bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Formation Mineralogy Affects Scale-Inhibitor Squeeze Designs
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 113261, "Formation Mineralogy Impacts Scale-Inhibitor Squeeze Designs," by Rick Gdanski, SPE, Halliburton, originally prepared for the 2008 SPE Europec/EAGE Conference and Exhibition, Rome, 9-12 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Scale-inhibitor squeeze designs often are developed using short-core laboratory flow tests for estimating treatment life and fluid/rock compatibility. Laboratory tests provide a relatively high level of successful squeeze designs. However, occasionally, squeeze treatments cause unexpected production loss and have a short squeeze life. The full-length paper discusses how formation mineralogy can improve successful designs of squeeze treatments even before laboratory tests are conducted. A radial model was used to demonstrate key principles of optimizing treatments.

Introduction

Prevention of formation damage and plugged perforations caused by scaling brines is a common challenge for producing wells. The consequences of uncontrolled scale can be particularly costly in offshore subsea installations. Deposits that can occur in the formation near the wellbore and in the tubulars often are mitigated with scale inhibitors by squeezing them into the formation. It might be expected that there would be an optimum "normalized" squeeze design that would be applicable for nearly all formations. However, this is not the case because of the variation in formation mineralogy. Squeeze designs that work very efficiently at preventing scale in one area may not provide the same performance in another area. Unfortunately, squeeze treatments that show no damaging effects in one formation may show extensive production loss in another. The work described in the full-length paper was conducted to demonstrate a systematic approach to designing scale-inhibitor squeeze treatments on the basis of formation mineralogy, porosity, water-production rate, and minimum inhibitor concentration (MIC).

Formation Mineralogy

Often, it is tempting simply to consider a sandstone formation as having a generic composition, consisting mostly of quartz with some feldspars, clays, and perhaps some carbonate. However, the specific compositions of the nonquartz mineral groups can be very important in understanding fluid/rock interactions, acidizing challenges, and scale-inhibitor adsorption and desorption.

Smectite.

Some formations respond poorly to weak brines because of clay swelling. Smectite often exists as a separate mineral. However, it is more often found in the form of mixed-layer (ML) illite-smectite clay. Not all ML clays are swellable, and so a number often is included to indicate the percentage of swellable smectitic layers. As such, ML(35) indicates an ML illite-smectite clay having 35% swellable layers. In general, smectitic clays will begin to swell when the sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration falls below approximately 6%.
Technology Focus: Coiled Tubing Applications (June 2009)
Authors: Misselbrook John
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

It is difficult to maintain an upbeat attitude when faced with the significant reduction in activity we have seen over the past few months resulting from the dramatic decline in oil and gas prices. So it was with a measure of uncertainty that I reviewed the papers being considered for this month's feature. However, while I was reading the papers, a theme began to suggest itself.

As I reflected on the technologies developed by the coiled-tubing (CT) practitioners during the past growth cycle, there appeared to have been a large effort invested in ever-more-sophisticated tools and hardware. It seemed that the purpose was not to reduce daily operating rates but instead to reduce the number of operating days (or hours). In fact, the role of technology in our industry in general has, more often than not, focused on delivering value rather than lower prices per se.

While delivering greater value will always be a key objective in the evolution of technology, the reality is that we must be more innovative when the drilling and intervention budgets are under extreme pressure and we must also find solutions that are lower in actual cost.

Accordingly, the papers I selected for this issue are examples of using old ideas in new ways. These are simple, low-cost techniques brought up to date and reapplied to current problems.

The advantage we have today is better instrumentation at the wellsite and the existence of powerful software models that allow us to examine system response to specific intervention actions. By this means, "old" ideas can be applied with a level of reliability previously unobtainable. Let us all hope that this trend can be maintained.

Coiled Tubing Applications additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

SPE 121343 • "Optimization of Milling Plugs With Coil Tubing on the Pinedale Anticline" by Brian Perry, Shell E&P Americas

SPE 121752 • "Modeling the Effect of a Downhole Vibrator" by Ken Newman, National Oilwell Varco, et al.

SPE 121736 • "Optimizing the Most Common CT Operation in the US: Findings From More Than 60 Composite Frac Plug Underbalanced Milling Operations in the Piceance Basin" by L. Castro, SPE, BJ Services, et al.
Maximizing Energy at Coalface for Coalbed-Methane Fracturing
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 114974, "Maximizing Energy at Coalface for Coalbed-Methane- Fracturing Operations," by Abbas Mahdi, SPE, Schlumberger; Mike Yu, SPE, EnCana; Doug Pipchuk, SPE, Craig Wasson, SPE, Jim Nguy, SPE, and Nathan Kathol, Schlumberger, originally prepared for the 2008 CIPC/ SPE Gas Technology Symposium Joint Conference, Calgary, 16–19 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Nitrogen coiled-tubing (CT) fracturing is the predominant method for completing and stimulating dry-coalbed-methane (CBM) formations, such as the Horseshoe Canyon in the west-ern Canadian sedimentary basin. Currently, energy that can be delivered to the coalface of these dry-CBM wells has been limited by the frictional pressure loss through CT. The full-length paper discusses the development of a technique that releases a large-volume pressure pulse downhole during the fracturing process to create an order-of-magnitude change in available energy at the fracture face.

Introduction

The Horseshoe Canyon dry-coal formations have been exploited commercially since late 2000. The Horseshoe Canyon CBM play is a unique CBM play, in that it consists of a dry underpressured coal, which does not require dewatering before production. The coal consists of multiple thin seams, ranging from 10 to 30 seams per well, that are treated individually. Coal-seam thick-ness ranges from 0.1 to 2.5 m.

The production rates from these CBM wells dictate that an efficient drilling and completion model be adopted to be economic. The wells are drilled with CT drilling rigs, cased, and cemented. Wireline perforating crews perforate the zones of interest in a rigless operation. The individual coal seams then are stimulated by injection of dry nitrogen at high rates through a CT reel equipped with a fracturing isolation tool. The dry coal has not responded well to any other form of stimulation.

To optimize the completion process, high-rate nitrogen-pumping units were developed to reduce the footprint and cost and to increase efficiency of the operation to the point where one and a half to two wells can be stimulated per day. Since the introduction of that change, various optimization initiatives have been attempted. The optimization of nitrogen-pumping rates and pumped volumes has been the focus of these attempts. High rates have been limited by the inside diameter of the CT string. Several CT sizes have been used for this application. Economics and logistics have limited the CT size for CT fracturing to 2 7/8 in. for deeper wells and 3 1/4 in. for shallow wells. The migration to bigger pipe did pro-vide some reduction in frictional pressure loss, but effective pressure at the coalface still was not transported from the surface efficiently.
Technology Focus: EOR Operations (June 2009)
Authors: Bonet-Cunha Luciane
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

Welcome to the Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Operations feature. This past year provided stimulating and rewarding times for all involved with EOR technologies. The interest in EOR technologies is higher than ever, despite the current fall in global crude-oil prices, which, by the way, is believed to be temporary by most analysts. This amplified attention in the EOR area results from the decrease of new discoveries and the ever-increasing number of maturing fields worldwide. It is expected that many EOR projects planned in the recent past will be implemented in the coming years. Thus, it is fundamental to revisit the lessons learned from previous EOR applications and to pay attention to the development of new techniques.

Regarding technical publications, this past year alone, more than 300 SPE papers related to EOR were presented at various SPE events. As a result, the EOR feature is divided this year: EOR Performance and Modeling published in January and EOR Operations published in this issue. The papers featured here will give you only a few examples of the immense amount of high-quality material that was published last year. I hope that you enjoy reading these paper highlights and that you will search for additional interesting contributions that are available in the SPE eLibrary (OnePetro as of 1 July 2009).

IPTC 11613 • "Blending Optimization of Contaminated Gas in a Miscible Gasflood" by J.T. van Berkel, SPE, Shell International E&P, et al.
Characterize Scaling Damage From Pressure Measurements
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 112500, "A New Method To Characterize Scaling Damage From Pressure Measurements," by T. Carageorgos, M. Marotti, and P. Bredrikovetsky, SPE, North Fluminense State University, prepared for the 2008 SPE International Symposium and Exhibition on Formation Damage Control, Lafayette, Louisiana, 13-15 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Productivity-decline prediction is based on mathematical modeling with well-known model coefficients. The sulfate-scaling system contains two governing parameters: the kinetics coefficient, λ, characterizing the velocity of chemical reaction, and the formation damage coefficient, β, showing how the permeability decreases because of salt precipitation. This paper extends previous works with commingled injection of two incompatible waters into the same core with two different ratios of formation water (FW) to seawater (SW).

Introduction

Barium- and strontium-sulfate scaling is a major problem in waterflood projects with incompatible formation and injected waters. Barium sulfate and resulting scale causes formation damage near the production-well zone. This phenomenon is attributed to precipitation of barium and strontium sulfates from the mixture of both waters and the consequent permeability reduction resulting in loss of well productivity. The chemical incompatibility between the injected SW, which is high in sulfate ions, and the FW, which originally contains high concentrations of barium, calcium, and/or strontium ions, may reduce well productivity, making the waterflood project uneconomical.

A reliable model that is capable of predicting such scaling problems would help in planning a waterflood project. It also could aid in selecting an effective scale-prevention technique by predicting scaling tendency, type, and potential severity. A reliable predictive model must use well-known values of the model coefficients.

The mathematical model for sulfate scaling contains two phenomenological parameters: λ from the active-mass law of chemical reaction showing how fast the reaction and precipitation occurs, and β reflecting the permeability decrease caused by sulfate-salt deposit. Both coefficients depend on rock-surface mineralogy, pore-space structure, temperature, and brine ionic strength. Therefore, they cannot be calculated theoretically for natural reservoirs and must be deter-mined from laboratory corefloods.

Reagent- and deposition-concentration profiles during reactive flows are nonuniform, so the sulfate-damage parameters cannot be calculated directly from laboratory measurements. They must be determined from laboratory coreflood data by use of inverse-problem solutions.

The λ can be calculated from break-through concentration in a quasisteady-state coreflood with commingled injection of FW and SW. Then β can be determined from the pressure-drop increase during flooding.
Doomsday Rhetoric Ignores Signs of Growth in Global Production Capacity
Authors: Mobed Ron
Published: February 2015

Guest editorial - No abstract available.
Techbits (July 2004)
Authors: Daneshy Ali , Ghalambor Ali
Published: February 2015

Techbits - No abstract available.
Progress and Challenges for Health, Safety, and the Environment in Exploration and Production (July 2004)
Authors: Arscott Lyn
Published: February 2015

Management - No abstract available.
Spotlight on R&D: Production Operations R&D - Optimizing Performance From the Sandface to the Tanks
Authors: Ayoub Joseph A. , Hill A. Dan , Montgomery Carl T. , Scott Stuart L.
Published: February 2015

Spotlight on R&D series - This is the fourth of a series of articles on the state of research and development (R&D) in the major upstream technological disciplines. The Spotlight on R&D Series, comprising articles published in JPT during 2004 and 2005, is available as a collection on OnePetro (SPE-101432-JPT).
Coiled-Tubing-Conveyed Fracturing: an Alternative to Workover Rigs
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 89446, "Coiled- Tubing-Conveyed Fracturing Technique Provides Economic Alternative to Workover Rigs in Stimulation Campaign," by Achour Allouti, Bachir Ben Amor, and Ali Ferhat, Sonatrach, and Mark Oettli, Avel Ortiz, and Jodi Wood, Schlumberger, prepared for the 2004 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 23-24 March.
Acidizing a Horizontal Openhole Completion With Coiled Tubing
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 84129, "Sandstone Acidizing Treatment of a Horizontal Openhole Completion Using Coiled Tubing From a Deepwater Floating Production Platform," by F.L. Hardin, SPE, M.D. Barry, SPE, and C.E. Shuchart, SPE, ExxonMobil, and R.D. Gdanski, SPE, D.W. Ritter, SPE, and D.V. Huynh, SPE, Halliburton Energy Services, prepared for the 2003 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Denver, 5-8 October.
Solid Expandable Tubulars for Constructing Extended-Reach Wells
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 87209, "Breakthroughs Using Solid Expandable Tubulars to Construct Extended-Reach Wells," by Karl Demong, SPE, Halliburton Energy Services; Mark Rivenbark, SPE, Enventure Global Technology; and David Mason, SPE, Shell Technology Ventures, prepared for the 2004 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Dallas, 2-4 March.
Multilateral Wells Improve Development in Heavy-Oil Field
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 87207, "Multilateral/ Intelligent Wells Improve Development of Heavy-Oil Field: A Case History," by Pascal Rump, SPE, Baker Oil Tools, and Ronjoy Bairagi, John Fraser, SPE, and Klaus Mueller, SPE, Petroleum Development Oman, prepared for the 2004 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, Dallas, 2-4 March.
Waste-Management Facilities in Remote Areas
Authors: Denney Dennis
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 86660, "Recent Experiences: Building Waste-Management Facilities in Remote Areas," by Evan Sedlock, Rob Hoffmann, SPE, Jimoh Ainodion, Steve Pegors, and Fidel Gonzalez, ChevronTexaco, prepared for the 2004 SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production, Calgary, 29-31 March.
Overview: Well Stimulation (July 2005)
Authors: Dusterhoft Ron
Published: February 2015

Well, it never fails. All good planning aside, here I am preparing this stimulation overview on an airplane the day before it is due. I am reminded of being back in school, but only briefly because the issues that seem to be facing myself and many others in our industry today are more and more demanding and time-consuming than they were back in school. As a result, items such as this tend to slip right to the point where they suddenly become a major priority just when they need to be completed.

Reviewing the papers for this year’s selections, however, was no small task. There were many, many very good quality papers written on a very wide range of stimulation-related topics from locations around the world. This year, being limited to four primary selections meant that four very good papers had to be listed as additional reading, and I strongly recommend that you consider reading these papers.

I was struck this year by the amount of diversity that exists in the subject we call “stimulation” in our industry. In the rather large group of papers that were evaluated for this section, the wide range of subject matter clearly demonstrated how different geographic regions often require different well architecture and different stimulation solutions. It appears that the industry has matured tremendously over the years and that we clearly have developed specific areas of expertise to address specific requirements. With this specialization happening in our industry, it is becoming more important for us to communicate effectively to learn from one another’s experience. I think that it is quite difficult to maintain expertise over a subject as broad as stimulation, but it is important for us to keep well informed because of continuous technical developments on several fronts.

In the selections this year, I tried to pick papers from different locations where our industry is active to demonstrate the types of difficult problems being addressed and the creative solutions being used.

I hope that you will find this section to be enjoyable and beneficial in helping you develop your own solutions for your own well conditions.

Available from the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

SPE 90815 - “Injection-Well Stimulation: Putting Away More for Less in California Waterfloods,” by Don McClatchie, SPE, BJ Services Co., et al.

SPE 90428 - “Fine-Scale Simulation of Sandstone Acidizing,” by C. Li, U. Texas at Austin, et al.

SPE 90158 - “The Keys to Successfully Acidizing Horizontal Injection Wells in the Marlim Sul Field,” by Mário Germino Ferreira Da Silva, Petrobras, et al.

SPE 90792 - “Integrated Process Improves Production of the Almond Formation in the Wamsutter Field, Wyoming: A Low-Permeability Case Study of 5 Years of Continuous Improvement in Well Performance,” by Mike Mullen, Halliburton, et al.
Optimizing Fracturing-Fluid Cleanup in the Bossier Sand
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 90030, "Optimizing Fracturing-Fluid Cleanup in the Bossier Sand Using Chemical Frac Tracers and Aggressive Gel-Breaker Deployment," by R. Sullivan, SPE, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; R. Woodruff, SPE, ProTechnics Div. of Core Laboratories; A. Steinberger-Glaser, SPE, and R. Fielder, SPE, Anadarko Petroleum Corp.; and M. Asadi, SPE, ProTechnics Div. of Core Laboratories, prepared for the 2004 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 26-29 September.

Proper fluid and proppant placement are critical to a successful propped-fracture stimulation treatment. Even with effective treatment placement, well performance often is affected detrimentally by incomplete gel breaking and fluid recovery. A technique that uses a family of environmentally friendly, fracturing-fluid-compatible chemical tracers has been used to quantify segment-by-segment fracturing-fluid recovery. With this technology, individual-fluid-segment cleanup and recovery can be enhanced by optimizing fracturing-fluid selection.

Chemical Fracture Tracers (CFTs)

Chemical fracture tracing was developed to increase the understanding of the dynamics of hydraulic-fracture placement and fluid flowback/cleanup. Borrowing from many years of experience with interwell tracing, several families of nonradioactive chemical compounds were identified that could be placed in segmented portions of the fracture fluid to measure the flowback efficiency of each fluid segment. CFTs are designed to be placed in chemically differentiated and/or proppant-differentiated fluid segments of the fracturing fluid to assess the cleanup of the fracture as a function of segment fluid chemistry and/or fracture geometry.
Effective Stimulation Treatment in a Difficult Completion
Authors: Bybee Karen
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 93987, "Ensuring Effective Stimulation Treatments in Difficult Completions," by M. Willemse, SPE, O. Mostafa, M. El-Ashry, I. Abdallah, and A.A. Sattar, Bapetco, and A. Waheed, SPE, and B. Conrad, Halliburton, prepared for the 2005 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing Conference and Exhibition, The Woodlands, Texas, 12-13 April.

Achieving effective stimulation across zones not readily accessible is a common challenge in the oil field. The full-length paper presents a case history in which a sandstone reservoir not previously matrix acidized was producing at low rates and eventually died. The zones were completed between straddle packers and were accessible only through a sliding side door (SSD) 100 ft above the perforations. A true fluidic oscillator (TFO) was included as a stimulation tool. This tool provides a continuous pressure pulse that causes solids buildup in the perforations to fatigue and break up while the acid system works on the rock matrix.

Background

The well was an exploration well drilled in the Badr El Din field in the Western Desert of Egypt. Original plans were to target a deep formation in addition to evaluating the upper Cretaceous reservoirs. Openhole logs showed that: (1) the deep zone was water bearing and was plugged back, (2) Sands A and B were oil bearing with 5,350-psi reservoir pressure, and (3) Sand C was gas bearing with only 2,500 psi reservoir pressure.

The well required a selective completion to isolate Sands A and B from Sand C. A straddle packer with an SSD provided separation of the commingled oil zones from the gas zone that would be produced through the main production tubing. The oil zones were perforated first and produced at a 450-BOPD initial rate. The production rate declined rapidly to 200 BOPD, and the well ceased to flow within 3 months.
Stand Tall and Speak Up: Beyond Technology—Our Commitment to Social Responsibility
Authors: Sprunt Eve S.
Published: February 2015

New opportunities will increasingly involve heavy oil, or stranded natural gas, or resources in ultra-deep water. Large investments in infrastructure will be required to bring these resources to market, so it will take years just to recover the initial investments. While we are accustomed to thinking of our industry as being built on long-term relationships, the rise in the percentage of projects with huge investments in facilities will increase the importance of maintaining good relationships. For relationships to withstand the tests of time, they must be win-win for all the stakeholders, not just those who sign the contracts.

In long-term relationships, many issues that are covered by the broad category of social responsibility will take on greater importance. Definitions of social responsibility vary, but generally embrace ethical business practices, community economic development, human rights, indigenous-population care, worker rights and benefits, and a broad range of environmental issues (including climate change, water management, waste disposal, and biodiversity). Social responsibility is an umbrella term that can be considered to encompass all of what we now classify as health, environment, and safety matters.

Public perception of how we perform on the broad portfolio of social-responsibility issues has a major impact on our industry's image and plays a major role in maintaining our industry's ability to operate. In comparison with other multinational industries, the public tends to rank the petroleum industry very low. Some oil and gas companies have placed a larger emphasis on social responsibility than others and indications are that the public recognizes the commitment these companies have made. However, when major problems erupt, the industry as a whole suffers.

Trade associations have taken the lead on social responsibility issues. The Intl. Assn. of Oil & Gas Producers (www.ogp.org.uk) and the Intl. Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Assn. (www.ipieca.org), both of which were founded in 1974, are notable examples. Their memberships include private and state-owned petroleum companies, oil and gas associations, and upstream service companies. While these trade associations are providing valuable services, I believe that individual-member organizations such as SPE can also make major contributions. We can leverage our access to our almost 70,000 members worldwide.

Just as for safety, where we have learned that knowledge and accountability are everyone's business, the other social responsibility issues must not be viewed as primarily the responsibility of experts. With social responsibility issues, liability extends far beyond the confines of our company facilities. The issues that host communities consider most urgent vary widely. We need everyone to serve as a sentinel, alert to the potential opportunities and threats associated with social responsibility concerns.
Techbits: Enhancing Production in Russia's Oil and Gas Fields
Authors: JPT staff _
Published: February 2015

Nearly 100 participants in an SPE Applied Technology Workshop (ATW) in Moscow discussed the application of horizontal wells (HWs) and multilateral wells (MWs) in Russia, where horizontal drilling is widely practiced. Case studies were presented from western Siberia, Sakhalin, Canada, the Middle East, and the North Sea to stimulate discussion of where it is best to use HWs and MWs and, alternatively, where other forms of production enhancement such as hydraulic fracturing might be more appropriate. The second part of the workshop focused on execution—drilling, completion, and life-of-field monitoring.

Status of Well Technology

Sibneft Chief Engineer Iskander Diyashev opened the discussion, describing how the company has enhanced production in its Noyabrsk western Siberia operation with 50% of the increase coming from HWs (even though these wells make up only 4% of the total well stock). TRACS-Consult Petroleum Engineering Consultant Robert Holtslag gave an overview of HWs in Russia where there are ≈2,500 of a worldwide total of ≈75,000. The Russian wells have productivity improvement (PI) factors in the range of 1.2–3. Holtslag pointed out that a major challenge is to increase the lower end of this range so that more HWs have robust economics. Schlumberger Middle East Chief Reservoir Engineer Fikri Kuchuk examined HW and MW performance, emphasizing the shortfall in performance as a result of inadequate cleanup, water sumps in the wellbore, and uneven pressure distribution in the near-wellbore formation that may reduce the PI factor to 30–50% of its potential value. He stressed the importance of drilling horizontal sections, which avoids sumps and highs where water and gas can accumulate. Sibneft Reservoir Engineer Elena Khairulina presented implementation of modeling HW performance using many examples from Noyabrsk.

Case Histories and Screening

Sibneft Reservoir Engineer Larisa Gaponova described the optimization of Sugmutsky field development by use of HWs. The peak oil production almost doubled with a much smaller number of wells. She compared a 500-m-long HW with a vertical well (VW) with a vertical hydraulic fracture. The initial PI factor was ≈4.4, stabilizing at a current value of 3, while the initial water cut was two times less than that from a typical VW and stabilized at 3.4 times less.

Sibneft Stimulation and Completion Engineer Andrey Brovchuk explained hydraulic fracturing of openhole HWs in western Siberia, showing that a post-frac improvement of 150% was achieved and that 3.5% of production was achieved from 14 HWs with hydraulic fractures.

Economides Consulting Partner Andronikus Demarchos described a transversely fractured HW in Algeria where four fractures were created with 70-m spacing along an HW. Each fracture used 100 to 200 tons of proppant. Results will become known when bridge plugs, needed in order to create multiple fractures, are drilled out.
Overview: Health, Safety and Environment (July 2006)
Authors: Veil John
Published: February 2015

Health, safety, and environment (HSE) topics continue to be in the forefront of world news. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and avian flu represent serious global health threats. The petroleum community faces other important, but less newsworthy, health issues like malaria and other tropical diseases, particularly as oil and gas are sought in increasingly remote areas.

Safety remains an important concern. Companies worry about protecting their employees from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. Security issues, such as terrorist attacks and hijacking of facilities and personnel, are a constant consideration. The complex equipment needed to access oil and gas resources thousands of meters underground also can pose safety risks for personnel. The industry's strong reliance on extended-shift work schedules also contributes to safety and health concerns.

The environmental area is highly contentious. Each day, the press expounds on global warming, carbon capture and storage, oil spills, and air and water pollution. Often, the oil and gas industry is implicated as a contributor to these problems. The public is definitely watching. Particularly in times of record oil-company profits, there is little sympathy for inadequate environmental protection from our industry.

In April, professionals from many countries gathered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for the Eighth SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. This is the foremost meeting for HSE issues within the industry. Most of the papers featured here, along with numerous other interesting papers, were presented at that meeting.

It was a pleasure to review the many HSE papers presented at SPE meetings this year. Some described successful programs and activities, while others reported on new technologies or research. Much good HSE work is taking place throughout the industry. Judging by the affiliations of the authors of the featured papers, this good work is taking place in all parts of the world. Continued commitment and leadership in studying and solving HSE problems are necessary to sustain a viable global petroleum industry.

Health, Safety, and Environment additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org

SPE 95343 "Treatment of Produced Water from Polymer-Flooding Process Using a New Type of Air-Sparged Hydrocyclone" by S. Liu, Shanghai Jiaotong U., et al.

IPTC 10911 "How Clean Is Clean? Is It Still a Debate?" by E. Garland, SPE, Total E&P.

SPE 98130 "Optimal Strategies for Dealing With Shift Work and Insomnia" by W.H. Kuo, SPE, Saudi Aramco Healthcare.
Petroleum Industry 2020: Leadership and Industry Image
Authors: Al-Khalifa Abdul-Jaleel
Published: February 2015

Have you ever been confronted in public with contentious questions about the industry you work in, likeAre we running out of oil and gas?When is the next wave of layoffs?Why do your companies pollute the environment?Is global warming bad enough to steer away from using fossil fuels?Why does "big oil" only produce hydrocarbons from poor countries but never contribute to their development?

Did you answer with confidence and clarity, or did you freeze up?

Questions like these have been asked for many years. Are they grounded in incorrect perceptions or do they hold partial truths? Either way, such questions reflect a major disconnect between our industry and the public, one that continues to erode our image. What can we do to polish this impaired image? Is it only communication? I believe the industry needs to do a lot more than communication.

Our traditional training approach for management explains part of the industry's reluctance to take on global issues. Most managers in the petroleum industry start as technical experts, but are then intensively trained to climb the management ladder. Management training is obtained in cross-industry classes that rarely focus on strategic issues specific to the petroleum industry. The presumption is that our industry's challenges are well addressed within the company. To bridge this gap, senior management normally invites experts to address major issues such as market outlook and scenario planning. This training framework yields excellent operations managers. Unfortunately, it is not conducive to grooming industry-wide leaders who can articulate clear positions on critical industry issues.

Managers are also advised to avoid the media. Indeed, most corporations limit media interaction to public relations personnel who, most of the time, are not experts in the debated subject. This leaves a huge vacuum, with our industry lacking credible, well-informed spokespersons on its behalf. So our industry image continues to suffer because we are not offering persuasive rebuttals nor true solutions.

What is the way forward? It's a matter of leadership. The distinction between leaders and managers is obvious. Leaders exhibit global awareness and magnetic appeal, and hold bold, visionary positions. They are very charismatic and persuasive communicators who can energize and mobilize widespread support for their goals. Leaders do not need to exert their position's power, or take a command/control approach to run the business. Indeed, they motivate people, and multiply the power of their subordinates through a climate of respect, care, fairness, and integrity. To enrich our leadership pool, we should hold intensive leadership seminars that focus on contemporary strategic issues. These seminars will serve to polish the leadership skills of the participants and at the same time develop industry-wide positions that can be carefully articulated and then shared with the public. Action plans to help prepare our industry for the future can also be developed.
Guest Editorial: The State of the Units or the Units of the States
Authors: Potsch Klaus
Published: February 2015

Opening the business section of my newspaper (a European one), my eyes spot an article on the oil price. It is over USD 60/bbl. In Europe, do we not measure amounts differently? Conveniently, the newspaper printed the conversion factor right along with the figure. So it is "just" a matter of a rough calculation to arrive at a number that I am used to.

That is just an everyday example. Sitting in an oil conference, reading a technical article on petroleum engineering, or digging through a technical operations manual you may find ample opportunity for all kinds of unit conversions. Is that necessary? Can we not agree in our industry once and for all to use only one system of units?

I still remember my years at the university when I had to fight with different systems of units, such as "cgs" or "mks" with "atm" or "at" as units for pressure. It took some time before the SI system (Le Système International d'Unités) began gaining recognition. Generally, this system is also called the metric system. The SI system was founded in 1960. Its roots date back to the French Revolution, when scientists like Lavoisier created a rational system of units. The numerical base was the number 10. Orders of magnitude are handled by prefixes, something that is missing in other systems. Seven basic units were singled out from which all other units of physical quantities can be derived. The units are not capitalized, except for some that are named after a person—K for Kelvin, Pa for Pascal. They are used only in the singular to avoid confusion with the unit "s" for seconds. In 1982, SPE issued a superb explanation of the SI system. Out of necessity, this SPE article is still my most frequently used article. Another detailed overview can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI.

The oil industry sticks to its favorite oilfield (OF) units. Some call it "practical units." But are they really practical? That depends probably on your point of view. The technology developed primarily in the US became so dominant in the industry that it also dictated how and in which system measurements have to be taken. The old countries, such as Azerbaijan, Poland, and Romania, where oil was produced even before the US, could not take over the technological lead. Now, people seem to use units as they please, even if it means mixing SI and OF units. Table 1 offers a glimpse of some units and terms found in a variety of journals and publications.
Techbits: PE School Faculty Shortage Needs Immediate Remedy
Authors: JPT staff _
Published: February 2015

Excellent employment prospects at salaries well above their peers have created a rapid increase in the number of students enrolling in petroleum engineering (PE) programs at US universities. But a severe PE faculty shortage has resulted, one that cannot be eliminated in the short term through normal recruitment. On 13 April, SPE sponsored a workshop of PE department chairpersons and industry representatives to discuss the problem and determine if and how industry might help fill the gap.

The problem can be summarized as follows:PE student enrollment has increased by more than 60% since 2003, while faculty numbers have increased by only 7%.More than 40 positions for faculty are vacant in 19 PE departments.Faculty teaching loads are as high as four courses per semester, while top programs in other science and engineering disciplines have teaching loads that are normally one course per semester, if research activity is significant, and two courses, if research demands are low.Starting salaries for PE faculty are as much as USD 30,000 per year below offers to top undergraduates, making it difficult to attract and retain faculty.

The workshop group proposed two main areas where the oil and gas industry could provide short-term PE faculty support: supplying adjunct faculty and providing financial assistance for faculty hiring and retention. The group also recognized the need for increased research funding, especially considering the proposed elimination of funding from the US Department of Energy. However, that issue will be addressed later as a longer-term problem. For adjunct faculty, the group made the following recommendations:Establish a "clearinghouse"—a website for posting adjunct faculty needs by PE schools. Companies also could post available lecturers and their subjects; spe.org could be the Web home, with open access to the clearinghouse site.Consider team teaching (e.g., on a 28/28 rotational schedule) for PE schools distant from an adjunct faculty member's home as an alternative to relocation.Use distance teaching for certain courses, preferably in a real-time format allowing direct interaction between lecturer and student. This would be especially attractive for PE schools remote from industry centers.Create a short course for training adjunct faculty in teaching skills, such as testing and assessment techniques.Maximize the use of graduate-student teaching assistants to support both on-site adjunct faculty and distance teaching.

Regarding faculty hiring and retention, the workshop committee made these recommendations:The industry should augment salaries of junior faculty with faculty fellowships of USD 10,000 to USD 30,000 per year. Funding could be annual or in the form of endowments.Support teaching assistants with fellowships and internships. In addition to an important role in assisting adjunct faculty in the near term, graduate students are the primary source for future permanent faculty.
Management: Use of Real-Time Operations Growing Upstream
Authors: Sood Sanjaya
Published: February 2015

If a brand new oil field product or service becomes widely used in less than a decade, that is fast. It is no secret that the petroleum industry is conservative when it comes to adopting new technology. With the increasing pressure to maintain supplies from existing fields, however, that is changing. Today, technologies that improve production and reduce risk are more important than ever. You can see this in the growing range of tools and services that employ "real time" capabilities. But what are the benefits to those who adopt these technologies, and is real-time capability alone the key to unlocking additional value for operators?

The meaning of "real time" depends on its use. Aircraft controls, for example, are real-time systems that must process data and respond instantaneously with 100% accuracy. If we are referring instead to the credit card reader at a gas pump, the transaction is not instantaneous, but nearly so. Within the upstream oil business, wireline tools provide data almost instantly, and today there are drilling systems that feed back downhole information quickly. Drillers use them to guide the bit, adjusting for the fact that the data they are getting is actually several minutes old. Real-time capability can be defined as the use of digital technology to rapidly transfer field data to individuals or control centers, and the ability of humans or intelligent control devices to respond with equal speed to the data they receive. The benefit is that more efficient systems let operators direct valuable resources to other areas.

Incremental Changes

Adopting real-time capability is a process of incremental change. In an oil field, the beginning of that journey might be a simple feedback device that tells production operators what they need to know without having to visit their wells every day. At the other end of the spectrum might be an automated system that responds to changing field conditions and makes adjustments on its own. But full automation will not happen overnight. And there is no right or wrong place to be along the journey. An operator's requirements for automation might depend on several things: a desire to improve efficiency, the benefits of the investment, availability of the technology itself, and access to expertise and processes to implement change most effectively.

There are three main reasons for deploying systems with real-time capability. The first is the growing shortage of skilled professionals in the industry, fueled in part by the coming retirement of a large portion of the workforce. Systems in which one can collaborate remotely or receive and share information quickly allow one person or team to monitor several locations at once, thereby improving efficiency.
Overview: Health, Safety and Environment (July 2007)
Authors: Veil John
Published: February 2015

In March, professionals from many countries gathered in Galveston, Texas, for the biennial SPE E&P Environmental and Safety Conference. Although this conference has included some safety papers in the past, this time safety was one of the featured themes. The industry's safety experts presented many excellent papers, several of which are featured here. Likewise, the conference included many fine papers on environmental topics.

Each day, the media bring us stories about climate change. Most scientists now agree that the climate is getting warmer and that human activities, including combustion of fossil fuels, are contributing to the warming. Although the international community has not reached consensus on the causes of and the solutions to the warming trend, even some previously reluctant executives and politicians are joining the call for some type of action. The oil and gas community has contributed and will continue to contribute information and research on ways to mitigate the warming trend. Many good papers on carbon dioxide capture and storage were presented during the past year.

The health and safety of oil industry workers remains a priority for industry managers. Even routine operations, such as driving trucks or unloading work-boats, pose risks that must be evaluated and addressed. One of the featured papers describes the important work of an industry task force in identifying and compiling recommended land-transportation practices to protect workers.

During late 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita moved through the Gulf of Mexico, creating major disruptions of offshore and onshore activities in the area. Numerous platforms were damaged. The occurrence of two large and violent storms in a high-petroleum-activity area points out the risks of working in the offshore environment. Much of the damage has been repaired or removed. Several papers this year describe the devastation caused by the storms as well as the measures taken by the industry for coping with future storms.

Health, Safety, and Environment additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org.

SPE 106827 "OGP Land-Transport-Safety Recommended Practice: An Industry Standard for Land-Transport Safety" by Derek Tate, SPE, Schlumberger

SPE 106610 "Mercury-Removal System for Upstream Application: Experience in Treating Mercury From Raw Condensate" by Muhamad Rashid Sainal, Petronas Carigali, et al.

SPE 106697 "Security Is Everybody's Business: Transforming Security Into a Core Business Practice in the HSE Model" by Stephen B. Simmons, ExxonMobil, et al.

SPE 106913 "An Innovative Utilization of Drilling Wastes as Building Materials" by Ta-Lin Chen, National Cheng Kung University, et al.