bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Enhanced Oil Recovery - A Look to the Future
Authors: Holland Henry K. 
Published: December 2007

Thank you, Ernie, for that kind introduction, and good morning ladies and gentlemen. Alex Massad has asked me to extend his sincere regrets at not being able to be here with you this morning. Fortunately, from my point of view, his absence is a welcome opportunity for me to address this audience of fellow petroleum engineers.
This is the age of the acronym — with good reason. Consider for example, the poor newspaper headline writer who has to fit Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles into two columns of space while including a verb and a few other modifying words to boot. Thus, we all know what ICBM means . . . or UFO — even if we've never seen one. You didn't have to see the movie; either, to know what — or who — ET stands for.
While it may not be a household acronym just yet, I know everyone in the SPE recognizes EOR, Enhanced Oil Recovery, the subject of this morning's discussion. I must honestly admit, however, I would feel more confident in writing a believable sequel to ET, than in predicting what might happen down the road for EOR. ET may have gone home, but EOR is here to stay.
With the knowledge that oil is a finite resource, the art of getting more production from each known reservoir will depend heavily on EOR and remain of paramount importance to the future of the oil industry and the United States economy. My crystal ball remains a little clouded as to the exact impact specific future applications will have due to uncertain political and technical factors. Perhaps our discussion today can blow political and technical factors. Perhaps our discussion today can blow away some of the fog and give us an outlook for recovering more of what we have already found.
For this morning's discussion, I'll limit comments to the U.S. industry. We'll take a look at what has been found, cumulative production, current reserves, and what we might logically expect in reserve additions through application of existing and future EOR technology. We will also cover some of the economic factors involved.
The Economics of Creative Financing
Authors: Capen E.C. , Casey D.F. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The oil business works off of borrowed money, some of it disguised to look like operating costs -- leases for example. Though the rules are by no means clear, sometimes the proper economic treatment requires placing a capital equivalent of the commitment at the time of signing. The procedure can significantly change the project rate of return.

Introduction
Now and then, someone comes in and announces that he has discovered the business man's equivalent to the Fountain of Youth -- a corporate money tree. The person will instruct us that his pet project (PP) need not compete for cash in the budgeting process because he has found a benefactor, Mr. S. Claus, willing to put up the money at no cost save some "small monthly payments" to be worked out later. These payments should come from PP's profits and thus represent no real drain on the company.
To be sure, we seldom see requests as blatant as portrayed above, but we nevertheless sense some misunderstandings about how to evaluate projects that have alternatives to outright purchase of goods and equipment. Has the old maxim prohibiting free lunches somehow been set aside with regard to so called creative financing? No, more likely the lunch costs more than normal, but we're not always sure who pays.
We want to examine some of the more popular financing methods to see if we can determine who owes what to whom, at least to the extent we can work our way through the somewhat arbitrary practices of the financial community. We would like to contribute to this debate and get others to join in so that we can all become better educated.
Development, Field Experience, and Application of a New High Reliability Hydraulically Powered Downhole Pumping System
Authors: Grant A. A. , Sheil A. G. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Expansion of secondary oil recovery operations both offshore and onshore and geothermal energy recovery has led to an increasing requirement for artificial lift systems. A large proportion of these systems incorporate submersible pumpsets downhole either for pumping of oil or for the lifting of water from subterranean aquifers. Many of these applications are characterised by the requirement for high horsepower installed downhole and/or, particularly offshore, installation of the pumpsets in highly deviated wells, and/or high temperature. For these applications, experience has shown that the technical difficulties encountered in the extrapolation of existing submersible electric motor pump technology are severe resulting in poor service reliability and high maintainance cost.
The authors describe the concepts incorporated, to overcome these difficulties, in an entirely new patented hydraulically powered downhole pumpset which has been developed with support from two large oil companies and the U.K. Department of Energy.
Laboratory test and field operating experience is discussed in relation to reliability objectives.
The paper reviews the range of applications for the new hydraulic drive concept in relation to existing offshore and onshore technology and also reviews the types of system and completion which will take full advantage of the features of this new concept.
Analysis Techniques for Offshore Platform Tieback Systems
Authors: Griffith D. L. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The development of offshore fields using subsea drilling templates and tie-back equipment has become an accepted method of achieving early production.
This technical paper will give an introduction to tie-back systems, present a method of analyzing them, discuss the loading conditions that affect tie-back systems, and describe a method of accounting for loading conditions during analysis.
The Application of High Volume Jet Pumps in North Slope Water Source Wells
Authors: Christ F. C. , Zublin J. A. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
ARCO Alaska's pilot water flooding system for the Kuparuk Field requires 40000 to 50000 B/D (6360 to 7950 cu m/d) of fresh water from a 3000 foot (914 m) deep aquifer. The artificial lift system selected must be of proven technology, reliable in the harsh environment, easy to maintain, and compact for ease of enclosure.
The two lift systems considered were electric submersible pump and hydraulic jet pump. Pilot well tests were run using these two types of systems and will be discussed. These tests confirmed the formations’ producibility, and revealed some problems at high rates. Based on pilot test results, a system of ten specially designed 3 in. (7.62 cm) jet pumps was selected. Background on jet pumping, design features of the system, results of the tests in October 1982, and comparison with predicted performance will be presented.
Mineralogic and Petrologic Overview of Core Samples From the Dept. of Energy's Western Gas Sands Project Multiwell Experiment, Piceance Basin, Colorado
Authors: Eatough M. O. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
The Petrology Laboratory of Bendix Field Engineering Corporation (BFEC) at Grand Junction, Colorado, is performing mineralogie and petrologic analyses on core samples from the Multi-Well Experi-ment (MWX) project for Sandia National Laboratories. The samples studied to date include some fluvial sands, transitional sands, and shoreline blanket sands. The sands are generally fine-grained feldspar-and lithic-rich quartz sandstones, with minimal textural and mineralogie variation. Porosity is predominantly microporosity in clays which fill secondary pore space. The primary factor limiting the permeability of these sands appears to be the clogging of the pore space by clay minerals.
Brine-Resistant Sulfonate Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery
Authors: Stournas Stamoulis 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
One of the most severe limitations of surfactant waterflooding is the instability of the commonly employed surfactants in the usual ionic environments of oil reservoirs. A specific modification to the usual structure of sulfonate surfactants not only makes them immune to high concentrations of monovalent and divalent cations, but also enables them to act as stabilizers of the common surfactants and to displace tertiary oil in brines of high salinity and divalent ion content.
Mechanism of Polyacrylamide Gel Syneresis Determined by C-13 NMR
Authors: DiGiacomo P. M. , Schramm C. M. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Polyacrylamide gels have been used for some time to reduce water cut in production wells and control profiles in injectors. Formations up to 150°F have been treated rather routinely. Recently, interest has developed in using these gels at higher temperatures in formations containing relatively hard brines. We have investigated the changes in hydrolysis of polyacrylamide polymers and gels crosslinked with trivalent chromium with C-13 NMR. This method is a direct way to correlate changes in the gel composition with effectiveness under severe conditions.
The carbonyl carbon of the amide group has a sharp resonance at 181 ppm. As the amide groups hydrolyze, the 181 ppm resonance decreases in intensity and a second resonance appears at 184 ppm. This resonance is due to the carbon in the carboxyl ate formed by hydrolysis of the amides. Of course, the resonance is already present in partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamides, but increases in intensity as hydrolysis progresses.
In gels, crosslinked with paramagnetic ions such as chromium III, these resonance lines are broadened, but resolvable. Line shape analysis fits the spectra closely and allows integration of the intensity of each resonance. The degree of hydrolysis and changes in the degree of hydrolysis can be determined for the polyacrylamide chains comprising the gel. The increase in the degree of hydrolysis parallels the syneresis of the gels and their concommitant loss of effectiveness. The syneresis is caused by reaction of the newly created carboxylate groups with hardness ions in the brine leading to extensive over-crosslinking. This is a fundamental characteristic of polyacrylamide gels and will take place regardless of polymer source.
Simulation of Reservoir Permeability Heterogeneities with Laboratory Corefloods
Authors: Ball J. T. , Pitts M. J. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
A variety of enhanced oil recovery techniques have been proposed to alter reservoir permeability variations and effectively sweep lower permeability zones with high oil saturations. The application of these techniques must be preceded by a careful design of the fluids used. Conventional laboratory coreflooding can answer many questions concerning the flow properties of each fluid in reservoir rock but, in general, the core being tested represents one of potentially several available permeability ranges. Work has been completed and is described in which cores of three different permeabilities are flooded simultaneously. Diversion of fluid from one core to another can be followed in order to test the effectiveness of various enhanced oil recovery agents in this application.
Initial tests were completed in radial Berea sandstone cores using an alkaline sensitive crude oil from southern California. The ability of the multiple core technique to generate relative flow and resistance factor data is demonstrated. Tests of alkali, polymer and alkali/polymer combinations are presented. Results indicate that, while polymer addition to the alkaline agents increases overall tertiary recovery, improper polymer selection may result in efficient recovery only from high permeability zones. In order to effectively reduce residual oil saturation in lower permeability zones, additional polymer design considerations are needed.
Chemical Interactions of Aluminum-Citrate Solutions with Formation Minerals
Authors: Walsh M. P. , Rouse B. A. , Senol N. N. , Pope G. A. , Lake L. W. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
In order to test the effectiveness of complexing agents for in-depth cross-linking and mobility control in polymer and waterfloods, we investigated the transport of aluminum citrate solutions in sandstone and limestone cores. The study was prompted by experimental observations indicating that crosslinking attempts cause plugging of the inlet end of core sections unless special precautions were observed. The plugging was caused by poor transport of the aluminum citrate solutions, which, in turn, was caused by precipitation of aluminum hydroxide in limestone cores, and of both aluminum and ferric hydroxide in sandstone cores. The formation of these precipitates, and the poor transport of the aluminum citrate solution was confirmed experimentally and modeled quantitatively by a geochemical flow simulator.
We then used the flow simulator to design injected solutions that would avoid precipitation, generally by raising the injected pH and by using a larger citrate to aluminum ratio. By using these solutions the precipitation could be avoided, and the aluminum citrate could be transported in an unretarded fashion. Polymer cross-linking treatments using solutions designed to eliminate precipitation generally showed more uniform mobility reduction, and an absence of the plugging observed in the first set of flow experiments.
SrSO4: The Basic Solubility Data
Authors: Vetter O. J. G. , Vandenbroek Ita , Nayberg Julia 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Strontium sulfate solubilities may play a role in many disciplines of science and engineering. For example, strontium sulfate forms scale in oil and/or geothermal fields which are frequently accompanied by other sulfates of alkaline earth metals. Strontium sulfate solubility data, which is necessary for dealing with the scales, is rather limited in the literature.
If one is dealing with an oil field or geothermal scale or any other precipitation problem related to the strontium sulfate solubility, it would be essential to use a reliable and comprehensive data base. Existing data bases for strontium sulfate solubilities are unfortunately limited to relatively non-hostile thermodynamic conditions. In order to update this data base, a rather comprehensive study of strontium sulfate solubility under a variety of conditions was undertaken.
The present paper is a summary of the laboratory measurements of the solubility of strontium sulfate as a function of temperature (25-150 °C), NaCl concentration (0-25 wt%), CaC12 concentration (0-4 wt%), and MgC12 concentration (0-4 wt%). A radioactive tracer technique using the Sr-90 isotope has been used for measuring the solubilities. Some of the SrSO4 solubility data determined has been cross-checked by using the S-35 isotope. In addition to solubility studies, several perliminary experiments have been conducted to determine the effectiveness of radioactive tracer methods over other existing analytical methods.
The paper focuses on the significance of the solubility obtained as it relates to the solubility of other alkaline earth metal sulfates. In addition, the applicability of the radiotracer method for the solubility determinations is discussed.
Hydrogen Sulfide Preplanning for Drilling Operations
Authors: McCall W. A. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Operators planning drilling operations in the Rocky Mountain Region must often consider the possible dangers and complications which could result from encountering hydrogen sulfide while drilling.1 Many types of services and equipment are currently available to operators yet few objective guidelines exist to assist the operator in choosing appropriate safeguards. Because both overprotection and under-protection are costly, some objective means of decision making are required.
This report presents a logical and generic approach to aid the operator in making consistent, cost effective decisions. Variables related to the health and welfare of workers and residents are con- sidered, as are factors involving maintenance of property. A decision tree approach is used to priori- tize considerations. Legal, ethical and cost considerations will be evaluated together with optional individual preferences for procedures and equipment to achieve maximum safety on location at reasonable expenditure.
STRESSFRAC—A New Dimension in Well Treatment
Authors: Simmons A. L. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
This paper deals with development, application, and results of using this downhole gas generator. The inventor of the tool, Henry Mohaupt, also invented jet perforating as we know it today. Prior to that he invented the bazooka.
Tried in over 3500 wells, the process is gaining acceptance from several operators in the Rockies. Its uses in completion, reservoir evaluation, as a primary treatment for hydraulic fracturing or acidizing, and in remedial stimulation are just beginning to be understood. Accurate fracture lengths are at present not well enough defined, but prior tests indicate penetrations of approximately 45ft (13.7m) at a depth of 6000ft (1.83km).
Results of the procedure on various formations and its applicability to untried zones are discussed.
Current Status of Nonthermal Heavy Oil Recovery
Authors: Alikhan A. A. , Farouq Ali S. M. 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Heavy oils are an important resource worldwide, and yet two-thirds of the heavy oil deposits cannot be exploited by means of thermal recovery methods, because the effective energy production approaches energy input for reasons of formation thickness, depth, oil saturation and/or porosity. In such instances, especially if the heavy oil is not too viscous (below about 1000 centipoises), it may be economical to employ non-thermal recovery methods. These include polymer flooding, alkaline flooding, carbon dioxide (gaseous) floods, solvent floods, and other more specialized recovery methods, such as emulsion flooding, and combination techniques.
This paper discusses non-thermal heavy oil recovery methods, based upon their application in the field. The processes and their mechanistic features are briefly discussed in the light of laboratory observations, which tend to be more optimistic than field results.
The field tests, using non-thermal recovery are tabulated. This tabulation gives not only the reservoir rock and fluid characteristics, but also the reported test results, and any information on the economics of the respective tests. The salient injection-production data of each test are also considered. The data presented is designed to aid engineers in evaluating prospective field tests of the recovery methods considered.
It is shown that at the present time carbon dioxide (gaseous) seems to hold considerable promise for the recovery of moderately viscous heavy oils. While laboratory results are encouraging, field experience using this technique is still limited. Several field tests in progress would provide more information in the next few years. The remaining methods have met with mixed success. One of the more widely favored methods - caustic flooding - has performed rather poorly in the field. It is concluded that given somewhat special conditions, nonthermal heavy oil recovery methods may be applicable to reservoirs considered to be marginal from the thermal recovery standpoint.
Formation Evaluation by Reservoir Rock and Fluid Sample Analyses
Authors: Rose Walter 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
Reservoir rock and fluid sample testing is one of the traditional modes for formation evaluation, but like others (e.g. wireline geophysics, well testing, subsurface geologic mapping, etc.) it is one that has benefited from recent advances in laboratory methodologies and instrumentation. Before the final chapter on this subject is written, however, some enormous problems have to be faced and resolved. For example, it is mentioned in this paper that a major obstacle to obtaining credible formation evaluation information from core and fluid studies has to do with the integrity of the sampling procedure itself. Are enough samples routinely taken? Are they big enough, representative enough? And how can the in situ reservoir characteristics be maintained and sustained prior to and during subsequent laboratory testing? In the final analysis, however, it is shown that even when the various sampling problems are solved, questions will still remain about how to strike a cost-effective balance between getting rough information quickly and cheaply versus resorting to more expensive and time-consuming laboratory testing as the way to reduce noise-to-signal problems in data recording and interpretation.
Prediction of Abnormal Pressures in Wyoming Sedimentary Basins Using Well Logs
Authors: Evers J. F. , Ezeanyim Richard 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Abnormal formation pressures are present in lower tertiary - upper cretaceous formations of Wyoming sedimentary basins. Calibration curves for predicting pore pressures were established for these formations using conductivity and acoustic log responses from existing wells in these basins.
Comparison was made between the predicted pore pressures using the calibration curves and some actual measured pressures. It was found that the calibration curves had an accuracy of pore pressure predictions of approximately ±0.03 psi/ft of depth, or 300 psi at depths below 10,000 feet for the comparison well.
Some ‘High-Impact’ Corrosion Problems in Production Operations
Authors: Turpin M P , Young I , Abbott J , Kamath A 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
In a hostile environment such as the North Sea, corrosion problems of all kinds manifest themselves with monotonous regularity, despite considerable efforts to prevent and control them.
This paper is presented with the intention of illustrating the various kinds of potentially "high-impact" corrosion problems which we are being faced with and the techniques employed to assess and monitor these problems as a means of identifying subsequent action.
The large sums of money involved, whether spent to rectify a potential problem or incurred as a result of not identifying a problem early enough, mean that assessment and monitoring are very important aspects of our operations.
Utilisation of The Peng-Robinson Equation of State in Multiphase Flow Pressure-Gradient Calculations in Oil and Gas Wells
Authors: Sutton R P , Farshad F F 
Published: December 2007

ABSTRACT
An evaluation of utilising the Peng-Robinson Equation of State to perform the PVT calculations required for pressure-gradient calculations in oil and gas-condensate wells is presented. The evaluation is made using a total of 50 well tests representing 30 different wellstream molar compositions. Twenty-five of the fluid systems are gas-condensates with liquid yields ranging from 5 to 194 bbls/MMcf. The remaining five compositions are from black-oil fluid systems with gas-oil ratios ranging from 481 to 2,026 scf/bbl. The compositional and well-test data are summarised in Tables 3 and 4.
Multiphase flow pressure-gradient (MFPG) calculations were made using nine well-known correlations. PVT properties required by these correlations were derived using compositional and more traditional methods. The results of the calculations were compared with measured data to ascertain the suitability of the various methods for handling PVT calculations along with the overall general applicability of the MFPG correlations.
This paper is not intended to provide an in-depth discussion of the various pressure-gradient calculation methods as the information is readily available from several gradient calculations and some general observations made as a result of the calculations.