bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effective Stimulation Treatment in a Difficult Completion
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 93987, "Ensuring Effective Stimulation Treatments in Difficult Completions," by M. Willemse, SPE, O. Mostafa, M. El-Ashry, I. Abdallah, and A.A. Sattar, Bapetco, and A. Waheed, SPE, and B. Conrad, Halliburton, prepared for the 2005 SPE/ICoTA Coiled Tubing Conference and Exhibition, The Woodlands, Texas, 12-13 April.
Achieving effective stimulation across zones not readily accessible is a common challenge in the oil field. The full-length paper presents a case history in which a sandstone reservoir not previously matrix acidized was producing at low rates and eventually died. The zones were completed between straddle packers and were accessible only through a sliding side door (SSD) 100 ft above the perforations. A true fluidic oscillator (TFO) was included as a stimulation tool. This tool provides a continuous pressure pulse that causes solids buildup in the perforations to fatigue and break up while the acid system works on the rock matrix.

Background
The well was an exploration well drilled in the Badr El Din field in the Western Desert of Egypt. Original plans were to target a deep formation in addition to evaluating the upper Cretaceous reservoirs. Openhole logs showed that: (1) the deep zone was water bearing and was plugged back, (2) Sands A and B were oil bearing with 5,350-psi reservoir pressure, and (3) Sand C was gas bearing with only 2,500 psi reservoir pressure.
The well required a selective completion to isolate Sands A and B from Sand C. A straddle packer with an SSD provided separation of the commingled oil zones from the gas zone that would be produced through the main production tubing. The oil zones were perforated first and produced at a 450-BOPD initial rate. The production rate declined rapidly to 200 BOPD, and the well ceased to flow within 3 months.
Stand Tall and Speak Up: Beyond Technology—Our Commitment to Social Responsibility
Authors: Sprunt Eve S. 
Published: February 2015

New opportunities will increasingly involve heavy oil, or stranded natural gas, or resources in ultra-deep water. Large investments in infrastructure will be required to bring these resources to market, so it will take years just to recover the initial investments. While we are accustomed to thinking of our industry as being built on long-term relationships, the rise in the percentage of projects with huge investments in facilities will increase the importance of maintaining good relationships. For relationships to withstand the tests of time, they must be win-win for all the stakeholders, not just those who sign the contracts.
In long-term relationships, many issues that are covered by the broad category of social responsibility will take on greater importance. Definitions of social responsibility vary, but generally embrace ethical business practices, community economic development, human rights, indigenous-population care, worker rights and benefits, and a broad range of environmental issues (including climate change, water management, waste disposal, and biodiversity). Social responsibility is an umbrella term that can be considered to encompass all of what we now classify as health, environment, and safety matters.
Public perception of how we perform on the broad portfolio of social-responsibility issues has a major impact on our industry's image and plays a major role in maintaining our industry's ability to operate. In comparison with other multinational industries, the public tends to rank the petroleum industry very low. Some oil and gas companies have placed a larger emphasis on social responsibility than others and indications are that the public recognizes the commitment these companies have made. However, when major problems erupt, the industry as a whole suffers.
Trade associations have taken the lead on social responsibility issues. The Intl. Assn. of Oil & Gas Producers (www.ogp.org.uk) and the Intl. Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Assn. (www.ipieca.org), both of which were founded in 1974, are notable examples. Their memberships include private and state-owned petroleum companies, oil and gas associations, and upstream service companies. While these trade associations are providing valuable services, I believe that individual-member organizations such as SPE can also make major contributions. We can leverage our access to our almost 70,000 members worldwide.
Just as for safety, where we have learned that knowledge and accountability are everyone's business, the other social responsibility issues must not be viewed as primarily the responsibility of experts. With social responsibility issues, liability extends far beyond the confines of our company facilities. The issues that host communities consider most urgent vary widely. We need everyone to serve as a sentinel, alert to the potential opportunities and threats associated with social responsibility concerns.
Techbits: Enhancing Production in Russia's Oil and Gas Fields
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Nearly 100 participants in an SPE Applied Technology Workshop (ATW) in Moscow discussed the application of horizontal wells (HWs) and multilateral wells (MWs) in Russia, where horizontal drilling is widely practiced. Case studies were presented from western Siberia, Sakhalin, Canada, the Middle East, and the North Sea to stimulate discussion of where it is best to use HWs and MWs and, alternatively, where other forms of production enhancement such as hydraulic fracturing might be more appropriate. The second part of the workshop focused on execution—drilling, completion, and life-of-field monitoring.

Status of Well Technology
Sibneft Chief Engineer Iskander Diyashev opened the discussion, describing how the company has enhanced production in its Noyabrsk western Siberia operation with 50% of the increase coming from HWs (even though these wells make up only 4% of the total well stock). TRACS-Consult Petroleum Engineering Consultant Robert Holtslag gave an overview of HWs in Russia where there are ≈2,500 of a worldwide total of ≈75,000. The Russian wells have productivity improvement (PI) factors in the range of 1.2–3. Holtslag pointed out that a major challenge is to increase the lower end of this range so that more HWs have robust economics. Schlumberger Middle East Chief Reservoir Engineer Fikri Kuchuk examined HW and MW performance, emphasizing the shortfall in performance as a result of inadequate cleanup, water sumps in the wellbore, and uneven pressure distribution in the near-wellbore formation that may reduce the PI factor to 30–50% of its potential value. He stressed the importance of drilling horizontal sections, which avoids sumps and highs where water and gas can accumulate. Sibneft Reservoir Engineer Elena Khairulina presented implementation of modeling HW performance using many examples from Noyabrsk.

Case Histories and Screening
Sibneft Reservoir Engineer Larisa Gaponova described the optimization of Sugmutsky field development by use of HWs. The peak oil production almost doubled with a much smaller number of wells. She compared a 500-m-long HW with a vertical well (VW) with a vertical hydraulic fracture. The initial PI factor was ≈4.4, stabilizing at a current value of 3, while the initial water cut was two times less than that from a typical VW and stabilized at 3.4 times less.
Sibneft Stimulation and Completion Engineer Andrey Brovchuk explained hydraulic fracturing of openhole HWs in western Siberia, showing that a post-frac improvement of 150% was achieved and that 3.5% of production was achieved from 14 HWs with hydraulic fractures.
Economides Consulting Partner Andronikus Demarchos described a transversely fractured HW in Algeria where four fractures were created with 70-m spacing along an HW. Each fracture used 100 to 200 tons of proppant. Results will become known when bridge plugs, needed in order to create multiple fractures, are drilled out.
Overview: Health, Safety and Environment (July 2006)
Authors: Veil John 
Published: February 2015

Health, safety, and environment (HSE) topics continue to be in the forefront of world news. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome and avian flu represent serious global health threats. The petroleum community faces other important, but less newsworthy, health issues like malaria and other tropical diseases, particularly as oil and gas are sought in increasingly remote areas.
Safety remains an important concern. Companies worry about protecting their employees from natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods. Security issues, such as terrorist attacks and hijacking of facilities and personnel, are a constant consideration. The complex equipment needed to access oil and gas resources thousands of meters underground also can pose safety risks for personnel. The industry's strong reliance on extended-shift work schedules also contributes to safety and health concerns.
The environmental area is highly contentious. Each day, the press expounds on global warming, carbon capture and storage, oil spills, and air and water pollution. Often, the oil and gas industry is implicated as a contributor to these problems. The public is definitely watching. Particularly in times of record oil-company profits, there is little sympathy for inadequate environmental protection from our industry.
In April, professionals from many countries gathered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for the Eighth SPE International Conference on Health, Safety, and Environment in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. This is the foremost meeting for HSE issues within the industry. Most of the papers featured here, along with numerous other interesting papers, were presented at that meeting.
It was a pleasure to review the many HSE papers presented at SPE meetings this year. Some described successful programs and activities, while others reported on new technologies or research. Much good HSE work is taking place throughout the industry. Judging by the affiliations of the authors of the featured papers, this good work is taking place in all parts of the world. Continued commitment and leadership in studying and solving HSE problems are necessary to sustain a viable global petroleum industry.
Health, Safety, and Environment additional reading available at the SPE eLibrary: www.spe.org
SPE 95343 "Treatment of Produced Water from Polymer-Flooding Process Using a New Type of Air-Sparged Hydrocyclone" by S. Liu, Shanghai Jiaotong U., et al.
IPTC 10911 "How Clean Is Clean? Is It Still a Debate?" by E. Garland, SPE, Total E&P.
SPE 98130 "Optimal Strategies for Dealing With Shift Work and Insomnia" by W.H. Kuo, SPE, Saudi Aramco Healthcare.
Petroleum Industry 2020: Leadership and Industry Image
Authors: Al-Khalifa Abdul-Jaleel 
Published: February 2015

Have you ever been confronted in public with contentious questions about the industry you work in, likeAre we running out of oil and gas?When is the next wave of layoffs?Why do your companies pollute the environment?Is global warming bad enough to steer away from using fossil fuels?Why does "big oil" only produce hydrocarbons from poor countries but never contribute to their development?
Did you answer with confidence and clarity, or did you freeze up?
Questions like these have been asked for many years. Are they grounded in incorrect perceptions or do they hold partial truths? Either way, such questions reflect a major disconnect between our industry and the public, one that continues to erode our image. What can we do to polish this impaired image? Is it only communication? I believe the industry needs to do a lot more than communication.
Our traditional training approach for management explains part of the industry's reluctance to take on global issues. Most managers in the petroleum industry start as technical experts, but are then intensively trained to climb the management ladder. Management training is obtained in cross-industry classes that rarely focus on strategic issues specific to the petroleum industry. The presumption is that our industry's challenges are well addressed within the company. To bridge this gap, senior management normally invites experts to address major issues such as market outlook and scenario planning. This training framework yields excellent operations managers. Unfortunately, it is not conducive to grooming industry-wide leaders who can articulate clear positions on critical industry issues.
Managers are also advised to avoid the media. Indeed, most corporations limit media interaction to public relations personnel who, most of the time, are not experts in the debated subject. This leaves a huge vacuum, with our industry lacking credible, well-informed spokespersons on its behalf. So our industry image continues to suffer because we are not offering persuasive rebuttals nor true solutions.
What is the way forward? It's a matter of leadership. The distinction between leaders and managers is obvious. Leaders exhibit global awareness and magnetic appeal, and hold bold, visionary positions. They are very charismatic and persuasive communicators who can energize and mobilize widespread support for their goals. Leaders do not need to exert their position's power, or take a command/control approach to run the business. Indeed, they motivate people, and multiply the power of their subordinates through a climate of respect, care, fairness, and integrity. To enrich our leadership pool, we should hold intensive leadership seminars that focus on contemporary strategic issues. These seminars will serve to polish the leadership skills of the participants and at the same time develop industry-wide positions that can be carefully articulated and then shared with the public. Action plans to help prepare our industry for the future can also be developed.
Guest Editorial: The State of the Units or the Units of the States
Authors: Potsch Klaus 
Published: February 2015

Opening the business section of my newspaper (a European one), my eyes spot an article on the oil price. It is over USD 60/bbl. In Europe, do we not measure amounts differently? Conveniently, the newspaper printed the conversion factor right along with the figure. So it is "just" a matter of a rough calculation to arrive at a number that I am used to.
That is just an everyday example. Sitting in an oil conference, reading a technical article on petroleum engineering, or digging through a technical operations manual you may find ample opportunity for all kinds of unit conversions. Is that necessary? Can we not agree in our industry once and for all to use only one system of units?
I still remember my years at the university when I had to fight with different systems of units, such as "cgs" or "mks" with "atm" or "at" as units for pressure. It took some time before the SI system (Le Système International d'Unités) began gaining recognition. Generally, this system is also called the metric system. The SI system was founded in 1960. Its roots date back to the French Revolution, when scientists like Lavoisier created a rational system of units. The numerical base was the number 10. Orders of magnitude are handled by prefixes, something that is missing in other systems. Seven basic units were singled out from which all other units of physical quantities can be derived. The units are not capitalized, except for some that are named after a person—K for Kelvin, Pa for Pascal. They are used only in the singular to avoid confusion with the unit "s" for seconds. In 1982, SPE issued a superb explanation of the SI system. Out of necessity, this SPE article is still my most frequently used article. Another detailed overview can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SI.
The oil industry sticks to its favorite oilfield (OF) units. Some call it "practical units." But are they really practical? That depends probably on your point of view. The technology developed primarily in the US became so dominant in the industry that it also dictated how and in which system measurements have to be taken. The old countries, such as Azerbaijan, Poland, and Romania, where oil was produced even before the US, could not take over the technological lead. Now, people seem to use units as they please, even if it means mixing SI and OF units. Table 1 offers a glimpse of some units and terms found in a variety of journals and publications.
Techbits: PE School Faculty Shortage Needs Immediate Remedy
Authors: JPT staff _ 
Published: February 2015

Excellent employment prospects at salaries well above their peers have created a rapid increase in the number of students enrolling in petroleum engineering (PE) programs at US universities. But a severe PE faculty shortage has resulted, one that cannot be eliminated in the short term through normal recruitment. On 13 April, SPE sponsored a workshop of PE department chairpersons and industry representatives to discuss the problem and determine if and how industry might help fill the gap.
The problem can be summarized as follows:PE student enrollment has increased by more than 60% since 2003, while faculty numbers have increased by only 7%.More than 40 positions for faculty are vacant in 19 PE departments.Faculty teaching loads are as high as four courses per semester, while top programs in other science and engineering disciplines have teaching loads that are normally one course per semester, if research activity is significant, and two courses, if research demands are low.Starting salaries for PE faculty are as much as USD 30,000 per year below offers to top undergraduates, making it difficult to attract and retain faculty.
The workshop group proposed two main areas where the oil and gas industry could provide short-term PE faculty support: supplying adjunct faculty and providing financial assistance for faculty hiring and retention. The group also recognized the need for increased research funding, especially considering the proposed elimination of funding from the US Department of Energy. However, that issue will be addressed later as a longer-term problem. For adjunct faculty, the group made the following recommendations:Establish a "clearinghouse"—a website for posting adjunct faculty needs by PE schools. Companies also could post available lecturers and their subjects; spe.org could be the Web home, with open access to the clearinghouse site.Consider team teaching (e.g., on a 28/28 rotational schedule) for PE schools distant from an adjunct faculty member's home as an alternative to relocation.Use distance teaching for certain courses, preferably in a real-time format allowing direct interaction between lecturer and student. This would be especially attractive for PE schools remote from industry centers.Create a short course for training adjunct faculty in teaching skills, such as testing and assessment techniques.Maximize the use of graduate-student teaching assistants to support both on-site adjunct faculty and distance teaching.
Regarding faculty hiring and retention, the workshop committee made these recommendations:The industry should augment salaries of junior faculty with faculty fellowships of USD 10,000 to USD 30,000 per year. Funding could be annual or in the form of endowments.Support teaching assistants with fellowships and internships. In addition to an important role in assisting adjunct faculty in the near term, graduate students are the primary source for future permanent faculty.
Management: Use of Real-Time Operations Growing Upstream
Authors: Sood Sanjaya 
Published: February 2015

If a brand new oil field product or service becomes widely used in less than a decade, that is fast. It is no secret that the petroleum industry is conservative when it comes to adopting new technology. With the increasing pressure to maintain supplies from existing fields, however, that is changing. Today, technologies that improve production and reduce risk are more important than ever. You can see this in the growing range of tools and services that employ "real time" capabilities. But what are the benefits to those who adopt these technologies, and is real-time capability alone the key to unlocking additional value for operators?
The meaning of "real time" depends on its use. Aircraft controls, for example, are real-time systems that must process data and respond instantaneously with 100% accuracy. If we are referring instead to the credit card reader at a gas pump, the transaction is not instantaneous, but nearly so. Within the upstream oil business, wireline tools provide data almost instantly, and today there are drilling systems that feed back downhole information quickly. Drillers use them to guide the bit, adjusting for the fact that the data they are getting is actually several minutes old. Real-time capability can be defined as the use of digital technology to rapidly transfer field data to individuals or control centers, and the ability of humans or intelligent control devices to respond with equal speed to the data they receive. The benefit is that more efficient systems let operators direct valuable resources to other areas.

Incremental Changes
Adopting real-time capability is a process of incremental change. In an oil field, the beginning of that journey might be a simple feedback device that tells production operators what they need to know without having to visit their wells every day. At the other end of the spectrum might be an automated system that responds to changing field conditions and makes adjustments on its own. But full automation will not happen overnight. And there is no right or wrong place to be along the journey. An operator's requirements for automation might depend on several things: a desire to improve efficiency, the benefits of the investment, availability of the technology itself, and access to expertise and processes to implement change most effectively.
There are three main reasons for deploying systems with real-time capability. The first is the growing shortage of skilled professionals in the industry, fueled in part by the coming retirement of a large portion of the workforce. Systems in which one can collaborate remotely or receive and share information quickly allow one person or team to monitor several locations at once, thereby improving efficiency.