting the phase equilibria for vapor and solid hydrate. Vapor phase properties at different conditions can easily be calculated using equation of state, which is quite challenging for solid hydrate. The proposed hydrate model is an extension of Chen-Guo model, takes in to account the change in activity at every change in temperature. The new model assists in tuning the parameters accurately to different sets of experimental data.

To propose a model which predicts hydrate phase stability of a multi-component natural gas, consideration of hydrate structural changes and activities is necessary. Therefore besides careful selection of interaction parameters for n! combinations of guest gas molecules, selection of activity of water for a respective set of equilibrium pressure and temperature condition is an important step while computing equilibrium temperatures and pressures of hydrates formed in bulk phase. In this work, activity of water is calculated by Pitzer equation. An intricate mechanism of hydrate formation is followed and it is assumed that hydrate formed in the pores is in complete solid phase. The multi component natural gas mixture (six to ten gases) compositions are chosen in such a ways that a substantial amount of CO2 is present, which makes the activity of the hydrate formation increase from water activity slightly more (>1) due to their high solubility at higher temperatures.

The proposed equilibria phase prediction method is well validated examining eight sets of different natural gases from literature which were studied experimentally by different authors for equilibrium pressure and temperature. The developed method is found to predict the phase stabilities for a multicomponent natural gas hydrates system satisfactorily.
Combining Design of Experiments and Streamline-Based Simulation for Efficient Thermal IOR Development Study in a Waterdrive Light Oil Reservoir
Authors: Al-Mudhafer Wathiq J. , Alta'ee Ali F.
Published: February 2015

Steamflooding has been widely applied as an effective way to improve oil recovery not only in heavy oil reservoirs, but also in light oil reservoirs. It has been investigated that steamflooding is a good way to handle the formation's heterogeneity by decrease the degree of fluid spread and distortion. This reservoir under study is a sandstone member in South Rumaila oil field located in Iraq. This field, with a 58-year production history, has 40 production wells and is surrounded by an infinite active edge water aquifer from the east and the west flanks. Because of some discontinuous series of bitumen at the east flank, the strength of west flank is much effective more than the east one. In this study, a comparative thermodynamic simulation study has been conducted to investigate the feasibility of steamflooding to extract the bitumen and improve oil recovery and determine the optimal future development scenario considering design of experiments and streamline-based simulation results.

First of all, the thermodynamic reservoir simulator (CMG-STARS) has been used to find out the feasibility of steam flooding in the heterogeneous reservoir to extract the bitumen and improve oil recovery. Later, full factorial design (FFD) has been conducted to study the most factors affecting the response (recovery factor) through steamflooding with distinct levels. The factors are steam injection rate, quality, temperature, and number of steam injectors. FFD has shown that the recovery factor is sensitive for all the forgiven factors as well as some interactions and it also shown that the optimal scenario has the lowest steam injection rate and lowest number of injectors to get the highest recovery factor.

The injectors have been selected according to the high connectivity with the producers that has been determined based on the streamline-based simulation results after construction such a connectivity matrix between the injectors and producers. Consequently, a practical optimization approach has been adopted to determine the optimal number of steam injection wells that leads to optimal development scenario. It has shown finally that only one injector, which has higher connections, has led to highest oil recovery.
Back Analysis of Foundation Pile Design for Liwan 3-1 Offshore Platform
Authors: Zhang Xiaowei , Yuxi Liu , Ming Guo , Yin Hanjun , Huang Huaizhou
Published: February 2015

Recently more and larger jackets have been installed in the Asia Pacific area, the Liwan3-1 central processing platform (CEP) platform is the largest offshore platform in Asia with a jacket load out weight about 32,000mt and with a topsides design weight about 44,000mt. And jacket foundation pile is the largest one in the world with 4×ø108" dia. vertical skirt piles at each jacket corner leg. Each pile is at 158 meters in length with 135 m design penetration depth and dry weight of 755mt. In the pile design, major contents were performed as following:pile axial capacity check;Pile lifting strength check; stick-up stability calculation;pile drivability;fatigue analyses;pile shoe buckling and grout connection, etc.

In the installation of large diameter steel piles, the initial penetration depth shallow and run pile will increase the risk of offshore construction. At present, there are no mature methods of calculating the soil resistance. Through the study on soil of this area, we found that the main problem is the estimation of pile end resistance is not accurate. This paper study on influence factors for length of run pile in initial penetration condition and driving process are discussed. Combining with field dynamic monitor test data, the new evaluation methods for soil resistance are present. Such approach can well fit the real situation for this region in South China Sea.
Enhancing Operational Envelope for Offshore Coiled Tubing Interventions to Perform in Monsoon Season
Authors: Wattanasuwankorn Reawat , Hammer Franklin , Christieson Richard , Song Yan , Long Nick
Published: February 2015

An operator requiring an offshore coiled-tubing (CT) intervention in the South China Sea, Brunei, was presented with challenging monsoon weather conditions and limited and aging offshore facilities. This, combined with a desire to improve operational efficiency, led to the design of novel improvements to the CT intervention vessel. Innovative technologies from various applications were combined to provide the operator a successful solution for CT intervention improvement.

The CT intervention vessel concepts consisted of a full catenary CT system, dynamic positioning vessel, knuckle boom crane, and a heave compensated gang way. The full catenary system was selected for this CT operation to minimize the potential for lifting hazards, reduce offshore installation lead times, and improve the operating efficiency of the CT intervention vessel. The dynamic positioning vessel eliminated anchoring requirements and provided enhanced efficiency for evacuation. The knuckle boom crane provided the capability to lift in different angles to reach equipment placement in difficult positions, even underneath the platform helideck. The heave compensated gang way delivered extraordinary crew transportation between the vessel and offshore facilities and also provided a means for superior emergency response and evacuation upon occurrence of sudden severe offshore weather conditions.

Use of these novel concepts significantly improved the safety and operation of the CT intervention vessel.
Experimental Study on Optimal Polymer Injection Timing in Offshore Oilfields
Authors: Gao Junxin , Li Yiqiang , Li Jie , Yin Dandan , Wang Haifeng
Published: February 2015

There are many constraints in offshore reservoirs such as lack of fresh water, limited space and short life of platform, and unstable working environment when polymer flooding is implemented to enhance oil recovery. In order to develop offshore oilfields in an efficient and economical way, a study on optimal polymer flooding injection timing is presented, and mechanism analysis is discussed.

Eight polymer injection timing programs were conducted by using both artificial homogeneous cores and heterogeneous ones. Results showed that recovery factor increased with injection timing advanced, and the earlier injection timing, the fewer PV was needed. The final recovery enhanced 2.96%–11.16% and PV decreased 0.41–0.48 with injection timing ranged from at water cut 95% to direct polymer injection, which can save cost economically and speed ??up the development of oil fields; polymer injection timing was more influential in heterogeneous reservoir than in homogeneous ones which can be observed from the change of oil recovery and decline of water cut.

According to theoretical analysis, polymer can improve sweep efficiency with mobility ratio M<1. M is a function of viscosity ratio and relative permeability. When the viscosity ratio is a constant, early relative permeability rate Krp/Kro<<1which can be seen from polymer flooding relative permeability curves, leading to M << 1, so the effect of the flooding is increased even using lower concentration of polymer at the early injection timing.

However, injection pressure increased with polymer injection timing advanced, leading to injection issues. Water flooding for a period of time was considered to reduce the issues, so water cut of about 60% is recommended as the optimal polymer injection timing in the offshore fields based on practicality, performance and economic viability.
Upgrade of Spar Topsides with Comprehensive Facilities Sand Management System
Authors: Loong Y. , Rawlins H. , Goo D.
Published: February 2015

A Deepwater field located offshore Sabah, East Malaysia, in average water depth of approximately 1300m and operated by Murphy Sabah Oil Co., Ltd features a spar dry tree unit and multiple subsea hub tie-backs to an FPSO. In early 2011, several of the wells on the spar began producing fines which affected production. In order to maximize production, Murphy Sabah initiated three separate actions to control the fines. The long term solution was to re-complete the affected wells with enhanced sand control on the lower completions, such as open hole gravel pack and cased hole frac packs. The short term solutions consisted of installing a topsides sand management system on the spar to remove solids at the wellhead prior to the choke, and installation of sand sparging equipment on the FPSO separators to remove build up of sand that was produced by the subsea wells and any sand that passed the spar wellhead desanders. This paper focuses on the spar topsides sand management system that is unique in its size and scope. It includes ten wellhead desanders, common slurry transport system, dewatering and bagging station, and skip removal to process up to 10 tons per day of sand. Current work is underway to upgrade the system even further with an integrated sand cleaning system and overboard discharge of the solids, which will be a first for Malaysian waters. The separation system is integrated into the wellbay with dedicated wellhead desander and accumulator units on each of ten wells which are designed to remove sand upstream of the choke. The first wellhead desander and the sand handling system were commissioned in October 2011 and a total of six desanders were on line by April 2012. Upgrading the spar with topsides sand management has effectively controlled the production of sand and maximized hydrocarbon production during the period between the advent of sand and long-term control by upgraded lower completions. A detailed process review of the sand management system is provided along with system integration timeline, solids analysis, and lessons learned.
First High-Rate Hybrid Fracture in Em-Yoga Field, West Siberia, Russia
Authors: Kaluder Zdenko , Nikolaev Maxim , Davidenko Igor , Leskin Fedor , Martynov Mikhail , Shishmanidi Irina , Platunov Andrey , Chong KK , Astafyev Vladimir , Shnitiko Andrey , Fedorenko Evgeny
Published: February 2015

Application of horizontal multiple stage fracturing is becoming the standard completion technique for oil and gas developments both in Shale and Tight Sand. This technology has proven to be a game-changer for the United States oil and gas industry to the point of creating an oversupply of gas in United States. Predictions indicate that the supply of oil related to this technology could allow the United States to become self-sufficient within this decade. Globally, shale and tight sand exploration activities are also increasing. This concept was successfully suited to one of the Russian Tight Oil plays within the Em-Yoga license area in Western Siberia.

This paper provides the case history of how horizontal multiple fracturing completion methodology helped to unlock the potential Western Siberian Em-Yoga Tight Oilfield. This very heterogeneous and lenticular sand oil play was known for years for its complexity and arduous nature to extract oil from. The completion technique employed the proven North America multiple stage fracturing using a combination of swell-able packers and sliding sleeve frac ports. The fracturing design for the Em-Yoga field will be discussed in this paper. This design is an adaptation of an alternating hybrid fluid system composed of proppant slugs during the pad stage and a high concentration proppant ramp in the main frac stage.

The well is currently flowing at commercial rates synonymous with early production time in a typical North American oil shale well. In this paper, the authors describe the various monitoring techniques of how fracturing efficiency was measured. Earlier production allowed providing of fit curve production analysis to evaluate how the project is being commercially realized.
Analysis of Windows of Opportunity for Weather Sensitive Operations
Authors: Foo Yu Poh , Gan Kenneth , Giudice Dario , De Masi Giulia
Published: February 2015

The paper presents an approach and real life results for the statistical analysis of operational windows for weather sensitive marine activities of limited durations (hours to days), based on the application of two statistical distributions: the four parameters Johnson distribution and the K distribution.

In the offshore industry, operations like heavy lift, pipeline tie-in, topside float-over can be carried out only when strict multi parameter limit conditions in term of wave height, wave period, wave direction - and, occasionally, wind and current speeds - are met over periods ranging from a few hours to a few days.

Reliable statistical analysis of occurrence and duration of such conditions - windows of opportunity - is an important planning tool to identify the most suitable season for operation, the vessel characteristics to minimize downtime and even the most appropriate operative approach - e.g. active vs. passive ballasting in float-over. This allows the minimization of overall cost and duration of the operation.

Present availability of long time series of metocean data, mostly from numerical models, allows the identification of windows of opportunity subject to complex sets of operative conditions, such as the concomitant occurrence wave, current and wind impacting on the vessel. However, the subsequent evaluation of the statistical properties (average duration, percentiles etc.) of operational windows from sample data is usually quite noisy, especially when the analysis is required on seasonal/monthly basis.

The robustness of the assessment can be improved with the use of suitable statistical distributions to fit sample data. In this context, the four parameters Johnson distributions and the K-distribution have the flexibility to fit windows of opportunity data and be used to evaluate their statistical properties.

The paper reviews the characteristics of both distributions, describes methods to fit them on sample data (estimators) and provides some examples of applications and preliminary comparison of performance with data and conditions derived from real life float-over operations.
TLP Motion Effect on Semisubmersible Motion
Authors: Abyn H. , Maimun A. , Jaswar Jaswar , Rafiqul Islam M. , Siow C.L. , Bodaghi Behnam
Published: February 2015

The present paper studies numerically and experimentally hydrodynamic responses of a moored four columns semi-submersible with/without presence of another TLP shaped floating structure in regular waves. The six degree of freedom motions of the model moored on springs measured by the optical tracking system (Qualisys Camera) that captures the positions of the reflective optical tracking markers placed on the model. In numerical study, hydrodynamic problems are investigated by using HydroStar which is based on three-dimensional source distribution method, within the scope of linear wave theory and using frequency domain.

In recent years, the applications of floating platforms are going to be widespread with the exploration of oil and gas resources. They have moved to further than 2000m water depth and target the 3000m range. Unlike seagoing ships, moored floating offshore structures such as semisubmersibles and TLP are usually positioned at a given location at sea and their motion is externally constrained by the moorings. Motion response of a floating structure should be kept adequately low to guarantee the safety of risers and umbilical pipes as most important components in the equipment of oil production. The less amounts of motion the more safe operation is.

The experiment was conducted under condition as follows: time peak period (Tp) 1.85 – 2.15 second and significant (Hs) wave height 7.29 – 10 cm. Surge, heave and pitch response amplitude operation (RAO) of moored semisubmersible at different wave frequencies were plotted. Then the RAOs plotted for semisubmersible leeward of the other moored structure. The results of the floating structure interaction in surge, heave, and pitch motion were discussed and showed presence of TLP affect the motion responses of Semisubmersible in all directions.

This paper: Investigating the feasibility of installing two floating structures beside each other in deep water; evaluating the interaction effect on floating structure; evaluating amount of Response Amplitude of Operation.
A New Method for Wettability Alteration by Use of Cold Atmospheric Pressure Argon/Oxygen Plasma Torch
Authors: Heidari Mohammad A. , Habibi Ali , Ayatollahi Shahab , Sohbatzadeh Farshad
Published: February 2015

Wettability is always an important issue for reservoir engineers. Wettability alteration is one of the significant indexes to show the capability of oil recovery of reservoir. In the recent years, various approaches to change wettability have been suggested by scientists and researchers such as chemical flooding and nanofluid injection. The purpose, in oil wet condition, is to change wettability to water wet condition to obtain more recovery. A lot of different methods for wettability measurement such as Contact Angle, Amott methods and USBM are proposed by Anderson and others. The most accurate method is contact angle for wettability measurement.

Plasma is one of the four fundamental states of matter. Heating a gas may ionize its molecules or atoms thus turning it into a plasma which contains charged particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions. A nonthermal plasma is in general any plasma which is not in thermodynamic equilibrium, either because the ion temperature is different from the electron temperature or because the velocity distribution of one of the species does not follow a distribution. The effect of cold atmospheric argon/oxygen plasma torch based on dielectric barrier discharge was investigated on different surfaces. The experiments were conducted on the mica, glass slide and slice of dolomite core surface which is aged with oil and without oil and on a dolomite core with oil after waterflooding. The time interval of plasma torch treatment on these surfaces were 1, 3 and 5 minutes and contact angle measurements done 1, 14 and 28 minutes after plasma treatment. The range of contact angle decrease is between 5 to 41 degree and Fourier Transform Infrared Radiation (FTIR) spectroscopy was carried out for analysis of surface chemistry. It is worth mentioning, however, that it is a novel method and requires more investigation in order to be feasible in reservoir conditions.
Inflow Performance Relationship for Horizontal Wells Producing from Multi-Layered Heterogeneous Solution Gas-Drive Reservoirs
Authors: Khalid Muhammad Ali , Alnuaim Sami , Rammay Muzammil Hussain
Published: February 2015

Oil well performance is measured by the assessment of its Inflow Performance & Outflow Performance Relationships (IPR & OPR).

Since 1968, Vogel equation has been used extensively for analyzing the IPR of flowing oil wells under solution gas drive. However, the Vogel curve was originally developed for vertical wells and may not be applicable to horizontal wells due to the fact that the flow into a horizontal well, with overlying gas cap, is different than flow into a vertical well. In addition, current used inflow performance relationship models for horizontal wells are impractical in nature, mainly developed for homogeneous reservoirs, and not suitable for multi-layered systems with different permeability. Thus, there is a need for new practical IPR model that considers the effects of reservoir heterogeneity on IPR curves for horizontal wells producing from two-phase reservoirs overlaid by gas cap.

This study investigates the effects of reservoir heterogeneity on IPR curves for horizontal wells drilled in heterogeneous reservoirs. To achieve the desired objective, commercial simulator Eclipse, is utilized to develop IPR's for horizontal wells producing from solution gas drive reservoirs. Firstly, a simulation model is developed where a base case is considered with typical rock, fluid and reservoir properties using black oil model. Dimensionless IPR curves are generated by obtaining a set of points relating flowing bottom-hole pressures to oil production rates. The effects of several reservoir and fluid properties such as bubblepoint pressure, oil gravity, residual oil saturation, critical gas saturation, initial water saturation, porosity and absolute permeabilities on the calculated curves are investigated. Reservoir heterogeneity is included in the simulation model by introducing the concept of semi-variogram function. Finally, an attempt is made to converge the results into one simple model in order to get a new empirical IPR correlation for horizontal wells producing from heterogeneous solution gas drive reservoirs suitable for systems with different reservoir permeability. The new empirical IPR model was then compared to the published correlations and found to have a small and acceptable average absolute error of less than 2%.
Application of Digital Core Analysis (DCA) and Pore Network Modeling (PNM) Based on 3D Micro-CT Images for an EOR Project in a Mature Oil Field in East Malaysia
Authors: Bt W Mohd Zainudin W. Nur Safawati , Md Zain Zahidah , Riepe Lutz
Published: February 2015

For the optimization of an EOR project in a major mature oil field in East Malaysia, an extensive Routine and Special Core Analysis(RCA/SCAL) program has been performed on unconsolidated clastic reservoir rocks from a recently cored development well. Due to limited availability of suitable size of homogeneous core plugs for "conventional " flooding and lab experiments, a complementary analysis of petrophysical and mineralogical properties was performed based on the acquisition of high resolution 3D Micro-CT(MCT) images, SEM-EDX and application of Pore Network Modeling(PNM) techniques. Imaging enables to identify subregions of plugs damaged during coring and retrieval that remain in a good condition; from these region reliable static reservoir parameters are derived.

Generation of "static" parameters and a comparison with routine RCA/SCAL results, PNM simulations of primary drainage and imbibition, resulting pc, Kr curves and the residual oil saturations(ROS) were undertaken. Mapping of wettability highlights the impact of clay and its role in characterizing the multiphase flow properties. Investigations were performed to visualize effects of wettability changes due to cleaning, restoration and flushing of the cores by acquisition of MCTs at "native"and "restored" state conditions; variation of the ROS due to wettability changes were observed. The impact of wettability is directly quantified via PNM sensitivity studies. In view of the planned iWAG process to increase the recovery, water injectivity tests and formation damage studies in the lab were compared. Potential causes for formation damage were monitored and visualized by comparing registrations of 3D MCTs at different stages of the flooding and formation damage experiments.

The application of 3D MCTs and PNM proved to be a unique new option to visualize and understand the sensitivities during the handling of cores and to quantify potential effects of the experimental procedures on the multiphase flow in conventional flooding experiments. Thus, the Digital Core Analysis and PNM technology is a complementary alternative for the optimized investigation of EOR, especially in cases where the application of conventional laboratory investigations are limited due to the status of the core material and resulting potential experimental artefacts.
A Novel Model to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Polymer Flooding in Offshore Oilfield
Authors: Jiang Hanqiao , Chen Fuzhen , Li Yao , Zheng Wei , Sun Liang
Published: February 2015

Polymer flooding has been widely used in the development of offshore oilfield as its significant EOR performance, which can achieve high oil recovery during the short service life of offshore platform. Effectiveness evaluation is an important aspect in polymer flooding application, and the results will affect the adjustment of polymer flooding. However, there is not too much study focusing on this field until now.

In this paper, an evaluation model was developed to estimate the effectiveness of polymer flooding. The response characteristics of polymer flooding were studied by the core flooding experiments. The comparison experiments of water flooding and polymer flooding were conducted to investigate the dynamic performance of production parameters during the flooding process. The results showed that the most significant performance is the "U" shape of water cut curve which indicate the effectiveness of polymer flooding. It also can be observed that the injection pressure and the oil recovery will increase when polymer flooding works, and their variation ranges have positive correlation with the effectiveness of polymer flooding. To get more details of geology and production parameters affect the polymer flooding effectiveness, numerical simulation model was built based on the data of Bohai oilfield. The influences of eight optimized parameters on polymer flooding effectiveness were studied by numerical simulation. Parameter sensitivity analysis was conducted by grey correlation method and the rank can be obtained according to the influence of each parameter on polymer flooding effectiveness. The results showed that mobility ratio, permeability variation coefficient and injection time are the top three parameters which indicate that they have more important influence to polymer flooding effectiveness. Then a multi-parameter response system was developed to describe the relationship between eight parameters and polymer flooding effectiveness. Consequently, a comprehensive effectiveness evaluation model was built which include the response characteristics summarization, parameter sensitivity analysis and multi-parameter response system evaluation. The effectiveness of polymer flooding can be evaluated and its key influence factors can be obtained by this model. It has been used in the evaluation of polymer flooding in Suizhong 36-1 well group in Bohai offshore oilfield in China, with inaccuracy of 7.83%.
Deepwater Subsea Waterjet Impact on HSE
Authors: Kivisto Bruce
Published: February 2015

Deepwater subsea waterjet technology provides an opportunity to prepare for tier 2 and tier 3 oil spill emergencies and has been developed to enable safe, efficient and reliable means of addressing common subsea maintenance and repair operations.

Deepwater subsea waterjet technology extends well known surface-based waterjet techniques into the deepwater subsea space. It was developed in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill incident and is directly applicable to subsea emergency response situations. Several benefits resulting from the physical embodiment of deepwater subsea waterjet equipment make it desirable as a replacement to other traditional cutting equipment systems.

Inclusion of deepwater subsea waterjet cutting and blasting equipment in the group of normal maintenance and emergency response related assets proactively addresses several potential problems associated with other cutting methods. The equipment also opens several opportunities to enhance safety and efficiency of subsea maintenance and repair operations.

Problems:Limited ability to respond to tier 2 and tier 3 oil spills and/or oil and gas incidents resulting from exploration and production activities in deep and in ultra-deep water.Fire and explosion hazard when cutting into active flow lines.Risk of support asset entrapment when cutting loaded beams and support structures.Large mechanical stresses incurred when removing weight coating from flow line.

Opportunities:Increased diver and asset safety during routine and emergency response operations.Higher efficiency in decommissioning and maintenance activities.Acquire and prepare highly effective emergency response assets.

Diver and ROV safety is enhanced because the tool in a waterjet system cannot bind in the cut to cause entrapment of the asset thereby jeopardizing asset integrity. It also eliminates the gas pocket ignition hazard associated with some mechanical and thermal cutting methods. The equipment is operated via a single tether (umbilical) to reduce complexity and hazards aboard the deploying asset such as dive support vessel or production platform.
Floating Production Solutions for South East Asia
Authors: Spilker Maarten , Katarya Amit
Published: February 2015

Historically, FPSO's have been the floating production solution of choice in Asia. Until 2012 only one Spar (Malaysia) and one TLP (Indonesia) has been installed. No Semisubmersible production units have been installed in South East Asia to date.

In the coming decade a large number of deepwater fields will be developed. We will see a large increase of TLPs, Spars & Semisubmersibles entering into operation. FPSO, TLP, Semisubmersible and Spar are proven solutions with mature technology and successful experience. They have been used for deepwater oil and gas production over many years worldwide. Different concepts bring with it advantages and limitations.

Before a field development concept is selected many design parameters need to be evaluated.

The primary drivers to be examined for concept selection are:Water Depth - Major impact on mooring designReservoir Shapes - Drilling requirementsMetocean ConditionsPayloadWell access requirements - Dry tree or wet tree.Availability of infrastructure and market locationPlatform DrillingImplication on Cap-Ex, Op-Ex for each concept

This paper discusses the selection criteria for application in Asia and also addresses design, fabrication and installation challenges. It will discuss the recent trend towards using Tender Assisted Drilling versus a permanently installed drilling facility and the associated challenges and solutions.
Vortex Induced Vibration and Thermal Cycle Analysis of a Complex Subsea Clad Jumper
Authors: Zhao D. , He N. , Feng X.H. , Yang H. , Sun G.M.
Published: February 2015

PANYU 35-1/2 project loaded in South China Sea is designed to use rigid jumper to transport production fluid between two subsea components, for example, a well and a PLEM, or a PLEM and a PLET. The offset distance between the components (such as trees, flowlines, and manifolds) dictates the jumper length and characteristics. The petroleum resource in this field is high erosion (CO2 up to 17.2mol%), and usual under high pressure(up to 40MPa) and/or high temperature(up to 103°C), which turn out to be several technical difficulties for the jumper design. The assessment of the fatigue life of a subsea jumper subject to vortex induced vibration (VIV) and thermal cycle is a difficult and important engineering problem.

The paper focus on:State the key points of CRA clad pipe material used for the rigid jumper design, fabrication, and operation;When in areas of significant currents the jumper is subject to VIV. The complex shape of the jumper means that numerical methods are used to solve for the vibration modes of the jumper;Jumpers are expected to experience low-frequency/high-stress fatigue during successive heating and cooling cycles. Fatigue at the jumpers shall be evaluated based on expected number of cycles with FEA method;Coupling VIV and Thermal Cycle Analysis for the jumper, get the optimization method for the jumper design.

This paper examines each problem area, and sets out a optimization method, which is economical and practical for jumper design analyses.
Fit for Purpose Technology for Idle Well Reactivation - A Novel Application of Surface Jet Pump in Offshore Malaysia
Authors: Hassan Hani Sufia , Oktobaren Robby , Yahia Zaidil
Published: February 2015

Brownfield is often associated with challenges to optimize production in cost effective manner due to declining well productivity and escalating cost. PCSB in its aspiration to reduce Idle Wells Inventory has extensively applied fit for purpose technologies to reactivate stranded oil and gas producers. This paper describes how such technology; Surface Jet Pump (SJP) provides solutions to reactivate oil producers in "J" field and gas producers in "A" field at two of PCSB's unmanned platforms, Offshore Malaysia.

"J" field is a marginal field development with minimal facility onboard. Full production stream is evacuated to the nearest facility via 53 km pipeline. Four years into production phase, some producers start to produce at high gas oil ratios (GOR) and high Flowing Tubing Head Pressures (FTHP) which created backpressure at the production header. Since the platform has no processing facility to manage the pressure variation, the high pressure (HP) wells had to be closed and allow the more productive low pressure (LP) wells to flow. Due to the space and power limitations on the platform, the feasibility of using SJP was assessed using network modeling. Following the assessment, SJP was installed in Sept 2012 and is deemed successful where it currently contributes between 11–15% of "J" field's total production and has reactivated 100% of the Idle Wells.

The "A" field, located offshore Peninsular Malaysia has 138 oil producers and 65 gas producers. Sixty of the gas producers located on one platform where there are two production systems; the HP for the non-associated gas and LP that is being utilized as three-phase production system. After seven years of production, the pressures in several gas wells have declined to the level that they are not able to flow to the HP system and became idle. SJP has been identified as an interim solution to produce the idle wells while waiting for booster compressor installation. The SJP was installed utilizing high pressure gas from HP compressor as the motive gas which has successfully reactivated 8 idle gas wells and boosted production on 4 other low rate gas wells with total production gain of 15 MMSCFD.
Improving Production in a Brownfield by Optimising the Placement of Horizontal Water Injector in Thin Clastic Reservoir: A Case Study from Malay Basin
Authors: Jamaluddin M.S.R. , Hanalim L. , Suwarlan W. , Permanasari D. , Santoso G.I. , Brahmanto E. , Lwin M.M. , Alang K.A.
Published: February 2015

Most of the hydrocarbon bearing sands in Angsi, Malay Basin, have been identified as thin sands with average thickness of less than 8-m. Thus, reservoir development has become challenging. One of the effective ways to develop this field is by drilling highly deviated or horizontal wells. Based on the field study, water injection was the chosen technique to manage the reservoir pressure during depletion in the reservoir.

After long production, one of the thin reservoirs in Angsi has become highly depleted and was in critical need of injection. This reservoir is distributed widely in the field, with an average thickness of one meter. Due to the sand thickness, the most efficient way to place an injector well is to drill horizontally in the depleted part of the reservoir. However, placing a horizontal well in this depleted thin sand posed significant challenge for the drilling operation, including to land accurately at the target sand, avoiding premature exit from the target reservoir due to geological uncertainties, and managing the borehole pressure to avoid differential sticking of the BHA. For formation evaluation, the high angle effects such as anisotropy, close vicinity to shoulder beds, and lateral property changes will make the quantitative interpretation more complex.

To address the challenges, a combination of logging-while-drilling measurements namely near-bit gamma ray, average and deep directional resistivity for boundary detection, azimuthal density, neutron porosity, and formation pressure measurements were used to land and optimize the well in the thin sand, executed by a collaborative experts from subsurface, drilling, and geosteering team. High angle well modeling was also conducted to extract the true formation properties and explain the high angle effects to the measurements. As a result, the well was placed optimally in the thin target reservoir for 300-m length as per objective, with improved quantitative petrophysical evaluation.

In this case study, the comprehensive work from pre-drill planning, drilling execution including 24 hours real-time monitoring to steer the well, to post well evaluation and modeling will be discussed. Lessons learnt, best practices, and recommendation of drilling and evaluating similar well will also be shared in this paper.
Housings, Closures, and Connectors for Underwater Instruments
Authors: Williams Albert J.
Published: February 2015

Underwater sensors require either pressure and water resisting housings or pressure exposed but water isolated packaging. This paper describes types of housings and their characteristics.

Pressure exposed packages are lightweight and inexpensive, relying upon the inherent pressure tolerance of many electronic circuits and discrete components. But most sensors and complete instruments are more conservatively constructed, tested, and calibrated in dry accessible packages that are housed in pressure resisting cases.

Criteria of corrosion resistance, size, weight, cost, and compatibility with associated other housings and cables must be considered. Choices of material include glass, ceramic, aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium. Closures often influence choice of material. Design of closure from vacuum sealed dry lapped glass to O-ring seals offer economy versus user accessibility. Penetrators for electrical connections are easily installed in metal end caps but optical or inductive connections can be made through glass. Corrosion protection and/or isolation from dissimilar metals are essential with metal housings. Plastics, including fiber reinforced plastics, offer some of the advantages of metals with reduced corrosion but bring new concerns including cold flow and water wicking. Metal backed plastic housings obviate some of these concerns at a cost in complexity.

All of these play a role in design and selection of sensor or instrument housings. Experiences with most of these housings are presented with lessons learned and cost to benefit analysis is offered for each. This should serve as a guide for design of instrument housings for various applications