E&P Notes (June 2016)
Authors: Jacobs Trent , Whitfield Stephen , Rassenfoss Stephen 
Published: January 2017

E&P Notes

Online Digital Rock Portal Launches

Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

Since the 1990s, X-ray computed tomography (CT) has become increasingly popular for its ability to yield big insights from tiny rock samples. But the volume of data produced from CT scanners is anything but tiny, and that makes sharing and storing the files a challenge.

In an effort to address this issue and foster collaboration in an area where there is currently very little, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) created a new web-based application called Digital Rocks Portal. In exchange for making their CT images of rocks available to outside researchers, the website will offer exploration companies free and unlimited data storage.

 

New Nanodevice Designed To Simplify Produced Water Treatment

Stephen Whitfield, Staff Writer

In a presentation, “Put an END to Desalination Challenges,” presented by the SPE Gulf Coast Section’s Research and Development Study Group, Bill Capdevielle presented a new technology aimed at treating produced water at the wellsite to near-drinking-water quality.

The technology, electrochemical nanodiffusion (END), is designed to purify salt and brackish water supply sources. Conceived by a high school student in northern California, it was further developed while the inventor, Grant Page, was a midshipman at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. In 2014, he was awarded the Department of Energy Award for Renewable and Sustainable Energy at the academy. Capdevielle is an oil and gas consultant and an adviser for Magna Imperio Systems, a startup nanotechnology company created by Page to further develop and commercialize the technology.

 

A New EOR Concept From Shell To Enhance Waterflooding

Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

The key component of a new enhanced oil recovery (EOR) concept developed by Shell is a petrochemical more commonly used in wart removers and as an aerosol propellant in hairsprays.

But after years of research, the company believes dimethyl ether (DME) may also boost recovery rates by up to 25% in reservoirs where waterflooding is no longer effectively sweeping out residual oil.

“DME is a wonderful thing,” said Chris Parsons, a principal reservoir engineer at Shell Global Solutions, who described the compound as “clean, efficient, portable, and safe.” However, due to low oil prices, the company has temporarily shelved its plans to put DME to the test in the field.

 

Self-Adjusting PDC Bit Under Development

Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

Baker Hughes is developing a drill bit capable of auto-adjusting its depth-of-cut (DOC) feature to handle dynamic drilling conditions. In what may be a first-of-its-kind technology, it is designed to enhance polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits, and the company expects it will generate value by delaying bit damage and increasing overall rate of penetration (ROP).

In addition to the above benefits, Baker Hughes also believes the self-adjusting PDC bit will advance automated drilling efforts and enable harder-to-drill well sections to be drilled in a single run vs. the two or three they may require today.

 

Wireline Method Offers Faster, Cheaper Plugging for Deepwater Wells

Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

Five depleted natural gas wells in water 7,000 ft have been plugged and abandoned using tools delivered by wireline, slashing the time and cost of the work in the Gulf of Mexico.

The work was done by Wild Well Control, part of Superior Energy Services, which developed the method along with Oceaneering to access and cement hard-to-reach spaces around complex offshore wells.