bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Elimination of Waste in the Production of Oil
Authors: Guarin Paul L. 
Published: June 2014

The report of the American Petroleum Institute to the Federal OilConservation Board, which was presented by Mr. Hughes, tends to minimize themagnitude of waste in the production of oil. At least one member of theindustry has taken violent exception to some of the statements made in thatreport. With the present demand for petroleum and especially for its lighterproducts, it is plainly the duty of oil operators to protect oil and gas inevery way possible against losses. If methods of waste elimination arejudiciously applied they will result, not only in the conservation of avaluable natural resource, but also in increased profits to the operators.
A prominent petroleum engineer recently stated that in his opinion thegreatest single loss suffered by the oil industry today is that of evaporationof oil vapors into the atmosphere. It must be admitted that this constitutes avery large and important loss, and one that must be given a great deal ofattention. However, there are other wastes occurring that are of even greaterimportance from the stand point of the operator. I refer specifically tounnecessarily high exploration, development and operating costs.

Exploration Work
Much progress has been made along the lines of more scientific explorationwork. During recent years more attention has been given to geology, because theoperators have found by experience that it pays to do so. More recently thesubsurface geologist has made his appearance, and correlation on the basis ofsubsurface information obtained by core drills and small portable rotary rigshas added its contribution toward the more scientific location of expensivedeep tests. In some districts considerable success has been obtained withmechanical and electrical devices in determining underground structures.
In the actual drilling work still further waste eliminations have beenmade.
Principles of the Air-gas Lift as Applied to Oil Production
Authors: Pierce H.R. , Lewis James O. 
Published: June 2014

Since the sudden revival of the air or gas-lift and its extensive use in theoil fields, many questions have arisen as to principles and as to theirapplication under the conditions actually encountered in the field. Much hasbeen written regarding both theory and practice, especially on the air-lift asapplied to lifting water. Many statements have been made as to the use andbenefits of the gas-lift, some of which are reasonable but many of which areunreasonable, many specialty makers claiming to have devices which operate inalmost miraculous ways and even to generate energy nature never possessed.These claims are often based upon incomplete or inaccurate data.
A review of the literature discloses many valuable articles, but it alsodiscloses the need for setting out more clearly the different practical endssought, and for working out specific engineering principles upon which toformulate the design and operation of gas-lifts to meet the desired ends withinthe limitations of field conditions. A check on some of the publishedinformation has revealed basic errors in the sources of data upon whichconclusions have been predicated and has led the writers to doubt the value ofa large part of the compiled data.
The writers have concluded, therefore, that it will be opportune to directdiscussion to the sources of error in the data now being collected, torecommend for consideration by the engineers some methods of collecting andcorrelating data, and to point out some of the factors relating to theapplication of the air-lift principle to oil production as dictated by thedifferent economic ends sought, and the limitations of working conditions thatmay be met. Until these several considerations are clearly understood by theengineers, and the unreliable data have been sifted out and dependable datasubstituted, there seems little chance of evolving satisfactory engineeringcontrol for the air-lift.
In the following pages no distinction will be made between gas-lift andair-lift, as they are generically the same.
Use of Electricity for Oil-field Operations in Wyoming
Authors: Peake A.W. , Prior F.O. 
Published: June 2014

Considering the great advance in the development and application ofelectricity, it is not strange that eventually a big field for its use has beenfound in oil-field operations. So far as is known, the first electric drive inoil-field operations was in the Russian field of Baku in 1900. The firstapplication in this country was made by the South Penn Oil Co. near Folsom, West Va. in 1903.
In 1916, electric power was first used in the Burma fields of India fordrilling and pumping. Between 1916 and 1922, The Empire Gas &Fuel Co. madethe first large electrical installation in the Mid-Continent fields. Butalthough the first application was made 27 years ago, it is only within thelast 10 years that oil companies have begun to look upon its use with muchfavor. Within the last few years, there has been a steady increase in the useof electricity in the oil fields.
The first application of electricity for oil-field operations in Wyoming wasin the Lander field in 1919; the second was in 1924 in Salt Creek; and thethird, and last to date, was made by the Continental Oil Co. in the Big Muddyfield during 1926.

Lander Field
The electrification of oil-field operations in Wyoming was initiated by J.W.Steele, superintendent of the Producers &Refiners Oil Corp., in the Landerfield in 1919. At that time, 32 wells were being pumped from five band-wheelpowers, with oil engines as the prime movers. Eight barrels of fuel oil wereused for power per day and at the price of 90 c. per bbl. the fuel bill was $36 per day. It was decided to try a 15 to 35-hp. oil-field motor on one of thesepowers. Electric power was generated with steam at the old Wind River refinerystation. This test was so successful that in 1920 all five powers were equippedwith 15 to 35-hp. oil-field motors, the power being obtained from the SinksCanyon hydroelectric station. Four of these powers pumped wells at an averagedepth of 1450 ft., and the fifth pumped wells at an average of 2100 ft. In1920, the average production per day from the 32 wells was 325 bbl.
Summary of Existing Information on Handling Congealing Oils and Paraffin
Authors: Reistle C.E. 
Published: June 2014

All crude oils become more viscous when chilled, but the only oils thatcongeal and precipitate paraffin to such an extent as actually to causeproduction troubles are those that contain an appreciable amount of wax.
In handling these oils of high wax content, three distinct problems may beencountered before the oil reaches the refinery. The first problem is theprecipitation and accumulation of paraffin in the well, either in the oilstring or on the face and in the pores of the sand. The second problem is theaccumulation of paraffin and the congealing of oil in the transportation lines.The third problem is the precipitation of paraffin and the formation of tankbottoms.

Factors That Control the Solubility of Paraffin in Crude Oil
Two main factors, possibly three, govern the solubility of wax in crude oil.The first of these is temperature. The solubility of wax in crude oil increaseswith an increase in temperature, and as the temperature approaches the meltingpoint, the wax becomes soluble in all proportions in the crude oil. The higherthe melting point of a wax, the less soluble it is in crude oil below itsmelting point. All crude oils containing wax can be chilled to a point wherethe oil is saturated with wax. If the temperature is decreased below thispoint, some of the wax will crystallize from solution. Fig. 1 shows the effectof temperature on the solubility of crude paraffin in oil.
The second factor is the amount of volatile constituents and gas removedfrom the crude oil. Evaporation of the volatile constituents and gas lessensthe volume of the oil and concentrates the solution of wax in the oil;therefore less wax can be held in solution at a definite temperature. As thenatural amount of wax present in the oil is constant, this results in the oilbecoming saturated with wax at a higher temperature than if the volatileconstituents and gas were still in the oil.
Summary of Discussion on Petroleum Engineering Problems
Authors: Hill H.H. 
Published: June 2014

The Round Table Discussion on Petroleum Engineering Research was planned fortwo purposes. First, to review the work that has been done by petroleumengineers during the past few years on problems that have confronted theindustry and, second, to suggest new studies that should be made either on theproblems that have been the subject of research during the past or on problemsthat have arisen only recently. It was believed that by holding an informaldiscussion of the problems in which the petroleum engineer is vitallyinterested it would be possible to bring out new ideas as to the relativeimportance of the different problems that should be studied and to suggest newmethods for attacking some of the problems that have resisted the energies ofresearch workers throughout the industry. It was also believed that byarranging for an exchange of experiences between the different engineers itwould be possible to prevent a large amount of duplication of effort inconducting research work. Those engaged in petroleum engineering researchrealize that there is a broad field for study and by coordinating the work itwill be possible to obtain the maximum amount of information in the shortestpossible time.
In planning the program on Petroleum Engineering Research, nine subjectswere selected for discussion and each was assigned to a man who is doing workon that subject. These men were asked to lead the discussion on the problemassigned to each one. An effort was made to choose problems of a practicalnature and upon which considerable work is being conducted at the present time.Some of the men who were asked to lead the discussion were unable to attend themeeting but most of them submitted a written discussion of the subjectassigned, with the result that there was a discussion of eight of the nineproblems. Professor Uren, who was asked to lead the discussion on the subjectof Recent Developments in Methods for Reducing Gas-oil Ratios, was unable toattend the meeting and advised that he did not have any new ideas tocontribute.
The Loss Ratio Method of Extrapolating Oil Well Decline Curves
Authors: Johnson Roswell H. , Bollens A.L. 
Published: June 2014

The appraisal of oil wells, now that we have the age-size method of makingcomposite decline curves, and the present worth of successive time units methodof valuation, has its greatest remaining uncertainty in the difficulty ofextending into the future the price curve and the composite production curve.The point of attack in this paper is the carrying on (or extrapolation) of theproduction curve.
Led by the valuable discovery of Lewis and Beal that the decline curve isnearer the hyperbolic class, y = (x + a)−n, than any other form, the currentpractice is the graphic method. The data are plotted on logarithmic paper andshifted with successive trials until the line becomes straight. This straightline can then be extended into the future. The method was a great help duringthe period when, for tax purposes, there was need for a quick method eventhough the errors were large. Now that we seek greater validity in our methodswe find the following faults with the current method.Where the shift is great (it exceeds 10 in some cases) the scale cannotbe read with the necessary precision so that the resulting data would give avery irregular and inaccurate curve.Where the curve cannot be straightened on logarithmic paper because ofsigmoid shape the method has a serious systematic error. We believe the sigmoidcurves to be more common than usually supposed, indeed when one considers thenumber of variable causative factors this is to be expected.
We have therefore been seeking a method that is free from these difficultiesand yet not so laborious as fitting a curve to the data and the calculationfrom the formula which, since it involves looking up logarithms, is undulytime-consuming. The method here described has been developed on the basissuggested by Earl Oliver, that the amount of oil produced per month or year foreach reduction of production of a barrel of oil per day could be plotted toadvantage.
Cooperative Development of Oil Pools
Authors: Kiessling O.E. 
Published: June 2014

Viewed from the standpoint of an economist, the task which faces thepetroleum producing industry is one of intelligent adjustment so thattechnology can perform the job of efficient exploitation, while at the sametime the interests of producers and consumers remain adequately protected.
The crux in the task of making this adjustment lies in the difficulty ofarranging the instrumentalities of production to accord with the physicalcharacteristics of oil. For example, oil is exploited under a competitiveeconomic system based on private ownership and contract, with the hope thatprofits will attract capital and enterprise, and with competition supposedlyacting as the regulative factor. Whether such a scheme of industrialorganization works is partially dependent upon the ability of the producer towith old or produce his commodity as he sees fit, in accordance with marketdemand. But in the oil industry, the enterpriser does not have complete controlover the expansion and contraction of production, for, because of the decisionsof the courts that ownership in oil depends upon its possession, desire forimmediate output becomes the controlling force in production. Consequently, thetheoretical commands and restraints of free enterprise are not operativebecause there is no security of property, and the result is loss due to thefollowing economic maladjustments:Production not completely responsive to price control.Production at excessive cost.Loss of oil, a highly exhaustible natural resource.
If economic maladjustments are to be eliminated, there should be a change in the organization of production so as to provide efficientexploitation of the oil and at the same time to insure individual propertyinterests. The latter is necessary if economic considerations are to becomeprimary factors in regulating production.
T.P. 28
Acid Bottle Method of Subsurface Well Survey and Its Application
Authors: Griswold E.H. 
Published: June 2014

The surveying of oil wells has in recent months become a common practice inthe deep fields of the Mid-Continent area. Borehole surveys have been made bymining companies for many years, but the introduction of such methods into theoil fields has been delayed until the past few years, because the value ofsurvey data was not fully appreciated.
The acid and gelatin bottle methods of obtaining the angle of deviation andthe floating compass method of obtaining the direction of horizontal drift havebeen in use for more than 20 years. A photographic recording instrumentconsisting of a plumb bob, magnetic needle and electrically operated camera wasdevised and used in the Rand mining fields of South Africa prior to 1912.Another and improved photographic instrument, depending upon orientation of thedrill pipe instead of polar magnetism for direction, has been invented andused. The acid bottle method has also been used in conjunction with orienteddrill pipe. The magnetic compass is not reliable for oil-well work because ofthe unsymmetrical attraction of the needle to the well casing and possiblemagnetic formations. Many engineers also concur in the opinion that orientationof the drill pipe from instrument to surface will be inaccurate because of thetorque exerted between the drill pipe and walls of the hole, causing the lowersections of pipe to twist. When it is considered that 4000 ft. of 6 in. drillpipe has approximately the same slenderness ratio as 6 ft. of silk thread, suchtwisting effects can be readily visualized. The gyroscopic compass has beensuggested for use in direction finding, but the high cost of such instrumentswill prohibit their use, except in special cases.
Due to the lack of accurate direction-finding instruments, almost all of thesurvey work in the Mid-Continent fields has been of the acid bottle methodalone.
Intermittent Injection of Gas in Gas-lift Installations
Authors: Walker Morgan 
Published: June 2014

Intermittent injection of gas in gas-lift pumping is a variation of thecommon practice in that the gas is delivered to the well for ashortperiod, called the "on time," followed by a period during which none isadmitted, called the "off time," instead of being admitted continuouslyat a constant rate or by intermittent flowing in which it is occasionallydelivered to the well in just sufficient quantity to flow off the accumulatedhead of fluid. The term "gas" is used throughout this discussion but itshould be remembered that in so far as the operation is concerned either air ornatural gas may be used.
The equipment at the well is the same as commonly used in gas-liftinstallations and gas may be admitted to either the tubing or the casing. Itseldom occurs that all the wells on a lease can be pumped economically byintermittent injection from one header. Wells that have flow characteristicswhich permit their being handled together have their intake lines grouped at acentral compressor station. Well groups may consist of two or more wells. Thetotal volume of gas delivered by each group of compressors goes to one well ata time through a quick opening valve, each well connected to the headerreceiving its charge of gas in turn. Special cases may require a deviation fromthis arrangement. The distribution of the gas to the different wells iseffected by an automatic timing device which operates quick-opening valves onthe intake lines. The timing mechanism may be actuated by electricity, liquidor gas pressure. The essential factor in the operation of the timing mechanismis that as one intake valve is closed another must be opened.

Water-Operated Timing Device
Timing devices operate the intake valves either directly, or indirectly bypilot valves. Of the former type one that is operated by water and has givensatisfactory service is shown in Fig. 1 and can be made on the lease. Thehorizontal cylinder is a piece of 10-in. casing about 7 ft. long, closed ateach end and free to oscillate about a fulcrum at the center.
Means of Controlling Gas-oil Ratio
Authors: Marsh Hallan N. , Robinson Bruce H. 
Published: June 2014

It is now generally recognized that to secure the greatest ultimate recoveryof petroleum from a field it is necessary to maintain at all times the lowestpossible ratio of gas to oil production. The numerous ways of securing lowratios are not so generally understood or practiced. To many operators, reduction of gas-oil ratio simply means "beaning back" wells, withresultant reduced production rate. This postponement of production is oftenconsidered and spoken of as "lost" production, with the result thatcontrol of gas-oil ratio is in disfavor with some operators.
Various methods are herein discussed by which gas-oil ratio may be reduced, some of which involve no curtailment of current production, while others areaccompanied by an actual increase of daily production. It is further shown thatin cases where rate of production is reduced to conserve gas, the indicatedultimate recovery is generally increased. Principles involved are discussed, and conclusions are illustrated by data from the operation of wells.

General Principles
The rate and ratio in which oil and gas enter a well are solely dependent, so far as the operation of that well is concerned, upon the pressuresmaintained in the well opposite the producing strata at various times and atvarious depths. The method of getting the oil out of the hole, whether bynatural flow, gas-lift, or pumping, has no effect upon either rate ofproduction or ultimate recovery except through its effect upon pressures.
Core Studies of the Bradford Sand from the Bradford Field, Pennsylvania
Authors: Fettke Charles R. 
Published: June 2014

The Bradford field of northwestern Pennsylvania and adjacent portions of NewYork state has attracted world-wide attention in recent years on account of theremarkable success that has been attained in the application of water-Hoodingas a means of increasing the extraction of oil from a pool that had almostreached the economic limit by ordinary production methods. It is one of the fewlarge oil fields in which artificially conducted water drives have thus farproved successful, although many attempts have been made to apply themelsewhere. As detailed a knowledge as possible of the character of theproducing sand in this field is therefore of considerable interest, not onlyfrom a scientific but also from a practical standpoint. Outside the Bradfordfield, such knowledge should aid operators in determining whether or not theirsands are amenable to Hooding. In the Bradford field itself Hooding operationsare not uniformly successful over the approximately 85,000 acres of productivearea, due in many instances primarily to variations in sand conditions. Aknowledge of just what these variations are would often be a great aid inovercoming the difficulties, or else would save considerable sums of moneywhich might otherwise be wasted in experimenting in areas where the chances ofsuccess are very small.
Realizing that more precise information in regard to the nature of thereservoir rock was essential to improvements in the methods of oil recovery, the Northwestern Pennsylvania Oil Producers Assn., by private subscription ofits members, took a core of the Bradford sand from a well 1/2 mile west ofCuster City, Pa., during the spring of 1925. The Forest Oil Co. also took acore of the same sand from a well about 8 miles east of Bradford at that time.The cores were submitted to the United States Geological Survey for study andA. F. Melcher has published the results of porosity determinations on theCuster City core.
Manufacture of Nitroglycerin and Use of High Explosives in Oil and Gas Wells
Authors: Rison C.O. 
Published: June 2014

High explosives, particularly nitroglycerin, have been used in torpedoes forthe purpose of shooting oil and gas wells for more than 60 years. The earlyhistory of the oil industry in Pennsylvania is not clear as to who actuallytorpedoed the first well, although in 1865 the Roberts Torpedo Co. procured apatent covering the process. Gunpowder was first used, although nitroglycerinwas substituted shortly afterwards.
Wells are shot for the purpose of increasing the flow of oil and gas. Ashot-hole in the producing horizon, with its contributory fissures andfractures, increases the area of and stimulates drainage into the hole. Theshot-hole also acts as a collecting basin from which the oil is pumped. As arule, hard or close-grained sands or limes are shot, other more or less porousand soft formations usually do not require shooting, and might be injured byblasting. Shooting is also resorted to in mechanical trouble such asstraightening crooked holes, sidetracking pipe or tools, and for severingfrozen strings of casing or drill pipe. Explosives are also used sometimes toextinguish oil or gas-well fires although that work, which involves unusualconditions and methods, does not properly come within the classification ofoil-well shooting.

Some Factors To Be Considered In Shooting Wells
Although nitroglycerin has been used extensively for more than half a centuryin shooting oil and gas wells, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as tothe proper method of shooting or the amount of explosive required to producebest results in a particular formation. The possibility of shootingunproductive or cavey formations above or below the productive horizons, shooting into lower water, destroying casing seats, and the splitting orcollapsing of casing strings, are factors that require consideration.