E&P Notes (January 2018)
Authors: Zborowski Matt , Whitfield Stephen 
Published: December 2017

E&P Notes

Sakhalin-1 Extended-Reach Well Eclipses 15000 m

Matt Zborowski, Technology Writer

The Sakhalin-1 consortium has drilled a 15000-m horizontal well from the Orlan platform at Chayvo field in the Sea of Okhotsk, topping four previous wells drilled between 2013 and 2015 that reached between 12,450 ft and 13,500 ft.

Partner Rosneft described the well as “super complex” with a 14129-m stepout drilled about 5 km offshore. Sakhalin-1 has been a proving ground for extended-reach drilling (ERD) technology since the first well was drilled there more than a decade ago. More recently, development well O-14 in 2015 was drilled to 13500 m, well Z-40 in 2014 reached 13000 m, and in 2013 wells Z-43 and Z-42 extended to 12450 m and 12700 m, respectively.

 

Case Study: Drone Technology Inspection of UK North Sea Facility 

Stephen Whitfield, Senior Staff Writer

Intel and Cyberhawk, a company that uses drones for asset inspection, released a case study in which commercial unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology helped automate an existing oil and gas inspection workflow within a live structure.

The study involved the successful inspection of a gas terminal in St. Fergus, Scotland, with the Intel Falcon 8+, a drone designed to provide unobstructed data capture for 3D reconstruction. The Falcon 8+ captured 1,100 images, translating to 12 GB of data, over the span of 2 days. The data could be used for asset maintenance including premaintenance inspection, repair work, resource planning, and maintenance prioritization.

 

ConocoPhillips Brings Another North Slope Development on Production

Matt Zborowski, Technology Writer

ConocoPhillips’ operated 1H NEWS viscous oil development, or Northeast West Sak, has started production at the Kuparuk River Unit, 40 miles west of Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope. The company expects 1H NEWS to flow 8,000 B/D at peak in 2018.

The development, which involved a 9.3-acre extension to the existing Kuparuk Drill Site 1H, comprises 19 new wells with several vertical injection wells supporting horizontal multilateral production wells. Drilling began in August 2017.

Production started 2 months ahead of schedule, ConocoPhillips said, adding that the project’s estimated cost of $400 million gross is $60 million lower than the company’s initial estimate. Permitting for 1H NEWS was announced in 2014, and funding and development for the project was approved in 2015.

 

Total Boosts LNG Business With Purchase of Engie Assets

Matt Zborowski, Technology Writer

Total is expanding its global LNG presence by acquiring assets from Engie for up to $2.04 billion.

The deal will provide the French supermajor with 2.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of liquefaction capacity, including a 16.6% interest in Louisiana’s Cameron LNG export terminal—where three trains are under construction and two more can be added—as well as a 5% interest in the first train of Egypt’s Idku LNG project.

Total will expand its portfolio of LNG purchase-and-sale contracts, adding supply from Algeria, Nigeria, Norway, Russia, Qatar, and the US with outlets between Europe and Asia.

The firm also will gain access to 14 mtpa in regasification capacity in Europe and add 10 LNG tankers to its three existing carriers.

 

AIME Releases Report on Council of Excellence Innovation Efforts

The American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) has released a report titled, “In Pursuit of Technological Innovation,” that outlines the goals and initial analysis of the AIME Council of Excellence, established in 2014 by Behrooz Fattahi, the AIME President at the time. The report is available for free download at www. aimehq.org/programs/collab-orative-efforts/council-of-excellence/article-1.

The mission of the AIME Council of Excellence is to convene highly regarded technical experts representing the AIME member societies to continuously identify technologies (mature and/or leading edge) that might have innovative application in the industries served by these societies. These member societies include TMS (The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society), SME (Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration), AIST (Association for Iron and Steel Technology), and SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers).  The 2003 TMS President, Dan Thoma, and 2007 TMS President, Robert Shull, are the TMS representatives to the Council of Excellence and coauthors of the report.