bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A Foam Pilot in a North Sea Oil Reservoir: Preparation for a Production Well Treatment
Authors: Aarra M. G. , Skauge Arne 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Displacement tests in sandstone cores have been applied to quantify the gas blocking ability of water continuous foams. The core flood experiments at reservoir condition have shown that such foams can create high pressure gradient also in the presence of North Sea crude oil. The pressure development during the flow in porous media was related to the variation of the foam quality (gas-water ratio). Several foam forming aqueous surfactants have been compared in static and dynamic foam tests. The placement of foam for blocking of a gas cone is discussed and different injection procedures are evaluated.
Performance of Immiscible Water-Alternating-Gas (IWAG) Injection at Kuparuk River Unit, North Slope, Alaska
Authors: Ma T. D. , Youngren G. K. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Immiscible water-alternating-gas injection (IWAG) has proven to be effective in managing produced gas at Kuparuk River Unit. The process is expected to improve oil recovery due to more efficient waterflooding in the presence of trapped gas. Laboratory data showed that trapped gas reduced water mobility by forcing water to displace oil from smaller pores. This mechanism resulted in lower residual oil saturation. Fully compositional simulation showed that IWAG may get an incremental oil of 1-3% of the original oil-in-place. Several years of operations have also revealed other significant tangible and intangible benefits for IWAG. These benefits are higher production rates, reduced water handling costs, and better reservoir management. Field experience shows that a tapered WAG helps keep produced gas oil ratio manageable. There are ongoing efforts to optimize WAG parameters (WAG ratio and gas slug size) and reduce costs. A potential injection scheme that does both is simultaneous water and gas injection.
A Statistical Approach to Material Balance Methods
Authors: Fair W. B. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Material balance methods have been used in petroleum engineering for many years to evaluate the performance of oil and gas reservoirs. It has been previously shown that in many cases the standard material balance equation results in a linear form that is particularly convenient for graphical analysis. In many cases of interest, however, the linear terms exceed those which can be subjected to graphical methods.
This paper documents a modification of the classical material balance method which preserves linearity in most reservoir types and is convenient for the application of statistical regression techniques. It is shown that by applying these standard statistical methods, many pitfalls in applying material balance analysis methods can easily be avoided and more insight into reservoir performance can often be gained.
A Full-Field Forecasting Tool for the Combined Water/Miscible Gas Flood at Prudhoe Bay
Authors: Wingard J. S. , Redman R. S. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
This paper describes COBRA a PC/wo rkst at ion based full-field forecasting tool for the Prudhoe Bay Water/Miscib!e Gas Injection Project. The paper discusses the models of field performance and operation that comprise COBRA. These models are: a solvent allocation model, a throughput based waterflood performance model that is coupled with an EOR performance model, a surface infrastructure model, and a pattern reconfiguration model.
COBRA was used to evaluate Stage 1 of the waterflood/EOR infill expansion project in Prudhoe’s Northwest Fault Block (NWFB). COBRA was used to evaluate the various development options proposed in the NWFB infill project. COBRA determined the amount and timing of incremental reserves associated with different development alternatives in the active flood area.
Compared to isolated evaluations, COBRA was able to incorporate the full field effects of solvent reallocation, pattern reconfiguration, and the effects of surface fluid handling constraints on the future production.
Optimizing Gas Storage Reservoir Performance
Authors: McVay D. A. , Spivey J. P. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
As gas storage becomes increasingly important in managing the nation’s gas supplies, there is a need to develop more gas storage reservoirs and to manage them more efficiently. Using computer reservoir simulation to predict gas storage reservoir performance, we present specific procedures for optimization of gas storage reservoir performance for two different problems. The first is maximizing working gas volume and peak rales for a particular configuration of reservoir, well and surface facilities. We present a simple procedure to determine the maximum performance with a minimal number of simulation runs. The second problem is minimizing the cost to satisfy a specific production and injection schedule, which is derived from the working gas volume and peak rate requirements. We demonstrate a procedure to determine the optimum combination of cushion gas volume, compression horsepower and number and locations of wells. The use of these procedures is illustrated through application to gas reservoir data.
Some Theoretical Aspects of Gravity Drainage in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs
Authors: Luan Zhi-An 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The mathematical model of gravity-drainage in naturally fractured reservoirs and singular perturbation analyses are presented which explore the effect of capillary, gravity, and wettability on oil saturation distribution and oil recovery in reimbibition. This study shows that wettability, capillary end effect and fracture transmissibility appear to be most important factors in oil recovery. Numerical results are also presented which summarize and compare the effective saturation in nonequilibrium state with the actual saturation in equilibrium state. Based on this work, we believe reimbibition or capillary continuity in a stack of matrix blocks can not provide higher oil recovery than in continuity core.
Auger Tension Leg Platform: Conquering the Deepwater Gulf of Mexico
Authors: Bourgeois T. M. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Conquering the ultra-deepwater Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is among the greatest challenges facing the oil and gas industry today. Explorationists have found significant quantities of hydrocarbons in the ultra-deep GOM. Since Shell Offshore Inc. (Shell) has over one-third of the deepwater GOM acreage under lease today, development of this vast new oil and gas reserve represents a major opportunity.
Shell's "Auger" field, located in Garden Banks 426, was discovered in 1987 in 2,860 feet of water. This discovery kicked off a project of mammoth proportions for Shell and the industry. Shell designed and built a Tension Leg Platform (TLP) and related drilling and producing facilities for the major discovery at Prospect Auger. A TLP is a floating structure which is tethered to the seafloor, This $1.2 billion development is located in a world record shattering water depth of 2,860 feet. Integrating the complexities of this floating structure with the challenges of the subsurface makes Auger the most complex project ever undertaken by Shell's Production Department.
The Auger Project, which was conceived in 1989, is now installed within three months of the original target and $100 million under the original estimate. This is a significant success for Shell and the industry in the deepwater GOM as it opens the ultra-deepwater GOM frontier as an energy source to fuel America for decades to come.
Drilling and Production From a Floating Spar
Authors: Brooks I. H. , Carroll J. P. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
A deepwater drilling and production platform has been designed based on a floating spar. The spar is a catenary-moored cylindrical vessel having a deep draft which minimizes heave motions. The concept is an economic competitor with other deep water designs such as compliant towers and tension leg platforms. The spar's oil storage capacity makes it particularly applicable for remote areas where pipeline infrastructure is unavailable and production is primarily from oil reservoirs. Without the need for a swivel, offloading of oil can be accomplished either directly from the spar, by use of a floating hose and support vessel, or by transfer to an offloading buoy. The concept is compatible with early production or phased development scenarios, permits surface completions of producing and injection wells, and allows for direct well intervention. The ability to reposition the spar by manipulations of the mooring lines favors a system of individual wellheads on the seafloor. Wells can be drilled, completed, and produced without pulling the drilling riser. When production from the field reaches its economic limit, the entire system can be towed to a new location and reused.
Fracture Relative Permeability: Linear or Non-Linear Function of Saturation
Authors: Pieters D. A. , Graves R. M. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
The definitive work on fracture relative permeability was performed by E.S. Romm in 1966. His research concluded that relative permeability is a linear function of saturation. Since that time very few attempts have been made to calculate relative permeability in fractures. This paper presents the results of an independent experimental investigation to test the validity of Romm's results. The research was conducted with the same kerosene and water systems in a parallel glass plate fracture applying modern day techniques.
The technique of videoimaging was used for measuring saturations in the fracture. Relative permeability ratios were computed using Welge's interpretation of the Buckley-Levrett theory after fractional flow was obtained from the displacement.
Results indicated that relative permeability is not a linear function of saturation as was shown in the past.
Akal Field (Cantarell Complex) Conditions of Exploration, Analysis, and Prediction
Authors: Rojas A. G. , Torres A. R. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
This paper presents a detailed description of the current conditions of explotations in the Akal Field (the most maximum producer in Campeche Sound and Mexico Country).
The Akal field, naturally fractured reservoir, began his explotation in june/79 with the well Akal-IA and 34,000 BOPD of production about 22° API. The field development was gradually and in the middle of 1981 had 40 producer wells, now the field counts with 140 wells and 890,000 BOPD of production with 7500 BOPD per well in average and cumulative production of 4647 MMSTB, thus we can classify like supergiant reservoir.
This field has a good condition for the gravity drainage mechanisms like thickness about 2300 feet, high permeability around of 3-4 Darcy and top reliev about of 6000 feet.
It's important to mention that this field has a gas-cap which has been increasing from 1981, now at may/94 the gas-oil contact is at 5719 feet and we establish a continuos monitoring with TDT logs. Based in this monitoring is possible to predict workover and recomennd infill – drilling.
Finally, we show the match and prediction behavior of the gasoil contact through the time and different explotation alternatives done with volumetric model.
Automatic Optimization of Well Locations in a North Sea Fractured Chalk Reservoir Using a Front Tracking Reservoir Simulator
Authors: Rian D. T. , Hage Asmund 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
A numerical simulator is often used as a reservoir management tool. One of its main purposes is to aid in the evaluation of number of wells, well locations and start time for wells. Traditionally, the optimization of a field development is done by a manual trial and error process. In this paper, an example of an automated technique is given.
The core in the automization process is the reservoir simulator Frontline. Frontline is based on front tracking techniques, which makes it fast and accurate compared to traditional finite difference simulators. Due to its CPU-efficiency the simulator has been coupled with an optimization module, which enables automatic optimization of location of wells, number of wells and start-up times.
The simulator was used as an alternative method in the evaluation of waterflooding in a North Sea fractured chalk reservoir. Since Frontline, in principle, is 2D, Buckley-Leverett pseudo functions were used to represent the 3rd dimension.
The areal full field simulation model was run with up to 25 wells for 20 years in less than one minute of Vax 9000 CPU-time.
The automatic Frontline evaluation indicated that a peripheral waterflood could double incremental recovery compared to a central pattern drive.
Increment on the Efficiency of the Drilling and Completion Operations of Marine Region
Authors: Zamora C. R. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The present work shows an outline of the activities of Management of Drilling of Wells of the Marine Region carried out in 1993, in comparison with former last years (from its beginning in 1974), in which different proposals arise to increase the efficiency of activities such as: -Drilling by administration-Incentived drilling-Turnkey-Filial with the integral maintenance of drilling
Alterning and competing this way with International parameter and statistic data given by specialty companies allowing it to reveal the human resources, technical and administrative that Petroleos Mexicanos possesses.
Creating World Class Exploration and Production Processes: A Practical Guide for Implementing Process Change
Authors: Goldthorpe W. H. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
This paper describes the prerequisite elements for successfully achieving process change and improving process effectiveness. As with any major project, there are defined steps including planning, implementation, control and review. Once changed, process performance must be measured and controlled, and quality assurance used to ensure it's integrity is maintained.
Production Performance of a Retrograde Gas Reservoir: A Case Study of the Arun Field
Authors: Afidick Deddy , Kaczorowski N. J. , Bette Srinivas 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
The Arun field is one of the world's giant retrograde gas reservoirs. Approximately 10 years after production began, a significant loss in well productivity occurred in some of the wells. The study shows that this productivity loss was due to near wellbore condensate accumulation, and documents its effects on production and pressure transient response.
A radial, single well, compositional model was used to study this effect and confirm that the productivity loss was due to liquid accumulation. The model was also used to predict the future performance of the well. The model matches well production data and the pressure transient response of affected wells.
This work identifies near wellbore condensate accumulation as an extremely important factor to consider when predicting future well performance as some of the productivities are reduced by 50%. The work also details how production data and well test analysis can be used to quantify the effects of near wellbore condensate accumulation on well productivity.
Determination of Relative Permeability from Well Testing in Multi-Layer Reservoirs
Authors: Jatmiko Wahyu , Daltaban T. S. , Archer J. S. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
This work investigates the use of non-linear programming approach to solve the non-linearity problems arising in stratified commingled reservoirs containing multi-phase fluid. The objective is to determine the relative permeability curves of each layer. This work uses a deconvolution method to handle multi-variable rate, which enables the determination of the layered reservoir properties. To calculate the effective oil permeability, this work proposes a polynomial curve fitting to represent the whole pressure response of the drawdown test. Therefore, smooth and continuous effective permeability curve can be expected. Three case studies are presented. The data are obtained from simulated drawdown tests.
Developing Effective Environmental and Oil Spill Management for Remote Locations
Authors: Smith J. P. , Wardrop John , Kilborn Anna 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Historically, Exploration and Production (E&P) operators’ environmental philosophy was a consequence of environmental damages, actual and perceived, caused by hydrocarbon spills. Pertamina/Maxus Southeast Sumatra, Inc. (Maxus), the largest offshore E and P operator in Indonesia has adopted a proactive philosphy as we operate offshore production and shipping facilities immediately adjacent to the Pulau Seribu (Thousand Island) National Marine Park and approximately 30 kilometers from the Southeast Sumatra coast. These ecosystems are of great concern to Indonesia and Maxus as they comprise approximately 250 km of tropical, sparsely inhabited coastline, 106 coral and lagoon islands, and habitats for numerous endangered species.
This paper describes the contract zone within which Maxus operates; the environmental risks associated with E&P in this region; and Maxus’ response to management of those risks. A significant component of Maxus’ overall response has been the ESACOC project (Environmental Sensitivity and Characterisation of Crude) undertaken during 1993. ESACOC is described here in regard to the use and interrelation of remote sensing, in-depth laboratory studies, and development of new sensitivity rankings techniques into one computer program for effective eilvironmental and oil spill management. ESACOC illustrates the synthesis of seemingly diverse and unrelated data to develop an effective environmental management plan.
Griffin Area Subsurface Development Planning, Implementation, and Production Performance
Authors: Curtis A. A. , Mills P. A. , Nichol S. T. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
The Griffin Area Development in the Barrow Sub-basin offshore Western Australia consists of three oil fields; Griffin, Chinook and Scindian, tied into the Griffin Venture Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) facility. First production commenced in January 1994, and the field is currently producing 12,700 m3/d (80,000 stb/d) of oil from up to nine available wells. In addition, associated gas is being piped onshore to provide up to 1.1 × 106 m3/d (40 million scf/d) of gas and 62.8 t/d of LPG.
Oil is found in the Lower Cretaceous sediments of the Zeepaard and overlying Birdrong Formations, with the Birdrong Formation at Chinook and Scindian having gas caps. The Zeepaard reservoirs have excellent reservoir properties and are expected to yield a high recovery through six vertical wells. The Birdrong Formation is unconformably deposited above the Zeepaard Formation, and is a lithologically complex mixture of sands with intermixed clays and shales and is generally of much poorer quality than the Zeepaard Formation.
The Birdrong Formation has provided some of the main challenges in the development, resulting in the implementation of three sinuous horizontal wells to access the better quality layers of the formation. Permanent downhole gauges have been used to assist in the determination of pressure support both in the Birdrong and Zeepaard Formations.
This paper outlines the key factors which shaped the Griffin Area Development Plan, details the implementation of the subsurface aspects of the Phase I development, and presents key aspects of reservoir performance to date.
Engineering Aspects of Preparation of Construction and Operation Agreements for Gas Facilities
Authors: Holland Charles J. 
Published: December 2007

Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussions may be presented at the above meeting and, with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines.

Abstract
Contracts for ownership and operation of joint interest gas handling facilities and processing plants are called as a class, processing plants are called as a class, Construction and Operation Agreements. These contracts seek agreement among the parties on the definition of EQUITY and provide contractural mechanics to achieve this EQUITY. The engineers' participation on a contract task force appears in participation on a contract task force appears in four general areas of the agreement: Definitions, Ownership Parameters, Distribution of Costs and Expenses, and allocation of Production and/or Services. The objective of the paper is to acquaint those engineers called to such task force duty with the problems to be anticipated and solutions devised by existing contracts in the Southwest.

Introduction
Every engineer engaged in the production of petroleum at sometime in his career finds himself enmeshed in the toils of Joint Operation. It follows, therefore, that the engineer should familiarize himself with the fundamental types of joint operating contracts. Most familiar are those agreements creating field unitization operations, for which there are numerous references in the literature. Another class of legal document is the contract most commonly associated with the joint interest operation of gas plants and facilities. Such a document is generally known as a Construction and Operation Agreement, or briefly, the C and O. This paper covers four major areas of this contract calling for an engineer's attention.

OWNERS SEARCH OUT EQUITY
Before proceeding to the areas, we should review some of the thoughts and theories underlying and leading to the formation of the C and O. Contracting owners, seeking to choose one of themselves to construct and operate a facility, have before them certain goals: first, to develop a definition of "Equity" for the situation; second, to construct a mechanism to achieve and maintain this defined "Equity;" and third, to preserve for the contract life a factor I call "effective timelessness." By this last, I mean the ability of the contract to maintain current applicability for two decades with respect to depleting reserves, changing owners, major construction additions, changed process, and on, ad infinitum. The contracting process, and on, ad infinitum. The contracting owners most usually work through their appointed individual agents, who serve on an owners committee and have various degrees of owner authority. (For the purpose of this discussion, we shall consider the agent and the owner to be synonymous.)
A Synergistic Approach to Optimizing Hydraulic Fracturing
Authors: Kessler Calvin , Venditto Jim , McMechan David , Edwards Peter 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Combining measurement, simulation, and imaging technologies into an integrated program can help operators achieve the best hydraulic fracture treatment possible. Hydrocarbon production can be significantly increased when fractures are extended to the planned length, and fracturing fluid is retained within the zone of interest. Fractures that break out of zone increase the risk of excess water production with the hydrocarbon. Consequently, the ability to select suitable operational parameters for hydraulic fracturing is critical to job success.
An evaluation of formation properties and potential barriers to hydraulic fracturing can be made with three-dimensional(3D) simulation to integrate data taken from wireline logs, waveform sonic logs, and microfrac measurements. In-situ stress orientation is determined by use of a downhole extensometer, oriented cores, anelastic strain recovery (ASR) measurements, and borehole imaging logs.
Sidewall cores can be taken perpendicular to wellbore walls without distorting the borehole or the core taken; orientation of the cores can be determined with imaging logs run after coring. Natural fractures can be viewed with a downhole video camera lowered into the well on fiberoptic cable.
Effectiveness of fracture treatments may be evaluated with various gamma ray logging techniques and production logs comparing expected production to actual zonal contribution. Refined procedures that result from after-frac analysis can be used to plan field development for optimal reservoir drainage.