E&P Notes (April 2015)
Authors: Jacobs Trent , Betz Jack , Rassenfoss Stephen 
Published: February 2016

E&P Notes

Gauging an Unconventional Shale Well

Trent Jacobs, JPT Technology Writer

For more than 50 years pressure transient tests have been used to model conventional reservoir properties in wells all over the world. In unconventional reservoirs, it was first assumed this kind of test could not be done; however, a sensitive pressure gauge technology makes it possible.

One way of conducting a pressure transient test involves letting a new well flow for a bit, shutting it in, and measuring the pressure build up. The test data can be used to deduce parameters such as permeability, skin, or reservoir pressure. But in unconventional shale wells this method is not typically considered economically feasible because it would take too long, anywhere from 6 months to 10 years. “The tighter the permeability, the tighter the formation, the longer that pressure build up takes,” said Adam Swartley, a business development manager with Halliburton.

BP Outlook Sees North America as Net Energy Exporter in 2015

Jack Betz, JPT Staff Writer

North America will transition from a net importer of energy to a net exporter this year, according to BP Energy Outlook 2035.

While the Middle East will remain the largest energy exporting region, BP’s chief economist, Spencer Dale, said its market share will shrink 10% by 2035.

Conventional oil will continue to make up the vast majority of global liquids supply by volume by 2035, followed by natural gas liquids and tight oil. Two-thirds of the world’s tight oil will come from the US, but growth in US tight oil production will plateau, the report said.

The US will still be producing the most shale gas of any single country by 2035. Half of all growth in global natural gas supply will come from nonshale sources in countries that are not members of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Selling a New Way of Looking Into Rocks

Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

FEI is a maker of high-powered microscopes whose growth plan in exploration and production includes building a service company. A significant part of the plan opened recently in Houston, a digital rock imaging center in the heart of the energy technology center on the city’s west side.

It is the third such center for FEI’s USD 30 million a year natural resources division, which covers oil and gas as well as other mineralogy and geoscience users. About half of those revenues come from rock testing, which is needed in an industry where many companies rely on third-party testing, said Don Kania, chief executive officer of FEI. The rest of its revenues come from sales of equipment and software, which benefit from what it learns working with customers. Its other digital rock testing centers are in Trondheim, Norway, and Canberra, Australia, which are the homes of two companies acquired to build the business.

Renaming of New Construction Vessel Offers a World War II History Lesson

Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

Allseas Engineering’s giant new offshore construction vessel has a new name, prior to its first job. What was once the Pieter Schelte is now the Pioneering Spirit.

The change occurred in early February after Jewish groups protested that the original namesake, a pioneer in creating the heavy lift offshore business, supported the Nazi war effort by serving in the SS during World War II.

The company said the vessel’s new name, “reflects what she stands for: a new technological step in platform installation and decommissioning. It also fits the 30-year tradition of Allseas to pioneer and surpass technical boundaries.”