bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Balancing Energy Access in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Energy Accessibility in Sub-Saharan Africa and Northern Africa
Authors: Ezeh M. C. , Okoroafor E. R. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Modern civilization depends on energy to survive; therefore, it must be readily available, affordable, reliable, and safe. With over 1.2 billion people residing in Sub-Saharan Africa, over 570 million people live without electricity, and 900 million have no access to clean cooking (IEA, 2020). Despite efforts to expand access to electricity, many households and businesses in the region still need more affordable and reliable energy. Due to limited access to energy in Sub-Saharan Africa, the region has witnessed thousands of deaths yearly. The limited energy access also impairs hospital operations, impedes educational achievement, and raises economic expenditures. Therefore, increasing energy supply and distribution in Sub-Saharan Africa is urgently needed.
This paper conducts a comparative analysis of energy accessibility in Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa using SWOT and PESTEL analysis. It analyses the barriers and prospects for balancing energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa by identifying the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities of energy accessibility in both regions and the political, social, technological, social, economic, environmental, and legal factors that affect it.
The research findings reveal that there has been recent growth in energy access in Northern Africa attributable to smart green funding and innovative regulatory framework. Concurrently, Sub-Saharan Africa faces significant challenges to increasing energy accessibility, irrespective of its potential for renewable energy development. This paper concludes with recommendations for addressing the challenges and leveraging the opportunities to enhance energy accessibility in Sub-Saharan Africa. Also, this research would give the proper framework to increase energy efficiency and accomplish the climate targets outlined in the Paris Agreement.
Carbon/Oxygen Logging Speed Optimization in the Niger Delta Fields With Improved Pulsed Neutron Technology
Authors: Akagbosu P. I. , Kim Y. , Nardiello N. , Chace D. , McGlynn I. , Lawal O. , Akomeno K. , Toumelin E. , Atuanya C. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Pulsed neutron logging of salinity-independent carbon/oxygen (C/O) mode typically requires slow logging speed (e.g., 2 feet per minute (ft/min)) and multiple passes, and it has always been a concern in the upstream rig operations because of the rig time involved, which translates to higher costs for operators.
Reservoir fluid volumes, properties, and contacts change over time in cased wells, such as in the Niger Delta oilfields, produced for over four decades. Time-lapse C/O logging is required in this freshwater environment to determine two-phase saturations and fluid contacts, evaluate fluid dynamics, and identify bypassed oil zones. Due to the higher cost of C/O logging campaigns than pulsed neutron capture (PNC) logging campaigns, it is imperative to consider faster C/O logging speed, hence the advent of an improved pulsed neutron technology capable of logging three times faster than previous tools.
The critical properties of the improved pulsed neutron technology are the lanthanum bromide (LaBr3) material chosen for the detector section due to its high density and resolution characteristics, higher pulsed neutron source output, this capable of producing two times the neutrons produced by previous generation tools, and the new digital electronics system capable of processing the increased gamma-ray count rate. The new instrument allows three times faster logging when multiple passes are recommended or improved precision at legacy logging speeds. Indeed, one pass of the new tool at 2 ft/min is equivalent to three passes of the legacy tool at 2 ft/min.
Recent papers (Nardiello et al., 2022; Kim et al., 2023) described the comparison demonstrating that the upgraded, faster technology provided the same data precision and saturation interpretation as the slower, legacy technology, achieving considerable time reduction in logging operations. This paper intends to present an example of the Niger Delta field's C/O data logged with the new tool at 6 ft/min and a formation saturation analysis case study. The saturation analysis result identified a watered-out sand due to offset well production (or a formation water-oil contact change).
Effect of Compressor Washing on the Performance of Industrial Gas Turbine
Authors: Enyia J. D. , Archibong-Eso E. U. , Archibong-Eso A. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Over the years, Industrial Gas Turbines (IGT) have found widespread applications in various sectors such as oil and gas, transportation, and power generation. Researchers have made significant contributions towards enhancing the performance and extending the lifespan of Gas Turbines (GT) through advancements like regeneration, pre-heaters, intercoolers, and more. The utilization of compressor washing techniques has also been explored, influenced by environmental factors. This has yielded varied results. In today's highly competitive market, coupled with the continuous rise in fuel costs, it has become crucial to develop effective measurement and control techniques for detecting, preventing, and controlling GT fouling. The continuous deterioration of GTs due to fouling has a direct impact on its performance and associated costs. This work focuses on investigating the significance of compressor washing on GT performance, specifically considering the fouling of compressor blades caused by Domestic Object Damage (DOD) and Foreign Object Damage (FOD), along with techniques to mitigate these issues. The evaluation encompasses online, offline, and combined (online and offline) compressor washing methods to determine the most effective approach in addressing fouling challenges faced by operators. The study was implemented using GT performance modelling tools - Pythia/Turbomatch - which involves simulation of the thermodynamic models of the engine. Results from the study indicate that at a compressor fouling level of 2% and a temperature of 200°C, a degradation of approximately 9% in power output, a 5% reduction in air mass flow and pressure ratio, and a decline of around 1.4% in gas generator turbine efficiency were observed. Further simulations involving an 8% fouling in compressor efficiency revealed that online compressor washing led to a recovery of 2.8%, offline washing achieved a recovery of 3.3%, while the combined method experienced a 6% performance recovery.
Feasibility Study of Thermal EOR Techniques in Unconventional Heavy Oil Reservoirs in the Niger Delta: An Experimental and Numerical Simulation Approach
Authors: Odo J. E. , Ahamefule C. C. , Nwanwe O. I. , Ekeopara P. U. , Monsonagor C. C. , Nwanwe C. C. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
The exploration and production of unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs have gained significant attention in recent years due to their increasing importance as a source of energy. Acquiring a comprehensive understanding of the unique characteristics of unconventional reservoirs is essential to optimize the recovery of these resources. The Niger Delta region, while currently undergoing the secondary recovery phase for some conventional projects, has significant potential for unconventional hydrocarbon reserves. This study employed a combination of laboratory experiments and numerical simulations to evaluate the feasibility and recovery efficiency of steam flooding and hot water injection for heavy oil recovery in unconventional oil reservoirs in the Niger Delta region. Core samples with a porosity range of 7% – 10% were used in the laboratory examination of steam flooding performance. 2D homogeneous reservoir models with two wells were developed using a reservoir simulator to match the steam flooding experiment and to simulate hot water injections for each core sample. Three independent parameters (injection rate, injection temperature, and injection pressure) were used in each model. The Box-Behnken Design was used to generate simulation runs per the observed recovery method using the maximum and minimum values of the independent parameter. Formation's porosity and permeability range variation was accounted for in the model using Uncertainty analysis. The Experimental design software was used to examine the input and output data and generate a Response Surface model (RSM) that correlates recovery efficiency and the independent parameters. Results indicate that steam flooding is a more practical/feasible solution for heavy oil recovery in these types of reservoirs with an average of 11% recovery. The study provides valuable insights for future field development and production planning in low-porosity unconventional reservoirs.
Design and Fabrication of a Core Flooding Apparatus for Polymer Flooding Using Potato Starch and Xanthan Gum
Authors: Ofulue Monique Amarachukwu 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
With the declines in oil discoveries during the last decades, it is believed that Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)technologies will play a key role to meet the energy demand in years to come. Different processes have been designed to improve displacement efficiency by reducing residual oil saturation. However, polymer flooding was designed to improve sweep efficiency by improving the mobility ratio. In Nigeria, EOR materials and technologies are virtually imported, making them limited and expensive to use. This study is aimed at designing and constructing an efficient locally made core flooding apparatus, to carry out EOR experiments (flooding) and also to investigate the suitability of using locally sourced polysaccharide, potato starch in place of xanthan gum in polymer flooding, considering cost and concentration. The core flooding laboratory equipment was personally designed and fabricated to carry out the experiments at room temperature and pressure. Six core samples (P1 – P3; X1 – X3) with sand particle size of 425um were used and saturated with brine of concentration 10,000ppm and 1wt% salinity while heavy crude of API 18.21 was flooded through each sample. After water flooding, potato starch and xanthan gum prepared at 2,000ppm,4000ppm and 6000ppm concentration were flooded for tertiary recovery. The result showed that xanthan gum gave better recovery than potato starch but at concentration of 6000ppm, potato starch gave a recovery of 28.57% which is close to that of xanthan gum (30.56% recovery). Also, in respect to cost, xanthan gum cost ₦9,000 for 0.227 kg and an estimate of ₦40,000 for 1kg while potato starch cost ₦2,000 for 0.227kg and ₦9,000 for 1 kg, making xanthan gum more expensive than potato starch. This shows that potato starch, which is a cheaper polymer agent, gives better recovery at higher concentrations, hence can be applied in the oil and gas industry when more research is carried out on it for better improvement.
Gold-Based Economic Evaluation of Petroleum Assets – A Counter Factual Approach
Authors: Yomi Akinnurun , Izuchukwu Ojukwu , Ayodele Taiwo Oluwaseun , Omomere Imuzeze 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Crude oil and gold are commodities traded in US Dollars, while gold has shown resilience and stability over the years, crude oil keeps fluctuating in price level. Oil price frequent changes have impacted the measurement of economic variables in dollar values and since the oil price is one of the most vital assumptions in economic forecasting, realistic determination of expected returns from petroleum investment has been a herculean task.
Most research articles on the above subject focused on the relationship between the price behaviour of crude oil and gold. There exist very few research articles that attempt to evaluate petroleum assets and investments in other currencies other than the U.S. dollar, this is not surprising since crude oil is traded globally in dollars. The value of the dollar has changed significantly over the years due to several factors that influence its value. The appreciation or depreciation of the U.S. dollar is influenced primarily by the monetary policies of the U.S., trade balances, inflation rates, investor confidence, political stability and reserve currency status. All these factors have a direct impact on the price of crude oil, since the commodity is traded in dollars.
My research attempts to evaluate the stability of gold over dollar-based currency. The use of petrogold has been promoted as a way of reducing dependence on the US dollar. However, the use of gold as a form of payment can be problematic because it is not easily divisible or transferable and can be subject to significant price volatility.
On this premise, we took an analytical approach to examine the profitability of a particular oil and gas investment in the Niger Delta given the capex and opex history of the asset as well as its revenue history derived from production. Using the corresponding historical prices of crude oil and gold, while considering crucial economic factors and policies that have shaped the modus operandi of the oil and gas industry over the years, we evaluated the performance of the asset under both Petrodollar and Petrogold pricing structure by several established economic yardsticks such as Net Present value (NPV), Unit Technical Cost (UTC), IRR, PI and ARR.
An Evaluation of the Chemical EOR Potential for Advanced Niger Delta Oil Recovery
Authors: Adeeyo Y. , Mohammed I. , Olafuyi O. , Bello K. , Olafuyi S. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Most of the prolific fields in Niger Delta are increasingly producing water with substantial bypassed oil saturation left unrecovered. The major challenge facing oil and gas industry today is the ability to maximize recovery; reducing the residual oil saturation left trapped after primary and or secondary recovery. Surfactant flooding has been the major process in reducing the interfacial tension between oil and water thereby facilitating the maximum recovery of the residual oil saturation.
This study involved using reservoir simulation to show the relative merits of surfactant/polymer flooding in a Niger Delta oil reservoir. The target reservoir is a simple geological model. Despite years of water injection there remains high bypassed oil saturation.
Following nearly two years of water injection and an extensive field polymer injection into wells, the production response to polymer injection was evaluated and discovered to increase.
The Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) simulation results show a substantial improvement in reservoir performance. The cumulative oil production increased from 120,000m3 using natural enrygy to 1,650,000m3using ASP
The results of this study will be a major starting point for chemical EOR pilot project in Niger Delta area.
Fire Critical Equipment Integrity Dashboard: An Effective Tool for Fire Risk Reduction
Authors: Abia D. , Aina I. , Enigbokan A. , Ajayi S. , Aikhoje E. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Have you ever considered what would happen to your organization if a fire outbreak occurs and how operations and business would be affected? Every year, fire is one of the major cause of millions of dollars in asset loses and damages to business operations. This is not only a safety issue but organizations are also expected and legally required to take certain fire prevention measures in order to forestall fire outbreak. Organizations must manage the risk of fires in order to protect the safety of employees and other stakeholders as well as limiting physical damage to assets. It is imperative that every organization has some plan in place to minimize the likelihood and control/mitigate the impact of fires.
How reliable are the fire critical equipment in a facility? Will the equipment be available on demand, to prevent or mitigate a fire scenario? To give a positive answer to these crucial questions, management usually ensure the establishment of systems for the maintenance and inspection of fire critical equipment, in compliance with relevant standard and regulatory requirements. The challenge, however, is the ability of management to get a quick and accurate glance of how well the system that has been set up, is being implemented and being followed through.
Preventing and or minimizing the risk of fire is key to successful business operations of any organization.
This paper will describe the development of a user-friendly fire critical equipment integrity dashboard to readily convey in near-real time, the reliability of equipment critical to fire prevention and effects mitigation by; Identifying fire critical equipmentDefining and incorporating their assurance taskIdentifying responsible persons for the dashboard data entry and reliabilityDevelopment of the dashboard and user-friendly interface
Investigating Suitability of Microbial Derived Biosurfactant for Deliquefying Gas Well - An Experimental Approach
Authors: Adeyemi Gbadegesin Abiodun , Egenhoff Sven , Fadairo Adesina , Ling kegang , Tomomewo Olusegun , Oladepo Adebowale , Ayoola Ayodeji , Okonji Jeffery 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Liquid loading in the gas well is becoming more challenging as the gas field matured and may eventually kill the well if the liquids are not continuously removed from the well. The common method used in preventing liquid loading is by injecting surface-acting agents or solvents termed surfactants into the well to reduce the interfacial energy and weight of the water molecule in the gas stream Most surfactants used in the oil and gas industry today are synthetically manufactured which are toxic to life and environmentally incompatible. This paper presents a formulation of biosurfactant solution derived from Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Escherichia Coli bacteria isolated from crude oil which is environmentally safe and evaluates the suitability fordeliquefying matured gas well. Generally, biosurfactants have the capacity to reduce the surface tension of the liquid by adsorbing at the liquid-gas interface and create significantly less mass than the liquid droplets which can then be easily extracted from the walls of the wellbore and assure flow in the gas system.
In this study, the formulated biosurfactant was characterized for its physicochemical properties using scanning electron, microscopy (SEM), energy display spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). A specific experimental design was set up and used to evaluate the unloading efficiency of the formulated biosurfactant and then contrasted with Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, a widely used commercial surfactant (SLS). The bulk foam stability was tested, and the results obtained proved that biosurfactant from (Escherichia Coli) provided more stable foams (57.10%, 65.7%, 80.03%) as compared with commercial surfactant (SLS) (60.85%, 74.5%, 83.10%.) and biosurfactant from Pseudomonas Aeruginosa (12.85%, 8.57%, 4.28%) in the surfactant concentration of 30wt%, 40wt% and 50wt%. Also, the biosurfactant produced from Pseudomonas Aeruginosa and Escherichia Coli bacteria reduces the surface tension from which value of 65 mN/m to 48.4 mN/m and 21.9 mN/m respectively, compared to the commercial surfactant (SLS) value of 19.6 mN/m. This study has revealed that the two biosurfactants derived can create foam through which they decrease the density of the film at the wall, and alter the equilibrium between the gravitational force and the interfacial friction, hence making an easy transition between the churn flow and the annular flow to achieve at a lower flow rate. However, the biosurfactant produced from Escherichia Coli bacteria gave better surface tension results than biosurfactant from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the results are closer to that of surfactant Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, a widely used commercial surfactant (SLS) used for validation.
Effective HSE-MS Implementation: A Success Story of Ikike Project 6 Million + Manhours with NO LTI
Authors: Abia D. , Ikpa H. , Enigbokan A. , Aikhoje E. 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Ikike is an undeveloped field located 20km offshore and approximately 15km north of the Amenam complex in 20m water depth. The Amenam field which has been producing since July 2003 is located approximately 60km southeast of the NLNG Plant and 95km Southeast of Port Harcourt and the water depth range from 30 to 40 meters.
The Ikike project leverages on the existing Amenam facilities to keep costs low and is designed to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Estimated at less than 4kg CO2e/boe, they will contribute to reducing the average carbon intensity of TotalEnergies’ upstream portfolio.
Given to the inherent hazard and risk associated with Oil & Gas projects from Conceptual phase to Front End Engineering Design studies, to fabrication and constructions as well as installation and commissioning, HSE management system becomes pivotal to driving an incident free project phases.
This Paper focuses on the sound application of the Project HSE Management strategy, plan and system which comprises a set of components that includes; Project HSE Policy and HSE objectives,Identification of the risk involved in the Project activities,An organization within which the HSE responsibilities are clearly defined,Competent and trained personnel,Internal and external communication.Practises and processes formally defined in the project documentation,Evaluation and reviews of Project HSE performances,Correctives action plans and periodic management reviews,An HSE audit program
All of these were deployed during the Ikike project towards demonstrating and providing a means of anticipating and controlling the risks involved in the Project which had continuously improved the HSE performances all through the project in conformance with project improvement goals set for the Project.
Several other proactive and reactive measures were taken towards ensuring a success story of Ikike Project with a total of 6milliom man hours of No Lost Time Incident.
Fiscal System Design and Economic Evaluation for Petroleum Resource Development in Ghana (Comparative Analysis Between Fixed Royalty and Sliding Scale Royalty)
Authors: Ashikwei Desmond , Iledare Omowumi , Amarfio Eric 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
Petroleum fiscal regime defines the extent to which the host government and the prospective investor can apportion risks and share project rewards. Ghana's petroleum industry has become an attractive place for most investors because the current fiscal regime governing the industry is based on old petroleum tax laws and systems and doesn't capture wind-fall profit. In this paper the petroleum fiscal regime currently used in Ghana was modelled, reviewed and evaluated. A proposed progressive fiscal regime was then put forward which has a slidingscale royalty tied to production to increased the government share (GTake). The models incorporated successfully Monte Carlo simulation using @Risk software to account for risk and uncertainties in decision making. This study addresses the petroleum industry structure and performance of the modelled fiscal regimes of Ghana. An optimum fiscal regime should be efficient, effective and equitable. The fiscal regime optimality were evaluated by testing the IRR which accounts for the efficiency, FLI which accounts for effectiveness and GTake which accounts for equity in order to achieve pareto optimality. Other range of profitability indicators were also tested in the economic evaluation and they are contractor's take (CTake), Net present value (NPV), Profitability index (PI), Present value ratio (PVR). The deterministic result of the analysis shows that, the government take (GTake) increased when the proposed fiscal regime was put forward from 30.15% to 69.85%. The Internal rate of return (IRR) for the fixed royalty is 21% and the sliding scale royalty is 16%. Both values are positive which means there is value for every dollar invested. This study will help both investors and Government in decision making.