bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A New Automated MPD System Used in an Onshore Depleted Gas Field
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 130319, ’Experience and Results with a New Automated MPD System while Drilling and Cementing Liner in an Onshore Depleted Gas Field,’ by Paul Fredericks, SPE, and Ossama Sehsah, SPE, At Balance, and Julio Montilva, SPE, and Phil Vogelsberg, SPE, Shell E&P Company, originally prepared for the 2010 SPE/IADC Managed Pressure Drilling and Underbalanced Operations Conference and Exhibition, Kuala Lumpur, 24-25 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
An automated and modular managed-pressure-drilling (MPD) system recently was used in two wells to hold constant bottomhole pressure (BHP) in a very narrow pressure window without a backpressure pump. In the first well, the system was used to drill in 740 ft of 75/8-in. liner in an 8½-in. hole with 15.0-lbm/gal mud statically underbalanced relative to wellbore stability.
Introduction
The McAllen and Pharr fields are in Hidalgo County in south Texas. Those fields were acquired by the opera-tor in 2006, and over the 7 decades since discovery, nearly 1.4 Tcf of gas has been produced from reservoirs in the Frio formations. Initial production was from shallow zones, many of which now are depleted by as much as 5,000 psi. The fields have an extended history of commingled production and complex patterns of difficult-to-map faults that make pore pressure and depletion difficult to predict. Isolating the severely depleted zones with liners is impractical because often they are found between overpressured virgin sands.
Compared with nearby fields in the Vicksburg formations, those in the Frio have higher permeability and require heavier mud weight to avoid influx. Another limiting factor in the McAllen/Pharr fields is the ease with which losses occur in many of the reservoir sands as a result of the lower minimum horizontal stress caused by depletion. The resulting narrow pressure profile and the inaccurate pore-pressure predictions complicated early drilling efforts with excessive lost circulation and well-control events.
The Post-Macondo World: Two Years After the Spill
Authors: Beckwith Robin 
Published: February 2015

Post-Macondo world
During the 87 days that followed the 20 April 2010 explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in the US Gulf of Mexico (GOM), an estimated 4.9 million bbl of oil flowed from the Macondo well. This is the fourth-largest offshore oil spill, based on official estimates, to have occurred worldwide (see sidebar on World’s Largest Oil Spills).
Response to the shock of this event continues in the human impetus not only to regain levels of economic health that prevailed before the blowout but also to put in place people, technology, and systems whose job is to ensure such a disaster is unlikely to occur again. There is also an ongoing effort by environmental scientists to gain understanding of how the spill has impacted other life forms—both plant and animal—as well as the land and ocean.
Seeking Regulatory Oversight Balance
A 6-month moratorium was placed 27 May 2010 on new deepwater drilling (500 ft or greater) in the GOM. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar lifted the moratorium less than 5 months later, on 12 October, “provided that operators certify compliance with all existing rules and requirements, including those that recently went into effect, and demonstrate the availability of adequate blowout containment resources.”
Despite oil and gas industry fears that the long-term impact of stepped-up permitting requirements would be catastrophically negative, 355 deepwater permits requiring subsea containment capabilities have been approved since mid-February 2011. These are for 102 unique wells, with 24 permits pending and 21 permits returned to the operator with requests for additional information, particularly information regarding containment. For deepwater activities not requiring subsea containment, 64 permits have been approved, with one permit pending and one permit returned to the operator with requests for additional information; such activities include water injection wells and procedures using surface blowout preventers (BOPs).
In addition, 121 new shallow-water well permits have been issued since the implementation of new safety and environmental standards on 8 June 2010. Seven of these permits are pending, with seven having been returned to the operator for more information.
During a conference call 16 February to discuss fourth-quarter earnings, Schlumberger Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paal Kibsgaard told analysts that the rig count in the GOM could return to pre-Macondo levels by the end of 2012. “We are quite optimistic in terms of the outlook for the Gulf of Mexico,” he said. “We see steady growth in deepwater drilling rig counts during 2012, roughly about a rig a month. So we would be at pre-Macondo levels for drilling rigs in the deepwater by the latter part of 2012.”
Bridging the Generation Gap
Authors: Sprunt Eve , Howes Susan , Capello Maria Angela 
Published: February 2015

Talent & Technology
A recent SPE Talent Council survey of SPE members under the age of 45 unveiled an important generation gap. Most SPE members under the age of 45 are part of a dual career couple and most of them believe that the careers of both partners are equally important. However, managers who rose through the ranks as part of a couple with a single dominant breadwinner consider the concept of equally important careers to be unrealistic. We believe that management needs a better understanding of how the evolution of domestic relationships has changed the constraints and motivations of the workforce.
More women worldwide are working for compensation that has reached greater parity with compensation for men in the past few decades. Many women now contribute as much or more income to the household than their partner does. Of the SPE members in the survey, 76% consider themselves to be part of a dual career couple, with 53% of the women, and 35% of the men in a relationship in which each partner contributes between 40% and 60% of the household income.
Employers use a human resources career development model that is based on the outdated assumption that there is a single breadwinner. As part of their career management process, they ask employees who are known to be part of a dual career couple, “Whose career is more important?”
In a separate December 2011 Talent Council survey on corporate policies for the management of dual career couples, we received the following responses from managers as to why they asked this question:
“This is an appropriate question so that we know the couple’s desire.”
“Always, one career has to lead and the other follows.”
“It is a must for one of them to accept being the second one or relegated employee.”
The responses indicate that many managers do not believe that both careers of a dual career couple are equal-ly important.
Training and Development: A Key Battleground for Attracting and Retaining Top Talent
Authors: Shoultz Don 
Published: February 2015

Talent & Technology
Global energy growth over the next 20 years is expected to be dominated by emerging economies, with primary energy use growing by nearly 40%. As a result, the exploration and production (E&P) industry will be tasked with accessing hydrocarbons in new, more challenging frontiers. This challenge will require increased skills, capabilities, and technologies across the world, and meeting it starts with a disciplined, methodical, and long-term learning and development plan.
Along with steadily increasing global energy demand and fierce competition for talent among oil and gas industry sector employers, there are three additional factors driving the demand for progressive learning and development programs:
The aging workforce and corresponding skills gap. Experienced professionals are retiring and being replaced by younger, less experienced hires.
The complexity of the resource plays being explored and the vast, rapidly changing portfolio of technology required to enable production.
Forging long-term partnerships with national oil companies (NOCs) in disparate global regions necessitates a new orientation to how the oil and gas industry engages and develops employees.
Bridging the Talent Gap
There is a sense of urgency across the energy industry—one that stems from the need to attract, retain, train, and develop top talent that will see us through the challenges to come. A recent BP-sponsored SPE survey of more than 750 participants from 24 countries revealed an industrywide desire for training.
Three-quarters (74.6%) of the survey’s participants stated that access to training and development programs is important in their choice of position, and more than half (53.3%) said that a lack of opportunities would be enough for them to consider leaving their employer. Whether leaving a particular employer or the oil and gas industry altogether, this statistic cannot be ignored. It is imperative to position E&P as the industry of choice among scientists and engineers seeking fulfilling and challenging careers.
The SPE survey also sheds light on some noteworthy differences in preferences for the mode of training, with younger respondents expecting their employer to be the primary facilitator, providing almost all training, whereas more experienced professionals were more self-reliant in procuring training. Fortunately, the industry is taking deliberate steps to close the talent gap while aligning and accelerating all areas of development with overarching business objectives.
Technology Focus: Deepwater Projects (May 2013)
Authors: Salies Jacques Braile 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
Last year, I wrote my Technology Focus on innovation and commented on all the wonders and innovations of the Cascade and Chinook fields in the Gulf of Mexico. One year later, I had the pleasure of seeing an announcement for the semisubmersible hull destined for the Jack/St. Malo project leaving a South Korean shipyard for another in Texas. Once completed, the floating production unit (FPU) will be installed in the Jack/St. Malo field, allowing for a total production of 177,000 B/D at 2100 m of water depth. Startup is planned for 2014. Even though Jack/St. Malo and Cascade and Chinook have different concepts—semisubmersibles vs. floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels—both have in common subsea development tied back to the FPU or FPSO. I strongly believe that the lessons learned from those fantastic deepwater projects will be paving the way for a lot more development of the Tertiary play in the Gulf of Mexico.
For a clever engineer, one of the great opportunities to learn is a case study of a field after many years of production with its lessons learned for future field development. The first paper I chose is a case study of the Mensa field, a deepwater gas producer in the Gulf of Mexico. Just to spark your curiosity, I will write one of the conclusions: Be flexible; phase development may be the only and best option sometimes.
Going now to the other side of the word, we have a dedicated paper for drillers, showing many lessons learned and how to be successful while drilling in deep water in a new environment. Remember, drilling and completion contribute to more than 50% of the cost of any development today.
To recover all the money invested in a deepwater project, the wells must produce at their maximum possible rates, maximizing and accelerating recoveries. How can one achieve this? Some of the techniques are found in one of the recommended papers, about stimulation in the wells of the Gulf of Mexico.
Subsea development and flow assurance are inseparable. To be successful in a deepwater subsea environment requires strong flow-assurance planning and execution. This can be seen in the “Subsea Who Dat Project” paper.
For the drillers again, do not miss the additional reading on dual-gradient drilling and managed-pressure cementing. There is no more easy oil. As a consequence, there are no more easy wells. For drilling in deeper and deeper waters, managed-pressure drilling and dual-gradient drilling may be the only solutions. Be ready, and enjoy your reading.
Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
OTC 23430 Jubilee Project Overview by Dennis McLaughlin, Kosmos Energy (See JPT, October 2012, Page 102.)
SPE 153504 Hydrate Inhibition—Optimization in Deepwater Field by Gaurav Gupta, Reliance Industries, et al.
SPE/IADC 164561 Successful Application of Deepwater Dual-Gradient Drilling by Robert Ziegler, Petronas, et al.
SPE/IADC 163426 Innovative Managed-Pressure-Cementing Operations in Deepwater and Deep Well Conditions by Youssef Elmarsafawi, Schlumberger, et al.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Opens Inaugural OTC Asia
Authors: Donnelly John , Rassenfoss Stephen , Henni Abdelghani 
Published: February 2015

Conference review
The first Offshore Technology Conference Asia exceeded attendance expectations while providing in-depth panel and technical sessions on the increasingly important Asian energy sector as well as other globally significant upstream trends and technology applications. The conference was held from 25 to 28 March in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia’s prime minister, the Hon. Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak, cited the importance of the Asia Pacific region in future global energy activity during his keynote address at the official opening of the first OTC Asia. He was joined at the opening ceremony by YBhg Tan Sri Dato’ Shamsul Azhar Abbas, chairman of the OTC Asia Advisory Committee and group chief executive officer (CEO) of Petronas, and Edward Stokes of Chevron, chairman of the OTC Board of Directors.
“These are exciting times for the Asian oil and gas industry, and that is why it is apt that the first OTC Asia is being held in Malaysia,” he said.
“Asia is a continent with a voracious appetite for energy,” he said, noting the region’s projected 2.5% annual growth in consumption and the fact that Asia will account for more than 60% of total global energy demand in 2030.
The region’s rising consumption is not being met as local hydrocarbon supplies are in decline and some countries that once were exporters of energy are now importers. “The easy oil is indeed gone,” presenting challenges, but also opportunities, for the oil and gas industry, the prime minister said.
“We are embarking on a new era of innovation” to help unlock new resources in hard-to-reach places, he said. “We are going further and deeper both literally and with the technology we use.”
Malaysia has “the perfect mix of ingredients to be a regional energy hub,” the prime minister said, because of its location, resources, technical capability, world-class infrastructure, and legislative framework, which is business friendly. He noted the success of risk-service contracts that were introduced in 2011 and the growth during the past 2 years in Malaysian domestic hydrocarbons output. “This success is no accident,” he added.
Q&A with Peter Seifert
Authors: Seifert Peter , Donnelly John 
Published: February 2015

The theme of the upcoming EAGE/Europec conference is "Opportunities in Mature Areas." Why was this chosen as the main topic?
The increasing demand for oil and gas has created the need to expand exploration into remote areas such as deepwater offshore, the Arctic/permafrost, or in deep targets at 5000 to 6000 m depth. The risks and the costs are high for exploration and developments in those remote areas. Therefore, it is of great interest to the oil industry to find and produce additional hydrocarbons from mature areas, especially at the current oil-price scenario.
What is your assessment of how quickly the industry is developing and using leading-edge technology that could increase output from mature fields?
The development of advanced technology in our industry is of course dependent on oil prices. During periods of high oil prices like today, we clearly see a technology jump forward. This will lead in the short term to increased output from mature fields.
How good a job does the oil and gas industry do in getting new technology to market? Are comparisons to industries that introduce technology faster—the medical and computer fields, for instance—fair?
We cannot compare the oil industry with the computer industry, and there is no need to anyway. Our industry is ready any time to apply new technology, but it is very careful about checking the related costs vs. the potential results. New technology is brought to the market rather quickly if there is good demand for it. For example, with 4D seismic and multilateral drilling, the whole industry jumped on it. Again, this is much related to oil price levels.
What are the main technology needs on the E&P side?
The industry should continue to mature the existing technologies for enhanced-oil-recovery methods for old fields. Quick access to additional producible reserves is most interesting to oil companies. For deepwater developments, the issue is getting the costs down for subsea completions; floating production, storage, and offshore loading; and transmission systems. This would open up new opportunities to develop resources economically, which are out of reach today.
What is OMV's current oil and gas production, and where is the company most active in E&P?
OMV, including Petrom, currently produces 338,000 BOE/D. We are active in E&P in 16 countries on five continents. We have defined five core areas for our E&P activities: the Danube region from Austria to the Black Sea, North Sea/West of Shetlands, north Africa, the Middle East, and Australia/New Zealand. In addition, we have begun to target Russia as a sixth core area. We are trying to acquire assets there. Our main interest in Russia is to acquire an oilfield development project first, and then exploration assets will follow.
Coiled-Tubing Operations in the Panna Field Offshore Western India
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 100149, "Operability Challenges During Coiled-Tubing (CT) Well Intervention: Panna Field Case Histories From Western India Offshore," by S. Kale, SPE, and R. Proctor, SPE, BJ Services Co., and S. Paliwal, SPE, and S. Nayak, SPE, BG E&P India Ltd., prepared for the 2006 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing and Well Intervention Conference and Exhibition, The Woodlands, Texas, 4-5 April.
Coiled tubing (CT) was used in well interventions offshore western India. Well completions are open hole, open hole with tail pipe, and cased hole with swell packers. CT entry was essential to operate sliding sleeves installed in the completions. The full-length paper documents case studies and reviews attempted solutions such as bottomhole-assembly (BHA) excitation tools and contact-friction reducers to extend reach and increase downhole force.

Introduction
Located off the west coast of India, the target reservoir in the Panna field is a limestone layer. Horizontal wells have been drilled and completed in the field since 1997. The main difference between the wells completed in the late 1990s and current wells is the horizontal-section length.
Challenges associated with CT operations can be considered as logistical and technical. The main logistical challenges include limited crane capacity and deck space for CT rig up. Technical challenges include limited CT downhole force. Because of logistical challenges, the preferred CT size cannot be used on most platforms.

Logistical Challenges
Panna field has two types of platforms, one with nine slots and the other with 15 slots. The nine-slot platforms have limited deck space and crane capacity. Larger CT sizes such as 1 3/4-in.-outside-diameter (OD) pipe cannot be rigged up on nine- slot platforms but can be used on the 15-slot platforms.
Two memory-production-logging (PL) campaigns were undertaken on the 15-slot platforms. Because of limited deck space on some platforms, fluid-pumping and nitrogen equipment, tanks, and mixing equipment were offloaded to a dedicated supply boat as required. This presented the logistical challenge of timing the operations to boat availability and tide conditions.

Technical Challenges
The two most important technical challenges faced by the team were CT-reach prediction and identification of possible solutions to meet well-intervention objectives. The objectives of well interventions in late-1990s completions were acid stimulation and memory PL. Current completions require sliding-sleeve manipulation, acid stimulation, and PL.
Accurate CT-entry predictions require use of a CT simulator. In addition, the engineer using the simulator must have a thorough understanding of the modeling parameters and analysis process.
Technology Focus: Coiled Tubing Applications (June 2008)
Authors: Misselbrook John 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
Viewed from the wide perspective of the exploration and production industry, the coiled-tubing (CT) fraternity might be regarded as a relatively small group of fringe players who plastically deform pipe for a living. However, the truth is that CT has grown into a business generating USD 3 billion in revenue and has become an indispensable tool in many operating locations.
Like many emerging technologies, the first decade of CT's existence was mostly a struggle to stay alive; but having survived the challenges of the early years where pipe failure was a regular occurrence (Who doesn't remember a CT string inexplicably parting in a well and the subsequent fishing operation?), the industry changed gears and began to expand outside niche areas. In more than 3 decades of continuous development, we have seen CT materials reach an unprecedented level of manufacturing reliability such that premature pinholes have been virtually eliminated. As a result, pipe sizes have increased and strings have become longer, which in turn has propelled the technology in ever-increasing directions. Thirty years ago, a typical string weighed approximately 12,000 lbm, while today we routinely use strings weighing in excess of 60,000 lbm, with some of the larger strings tipping the scales at 120,000 lbm or more.
The technology has evolved from its traditional role of gas lifting and sand cleanouts to embrace such diverse applications as re-entry directional drilling, CT fracturing, multilateral stimulation, and grass-roots drilling to name just a few. The papers selected for this feature are designed to highlight just how far the technology has come and hopefully stimulate the reader along some new avenue of investigation.
Interestingly, many of the early adopters of this technology are still active in the field, having dedicated much of their working lives to both the advancement of the technology and the exploitation of such technology in new applications. I never cease to be amazed at their ingenuity, and I am confident that the next generation will continue the legacy of the pioneers.
Coiled Tubing Applications additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org
SPE 110382 • "Case History: Application of Coiled-Tubing Tractor to Acid Stimulate Openhole Extended-Reach Power-Water-Injector Well" by Ayedh M. Al Shehri, SPE, Saudi Aramco, et al.
SPE 106639 • "16Cr Coiled-Tubing Field Trial at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska" by J.Y. Julian, SPE, BP plc, et al.