bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Digitizing E&P: Accelerating the Pace of Change
Authors: Deskus Archana (Archie) 
Published: February 2015

Guest editorial
The pace of change is accelerating on a global scale, and the agent of this accelerated pace is digitization. Digitization has had a profound impact on our personal lives. It has transformed and created industries and has creatively destroyed some existing business models. Certain industries, such as finance, automotive, aerospace, communications, and media, have led the way. Others have been slower to adapt.
The oil and gas industry is a major driver of high-performance computing development, particularly for upstream seismic processing and permanent field monitoring. The oil and gas industry currently has the highest refresh rate across all industry sectors that high-performance computing addresses. Yet findings from leading information technology research and advisory firms such as Gartner and AMR indicate that the exploration and production (E&P) industry is in the low quartile for digitization.
Realizing the Digital Vision
“Digital oilfield” is an umbrella term for technology-centric solutions that allow E&P companies to leverage limited resources and improve decision making to maximize production; minimize capital and operating expenses and environmental impact; ensure the safety of the people involved; and protect the integrity of associated equipment across the entire upstream process. It encompasses both tools and processes surrounding data and information management. Its success depends on capability, organizational alignment, and—ultimately—attitude.
The industry has crossed many of the technology barriers to enabling the digital oilfield. Remote sensing is available for almost all facets of drilling and production operations, and the number of choices for network transmission of data continues to expand. The industry has invested heavily in knowledge management systems, real-time operations centers, and collaborative decision environments. It has become adept at moving data gathered from field devices into software applications and using it to enhance some specialized field operations. However, the industry has not yet succeeded in achieving the cross-disciplinary data transparency, information sharing, process integration, and collaboration that are essential to realizing the ultimate vision and value of the digital oilfield. Examining other industries’ paths to digitization may help us in our quest.
A Look at Aerospace
A number of parallels can be drawn between the aerospace industry and E&P, including the fact that both involve “flying in the dark”; both rely on close, long-term partnerships among operators, service companies, and equipment manufacturers to generate economic value; and both envision varying degrees of “unmanned flight” to reduce the margin of error, address safety and cost opportunities, and open additional opportunities to create value.
Fiber Optic Feed-Through Packer Technology Assists Multizone Fracturing and Production Monitoring
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Young Technology Showcase
Fiber optic pressure and temperature (P/T) sensing technology for multizone fracturing and production monitoring is enabled by a new feed-through (FT) technology that integrates the optical fiber within the multiple elastomer elements of a compact, swellable openhole packer system to achieve competent zonal isolation.
It is important that a continuous length of optical fiber be installed across the multiple zones isolated by the swellable packer system. Splicing the fiber is problematic because the process is time c4onsuming, and the splice point degrades faster than uncut fiber. Over time, the splice presents a weak point that can limit system life. This is compounded in long, multizone completions that may require as many as 40 isolation points along the well.
Weatherford’s Fraxsis FT technology facilitates deployment of continuous lengths of optical fiber across multiple zones as part of a modular packer system made up of short (24-in.) swellable elastomer sections that provide high-pressure zonal isolation. The FT technology is also a key enabler in the development of a faster, spoolable fiber deployment capability.
Fiber optic monitoring of a fracture stimulation and the resulting production across every stage of the completion provides engineers with the information to improve stimulation and completion design, and optimize production over the life of the well. The FT technology enables fiber-optic monitoring using a proven packer technology that achieves high-pressure zonal isolation with a much shorter inflatable element, which reduces packer stiffness and makes the system easier to run.
Technical Details
The FT packer design is based on a modular approach that uses single or multiple swellable elastomer elements to create isolation points for the completion (Fig. 1). Each element incorporates a proprietary metal backup system to achieve a higher pressure rating with less than half the length of a conventional swellable packer.
The metal backup system expands concurrently with the elastomer to prevent extrusion of the rubber element and form a higher pressure seal. Depending on the completion’s pressure requirements, 24-in. elastomer sections are added to the packer system to achieve 1,500 psi (one element), 3,000 psi (two), and higher-pressure specifications. As a result, the technology allows a packer only 7 ft long to seal up to 5,000 psi with the same hole-conformance of traditional swellable packers.
New Techniques in Interpretation of Closure Pressure in the Montney Formation
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 163825, ’Interpretation of Closure Pressure in the Unconventional Montney Using PTA Techniques,’ by Robert V. Hawkes, Pure Energy Services; Irene Anderson, Talisman Energy; R.C. Bachman, Taurus Reservoir Solutions; and A. Settari, SPE, University of Calgary, prepared for the 2013 SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference, The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 4-6 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
The Montney formation in Canada is one of the largest resource plays in North America. Horizontal multistaged fracturing is the best method for developing this vast resource. Before hydraulic fracturing of the wellbore, the toe stage is frequently minifractured to obtain reservoir and geomechanical properties. Various pressure-transient-analysis (PTA) -based interpretation techniques have been introduced to the industry over the last few years for the determination of closure pressure. From a theoretical viewpoint, unification of the fields of traditional PTA and minifracture interpretation has been achieved.
Introduction
Despite low natural-gas prices, the Montney- play region of northeast British Columbia remains one of the most active of such plays in North America. Operators continue to push drilling activity in the Montney, with increased liquids production within many portions of the trend. Characterization techniques and stimulation and production mechanisms continue to make economics favorable. Prefracture diagnostic testing is an approach that regulators and operators are now more commonly using in unconventional and tight formations. Industry’s current use of minifracture analysis for the determination of fracture closure and after-closure reservoir properties, however, still presents several challenges.
The conventional approach to all minifracture analysis is the 1D Carter leakoff model, which leads directly to the concept of G time. For more than 30 years, G time (or the G-function) has played the dominant role for the determination of closure stress, but there remains ambiguity in performing minifracture analysis. Part of the problem is that the recommended plots do not rigorously identify the various flow regimes that occur during a minifracture/falloff. Minifracture analysis requires a general theory that accounts for all of the actual observed flow regimes (both before and after closure).
The objective of this paper is to create and perform a consistent workflow process of four Montney diagnostic injection tests (one vertical and three horizontal wells) on the same pad, with a systematic approach highlighting the characteristic flow-regime slopes when using the Bourdet log-log derivative plot. In brief, the Bourdet derivative function used in the PTA-based log-log derivative approach accounts for rate variation before the analyzed shut-in period. The workflow we present is also dependent upon plotting the primary-pressure derivative (PPD) in combination with the Bourdet log-log derivative plot.
High-Performance Water-Based Drilling Fluids Offshore Cameroon
Authors: Carpenter Chris 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 163502, ’High-Performance Water-Based Drilling Fluids: An Environmentally Friendly Fluid System Achieving Superior Shale Stabilization While Meeting Discharge Requirement Offshore Cameroon,’ by Anuradee Witthayapanyanon, SPE, Baker Hughes; Jerome Leleux, SPE, Julien Vuillemet, Ronan Morvan, and Andre Pomian, Perenco; and Alain Denax and Ronald Bland, SPE, Baker Hughes, prepared for the 2013 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam, 5-7 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Historically, invert-emulsion drilling fluids are the preferred system for drilling offshore Cameroon. However, with a regulatory environment moving toward zero discharge, associated costs are rising. Therefore, an operator planning to drill in this environment investigated high-performance water-based-mud (HPWBM) -system alternatives. HPWBM systems offer the potential advantage of offshore discharge of drilled cuttings and effluents (owing to the absence of oil contamination) and lowered waste-management costs. Experience in the field demonstrated that the selected drilling fluid met expectations by achieving the required drilling performance and high shale stabilization with zero environmental impact.
Introduction
Drilling with an overbalanced pressure is a common operational technique used to prevent formation fluids or gas from entering the wellbore, thereby minimizing the risk of well kick and blowout. However, overbalanced drilling can cause drilling fluid to invade the formation, resulting in formation damage, differential sticking, and sloughing if the formation consists of highly reactive clay and shale. To avoid these consequences, invert-emulsion drilling fluids have always been preferable for drilling highly reactive clays and shale formations.
The HPWBM system is formulated with a concept of total inhibition. Unlike a conventional water-based-mud system, designed chemical additives are used explicitly in the formulation to achieve desired drilling characteristics that are similar to those of invert-emulsion mud. The key features of HPWBM systems include high shale stability, clay and cuttings inhibition, rate-of-penetration (ROP) enhancement, minimized bit balling and accretion, torque and drag reduction, and environmental compliance.
A complementary benefit of its aqueous base is that HPWBM captures the growing need for more-environmentally- friendly drilling fluids. During the past 10 years, more-stringent regulations on drilling-waste disposal have been implemented worldwide. The industry anticipates that the zero discharge of oil-contaminated drilling wastes will soon be the global standard. By switching from invert-emulsion drilling fluids (oil-/synthetic- based mud) to an HPWBM system, operators can achieve substantial cost savings on waste management and logistics. These savings result from the use of on-site, offshore discharge allowed by an absence of oil contamination.
Comments: Iraq's Potential
Authors: Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

Editor's column
Iraq may eventually alter the global production landscape, but the initial steps taken last year and in early 2010 to revive its oil sector have been cautious. Questions about infrastructure, security, export ability, and contract terms continue to hold back any change of a quick recovery.
Iraq contains the world’s third-largest proven reserves of conventional oil and eventually could rival Saudi Arabia as OPEC’s top producer, but the oil industry is so far skeptical of the country’s plans to boost production from the current 2.5 million BOPD to 6–7 million BOPD in 6 years. Some analysts say that number could be higher. James Burkhard, director of oil research for energy consultants IHS-CERA, believes that Iraq’s untapped oil fields could add almost 10 million BOPD within 10 years, changing the dynamics of OPEC.
That may be too much to ask a country hampered by years of war, sanctions, post-war violence, and messy politics. But even if it met half its goal, the impact would be huge. Saudi Arabia, long OPEC’s swing producer with the ability to affect oil prices by raising or curtailing production, currently produces 8 million BOPD but has a capacity of at least 12 million BOPD.
Iraq has held two international bid rounds to try to attract investor interest in reviving its E&P with mixed results, although the globe’s largest operators appear to be key to fixing and reviving the energy landscape there. In January, Iraq awarded the last of 10 international licenses to develop fields during the two rounds, just half of the 21 fields on offer. Fifteen firms won the rights to develop fields under 20-year contracts, the first outside company access to Iraq since foreign firms were banned in the 1970s. The country apparently remains one of the few regions in the world that has vast reserves that have not been well-exploited.
There are already some optimistic signs. One of the country’s largest fields, Rumaila, is scheduled to begin producing an additional 100,000 BOPD in July. BP and CNPC won the rights to that field in the first auction last June. The field is estimated to contain 15% of Iraq’s total reserves.
Among the January winners were Shell and Petronas, which won the rights to develop Majnoon, one of the largest unexploited fields; CNPC, Petronas, and Total, which won the rights to the Halfaya field; and Lukoil and Statoil, which were the high bidders on perhaps the most valued property, West Qurna-2. Other winners were Eni for the Zubair field and ExxonMobil and Shell for West Qurna-1.
Elections scheduled for this month could be critical for Iraq’s future oil development. Nonviolent elections that lead to a more stable political and business environment will go a long way to attracting the type of investment needed to develop its vast potential. Of particular need is an oil law that will protect the rights of foreign oil investors.
New Zealand "Open for Business" and Operators Responding
Authors: Redden Jim 
Published: February 2015

In the late 1880s, New Zealand’s Taranaki provincial government issued a proposition: It would pay then-fledgling operators “400 pounds for the discovery of a spring of petroleum, sufficiently copious to be profitably worked.”
Fast-forward more than a century and it is clear that the passage of time has not swallowed the spirit of that offer. Declaring their country “open for business,” the federal contemporaries of those Taranaki visionaries have renewed the appeal, pulling out all stops to bolster their claim that New Zealand is a secure, relatively undrilled, and very fertile haven for exploration dollars. Along with providing attractive tax incentives, the government has initiated a USD 20-million government-funded seismic-acquisition program with the resulting data shared freely with operators.
The multifaceted campaign appears to be working. Government figures show a considerable increase in oil production in 2008, offsetting a slight reduction in gas output. Even though the total well count was down in 2008, increased focus offshore resulted in operators spending an aggregate NZD 114 million more on exploration than the previous year. According to the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development’s Crown Minerals Group, total expenditures in petroleum exploration rose to NZD 314 million in 2008, up from NZD 200 million the previous year. That, according to the ministry, was the highest exploration spend in a decade.
The increased expenditure largely was a result of the drilling mix. During the previous year, a total of 42 wells were drilled, of which all but 16 were exploratory. Between January 2008 and July 2009, a total of 34 wells were drilled, but the composition changed dramatically, with 26 higher-cost appraisal and development wells completed. While the most recent year-end numbers are yet to be tallied, “the total number of wells drilled, including exploration, looks to have increased in 2009 over 2008,” said Crown Minerals spokesperson Tracy Dillimore.
Final 2008 oil-production figures fell a just short of the national record that has held since 1997, according to the ministry. At the end of 2008, total crude oil, condensate, and naphtha production totaled 21.298 million bbl, 29,000 bbl short of the 21.327 million bbl record set more than 10 years earlier when the Maui B gas and condensate extension began full production. Maui B is expected to help extend production from New Zealand’s oldest producing field to 2020 or beyond. Oil production in 2008 represented a 43% increase over 2007. The two largest contributors to the 2008 increase were the newly commissioned Tui and Pohokura fields that delivered 13.44 and 4.58 million bbl, respectively.
Technology Focus: Hydraulic Fracturing (March 2010)
Authors: Chipperfield Simon 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
Edward de Bono (physiologist and lateral thinker) said: “You can’t dig a new hole by digging the same one deeper.”
The “same hole” refers to current beliefs or work processes and a “new hole” refers to new ideas or concepts. This quote alludes to the “psychological inertia” that tells us to stay in the hole we have been digging since “how could we possibly let it go to waste?”* In our fast-paced world it can seem more acceptable to continue digging the same hole than be seen “sitting back” considering where to dig next.
This is general societal commentary, but how does the fracture-stimulation industry compare? The diagram shows the proportion of papers reviewed for the 2010 hydraulic-fracturing feature and which phase of the project cycle they focus on (i.e., initiation, planning, implementation, or review).
These data imply that we spend the least amount of dedicated effort conducting detailed look-back reviews of our work. It begs the question—Are we doing our best to learn from the past (i.e., using existing information to reflect on where to “dig”), or are we happy just to “dig the same hole deeper?”
Hydraulic Fracturing additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org
SPE 123586 • “Proper Evaluation of Shale-Gas Reservoirs Leads to a More Effective Hydraulic-Fracture Stimulation” by Donald Kundert, SPE, Halliburton, et al. (See JPT, July 2009, page 59)
SPE 124327 • “Coupled 3D Numerical Investigation of Hydraulic-Fracture Cleanup for Both Slickwater and Gelled Fluids” by Hector A. Wills, SPE, Colorado School of Mines, et al.
SPE 124227 • “Evaluation of Haynesville Shale Vertical-Well Completions With a Mineralogy-Based Approach to Reservoir Geomechanics” by Brian LeCompte, SPE, Baker Hughes, et al.
SPE 122315 • “ Geomechanical Factors Affecting the Hydraulic-Fracturing Performance in a Geomechanically Complex, Tectonically Active Area in Colombia” by J.G. Osorio, SPE, BP plc, et al.
SPE 122185 • “The Use of Saturated Fracturing Fluid To Cope With Hydrate in Gas Wells Located in Ultradeep Waters” by C.A. Pedroso, SPE, Petrobras, et al.
*Mann, D., www.triz-journal.com/archives/1998/08/b/index.htm, accessed 27 January 2010.
Technology Focus: Production Operations (March 2010)
Authors: Alhanati Francisco J.S. 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
I was joking with my colleague Todd Zahacy that we should write a series of papers about the number of things we production engineers usually do not know when trying to design or optimize a production system and, therefore, the risks we take that things may not go exactly as planned.
Zahacy was quick to forward me a link to the now-famous quote of former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (explaining the limitations of intelligence reports): “There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”*
I was thinking mostly of our lack of scientific knowledge in certain areas, but Zahacy reminded me that bad-quality data or bad assumptions also can lead to devastating results. We both believe that engineers should often question the source of information and the validity of assumptions, and then make a conscious effort to think about significant effects that may not have been considered.
Some of the papers featured in this issue stress the importance of knowing as much as possible about a production-operation issue before trying to address it: knowing where (and why) the produced fluids or solids are entering the wellbore before planning a workover or knowing how a downhole device is likely to function (or not) under certain operating conditions before installing it in a well, among other issues. Other papers listed here stress the importance of questioning one’s source of information (e.g., the validity of some meters’ readings and/or the representative nature of some fluid samples).
Usually, we are good at sharing our successes, but we can also learn much from our failures. Let us share more often the troubles we sometimes get ourselves into, and save our peers in the industry some grief.
Production Operations additional reading available at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org
OTC 20204 • “The Impact of Reservoir-Fluid Compositional Variation and Valid Sample Acquisition on Flow-Assurance Evaluation” by Oliver C. Mullins, SPE, Schlumberger, et al.
IPTC 14068 • “Multiphase Metering in Siberian Gas and Condensate Wells—Lessons Learned in Multiphase Well-Testing Operations Since 2006” by Bertrand Theuveny, SPE, Schlumberger, et al.
SPE 123949 • “Case Study: Successful Application of a Novel Conformance Treatment in an Extended-Reach Horizontal Well in the Al Shaheen Field, Offshore Qatar” by M.H. Pedersen, SPE, Maersk Oil Qatar, et al.
IPTC 13765 • “Successful Field Application of an Inhibitor-Concentration-Detection System in Optimizing the Kinetic-Hydrate-Inhibitor (KHI) Injection Rates and Reducing the Risks Associated With Hydrate Blockage” by Orlin Lavallie, Dolphin Energy, et al.
OTC 20013 • “Operation of Multiphase Flowmeters in the Sour Environment of the Qatif Field, A Case Study” by Faisal M. Al-Dossary, SPE, Saudi Aramco, et al.
*www.scientiﬁ camerican.com/article.cfm?id=rumsfelds-wisdom accessed 27 January 2010.