bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Roadmap for Addressing Environmental and Social Issues Associated With Horizontal Drilling and Hydraulic Fracturing
Authors: Liroff Richard A. 
Published: February 2015

R&D Grand Challenges - This is the latest in a series of articles on the great challenges facing the oil and gas industry as outlined by the SPE Research and Development (R&D) Committee. The R&D challenges comprise broad upstream business needs: increasing recovery factors, in-situ molecular manipulation, carbon capture and sequestration, produced water management, higher resolution subsurface imaging of hydrocarbons, and the environment. The articles in this series examine each of these challenges in depth. The R&D Grand Challenges Series, comprising articles published in JPT during 2011 and 2012, is available as a collection on OnePetro (SPE-163061-JPT).
The energy industry faces a massive communications challenge in persuading sizeable sections of the public in the United States and overseas that natural gas operations relying on horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing can be conducted safely. Mitchell Energy founder George Mitchell has stated that industry has “the duty to fracture responsibly.” He was candid when he said, “There is no question that accidents have occurred and mistakes have been made during the rush to develop.”
Mitchell’s candor was remarkable because, for too many years, the industry has mainly responded to attacks on shale gas operations by pointing out errors or omissions in critical media accounts. The industry has also emphasized the 60-year history of hydraulic fracturing while ignoring the growth of legitimate public concerns arising from the exponential growth of combined horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing during the past 15 years. Thoughtful companies recognize that this has not been a successful strategy for building public trust, and they are beginning to speak directly to the real risks associated with their operations. These real risks include, for example, poor cementing practices in well construction and inadequate waste-water management.
Since mid-2009, investors have been seeking increased disclosure by companies of the environmental and social risks associated with natural gas operations in shale formations and the policies and procedures they are adopting to reduce or eliminate these risks. Risks are associated with the broad life cycle of shale gas operations, not just with hydraulic fracturing as technically defined. Fracturing and horizontal drilling together make substantial recovery of gas from shales economically possible and have brought drilling and production to localities on a scale previously not experienced.
Industry Focuses on Operational Integrity, Safety Issues at OTC
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Conference review
Improving offshore safety and operational integrity through both technology and processes weaved its way through many of the panel and technical sessions at this year’s Offshore Technology Conference, held in May in Houston.
The annual conference continues to grow; this year’s attendance reached a 30-year high of 89,000, and the exhibition was the largest in the event’s history. “OTC 2012 was the most successful event we have had since the early 1980s,” said Steve Balint, chairman of OTC. “In terms of strength of the technical sessions and technology on display, OTC reached a record-breaking number of people and offered the most ways to connect, educate, and conduct business. The industry is on the rise and challenges are ahead, making it more important than ever to collaborate and share best practices with colleagues all over the world.”
Two years after the Macondo accident in the US Gulf of Mexico, the impact of that disaster is still being felt as the industry grapples with new regulations and works to create new technology that will make operations safer and efficient. These issues dominated many sessions and discussions during the 4-day conference.
Examining Operational Integrity
In one panel session, representatives from an industry safety body, a risk consultancy group, and the regulatory sphere spoke about improving operational integrity in the offshore energy sector. Francesca Rinaldi, production optimization manager at Eni, said that the safety of people and protection of the environment are the foundations of well-integrity objectives and that organization, processes, and technology are the pillars of well-integrity management. Her company has created a software package that it calls a well-integrity tool, which takes critical well data from operations, enables analysis by company personnel, and indicates whether a well is in compliance with requirements established for the operation. “Safety and performance go hand in hand,” Rinaldi said.
Robert Patterson, Shell’s vice president of upstream projects in the Americas, discussed operational integrity from a project perspective. He cited the execution of Shell’s Perdido spar project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, in which project personnel worked from start to finish without a single person losing a workday because of a safety incident. Two key factors in achieving that record, Patterson said, were “extreme, visible, passionate commitment from leaders in the project” and “partnerships across companies, with regulators, with stakeholders, with suppliers, with operators.” Shell’s upstream sector views asset integrity and process safety as a function of design integrity, technical integrity throughout an asset life cycle, and operating integrity, he said. Patterson also stressed the need for the industry to move from a task-driven approach to a purpose-driven approach to work throughout the supply chain.
Technology Focus: Reservoir Simulation (July 2012)
Authors: Crick Martin 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
This year, there were approximately 200 papers on simulation to select from—and that is after a separate feature on history matching. So, the discipline continues to be active. A noticeable feature is the growing number of simulation papers that use different technology, in the broadest sense of the term—for example, using concepts from signal processing and electrical engineering to model subsurface flow or related phenomena. However, the dominant technology remains finite different representations of Darcy’s law, conservation of mass, and a fluid model.
What is also heartening is the fact that all significant papers on case studies start with descriptions of the geology and often include detailed description of 3D geological modeling. Any simulation that is based on a physical model of the field must surely depend on the quality of the geological model used as input; yet, not that long ago, it was normal to pay only scant regard to the geology when constructing a model and even less when altering it during history matching.
Recent discussion within the SPE Simulation Technical Interest Group has raised the issue of pseudorelative permeabilities, with some arguing that they are obsolete and others strongly disputing the claim. Sadly, there were no papers on the subject that I could include in this feature. The relative permeability curve is where engineering meets geology; anyone involved in complex projects—and who of us is not—knows that it is at the interfaces that complexities arise and are too often ignored. The same is true in our models, so surely relative permeabilities and their multiphase upscaling are topics worth renewed investigation.
All three of the case studies I have selected, which are all from very different settings and parts of the world, were studies directed toward making tangible decisions (e.g., selecting well locations and completion intervals). This highlights once again that good simulation studies are directed toward decision making; having a clear sight of the purpose of the work improves the quality of the work and, thus, of the ultimate decision. The converse is also true.
Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE 146366 A Capacitance-Resistive Model and InSAR Imagery of Surface Subsidence Explain Performance of a Waterflood Project at Lost Hills by Wenli Wang, The University of Texas at Austin, et al.
SPE 146524 Reservoir Simulation: A Reliable Technology? by W.J. Lee, Texas A&M University, et al.
SPE 146574 Impacts of the Porosity/Permeability Transform Throughout the Reservoir-Modeling Workflow by R.D. Roadifer, ConocoPhillips Alaska, et al.
High-Resolution Reservoir Simulation Constrained to Complex Clastic Rock Bodies
Authors: Denney Dennis 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Senior Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 148331, ’A High-Resolution Reservoir-Simulation Model Constrained to Complex Clastic Rock Bodies for a Realistic Study of an Offshore Field,’ by Ahmad J. Sultan, J.A. Vargas-Guzman, and Jamil S. Thuwaini, SPE, Saudi Aramco, and Pranay Kumar, Beicip-IFP, prepared for the 2011 SPE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conference and Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 9-11 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
An unconventional state-of-the-art reservoir-simulation study was performed for an offshore field in the Arabian Gulf. The conventional history-matched model was valid at wellbores; however, clastic reservoirs usually present challenges for infill-drilling prediction at interwell locations because of complex geometries of curvilinear sandstone bodies. A rock-body-based simulation model was used for history matching and was investigated for further production-development scenarios.
Introduction
Highly heterogeneous clastic reservoirs present challenges to history matching; however, generating realistic models of clastic reservoirs enables optimum planning of development. The ultimate goal of this study was to create a realistic model for further testing of reservoir-development strategies for maximum-reservoir-contact (MRC) wells for development and optimization. An offshore field having complex sandstone bodies was selected. The main reservoir has stacked braided channels that form a main sandstone reservoir with very highly permeable rocks. Those formations are overlain and underlain with more-heterogeneous stringer sands surrounded laterally by shaly rock. The upper stringers contain significant undeveloped remaining reserves, which are the target for future development to extend the field’s oil-production water flow has been observed because of sandstone bodies connected to the aquifer.
A more-realistic model was required to investigate the development scenarios for this reservoir: drilling new wells targeting braided and distributary tidal channels with sandstone bodies in the tidal-dominated environment of the upper stringers. The earlier geological model was based on sequential-indicator simulation (SIS), which yielded optimistic forecast results. The major limitations of this type of model were that it did not account for the complex curvilinear geometries of sandstone bodies and did not capture the complex higher-order permeability distribution. The new rock-body-based geological model captures more-realistic geological features and should provide a better forecast representation of the reservoir by allowing testing of realistic orientation and completion of offshore wells drilled from platforms.
Technology Focus: Artificial Lift (July 2012)
Authors: Noonan Shauna 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus
Calling all technology champions! A few years ago, I ran across the seven steps to stagnation, which was a list originally compiled by Erwin M. Soukup. I got a feeling of déjavu reading through this list because I had heard these same words spoken from many managers and peers over my career. If you search for these seven steps on the Inter-net, you will find different variations; however, the message is the same. The seven steps are
We have never done it that way.
We are not ready for that yet.
We are doing all right without it.
We tried it once, and it did not work out.
It costs too much.
That is not our responsibility.
It will not work.
Great ideas for technology improvement or development can have an early demise when faced with feedback similar to what is on this list. Even with a patent, a product may never be commercialized without someone to be its champion. While we are fortunate to have many technology champions in the area of artificial lift, we need more.
The best way to meet and learn from our industry’s best artificial-lift champions is by attending some of the artificial-lift forums, workshops, and conferences coming up in 2012 and 2013. Please check out the global events calendar on www.spe.org. One major SPE artificial-lift event you will not see on the global calendar, however, is the 2013 Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) Workshop. This is still a section-sponsored event; however, it has grown to be the primary conference for the ESP industry (the most-recent event had 560 attendees from 24 countries). Please go to this address for more information: www.spegcs.org/en/committees/display.asp?committeeid=5.
The first paper highlighted features the use of a downhole linear motor to drive a reciprocating-pump system. This is a new technology that is also featured in two papers to be presented at the 2012 Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in San Antonio, Texas, this October. The two other highlighted papers focus on offshore artificial-lift systems and discuss the unique challenges and concepts being applied.
Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
OTC 23079 - Mobile Gas Lift Compressor and Well-Unloading System for Enhancing Oil Production and Reserves, While Reducing Greenhouse-Gas Emissions in Offshore Environments by Jarrad Rexilius, Chevron, et al.
OTC 22579 - ESP-Assisted-Production Allocation in Peregrino Field by H. Olsen, Statoil Brazil, et al.
SPE 152229 - Calculation of Gearbox Torques of Rotaflex Pumping Units Considering the Elasticity of the Load Belt by G. Takacs, University of Miskolc, et al.
Program Considers What Is Needed for the Future of Carbon Sequestration
Authors: Wilson Adam 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Editorial Manager Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper CMTC 151471, ’What's Next in Geologic Storage Research?’ by J. Litynski and T. Rodosta, US Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory; and L. Myer, R. Kane, and G. Washington, Leonardo Technologies, prepared for the 2012 Carbon Management Technology Conference, Orlando, Florida, 7-9 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
The US Department of Energy (DOE) launched its carbon capture and storage (CCS) program in 1997 after holding a stakeholders workshop to obtain feedback from the technical and commercial sectors on its draft research plan. Consistent with administration and congressional priorities, CCS continues to be a key element of the DOE’s research and development (R&D) portfolio. Implemented by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) within DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy, the program is playing a lead role in CCS technology development and has made significant advances in the development of a broad range of effective and economically viable technologies.
Overall CCS Program Goals and Objectives
The overall objective of the carbon-storage program is to develop and advance CCS technologies that will be ready for widespread commercial deployment by 2020. To accomplish widespread deployment, three program goals have been established: (1) develop technologies that will support industries’ ability to predict CO2-storage capacity in geologic formations to ±30% by 2015; (2) develop technologies to demonstrate that 99% of injected CO2 remains in the injection zones by 2015; and (3) complete best-practices manuals for site selection, characterization, site operations, and closure practices by 2020. Only by accomplishing these goals will CCS technologies be ready for safe, effective commercial deployment beginning in 2020 and through the next several decades.
CCS-Program Structure
The carbon-storage program is composed of three principal elements: core R&D, infrastructure, and global collaborations. It is the integration of these elements that addresses technological and marketplace challenges.
Core R&D. The core-R&D element involves applied laboratory- and pilot-scale research focused on developing new technologies and systems for greenhouse-gas mitigation. Core R&D encompasses four technical focus areas for CCS technology and protocol development:
Geologic storage
Monitoring, verification, and accounting (MVA)
Simulation and risk assessment
CO2 use
Infrastructure. The infrastructure element involves confirmation of CO2-storage approaches through activities such as the seven regional carbon-sequestration partnerships (RCSPs), which are conducting field tests, engaging regional stakeholders, and characterizing opportunities for CO2 storage in their regions. Nineteen small-scale and eight large-scale field projects were implemented by the RCSPs, and these involved site selection, CO2 injection into different geologic storage formation classes, monitoring, public outreach, and regulatory compliance.
Innovation: Innovations in Subsea Completions
Authors: Imomoh Egbert 
Published: February 2015

President's column
The demand for more and more oil and gas has prompted the industry to seek new areas of hydrocarbon deposits, and the development of subsea completions has kept pace. Many huge innovations have taken place since the first underwater completion was made about 70 years ago, when the first wet wellhead, basically a land Christmas tree, was deployed in shallow water. Finding hydrocarbons in deeper and deeper waters, away from existing infrastructure, has prompted the need to complete wells on the sea floor and then pipe production to floating facilities. The depth of water in which these wells were drilled made the use of platforms become technically unfeasible or not supportable by the economics of the development. The North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, and west Africa have been the major areas of subsea development and reserves in increasing water depths have been brought into production, and more recent finds in east Africa are yet to be developed.
New technology has been deployed in a number of areas (Vernotzy 2013):
Drilling rig and equipment design capable of operating in water depths in excess of 3000 m
Better understanding of weather, ocean, and seabed conditions
Flowline and pipeline design and deployment
Design of very reliable processing and control systems
The development of sophisticated remotely operated vehicles (ROV)
A recent study (Nelson et al. 2013) to review and understand where oil and gas has been found recently revealed the following.
Globally, deep water has become a significant source of discoveries, accounting for more than 50% of new conventional reserves.
The size of deepwater discoveries is an order of magnitude larger than other discoveries.
However, less than 40% of those discoveries are in production, contributing less than 10% of conventional production.
Deepwater production could double in the next 7 years as more fields are brought into production.
Early deepwater development required the use of proven technology, innovation, commitment, and teamwork between license holders, equipment suppliers, and service providers. Given the depth, it was essential that equipment be designed to operate at a very high level of success.
Over the years, subsea completions have become more complex, varying from single wells connected to a platform to subsea “factories” consisting of an array of wellheads, manifolds, and processing equipment. Irrespective of the complexity of seabed configurations, the fluids produced will have to be channelled to an onshore handling facility or to a fixed or floating processing unit. Given the environment under which the installed equipment has to operate for long periods of time with minimum intervention, the equipment must be robust and reliable and must ensure safety for personnel and protection of the environment.
Molecular Simulation Helps Determine Key Shale-Gas Parameters
Authors: Wilson Adam 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper SPE 164790, ’Molecular Simulation To Determine Key Shale-Gas Parameters and Their Use in a Commercial Simulator for Production Forecasting,’ by F. Gouth, Total; J. Collell and G. Galliero, Universite de Pau and Pays de l'Adour; and J. Wang, ecole Centrale de Pekin, prepared for the 2013 SPE Europec/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, London, 10-13 June. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Shale gas is fast becoming a source of energy of paramount significance for the coming years. Although commercial production has been achieved in numerous plays throughout the world, the actual physics involved is poorly understood. Molecular simulation is an emerging technique that can be put to use for shale gas. It offers insights into nanoscale properties such as sorption or transport coefficients. The technique is based on numerical simulations at the molecular scale for a given set of pressure and temperature conditions.
Introduction
Comprehensive organic-shale rock characterization performed in recent years has emphasized the dual nature of the porous system, which is split between organic and inorganic pores, each system having its own scales and associated physical properties. At least two clearly identified mechanisms are likely to cause composition changes over time: In tiny pores, where specific surfaces are huge with respect to volumes, gas exists in both free and condensed (adsorbed) states and in different compositions. Because free and adsorbed gas will not be produced at the same time in a well’s life because the process is pressure dependent, a change in the produced-gas-composition stream is likely. In addition, flow through the nanometer-scale pore system exhibits not a Darcy pattern but a diffusion type of flow (transitional or free molecular flow) where transport coefficients depend on the molecule size. This mechanism is well-known in gas chromatography as molecular sieving and also will result in composition changes.
This paper seeks to offer a comprehensive screening of the current means available for representing such effects and to examine their consequence on long-term production with an appropriate model.