bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Novel Thermal Technology Uses Two-Wellhead Wells
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 120413, ’A Novel Thermal Technology of Formation Treatment Involves Bi-Wellhead Horizontal Wells,’ by R.R. Ibatullin, SPE, N.G. Ibragimov, SPE, R.S. Khisamov, A.T. Zaripov, and M.I. Amerkhanov, Tatneft, originally prepared for the 2009 SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain, 15-18 March.
The Republic of Tatarstan possesses significant reserves of heavy oil and bitumen. The first pilot project on heavy-oil production through vertical wells dates back to the 1970s. A number of thermal methods were tested including in-situ combustion, cyclic-steam stimulation, and gas/steam-mixture injection. However, all these methods demonstrated their insufficiency. In 2006, a new pilot project was launched. This is a modified technology of steam stimulation through a pair of U-shaped horizontal wells.
Introduction
There are many applications of the steam-assisted gravity-drainage (SAGD) method in Alberta, Canada. The efficiency of the SAGD method greatly depends on the presence of water-saturated and shale interlayers in the reservoir section.
In 2006, a new pilot project was launched in Ashalchinskoye field to test a modified low-pressure SAGD technology using a unique pair of U-shaped horizontal wells (two-wellhead wells) (Fig. 1). This technique overcomes some disadvantages of classic SAGD technology.
This deposit occurs at approximately 78 m and has a rather complex structure. Water-saturated interlayers are found in the top and in highly oil-saturated zones of the formation, while shale stringers are found in the middle of the sequence. Both aquifers and tight, low-permeability, calcareous sandstones or a low-saturated reservoir can serve as the bottom of the formation.
New Solutions
To date, three pairs of U-shaped horizontal wells have been drilled in this area, with the length of horizontal wellbores from 200 to 400 m. The wells were drilled with a vertical drilling rig, hitting the surface at an angle, thus having two wellheads–vertical and slanted.
Two parallel horizontal wells were completed with sand screens and were drilled one above the other at a vertical distance of 5 m between them. The process monitoring is carried out through vertical evaluation wells, and a fiber-optic cable is used for temperature measurement along the horizontal wellbore.
The wells were completed by swabbing until mud and solids stopped being produced; then, steam was injected into both wells with the subsequent placing of the lower well on pump production; temperature was monitored along the wellbore length to determine lost-circulation zones and to control the profile of the wellbore heating.
Technology Focus: Seismic Applications (March 2010)
Authors: Kleemeyer Gerd 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
Finding and producing hydrocarbons from increasingly complex reservoirs and the push to maximize recovery stimulated a decade of steady growth in high-end seismic solutions covering the full E&P life cycle. In challenging imaging environments, the improvements achieved with the latest acquisition and processing technology are significant. Not surprisingly, associated cost pressures and budget constraints increasingly force geophysicists to strive for adequate and cost-effective solutions. Simultaneously, we experience a renewed focus on adding value by pushing the integration with other disciplines to new levels.
Papers reviewed for the new Seismic Applications feature highlight how seismic technologies pay dividends on the basis of an improved understanding of the subsurface. Several contributions discuss wide-azimuth seismic, which has become the norm in complex-imaging environments such as the Gulf of Mexico. Advances are not confined to marine surveys, and densely sampled wide-cross-spread surveys are being acquired onshore also. The logistical efforts for these modern surveys are large. Accurate planning and detailed survey design are essential for efficient and successful delivery. Beyond improved imaging, rich-azimuth seismic, probably in combination with multicomponent acquisition, has a realistic potential to enable fracture detection on the basis of azimuthal-anisotropy analysis. This technology can provide considerable value in carbonates and tight reservoirs in which fractures have a strong effect on connectivity and production rates.
Robust and accurately calibrated rock-physics models are a prerequisite to bridge the gap between seismic and reservoir modeling. For carbonates, this is notoriously difficult, and enhanced physical models are being developed that result in more-reliable reservoir-property predictions. Reservoir models only approximate the actual subsurface, and seismic constraints are used more routinely to reduce remaining uncertainties. Next to static-model updates, repeated 4D-seismic surveys provide information about the dynamic-reservoir behavior. Permeability maps derived from 4D seismic can be incorporated during the history-matching process, providing a promising leap toward real integration of subsurface disciplines and improved recovery.
Seismic Applications additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org
IPTC 13692 • “Multicomponent-Seismic Applications for Maximizing Efficiency and Production from Fractured-Carbonate Reservoirs in Idd El Shargi Field” by E. Maili, Occidental Petroleum of Qatar, et al.
IPTC 13882 • “Microseismic Reservoir Monitoring in a Deep-Wellbore Carbonate Environment in Kazakhstan” by K.G. Maver, SPE, Schlumberger, et al.
IPTC 13870 • “Wide-Azimuth Seismic Azimuthal Analysis in Offset Vector Domain for Velocity and Amplitude” by Jean-Luc Boelle, Total, et al.
Planning, Acquisition, and Processing of a 3D Circular-Shooting Seismic Survey
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper IPTC 13363, ’Planning, Acquisition, and Processing of the First Industrial 3D Circular-Shooting Seismic Survey,’ by M. Buia, E. Tozzi, and L. Mapelli, Eni E&P, prepared for the 2009 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Doha, Qatar, 7-9 December.
Conventional offshore 3D acquisition is performed mainly with narrow-azimuth-streamer configurations, even in structurally complex areas. A full 3D circular-shooting seismic survey (coil) over the Tulip discovery in Indonesia during August and September 2008 acquired a full-azimuth data set with a single-vessel towed-streamer operation by sailing in circles. The circular geometry introduced several differences and a number of new challenges in the modeling, acquisition, and processing workflow.
Introduction
Tulip is a complex structure in the Bukat Block offshore Kalimantan, Indonesia. The water depth ranges from 350 to 1800 m. Several unfavorable geological conditions cause a very poor seismic response in the area. Methane hydrates represent the main problem. The hydrates layer in this area generates a very reflective sea bottom that causes up to seven multiple bounces. The presence of shallow free gas is suggested by an abrupt frequency-amplitude dimming below this bottom-simulating reflector. The well drilled on the structure indicates a seismic-quality factor of less than 70. Moreover, the rough geomorphology of the water bottom, characterized by canyons and irregularities, causes a nonhomogeneous behavior of the illumination in the subsurface and a complex 3D ray path for surface and internal multiples. Complex deep geology (steeply dipping thrust with two culminations) represents a third critical factor, posing severe structural-illumination doubts. Also, the low reflectivity of the target sequence often falls below the noise level. Therefore, vintage seismic in the area is of very poor quality. Circular shooting is an acquisition technique in which the vessel follows a circular preplot line. Circles are repeated in the x- and y-directions to increase fold, offset, and azimuth distribution. This method allows for full-azimuth acquisition by use of a single vessel shooting on a continuous turn. Line changes are short, on the order of minutes, resulting in high acquisition uptime and efficiency. The offset and azimuth distribution of circular shooting is excellent, as good as and sometimes better than the wide multiazimuth techniques.
Carbonate-Rock-Physics Issues
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper IPTC 13850, ’Carbonate-Rock Physics Issues,’ by Enru Liu, Michael A.Payne, Shiyu Xu, Gregor Baechle, and Christopher E. Harris, ExxonMobil Upstream Research, prepared for the 2009 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Doha, Qatar, 7-9 December.
Limestone and dolomite reservoirs account for approximately half of oil and gas production worldwide, yet seismic responses in carbonate rocks are poorly understood. Development of a carbonate-rock-physics model is extremely difficult because the pore systems are more complex in carbonates than in clastics. In addition to pore types and shapes, other factors that need to be included in a physics-based rock model include lithology, grain shapes, multiphase-fluid and wetting effects, rock/fluid interactions (poroelasticity), stress effects, anisotropy, heterogeneity and scale effects, chemical changes to the framework, and corrections for environmental effects for logging conditions. The effect and validation of several of these factors are presented.
Introduction
Carbonates can have a variety of pore types, such as moldic, vuggy, interparticle, or intraparticle. The complex pore system creates significant scatter in the porosity/velocity relationship. Pore shape appears to be the dominant factor in carbonate-rock physics. Moldic, intraframe, and vuggy pores tend to be rounded and make the rock stronger (faster) than pores that are interparticle. Micropores (e.g., microcracks) tend to be flat and make the rock weaker. To characterize carbonate reservoir rocks effectively, it is critical to develop a rock-physics model that is capable of handling different pore types. Any rock-physics model should be calibrated and validated with controlled laboratory experiments, field measurements, and computational rock physics.
Carbonate-Rock Physics Model
An analytical-rock-physics model was selected rather than an empirical one because of the analytical model’s predictive power without the need to acquire considerable analog data and because it is physics based. Empirical rock-physics models often are used because of their simplicity in fitting a relationship between parameters. With an analytical model, once parameters that describe the physical controlling factors are determined, the model can be applied anywhere that the controlling parameters can be estimated. This method achieves better predictions and a deeper understanding of the subsurface than empirical models, with less data. Nonlinear physics-based inclusion models are attractive because they handle various factors that affect seismic response in an internally consistent manner.
Israel's Gas Bonanza
Authors: Beckwith Robin 
Published: February 2015

In late December 2010, Noble Energy confirmed one of the world’s largest gas finds of the decade—the 16-Tcf (450-Bcm) Leviathan field—located in approximately 5,400 ft of water approximately 80 miles offshore Haifa, Israel. The find is 29 miles southwest of the Tamar field, which is approximately 56 miles offshore west of Haifa and which yielded the world’s largest gas discovery in 2009: an estimated 8.4 Tcf. (See Fig. 1.)
Noble Energy (39.66%) operates Leviathan, with Delek Drilling and Avner Oil Exploration (22.67% each) and Ratio Oil Exploration (15%). Noble also operates Tamar and Dalit, with 36% working interests.
Supported by 3D seismic acquisitions in 2009 and 2010, Noble has identified a number of additional prospects and leads on its significant acreage position offshore Israel and Cyprus.
Israel now faces the unprecedented prospect of at least partial energy independence—that afforded by the domestic presence of natural gas offshore in the subsalt and Plio-Pleistocene reservoirs of the Levant basin province.
The Gas Bonanza: Sudden or Gradual?
While news of the gas bonanza appears dramatic, the shift in Israel’s energy stance represents the continuation of a trend building since the discovery offshore Ashqelon in 1999 of the Noa gas field and the Mari-B area in 2000. The impact of this trend started to be felt early 2004 when Mari-B—Israel’s first offshore natural gas production facility—began supplying significant quantities of natural gas to the country’s domestic market.
According to online Israeli state records, Israel has produced gas since 1958. However, the largest annual amount—5.2 Bcf in 1969—represents only 12.4% of 2004’s 42.1 Bcf. And between 2004 and 2008, the entire production of 401 Bcf was 5.5 times greater than all the gas produced in Israel between 1958 and 2003. By 2009, more than half the natural gas consumed in the country was pro-vided by Israel’s Yam Tethys consortium, with the remainder supplied by Egypt-based East Mediterranean Gas Company (EMG).
The Levant Basin Province
A report issued by the US Geological Survey (USGS) in March 2010 assessed the undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Levant basin province (Fig. 2) in the eastern Mediterranean. The area, encompassing approximately 32,000 sq miles, covers onshore and offshore territory including the Gaza Strip, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus. The USGS estimates the area holds a mean of 1.7 billion bbl of recoverable oil and a mean of 122 Tcf of recoverable gas. The assessment relies heavily on work done in the prior decade by Michael A. Gardosh of the Geophysical Institute of Israel, and Yehezkel Druckman and Binyamin Buchbinder of the Geological Survey of Israel.
EOR Development Screening of a Heterogeneous Heavy-Oil Field
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 129157, ’EOR Development Screening of a Heterogeneous Heavy Oil Field- Challenges and Solutions,’ by J.P. Strauss, SPE, D.M. Alexander, SPE, N. Al-Azri, M. Al-Habsi, SPE, T. Al-Musallami, M. Koning, F. Eriavbe, Mukman Mukman, and, R. Al-Jarwani, Petroleum Development Oman, and A.J. Landman, SPE, Shell Technology Oman, originally prepared for the 2010 SPE EOR Conference on Oil and Gas West Asia, Muscat, Oman, 11-13 April. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
The full-length paper details an enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) development-concept screening from a subsurface perspective. The field is a medium-sized heavy-oil field with complex geology and is in South Oman. The two primary concepts considered are steamflood and polymer flood, each of which presents its own challenges. Common to both concepts is the difficulty in obtaining adequate conformance in a field that is characterized by high and highly variable permeabilities in a channelized environment and that includes lateral extensive shales that break the system into vertically distinct sand units.
Introduction
The field has been under primary production by use of progressing-cavity pumps (PCPs) since January 1989, with 35 vertical wells and one horizontal well drilled within the field oil/water contact. The oil is medium heavy (18°API), has a low gas/oil ratio (less than 0.2 m3/m3), and is relatively viscous (400 to 1,000 cp), implying a very adverse-mobility-ratio for displacement of oil by water. In spite of this, many wells show a slow development of water cut, though they ultimately pro-duce at high water cuts. Observations of pressure vs. depth show evidence of local differential depletion of individual sand units and, coupled with the slow water-cut development, support the concept of laterally extensive shales. Pressures in the deepest sand unit show an initial decline followed by recent recharge in spite of increased off-take. This is interpreted as representative of the changes in the regional aquifer pressures that are being driven by much larger off-take and water-disposal volumes at neighboring fields. Historical production has achieved a low recovery, given the relatively low rates achievable with vertical wells under cold production and the high water cuts once water breakthrough has occurred. Thermal recovery initially was identified as the only mature EOR approach that conceivably could achieve a reasonable recovery in such a system, and, as a consequence, the operator has embarked on a single-pattern steam trial that has been operating since 2008. Recent data-gathering and -analysis efforts including downhole sampling with a wireline formation-testing tool have revised initial estimates of oil viscosity downward, allowing a wider range of development concepts to be considered.
Riserless, Remotely Operated Technology Enables 10,000-ft Intervention Without Rig
Authors: Law Matthew 
Published: February 2015

Technology Update
Intervention is necessary during the life cycles of most subsea wells. However, traditional methods can make it time consuming and very costly, with spread rates for drilling and semisubmersible rigs running at USD 1 million to USD 1.4 million per day. There are more than 4,000 producing subsea (wet tree) oil and gas wells worldwide, and the number is increasing by approximately 500 per year. With many wells more than a decade old, intervention is crucial to enable maximum oil and gas extraction.
The sustained rise in deepwater exploration has made the need for cost-effective intervention on wet well trees even more pertinent. With the challenging conditions encountered in deep subsea settings such as Asia, Brazil, West Africa, and the Gulf of Mexico, many wells have produced for several years without necessary intervention. This often results in suboptimal production and reduced ultimate recovery.
The AX-S system, developed by Expro, is designed to provide a safe, riserless, and remotely operated subsea well intervention method that can complete a typical deepwater intervention in six to eight days, compared with 10 to 12 days for a rig intervention, at a cost savings of approximately 75% to 80% based on lower day rates and speedier job completion. The system, designed and built over a seven-year development period with the input of more than 200 vendors, is in the final commissioning stage. Commercialization is expected later this year.
Deployed from a monohull vessel (Fig. 1), the system is the first rigless intervention technology that can operate in waters up to 10,000 ft—several hundred feet deeper than the world’s deepest subsea well. The improved economics afforded by the system will allow operators to increase production and recovery rates in wet tree wells that otherwise might wait additional years for interventions.
To enable deployment of the system, Expro has entered into a multiyear charter party contract with TS Marine Asia Pacific to use its dynamically positioned (DP) multiservices vessel Havila Phoenix for worldwide operations. The DP 2 Class vessel is 361 ft long and 75 ft wide with a moonpool of 23.6 ft by 23.6 ft, a 94-ton fiber rope drum winch with deployment tower, a 276-ton wire rope subsea crane, and two ultraheavy-duty Work Class remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) rated to more than 13,000 ft. The winch and crane are equipped with active heave compensation systems.
Model Integration and Data Optimization Software Enables Integrated Project Modeling
Authors: Braswell Gentry 
Published: February 2015

Technology Update
Integrated asset modeling and optimization is an underserved niche in an industry where its demand is increasing because of the growing complexity of operating environments.
Software called Pipe-It, which falls under the category of “integrated asset management tools,” and specifically “model integration and optimization,” was unveiled in December by Petrostreamz of Norway. It is designed for building integrated model-based tools for oil and gas asset optimization. Petrostreamz is a software spinoff of PERA, a consultancy firm in global pressure, volume, and temperature (PVT) modeling and gas enhanced oil recovery modeling.
Curtis H. Whitson, a professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the chief technical officer of Petrostreamz, said the software addresses a much needed, underserved segment. Although it is a commercial product, it is made available to university students and research institutes in order to cultivate a data stream translation user community in the oil and gas industry.
The company has published two Pipe-It integrated asset management (IAM) technical papers: the first in 2009 with paper SPE 121252, “Model-Based Integration and Optimization—Gas Cycling Benchmark,” and the second in 2010 with paper SPE 130768, “Multi-Field Asset Integrated Optimization Benchmark.” In both, all model data sets are made avail-able to the public, including the Pipe-It project itself, for those who wish to test their IAM solution against the company’s published results. The second benchmark is a complex integrated model publicly documented from NTNU’s Center for Integrated Operations (www.ntnu.edu/iocenter), with specific attention to the paper SPE 130768 benchmark (www.ipt.ntnu. no/~io-opt/wiki/doku.php).
“If the application runs from a command line, you can integrate it in Pipe-It. In the past, model integration was more limited, as market solutions were sold in packages from a single vendor,” said Petrobras production engineer Sthener Campos. “It was used as a commercial strategy to tie the client. This scenario goes against a smooth implementation as it clashes with the profile of final users. Preset integration packages require users to change the software they used to develop engineering, and the knowledge they already own.”
Streamz Technology
The software performs four main functions: data stream translation, the orchestration of multiple processes, parametric analysis, and project optimization. The data stream translation is based on a technology for translating data streams for oil, gas, and water, from one description to another, with each description being needed as input for different software applications.