bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development of a Surface-Controlled Electric Gas-Lift Valve
Authors: Schnatzmeyer M.A. , Yonker J.H. , Pool C.M. , Goiffon J.J. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
In the design of conventional gas-lift installations, the size and setting of the operating valve are determined according to theoretical performance at nominal well conditions. Unfortunately, gas-lift valves are subjected to the effects of a dynamic and often transient environment that can significantly com promise operating efficiency.
To manage these environmental effects better, a new electric gas-lift valve (EGLV) system in which the size of the downhole gas injection orifice can be remotely adjusted from a surface control unit has been prototyped and field tested. The EGLV system consists of an electrically operated, surface-controlled downhole valve, a downhole pressure transducer, tubing mandrel, electric cable system, and surface controller. By combining known well parameters with real-time tubing pressure and valve-position data relayed from downhole, the control unit can adjust the valve to current well conditions. This capability allows the operator to produce the well with maximum effectiveness for whatever production priorities have been chosen.
Controlling valve response in this manner can be especially desirable for such applications as limited lift-gas availability, limited compressor capabilities, drawdown within designated limits, control of short-term production upsets, and areas where reservoir management objectives are specific to the application.
Enhanced efficiency of gas-lift operation and optimized production were the goals of this developmental program, and testing results obtained to date have shown enough promise to initiate the next stage of the program-an advanced wireline-retrievable version of the system.

Introduction
The use of gas lift for primary recovery is common. Operational theory and equipment design have continued to improve over the years, but the transient nature of the gas-lift environment and numerous interrelated parameters have made the goal of optimized gas-lift performance a moving target. One of the most recently developed techniques is valve performance testing. The valve is tested for its response to a range of particular well and gas-injection conditions. Although this procedure can result in a better installation design and a better under standing of well conditions, valve orifice size and opening sensitivity are still fixed parameters; they are preset at the surface to a defined set of nominal well conditions. Wells that produce steadily and change slowly over time have the best chance of being produced efficiently on conventional gas-lift equipment. Even in those cases, however, the actual operating parameters can differ significantly from calculated nominal figures.
Combination Fracturing/Gravel-Packing Completion Technique on the Amberjack, Mississippi Canyon 109 Field
Authors: Hannah R. R. , Park E. I. , Porter D. A. , Black J. W. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
This paper describes a one-step fracturing/gravel-pack (frac-and-pack) completion procedure conducted on the BP Exploration Amberjack platform beginning in early 1992. This platform is 35 miles southwest of Venice, LA. The first four completions on this platform had an average positive skin values of 21. The goal of the frac-and-pack procedure was to reduce these skins to nearly zero. In total, 24 frac-and-pack operations were performed. Details of the fracture design, prefracture testing, fracture design and execution, and production response and a continuing optimization program are discussed. The fractures were performed with the screens in place with the gravel pack after the fracturing operation. The treatments were designed for the tip screenout technique1,2 to create wide fractures and to provide proppant loadings exceeding 8 lbm/ft2.
This paper presents the trend of the declining skin values, along with a discussion of time-dependent skins. The changes in fluids, breakers, and proppants are also presented. The average skin on 14 frac-and-pack completions was 5.3. The average skin on the final eight completions was 0.2.
The Philosophy Behind Trading Oil Properties
Authors: Hulsey Bob T.H. 
Published: December 2007

Introduction
Since 1955, The Chase Manhattan Bank has headed financing of over $1 billion for oil and gas property acquisitions. Of these transactions, 25 have been analyzed in detail and the results of the study are shown in Fig. 1. Factors often associated by appraisers with values are shown. Bar graphs show the ranges for the composite group, and averages were obtained by adding individual values and then dividing by 25. As discussed by Terry and Hill in 1953, rate of return is the over-all rate after taxes. These data are presented here merely to indicate the wide ranges which occur in relation to the averages. It is not proposed to discuss or comment on the validity of using this information. Furthermore, since the literature is replete with methods of evaluation explained in detail, no new approach will be suggested. Rather, the purpose of this paper is to note some of the forces affecting the market for petroleum producing properties and some of the pitfalls which may be encountered on the road to a purchase.

Market for Properties
Stocks are traded at the New York Stock Exchange, but there is no such establishment where oil and gas properties can be bought and sold. Yet a market exists for such properties. Potential buyers and sellers constitute this market, and markets exist for each type of property interest. For example, nontaxable institutions and funds are predominant purchasers of choice producing royalties. Market knowledge is as vital to an able appraiser or a successful buyer or seller as is information on prior sales.

Market Forces
Petroleum is the leading source of energy in the United States and the Free World, and the competition to supply this energy is fierce. The resulting instability of refining and marketing earnings has created a great demand for producing properties. At the same time, there has been a growing trend toward liquidation by many producers. However, demand continues to exceed supply, creating a "sellers market" this is the dominant force in the producing-property market today. Other factors include economic conditions, political stability, proration, import regulations, discovery success, availability of capital and financing, and the quality of available properties.

Pitfalls
The more common causes of unsuccessful attempts to purchase producing properties may he traced to smugness and or laziness on the part of the appraiser. A firm belief in the accuracy of a first computation often dooms a transaction. Computations are the tools of an evaluator they are not the final answer. Only judgment and common sense can yield a proper result. How many assumptions or approximations are made in an engineering appraisal? Usually several hundred. Fig. 2 schematically represents such a calculation.
JPT
P. 727^
Completion and Production Results From Alternate-Path Gravel-Packed Wells
Authors: Bryant D. W. , Jones L. G. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
A successful gravel pack requires two things: perforations packed with gravel-pack sand and a completely packed annulus. Failure to obtain either one can result in low productivity and/or a sand-producing gravel pack. Alternate-path gravel packing ensures that the annulus will be completely packed and that all perforations taking fluid will be packed with gravel-pack sand. Alternate-path gravel packing has provided long and highly productive completions without any sand production.
This paper presents completion data and production results from 39 wells completed with the alternate-path gravel-pack technique. The completion data include completion length, net perforations, carrier fluid, sand placement outside casing, workover fluid, and return rate during packing. Production results include qualitative discussion of all completions with quantitative results, including permeability-thickness product and skin on select completions.
Ultrasonic Removal of Near-Wellbore Damage Caused by Fines and Mud Solids
Authors: Venkitaraman Adinathan , Roberts Peter M. , Sharma Mukul M. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
Laboratory experiments were conducted to investigate the feasibility of using ultrasonic energy to reduce formation damage caused by fines and mud solids. Cores were damaged with drilling muds in a dynamic filtration cell. Damage caused by fines migration was simulated with freshwater injection. The damaged cores were then treated with ultrasonic energy at various frequencies and intensities. The experiments were conducted with fully brine-saturated cores and cores partially saturated with decane. Permeability was monitored as a function of ultrasonic treatment time during backflow for three different sections of each core. Permeability increase, the depth of treatment, and the ultrasonic energy requirements were investigated for both sandstone and limestone cores. The results showed that permeability increased by a factor of three to seven after ultrasonic treatment for cores that were damaged by mud solids and fines migration. Treatment was successful for frequencies of approximately 20 to 80 kHz and acoustic intensities of approximately 20 to 250 W/m2. For these wavefield parameters, the effective depth of treatment for reducing fines damage was approximately 2.5 in. Damage caused by mud infiltration penetrated only the first 2.5 in. of the cores, and thus, ultrasonic treatment had no effect on deeper sections.
The Effect of Wormholing on the Fluid-Loss Coefficient in Acid Fracturing
Authors: Hill A. D. , Zhu Ding , Wang Yimei 
Published: December 2007

Summary
In most acid fracture designs, a leakoff model developed for proppant fracturing is used to calculate the acid volume lost into the formation. Because wormholing in acid fracturing results in a few large channels near the fracture, the leakoff velocity of the fracturing fluid can be higher in acid fracturing than in proppant fracturing. This paper presents a new leakoff model that includes the effect of wormholing on the overall fluid-loss coefficient. The leakoff model is based on a volumetric model describing wormhole growth in acid fracturing. Conveniently, the leakoff velocity based on the volumetric model for wormholing is still inversely proportional to the square root of treatment time. Laboratory coreflood results are presented that support the use of the volumetric model for the linear flow region near the fracture walls.
The results of the model show that the overall fluid-loss coefficient depends strongly on the number of PV required for wormhole breakthrough in a coreflood. A large number of PV to breakthrough means a slow wormhole growth rate, which occurs more commonly in dolomite compared with limestone. The effect of wormholing on the overall fluid-loss coefficient is insignificant in acid fracturing of dolomite. However, for limestone, the number of PV to breakthrough is small and wormholing increases the fluid-loss coefficient significantly, especially for a gas well. An example in the paper shows that the overall fluid-loss coefficient can be more than 100% higher because of wormholing in a typical case for a gas well in a limestone formation.
Integration of Production Analyst and Microsoft Excel's Solver for Production Forecasts and Optimization
Authors: Arnondin M. C. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
Mobil North Sea Ltd. has used OGCI's Production Analyst (PA) for several years for reservoir management and surveillance. Once most professionals had been migrated to Microsoft Windows and Excel, we began to integrate the spreadsheet with PA for specialized applications. Production optimization and forecasts are two applications of significant economic benefit.
We developed an Excel spreadsheet and macro that use the Solver and production-decline data from PA for predicting the maximum platform oil production while honoring gas-compression and waterhandling constraints. By use of PA, a database of decline-curve information is generated by well for the relationships of oil rate, GOR, and water cut to cumulative oil. Other input required for the forecast are the combination of months and years to forecast, gas compression limit, water-handling limit, and platform efficiency at each timestep.
This model adds value to our operations by leveraging existing products and data to predict facility-constrained production schedules. A custom program with this type of functionality would certainly be more expensive than the combined costs of PA and Excel. The integration of these tools provides cost-effective solutions to the specialized problems experienced in oil and gas exploitation.
Prediction of Cloud Point Temperatures and Amount of Wax Precipitation
Authors: Pedersen Karen Schou 
Published: December 2007

Summary
The paper presents a vapor-liquid-solid model for predicting phase equilibria of oil mixtures taking into account the possible formation of a wax phase. The gas and liquid phases are described using the Soave-Redlich-Kwong equation of state while the wax phase is assumed to be an ideal mixture. Only part of the heavy hydrocarbons are considered to be able to potentially enter into a wax phase. A procedure is developed for estimating the fraction of the heavy hydrocarbons which may potentially form wax. Calculation results agree very well with experimental wax precipitation data.
An Investigation Into the Application of Fuzzy Logic to Well Stimulation Treatment Design
Authors: Xiong Hongjie , Holditch S. A. 
Published: December 2007

Summary
Designing an optimal stimulation treatment for an oil or gas well is a complex procedure requiring in-depth knowledge and experience. This paper describes how fuzzy logic applies to stimulation design and clearly illustrates how to apply fuzzy logic theory. The paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of applying fuzzy logic to well stimulation design.
Fuzzy logic evaluators can be applied to study, evaluate, and determine the best methods to improve productivity in oil and gas wells or injectivity in water wells. The approach can be extended to the solution of other problems associated with drilling, completing, and working over wells and with formation damage diagnosis.
Polymer Flood of the Rapdan Pool
Authors: Pitts Malcolm J. , Campbell Tom A. , Surkalo Harry , Wyatt Kon 
Published: December 2007

Summary
A polymer-flood pilot project in the Rapdan field is documented from laboratory design and numerical simulation to production performance and projected economics. The Rapdan field produces 10-mPa · s oil from the Upper Shaunavon sand at a reservoir temperature of 55 °C. Average permeability is 0.114 μm2, average porosity is 18%, and Dykstra-Parsons coefficient is 0.8. The field was discovered in 1953, and waterflood began in 1962. In Jan. 1986, a polymer pilot was initiated in a portion of the field with a PV of 456 × 104 m3. The pilot consists of 13 producers and 5 injectors drilled on 162 × 103-m2 spacing. By Dec. 1994, 43% PV of a 21-mPa · s polymer solution had been injected into a confined, central five spot (Wells 12-12 and 12-12A). The oil cut increased from a stable value of 8% during the waterflood to a peak value of 25%. The corresponding daily oil production increased from 8 to 28 m3/d. The performance of the total project oil production increased from 65 m3/d at an oil cut of 18% to a peak production of 180 m3/d at an oil cut of 36%. Production rate has declined from 140 m3/d in 1991 to 106 m3/d in Dec. 1994, with a corresponding oil-cut decline from 25% to 20%.
Improved EOR by Use of Chemicals in Combination
Authors: Baviére Marc , Glénat Philippe , Plazanet Véronique , Labrid Jean 
Published: December 2007

SummaryPresent crude oil prices are too low for the economic implementation of chemical EOR processes based on surfactants and polymers. However, considering recent progress made in use of surfactants, polymers, and alkalis in a synergistic way, it appears that significant improvements can be made in the efficiency/cost ratio of the process, which could make it attractive within a more favorable oil-price context. To illustrate this, the method used in developing the process is applied to a field case characterized by some properties not really suitable for chemical processes (i.e., a high clay content that magnifies ion exchange and related permeability effects, a pore-diameter distribution that prevents complete tertiary oil recovery, and an acid number that is not high enough to give substantial oil production when alkalis alone are used). Nevertheless, relatively reasonable performances have been obtained by combining the different chemicals.In the first series of oil-recovery tests, the process was implemented conventionally with the aim of taking advantage of ion-exchange mechanisms. With an optimal micellar system, tertiary oil recovery did not exceed 50% original oil in place (OOIP). In a second series of tests, calcium ions contained in the connate water and those fixed on the clays were first removed by an alkaline solution. Then surfactants and polymer were injected, both with the same alkali. In this way, oil production was boosted to 70% OOIP, while the efficiency/cost ratio was improved by a factor of 3. These performances were ascribed to low interfacial tensions (IFT's), appropriate mobility control, and a drastic reduction of surfactant and polymer retention. From these results, the alkali-surfactant-polymer process could be expected to be used in a wide range of field conditions and, in particular, with crude oils that do not necessarily have a high acid number.
Two-Phase Flow Splitting at an Impacting Tee
Authors: Hong K. C. , Griston Suzanne 
Published: December 2007

Summary
This paper describes laboratory air/water and field steam flow tests conducted to develop a reliable method for predicting the qualities of split streams and to find tee insert devices that increase the range of vapor-phase split ratios for which split qualities are equal. The results show that an empirical correlation based on air/water tests can be applied to field steam-distribution systems for predicting phase-splitting problems. The splitting problems are corrected by using the tee insert devices tested. Test data show that of the insert devices that were evaluated, the downstream nozzles produced equal-quality splits over the widest range of vapor-phase split ratios.
Analytical Upscaling of Permeability for 3D Gridblocks
Authors: Lee Jaedong , Kasap Ekrem , Kelkar Mohan G. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
With modern conditional simulation methods, detailed reservoir descriptions can be constructed on a very small scale. Many methods also allow detailed descriptions which include basic geologic features such as cross beds and laminations. Unfortunately, present flow simulators are not capable of incorporating these small scale descriptions due to computational limitations. The small scale values, especially, the permeabilities, need to be upscaled appropriately to the size suitable for flow simulations.
Many methods, some numerical and some analytical, have been reported in the literature to upscale the permeability values. Numerical methods are computationally expensive, whereas, many analytical methods are restricted to two dimensions. This paper presents an analytical method to estimate the upscaled permeability tensor in three dimensions using small scale permeability values. The method is based on dividing the upscaled block into eight smaller blocks and using cross flow and non-cross flow averaged permeabilities based on Darcy's law. The method is validated by comparing the results from a numerical simulator.
Maintenance Improvements on Offshore Fuel Oil Terminals
Authors: Salo Eric A. 
Published: December 2007

Two marine terminals for receiving heavy fuel oil for power plants of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have power plants of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. have been in service at Monterey Bay and Estero Bay for many years. The moorings were designed for the T-2 class tankship. The layout of the Estero Bay terminal, which serves the Morro Bay power plant, is shown on Fig. 8. The Monterey Bay terminal serves the Moss Landing power plant, which is essentially a duplicate. For many years the maintenance program for each terminal involved an annual overhaul during which the mooring buoys and active mooring chain would be lifted aboard a derrick barge for cleaning, painting and replacement of worn chain and shackle pins. The submarine oil delivery hose would be inspected by a diver and sections would be interchanged to distribute wear. Any indication of damage would call for disassembly of the string of eight 24-ft lengths of hose and inspection on the deck of the barge. A vacuum test with plexiglass seal plates at each end is used to check for separation of the hose liner. On reassembly the hose and the pipeline to the plant are subjected to hydrostatic test. At this time the cathodic protection potential at the seaward end is checked also. potential at the seaward end is checked also. Over the years it was learned that the wear of the active dip section of the mooring chain resulted in 40- to 50-percent loss of chain section between overhauls. This substantial loss of strength was due principally to wave action and was more or less constant principally to wave action and was more or less constant regardless of the number of cargoes delivered. Because of the considerable cost of overhaul and the disturbing loss of chain strength a study was made of means of reducing the critical wear of the chain links. Analysis of the wear indicated that abrasive action of bottom sand stirred up by the incessant working of the dip section under the rise and fall of the buoys was a major factor.
P. 562
An Automatic, Unstructured Grid-Generation System for Geologically Complex Reservoirs
Authors: Kocberber Sait 
Published: December 2007

Summary
This paper presents an automatic, 3D, locally unstructured hybridgrid-generation system for sloping faults. This gridding system replaces a portion of an existing finite-difference grid around sloping faults with a finite-element grid made of tetrahedrons. This innovative approach retains the finite-difference character of the grid and minimizes the decrease in computational efficiency. This paper discusses the details of the gridding techniques used and provides several example grids that demonstrate that locally unstructured grids can accurately represent geologically complex reservoirs.
A New Approach for Residual and Jacobian Arrays Construction in Reservoir Simulators
Authors: Lim K. T. , Schiozer D. J. , Aziz Khalid 
Published: December 2007

Summary
We describe a simple and convenient approach for constructing the residual and Jacobian arrays in a reservoir simulator. The key idea is to keep track of all the "connections" in a model, as opposed to the conventional approach of keeping track of gridblocks and wells when computing the flux terms. Each gridblock may have a variable number of connections that depends on the grid geometry. A connection, however, always links two nodes, which can be gridblock nodes or source/sink nodes. A data structure identifying each pair of connected nodes and the corresponding geometric factors of each connection are sufficient to implement this approach. No-flow boundaries and internal barriers are excluded because of the absence of a connection. The residual function computation is divided into two principal steps: (1) computation of the accumulation term, which is local to each grid block, and (2) computation of flux terms and/or potential difference between all connections by traversing the list of connections and their allocation to the appropriate nodes. This approach can be extended in a natural way to include node connections in well and surface flowline networks.