JPT Enero 2016

12/17/15 8:23 AM
Jan16_JPT_Cover.indd 1
JA N UA RY 2 0 1 6 • VO LU M E 6 8 , N U M B E R 1 JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY
WARNING
RESERVOIR ENGINEERS
DO NOT TRY TNAVIGATOR
SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE: ADDICTIVE EASE OF USE,
FASTER RUN TIMES, A HIGHER LEVEL OF RESOLUTION,
UNIVERSAL COMPATIBILITY, MAY CAUSE COMPETITOR
INDIGESTION, CAN CAUSE LESS STRESS AND MORE
PRODUCTIVITY, MAY COST LESS THAN OTHER RESERVOIR
SIMULATION SOFTWARE, HAS BEEN KNOWN TO CREATE
EXCITABILITY IN USERS, CAN LOWER CYCLE TIME, MAY
CAUSE PROMOTIONS WWW.TNAVIGATOR.COM
RFD-006_tNavigator_JPT_0724.indd 1 7/24/15 4:12 PM

CONTENTS
Volume 68 • Number 1
14 GUEST EDITORIAL • ENGINEERING DESIGN IN THE

“LOWER FOR LONGER” ENVIRONMENT
For engineering design teams, the market downturn is an opportunity
to review practices and learn from others who have used hard times to
reshape processes through simulation while cutting development time
and costs.
22 YOUNG TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

Seminole Services’ Powerscrew Liner System is a new expandable-liner
hanger that is set with torsional energy from the topdrive.
25 TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Operators are seeking ways to sharply lower the recovery cost per barrel
of oil equivalent (BOE) in unconventional plays. One strategy is to increase
the percentage of refractured wells, as the cost per BOE of refracturing
is substantially lower than that of drilling and completing delineation or
development wells.
32 OFFSHORE SEISMIC FEELING PRESSURES TO CHANGE

Waves in a test pool show the
Seismic innovators are working on new sound sources designed to controlled sound produced by a
produce better subsurface images while addressing challenges raised by device made by Teledyne Webb
scientists and regulators concerned about the environmental impact of Research, one of a new generation
that noise on sea life. of seismic sound sources under
development. Photo courtesy of
38 DOING BETTER IN BAD TIMES Teledyne Webb Research.
Concerned about the long-term impact of the current oil recession, SPE’s
seven technical directors give their outlook for the coming year.
42 INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN CASPIAN REPUBLICS’

OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION
The Caspian Sea region is once again becoming one of the globe’s DEPARTMENTS
important frontiers in oil and gas production. Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
and Turkmenistan are in the midst of intensive efforts to underpin their
6 Performance Indices
developing economies by increased exploitation of massive reserves.
8 Regional Update
46 ROYAL DUTCH SHELL’S JOURNEY TO STRATEGIC 10 President’s Column
COMPETENCE MANAGEMENT 12 Comments
Shell undertook a 5-year program to address some of the universal
18 Technology Applications
challenges of competence management along with several internal
improvement opportunities. The result has been the global implementation 28 E&P Notes
of a strategic solution that fundamentally reshaped how competence is 88 People
managed within the company. 89 Professional Services
91 SPE News
91 Advertisers’ Index
92 SPE Events
An Official Publication of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Printed in US. Copyright 2016, Society of Petroleum Engineers.
TAM SOLUTIONS
PACKER PERFORMANCE TO THE EXTREME
EPIC® Solutions:
Essential Products for Integrity and Containment
For sensitive, high-risk applications, we work
hard so you can rest easy.
Deeper depths. Longer laterals. Tougher regulations. With 45 years of packer expertise,
TAM delivers proven reliability in highly sensitive areas – onshore and offshore. Eliminate
gas migration and improve cement integrity by placing a TAM Casing Annulus Packer
above a gas zone. The TAM metal-to-metal seal cementing Port Collar enables 2nd stage
Excellence at the Wellsite® cementing to be performed and assures casing integrity. Reduce risk and improve safety
with comprehensive, time-tested solutions from the gas-migration experts.
WELL INTERVENTION DRILLING & COMPLETIONS UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCES RESERVOIR OPTIMIZATION
www.tamintl.com
TAM-191_EPIC_JPT_120915.indd 1 12/10/15 8:49 AM

™
Illuminate the Invisible™
TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
We give
52 EOR PERFORMANCE AND MODELING you the
Omer Gurpinar, SPE, Technical Director, Schlumberger
53 EOR-Feasibility Study for a Large Carbonate Field in Kuwait

superpowers
55 Simulation of Residual Oil Saturation Through Tuning of
Equilibrium Constants
you’ve
58 Designing an Optimized Surfactant Flood in the Bakken always
60 Method for Adaptive Optimization of EOR Performance Under Uncertainty
dreamed of.
62 MATURE FIELDS AND WELL REVITALIZATION
Jesse Lee, SPE, Chemistry Technology Manager, Schlumberger Introducing the world’s
63 Refracturing: A Second Chance To Get It Right Through Diagnostics first X-Ray technology
65 An Integrated Methodology To Locate Oil Opportunities in for oil wells.
Mature Reservoirs VISURAY’s revolutionary VR90
68 Conditioning Mature Vertical Wells To Stimulate and Test not only finds downhole blockages
Shale Productivity faster, it lets you see 2D and 3D
reconstructions of the obstruction.
70 WELL INTEGRITY We’ll illuminate the problem, you’ll
Otto Luiz Alcantara Santos, SPE, Master Technical Adviser, Petrobras eliminate the problem. Better yet,
71 Method of Surface Interception To Access Annulus With Abnormal you’ll eliminate downtime and
Gas Pressure increase profitability.
74 Smart Kick Detection—First Step on the Well-Control-Automation Journey Contact us for a

77 Analytical Model Estimates Flow Rate and Total Discharge in demonstration
Gas-Well Blowouts visuray.com
80 DECOMMISSIONING AND ABANDONMENT
Win Thornton, SPE, Vice President of Decommissioning, Global Projects
Organization, BP
81 Plasma-Based Tool Facilitates Plugging and Abandonment

84 Miniaturized Coiled-Tubing System Reduces Costs During Pipeline
Decommissioning
86 Behind-Pipe-Log-Evaluation Study: Deepwater Subsea Abandonments
ION
VISURAY X-RAY VIS
The complete SPE technical papers featured in this issue are available
free to SPE members for two months at www.spe.org/jpt.
PRODUCTION OPTIMIZATION CONSULTING
LET’S MAKE A
GAME PLAN
Any well type. All forms of lift.
'VMMæFMEPQUJNJ[BUJPO
© 2015 Weatherford. All rights reserved.
Bring an experienced partner into play. Weatherford production

optimization consultants work with you to design a life-of-well
strategy that achieves your objectives. Whether you have free-
æPXJOHPSBSUJåDJBMMZMJGUFEXFMMT PVSBEWJTPSTDBODPMMBCPSBUF
with your team at any stage to help maximize production and
return on investment.
8IBUFWFSZPVSBTTFUUZQFPSQSPEVDUJPOQIBTF XFDBOIFMQZPV
get more life from your wells.
XFBUIFSGPSEDPNQPD
Drilling & Formation Evaluation | Well Construction | Completion & Stimulation | Production
POC Comps.indd 3 10/13/15 1:25 PM

SPE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
OFFICERS SOUTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN
Anelise Quintao Lara, Petrobras
Make sure there is a
2016 President
SOUTH ASIA common understanding
Nathan Meehan, Baker Hughes
John Hoppe, Shell
2015 President SOUTH, CENTRAL, AND EAST EUROPE
Helge Hove Haldorsen, Statoil Matthias Meister, Baker Hughes Prepare illustrations
2017 President SOUTHERN ASIA PACIFIC using Wellbarrier
Janeen Judah, Chevron Salis Aprilian, PT Badak NGL
SOUTHWESTERN NORTH AMERICA

Illustration Tool
Vice President Finance
Libby Einhorn, Concho Oil & Gas
Roland Moreau, ExxonMobil Annuitant
WESTERN NORTH AMERICA
REGIONAL DIRECTORS Andrei Popa, Chevron
AFRICA
Adeyemi Akinlawon,
TECHNICAL DIRECTORS
Adeb Konsult DRILLING AND COMPLETIONS
David Curry, Baker Hughes
CANADIAN
Darcy Spady, Landar Consulting Corp. HEALTH, SAFETY, SECURITY, ENVIRONMENT,
AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
EASTERN NORTH AMERICA Trey Shaffer, ERM
Bob Garland, Silver Creek Services
MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION
GULF COAST NORTH AMERICA J.C. Cunha
J. Roger Hite, Inwood Solutions
PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS
MID-CONTINENT NORTH AMERICA Jennifer Miskimins, Barree & Associates
Michael Tunstall, Halliburton
PROJECTS, FACILITIES, AND CONSTRUCTION
MIDDLE EAST Howard Duhon, GATE, Inc.
Vacant
RESERVOIR DESCRIPTION AND DYNAMICS
NORTH SEA Tom Blasingame, Texas A&M University
Carlos Chalbaud, ENGIE
NORTHERN ASIA PACIFIC DIRECTOR FOR ACADEMIA

Phongsthorn Thavisin, PTTEP
Dan Hill, Texas A&M University
ROCKY MOUNTAIN NORTH AMERICA
Erin McEvers, Clearbrook Consulting AT-LARGE DIRECTORS
RUSSIA AND THE CASPIAN Khaled Al-Buraik, Saudi Aramco
Anton Ablaev, Schlumberger Liu Zhenwu, China National Petroleum Corporation
JPT STAFF The Journal of Petroleum Technology® magazine is a

registered trademark of SPE.
SPE PUBLICATIONS: SPE is not responsible for any
Glenda Smith, Publisher statement made or opinions expressed in its publications.
John Donnelly, Editor
EDITORIAL POLICY: SPE encourages open and objective
Alex Asfar, Senior Manager Publishing Services discussion of technical and professional subjects per-
tinent to the interests of the Society in its publications.
Pam Boschee, Senior Manager Magazines Society publications shall contain no judgmental remarks
or opinions as to the technical competence, personal
Chris Carpenter, Technology Editor character, or motivations of any individual, company, or
group. Any material which, in the publisher’s opinion,
Trent Jacobs, Senior Technology Writer
does not meet the standards for objectivity, pertinence,
Anjana Sankara Narayanan, Editorial Manager and professional tone will be returned to the contribu-
tor with a request for revision before publication. SPE
Joel Parshall, Features Editor accepts advertising (print and electronic) for goods and
services that, in the publisher’s judgment, address the Enhance the safety in the wells by
Stephen Rassenfoss, Emerging Technology Senior Editor technical or professional interests of its readers. SPE
reserves the right to refuse to publish any advertising it
Adam Wilson, Special Publications Editor
considers to be unacceptable.
Craig Moritz, Assistant Director Americas Sales & Exhibits
Delivering high quality illustrations
COPYRIGHT AND USE: SPE grants permission to make
Mary Jane Touchstone, Print Publishing Manager up to five copies of any article in this journal for personal 'RFXPHQWLQJTXDOL¿FDWLRQPHWKRGV
use. This permission is in addition to copying rights grant-
Laurie Sailsbury, Composition Specialist Supervisor ed by law as fair use or library use. For copying beyond 'RFXPHQWLQJPRQLWRULQJPHWKRGV
that or the above permission: (1) libraries and other users
Dennis Scharnberg, Proofreader dealing with the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) must Giving a clear message to all
pay a base fee of USD 5 per article plus USD 0.50 per
page to CCC, 29 Congress St., Salem, Mass. 01970, USA VWDNHKROGHUV
(ISSN0149-2136) or (2) other wise, contact SPE Librarian
at SPE Americas Office in Richardson, Texas, USA, or
e-mail [email protected] to obtain permission to make
more than five copies or for any other special use of
copyrighted material in this journal. The above permis-
sion notwithstanding, SPE does not waive its right as
copyright holder under the US Copyright Act.
Canada Publications Agreement #40612608.
www.wellbarrier.com
[email protected]
Phone +47 51 63 08 00
PERFORMANCE INDICES
WORLD CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION1+‡ HENRY HUB GULF COAST NATURAL GAS SPOT PRICE‡
THOUSAND BOPD
6
O PEC 2015 MAR APR MAY JUN
Algeria 1370 1370 1370 1370 5 USD/million Btu
Angola 1820 1830 1840 1850 4
Ecuador 553 548 543 541
3
Iran 3300 3300 3300 3300
Iraq 3825 3861 3975 4325 2
Kuwait* 2650 2650 2550 2550
1
Libya 475 505 430 410
2014
NOV
DEC
2015
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
Nigeria 2420 2520 2170 2220
Qatar 1525 1531 1532 1537
Saudi Arabia* 9940 9940 10140 10240
UAE 2820 2820 2820 2820 WORLD CRUDE OIL PRICES (USD/bbl)‡
Venezuela 2500 2500 2500 2500
TOTAL 33198 33375 33170 33663 MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT
Brent 55.89 59.52 64.08 61.48 56.56 46.52 47.62 48.43
THOUSAND BOPD WTI 47.82 54.45 59.27 59.82 50.90 42.87 45.48 46.22
NON-OPEC 2015 MAR APR MAY JUN

Argentina 531 533 536 534
Australia 249 296 258 301 WORLD ROTARY RIG COUNT†
Azerbaijan 828 882 832 867
Brazil 2413 2394 2412 2396 REGION MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
Canada 3775 3463 3212 3608 US 889 861 866 883 848 791 760
China 4254 4258 4271 4409 Canada 80 129 183 206 183 184 178
Colombia 1023 1028 1026 1010 Latin America 327 314 313 319 321 294 284
Denmark 153 163 161 157 Europe 116 113 108 109 109 108 108
Egypt 525 503 512 511 Middle East 398 401 391 393 396 403 419
Eq. Guinea 249 249 249 249 Africa 100 103 94 96 96 93 90
Gabon 215 205 205 215 Asia Pacific 217 215 212 220 218 213 208
India 776 751 766 771
TOTAL 2127 2136 2167 2226 2171 2086 2047
Indonesia 763 804 810 822
Kazakhstan 1658 1616 1659 1567
Malaysia 697 676 694 620
WORLD OIL SUPPLY AND DEMAND2‡
Mexico 2356 2235 2263 2283
Norway 1586 1614 1555 1595 MILLION BOPD 2014 2015
Oman 977 960 975 993 Quarter 4th 1st 2nd 3rd
Russia 10182 10163 10196 10234
SUPPLY 95.01 94.42 95.38 96.49
Sudan 257 257 242 257
DEMAND 93.25 92.80 93.38 94.69
Syria 30 30 30 30
UK 867 925 1016 880
USA 9567 9612 9400 9296
INDICES KEY
Vietnam 336 323 300 354 + Figures do not include NGLs and oil from nonconventional sources.
Yemen 91 75 27 27 * Includes approximately one-half of Neutral Zone production.
Other 2544 2493 2469 2467 1 Latest available data on www.eia.gov. Italicized numbers indicate data revised by EIA.
2 Includes crude oil, lease condensates, natural gas plant liquids, other hydrocarbons for refinery feedstocks,
Total 44358 44015 43607 43986 refinery gains, alcohol, and liquids produced from nonconventional sources.
Total World 80100 79883 79246 80116 † Source: Baker Hughes.

‡ Source: US Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration.
6 JPT • JANUARY 2016

Manara
PRODUCTION AND RESERVOIR
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Water cut
Fluid flow rate
Pressure
Water cut Temperature
Fluid flow rate
Pressure
Temperature
Increase production and manage inflow with

real-time information and control in every zone.
With patented inductive coupler technology that provides power and telemetry, the Manara* production and reservoir
management system can be deployed in conventional or extended-reach wells, in two or more sections, or across any
number of lateral junctions—all with a single control line. Using the Manara system to monitor and control previously
unattainable zones, operators can now immediately identify problematic areas, pinpoint the cause, and make the
necessary adjustments to maintain the well at optimal production.
Find out more at

slb.com/manara
*Mark of Schlumberger. Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 15-CO-87356

REGIONAL UPDATE
AFRICA earlier in the year with estimated reserves of 1.5 Tcf of gas resources and 31 million bbl
159 Bcf. PGNiG plans further exploration in of condensate. The field will be operated
Z Eni discovered gas and condensate in the the concession. by Pharaonic Petroleum Company, a joint
Nkala Marine prospect offshore Congo. The venture of BP, the Egyptian Natural Gas
discovery could hold from 250 MMBOE to AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA Holding Company, and Eni.
350 million MMBOE in place, the company
said. In a production test, the Nkala Marine 1 Z InterOil said that logs from the Z The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is
discovery well in the Marine XII block yielded Antelope-4 sidetrack-1 well in Papua New moving ahead with development projects
more than 10 MMcf/D of gas and condensate. Guinea’s Petroleum Retention License 15 that will increase United Arab Emirates
Delineation drilling is planned. Eni is the (PRL 15) confirm a southern extension of the oil production over the next 2 to 3 years
operator with a 65% interest in the block. gas-bearing dolomite in the Elk-Antelope to 3.5 million B/D from a current level
The remaining shares are held by New Age field. The wireline logs intersected the top of 2.9 million B/D, company Director
(25%) and Societé Nationale des Pétroles du of the reservoir at a point 118 ft higher than General Abdullah Nasser al-Suwaidi said
Congo (SNPC) (10%). the initial Antelope-4 well’s penetration, recently. The projects represent about
and new well data interpretation suggests a USD 35 billion of planned total investment
Z Sonangol and Total will break ground deeper gas/water contact for the field than and will target offshore development, a
on a deepwater oil pumping project that previously thought, the company said. Total shift from the company’s historical onshore
will increase Angola’s production by more is the operator for the PRL 15 joint venture focus. Al-Suwaidi said that the UAE could
than 30,000 B/D. Four multiphase, high- with a 40.1% interest. InterOil (36.5%), Oil not afford to lose global market share by
pressure subsea pumps will be installed Search (22.8%), and minority shareholders curtailing supply.
at the Rosa field in Angola Block 17 that (0.5%) are the other participants.
will enable the recovery of an additional NORTH AMERICA
42 million bbl, Sonangol said. Total is the EUROPE
operator of the block with a 40% interest, Z Magnolia Petroleum is participating
with other interests held by Statoil (23.33%), Z Production has started at Lundin’s Edvard in a 10-well drilling program operated by
ExxonMobil (20%), and BP (16.67%). Grieg field in the Utsira High area of the Continental Resources in the Woodford
Sonangol is the concessionaire. Norwegian North Sea about 110 miles west of formation of south-central Oklahoma.
Stavanger. The field holds estimated proved Drilling began in November and is expected
Z Chevron has begun oil and gas production and probable reserves of 187 million BOE with to conclude in March. Magnolia is hopeful
from the Lianzi Field, a subsea project in a possible increase resulting from a recent that the drilling program will help to balance
3,000 ft of water that is expected to achieve appraisal well, pending year-end company the company’s product mix of 56% oil and
production of 40,000 BOPD. Situated in a reserves certification. Production flows from a 44% gas more evenly.
unitized zone between Congo and Angola, steel-jacket platform in 350 ft of water. Lundin
Lianzi is the first cross-border offshore oil has a 50% interest in the field license with SOUTH AMERICA
development in Central Africa. A 27-mile other interests held by OMV (20%), Statoil
electrically heated subsea production flowline (15%), and Wintershall (15%). Z Petrobras has discovered oil at the Pitu
is the industry’s first at this depth. Chevron North 1 extension well in the Potiguar Basin
is the operator with a 31.25% interest. The Z Palomar Natural Resources and San offshore Brazil. Situated 37 miles off the
field partners include Total (26.75%), Angola Leon Energy have spudded the Rawicz-15 coast of Rio Grande do Norte state in 6,050 ft
Block 14 BV (10%), Eni (10%), Sonangol development well in the Rawicz field of of water, the well was drilled to a final depth
(10%), SNPC (7.5%), and GALP (4.5%). Poland’s southern Permian basin. Operated of 13,780 ft and is the first extension of a 2013
by Palomar, the well will be drilled to a discovery in the Pitu area. Profile analyses
Z Shell said that its Leopard Marin discovery planned total depth of 5,250 ft and undergo and fluid samples were used to prove the
offshore Gabon may be a commercial a full testing program. In May 2015, San Leon latest discovery, which will now undergo
gas field. “Leopard is the first potentially reported the estimated gross field reserves laboratory analysis. Petrobras, the operator,
commercial multi-Tcf [trillion cubic ft] find to be more than 50 Bcf of gas. holds a 40% interest in the concession
in a new gas play, and I think that is very (BM-POT-17). BP (40%) and Petrogal (20%)
exciting for us and for the government MIDDLE EAST hold the remaining interest.
of Gabon,” said Alastair Milne, Shell vice
president of exploration for Sub-Saharan Z BP has signed an agreement with Z Production from the Vaca Muerta shale
Africa, on 29 October at a conference in the Egyptian government to accelerate of Argentina is expected to double by 2018,
Cape Town, South Africa. development of the offshore Atoll gas field, according to a study by Wood Mackenzie.
discovered in the East Nile Delta’s North Yearly production is expected to increase
Damietta offshore concession area in 2015. by 10% in 2016 and grow at a markedly
ASIA
The project’s initial phase will include two higher rate by 2020 as YPF and its joint-
Z Polish oil and gas company PGNiG development wells that will be tied back to venture (JV) partners decrease drilling and
announced the planned December 2015 existing infrastructure, with production to completion costs, the study said. YPF will
startup of gas production at its concession start in 2018. Completion of the first phase likely need to make more JV deals to develop
in Pakistan. The project represents the is expected to spur investment in additional its 6.3-million-acre position in the shale play,
development of a “tight” gas discovery production wells. Atoll holds an estimated Wood Mackenzie concluded. JPT

Reduce water.
Save money.
Hexion’s AquaBond™ proppants utilize a unique resin
system that reduces the production of formation water.
AquaBond proppants reduced water by 92% without
hindering the flow of oil compared to traditional resin
coated sand in laboratory testing.
AquaBond proppants are being utilized in multiple
basins across North America where minimizing water
production is essential. AquaBond proppants are
enabling operators to reduce water disposal costs,
maximize well profitability, and lower cost per BOE.
SM
Always Creating, Always Innovating.
hexion.com/oilfield
© 2016 Hexion Inc. All rights reserved.

®, TM and SM denote trademarks owned by or licensed to Hexion Inc.
HEXION-3711-Aquabond-Ad-JPT_FA.indd 1 12/3/15 11:00 AM

IMPROVING PEOPLE’S LIVES
The Grand Challenges for Engineering

Nathan Meehan, 2016 SPE President
The first brief flight at Kitty Hawk in Incentivizing Technological Innovation

1903 did not immediately make the The concept of an inducement prize (as opposed to a recog-
Wright brothers famous; however, within nition prize such as Nobel Prizes) is well established for the
5 years, enthusiasm for the new technol- solution of a problem that is important to society. The British,
ogy began to spread around the world. Spanish, and Dutch governments all offered monetary prizes as
Louis Blériot won a prize for flying over early as 1567 for breakthroughs in determining the longitude
the English Channel in a heavier-than-air of a ship at sea. Many scientists and engineers worked on this
craft in 1909, and Charles Lindbergh won problem, resulting in substantial advances in timekeeping, tele-
the USD 25,000 Orteig prize for the first nonstop flight between scopes, and other technologies. The French government offered
New York and Paris in 1927. Multiple teams competed and spent a large prize during the Napoleonic wars for a way to safely and
hundreds of thousands of dollars pursuing the prize. Technical cheaply preserve large amounts of food, leading to pasteuriza-
advances developed by the competitors led to multiple advanc- tion advances.
es in aviation, revolutionizing the way the world works. The Ansari XPRIZE challenged teams to build a spaceship
capable of carrying three people to 100 km above the Earth’s
surface twice within two weeks. The USD 10-million prize was
awarded in 2004 and has sparked other XPRIZES designed to
encourage advances in oil spill cleanup, adult literacy, medi-
cine, and various technologies. The concept is to specify an au-
dacious goal that will benefit mankind if a significant break-
through is made.
SPE R&D Committee Identifies Grand Challenges

The National Academy of Engineering incorporated input from
leading technological minds to identify 14 “grand challenges”
for engineering for the 21st century. Several of these dealt with
energy, including making solar energy more commercial, pro-
viding energy from fusion, and carbon sequestration.
The SPE Research and Development (R&D) Committee identi-
fied five grand challenges for the petroleum industry including:
◗ High-resolution subsurface imaging
◗ Challenges in reusing produced water
◗ In-situ molecular manipulation
◗ Increasing hydrocarbon recovery factors
◗ Carbon capture and sequestration
◗ An additional focus on the environment, including
minimizing the footprint of oil and gas activities, and oil
spill prevention and response were added, so these are
often referred to as the “5+1” challenges.
A series of white papers and articles were published in the

Journal of Petroleum Technology and on SPE.org to discuss the
importance of each challenge. In 2014, SPE launched an R&D
competition to encourage new talent and new ideas from out-
Louis Blériot was present to meet Charles Lindberg when side mainstream petroleum engineering to address our indus-
he landed in France in 1927. try’s technical challenges. The finals of the first competition
To contact the SPE President, email [email protected].

took place at the 2014 SPE Annual Technical Technology Con- ogy in drilling and completion. Within this context, it may be
ference (ATCE) in Amsterdam, where six finalists presented telling that one of the 2014 R&D competition finalists’ propos-
proposals for projects addressing five of the 5+1 challenges. als was built on the premise that business organizational issues
The recipients were Vaibhav Bahadur for Electrical Mitiga- and not technology shortcomings have, so far, prevented car-
tion of Hydrocarbon Fouling for Reduced Chemical Inhibitor bon capture and storage from taking off.
Utilization; Mustafa Akbulut and Cenk Temizel for Stimuli-Re- Our current 5+1 challenges are written fairly broadly. We do
sponsive Supramolecular Assemblies as Displacement Fluids in not have a specific, measurable goal like an XPRIZE, and I am
EOR; and Omar Laghrouche for Multi-Wavelength Sized Finite not sure one is needed. Our technology needs to continue to
Elements for Efficient Subsurface Imaging. The next competi- evolve, and the 5+1 challenges may need to be revisited.
tion’s finalists (pending funding) will present at the SPE ATCE For this reason, I have asked the R&D Technical Section Board
in San Antonio, 9–11 October 2017. While there are cash prizes, to reexamine these challenges, consider whether they need to
they are not intended to fund the research, but to serve as a cat- be updated, and whether a drilling and completions challenge
alyst for such research. fits with the other important research areas. I am looking for-
SPE also provides research grants to support innovative reward to the results. JPT
search by new faculty related to petroleum engineering. These
awards are highly competitive and must address one of the Sources
grand challenges identified by the SPE R&D committee. ATCE Announces R&D Competition Winners, http://www.spe.org/
I have looked at the 5+1 challenges carefully, and I think news/article/atce-set-for-rd-competition 30 October 2014.
there is a lesson to be learned. In a sense, these challenges help New Approaches to Challenges Win USD 60,000 in R&D Contest,
to find hydrocarbons, get them out, make them better, and http://www.spe.org/jpt/article/7812-sidebar-1-to-post-7808/.
eliminate any negative impacts. There is nothing about drilling Research and Development Competition, http://www.spe.org/
and completing wells faster or cheaper. Why is that? industry/competition.php.
The motivation for a grand challenge is to focus on impor-
tant areas that will provide significant benefits. It should also
address other areas that either are not receiving significant
funding or where funding has not made sufficient advances.
Drilling and completion efficiency seems to many to be full
of tractable problems receiving plenty of technical attention
and getting excellent results in the form of new drilling and
completions technologies.
Historically, stuck pipe has been a major cause of nonpro-
ductive time while drilling. In the early days of horizontal drill- THE HOTTEST
NAME IN TEMPERATURE SENSORS.
ing, mud motor and measurement-while-drilling failures over-
took stuck pipe as the top problems in the company in which I
worked. We shared the data on these failures with the technol-
ogy providers who made amazingly rapid responses (in retro- Pyromation. For decades, we’ve been custom designing and
spect). Drilling deeper, we encountered higher temperatures manufacturing temperature sensors for the oil & gas industry.
requiring the service companies to continually improve their And we can tackle any challenge you send our way. Quickly.
Cost-effectively. And with the kind of no-excuses service that
capabilities and, as a result, reliability at lower temperatures keeps our customers coming back. At Pyromation, we offer:
skyrocketed. Ultimately, horizontal drilling became routine.
During a recent visit to a petroleum engineering department, //
I asked a student to draw a well on the chalkboard; she instinc- //
//
tively drew a horizontal well. A senior statesman of indepen- //
dent oil and gas companies whose company is a very active op-
erator told me, “I don’t even remember the last vertical well I //
drilled. Don’t suppose I will ever drill one again.”

Call or visit our website
XPRIZES and grand challenges are not needed to motivate and see why, when it
the development of many aspects of facilities and well construc- comes to temperature
tion as the economic prize is clear. Riserless drilling? Intelligent sensors, one name is
wells? Multilateral wells? Factory drilling? These technologies beyond measure.
are attractive because they deal with machinery we can make
and in which engineering really comes to the fore. Like an air-
plane, a rocket ship, or a machine to clean up oil spills, it is re- Oil & Gas
ally about advancing our engineering skills.
The large amount of capital investment required in our indus-
try drives, more or less, the conventional evolution of technol-
JPT • JANUARY 2016 11

COMMENTS EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Bernt Aadnøy, University of Stavanger
Syed Ali—Chairperson, Schlumberger
Tayfun Babadagli, University of Alberta
Trying to Get in Balance

William Bailey, Schlumberger
Ian G. Ball, Intecsea (UK) Ltd
Mike Berry, Mike Berry Consulting
John Donnelly, JPT Editor
Maria Capello, Kuwait Oil Company
Simon Chipperfield, Santos
Nicholas Clem, Baker Hughes
All signs point to another bleak year for the oil and gas indus- Alex Crabtree, Hess Corporation
try. Major operators have begun announcing significant capital Gunnar DeBruijn, Schlumberger
spending cuts, and analysts see no quick fix to the current global
Alexandre Emerick,
supply/demand imbalance. Petrobras Research Center
ConocoPhillips’ and Chevron’s announcements last month of Niall Fleming, Statoil
deep cuts in 2016 capital spending were likely the first in what is Ted Frankiewicz, SPEC Services
expected to be a wave of further reductions by operators in the
Emmanuel Garland, Total
wake of the lowest oil prices in a decade. Chevron plans to slash
Stephen Goodyear, Shell
its budget 24% to USD 27 billion, with the most spending on international exploration
Reid Grigg, New Mexico Petroleum Recovery
and production projects and the second-largest amount going to US projects, includ-
Research Center
ing shale development in Texas. ConocoPhillips said it will spend USD 7.7 billion this
Omer M. Gurpinar, Schlumberger
year, a 25% decline from the reduced levels it spent in 2015.
A.G. Guzman-Garcia, ExxonMobil (retired)
Other major operators echoed those sentiments that this year may be even more
difficult than 2015. The outlook for 2016 was on the minds of many executives at last Greg Horton, Consultant
month’s International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha. Global oil supply John Hudson, Shell
is still increasing faster than demand despite the plunge in oil prices and it will take Morten Iversen, BG Group
a while to reverse that trend, Total Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Patrick Pouyanné Leonard Kalfayan, Hess Corporation
told reporters at the conference, which is organized by SPE and other industry asso- Tom Kelly, FMC Technologies
ciations. “The market is oversupplied and production capacity will continue to grow Gerd Kleemeyer, Shell Global Solutions
because a lot of projects were sanctioned in 2013 and 2014. Many of those projects International BV
will be coming on line this year and in 2017,” he said. “(Total) does not expect a price Thomas Knode, Statoil
recovery in 2016.” Marc Kuck, Eni US Operating
Oil production from the US Gulf of Mexico is currently rising, as many megaprojects Jesse C. Lee, Schlumberger
invested in several years ago are now coming on line. Output from the Gulf of Mexico Silviu Livescu, Baker Hughes
is about 19% higher now than it was a year ago, according to the US Energy Informa-
Shouxiang (Mark) Ma, Saudi Aramco
tion Administration.
John Macpherson, Baker Hughes
ConocoPhillips’ Ryan Lance CEO said at the conference that US production is now
Casey McDonough, Chesapeake Energy
running at about 9.1 million B/D, down from 9.6 million B/D in the first half of last
year. US output will likely decline another 500,000 B/D this year, he said. That may Stephane Menand, DrillScan
not be enough, depending on the amount of oil Iran produces this year and with the Badrul H Mohamed Jan, University of Malaya
world oversupply currently estimated at 2 million B/D. Iranian production could add Lee Morgenthaler, Shell
anywhere from 500,000 B/D to 700,000 B/D to the market in 2016, according to a Michael L. Payne, BP plc
recent estimate from Barclays. Saudi Aramco’s CEO had a more positive view of the Zillur Rahim, Saudi Aramco
world oil market. Amin Nasser said he thought the market would begin to balance this Jon Ruszka, Baker Hughes
year and that his company was continuing to invest in upstream projects to meet future Martin Rylance, GWO Completions
world demand. Engineering
Analysts Tudor, Pickering, Holt and Co. said that oil companies have canceled or Otto L. Santos, Petrobras
delayed final investment decisions on about 150 projects in the past year that would Luigi A. Saputelli, Hess Corporation
have produced 125 billion bbl of oil equivalent. That could leave the world oil-short a few Sally A. Thomas, ConocoPhillips
years from now if global demand continues to rise as expected. JPT
Win Thornton, BP plc
Xiuli Wang, Minerva Engineering
Mike Weatherl, Well Integrity, LLC
Rodney Wetzel, Chevron ETC
Scott Wilson, Ryder Scott Company
Jonathan Wylde, Clariant Oil Services
Pat York, Weatherford International
To contact JPT’s editor, email [email protected].

AP_PumaFlow_206x276_Bis:Mise en page 1 17/03/2015 15:08 Page1
GEOSCIENCE AT ITS BEST
Looking for your new all-in-one

Reservoir Simulator?
Take
as your multi-blade tool
Black Oil Uncompromized
& Compositional Dual Medium
simple to Best-in-class
complex ﬂuids linear
parallelization
Uncertainties Management
& Assisted History Match
Modern input
interface and
keywords
Compatible
with all third-party
input decks
Chemical EOR
Versatile pre and Thermal EOR
post processing Water and gas injection
PumaFlow is part of the OpenFlow suite

of E&P software
www.beicip.com
[email protected]
GUEST EDITORIAL
Engineering Design in the

“Lower for Longer” Environment
Alex Read, Director, Business Development, Oil & Gas, CD-adapco
A recurring theme in the earning state- “For engineering design high temperature and pressure, or the
ments of oil and gas companies in recent behavior of a floating platform during
months is the desire to survive not only teams, (the current a hurricane.
“lower (prices) for longer,” but to use market) is an opportunity The importance of simulation is evi-
the current market downturn, and the dent in three specific examples: two
resulting urgency, as an opportunity to to review practices and from the recent CD-adapco Oil, Gas, and
reshape organizations to ensure that learn from others who Chemical Computational Fluid Dynam-
they are stronger and better able to ics (CFD) Conference, and one from out-
thrive in the years ahead. Clearly, the have used downturns side our industry.
industry needs to reduce costs and con- to reshape processes
tinue to innovate without compromis- Fluid control valve (FCV) design by
ing safety, but how? In other industry through simulation while Schlumberger. At the CD-adapco con-
crunches, such as that experienced by cutting development time ference, Reda Bouamra of Schlumberger
automotive manufacturers in 2008–09, shared the company’s work designing
simulation played a key role in helping and costs.” downhole FCVs. Scale deposition is a
to reduce engineering design costs and significant flow assurance challenge
lead times, while allowing manufactur- as it can reduce production, is cost-
ers to continue to deliver new and inno- Key to this has been the rapid ly to remediate, and can cause FCVs to
vative solutions. improvement in computer hardware jam, so Schlumberger’s objective was
While each company’s view on how to and software technology, as well as to develop an FCV that was less sus-
tackle this new paradigm will differ, for innovative licensing models that enable, ceptible to scale. Its integrated CFD-
many it will be to continue the day job rather than penalize, the use of high- experimental design process helped the
(deliver quality and innovative products performance computing and cloud solu- company achieve this, while reducing
and solutions), but at reduced devel- tions. Through the development of cloud engineering lead times and costs.
opment time and cost, without com- computing, engineers now have ready Schlumberger used CFD to design
promising safety. First principles-based and cost-effective access to computer a testing program, ensuring it was as
engineering simulation tools will be a resources that would have been unimag- close to real well conditions as pos-
key enabler, as companies will increas- inable a decade ago. These improve- sible, and focused on the scenarios of
ingly rely on simulation-based design ments allow engineers to increase the most interest. It was able to validate
exploration. The initial driver will number of design and operating con- CFD methods, enabling confident use of
be to reduce engineering costs and ditions evaluated, and to move beyond CFD to explore conditions and designs
time, but companies will also ben- the physical test to simulate real-world not tested.
efit from simulation as an innova- conditions at full scale, such as subsea One of the major benefits of simu-
tion enabler. separators with real process fluids at lation is the ease with which, having
created the initial validated model,
alternative designs or scenarios can be
Alex Read is the director, business development, oil & gas, for evaluated. This, plus the detailed infor-
CD-adapco, the largest privately held CFD-focused provider of
mation provided, enables engineers to
computer-aided engineering software. In 14 years at CD-adapco,
he has worked as a project engineer, led the customer support
come up with and efficiently test new,
team for northern Europe, and helped found CD-adapco’s innovative solutions.
operations in Houston and São Paulo, where he led both the sales The industry’s move toward standard-
and technical teams. Read now leads the company’s global ized solutions, reusable across multi-
activities in the oil and gas industry, focusing on helping oil and ple projects, introduces the need to
gas firms succeed through simulation. verify equipment performance across

INTERSECT
HIGH-RESOLUTION
RESERVOIR SIMULATOR
Simulate your field development challenges

without compromising efficiency or accuracy.
The INTERSECT* simulator combines physics and performance to deliver reservoir simulation at the scale you need—
fast. The parallel architecture provides superior scalability that enables more realistic geological descriptions and
production forecasts with an improved assessment of uncertainties. Operating in terms of oilfield concepts, the
INTERSECT simulator’s intelligent logic stays consistent for efficiently optimizing your reservoir management strategy
with results you can trust.
Find out more at

slb.com/INTERSECT
*Mark of Schlumberger; the INTERSECT simulator is a joint product collaboration of Schlumberger, Chevron, and Total.
Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 15-IS-89001
_INTERSECT_jpt_15_is_89001_ad.indd 1 12/11/15 1:07 PM

a wide range of operating conditions. market, or changes in regulation, the
Validated simulation provides a cost- auto industry has continually had to
effective way to achieve this. The bottom push to deliver innovative solutions at
line: An integrated CFD-experimental reduced time and cost.
approach enabled Schlumberger to Those that have succeeded have done
reduce the time and cost of the design so by progressively reducing reliance
process, while enabling evaluation of on traditional methods (expensive
more designs in real well conditions. and time-consuming physical proto-
typing) in favor of extensive engineer-
Virtual wave basin at Technip. Jim ing simulation.
O’Sullivan, vice president and chief Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) undertook
technology officer at Technip USA, a strategic shift beginning in 2008. Its
explained how Technip has used a goal was to not only survive an econom-
“numerical wave basin” approach on ic downturn but to significantly expand
projects ranging from full-scale, vortex- its product offering and sales, while
induced motion of a deep draft semisub- increasing profit. It wanted to under-
mersible to ringing on a gravity-based take 40 “product actions” in 5 years.
structure. Ringing relates to structur- This is no small undertaking as today’s
al deflections occurring at frequencies vehicles are highly complex with rough-
well above incident-wave frequencies. ly 9,000 customer requirements and
Traditionally, the offshore sector has 3,000 assessments needed for sign-off.
relied on physical testing and potential The business drivers and challenges,
flow codes to evaluate hydrodynamic as laid out by Andy Richardson, JLR’s
design. However, both present challeng- head of simulation, could easily have
es: physical testing is expensive, time- come from an oil and gas outfit: devel-
consuming, and results have to be trans- op new technologies while managing
lated from model to full scale. Potential greatly increased system complexity;
flow codes omit (or have to be tuned identify failure modes and establish
to mimic) important physical phenom- countermeasures to achieve right first
One Stop for ena such as viscous effects and break- time design; reduce in-service failures;
ing waves. simulate the full range of use cases; and
Everything JPT Technip also integrates CFD and reach optimized product design efficien-
Get all your online JPT physical test programs by modeling cy and reduced production costs.
content in one place at the physical test beforehand and focus- JLR is well on its way to reaching its
www.spe.org/jpt ing the test on the right area, reducing goal of robust engineering design ready
the chances of failure. It validates the for sign-off before the first prototype is
Responsive Design CFD against the test, then uses CFD to built, and it is doing so while delivering
SPE members can access explore additional designs and condi- financially, with 15% or more growth in
the latest issue of JPT tions as well as behavior at full scale earnings before interest, taxes, depre-
from any of their devices. under real sea conditions. ciation, and amortization in each of the
Optimized for desktop, Using a validated “first principles” past 5 years. The bottom line: By devel-
tablet, and phone, JPT is design tool such as CFD means results oping a culture of simulation during
easy to read and browse do not have to be tuned, which reduc- lean times, driven by a need to cut costs,
anytime you are online. es unforeseen problems late in the JLR was able to embrace the innovation
design cycle or field. The bottom line: potential generated by these techniques
By using CFD-based design exploration, and fully capitalize on opportunities as
Technip is able to efficiently optimize market conditions improved.
Offline Access design, using a process that better rep- The current “lower for longer” mar-
resents operating conditions, thereby ket conditions present significant chal-
Download PDF versions reducing risk. lenges to the oil and gas industry. For
of 180+ issues dating engineering design teams, it is also an
back to 1997 for reading Evolution of simulation in the auto- opportunity to review practices and
online or when an motive industry. The final exam- learn from others who have used down-
Internet connection is ple comes from outside the oil and gas turns to reshape processes through sim-
not available. industry. Whether it is a global econom- ulation while cutting development time
ic crisis, new competitors entering the and costs. JPT

Introducing a new controlled optimization
process for multistage completions
ĮĞůĚůĞǀĞůƉƌŽŐƌĂŵďĂƐĞĚŽŶĐŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚĨƌĂĐƉůĂĐĞŵĞŶƚ
ĂŶĚŵĞĂƐƵƌĞĚĚŽǁŶŚŽůĞƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞƐĂŶĚƚĞŵƉĞƌĂƚƵƌĞƐ
ŽŶƚƌŽůůŝŶŐŬĞǇǀĂƌŝĂďůĞƐĞŶĂďůĞƐƚƌƵĞŽƉƟŵŝǌĂƟŽŶ
zŽƵĐĂŶƚƚƌƵůǇŽƉƟŵŝǌĞƉůƵŐĂŶĚƉĞƌĨĐŽŵƉůĞƟŽŶƐ
ďĞĐĂƵƐĞĨƌĂĐ
ƐƉĂĐŝŶŐĂŶĚƉƌŽƉƉĞĚǀŽůƵŵĞĂƌĞƵŶĐŽŶƚƌŽůůĞĚǀĂƌŝĂďůĞƐdŚĞƐĂŵĞŝƐ
ƚƌƵĞĨŽƌŽƉĞŶŚŽůĞƉĂĐŬĞƌďĂůůƐůĞĞǀĞĐŽŵƉůĞƟŽŶƐǀĞŶǁŚĞŶĂĐŽŵ
ƉůĞƟŽŶŝƐĞĐŽŶŽŵŝĐĂůůǇĂĐĐĞƉƚĂďůĞ
ƚŚĞƌĞŝƐŶŽŵĞƚŚŽĚŝĐĂůǁĂǇƚŽ
ŝŵƉƌŽǀĞƚŚĞĚĞƐŝŐŶĨƌŽŵǁĞůůƚŽǁĞůů
ďĞĐĂƵƐĞƚŚĞŶƵŵďĞƌŽĨĨƌĂĐƐ

ĨƌĂĐƐƉĂĐŝŶŐ
ĂŶĚĨƌĂĐƐŝǌĞĂƌĞŶŽƚĐŽŶƚƌŽůůĂďůĞŽƌƌĞƉĞĂƚĂďůĞ
tŝƚŚƚŚĞDƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞhŶůŝŵŝƚĞĚΠƉŝŶƉŽŝŶƚĨƌĂĐƐǇƐƚĞŵ
ǇŽƵŬŶŽǁ
WƌĞĚŝĐƚĂďůĞǀĞƌŝĮĂďůĞĂŶĚƌĞƉĞĂƚĂďůĞĨƌĂĐƐƉĂĐŝŶŐĂŶĚƉƌŽƉƉĞĚ
ǁŚĞƌĞĨƌĂĐƐŝŶŝƟĂƚĞĂŶĚĞǆĂĐƚůǇŚŽǁŵƵĐŚƉƌŽƉƉĂŶƚǇŽƵƉƵƚŝŶĞĂĐŚ ǀŽůƵŵĞĞůŝŵŝŶĂƚĞŬĞǇƵŶŬŶŽǁŶƐƚŽĨĂĐŝůŝƚĂƚĞĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶƐƉĞĐŝĮĐ
ŽŶĞEŽŵĂƩĞƌǁŚĂƚĞůƐĞǇŽƵǀĂƌǇĨƌĂĐƐƉĂĐŝŶŐ
ĨƌĂĐĚŝŵĞŶƐŝŽŶƐ
ǁĞůůƚŽǁĞůůŽƉƟŵŝǌĂƟŽŶĂĐƌŽƐƐĞŶƟƌĞĮĞůĚƐ
ƉƌŽƉƉĂŶƚƚǇƉĞ
ĨƌĂĐŇƵŝĚ
ŝŶũĞĐƟŽŶƌĂƚĞƐ
ƉƌŽƉƉĂŶƚĐŽŶĐĞŶƚƌĂƟŽŶ
ĨƌĂĐƉůĂĐĞŵĞŶƚƌĞŵĂŝŶƐƉƌĞĚŝĐƚĂďůĞĂŶĚƌĞƉĞĂƚĂďůĞ
ƐŽǇŽƵĐĂŶ
ĞǀĂůƵĂƚĞƚŚĞĞīĞĐƚƐŽĨƚŚĞĐŚĂŶŐĞƐǇŽƵŵĂŬĞ
Recorded downhole data describes every frac
ƚĞǀĞƌǇƐƚĂŐĞ
ŽƵƌƐƚĂŶĚĂƌĚDƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞhŶůŝŵŝƚĞĚĨƌĂĐŝƐŽůĂƟŽŶ
ĂƐƐĞŵďůǇƌĞĐŽƌĚƐĂĐƚƵĂůƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞƐĂŶĚƚĞŵƉĞƌĂƚƵƌĞƐĂƚƚŚĞĨƌĂĐǌŽŶĞ
ĂŶĚŝŶƚŚĞǁĞůůďŽƌĞďĞůŽǁ;ƐĞĞĐŚĂƌƚĂƚƌŝŐŚƚdŚĞĚĂƚĂƌĞǀĞĂůƐďŽƚŚ
ƚŚĞƉƌĞƐĞŶĐĞĂŶĚƚǇƉĞŽĨĂŶǇŝŶƚĞƌǌŽŶĞĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƟŽŶ;ŶĂƚƵƌĂů
ĨƌĂĐƚƵƌĞƐ
ĐĞŵĞŶƚĨĂŝůƵƌĞ
ůŽŶŐŝƚƵĚŝŶĂůĨƌĂĐ
ƐŽǇŽƵĐĂŶĞƐƚĂďůŝƐŚ
ŵŝŶŝŵƵŵĨƌĂĐƐƉĂĐŝŶŐŝŶĂŐŝǀĞŶĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶdŚĞĚĂƚĂĂůƐŽŝĚĞŶƟĮĞƐ
ƚŚĞƉƌĞƐĞŶĐĞĂŶĚƐŽƵƌĐĞŽĨŶĞĂƌǁĞůůďŽƌĞƌĞƐƚƌŝĐƟŽŶƐ
ĂƐǁĞůůĂƐ
ƉƌŽƉƉĂŶƚďƌŝĚŐŝŶŐ
ŝĨŝƚŽĐĐƵƌƐ^ƚĂŐĞďǇƐƚĂŐĞĚĞƚĂŝůƐŐŝǀĞǇŽƵŝŶƐŝŐŚƚƐ
ǇŽƵĚŽŶƚŐĞƚǁŝƚŚŽƚŚĞƌŵƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞĐŽŵƉůĞƟŽŶŵĞƚŚŽĚƐ
ƵŶůĞƐƐǇŽƵ
ƉĂǇĨŽƌƐĞƉĂƌĂƚĞĂŶĚĐŽƐƚůǇŵŽŶŝƚŽƌŝŶŐƐǇƐƚĞŵƐ
dŚĞĐŽŵďŝŶĂƟŽŶŽĨĐŽŶƐŝƐƚĞŶƚĨƌĂĐƉůĂĐĞŵĞŶƚĂŶĚĚŽǁŶŚŽůĞĚĂƚĂ
ŝƐǇŽƵƌďĞƐƚĂŶĚĨĂƐƚĞƐƚƌŽƵƚĞƚŽƚƌƵůǇŽƉƟŵŝǌĞĚĐŽŵƉůĞƟŽŶƐĂŶĚ dŚĞƐĞĐŚĂƌƚƐƐŚŽǁƉƌĞƐƐƵƌĞĂŶĚƚĞŵƉĞƌĂƚƵƌĞĂďŽǀĞĂŶĚďĞůŽǁƚŚĞ
ĮĞůĚĚĞǀĞůŽƉŵĞŶƚƐƚƌĂƚĞŐŝĞƐ>ĞĂƌŶŵŽƌĞĂƚŶĐƐŵƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞĐŽŵ ŝƐŽůĂƟŽŶĂƐƐĞŵďůǇĨŽƌƚĞŶƐƚĂŐĞƐdŚĞĚĂƚĂƌĞǀĞĂůƐĂŶĚĚĞƐĐƌŝďĞƐ
ĂŶǇŝŶƚĞƌƐƚĂŐĞĐŽŵŵƵŶŝĐĂƟŽŶĂŶĚŝŵƉŽƌƚĂŶƚĨƌĂĐĂŶĚĨŽƌŵĂƟŽŶ
ĐŚĂƌĂĐƚĞƌŝƐƟĐƐ
dŚĞDƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞhŶůŝŵŝƚĞĚĨƌĂĐŝƐŽůĂƟŽŶƐǇƐƚĞŵŝƐƚŚĞǁŽƌůĚƐůĞĂĚŝŶŐĐŽŝůĞĚƚƵďŝŶŐĨƌĂĐƚĞĐŚŶŽůŽŐǇǁŝƚŚŵŽƌĞƚŚĂŶϭϮϮϬϬϬƐƚĂŐĞƐĐŽŵƉůĞƚĞĚ
Visit us at
SPE HFTC,
Learn from every frac. booth 201
ŶĐƐŵƵůƟƐƚĂŐĞĐŽŵ
©2015, NCS Multistage, LLC. All rights reserved. Multistage Unlimited is a trademark of NCS Multistage, LLC.
TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS
Chris Carpenter, JPT Technology Editor
Safety Valve Cable Orientation Beacon Extended-Reach-Well-

The Weatherford Optimax series of Silixa introduced its cable mapping ser- Drilling Solution
safety valves has a long track record vice, a cost-effective, low-risk solution M-I Swaco, a Schlumberger compa-
of guarding against catastrophic loss of for mapping the orientation of downhole ny, has developed a water-based drill-
well control. More than 5,000 tubing- optical sensing cables in order to avoid ing system with engineering flexibility
retrievable safety valves (TRSVs) have cable damage during perforation. Fiber- designed to help operators quickly and
been provided worldwide, with zero fail- optic cables (FOCs) installed on the out- successfully address the challenges of
ures. The success of the valves can be side of completion casing are at risk of shale plays, including their economic and
attributed largely to two aspects of the being damaged during perforation. To environmental constraints. The novel,
design and manufacturing process: the avoid damaging the FOC, the perforation low-cost chemistry of the HydraGlyde
hydraulic system, which eliminates com- charges are oriented away from the FOC. high-performance water-based drilling-
mon points of failure, and the exten- In order to achieve this, the orientation fluid system reduces torque, drag, shale
sive internal testing program. The of the FOC must be determined when the swelling, and dispersion. It delivers a
series offers a variety of valves suited installation is complete. The Cable Ori- rate of penetration (ROP) comparable
for deployment in diverse wellbore sizes entation Beacon (COB) is an autonomous with that of oil-based mud, with optimal
and conditions (Fig. 1). The three new- downhole sensor that is installed adja- hole-cleaning characteristics and high
est valves in the portfolio extend ser- cent to the FOC under a standard midjoint levels of wellbore stability in high-angle
vice to environments with pressures up clamp (Fig. 2). Unlike traditional sen- build sections and long lateral sections.
to 15,000 psi and temperatures up to sors that use wireline electromagnetic or This is made possible with the company’s
350°F. A 7-in., super-slim TRSV provides ultrasonic tools inside the casing to detect HydraSpeed ROP enhancer, which deliv-
an effective barrier in large-bore, high- the presence of the cable on the outside ers lubricity that mimics that of oil-based
rate gas completions; a 4½-in. TRSV of casing, Silixa’s COB measures its own mud (Fig. 3). The system also deliv-
is optimized for high-pressure/high- orientation using an internal sensor, then ers a high-quality filter cake and a low-
temperature applications; and an addi- transmits those data to the FOC by an tortuosity wellbore that minimizes the
tional 4½-in. TRSV is designed for acoustic signal. The acoustic signal is read risks of differential sticking. The cost-
deepwater applications. After under- at surface and translated back to an orien- effective HydraGlyde system addresses
going a robust internal testing pro- tation in the form of an angular position several challenges associated with shales,
gram, all three valves were qualified to around the outside of the casing relative including accretion in the surface hole,
the V1 validation grade under the new to the high side of the borehole. Use of the wellbore instability, mud losses in the
American Petroleum Institute 14A 12th COB reduces overall costs by eliminating intermediate section, solids buildup, and
Edition standard. the need for tractored wireline services. hole cleaning in the horizontal section.
◗ For additional information, visit ◗ For additional information, visit A specially engineered primary shale
www.weatherford.com. www.silixa.com. inhibitor provides a high degree of well-
Fig. 1—With rigorous testing standards and an extensive

track record, the Optimax series of safety valves from
Weatherford offers robust safety valves for offshore
environments. Fig. 2—A Cable Orientation Beacon from Silixa.

Fig. 3—The HydraGlyde water-based-drilling-fluid system
delivers ROP comparable to that of an oil-based mud.
(Image courtesy of Schlumberger)
bore stability, and a proprietary encapsulator minimizes clay

dispersion and enhances wellbore integrity.
◗ For additional information, visit www.slb.com.
Retrievable Bridge Plug

Peak Well Systems introduced the Simultra Retrievable Bridge
Plug, suitable for gas wells and other extremely challeng-
ing applications. The new Simultra range incorporates Meta-
Plex technology, a unique hybrid metal/elastomer seal that
delivers both exceptional performance and improved recov-
ery reliability. Without having to rely purely on elastomer ele-
ments, Simultra Retrievable Bridge Plugs have the smallest
running diameter in their class; offer a larger internal flow
path; provide the highest available seal integrity; and retract
to smaller than their original diameter, thereby ensuring reli-
able deployment and recovery (Fig. 4). Set and retrieved with
Peak’s modular, nonexplosive PowerTool, deployment is pos-
sible in vertical and horizontal wells with all conventional con-
veyance methods, providing operational flexibility and con-
fidence. Peak successfully completed V0 gas tests at 135°C
and 7,500 kpsi on its 4½-in. Simultra plug. Further testing
in October has now extended that range to 175°C. Simultra
Retrievable Bridge Plugs are currently available for industry-
standard tubulars in 4½- and 5½-in. casing sizes, with a 7-in.
option expected to complete testing in early 2016.
◗ For additional information, visit
www.peakwellsystems.com.
Fig. 4—Peak Well Systems’ Simultra

Retrievable Bridge Plug.
JPT • JANUARY 2016

mance characteristics of the Kenics heat
exchanger include a more-uniform, con-
sistent transfer process; three to seven
times greater heat-transfer rates than
empty tubes; mixer elements that cre-
ate a self-cleaning wiping action; mini-
mization of fouling; surface renewal at
the tube wall that reduces the chance of
thermal degradation; plug-flow charac-
teristics that produce uniform heat his-
tory; reduction of temperature gradi-
ents; and allowance for viscous materials
to cool to the near-freezing point.
◗ For additional information, visit
www.chemineer.com.
Ethernet Connectivity Cables

To protect infrastructures against disas-
Fig. 5—Chemineer’s Kenics heat exchanger.
ters, promote worker safety, and facili-
tate automated functions ranging from
Heat Exchanger inhibits flow and diminishes the heat- drilling to wellhead and transport-
Kenics heat exchangers from Chem- transfer process. Kenics heat exchang- pipeline operation, oil and gas operators
ineer offer a highly efficient design con- ers use static-mixer elements in each are turning increasingly to fiber-optic-
sisting of streamlined Kenics static- heat exchanger tube to greatly reduce cable suppliers for end-to-end commu-
mixer elements for superior performance the film buildup on the internal walls nications and control solutions. Many
compared with conventional straight, (Fig. 5). Process fluid is pushed continu- such solutions include ruggedized cable
empty-tube heat exchangers. Conven- ously from the center of each tube to the and connectors, such as those offered
tional straight, empty-tube designs wall and back to the center. This elimi- by the Optical Cable Corporation, that
allow laminar buildup from the process nates thermal gradients and boosts the ensure survival of fiber-based automa-
fluid on the internal tube walls, which inside film coefficient. Product perfor- tion/control architectures for onshore
and offshore oil and gas operations, even
in the harshest environments (Fig. 6). As
fiber-optic cable emerges as the medi-
um of choice in many industrial arenas,
the DIN rail enclosure plays an increas-
ingly important role. Mounted to a stan-
dard DIN rail—the metal rail used to
mount various electrical components
(e.g., terminal blocks, motor starters, cir-
cuit breakers) in a control cabinet—a DIN
rail enclosure provides a central location
where external and internal wiring can
be connected quickly and efficiently. This
type of enclosure is ideal for production
applications and the industrial automa-
tion side of businesses. Today, the oil and
gas industry is turning from highly pro-
prietary communications systems to the
more enterprise-wide prevalent Ether-
net communications protocol through
fiber-optic cable. The appropriate DIN
rail enclosure provides an optimal con-
nection for fiber cable that can be termi-
Fig. 6—Optical Cable Corporation’s solutions include ruggedized cables
and connectors that ensure the survival of fiber-based automation/control nated in a fixed position.
architectures for onshore and offshore oil and gas operations, even in the ◗ For additional information, visit
harshest conditions. www.occfiber.com.

Subsea Asphaltene Inhibitor
Baker Hughes introduced its high-
performance, low-dosage FATHOM XT
SUBSEA525 inhibitor that helps con-
trol asphaltene deposition in deepwater
wells, providing better flow assurance
and reducing remediation costs by min-
imizing the risk of blockages in produc-
tion lines and equipment. The inhibitor
was designed and certified for offshore
applications using a proprietary quali-
fication protocol and a stringent labo-
ratory evaluation method to enable full
compatibility with subsea equipment
and effective performance at low treat-
ment levels (Fig. 7). During production,
crude oils can deposit asphaltenes inside
pumps and pipes, creating serious pro- Fig. 7—Baker Hughes’ FATHOM XT subsea asphaltene inhibitor reduces
duction issues such as plugged flowlines remediation costs.
and clogged equipment, resulting in the
need to stop operations and perform applied at low treatment levels during ability by use of the company’s propri-
costly remediation procedures to get initial production and throughout the life etary 16-test qualification protocol. The
production back on line at acceptable lev- of the well. The low dosage rate simplifies FATHOM XT SUBSEA525 inhibitor is the
els. Many times, these procedures offer supply logistics, reduces on-site storage, first of a new line of high-performance
only temporary relief. To lessen the risk and lowers handling risk. Baker Hughes asphaltene inhibitors. JPT
of asphaltene deposition and to enhance tests and qualifies all FATHOM XT chem- ◗ For additional information, visit
flow, the FATHOM XT inhibitor can be icals for materials compatibility and reli- www.bakerhughes.com.

YOUNG TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE
Metal-Formed Liner Hanger Avoids

High-Setting-Pressure Requirements
Frank Mullins, General Manager, Seminole Services
Seminole Services announced the com- greater applications. The increase in reli-
mercialization of its first product, ability stemmed, at least in part, from
the Powerscrew Liner System, a new greater success reaming the liner to
expandable-liner hanger that is set setting depth. The higher reliability of
with torsional energy from the topdrive expandables is perhaps a consequence of
(Fig. 1). The Louisiana-based compa- greater flow area at the liner top and the
ny began development on the tool and lack of external setting devices. This has
associated equipment in the fall of 2012. led to many new developments in drilling
Rooted in solid mechanics and materi- with liners (DWL).
al science, the company provides engi- Nevertheless, expandable-liner hang-
neered wellbore solutions to explora- ers continue to suffer from potential
tion and production companies actively leak paths associated with high hydrau-
engaged in drilling oil and gas wells. lic pressure sourced at the mud pumps.
In the evolution of liner hangers, The hydraulic pressure provides ener-
mechanically set systems were devel- gy to the running tool necessary in
oped first. While many operators believe setting the liner top. In most expand-
mechanical systems are more robust and able systems, pressure pushes the roll-
provide superior sealing integrity when er/expansion cones/sleeve through a
compared with hydraulically set hang- metal-formed tubular by use of a mul-
ers, older mechanical systems typically titude of pressurized connections and
lack reliability, especially in applications fluid ports. By contrast, the torsion-
requiring longer liners in deviated well- ally set system combines the latest in
bores. In large part, this is because of the metal-forming technology along with
risks associated with reaming a mechan- the best features of mechanically set sys-
ical hanger to setting depth. Reliability tems. The result is a setting process that
rates were increased with the introduc- does not require high hydraulic pres- Fig. 2—MLR mandrel.
tion of hydraulically set hangers, which sures and eliminates the risks associated
allowed a greater range of applications. with reaming the liner to setting depth mandrel provides microupsets, increas-
However, the newer setting method suf- and DWL. ing the post-formed collapse resistance
fers from its own limitations, such as of the set liner top. Also, helical stretch
flow-area restrictions, compatibility Novel Features. In addition to torque as forming has less friction and therefore
with drilling-fluid additives, and a mul- the primary method of energy transfer, requires less force to forge a metallic
titude of potential leak paths. other novel features of the tool include tubular downhole. The tool incorporates
With the advent of expandable-liner a patent-pending helical stretch meth- a high-strength (drop) ball-activated
hangers, further increases in setting reli- od of metal forming using a multilead single-use clutch that disengages the
ability were achieved along with even rifling (MLR) mandrel (Fig. 2). The MLR running tool from the liner upon reach-
A A
Fig. 1—Graphic of Powerscrew.

join the best:
4-8 April 2016
Düsseldorf, Germany I www.tube.de
join the best — welcome to the world’s leading trade fair for the tube
industry! Those who wish to find comprehensive information about the
latest innovations in tubes and pipes, manufacturing, processing machinery
and tube accessories need look no further. It can all be found here at the
world’s most important exhibition — the meeting point for international
experts, specialists and global market leaders. Special focal point at
Tube 2016: Plastic tubes. A special area is reserved for them, because the
question of materials is becoming more and more important.
An important fixed date in your calendar — your visit to Tube 2016 in

Düsseldorf!
Fig. 3—Powerscrew going in the hole at Catoosa,

Oklahoma.
ing setting depth and initiates the metal-forming process with

the application of torque.
The torsionally set tool does not suffer from pressure losses
associated with setting hydraulically in extremely deep wells.
The tool has been qualified with optional hardened slips, a dif-
ficult incorporation given the ductility needed for metal form-
ing. The integral slips were qualified by use of a hardening pro- International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair
cess proprietary to Lone Star Heat Treating of Houston. Along Internationale Rohr-Fachmesse
with the slips, two types of packer elements are used. Both
the top and the bottom of the set liner top contain profiled,
pressure-energized packer elements that are mirrored to pro-
vide maximum differential-pressure containment. The second
type of packer elements is fully energized upon setting and used
to prevent gas migration. Hanging capacity and pressure con-
tainment are paramount to any premium hanger system, and
the ability to achieve both at high temperature will continue to
be an engineering challenge.
Plant and Pipe and Tube Bending and Tube
Machinery Processing Forming Manufacturing
Machinery Technology and Trading
Proven Design. After several component-level and subas-
sembly tests over the years, the first wellbore installation on a
full-scale prototype was field tested on 22 October 2014 at the
Catoosa facility, Well Lucy 6G, in Hallett, Oklahoma (Fig. 3). A
7⅝-in. liner was reamed to setting depth, cemented in place, Tube
Accessories
Profiles Plastic Tube
Forum
disengaged, and set with torsional energy from the topdrive.
A drop in torque indicated full integration of the liner top
into the 9⅝-in. intermediate casing, and the running tool was Messe Düsseldorf GmbH
P.O. Box 10 10 06 – 40001 Düsseldorf – Germany
Tel. + 49 (0)2 11/45 60-01 – Fax + 49 (0)2 11/45 60-6 68
www.messe-duesseldorf.de
JPT • JANUARY 2016
Powerscrew Seng Loads rates can be as high as 40% for con-
12,000
ventional hanger systems, so reliabil-
ity is an industry goal. The increase in
expandable-liner systems used in
10,000
the GOM is an indication that metal-
forming technology is being adapted for
the most-challenging wells and will only
Topdrive Torque (-lbf)
8,000
continue to increase in market share,
given increased competition. Finally, of
6,000
particular interest is the lesson that run-
ning a production liner with a reliable
hanger system, rather than employing a
4,000 long tapered string, could be the differ-
ence between a successful completion
and a problem. The benefits associated
2,000 with running a liner with a hanger sys-
tem include the following:
◗ A rotating liner hanger improves the
0 chances of a good cement bond.
◗ The presence of a liner-top packer
Military Time adds a barrier to annular flow near
the bottom of the well.
Fig. 4—Topdrive torque while setting the Powerscrew in Lucy 6G.
◗ The arrangement allows for the
omission of the differential fill tube,
retrieved from the well (Fig. 4). With a potential failure mechanism for
success on the first run came the real- the float collar.
ization that the setting torque needed to ◗ The negative test is potentially
be lowered. This issue was resolved by simpler to conduct and interpret.
working with our planetary-gear vendor, ◗ The well is better configured to
Creative Motion Control (CMC). CMC control and repair a leak in the
was able to customize a solution spe- liner by leaving the well filled with
cific for our unique downhole applica- drilling mud to a greater depth and
tion and was able to reduce the setting by placing the drillpipe at a greater
torque by 50%. In addition to the suc- depth in the well during the test.
cess with the running tool, a torsionally
set 7⅝-in. liner top was qualified under In summary, the Powerscrew elimi-
extreme well conditions at Oiltool Engi- nates potential leak paths while setting
neering Services (OES) in Willis, Texas with torsional energy from the topdrive
(Fig. 5). The set liner top was able to or rotary. This new liner hanger uses a
withstand the maximum load capacity patent-pending MLR mandrel that forms
of OES’s hydraulic ram at 500,000 lbf, the liner top (through helical stretch)
simulating liner weight. Also, 4,000- with greater post-formed collapse resis-
psi differential hydraulic pressure and tance than that of a typical expandable
3,000-psi differential gas pressure were tubular. These unique characteristics
maintained continuously from below are complemented by other exceptional
the set system without the benefit of features, such as a high-strength run-
cement. Finally, under combined load, ning tool, high hanging capacity, and
the set liner top withstood 300,000-lbf impressive pressure containment and
load and 3,000-psi hydraulic pressure at zonal isolation with packers and cement-
300°F, reaching a project milestone. ing accessories. The tool has been rig-
orously tested both in the field and in
Wide Appeal. While Seminole’s target the laboratory and has shown respect-
market is the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), able results. Finally, though somewhat
the technology can be used in any land underused, expandable-liner hang-
Fig. 5—Liner top being set at 300°F or offshore application where reliabil- ers have proved themselves in the
for further laboratory testing. ity is of paramount importance. Failure most-demanding applications. JPT

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE
Leveraging Subsurface Insight, Screening,

and Diversion Technology in Refracturing
Doug Walser, SPE, Halliburton
A challenging commodity price envi- tured wells in a portfolio. Typically, the influence of the various components of
ronment has forced operators to seek cost per BOE of refracturing is sub- the process.
methods for sharply lowering recovery stantially lower than that of drilling While operators sometimes seek ini-
cost per barrel of oil equivalent (BOE) in and completing delineation or develop- tially to “fix our poor performer,” after
unconventional plays. ment wells. due diligence (or an unsuccessful field
Some reduced costs have resulted from Recently, the development and trial), they usually look at more statisti-
the overcapacity of global services. Other implementation of effective stimula- cally reasonable alternatives. Some oper-
reductions have resulted from declining tion diversion techniques and great- ators consider the best candidates to be
industry activity, which has increased er focus on candidate screening have those with the highest original initial pro-
the availability of personnel and led to narrowed the window of uncertainty duction and with potential to improve,
a renewed focus on maximizing drilling in executing refracturing operations while others claim the best are those with
and completion (D&C) process efficiency. in horizontal wells. These improve- improvement potential and the highest
A portion of the recovery cost reduc- ments have reduced the economic risk estimated ultimate recovery (EUR).
tion has resulted directly from incre- of these operations and created further Additionally, some express interest in
mental technical innovations and pro- incentive to shift portfolio strategies properties with the highest decline rates.
cess improvements that were difficult toward refracturing. When used to the exclusion of other
to achieve when operators and service Taking advantage of refracturing factors, these approaches will some-
companies were concerned chiefly with opportunities in a portfolio involves times result in commercially success-
D&C execution. four steps. ful production profiles. However, more
Older processes were designed to max- 1. Screen the best candidate proper- often than not, the results are erratic
imize early production, whereas a num- ties, based on reservoir quality and the and unpredictable.
ber of newer technologies focus on max- potential to exceed the original comple- The preferred method described in
imizing net present value (NPV). High tion quality. this article has been developed with input
NPV is most often achieved by reducing 2. Design the optimal refracture treat- from numerous sources and represents
uncertainty and manipulating the cost ment to place new conductive fractures a cross section of industry thinking. It
portion of the NPV equation, especially where desired and reconnect existing includes the participation of operators,
when the commodity price and/or dis- ones. service providers, and various sources of
count rate is uncontrollable. 3. Execute the refracture treatment capital funding.
D&C portfolios have primarily con- for coverage of all selected lateral areas, Refracture candidate selection involves
tained a mix of delineation wells and using the latest processes, techniques, geostatistics and fundamental physics. A
development wells. Delineation wells and materials. clear relationship exists between com-
have a higher cost per BOE but a higher 4. Diagnose the refracture perfor- mercial success and both reservoir qual-
potential for accelerating reserve recov- mance and optimize the refracture design ity and the potential of refracturing to
ery. Development wells have a lower cost for analogous properties, using state-of- increase the total exposed fracture sur-
per BOE but a lower potential for accel- the-art diagnostic tools. face area.
erating recovery. This mix of wells is This article primarily discusses the In its simplest form, reservoir quality
appropriate for periods when margins candidate selection process. is generally proportional to kh, where k
are high enough to cover the associat- is the effective permeability to the dom-
ed D&C costs. However, the loss of such Screening Candidate Properties inant reservoir fluid and h is the height
margins in a low-price environment has The impact of refracture candidate of the exposed propped fracture in the
prompted adjustments to lower the aver- selection on the overall commercial suc- productive reservoir column. Often, kh
age cost per BOE. cess of a project is well known. How- is not known in a given acreage posi-
One strategy for lowering that cost ever, there is considerable disagree- tion because k is not easy to evaluate or
is to increase the percentage of refrac- ment in the industry about the relative measure. For matrix flow in an ultralow-

10,000 2,500,000
15-Year EUR of Original Completion=2.2 Bcf
Hyperbolic exponent=1.6
Hyperbolic decline constant=94%
2,000,000
Cumulative Production (Bcf)

1,000
Daily Rate (Mcf)
1,500,000
1,000,000
100
Actual
Predicted
500,000
Actual cumulative
Predicted cumulative
10 0
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000
Producing Days
Fig. 1—A decline-curve analysis based on actual production, assuming no refracturing on day 1,509.
permeability target, the Darcy equation 1,000-ft, lateral length, bbl of fluid per The refracturing candidate selection
is applied: ft, and lbm of proppant per ft generally process revolves around balancing prop-
remained within a small window of varia- erties with better reservoir quality and
Q=−kA(∆P) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(1) tion in a given legacy time frame. those with the most potential for increas-
µL This lack of variation in a particular ing A and decreasing L. Reservoir qual-
where Q is production rate, A is the total play or acreage position essentially treats ity can be determined by rigorous geo-
exposed surface area, ∆P is the pressure A and L as constants and allows the use of logical and geophysical interpretation, or
drop from a given reservoir grid block decline-curve analysis as a tool to quali- classical decline-curve analysis if A and L
in three-dimensional (3D) space to the tatively compare the relative formation both have a small window of variability.
“nearest superhighway” (i.e., a propped permeability from one completion to Identifying opportunities to improve A or
fracture), µ is the reservoir fluid viscosity, another. The general form of the rate vs. L depends on examining the stimulation
and L is the distance to the same “near- time equation and completion practice at the time of
est superhighway” (i.e., fracture spacing). the original completion and comparing it
(dq/dt)/q=−Dqn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
A and L are the only variables that can with the current industry understanding
be effectively controlled by adjusting the is often applied as the more specific non- and practice.
stimulation material volume, as well as linear hyperbolic decline Situations of interest include the
the fracture initiation location and distri- following:
qt=qi (1+nDit)–1/n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
bution, and are often related to the stim- 1. The most common scenario is low
ulation practices in place at the time the where n is the hyperbolic exponent and total exposed fracture surface area A
well was completed. Therefore, methods Di is the hyperbolic first-year decline and high distance L, most often associ-
to increase A and decrease L become a rate. Classical decline-curve analysis is ated with wide fracture spacing along
means to recover additional reserves that not a rigorous method to isolate or deter- the lateral. The refracture potential then
would not otherwise be accessed in a rea- mine k or kh, but under certain circum- is dependent on the ability to discourage
sonable time frame. stances, it is a proxy for comparing k the flow of stimulation fluids and prop-
The industry learning curve has pro- when A, L, and h are relatively consistent pants into the lowest-pressure reservoir
gressed in a stepwise manner so that it is across a group of properties. If Di is low, volumes and divert the flow to newly
possible to assume that the regional val- properties where A can be significant- induced fractures along the lateral.
ues of A and L are relatively constant dur- ly increased (and/or L decreased) infer 2. Often, the original exposed frac-
ing any historical time period. Though that k can be comparatively higher. These ture surface area is low because of an
localized differences exist in completion properties can become top candidates insufficient pumped volume per stage.
practices, parameters such as stages per for refracturing. This is generally addressed by perform-

10,000 3,000,000
11-Year EUR of Refracture Treatment Alone=2.5 Bcf
Hyperbolic exponent=1.6
Hyperbolic decline constant=74%
2,500,000
Cumulative Production (Bcf)

1,000 2,000,000
Daily Rate (Mcf)
1,500,000
100 1,000,000
Actual
Predicted
500,000
Predicted cumulative
10 0
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000
Producing Days
Fig. 2—A decline-curve analysis based on actual production, beginning at the time of refracturing.
ing treatments with increased volumes associated with asymmetric fracturing fractures sparsely spaced along the lat-
of fluid and proppant and diverting, as from the stimulation of offset develop- eral during the original completion. Not
appropriate. ment wells. There is additional commer- only was the well located in an acreage
3. Sometimes, the total exposed frac- cial benefit if the delineation well hap- section thought to be above average, the
ture surface area A is low because of pens to fit into category 1 or 2. decline constant was slightly lower than
Stokes’ law considerations: 6. A number of miscellaneous scenari- the average of those of peer properties.
os could provide opportunities for refrac- These factors suggested the presence of
2g(ρp−ρf )R2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4) turing. They are relatively rare and should a reservoir with reasonable kh, despite a
Vs=
9µ be approached with caution, especially in 15-year EUR figure of only 2.2 Bcf.
where Vs is the maximum proppant set- light of the numerous candidates that Approximately 4 years after the origi-
tling rate in a given fluid, (ρp−ρf ) is the easily fit into categories 1 and 2. These nal completion, a retreatment program
density differential between the prop- might include a) a repairable wellbore was pumped with additional clusters
pant and fluid, R is the radius of a typi- with a mechanical problem, b) crushed and multiple cycles separated by diver-
cal proppant grain, g is the gravitational proppant, or c) scenarios where extreme sion material. The incremental cumu-
constant, and µ is the apparent viscosity scaling, asphaltene, or paraffin deposi- lative production for the remaining
of the carrier fluid. If the proppant set- tion have been positively identified. 11 years of the original 15-year period
tling rate is high, then the total exposed Locating and defining a series of increased by 2.5 Bcf, and the refractur-
surface area A can be greatly reduced, refracturing candidates with the high- ing operation was a clear commercial
especially above the lateral elevation. est potential for commercial success success, with a payout of approximately
4. Occasionally, the exposed fracture also requires due diligence regarding 2 years (Fig. 2).
surface area A is low because of the the mechanical integrity of the wellbore
large average proppant diameter and an and wellhead. In some cases, additional Conclusions
inability to prop the narrower fractures. action over and above the simple exam- The candidate selection process involves
The solution involves pumping a refrac- ination of records may be required and understanding reservoir quality, original
turing treatment with smaller-average- may involve operations such as pressure stimulation effectiveness, and the poten-
diameter proppants and simultaneously testing, bond logging, or isolating por- tial to access additional reserves. The sta-
attempting to improve on either catego- tions of a given wellbore. tistical success of refracturing a group of
ry 1 or 2. ultralow-permeability horizontal wells
5. Often, an older delineation (parent) Case History depends on a rigorous candidate selec-
horizontal wellbore is refractured as a Fig. 1 illustrates the production from tion process, robust stimulation design,
protective measure against lost reserves a Marcellus lateral that produced from and expert operational execution. JPT

E&P NOTES
Saudi Aramco Moving Forward

on Unconventionals
Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer
With the world’s fifth-largest estimated Saudi Aramco has so nearly double the total organic content
shale gas reserves, there is great potential of the Eagle Ford while the lower tier is
for Saudi Arabia to replicate North Amer- far committed at least about the same. A pilot well drilled in
ica’s unconventional growth. Saudi Aram- the Tuqaiq Mountain formation had an
co’s unconventional program became
USD 10 billion to its average 30-day initial production rate of
operational in 2013 and the company has unconventional exploration 3 MMscf/D of gas and 1,800 B/D of oil.
been working with major service compa- In addition to core samples and
nies, including Halliburton and Schlum- program and is actively openhole logs, sonic logging tools and
berger, to develop the reserves. recruiting experienced diagnostic fracture injection testing
The primary driver is the country’s are being used to make key determina-
pressing need to find new supplies of unconventional experts tions about each formation’s permea-
gas to replace the domestically produced bility, pore pressure, and in-situ stress
crude oil used to generate most of its
from North America to state. Using this information, comple-
electric needs, demand that can reach as join its ranks. tion engineers are placing as many as
high as 900,000 B/D in summer. Anoth- 16 fracture stages along the laterals.
er major aim is to use unconventional gas to 8,000 ft. The shale is considered to be They are placing the stages only in the
to bolster the country’s growing petro- relatively shallow and is the source rock areas that appear to have the best pro-
chemical industry. for conventional gas fields in the area. duction characteristics and are avoid-
Ali Almomen, an unconventional gas The gas produced from this area will sup- ing areas with poor reservoir quality.
production engineer at Saudi Aramco, port a major mining project still under Based on production logs, Almomen
said the company has completed the construction and a new power plant. said this strategy has resulted in 95%
exploration and appraisal phases of its The other two plays are in the eastern of the perforation clusters contrib-
derisking strategy and is in the middle province and located along the periphery uting to production in some of the
of various pilot stages. He provided an of the Ghawar oil field, the largest con- best cases.
overview of the company’s progress at ventional oil field in the world. These two The company’s plans include using
the recent SPE Annual Technical Confer- areas will benefit from their proximity microseismic surveys and chemical trac-
ence and Exhibition in Houston. “We are to existing infrastructure and the large ers to better characterize fracture net-
trying to fine-tune the technology, try- amount of geological data already col- works and to determine how cluster stag-
ing to reduce the cost, and improve the lected from the development of Ghawar. es are contributing to production. The
[estimated ultimate recoveries] further,” The play located to the south of Gha- company is also investigating technolo-
he said. war is a deep tight sandstone formation gies to overcome the challenges involved
To accelerate the effort, the nation- where five appraisal gas wells have been with hydraulic fracturing in the middle
al oil company has so far committed at drilled so far. Sitting just east of Ghawar of the Arabian Desert. “We are experi-
least USD 10 billion to its unconvention- is the third play where Saudi Aramco menting with local sand and we’re doing
al exploration program and is actively is targeting a tight carbonate formation some research on water management,
recruiting experienced unconvention- called the Tuwaiq Mountain—the source testing, and trying to create a decent frac
al experts from North America to join rock for the giant oil field. The company fluid using sewage water, seawater, and
its ranks. believes this field is comparable in many other fluids,” said Almomen.
The company’s unconventional ambi- respects to the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas. He added that once the company
tions are focused on three different areas “Sometimes, it is better than the Eagle reaches the development phase, it will
in Saudi Arabia. The first is located in the Ford in terms of the permeability and continue work on driving down costs
northern part of the country. The target porosity,” Almomen said. and adopt factory-mode drilling tech-
formation is called the Qusaibia Hot Shale The Tuwaiq Mountain formation is niques pioneered by shale producers in
and is found at a depth between 6,000 ft split into two tiers. The upper tier has the US and Canada.

Enhancing Sand Strength for Fracturing Applications
Pam Boschee, Senior Manager, Magazines
Sustaining the fast economic growth in

Saudi Arabia requires a ramp up of the
gas supply. A strategic objective of Saudi
Aramco is exploring and developing deep
and unconventional gas reservoirs, many
of which are considered extremely tight.
These formations need hydraulic fractur-
ing to allow the hydrocarbons to be effi-
ciently produced. Unlike in North Amer-
ica, the infrastructure to commoditize
the drilling and production processes is
immature in Saudi Arabia. Therefore,
Natural Saudi sand. Photos courtesy Saudi sand coated with resin.
many cost-reduction measures have to be of Saudi Aramco.
exhausted, especially on materials. Prop-
pant is the main material used in frac- development programs in its upstream The mid-term solution is to develop
turing and, therefore, reducing its cost Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC). new materials to coat the sand grains
affects greatly the economics of any frac- One of the most important initiatives is to so that the actual strength of each
turing operation. enable fracturing with Saudi local sand. individual sand grain is significantly
Although the country has abundant A short-term solution is to integrate increased. This will broaden the range
natural sand resources, the strength of the local sand in a pillar fracturing tech- of the applicability of the Saudi local
the sand is insufficient to withstand clo- nique. The pillar fracturing creates aggre- sand to fracturing treatment designs by
sure stress in most of the gas reser- gated and competent sand piles. Among allowing the use of the local sand in
voirs. New technology can enhance the the sand piles are open channels to allow conventional proppant packing pattern
local sand strength to make it deployable hydrocarbons to flow freely into the well- instead of being limited to the pillar
in deep formations with closure stress bore. Pillar fracturing design provides fracturing techniques.
greater than 10,000 psi. the benefit of rapid fracture cleanup and, EXPEC ARC’s unconventional re-
The company is developing new tech- therefore, maximizes initial production sources department and a technology
nologies to further maximize the eco- rates as well as long-term sustained pro- collaborator have worked together in
nomics of hydrocarbon resources and ductivity. Various chemical and physical defining R&D protocol and performing
to promote growth of the domestic eco- means are being investigated to stabi- lab tests on the pillar fracturing technol-
nomic potential by becoming a potential lize the aggregated sand piles so that the ogy with Saudi local sand. The lab test-
exporter of upstream oil and gas tech- fracture propping pattern is sustained ing showed that pillars created by Saudi
nologies and products. With increasing over the life span of a well. The goal is to sand and a chemical agent can withstand
hydraulic fracturing activities in the coun- properly use this low-cost resource with closure stress greater than 12,000 psi.
try, Saudi Aramco is carrying out mul- sound engineering practices to achieve a Parallel testing using commercial high-
tiple hydraulic fracturing research and cost-effective fracturing technique. strength proppants indicated compara-
ble performance. The effluent contained
TABLE 1—PERFORMANCE OF MATERIALS nearly no fines nor crushed particles,
and the conductivity remained near infi-
Commercial Conventional nite, indicating the flow channels are
High-Strength Nonpillar
propped open effectively even at very
Saudi Sand Pile Proppant Pack Using
Cemented by Cemented by the High-Strength high closure stress. Table 1 illustrates
Parameters Chemical Same Chemical Proppant the performance of the material.
Unconfined
Saudi Aramco is planning field trials to
compressive 2,900 psi 2,800 psi — begin in early 2016. The cost of the prop-
strength pant material in fracturing is expected
Channel to be reduced by at least 50% using this
conductivity at technology combined with Saudi local
10,000 md* ft 8,500 md ft 400 md ft
12,000-psi closure sand. The next phase of development
stress, 300°F is to find low-cost chemical means to
*md is millidarcy enhance the sand grain strength.

Competing Companies Building Robots to Place Receivers
Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor
Autonomous Robotics’ first offering is

built around a rounded yellow device
that looks like a little flying saucer. It is
more of a seismic saucer because it is
designed by the UK startup to “fly” from
a drop-off point in the water to a desig-
nated spot on the seabed, where it will
record seismic data until it is ordered
to return.
The company was one of two firms
displaying flying nodes under develop-
ment at the recent Society of Explo-
ration Geophysicists (SEG) annu-
al meeting in New Orleans. The other
was Seabed Geosolutions, which has
been working with Saudi Aramco since The seismic receiver node made by Autonomous Robotics is propelled by two
2012 to develop a flying node called thrusters as shown at the right and left sides. A third thruster, which is about
Spice Rack. the size of a round of cheese, is located in the middle of the node and is used
to help lift the node from the bottom after recording seismic data in water
At the SEG meeting, Seabed presented depths to 3000 m. Photo courtesy of Autonomous Robotics.
a new version of its self-propelled node
at its exhibit booth. An animated video
showed its flying nodes being released placed a day compared with a high esti- shallower depths where less power is
from a basket lowered into the water by a mate of 100 per day using an ROV. required in transit, Holloway said.
remotely operated vehicle (ROV). A com- “For ROV-deployed nodes, as you Autonomous Robotics is currently in
pany representative said it was work- increase the density, the cost of a survey the process of building a prototype of
ing with Saudi Aramco on an update for escalates because of the limited pace of its flying node, Grant said. That is the
the project. deployment. The cost goes up much less centerpiece of an automated operation.
While most offshore seismic ser- rapidly with flying nodes,” said Arran The company’s modular system that can
vice sectors are in a deep slump, node Holloway, engineering manager for be installed on an offshore work ves-
demand is relatively stable because the Autonomous Robotics. sel, such as an ROV handler, includes
technology is most often used for cre- The precision of the placement an automated handling system that will
ating high-quality surveys in producing is expected to be as good as an ROV move the nodes to and from storage
fields, said John Moses, a regional sales because the navigation system used for racks to stations where they are cleaned,
director for Seabed. the autonomous flying nodes is the ultra- charged and the data downloaded, and
While ropes can be used to place short baseline (USBL) method used for also to the cages used to lower them into
nodes in water depths to 1000 m, ROVs ROVs, with modifications expanding the the water.
are needed for accurate placement at number of devices it can control. The company’s vision of robotic off-
greater depths, he said. ROVs are pre- The nodes from Autonomous Robot- shore operations is generally based on
cise, which is required for repeated sur- ics will combine an internal navigation building blocks that are now in use. “A
veys over time showing field changes. system with course corrections from two lot of the technology is used for slightly
But the cost of using them limits the size moving vessels, the main node vessel different purposes offshore,” Holloway
and density of the arrays placed, reduc- and a smaller autonomous surface vessel said. That includes the material cover-
ing the kinds of work that can be done that stays in contact with the nodes as ing the outside of the saucer, the small
and the quality of the output. the main vessel moves out of range. thrusters, the navigation system, and
Developers of self-propelled nodes are Autonomous Robotics will use heave- software used for placement.
out to lower the placement cost in deep compensated launch and recovery sys- Each of the saucers has three thrust-
water. Autonomous Robotics believes tems to lower cages full of its saucers to ers, two aimed horizontally on the sides
its self-propelled nodes are 10 times below the turbulence of the surf zone. propelling it forward, and a third verti-
faster than ROV-placed nodes, said Dave At their maximum depth of 3000 m, the cal one near one end helps peel it off the
Grant, chief executive officer of Autono- nodes are expected to be able to remain bottom when it is time to return and to
mous Robotics, with up to 1,200 nodes in place 60 days, and likely longer at adjust its glide angle.

Flow Sensor Technology Seeks to Replace the Coriolis Meter
Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer
Australian technology developer MezurX

is touting its newly introduced flow,
density, and mud monitoring system
as a significantly better alternative to
the widely used Coriolis meter. Using
an advanced set of sensors, the X-Ome-
ga provides real-time information
that can be used on rigs for early kick
detection and managed pressure drill-
ing (MPD).
Bruce Henderson, president and The company behind the development of the X-Omega is hoping to disrupt the
world of flow monitoring technologies by offering a more reliable and smaller
CEO of MezurX, claims the technology
system. Photo courtesy of MezurX.
involves “a completely different way of
measuring density and flow” while offer-
ing more reliability and a smaller foot- MezurX is listed on Chevron’s website contains a pressure sensor, then a wedge-
print than Coriolis-based systems. as one of several firms the oil and gas meter analyzes the flow velocity, and a
And despite the current price envi- major is funding through its venture cap- second density module on the back end
ronment, Henderson said several ser- ital division to promote the development takes another pressure measurement.
vice companies and offshore operators of emerging upstream technologies. This simultaneous measurement of two
are showing interest in the X-Omega sys- The X-Omega was created by integrat- parameters delivers real-time flow data
tem and work has already been award- ing the company’s proven flowmeter and required for MPD operations, as well as
ed. “It’s an interesting time for us,” he pressure sensor technologies, along with early kick detection, and reduces non-
said. “I think that during a downturn in software to interpret the data. productive time.
the industry, new technology is always As drilling mud enters the system Coriolis meters used on offshore rigs
attractive to keep costs down and make through a return flowline, the fluids are typically require height clearance of
things more efficient.” first measured by a density module that about 14 ft vs. the 4 ft needed to install
the X-Omega. The modularity aspect of
the X-Omega system means it can be con-
4402 mm figured horizontally, vertically, or at right
(173.3 in.)
angles to address rig design. One benefit
of this nearly-in-line capability is that the
pressure drop in an X-Omega meter is
about 35% less than a Coriolis meter of
1266 mm equivalent capacity because the internal
(49.9 in.) passageways of the X-Omega have a larg-
er diameter and have less obstruction,
X-Omega 12 in.
Henderson said.
The new system has yet to be used in
the field, but Henderson said the com-
4382 mm pany’s confidence relies on the estab-
(172.5 in.) lished track record of its individual com-
ponents, which have been used on rigs
Original for various applications in identical drill-
Coriolis+spools ing environments. The flow sensor has
been used on offshore rigs to measure
both oil- and water-based drilling muds.
The pressure sensor technology has also
been used offshore for early kick detec-
tion and undergone extensive testing
The X-Omega needs less than a third of the head space to be installed on an at the company’s flow loop simulator in
offshore rig compared with a Coriolis meter. Graphic courtesy of MezurX. Brisbane, Australia. JPT

Offshore Seismic Feeling
Pressures to Change
S
eismic surveys are created using noise on sea life is likely to gradually lead guns add to the noise from cruise ships,
bursts of acoustic energy that are to increasing limits on seismic surveys, freighters, and workboats, among other
referred to as “marine sound, or where noise regulation is already a costly things, in complex industrialized areas
noise, depending on your perspective.” fact of life. of the ocean, said Hatch, who cochaired
With that thought, John Young, direc- “A big concern is that regulators will the NOAA working group that developed
tor of the sound business line for CSA make it more difficult to use impulsive tools to map the many sources of under-
Ocean Sciences, introduced a recent sources in many areas,” said Rune Teng- water noise created by human activity.
panel discussion that included seismic hamn, vice president geoscience and This long-term program to bet-
innovators working on new sound sourc- engineering for PGS, which is one of ter understand background noise in US
es designed to produce better subsurface three companies chosen by the JIP to waters is not related to NOAA’s effort to
images as well as scientists and regula- develop an alternative. “This is the main revise a key measure of the effect of noise
tors concerned about the environmental driver for using marine vibrators.” on the hearing ability of marine animals.
impact of that noise. At that session and Regulations, based on laws passed The noise study, though, is an example
others at the recent annual meeting of decades ago when whales were the main of the growing number of large, wide-
the Society of Exploration Geophysicists concern, are evolving to protect a grow- areas data sets being created by envi-
(SEG), there was discussion about mul- ing range of marine life from outside ronmental researchers. Over time, more
tiple ways to move away from the intense noise sources. The US National Ocean- data matter because permits are based
pulses of acoustic energy produced by air ic and Atmospheric Administration’s on detailed estimates of the number of
guns. The industry standard emits both (NOAA) regulations are based on multi- animals affected and the noise they expe-
useful sound for seismic imaging and ple mandates designed to protect marine rience. Different databases can lead to
higher-frequency noise that dissipates in life and places such as fishing grounds. different outcomes and new models for
the ground. Leila Hatch, a marine ecologist for Stell- determining the impact of noise during a
One sign that this talk may lead to wagen Bank National Marine Sanctu- permit review.
alternatives to air guns for marine seis- ary, said the goal is to expand protection The US Bureau of Ocean and Energy
mic is a joint industry project by three “beyond species to an ecosystem level.” Management (BOEM) is currently writ-
major oil companies backing a new gen- The regulatory pressure is push- ing an environmental impact statement
eration of offshore seismic sound sources ing new air gun designs that narrow the covering seismic surveys in the Gulf of
designed to reduce noise and improve the sound frequencies emitted. They have Mexico and has asked NOAA to consider
seismic signal. also inspired lower-intensity survey rule changes based on that report. This is
Their goal is to “de-risk” vibrator ideas, such as the “popcorn method” likely to change the regulatory approach
technology, said Mike Jenkerson, geo- from BP. This approach could signifi- taken in the Gulf of Mexico to align it
physical advisor for marine seismic cantly reduce the peak energy of air gun more with the Arctic and Atlantic oceans,
at ExxonMobil, who represented the arrays, which are normally fired in uni- said Sarah Courbis, principal scientist at
Marine Vibrator Joint Industry Project son, by setting each gun off in succession, Smultea Sciences, an environmental con-
(JIP) at the conference. The JIP managed like corn popping. sulting firm.
by Texas A&M University is supporting Dolphin Geophysical supports an air This may cause problems for some
development and testing to determine if gun designed by the man who invent- companies seeking permits for wide-area
there is an alternative to air guns that is ed it, Stephen Chelminski, who says his surveys. The method used to estimate
effective and reliable even with a smaller new design can send out more useful fre- the number of animals affected by sound
acoustic signal. quencies with less environmental impact. could result in totals that appear high
The signal is the critical difference Shuki Ronen, external and collaborative based on standards permitting activi-
between sounds created using controlled research manager for Dolphin Geophysi- ty that has a “negligible impact” and
vibrations and air guns, which are called cal, said the seismic company is looking affects only “small numbers” of animals,
impulsive sound sources and create loud, for better seismic sources because, “We said Courbis.
sharp booms as a large volume of air is do have regulators looking at us and ask- “In large-scale seismic projects, small
emitted. Marine science and regulato- ing what we are doing.” numbers can be a confusing metric to
ry experts on the SEG panel indicated “Noise does represent a 21st century evaluate, and NOAA has had difficulty
that research on the impact of subsea environmental problem,” Hatch said. Air with lawsuits associated with negligible

impact findings in data-poor situations,”
Courbis said.
Sound sources with a smaller acoustic
signal might help reduce such concerns
as the industry moves to multiple sound
source surveys.
“The less sound in the environment,
the lower the number of marine mam-
mals that would be expected to be
harassed,” she said, adding that if the
number of animals affected proves to be
lower—which will need to be verified
when marine vibrators have been built—
that could make “it more likely that per-
mits can be issued.”
Multiple Options
Marine vibrator work goes back decades,
to sonar system projects, providing a
technical foundation for seismic system
development.
Tenghamn was among those working
on vibrators back in the 1980s, several
employers before he was hired by PGS.
A diagram explaining how the device
works, which appeared in a recent pre-
sentation, is nearly identical to one that
appeared in a PGS publication in 2005.
A big difference now is the PGS device is
one of three with development support
from the Marine Vibrator JIP.
The three companies that founded the
JIP in 2010 represent a critical element
that has been missing for those develop-
ing marine vibrators—customer demand
for an alternative to the air gun. The JIP
chose three companies to develop marine
vibrators: PGS; Applied Physical Science
(APS), which is part of aerospace and
defense company General Dynamics; and
Teledyne Webb Research. They were cho-
sen from among 36 initially contacted by
the JIP, which is managed by the Texas
A&M Engineering Experiment Station.
The APS and PGS devices use electro-
magnetic force to create sound by mov-
ing metal parts. The APS device activates
a piston that vibrates a metal endcap, and
the PGS device vibrates a spring that acti-
vates an outer shell. The Teledyne design
produces a controlled sound by com-
pressing an air bubble inside a cylinder.
While the devices vary in patent-
The signal created by an experimental marine vibrator creates a growing
protected ways, all use precise, elec- pattern of waves. The controlled acoustic energy from the device by Teledyne
tric control systems to create “coherent Webb Research appears to push the water up before gravity pulls it back.
sound.” The controlled output of a vibra- Photos courtesy of Teledyne Webb Research.

Electrical Coil
Flextensional
Spring Element Magnetic Circuit
Inside the PGS device (right) is a system where a magnetic coil vibrates a spring, activating an outer shell creating two
resonating sources of sound within a limited spectrum. Images courtesy of PGS.
tor can be crudely compared to a bass

speaker, while an air gun is like a big
bubble popping.
The word coherent is used to describe
lasers because the photons are direct-
ed into narrow beams. The output of a
coherent sound source is described by
Andrey Morozov, chief scientist for Tele-
dyne, as waves with a predictable, fixed-
phase relationship, and the signal spec-
trum as “clean, harmonic content.”
“The motivation is from the environ-
mental side. But I am not sure that is the
main strength,” he said during an SEG
presentation. “A coherent source can
change dramatically the quality of the
data. No matter how you design an air
gun, it cannot produce coherent sound.”
Vibrators reduce peak sound by deliv-
ering the same amount of energy an air
gun would emit in a millisecond, and
Housing spread it out over seconds. The JIP is
Permanent Magnets Stator Electrical Coils
requiring that devices emit an evenly
Rolling Element Seal distributed signal over bandwidth from
N N
5 Hz to 100 Hz. This would increase the
Drive Shaft Linear Bearing
S S
amount of signal at the bottom end of
the range, which is valued by geophysi-
u1 u2
Piston
cists for determining rock properties
Velocity
S S and imaging deep layers. Past 100 Hz,
N N Damped the JIP’s specifications require a rapid
Mechanical
drop in those higher-frequency sounds.
Piston Spring
The novel compressed bubble approach
was chosen by Teledyne because past
Armature
work suggested it was better suited to
I1 I2 Electrical current
producing ultra-lower frequency sound,
said Morozov.
Electromagnetic force is used to activate pistons positioned in the endcaps of The test of whether the devices can
the sound source made by Applied Physical Sciences, which calls it the Champ
System. A one-quarter size model is shown above. Images courtesy of Applied
deliver on their promise could begin
Physical Sciences. this year. “The JIP is showing progress

ARE YOUR INVESTMENTS
GROWING AS PLANNED?
Jeffrey Saut, Chief Investment Strategist at
will be in Houston on February 24th

to speak on investment strategies for the future. It’s a can’t miss talk that will
help you navigate the turbulent waters that characterize today’s markets.
Jeffrey Saut is the Chief Investment Strategist a regular and popular contributor to Bloomberg TV,
at Raymond James Financial Services. A market Fox News, CNBC, NPR and PBS, and he is regularly
observer and analyst for more than 40 years, quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York
Jeffrey’s acumen is unmatched in developing Times, Fortune Magazine, Barron’s, Business Week
market strategies that fit the times. His insightful and SmartMoney.
and colorful market commentary have made him
February 24 | 6:30 - 8:00 PM | Royal Sonesta, Discovery Ballroom

Houston, TX
Presented by
RSVP by 2.19.16
713.425.5340 [email protected]
Securities offered through Raymond James RaymondJames.com/saxonfinancial/events
Financial Services, Inc.
Member FINRA/SIPC. 550 Westcott, Suite 460 Houston, TX 77007
The marine vibrator from Teledyne Webb Research is lowered into a test pool at the Woods Hole Oceanagraphic
Institution. The vibrator signal is produced by applying pressure to two gas bubbles in the rubber-covered resonators
at the ends of the device, producing a chirp sound. Photo courtesy of Teledyne Webb Research.
in meeting its objective of demonstrat- dards set a minimum service time be- nym: a NUT. Despite the acronym,
ing the viability of the marine vibrator tween maintenance. Pramik said the agency is supportive,
technology,” Jenkerson said. The goal is The three companies involved in the and the permitting process is not much
to complete the project in 3 to 4 years. JIP are not the only ones working on more difficult than that required for a
APS is moving toward testing a full- new sound sources. Another made by traditional survey.
scale model of its design. “A quarter- Geokinetics was recently tested in the
scale model of our device has been suc- Gulf of Mexico. “We were very successful Less Impact
cessfully demonstrated and a full-scale at getting back all the energy intended Before launching the marine vibrator
version will be fabricated and test- to put in the ground, so it was working,” project, the JIP commissioned an exten-
ed in 2016,” said Jim McConnell, APS’ said Bill Pramik, vice president of acqui- sive environmental review to see if a
chief engineer. sition technology at Geokinetics. vibrator would present less risk than an
This competition is not designed to Full-scale survey work will require air gun. It was done by the E&P Sound
pick a winner. The JIP hopes the effort arrays of 10 or more units that fit into and Marine Life Program, whose 100
results in multiple competing marine current survey systems. “I doubt anyone backers include the companies in the
vibrators. Competition could help ensure (developing a marine vibrator) will have Marine Vibrator JIP.
that there is a financially attractive alter- an array ready in 2 years,” he said. The program’s 2011 study, based on
native to air guns, which are relatively The tests in US waters require a per- information available at the time, con-
inexpensive and reliable. mit under rules for new and unusu- cluded that lower peak volume and con-
To ensure that marine vibrators al technology, said Chad Vaughan, a trolled signals “should, in most respects,
can stand up to hard use common on BOEM geologist. He said the permit is have less environmental impact than sur-
a long seismic shoot, the JIP’s stan- commonly referred to using the acro- veys using air gun arrays.”

But the coauthor of the study, Bill Elli-
son, chief scientist for Marine Acoustics,
pointed out the available data did not Marine Vibrator Joint
include field testing because no one has
created an array capable of producing
Industry Project
the sound needed for a test simulating a Members: ExxonMobil, Shell, Total
seismic survey.
Goal: Develop and test multiple marine vibrators with a goal of proving it
The lower sound intensity of a marine
is a viable sound source.
vibrator is expected to be less like-
ly to startle marine animals or damage Management: Texas A&M University
their hearing. Outreach: 36 companies contacted and 19 asked for information
Significantly reducing the intensity of Companies Chosen: Applied Physical Sciences, PGS, Teledyne Webb
the sound above 100 Hz limits the num- Research
ber of animals that are thought to hear
Status: The next step is building full-scale prototypes for testing, which
and communicate in that range. Those in
could occur in 2016.
that large category include whales with
teeth, such as sperm whales, and dol-
Vibrator Specifications
phins, as well as many fish and inver-
Output: From 10–100 Hz: 200 decibels (dB) re: 1 µPa/Hz at 1 m
tebrates. There are exceptions. Some
From 5–10 Hz: 190 dB re: 1 µPa/Hz at 1 m
baleen whales, whose food is collected
in a strainer-like mouth, are sensitive to Noise reduction: Rapid reduction in output above 100 Hz, dropping by
sounds in the lower frequencies used for 40 Hz at 150 Hz
seismic—though only one species, the Durability: 72 sweep hours between minor maintenance
Bryde’s whale, is rarely found in the Gulf 720 hours between pulling in and switching out the vibrators
of Mexico. Applications: Built for offshore service in towed and stationary modes
There is no final answer to the ques- Able to operate in shallow water where air guns do not
tions created by seismic noise reg-
ulations. The system now uses data
from laws written decades ago to pro-
tect whales and other large mam- While the hum of the seconds-long associate professor of conservation
mals. Over time, the underlying law signal of a vibrator may interfere with technology in the engineering school at
and science have gradually evolved. It communication or mask environmental Duke University.
is a slow process that ultimately will sounds used to sense danger or find food, A recent test of a marine vibrator
reflect a more detailed, complex view the problem is not unique to vibrators. in the Gulf of Mexico by Geokinetics
of ocean noise and its impact on the The lower-frequency sounds created by involved towing the company’s proto-
marine ecosystem. an air gun shot travel a long way and con- type unit on a catamaran behind a boat
“NOAA regulations are evolving,” Cour- tribute “to the more chronic ‘hum’ under equipped to power it. When the vibrator
bis said. “There is always new science.” water,” Hatch said. The control offered was shut down, a pod of marine mam-
During the SEG panel discussions, it by marine vibrators could offer an oppor- mals approached the device. Pramik said,
was pointed out that the sounds emitted tunity to better balance environmental “I think they wanted to find out why
by vibrators may also cause problems. concerns and industry needs. it stopped.”
“The potential impact of marine vibra- Measuring whether a whale is both- As scientific research adds to the list
tors is unknown. I cannot tell if impact is ered by a particular sound is compli- of possible problems caused by marine
negative or positive,” said Gerrit Blacqui- cated by the inconsistent reactions of noise, the industry is moving toward
ere, a senior research scientist at Delft intelligent creatures, whose movements survey methods using multiple sound
University of Technology. He pointed out and motivations are hard to observe and sources for more shots per day. Onshore,
that vibrating sound sources reduce the understand. There are various theories as where vibrators are the standard seis-
peak energy by spreading the signal over to why dolphins are often seen swimming mic source, surveys using as many as
a longer period, but that may not help if behind seismic survey boats. But the sort 10 onshore vibe trucks can multiply the
the animals are affected by the cumula- of test done to judge what humans hear number of shots per day. The result is
tive energy. and if a loud sound causes temporary or better surveys done in fewer days.
“It will be imperative that industry permanent deafness cannot be done on “As soon as we get marine vibrators,
model and test the output of this technol- animals in the wild, Courbis said. when we go to lots and lots of (sound)
ogy in order to scientifically support the “We need to design good experiments sources, that will raise environmental
technology as a less impactful alternative that are sensitive to what we want to issues,” said Ray Abma, a senior research
to air gun arrays,” Courbis said. measure,” said Douglas Nowacek, an geophysicist at BP. JPT

TECHNICAL DIRECTORS OUTLOOK
Doing Better in Bad Times

The oil bust is forcing change, which “It is very hard for any locations that were not your first choice,
is often difficult and sometimes for and maybe take a sub-engineering posi-
the better. professional in the industry tion to get started.”
Another major round of layoffs hit to lose his or her job,” said One piece of advice offered to gradu-
exploration and production workers late ates, as well as professionals in the field, is
last year, as companies came to the pain- J.C. Cunha, SPE’s technical that they should not limit their options by
ful conclusion that a recovery is not com- director for Management sticking to one category, such as uncon-
ing any time soon. The cost pressures ventional engineering, said Tom Blasin-
behind those cuts are also a force for more and Information, adding, game, the technical director for Reservoir
positive changes in the industry, such as “These people are capable Description and Dynamics. For exam-
simplified project designs, revised comple, innovations used in unconventional
pletion designs, and the application of of doing a lot of other developments could be valuable for com-
unconventional innovations to conven- things. They will not sit panies developing conventional fields.
tional exploration and production. “There will be a critical need for those
The seven technical directors on the and wait 2 to 3 years when who can cross-pollinate ideas, concepts,
SPE Board of Directors are concerned the industry begins to look and practices across the different reser-
about the long-term impact of this voir domains,” he said.
wrenching period. They addressed the for them.” There is also powerful economic moti-
issue during a panel discussion on “Man- vation for completion engineers to stop
aging the Future Impact of Current Cost said David Curry, the technical director and take a look at their current meth-
Cutting” at the 2015 SPE Annual Tech- representing Drilling and Completions. ods, and for operators to scale back com-
nical Conference and Exhibition. And it Rather than focusing on the number of plex project designs. The goal needs to
was on their minds as they talked about days it takes to drill, the industry should be “a design that is as simple as it can be
the industry’s future for this article. design and build wells to maximize prof- that accomplishes your objective,” said
One danger they cite is that money itable output. Howard Duhon, the director for Projects,
saved now by reducing the number of “We need to have closer alignment of Facilities, and Construction.
experienced petroleum engineers could everyone making the wells,” he said. “We In this period, faster information
have financial consequences later in the are still not consistently at a point where uptake is a competitive necessity for pro-
form of more expensive wells that are all the contracts around well construction fessionals in this business. “A lot of them
less productive, or shortages of skilled encourage and reward that cooperation.” are losing jobs and want to get rehired.
professionals. The number of college graduates being A lot want to improve their skills so they
“It is very hard for any professional in hired by oil and gas firms is down at a will be more valuable to their company,”
the industry to lose his or her job,” said time when enrollment in many petro- said Jennifer Miskimins, the director for
J.C. Cunha, SPE’s technical director for leum engineering programs is still near Production and Operations.
Management and Information, adding, record levels. The days have passed when The downturn has affected many of
“These people are capable of doing a lot a petroleum engineering degree prom- SPE’s member volunteers. Budgets for
of other things. They will not sit and wait ised a high-paying job. Dan Hill, the training, travel, and conferences are lim-
2 to 3 years when the industry begins to director for Academia, said graduates ited, and job cuts have hit some sec-
look for them.” now have to adjust to find work. tors hard. Those with jobs are busier
The industry is cutting expenses, but “We are telling students that the easy and have had more demands placed on
lasting productivity will depend on how times are over,” he said. “You have to them, cutting their time to volunteer.
it measures costs. “We have to make work at it to get a job, like students in any “But some people have been laid off and
sure that the drive to cut costs doesn’t other discipline. You will need to knock are volunteering (more). They are step-
impact the cost-effectiveness of wells,” on doors, be willing to go to geographic ping up because they have more time

and want to stay connected,” said Trey Another worry is large reductions in ing at the same sort of data. Fiber-optic
Shaffer, technical director for Health, research and development budgets at ser- monitoring is a powerful analytical too,
Safety, Security, Environment, and vice companies, which have been cradles but the cost—about USD 1 million plus
Social Responsibility. of innovation. the people, equipment, and software to
The risk in all of this is that, 5 years interpret it—limits its use.
J.C. Cunha, from now, a company might be spending There is a lot more data being employed
SPE Technical Director, USD 100 million more for a deepwater by companies to find drilling sweet spots
Management and Information well “because it does not have the right and, in this economic climate, Miskimins
people or has not developed the right sees more sharing as pressure increases
More job cuts hit tools,” Cunha said. to optimize assets.
exploration and “The industry is past the point of a land
production opera- Jennifer Miskimins, rush where everybody is working on leas-
tions late last year SPE Technical Director, ing” and not wanting to reveal their plans,
as operators and Production and Operations Miskimins said, adding, “Now there are
service companies people with established positions starting
reduced costs for As exploration and to share data more so than in the past.”
what looks like a long production has
downturn in oil and gas prices. Cunha slowed, those still Howard Duhon,
said he understands the short-term finan- with jobs in drill- SPE Technical Director, Projects,
cial pressure, but based on the cost of ing and comple- Facilities, and Construction
talent lost during past downturns, “we tions are trying to
should be a little smarter.” find ways for their When Duhon joined the
“When you do these layoffs, you lose companies to drill fewer SPE Board of Direc-
expertise that takes years to produce,” he wells without producing less oil. Finan- tors, oil was selling
said. “Later on, when the industry gets on cial pressures demand rethinking well- for USD 100/bbl.
its feet again and it wants to get that exper- established systems. The industry’s focus
tise, a lot of times it will no longer be there.” “People are stepping back” and recon- was on producing
Cunha’s comments are based on his sidering how things are done, said Mis- more oil at almost
experience during the downturn that kimins, who is a completion consultant any cost. Projects be-
stretched from the early 1980s until early for Barree & Associates. “We get requests came more and more complex, as did
this century. During that period, fewer from companies: ‘We are shut down the organizations designing and building
college graduates were hired, leading to through the end of the year. We are going them. Now with oil selling for less than
a workforce where most exploration pro- to pick up in February or April. What can half as much, the cost and time added by
fessionals are either near retirement age we do differently? What can we learn?’” complex designs and organizations is a
or early in their careers, and companies One thing to consider is whether less is pressing issue.
have again slowed college hiring. just as good as more. She has been involved “There is a focus on doing things more
This downturn could accelerate the in studies based on completions data from inexpensively on several fronts,” said
generational change in the industry. But operators using meter-by-meter data gath- Duhon. This requires rethinking how
a rapid shift to younger workers would ered using fiber-optic cable. Often when a projects are designed and built, in part
require more training and experience, tightly spaced series of spots is fractured in to reduce the cost of complexity. One
both of which are in short supply. Deep a stage, many will not produce. That may major oil company is developing a new
cuts have slashed spending for training. be because of the stress created in the area deepwater discovery by copying a simple
Cunha spoke to one training company by fractures so close to each other. design and fast-tracking it. “I am not sure
operator who said his business was off “We are getting one contributing frac- they would have gone that route when oil
80%. Reducing training at a time when ture out of three or four in a cluster. How was USD 100/bbl,” Duhon said.
workers are being asked to do more, and can we fix that? How can we do it more To better understand how complex-
do it better, adds risks, he said. efficiently down the road?” she asked. ity magnified the time and cost of mega-
When asked if it is possible to accel- Fixing that within a company requires projects, Duhon created an SPE Work
erate the development of key technical convincing field operations teams that Study Team to examine the problem. Low
leaders, Cunha responded, “Do you know they should break from what was working prices have made addressing complexity
how long it takes for an engineer to get 10 when oil and gas prices were higher. And an industrywide concern.
years of experience? It takes 10 years.” there are wide divides in how things are “There is some inherent complexity. It
While he recognizes that career paths done among completion companies devel- is complex business, a complex environ-
are not as absolute as that quip, there is a oping similar formations. ment, and we will never have simple proj-
limit to how fast even the brightest hires Sometimes engineers follow differ- ects,” he said. But the industry needs to
can acquire experience and expertise. ent paths because they are not all look- reconsider how it designs and manages

construction projects to make them “as tion methods from unconventional reservoirs, but many, many questions remain,”
simple as it can be and still accomplish voirs that will substantially improve our he said. “Frankly, people need time to
the objectives.” understanding as well as the reservoir think about how to adjust their priorities
While the oil industry is inherently performance of such ‘conventional’ res- to the realities of unconventional reser-
global, spreading a project over multiple ervoir systems,” he said. voir systems. Just focusing on operations
time zones to tap experts and lower-cost Cross-pollination of ideas is a technical and production is no longer sufficient.”
labor in distant places comes at a cost. opportunity and an economic necessity. Blasingame’s objective is to ensure that
“Engineering is now frequently being “We are working at the molecular advances in reservoir description and
done on four different continents and level on the problems related to uncon- dynamics have a broader impact, touch-
with many more subject matter experts,” ventional reservoirs and it has to have ing areas ranging from conventional and
Duhon said. “It is hard to get decisions an effect across the board for conven- deepwater development to operations
made, it is hard to know who gets to tional and near-conventional reservoirs and logistics.
make decisions, and we have important as well,” Blasingame said. “Work at the “I want to engage with anyone who has
decisions being made by MBAs who have nano-scale to the operational domain of an interest and aptitude to help build a
never been on a platform,” he said. oil and gas production will significantly framework within SPE to establish the
Part of the problem is the steady addi- improve our ability to model and opti- role of reservoir description and dynam-
tion of engineering studies, which are mize well and reservoir performance for ics as a central theme in reservoir devel-
often poorly integrated into design work. all reservoirs.” opment, management, and exploitation,”
Often these are safety reviews of what Those skills are valuable in this time he said.
is considered the completed design that of low prices as investor-owned oil com-
add complexity by creating late changes panies seek reservoirs with better rock Trey Shaffer,
and out-of-sequence work. One goal of that has more production potential at a SPE Technical Director, Health,
the complexity study is to consider how lower cost. Increasingly, unconventional Safety, Security, Environment,
to better integrate safety studies into reservoirs will be competing for limited and Social Responsibility
the design effort. Another is to look at development dollars with conventional
a project that was done 20 to 30 years and near-conventional reservoirs. The importance of con-
ago, and compare its deliverables and Low prices are challenging the limits sidering the impact
management with a current project to of technology, services, and operational of a project beyond
understand why cost increases have out- practices for unconventional reservoirs. the fence line is a
stripped the general inflation rate. The effort has taken a toll on many of priority for Shaf-
“That certainly resonates now, and will those still working to eke out profits from fer. The aim is to
hopefully resonate when the price of oil is difficult reservoirs. make managers see
back up to USD 100/bbl,” he said. “I think people have unconventional that success requires
fatigue,” he said, explaining that “the speed more than achieving technical goals.
Tom Blasingame, and breadth of change and the steepness “Sustainability and social interaction
SPE Technical Director, Reservoir of the knowledge curve have really chal- are some of the most difficult things to
Description and Dynamics lenged many people and companies.” address for our engineers,” said Shaffer.
In this brutal job market those who Digital tools are being employed to
Blasingame sees the have mastered the physics and chemistry expand the reach of the HSE technical
lines between uncon- of unconventional reservoir systems will discipline. Using USD 50,000 in grants
ventional and con- have gained a unique edge in the form of from Schlumberger and the SPE Founda-
ventional reservoir a fundamental understanding of all res- tion, Shaffer is spearheading an effort to
technologies blur- ervoir systems. produce a series of compelling video pre-
ring, and then dis- “I have been advising people who want sentations, called SPE PetroTalks, which
appearing. Methods to work on unconventional reservoir sys- will offer presentations by experts in
developed to extract tems to think about using such skills to sustainable business methods and posi-
oil and gas from a virtually imperme- move between unconventional, conven- tive social interaction programs.
able source rock can be extended to tional, and deepwater reservoir systems,” The discipline also has begun holding
more profitably develop marginal, near- Blasingame said. “Individual engineers virtual workshops with online participa-
conventional reservoirs that would not will have to manage their careers through tion that reached more than 500 mem-
have been considered for development continuous education as well as deepen- bers this year. The first virtual workshop
20 years ago. New approaches can also be ing and sharpening their skills. discussed reducing workplace injuries
used to get more out of high-quality con- “The current downturn has provided and fatalities. The meeting drew 75 per-
ventional reservoirs. an opportunity to focus on both the sci- sons in Kuala Lumpur, and another 100
“We will be able to deploy reservoir ence and the practice of well and reservoir online from places as far away as Russia
characterization and reservoir stimula- performance in unconventional reser- and the United States. Remote partici-

pants were able to comment and vote on els from competitors offering options on to prepare students for a competitive
questions raised during the “Getting to their mass-produced machines. job market. It was a common theme
Zero” workshop discussion. Now the auto plant making the Mini heard by Hill when he visited petro-
“The topic, Getting to Zero, looms large Cooper line near Oxford in the UK is leum engineering departments over the
because over the past decade the number able to mass-produce cars with so many past year.
of on-the-job deaths in this industry has options that they are unlikely to make “They all use data from wells and res-
been unacceptable,” Shaffer said. two that are identical. All those differ- ervoirs in their courses and research,” he
To improve safety systems, SPE has ent vehicles are made on the same pro- said. The schools need actual well logs,
been working with the US Bureau of Safe- duction line. The plant epitomizes the production data, and core descriptions
ty and Environmental Enforcement and auto industry’s trend of flexible manu- and “some programs have a lot of diffi-
the Center for Offshore Safety to create facturing, which mixes standardization culty coming up with this sort of thing.”
a near-miss reporting system. The long- and customization, requiring both well- Often the data on hand are limited
term effort has led to a summit planned trained workers and automation. to formations found near the university
for 2016 on how best to gather data on Curry sees some companies using so students may become familiar with
near misses in offshore operations and analogous advanced well-manufacturing permeable sandstone but lack
apply what has been learned to reduce approaches as a way to reduce costs. any data from a shale
risks on the job. “They are combining standardized play. The goal is to
“The goal of that collaboration is to well types, modular completion compo- create a central
look at determining how offshore opera- nents, and a clearly structured decision- online reposito-
tors in the Gulf of Mexico can begin to making process,” he said. This allows the ry of shared data
voluntarily share near-miss data that are completion design to be finalized in more administered by
related to safety,” Shaffer said. “Having or less real time based on the environ- SPE. To begin with,
quality data could reveal trends and issues ment encountered while drilling. Hill, the petroleum
to help the industry operate more safely.” Designs with the flexibility to adapt engineering department head at Texas
The meeting should result in a tech- to changing downhole conditions and A&M University, said the school would
nical report, and Shaffer is hoping that functional demands as a well ages could offer its data sets on the Gulf of Mexico
gathering new data leads to lasting reduce its lifetime cost. and unconventionals.
changes. “We have to be careful not to It may seem odd to raise questions Hill is also seeking data donations
get trapped in the mode of data for data’s about short supplies in the future during from companies. To protect proprietary
sake,” he said. The data need to be used a period of massive overproduction. But information, data that could identify a
to review operations because “a lot of the International Energy Agency reports particular field can be removed. Data
time the behavior of people is at the that the current global oil surplus is a rel- from older fields that are no longer criti-
heart of the problem,” he added. atively slim 1.5 million B/D, and global cal assets can be valuable to students.
demand growth should outpace oil pro- Over the next year, SPE’s Educa-
David Curry, duction growth this year. While prices tion and Accreditation Committee has
SPE Technical Director, Drilling may not rise, inevitably more drilling will been asked to turn this idea into a real-
and Completions be needed to fill the gap as production ity. He said SPE is the logical choice to
from current wells declines. create this online resource because it
Factory-mode drilling Large-scale staff reductions and early has so many connections in academia
can slash the time retirements will have thinned the pool and industry. “To me it is the obvi-
needed to build a of skilled drillers. More automated drill- ous organization to do something that
well. Whenever it ing operations could help compensate will benefit students around the world,”
is mentioned, the for that, but the industry has to make the Hill said.
industry thinks investment in automation now to ensure More field data are needed because a
of many identical it will be there when needed. common part of most petroleum engi-
wells. But Curry says it “If we are not careful, we will not be neering programs is the senior project,
is time to revise the model based on mod- able to safely and efficiently build the which tests a student’s ability to do an in-
ern mass-production methods. wells needed to deliver the amount of depth analysis. The quality of the work
To succeed, automakers and oil com- hydrocarbons the world will need 5 or 10 and the presentation can have an impact
panies need to employ manufacturing years from now,” Curry said. on a student’s job prospects because
systems that balance cost, quality, and industry people often attend.
design. The totally standardized assem- Dan Hill, “It requires students to bring together
bly line literally went out with the Ford SPE Technical Director, Academia everything they have learned. It is much
Model T. The low-cost cars that were sold more meaningful when a project is done
only in black were a huge success until cus- Petroleum engineering schools too often with actual data,” Hill said. “If anyone can
tomers turned to more appealing mod- lack the real-world well data needed help with a data set, contact me.” JPT

Innovative Developments in Caspian
Republics’ Oil and Gas Production
Chris Carpenter, JPT Technology Editor
A tanker is loaded from

Turkmenistan’s Aladja jetty.
Photo courtesy of
Dragon Oil.
T he past decade has seen the Caspian

Sea region come into its own as one
of the world’s most important frontiers
Along with the Russian Federation
and the Islamic Republic of Iran, three
Central Asian republics—Azerbaijan,
investment opportunities. Azerbaijan’s
oil reserves are estimated to be approxi-
mately 7 billion bbl, with gas reserves of
in oil and gas production. Though it saw Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan—share 35 Tcf; Kazakhstan’s oil and gas reserves
some of the first oil-producing wells of the Caspian’s extensive shoreline and, both rank well within the world’s top 20,
the modern era, the region’s importance to varying degrees, its enormous poten- at 30 billion bbl and 1.5 Tcm, respectively;
to the global industry—if not to the Sovi- tial for oil and gas production. All three and Turkmenistan’s gigantic gas reserves
et Union, which long constituted most of republics are in the midst of intensive are among the world’s largest at 17.5 Tcm.
its shoreline—waned as the Middle East efforts to underpin their developing In their third decade of full indepen-
took center stage. But with exploration economies by increased exploitation of dence, all three nations have encountered
and production (E&P) efforts expanding, massive reserves. challenges in contacting, producing, and
geopolitical realities changing, and tech- Boundary and rights disputes among exporting their impressive resources.
nology bounding forward, the Caspian the neighbors over Caspian waters are Some of these challenges, such as strug-
has again moved into the spotlight. common, and often greatly complicate gles with creating an efficient infrastruc-

ture and a skilled domestic labor force,
are endemic to emerging nations, while
others are particular to the broad range of
climactic and environmental conditions
that encircle the world’s largest enclosed
inland body of water. As the three young
republics search for the best way to solid-
ify economic and geopolitical identities
as stable industry producers, a prolifera-
tion of companies has established a pres-
ence both on- and offshore. Most Caspi-
an oil production currently comes from
onshore fields, but offshore production
is viewed as the primary target of future
development. The goal now is to success-
fully expand and nurture these economic Kazakhstan’s Bolashak oil and gas processing plant. Photo courtesy of North
identities while best serving the world’s Caspian Operating Company.
energy needs in a period of uncertainty.
Two recent SPE conferences brought try in Azerbaijan and the broader Caspi- The opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan
together industry professionals in an an region. Thirty-six oral papers and 25 (BTC) pipeline in 2006 opened the door
effort to better understand the region’s posters were presented, covering drill- to solving the considerable problem of
geophysical and economic complexi- ing and completions; reservoir descrip- how to export Azerbaijani oil to Europe,
ties. The first of these, the SPE Russian tion and dynamics; projects, facilities, a process that must overcome not only
Petroleum Technology Conference, ran and construction; production and opera- political realities but daunting geophysi-
from 26–28 October in Moscow’s Info- tions; health, safety, and environmental cal ones as well. In a short period of time,
Space venue. The conference, held annu- and social responsibility; and data man- Azerbaijan’s geopolitical profile rose dra-
ally since 2006, provided attendees a agement and information. Panel sessions matically, as it, like its fellow newly-mint-
unique opportunity to share experience featured both decision-making person- ed Central Asian republics, offered the
and ideas in a noncompetitive environ- nel in the private sector and regional gov- market an alternate source of petroleum.
ment, and a chance to establish business ernment representatives, who clarified The effect on the nation of more than
contacts both with domestic and interna- and discussed the relationships that must 9 million was powerful enough that the
tional companies. More than 170 papers develop between the two spheres. The anniversary of the signing of its PSA, 20
were submitted in both English and Rus- conference also offered training courses September, is celebrated as “Oil Work-
sian, with the 22 technical sessions cov- on advanced completion techniques and ers’ Day,” and even Western popular
ering a wide range of topics important to sand control. culture took note of the nation’s new
E&P in Russia and Asia in general; many The scope and number of SPE papers importance, as a fictional stand-in for
of these papers concentrated on fields presented at both conferences make clear the BTC pipeline played a central role in
and facilities in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Caspian’s critical importance. While the 1999 James Bond film The World Is
and Turkmenistan. In addition to paper all five Caspian nations were the sub- Not Enough. But the nation’s reality has
and panel presentations, 12 ePoster ses- ject of papers, presentations, and panel been eventful enough, as it has weath-
sions were held. discussions, the works devoted to the ered conflicts with neighbors and a loca-
The second regional conference, the three young Central Asian republics bor- tion in a region only growing in geopoliti-
SPE Annual Caspian Technical Confer- dering the sea provide a glimpse into cal significance.
ence and Exhibition (CTCE), followed last the widening development, and the ambi- Azerbaijani oil production current-
year’s successful inaugural meeting in tious goals, of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, ly focuses on the offshore Shah Deniz
Kazakhstan. The 2015 meeting was held and Turkmenistan. natural-gas field and the Azeri–Chirag–
from 4–6 November in Azerbaijan’s cap- Guneshli (ACG) oilfield complex, also
ital of Baku, and was attended by more Azerbaijan: offshore in Caspian waters. The latter
than 500 professionals. Conference co- Many Hands, One Goal complex alone provides 80% of Azer-
chairs were Khoshbakht Yusifzadeh of Since the historic signing of the 1994 baijan’s oil production, while the former
the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan multiparty production-sharing agree- offers neighboring states viable alterna-
Republic (SOCAR) and Martyn Smith of ment (PSA) better known as the “Con- tives to their current limited access to
BP. More than 50 papers were submitted tract of the Century,” Azerbaijan’s oil and oil. But both resources have experienced
in both English and Russian. Twelve tech- gas sector has concentrated on diversify- technical and infrastructure difficulties
nical sessions across the program focused ing, and thus maximizing, the econom- that are only exacerbated by the Caspi-
on the issues faced by the E&P indus- ic muscle behind its production efforts. an’s demanding waters, which are some-

times battered by major storms and often try’s primary resources, the Shah Deniz by the age gap between retirement-age
freeze over in the northern reaches. The and ACG. In paper 177359, Aliyeva and professionals and those just joining the
fire last December on Platform No. 10 of Novruzaliyev (2015) present a novel workforce, has meant that the nation
the Guneshli field was a tragic reminder method of introducing gas lift to existing has struggled to create an infrastructure
to the industry of the importance of facil- ACG wells in the form of a gas-lift-insert with the degree of autonomy it desires,
ity integrity in a meteorologically volatile system (GLIS) installed along with addi- despite its extensive agreements with
environment; the stricken platform pro- tional measures to prevent annular gas international stakeholders. The CTCE
vided much of the nation’s production, release. The authors describe the speedy papers written about the experience of
and it is likely that output will be hin- installation of the system with the result the industry in Kazakhstan center largely
dered for some time. As the region comes of a productive well restart. While the on these points, and on recent advances
to emotional and economic terms with GLIS does have associated downsides, that bring the nation closer to its goal of
the disaster, more attention will focus on such as a heightened risk of tubing-to-A- efficiently producing and exporting its
the ACG, emphasizing the need to make annulus communication and a nonper- hydrocarbon resources.
production more efficient and safe. manent nature, it can reduce the rig time Paper 177355 (2015) by a consortium of
Technical complications also prevent required for installation significantly (in writers from Russian institutions, delves
optimal production in Azerbaijani assets; approximately 7–11 days) compared with into the creation and refinement of a sys-
the more frequent of these presented a conventional tubing retrofit (approxi- tem to model and predict pollution pat-
a common theme for many conference mately 30 days). terns in territories belonging to Belarus,
papers. Among these issues are the need The task of reducing NPT in another Kazakhstan, and Russia. As the paper
to enhance the output of mature wells major Azerbaijani field is addressed in asserts, there is a need to create spe-
and to reduce their nonproductive time paper 177400. Price et al. (2015) describe cialized environmental expert systems
(NPT), as well as the necessity of reduc- the establishment of a team dedicat- (EESs) to assess the impact of oil pollu-
ing cost-intensive hindrances such as ed to providing an integrated subsur- tion and support appropriate environ-
sand and clay deposits in wells. face description of the field, followed by mental management decisions. The use
CTCE papers based upon the expe- the implementation of a 3-year plan to of EESs in the event of accidents involv-
rience of Azerbaijani oil production reduce NPT by a variety of means. ing oil spills is the key to the efficiency
understandably centered upon the coun- Finally, several papers deal with the of their localization and liquidation of
topic of sand control in oil fields. Kazi- consequences. An EES provides efficien-
mov and Ahmed (2015) explore a vari- cy in obtaining the necessary informa-
ety of techniques in paper 177338 to tion in the required form with the level
Changing Your increase the effectiveness of dispersed- of response and the evolving situation.
solids removal. The aspects of sand con- The methodology covered in the paper
Address? trol examined in this paper include adap- creates an effective information base to
tation of gravel-slotted filters, drilling-in solve these problems by reducing the
Let SPE know.
with no perforation, producing sand con- time for the development of management
+1.972.952.9393
solidation, and sand-plug removal by decisions, and allowing the optimal use
means of tools. of information for modeling and fore-
casting of contamination of the geologi-
Kazakhstan: Strengthening cal environment.
Update Your Infrastructure, Overcoming Etuhoko et al. (2015) discuss the use of
Hostile Environments electrohydraulic robotic tools that per-
Member Profile Kazakhstan’s promise, and the techni- form well interventions on electric line
cal and environmental difficulties it has (e-line) in paper 177388. Having come
http://www.spe.org/ faced, are well-documented, from the of age in recent years, the tools can now
members/update early difficulties faced in the enormous be used to accomplish tasks previous-
Kashagan field to the problems encoun- ly done with the use of jointed pipes
tered in working in a sensitive and highly and coiled-tubing-conveyance systems.
variable environment that ranges great- Surface real-time monitoring and con-
ly in both water depth and tempera- trol features are required to ensure that
SPE Benefits ture. It has sometimes been difficult to such tasks done by robotic tools are suc-
match limited facilities with the phys- cessfully achieved with high accuracy.
Discover the possibilities.
ical requirements needed to transport As the demand has increased to use this
http://www.spe.org/ oil (as was the case with faulty pipe- type of powered device in more-hostile
members/benefits lines in Kashagan’s early years). In addi- well environments such as those seen in
tion, the lack of a large domestic core Kazakh waters, service companies have
of highly trained workers, exacerbated developed technologies to expand their

operating range. Starting in late 2013, Iran. The targeted carbonate deposits offer recommendations for gas stimu-
the robotic-technology solution has been are characterized by high heterogeneity, lation depending on the lithofacies
used in Karachaganak Petroleum Operat- greatly complicating the prediction of features of productive deposits. The
ing’s horizontal sour wells to close stimu- reservoir-rock distribution. The authors proposed approach enables the calcu-
lation sleeves when required for reservoir pose the methodology of constructing lation of the gamma ray and gamma-
fluid management, to convey perforation a geological model of the field based on spectrometry spectral trends sensitive
guns and production logging tools, and the climate-stratigraphic method, and to the conditions of sedimentation. JPT
to mill fracturing balls and ball seats.
Turkmenistan: Seeking For Further Reading

Partnerships in Gas Production SPE 177359 Gas Lift: Fast and Furious Kazakh-Belarus Russian Joint Project
While Turkmenistan, the least populated by F. Aliyeva and B. Novruzaliyev, BP. by A. Khaustov and M. Redina, Peoples’
of the three republics, has significant oil Friendship University of Russia; and
SPE 177400 Understanding a Complex
reserves, estimated by the United States S. Mamchik, Research Centre on Geology
Overburden To Deliver Safe and
Energy Information Administration to be Productive Wells at the Giant Shah
et al.
600 bbl as of early 2015, its future eco- Deniz Gas-Condensate Field, Offshore SPE 177388 Hostile Environment Electric-
nomic strength is closely tied to its vast Azerbaijan by G.R. Price, D. Hall, and Line Well Interventions Optimize
natural gas reserves. Although many mul- K. Kaiser, BP et al. Operations in Kazakhstan by M. Etuhoko,
tinationals are already involved in Turk- M. Viti, and S. Zmeyevskiy, KPO et al.
SPE 177338 Sand Control in the Wells of
men operations, including Eni, Dragon SOCAR Oilfields by Sh.P. Kazimov, Oil Gas SPE 176626 Pay-Zone Distribution of CSR
Oil, and Petronas, in recent years China, Scientific Research Project Institute, and Field Using the Climate-Stratigraphic
rather than Russia, has emerged as the F. Ahmed, SOCAR. Approach by V. Yalalova, I. Volnov, and
most successful foreign investor in Turk- A. Ermilov, Lukoil.
SPE 177355 IT for the Remediation of the
menistan’s gas sector.
Geological Environment Polluted With Uncovering the Caspian. 2014. Supplement
The nation nevertheless seeks in- Petroleum Products: Experience of the to J Pet Technol 66 (11).
creased partnerships in its efforts to
create an adequate pipeline network.
Given that the country is home to the
Galkynysh gas field, the world’s second-
largest, it is no surprise that a number
of huge pipeline ventures are under way,
from the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan- DISCOVER
BETTER
Pakistan-India line to the East-West line 7 - 9 MARCH | HILTON PRAGUE
BOOK NOW!
to the Caspian coast. Recent steps have #SGC16
been taken to extend existing agree-
ments; at the end of 2014, for instance,
the PSA covering Eni’s involvement in the
Nebit Dag (an onshore area in the west of
DESIGNS.
the country that contains five developed
oil and gas fields) was extended until
FASTER.
2032, a 10-year extension. : DESIGNING THE SUBSEA FACTORY
Even as the nation strives to improve
its infrastructure and to offer increased
investment scenarios, operators work
to optimize the exploration and devel-
opment of existing gas fields to spur
on that growth. Among the papers ori-
ented toward Caspian E&P at the SPE
Russian Petroleum Technology Confer-
ence was 176626. Yalalova et al. (2015)
addressed the need for improved model-
ing techniques for a large gas-condensate
field in the Amu Darya basin, situated in
[email protected]
the central and eastern parts of Turk- cd-adapco.com
menistan, the western part of Uzbeki-
stan, and the north of Afghanistan and

TALENT & TECHNOLOGY
Royal Dutch Shell’s Journey to Strategic

Competence Management
Brent A. Kedzierski, Learning Manager, Shell Upstream Americas
In 2001, Shell began globalization of Competence management was clear- competencies. Staff in these
competence management with the ly presenting several challenges, ten- positions design, implement, or
implementation of its SAP human sions, and dilemmas. In short, leader- maintain barriers established
resources information technology (IT) ship knew the approach was missing the for managing major accident
platform. Hoping to capitalize on this IT mark against an increasingly dynamic risks or are line leaders in
investment, Shell’s various disciplines internal and external environment. organizations with these risks.
and functions began enthusiastic efforts
to create competence frameworks and Framing the Opportunity During the early stage of the project,
job competency profiles that could be Leadership was intent on successfully there was plenty of skepticism across
managed within a single repository. challenging longstanding approaches to the organization that the project could
The following decade of organic growth competence management and applied a achieve a profound change in Shell’s
resulted in a proliferation of compe- project management methodology typi- entrenched processes. The challenge of
tence frameworks that blanketed the cally reserved for capital projects. The defining a new global solution was exac-
organization. Complexity, inconsisten- project commenced in 2010 with an erbated by issues related to stakeholder
cy, and redundancy were some of the “opportunity identification” phase and control, perceived regrets, and individ-
unintended consequences of leverag- the subsequent framing of the oppor- ual bias. It was clear that many stake-
ing a global IT platform without tightly tunity. By the time the project go/no go holders had vested interests in main-
managing the overarching competence decision gate was reached, the project’s taining the competence management
management practices. decision review board, which consist- practices they had built. Additionally,
When Shell reviewed its compe- ed of several of Shell’s top executives, since competence management prac-
tence management infrastructure in had a clear picture of the prize as well tices touched everyone in the organi-
early 2010, pockets of excellence sur- as the challenges and global impacts of zation, most had strong opinions and
faced. Unfortunately, for most areas the a project of this scale. With a “go” deci- believed they spoke from a position
value of competence management was sion reached, Shell was now on its way of expertise based on the highs and
crumbling under the weight of over- to developing a new solution for compe- lows of their own experience. From the
engineered deployments. Capturing tence management aimed at delivering start, there was an appreciation that
large volumes of data on employees’ tangible outcomes: change would not be easy and would
competencies was deceptively attrac- ◗ Simplify and strengthen the require significant energy to win over
tive and comforting to management as relevance and value of the the hearts and minds of a global com-
well as those in the organization tasked individual development process. munity on a very personal and emo-
with managing workforce capability. ◗ Define and win acceptance tive topic.
However, these data did not necessar- for a pragmatic, common,
ily translate to valid or reliable informa- risk-based approach to Creating a Strategy
tion at an aggregate level for a variety allow business directors to Shell’s competence management strat-
of reasons, most notably due to incon- demonstrate that health, safety, egy created a clear distinction between
sistencies associated with assessments. security, and environment competence development and compe-
As the repository grew, managing ever- (HSSE)-critical positions have tence assurance. Ambiguity evolved
changing individual competence data been identified and filled over time between these two concepts
proved cumbersome and problematic. by people with the requisite in large part from the ways competen-
cies were managed in the organiza-
tion’s IT system. Regardless, whether
Brent A. Kedzierski is learning manager for Shell Upstream Americas. He holds an MA a competency was needed to manage
degree in human resource management from Marymount University and a BS degree major accident risk or to simply sup-
in training and communications from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
port effective job performance, the pro-

Fig. 1—The SAP human resources “my competencies” screen.
cess of assessing, storing, tracking, and presented no need to be managed with Shifting mental models relative to
reporting competencies was essentially the same rigor as competencies criti- competence development and assur-
the same. Competencies were assigned cal to major accident risk management. ance was difficult for many in the orga-
based on job competency profiles or From a human performance perspec- nization. Employees were accustomed
HSSE-critical position requirements tive, lack of a developmental competen- to seeing their competencies in the IT
and self-assessed with manager review cy could affect value creation but did not system and having control to self-assess
and approval. The exception to this was present risk in the execution of safety- with manager approval. Self-assessment
in operational areas where competen- critical activities. with managerial approval was viewed
cies for assurance were managed at the
local site level using a variety of assess-
ment methods that were later leveraged
as internal best practices. Fig. 1 shows Focused only on highest risk
an example of competencies in the IT positions, task s, or roles
tracking system. Competence
Fig. 2 illustrates how Shell now dis- assurance Using a consistent approach
across Shell
tinguishes competence assurance and
development. The solution was based on
the belief that not all risks are equal and
only a subset of competencies and roles
in Shell required assurance. The major-
ity of competencies across the organi- Focused on development for
staff
zation were developmental in nature. Competence development
These non-assured or developmen- Using a simplified and
tal competencies were viewed as com- streamlined approach
petencies that contribute to individu-
al performance and are important to
the organization’s overall capability, but Fig. 2—Distinctions between assurance and development.

*
*Permanent total disability
Fig. 3—Risk assessment matrix.
as a valid, practical, and long-standing Competence Assurance management positions responsible for
approach for managing all the compe- Solution defining or delivering risk management
tencies stored in the IT system. How- The strategic intent behind the new for major accident risks. The interme-
ever, this approach was insufficient competence assurance solution was to diate population includes Shell’s tech-
for the more rigorous assurance stan- create a clear framework for target- nical authorities who are designated
dards that were established and over- ing people who manage major accident experts charged with safeguarding the
complicated for the more individualized risk and need competence assurance. integrity of technical decisions in areas
development strategy. Each solution was designed in line with with the potential for major accident
To simplify competence develop- the company’s risk assessment matrix risks. The largest assured population
ment and sustain a heavier invest- (Fig. 3), which defines thresholds for covers frontline barrier management
ment in assurance, the complexity of the likelihood and impact of any poten- staff. These are staff in operational posi-
the existing landscape needed to be tial risk. The competence assurance tions that directly implement or main-
reduced. In response to this challenge, solutions seek to address any circum- tain barriers to major accident risks
all disciplines and functions conduct- stance where a lack of competence with- (Fig. 4).
ed a holistic review of their compe- in a clearly defined workforce popula- Once assurance populations were
tence management infrastructure. tion has the potential to affect major defined, each associated role was
Reviews were conducted in accor- accident risk management. reviewed against the applicable com-
dance with new guidelines that were The assurance solution with the petence framework (e.g., well engi-
based on consultation with external smallest population covers HSSE- neering, production operations) and/or
thought leaders as well as internal and critical leaders. Relevant employees are risk-based activity. Competencies and
external best practices. The exercise defined as senior line management in activities with the potential to impact
resulted in a 75% reduction in com- organizations with major accident risk targeted risk management levels were
petencies and job competency profiles responsibilities. The “leader” group flagged for assurance and assigned to
across Shell. also includes operations or technical individuals. Assessment protocols that

Behind
every
winner
is a
great
nomination
Nominate a colleague for outstanding work in the E&P industry.

Now until 15 February, the Society of Petroleum Engineers is accepting nominations
for outstanding work in the E&P industry. Visit www.spe.org/go/SPEawards for more
information on nominating a colleague today.
People with RAM red & yellow 5a/b
risk responsibilities require
competence assurance
**
LEADERS
*
TECHNICAL
AUTHORITIES
*Permanent total disability **As low as reasonably possible
FRONTLINE BARRIER
Group Risk Assessment Matrix (RAM) MANAGEMENT
Fig. 4—Competence assurance populations.
specified how competence would be SMEs were provided access to internal cases attempted to serve as a guide for
assessed were then designed based on and external assessment experts as need- the development needs of hundreds of
consultation with internal and exter- ed to ensure quality. The new assurance staff. The relevance of the job competen-
nal assessment experts. The aim was to protocols and supporting infrastructure cy profile to the actual job that an indi-
achieve a level of rigor in the assurance represented a material improvement vidual performed was often a stretch.
processes such that results delivered over the more subjective practices used The development conversation today
“competent and can show it” outcomes. in the past. focuses on the manager and employee
The cornerstones of the assessment working together to co-create an indi-
protocols were: Competence Development vidual development plan, focusing on
◗ Clearly defined populations. Solution the key competence development areas
Focusing competence assurance The strategic intent behind the new required for the current role with an eye
strictly on the highest-risk competence development solution was toward future roles. This is a significant
positions and competencies as simplicity and employee value. The shift improvement from the past as employ-
documented in Shell’s HSSE control was in moving away from reviewing an ees had so many assigned competen-
framework extensive list of tick boxes in an IT sys- cies that it was difficult to determine
◗ Qualified assessors. Requiring tem to promoting a deeper and more where to focus and what to prioritize for
the use of trained and qualified individualized conversation between development. Now employees refer to a
assessors the employee and his/her line manager simplified job competency profile as a
◗ Valid and reliable assessments. based on simplified competence materi- reference and the focus is on what the
Requiring the use of structured al. Using the tick boxes as the foundation employee and manager believe is most
assessments to ensure “skill” level of the annual development process made relevant for the employee’s development
proficiency the annual review exercise an admin- and growth.
◗ Monitoring and control. Tracking istrative activity, which detracted from
results (competent or not yet the quality of a personalized conversa- Business Results to Date
competent) in one IT system with tion. The former process was based on The competence management project
companywide reporting capability the employee self-assessing in the sys- spanned a 5-year period beginning in
tem followed by the line manager receiv- 2010 and achieved all the goals defined
Once assurance protocols were in ing an electronic notification prompting during the opportunity framing process
place, subject matter experts (SMEs) them to validate the employee’s self- within the timeline shown in Fig. 5.
were trained in assessment development assessment. The tick boxes were based The project was by no means easy.
and tasked with developing assessments. on job competency profiles that in some Every design decision involving people

focused and relevant planning, rather
than having the focus be on filling in tick
boxes in an IT system.
From a competence assurance per-
spective, the project goal was to have all
Competence Build and Assess all Move to Operate
solution commence assurance sustain and embed targeted populations “audit-ready” by
design assessments populations solution solution 1 January 2015. Audit-ready meant that
2010–2012 2013 2014 2015 2016+ more than 90% of HSSE-critical posi-
tions have assessments and gap closure
plans in place (<10% factoring in turn-
over and staff movement). The audit-
ready goal was aggressive given that
the majority of assurance-based assess-
Fig. 5—The competence management solution timeline.
ments were developed in 2013 and only
available in most cases by the begin-
development as well as data and risk improved and fully globalized how com- ning of 2014. This meant that all tar-
management was fueled by passionate petence is managed. geted organizations had 12 months to
debates and challenges from numerous From a competence development per- assure their populations against rigor-
global stakeholders. From a best prac- spective the feedback has been good. ous assessment protocols. The assured
tice perspective, there were two critical Employees have expressed they do not population in Shell represents about
success factors for the project. The first miss reviewing the extensive list of com- 20% of the workforce. In considering
was that the solution was based on a set petencies each year. Also, the sky has the assurance population numbers in
of strategic choices that were ground- not fallen with the removal of employee light of the 80/20 rule, these numbers
ed on carefully vetted facts, beliefs, developmental competencies from the seem right. At the time of this writ-
and values. These choices guided all IT system. While some still want gran- ing, the competence assurance process
decisions affecting the design of the ular data on employee competencies, recently concluded a self-imposed inter-
solution. The second was in the align- the conversation is shifting to discuss- nal audit. The internal audit further val-
ment and collaboration between human ing more relevant and mature strate- idated the effectiveness of the solution’s
resources, HSSE management, and the gies for assessing aggregated organiza- overall implementation and manage-
line in working together to deliver a tional capability as was the goal. From ment as well as offered recommenda-
common organizational goal. The result an employee value proposition, the tions for further enhancement.
has been the successful implementation idea was to put individual development
of what is a highly auditable and sus- squarely in the hands of employees Conclusion
tainable solution that has fundamentally and their line managers to enable more For more than 30 years, the vast major-
ity of organizations have implemented
some form of competence management.
Despite best intentions, most have
SPE’s Competency Management Tool struggled with the design, integration,
and sustainability of their programs.
SPE recently partnered with organizations, such as the Society Given that backdrop, nowhere is effec-
International Human Resource of Exploration Geophysicists tive competence management more
Development Corporation to create and the American Association of critical than in high-risk industries
an SPE Competency Management Petroleum Geologists, and also such as oil and gas where the threat of
Tool, which is free to members. to generic course titles reflecting catastrophic failure exists daily. Shell’s
The tool can be used to assess the those offered by third-party 5-year journey sought to address some
competencies needed to perform course providers. of the universal challenges of compe-
specified key technical jobs in the In developing a learning plan, tence management along with several
oil and gas industry. the user will be able to choose internal improvement opportunities. In
The tool will identify competency priorities for closing competency doing so, the company challenged many
gaps and help members develop gaps, select the most appropriate of its long-held competence manage-
individual learning plans to learning resources, and determine ment practices and underlying assump-
close these gaps. Learning the pace at which learning tions. The result has been the global
plans will refer users to SPE should take place. For more implementation of a strategic solution
training resources, along with information, please go to that fundamentally reshaped how com-
resources offered by sister www.spe.org/training/cmt. petence is managed. JPT

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
EOR Performance and Modeling

Omer Gurpinar, SPE, Technical Director, Schlumberger
Efforts to increase recovery factors in icantly more successful compared with Limited design capability, smaller num-
all types of oil reservoirs keep increas- the older ones from 1980s. ber of field tests, and lack of monitoring
ing, regardless of the fluctuations in oil Mitigating declining pressures in the and control were the reasons most EOR
prices. It is a historical fact that, when 1970s and 1980s was basically handled projects did not perform in the past. All
oil price drops, industry’s focus turns by injection of water with simple vertical those issues are history now.
to produce/recover more oil where the injectors with limited design. Now, com- Over the last year, irrespective of the
oil is already found. In my career, this is panies think about low-salinity (LoSal) inclement times in our industry, funda-
the sixth oil-price crush I have seen, and options every time pressure maintenance mental sciences, EOR physics, numeri-
the same behavioral change is happening with water is considered. Alternative- cal modeling, monitoring and control-
again. The only difference between now ly, companies can design reliable water- ling capabilities, and EOR chemicals all
and my first experience, in the 1980s, is alternating-gas (WAG) -injection schemes demonstrated advancements. Ironically,
that the need for enhanced-oil-recovery by placing the right-trajectory wells in fast exploitation of the unconventional
(EOR) applications today is a must, not the right locations of heterogeneous res- liquids is considered to be one of the key
a luxury. Luckily, activity in the world of ervoir systems, which were already illu- reasons for the drop in oil prices; there
EOR is continuing and for the better. minated sufficiently with advanced res- are efforts to identify EOR potential for
Recovery-optimization efforts of the ervoir characterization. Placing in-situ those reservoirs. The efforts consist of
national oil companies are expanding sensors and digital feedback mechanisms advancements in reservoir characteriza-
with larger and well-designed EOR pilots enables companies to optimize the new tion suitable to those unique reservoir
and even with offshore chemical EOR recovery process significantly. To start systems, smarter fracturing fluids, and
projects. It is worth mentioning here that with, instead of just going with pressure EOR pilots.
the EOR experience gathered by the inter- maintenance, smart EOR screening sys- As a result of the continuing momen-
national oil companies and service com- tems that might have already been used tum in EOR efforts, many excellent tech-
panies over the decades is definitely find- may be more promising EOR options. nical papers were developed and, once
ing its way to provide a stable foundation Accessibility to fast EOR pilots suitable again, selecting only a few was rather
to those new EOR projects. Additionally, for the heterogeneity of the reservoir difficult. The following pages provide
new EOR projects are getting the benefit could be used, and the decision for field some insights on how EOR is being test-
of the significant enhancements in res- expansion takes place much faster and ed for “tight/light” reservoirs, CO2/LoSal
ervoir characterization and evaluation, more reliably than it did in the 1980s. WAG experimentation, and giant-field
flow physics, EOR chemicals, modeling More-reliable modeling capabilities, cou- EOR applications. JPT
capabilities, conformance capabilities, pled with cloud computing, are providing
and monitoring and control systems. All an environment in which refining EOR
those are happening; therefore, it is safe decisions in the presence of the uncer- Recommended additional reading
to say the new EOR projects will be signif- tainties of the reservoirs is now possible. at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE 173322 A Four-Phase-Flow Model
To Simulate Chemical EOR With Gas
Omer Gurpinar, SPE, is the technical director of enhanced oil by Mohammad Lotfollahi, The University
recovery for Schlumberger. He leads Schlumberger in development of Texas at Austin, et al.
of technologies and services to help improve recovery factors in oil SPE 174648 Novel Visualization of
fields. Gurpinar has more than 35 years of industry experience in Chemical EOR Flooding Using a Lab-on-
various aspects of numerical reservoir modeling, with specific a-Chip Setup Supported by an Extensive
focus on naturally fractured reservoirs, reservoir optimization, and Rheological Characterization by J. Wegner,
EOR. He has contributed to recovery optimization for numerous oil Clausthal University of Technology, et al.
and gas fields globally. Since joining Schlumberger in 1998, SPE 173205 Reduced-Order Models
Gurpinar has served as the vice president or technical director in various segments. He for Rapid EOR Simulation in Fractured
holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering. Gurpinar is a member of the JPT Carbonate Reservoirs by S. Agada,
Editorial Committee. Heriot-Watt University, et al.

EOR-Feasibility Study for a
Large Carbonate Field in Kuwait
T his paper presents the results

of reservoir simulations for the
Mauddud reservoir in the Sabiriyah
petrophysical and geological data. A sec-
tor simulation model was obtained from
the upscaling of the sector geocellular
approximately four orders of magnitude
lower than the water/oil IFT with no sur-
factant present.
field (SAMA) in Kuwait, which is a high- model. The sector simulation model was The initial coreflood results on outcrop
temperature and high-salinity carbonate calibrated with the production, pres- cores showed excellent performance of
reservoir. The subject reservoir has been sure, and other surveillance data from the surfactant/polymer (SP) process. FP
under pattern waterflood. Many wells the wells in the sector-model area. The 3330S polymer was used for mobility
experienced water breakthrough with history-matched model was then used to control. Subsequently, the SAMA reser-
considerable increase in water cut perform gas-EOR-forecast simulations. voir cores were used in the coreflood
because of high reservoir heterogeneity Details of this process are provided in the experiments. A final recovery of 91% of
and adverse mobility ratio. This complete paper. the waterflood residual oil was achieved
study provides technical analysis from this SP coreflood experiment. The
of the viability of enhanced-oil- Chemical-EOR Laboratory high recovery factor demonstrates the ef-
recovery (EOR) processes; the results Experiments ficacy of the chemicals selected.
indicate the potential for significant Chemical-Fomulation Selection. A The most meaningful oil-recovery
improvement in recovery efficiency over chemical formulation consisting of metric is the final oil saturation after
continued waterflooding. C28–25PO-45EO-carboxylate as the SP injection (Sorc). The Sorc in the SAMA
primary surfactant and a mixture of composite SP coreflood experiment was
Introduction C15–18-IOS and C19–28-IOS cosurfactants approximately 0.03, a very low and fa-
SAMA is a giant carbonate oil reservoir was selected. No cosolvent was required. vorable value that indicates a very effec-
covering more than 200 km2 in northern Tetrasodium ethylenediaminetetraace- tive chemical formulation.
Kuwait. Oil production began in January tic acid (EDTA) was used to chelate fer-
1958 and continued under primary re- ric ions because the reservoir core was Salinity Gradient. The salinity gradi-
covery until 2000. In 1998, a waterflood found to contain ankerite. EDTA also ent during the SP coreflood is one of the
pilot was conducted successfully. As a re- tends to convert an oil-wet rock to water- most important design variables that de-
sult, inverted-nine-spot waterflood pat- wet, an added benefit because the SAMA termine chemical-flood performance. In
terns were implemented in 2001. As of reservoir rock is oil-wet. general, the salinity of the SP slug should
2011, the fieldwide water cut reached ap- be lower than the formation-brine salin-
proximately 30%. Microemulsion Phase-Behavior ity and the salinity of the polymer drive
and Coreflood Test. The laboratory should be lower than the salinity of the
Sector Model solubilization-ratio data were matched SP slug.
A large sector model was developed to by use of the phase-behavior model in The core was flooded with synthet-
study field-scale fluid-flow behavior in a widely used simulator to obtain the ic hard produced brine with a salinity
SAMA. The first step in generating a sec- input parameters for pilot simulations. of 101,000 ppm total dissolved solids
tor model was to identify an area of inter- The optimum solubilization ratio shows (TDS). The salinity of the injected SP slug
est (AOI) suitable for EOR applications. A a value of approximately 12.5. The cor- was 73,000 ppm TDS, which is the opti-
sector geocellular model was then devel- responding interfacial tension (IFT) is mum salinity of this chemical formula-
oped for the selected AOI with available approximately 0.002 dynes/cm, which is tion. The polymer solution was then in-
jected at a lower salinity of 41,000 ppm
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights TDS, to provide a negative salinity gra-
dient and a final salinity in the Type I
of paper SPE 173255, “EOR-Feasibility Study Through an Integrated Laboratory
phase-behavior environment.
Evaluation and Reservoir Simulation for a Large Carbonate Field in Kuwait,”
by F. Koyassan Veedu, D.E. Thomas, P. Wang, K. Eskandaridalvand, and EOR Pilot-Scale Model
J. Hornbrook, DeGolyer & MacNaughton; G.A. Pope, The University of Texas at Austin; Fine-Grid Pilot-Scale Model. A fine-grid
and E. Al-Maraghi, B.B. Singh, B.S. Al-Matar, B.A. Al-Saad, M.M. Al-Qahtani, and model with an areal cell size of 5×5 m
S. Tiwari, Kuwait Oil Company, prepared for the 2015 SPE Reservoir Simulation was designed for the pilot-scale model
Symposium, Houston, 23–25 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed. area. The number of cells in the fine-
For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.

Effective Porosity (m3/m3) Continuous-Gasflood Simulation. Car-
0.325 Producer 2 Producer 3 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
bon dioxide (CO2) was chosen for gas-
0.275
0.225 Injector 1 injection processes for the SAMA EOR
0.175 16
0.125 pilot-scale simulations. The labora-
0.075 14
0.025
Producer 1 tory data indicate that the residual oil
Producer 4 12
10
saturation to immiscible gas is approx-
(%)
8
imately 25%. The effect of IFT on re-
6
sidual oil saturation and oil relative
4
permeability was considered in the
2
gas-EOR-process simulations.
0 During the simulations, CO2 in-
0 0.04 0.08 0.12 0.16 0.2 0.24 0.28 0.32
jection was started after the pre-EOR
Effective Porosity
waterflood. The injector was given a
maximum-bottomhole-pressure (BHP)
Fig. 1—Porosity distribution in the fine-grid simulation model.
limit of 3,700 psia. An incremental oil re-
covery of approximately 13% over water-
flood was estimated after 581 days of
CO2 injection.
The CO2 injection was estimated to re-
duce oil saturation of the reservoir that is
Oil saturation was in contact with the injected CO2. Because
reduced to low value
(2 to 5%) in the of reservoir heterogeneity and poor mo-
SP-flooded zone. bility control, the vertical sweep of the
CO2 flood appears to be inferior to that of
the chemical SP flood.
0.00 0.25 0.50 0.75 1.00 CO2 Water-Alternating-Gas (WAG)

Fig. 2—Oil-saturation cross section through the injector after 19 days of -Injection Simulation. The CO2 WAG-
SP-slug injection. injection simulation was performed with
the pilot-scale simulation model. Pro-
grid simulation model is 3,996,400. A volume of water corresponding to 0.225 ducers were given a minimum-BHP limit
vertical grid resolution of approximately pore volumes (PVs) was injected for a pe- of 1,800 psia. Injection was controlled
0.75 m was used, which resulted in a total riod of 90 days. The results indicate that with 100% voidage replacement, with a
of 100 layers. Fig. 1 illustrates porosity the injected water has reached the pro- maximum-BHP constraint of 3,700 psia.
distribution and a histogram from the ducer after 90 days of water injection. Additional constraints included a maxi-
fine-grid simulation model. The inverted- The pre-EOR-waterflood recovery was mum gas-injection rate of 7.4×106 cf/D
five-spot pattern was the pattern used estimated to be approximately 9.7%. and a maximum water-injection rate of
for the waterflood pilot conducted in 5,800 B/D.
1998. The pilot-scale model is inside the SP Simulation. A 0.3-PV SP slug contain- The WAG-injection scheme injected
waterflood-pilot area. Acceptable rep- ing 1.5 wt% surfactants and 3,500 ppm CO2 for 1.5 months followed with 1.5
resentation of the waterflood-pilot data polymer was injected after the pre-EOR months of water injection. After six cy-
using the fine-grid simulation model waterflood. The SP slug was injected at an cles of WAG injection, oil recovery of
helped validate the model construction injection rate of 5,800 B/D. Fig. 2 shows a 37.3% was estimated from the pilot-scale
and provide fluid-saturation distribu- cross-sectional view of oil saturation after simulation model. Including the 9.7% of
tions in the pilot-scale model area. 19 days or 0.05 PV of SP-slug injection. oil recovery estimated from the pre-EOR
Once the history match of the water- The surfactant reduced the oil saturation waterflood, the overall oil recovery was
flood pilot using the fine-grid simula- in the flooded zone to low values between estimated to be approximately 47%. The
tion model was completed with the Sorw 2 and 5%. Use of polymer in the SP slug total volume of CO2 injected was estimat-
value of 31.5%, an EOR pilot-scale sim- improved the overall sweep. The SP slug ed to be 1.54×109 cf, which is less than
ulation model for performing chemical- was followed with the polymer drive, with 50% of the volume estimated for the con-
and gas-EOR simulations was extracted a polymer concentration of 3,500 ppm. tinuous CO2 flood.
from the history-matched fine-grid sim- The chemical SP process was estimated to An improvement in oil recovery of
ulation model. increase oil production significantly. The approximately 9% was estimated for
total oil recovery for the SP process was CO2 WAG injection compared with the
Pre-EOR-Waterflood Simulation. A 60%, compared with 35% for the water- continuous CO2 flood. The reason was
pre-EOR waterflood simulation was per- flood. Thus, an incremental oil recovery
formed before the chemical or gas injec- of 25% over the waterflood was achieved
tion to condition the pilot area. A total with the SP process. (Continued on page 92)

Simulation of Residual Oil Saturation
Through Tuning of Equilibrium Constants
C onventional miscible- or near-

miscible-gasflood simulation
often overestimates oil recovery, mostly
arbitrary number of components. Equa-
tions important to the use of IHRRS are
described in detail in the complete paper.
live oil inside at reservoir conditions for
2 weeks.
The experiment was performed at res-
because it does not capture a series Also, detailed discussions of the use of ervoir conditions of 310 bar and 145°C (in
of physical effects tending to limit the SDTEC method in black-oil and com- the following, reservoir or experimen-
interphase compositional exchanges. positional simulation are presented in tal conditions will refer to these pres-
The authors present a new engineering the complete paper. sure and temperature conditions). Crude
solution to this problem in the near- oil and its associated gas were collect-
miscible case. The principle is, while Application to the Matching ed from a separator and recombined to
using a black-oil or an equation-of-state of a Near-Miscible Tertiary reach the composition of the reservoir
description, to dynamically decrease Gas-Injection Experiment fluid. Injected gas used in the experi-
the K-value of heavy components and The Experiment. In the following, the ment was synthesized to match the com-
possibly increase the K-value of light SDTEC method is applied to history position of the gas injected in the field
components as the oil saturation reaches match a reservoir-condition tertiary gas- for which the minimum miscibility pres-
the desired residual limit. injection experiment performed on a res- sure with reservoir oil was estimated at
ervoir carbonate core from a West Africa 394 bar, by use of an in-house pressure/
Introduction field. The main purpose of the experi- volume/temperature simulator.
The novel approach covered in this paper ment was to investigate potential three- Fig. 1 shows the experimental setup,
relies on an in-house research reservoir phase relative permeability reduction on with the core-holding cell, the injection
simulator (IHRRS). The starting point of the gas phase during gas injection follow- system, the production system, and the
this work is the model activated through ing secondary waterflood; history match X-ray scanner. Produced fluids are col-
the VAPPARS keyword in Eclipse 100 is then needed to obtain a set of rela- lected in two high-pressure pumps, with
(black-oil code) that is extended to com- tive permeability and capillary pressure the one connected to the core-holder out-
positional simulation. The benefits of the curves along with coefficients for the let while the other is emptied. Pumps are
proposed method are demonstrated on a SDTEC model, to be used later in full-field emptied phase by phase to allow count-
reservoir-condition tertiary gas-injection simulations to predict the performance ing of the volumes at reservoir conditions
experiment, performed in laboratories, of a future gas-injection project better. and separating each phase when flashing
for which residual saturations are eas- The core used in the experiment volumes to laboratory conditions. This
ily and successfully history matched, underwent computed-tomography (CT) allows clear separation of flashed oil and
along with oil-phase and individual- scan imaging and miscible-tracer test- condensate and rigorous measurement
component production rate. ing and was considered homogeneous of oil formation volume factor, gas/oil
because its longitudinal dispersivity was ratio, vaporized oil, and dissolved gas.
Thermodynamic Equilibrium less than 0.2 cm. It was loaded in a core- When a production pump is emptied, ef-
in IHRRS and Saturation- holding cell, which was set horizontal- fluent goes through a densimeter before
Dependent Tuning of the ly on an X-ray displacement rig. Prima- being collected in a graduated burette.
Equilibrium Constant (SDTEC) ry drainage was performed on the core Volumes of liquids are then measured
IHRRS is a research reservoir simula- 100% saturated with water to establish in the burette and undergo full com-
tor designed to treat a general number initial water saturation; core wettability positional analysis (i.e., C1–C30+). Gases
of phases where each phase can hold an was then restored by aging the core with go through a gas meter and a gas chro-
matograph for light-components analy-
sis (i.e., C1–C7).
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
The X-ray scanner is composed of a
of paper SPE 171806, “Simulation of Residual Oil Saturation in Near-Miscible
dual-energy X-ray generator with a stable
Gasflooding Through Saturation-Dependent Tuning of the Equilibrium Constants,” by NaI detector set on a measurement rig
Leonardo Patacchini, Sébastien Duchenne, Marcel Bourgeois, Arthur Moncorgé, with two displacement axes to allow 1D
and Quentin Pallotta, Total, prepared for the 2014 Abu Dhabi International in-situ three-phase saturation measure-
Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, 10–13 November. The paper has ments along several cross sections. Final-
not been peer reviewed. ly, a series of three differential-pressure

X-ray detector
X-ray generator
Gas
Core-holder
confining-pressure
pump
Injection
pump
Downstream dead
volume flush pump
Densimeter
Production pumps
Fig. 1—Coreflooding setup.
sensors with different working ranges component description was used in the find a vector of eight coefficients only
is set between the inlet and outlet of the simulation, using the Peng-Robinson (the α-factors model requires a table of
core holder to measure differential pres- equation of state. The matching method- 64 coefficients). The task can be per-
sure across the core with high resolution. ology is as follows: formed easily with an assisted-history-
Injection rate was set to 2 cm3/h, cor- 1. Find a set of relative permeability matching tool.
responding to a front velocity of 0.3 m/d and capillary pressure curves to fit oil,
and a capillary number of less than 10–6, water, and gas production at reservoir Applicability of the SDTEC
which describes flow behavior far from conditions. Method to the Modeling
the wells. The experiment consisted of a 2. Find residual oil to vaporization and of Condensate Recovery
continuous injection of brine followed by coefficients to fit in-situ oil saturation, oil by Gas Cycling
a continuous injection of gas. Each injec- production at standard conditions, and When a gas/condensate reservoir is de-
tion phase followed the same protocol: individual-component production rate. pleted below the dewpoint, a valuable
Start injection at 2 cm3/h and wait for 3. Check whether reservoir-condition liquid phase called retrograde conden-
stabilization in production and pressure production and differential pressure are sate forms; a standard recovery practice
drop (i.e., no further saturation changes); matched properly. If not, find a modified consists of cycling dry gas so that, in ad-
raise rate to 4 cm3/h until steady state is set of relative permeability and capillary dition to (partially or wholly) maintain-
reached and then to 8 cm3/h to eliminate pressure curves and go to Step 2. ing pressure, liquid components may
capillary end effects; and, finally, mea- This methodology is iterative but con- be produced as vapor. The problem is
sure permeability of injected phase with verges very quickly. Two iterations were analogous to that of oil recovery by gas
Darcy’s law by decreasing the rate step sufficient to history match the experi- injection, except that quasicomplete re-
by step. ment successfully. covery is often observed in coreflood
All tested methods can provide a good experiments after sufficient pore vol-
History Matching. History matching match of the average in-situ oil satura- umes (PVs) have been injected. When
of the experiment was performed with tion; however, only the SDTEC model and the experiment duration is too short,
IHRRS on a 2D model with fine verti- another investigated model (α-factors it can usually still be matched to simu-
cal gridding to resolve gravity segrega- model) are able to match the evolution lation by use of the thermodynamic-
tion accurately and a horizontal block of the molar fractions of the different equilibrium assumption, provided that
spacing matching the longitudinal dis- produced cuts properly. The SDTEC ap- important physical parameters such as
persivity; gas fingering has not been ob- proach gives results very similar to those hydrodynamic dispersion are taken into
served during the simulations. An eight- of the α-factors model, while needing to account appropriately.

Because of macroscopic heterogene- method applies to both black-oil and ed number of coefficients and the match-
ities, however, it is not certain that com- compositional formalism. Its essence ing process can be automated easily; still,
plete thermodynamic equilibrium should is to reduce the vaporizability of the it is flexible enough with one tunable pa-
be observed in gridblocks in field-scale intermediate-to-heavy components as rameter per component.
simulations. For instance, gravity segre- the oil saturation decreases toward the Of course, it is an engineering solu-
gation of mobile condensate could cause desired target, while leaving the equilib- tion in the sense that it does not de-
the accumulation of localized clusters, rium of light components unchanged (or rive from well-identified physical pro-
which would later be bypassed by the possibly slightly modified). The thresh- cesses or from a rigorous upscaling of
cycling gas. The modeling of such phe- old between light and intermediate-to- the kind. In the authors’ experience with
nomena is difficult and outside the scope heavy components is based on a num- near-miscible gas-injection coreflooding,
of the present paper; the authors’ pur- ber of considerations. It is particularly it can be used easily for matching satura-
pose in this work is to illustrate how important to ensure that the perturbed tions and individual-component produc-
the SDTEC method, developed and im- flash has a single solution, and that phys- tion vs. time.
plemented in IHRRS and aimed at the ical mechanisms relevant to the consid- The proposed SDTEC form also applies
modeling of residual oil saturation to ered problem are not altered. to the simulation of limited retrograde-
gasflooding, can be used to enforce in- Introducing nonequilibrium effects by condensate revaporization during gas cy-
complete revaporization of condensate. SDTEC has several advantages with re- cling. It does indeed enable equilibrium
The authors discuss this capacity using spect to other published methods. First, dropout of condensate where the liquid
the synthetic example of the third SPE the equilibrium modification is “local” saturation increases, while becoming ac-
comparative-solution project in the com- (i.e., the thermodynamic constraints in tive during the revaporization period.
plete paper. each cell involve only properties of said Phenomena potentially causing incom-
cell), contrary to nonequilibrium mod- plete revaporization of condensate are
Conclusion els with rate-limited interphase mass typically above laboratory scale; hence,
The purpose of this paper was to pres- transfer where spatial gradients are part it is difficult to anticipate the appropri-
ent a new method to enforce nonzero of the constraints. Second, contrary to ate parameters to use. The method could
residual-oil saturation in near-miscible basic saturation-exclusion methods, it nevertheless be useful for sensitivity
gasflooding simulation on the basis ensures oil degassing during primary de- studies and for matching purposes, pro-
of the addition of a saturation depen- pletion or final blowdown. Third, unlike vided that appropriate monitoring of the
dence to the equilibrium constants. The the α-factors method, it requires a limit- reservoir behavior is available. JPT
UNIVERSITY OF REGINA
Shale Plays Development
Three Tenure-Track Positions Available
Optimization www.amros.us
Applications are invited for one tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor
position, one tenure-track Lecturer position and one tenure-track Lab
Instructor position at the University of Regina. Details on these positions
can be found at http://www.uregina.ca/hr/careers.
Amros Corporation uses standard
The preferred candidates for the professorial positions (Assistant/
open-hole log data to calculate a
Associate Professor, or Lecturer) should have the education, ability and production profile that shows where
enthusiasm to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in Petroleum
Systems Engineering, in the areas such as reservoir engineering, reservoir recoverable oil is located, where to
simulation, well testing, formation evaluation, drilling engineering,
production engineering, enhanced oil recovery, heavy oil recovery, and
frack vertical wells and where to drill
other fundamental and applied subjects of petroleum systems engineering. and frack horizontal wells.
The preferred candidates for Lab Instructor position should have the
qualifications to teach undergraduate lab courses in Petroleum Systems
Engineering. The successful candidate should have the appropriate
credentials for registration as a Professional Engineer in the Province In the Permian Basin Amros
of Saskatchewan, Canada, and will have a Ph.D. degree in Engineering
(M.A.Sc. or Ph.D. Engineering degree for the Lecturer and Lab-Instructor
Technology reduces the cost of
positions) with a preference for a graduate degree in Petroleum Engineering fracking up to 50% while increasing
or a closely related discipline. A demonstrated commitment to teaching and
research are required. Industrial experience is particularly valued. well production at least 20% with an
All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and average of 900% rate of return.
permanent residents will be given priority.

The University of Regina is committed to achieving a representative
workforce, and qualified diversity group members are encouraged to self
FRACK LESS – PRODUCE MORE
identify on their applications.
Most Promising Company at

University of Regina
3737 Wascana Parkway RICE Alliance in 2015 twice
Regina, SK S4S 0A2

Designing an Optimized
Surfactant Flood in the Bakken
50
T he Bakken is one of the most
prolific plays in North America,
but, even with the deployment
Recovery Factor (% original oil in place)

of horizontal wells and hydraulic 40
fracturing, anticipated recovery factors
under primary depletion are usually in
the range of 10 to 20%. Waterflooding 30
has been a commonly deployed
technology in conventional reservoirs
to enhance recovery beyond primary 20
depletion. However, the Bakken’s PE* at 100×CMC
ultratight, largely oil-wet nature limits PE* at 10×CMC
the potential of waterflooding. As an PE at CMC
10
alternative, an optimally spaced well-
Low-Salinity Water
to-well surfactant-flooding technology
is proposed.
0
0.1 1 10 100 1,000
Introduction Time (hrs)
Recent studies focusing on wettabili-
ty alteration by use of surfactant in the Fig. 1—Recovery vs. time for spontaneous-imbibition tests comparing
performance of PE as a function of concentration.
Bakken have shown strong potential.
Spontaneous-imbibition tests in Bak- taining key performance indicators that Corrosion inhibitor and biocide are in-
ken cores show recovery factors that are discussed in the complete paper. cluded in the PE* formulation to mitigate
can exceed 30% and sometimes achieve any risk of wellbore corrosion or micro-
up to 60%. However, in an ultralow- Experimental Methodology bial activity, both of which could pres-
permeability system, the rate of surfac- Chemical-System Development and ent a threat, particularly over long injec-
tant imbibition is perhaps more impor- Qualification. This paper discusses a tion durations. Choline chloride as a clay
tant than the ultimate recovery factor. novel nonionic-surfactant production stabilizer is also included in the full fluid
Initial studies show potential, but to enhancer (PE) which is blended into a system. Clay stabilizer is included in the
achieve an economical surfactant recov- full chemical system (PE*). The nonionic formulation as a precautionary measure.
ery process, ultrahigh imbibition rates chemical formulation of PE makes it Scale inhibitor is also included in the
must be achieved. In addition to the tech- highly compatible with the additives in PE* formulation.
nical challenges associated with stability, the full fluid system such as corrosion in-
compatibility, and injectivity, economical hibitor, scale inhibitor, and biocide. Chemical-System Performance. To
deployment of surfactant in a marginally Compatibility with the native fluids is evaluate recovery potential and imbi-
profitable play such as the Bakken is an- also examined. Emulsion studies show bition rates, a series of spontaneous-
other major challenge. To minimize the that PE acts as a de-emulsifier, resulting imbibition tests was carried out using
surfactant required for a successful pro- in faster separation between Bakken oil the PE and PE* formulations at varying
cess, a surfactant would ideally have an and Bakken brine than can be achieved in concentrations to evaluate their perfor-
ultralow critical micelle concentration its absence. PE is also highly suitable for mance potential. All tests were carried
(CMC) and low adsorption while main- operation in extreme conditions. out on preserved core plugs from the
Middle Bakken.
It is clear that PE performs substantial-
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights ly better than an alternative surfactant,
of paper SPE 175937, “Designing an Optimized Surfactant Flood in the Bakken,” by which was selected to be representative
Matthew Dawson, Statoil; Duy Nguyen, Nalco Champion; and Huina Li, Statoil, of typical surfactants used in previous
prepared for the 2015 SPE/CSUR Unconventional Resources Conference, Calgary, spontaneous-imbibition studies in the
20–22 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Bakken. It is also evident that surfactant

has potential to accelerate water imbibi- cussed in this paper use approximately would not allow for fractures to reach all
tion into Bakken core over brine alone. 150,000 bbl of water. the way to the adjacent wellbore.
In developing a surfactant-flood
model, it is critical to understand at what Natural-Fracture Characterization. Results and Discussion
concentration the surfactant system be- An integrated program consisting of Recovery Effect. By upscaling the
gins to impact the wettability and thus logging, coring, pressure testing, and laboratory-based, history-matched mod-
the relative permeability and capillary fluid tracing is used to gain insight into els and incorporating the field-scale frac-
pressure behavior. It is equally critical fault and fracture distribution in the ture characterization, full-scale well-to-
to understand the concentration above target area of the Bakken for use in a well models are developed to examine
which there is no longer any additional surfactant-flooding reservoir model. the potential of surfactant flooding in
benefit. Insight into the latter parameter Methodology of this program is detailed the Middle Bakken. The model includes
can be obtained by determining the CMC. in the complete paper. two wells, with half-symmetry along the
It is expected that the CMC will be In total, approximately 100 natural axes of the wells. Each well is hydrauli-
even lower at reservoir temperatures fractures are identified in the horizon- cally fractured and produced under pri-
near 115°C. The ultralow CMCs for PE tal core; however, a large percentage (ap- mary production for approximately 12.5
indicate that PE may be effective even proximately 40%) are found to termi- years. The primary-production models
at low concentrations. This hypothesis nate within the 29/16-in.-diameter core generate realistic production curves, gas/
is tested by investigating spontaneous itself, indicating that most, if not all, of oil ratios, and water cuts for the target
imbibition of PE at varying concentra- these fractures are likely small in scale. area. After 12.5 years, one of the wells
tions. Fig. 1 shows recovery vs. time for Another key observation is that a vast is converted from a producer to an in-
a range of concentrations at 115°C. The majority of the natural fractures identi- jector while the other well remains on
base-case concentration starts near the fied have the same orientation. This in- production to simulate a pattern, line-
CMC. As expected, similar recovery per- dicates that even if they are areally ex- drive, well-to-well flood. The production
formance is displayed even at ultralow tensive, they likely do not result in an uplift is then modeled over 12.5 years
concentrations near the CMC. However, extensively connected fracture network of injection.
the rate of recovery is slower at concen- and, thus, would not contribute substan- The most important sensitivity param-
trations near the CMC. To establish the tially to production. Overall, although eters for this recovery process are (1)
threshold concentration above which the many natural fractures are identified, it fracture half-length and (2) overlap and
surfactant remains fully effective, the im- is believed on the basis of the core analy- adsorption. It is evident that the poten-
pact of adsorption must be taken into ac- sis that they are mostly small in scale and tial of a well-to-well flooding process is
count. Static adsorption tests are carried not extensively connected. highly sensitive to fracture half-length
out on a number of rock types using both The lack of an extensively intercon- (fracture overlap). Very limited over-
cleaned and native-state samples in the nected natural-fracture network is further lap would not yield significant recovery
presence of oil and brine. The adsorption supported by results of an extensive pres- uplifts within an economic time frame;
data at known surfactant concentrations sure- and fluid-communication program. however, even moderate hydraulic-
are then used in a history-match study fracture overlaps can yield significant
of the low-concentration spontaneous- Hydraulic Fracture Characterization. recovery uplifts for surfactant flooding
imbibition tests. Representative curves Pressure- and fluid-communication in the Middle Bakken. The second-most-
for surfactant adsorption vs. surfactant tests are also used to determine critical sensitivity parameter for surfac-
concentration are then developed along hydraulic-fracture properties. This ap- tant flooding the Middle Bakken is sur-
with surfactant-concentration thresh- proach is applied to evaluate the geome- factant adsorption. If adsorption is too
olds for wettability alteration. try of hydraulic fractures emanating from high, much of the surfactant will be lost
a Middle Bakken well completed with near the injection-well fractures, and the
Reservoir Characterization slickwater. The average fracture half- ability to alter the wettability favorably
Horizontal wells are used to develop the length in the analyzed area is determined will be limited. If, however, surfactant is
Middle Bakken (reservoir properties are to be 1,300 ft, with an approximate frac- able to propagate into the reservoir ef-
detailed in the complete paper). They ture height of 300 ft. It is important to fectively and alter the wettability, as has
are approximately 10,000 ft in length note that the total fracture half-length been observed on the laboratory scale,
and often use multistage plug-and- is not completely filled with proppant the effect on recovery can be quite favor-
perforation techniques, typically with 20 and that the conductivity of the fracture able. In the case of fracture half-lengths
to 40 fracture stages. Hydraulic stim- varies with distance from the wellbore of 1,400 ft and adsorption on the lower
ulations in the target area have tradi- and drops below optimal conductivity end of the range observed in the labora-
tionally been hybrid jobs, but the in- approximately 1,000 ft from the well. tory, the model predicts incremental oil
vestigation presented in this paper will Nevertheless, from an injection stand- recovery from the two wells to be more
examine flooding potential between point, this fracture half-length would than 1.25 million bbl in 12.5 years, repre-
wells that have been completed with yield significant hydraulic-fracture over- senting a 130% increase in recovery.
large slickwater jobs. Slickwater jobs dis- lap between Middle Bakken wells, but it
(Continued on page 92)

Method for Adaptive Optimization
of EOR Performance Under Uncertainty
E nhanced-oil-recovery (EOR)
performance may be assessed
quantitatively through a variety of
that analysis to gain insight into the sub-
sequent measurement-program design
and interpretation.
cause convergence is often much faster
than for the initial run. The process of
optimizing under uncertainty will lead to
metrics. Because formation and fluid a set of parameters that provide the opti-
properties are often poorly characterized, Optimization Under mum of the objective function (F).
however, performance predictions Uncertainty and GSA
of EOR processes are uncertain. The Optimization Algorithms. The optimi- Mean-Variance Approach and Effi-
authors present a method to reduce zation scheme of choice for this study was cient Frontier. The objective function
such uncertainty in EOR performance the radial basis function (RBF), a rapid for optimization under uncertainty may
adaptively while identifying an optimal and robust proxy scheme based on a trust take any desired units. After execution
operational strategy for a given tolerance region but validated against the underly- of an optimization run (with one or more
to risk. The proposed approach allows ing simulation model. This scheme has risk-aversion factors), one may be able to
one to reduce uncertainty progressively been proved to be well-suited for optimi- construct an “efficient frontier.”
in the predicted performance of an zation problems involving very expensive A set of solutions to the optimization
iteratively optimized EOR strategy by objective functions because it can fur- problem can be plotted in coordinates,
systematic reduction of uncertainty in nish good gains rapidly once trained with where optimal points corresponding to
identified properties of the reservoir. N+1 model realizations (where N is the predefined values of λ will form an ef-
number of control parameters). ficient frontier (Fig. 1). The slope of the
Introduction The common features in the afore- objective-function values on the frontier
Classic approaches to optimization mentioned optimization schemes are is representative of the penalty accept-
under uncertainty use a mean-variance their suitability for expensive simulation- ed by the decision maker for accepting a
approach. However, they do not pro- based objective functions and their prov- certain degree of risk. By running the op-
vide necessary insight into the underly- en track record of robustness, a critical timization separately for different user-
ing nature of the uncertainties inherent element in any optimization-scheme se- defined values of λ (each requiring a sepa-
in the optimized model. More impor- lection. Genetic- or evolutionary-based rate optimization run), one may plot the
tantly, they do not provide any specific solvers may be advertised as “global,” standard deviation σ on the x-axis and the
quantitative guidance on reducing such but one needs to question how such a mean µ on the y-axis to construct the con-
uncertainty, which is necessary from an claim may be validated when the objec- vex hull of optima—the efficient frontier.
operational point of view. This issue is tive function is very expensive to com- If one assumes normality in outcomes,
addressed in this study directly by com- pute. RBF and artificial-neural-network then one can assign a confidence to a spe-
bining global sensitivity analysis (GSA) schemes may not promise “global” min- cific optimum located on the frontier.
with optimization under uncertainty, in ima, but they do promise good solution The efficient frontier should be down-
an adaptive work flow, for systematic improvement, which is perfectly accept- ward sloping from right to left (Fig. 1).
uncertainty reduction of the optimized able considering the nature of the under- The top right point represents the op-
model prediction. Application of GSA to lying objective function. Furthermore, if timum value obtained from a run with
address various problems arising in the one initiates a second optimization run λ=0.0. This would represent a risk-
industry has been discussed in a num- by use of the best results from the previ- neutral policy. For λ=0.0, one effectively
ber of studies. However, these studies fo- ous optimization run as starting values, optimizes only for the mean, F=µ. The
cused mainly on quantifying uncertainty further upside potential may be obtained decision maker is, therefore, willing to
for specific physical quantities and using without excessively long run times be- accept that the mean value of the asset
will have a 50% probability of being re-
alized, with everything else being equal.
As the value of risk aversion is in-
of paper SPE 173295, “Method for Adaptive Optimization of EOR Performance Under creased (i.e., λ>0), a lower µ is inevi-
Uncertainty,” by N. Chugunov, T.S. Ramakrishnan, A. Lukyanov, and W.J. Bailey, table. Note, however, that in practice, a
Schlumberger, and D. Wilkinson, Efficient Solutions, prepared for the 2015 SPE smooth convex efficient frontier is not
Reservoir Simulation Symposium, Houston, 23–25 February. The paper has not been always achievable. This may be because
peer reviewed. of the nature of the underlying model or

C B Discussion
tier A
Fron While optimal polymer-injection profiles
ient
D Effic
will vary for different reservoirs, both de-
E terministic and probabilistic solutions
F suggest injecting polymer from the very
G start of the project. Polymer effective-
Suboptimal Points
ness can, however, be diminished signifi-
Mean, µ
H
Point λ Percentile cantly because of reduced injectivity at
A 0.0 50.00% increasing polymer concentrations. Re-
B 0.5 69.14%
C 1.0 84.13% sults of GSA further support this argu-
D 1.5 93.32% ment, indicating that uncertainty in the
E 2.0 97.72%
F 2.5 99.34% shear-thinning model is the most signifi-
G 3.0 99.86% cant contributor to overall uncertainty in
H 4.0 99.99%
Standard Deviation, σ
oil recovery in this model. It is important
to reiterate that each point on the effi-
cient frontier is a statistical representa-
Fig. 1—Example of an efficient frontier constructed from multiple optimization
tion of a set of model realizations for a
runs of F=µ−λσ for eight different values of λ. Thus, the frontier of optima (the
convex hull) is constructed from the eight separate optimization runs. These given solution vector of control parame-
points are labeled A through H, representing the optimum value of each run ters α. It is instructive to examine this set
for the value of λ specified. For each point (requiring N simulations) there of model realizations in more detail. One
exists a unique set of control parameters λ so the results have operational
meaning. The confidence values for each value of λ are shown in the insert
way to do this is by generating probability
table (assuming a normal distribution of outcomes). Any point located under maps, where each grid cell of the reservoir
the efficient frontier is suboptimal; only the points on the efficient frontier is represented by a probability of a given
itself (as labeled) should be considered for operational purposes. Different physical property to exceed a predefined
colors and marker shapes of the points correspond to different values of λ. The
empty region above the efficient frontier is unfeasible given the state of the
threshold value. Probability maps can pro-
current model inputs and uncertainties. If one (partially) resolved some or all vide important insights into the perfor-
of these uncertainties, then the efficient frontier will likely shift to the left. mance of the reservoir and can allow one
to focus on a particular physical process
because the algorithm found a local op- ability distribution functions for each un- and its effects on overall performance of
timum. In the latter case, good practice certain parameter βi. the reservoir in terms of sweep efficiency.
is to initiate another, second optimiza- 2. Perform optimization under uncer- In general, after reducing the range of
tion run, initializing this new run with tainty [max F(α), where F=µ(α)−λσ(α)], the uncertain parameters identified by
the best values obtained from the previ- to determine the relevant points on the GSA, a shift of the efficient frontier to the
ous run as starting points. This will, it is efficient frontier for various values of λ. left is expected. However, the opposite
hoped, enable the optimizer to “jump” 3. For a given point on the efficient effect is also possible when the local vari-
out of the local minimum and find a bet- frontier (defined by the prescribed value ance of values in the physical quantity of
ter (presumably global) optimum. of λ and corresponding values of control interest in the updated (reduced) range
From an operational perspective, the parameters αλ), calculate GSA sensitivity of the uncertain parameter is higher than
goal is to reduce this risk while retain- indices with the function Y(β)=y(αλ,β) that observed in the initial range. Even
ing (as much as possible) the level of 4. Rank uncertain parameters β ac- for this exceptional case, the authors
expected performance (represented by cording to their value of S1. argue that the approach described pro-
µ). To reduce the uncertainty, one needs 5. Obtain additional, targeted, mea- vides an iterative and accurate estimate
to understand where it is coming from. surements to reduce uncertainty of those of the risk/reward profile for a given EOR
Therefore, a quantitative link between parameters, β, with high values of the scenario and allows one to avoid costly
uncertainties in input parameters (β) and first-order sensitivity index (S1) and re- mistakes that would result in an under-
uncertainty in the output is desirable. define their probability-distribution performing reservoir.
This is accomplished by use of GSA on the functions accordingly. It is important to reiterate two main out-
basis of variance decomposition. A dis- 6. Optional: keep fixed parameters β comes of GSA. First-order effects quantita-
cussion of GSA and its execution is pro- with low values of total effects (ST) (less tively identify the input parameters con-
vided in the complete paper. than 0.05) in order to reduce the dimen- tributing the most to the uncertainty of
sionality of the optimization problem. the performance metric. Often overlooked,
Optimization Work Flow 7. Repeat Steps 2 through 6 until an ac- but arguably equally important, are the
A summary of the proposed generalized ceptable level of risk/reward is achieved total effects, where parameters with ST
work flow is shown in Fig. 2 of the com- or until the decision is made that the values below a predefined threshold may
plete paper. The main steps include desired level of performance cannot be be excluded from subsequent analysis,
1. Define control variables (α) and un- achieved with the acceptable level of risk. thereby reducing effective dimensionality
certain parameters (β). If feasible, define An illustrative example of the work of the problem and decreasing the compu-
ranges for control variables. Define prob- flow is provided in the complete paper. tational cost of the analysis. JPT

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Mature Fields and Well Revitalization

Jesse Lee, SPE, Chemistry Technology Manager, Schlumberger
In last year’s Technology Focus concern- In light of the challenging through precisely addressing isolation,
ing mature fields, I highlighted safety, diversion, and placement, for example.
well integrity, and digital technology as environment our industry The last point is about achieving
the three enablers for achieving sustain- is facing, I would suggest investment returns and, at the same
able returns. In light of the challeng- time, exceeding corporate environmen-
ing environment our industry is facing,
that JPT readers become tal responsibility. It seems unlikely that
I would suggest that JPT readers become familiar with refracturing we can have our cake and eat it, too. How-
familiar with refracturing techniques, techniques, technology/ ever, I have witnessed enough examples
technology/methodology that improves (mostly outside of our industry) to realize
efficiency, and opportunities that achieve methodology that that this certainly can be achieved. The
positive financial impact and exceed improves efficiency, and journey will not be easy. Some examples
environmental responsibility. take more than 15 years of persistence
First of all, the surge in unconvention-
opportunities that achieve and investment to become established. I
al completions over the last decade has positive financial impact sincerely encourage JPT readers to incor-
created ample candidates for hydraulic and exceed environmental porate this aspect into their professional
refracturing. With the proper implemen- responsibility and continue to challenge
tation of new and improved techniques, responsibility. themselves and their teams.
followed by diligent economic analysis, In this editorial, I talked about refrac-
refracturing has been demonstrated to turing, efficiency, and environmental
be a viable alternative to the more expen- ogy that precisely and effectively locates responsibility. Therefore, I have selected
sive endeavor of drilling and completing the remaining oil in mature reservoirs. In several papers on these topics to share
new wells. There are numerous informa- addition to identifying potential oppor- with you. We all know 2016 will be a
tive and enlightening SPE publications on tunities, it also serves to derisk project challenging year for our industry; how-
this topic. investment and allows key decisions to ever, I am sure this is the driving force
Speaking of technology and method- be made in a timely manner. that we need to take our industry to the
ology that improves efficiency, these are The other example is a stimulation next level. JPT
the technologies that will be embraced technique that is designed to deliver
and adopted quickly by the industry, pinpoint accuracy. These are technolo-
especially in this challenging environ- gy enablers that, when combined, could Recommended additional reading
ment. One of the examples is a methodol- significantly improve well performance at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
IPTC 17718 Successful Restimulation of
Western Siberian Oil Fields With Channel
Jesse Lee, SPE, is chemistry technology manager at Fracturing Technique by Alexey Yudin,
Schlumberger. He holds a PhD degree in chemistry from Yale Schlumberger, et al.
University and conducted post-doctoral research at the
SPE 173340 Refracturing in Eagle Ford
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Lee joined Schlumberger and Bakken To Increase Reserves and
in 1997 in Tulsa as a development engineer, focused on the Generate Incremental NPV—Field Study
development of polymer-based fracturing fluids. During 2000– by YagnaDeepika Oruganti, Baker Hughes,
10, he managed new-product development at Schlumberger et al.
product centers in Sugar Land, Texas, and Clamart, France. At
SPE 173601 Reduced Emissions and
Schlumberger, Lee is responsible for developing technical collaborations and Increased Production Through Gas
managing relationships with external chemical companies. He is a member of the JPT Compressors: Pilot Case in Colombia by
Editorial Committee. J.C.M. Escobar-Remolina, Ecopetrol, et al.

Refracturing: A Second Chance
To Get It Right Through Diagnostics
T he surge in unconventional
completions has created a
substantial accumulation of previously
antimony-124. The tracers are pumped
primarily throughout the proppant-
laden portion of the stimulation. A spec-
represent recovery of the well’s newly
displaced fracturing fluid instead of fluid
from an offset. To determine effective
hydraulically fractured wells that are tral gamma ray logging tool is run to drainage areas and optimized well spac-
candidates for hydraulic refracturing. identify near-wellbore proppant place- ings adequately in both initial and refrac-
Completion diagnostics are a valuable ment of each individual tracer. The prop- ture completions, it is critical to evalu-
tool in determining the most cost- pant tracers are ceramic beads, typically ate the magnitude, duration, and type of
effective stimulation and completion 40/70 mesh. The specific isotopes fall communication observed.
parameters, part of the refracturing in a sweet-spot of half-lives that make Fluid-tracer technology has been used
optimization process. Refracturing them ideal for this application. Through extensively in new completions to pro-
allows the operator to capitalize on the years, production-log data have file fracturing-fluid and hydrocarbon re-
this continuous improvement in shown an excellent correlation with coveries, and it is often used to quanti-
stimulation design. It also provides near-wellbore proppant placement, and fy interwell communication. Its use as a
an excellent opportunity to add this same strong correlation exists with refracturing diagnostic tool is relatively
incremental production. traced refracturing. new and primarily focuses on determin-
In initial fracturing operations, ing the created refracturing geometry
Introduction proppant-tracing technology can be very and the effective drainage area. When run
The primary purpose of refracturing is useful in addressing the questions of un- in conjunction with proppant tracers, it
to increase production from an exist- stimulated perforation clusters, prop- allows a time-lapse image of any offset
ing wellbore through stimulation of new pant coverage across the lateral, and “fracture hits.”
rock and the re-establishing of conduc- cluster and stage spacing. It can also Hydrocarbon tracers in conjunc-
tive pathways between the reservoir and be used to highlight possible fracture- tion with proppant and fluid tracers
wellbore. This paper analyzes diagnos- geometry changes by looking at the near- can play a critical role in addressing
tic results for a variety of wells in re- wellbore signature (transverse or lon- these offset-communication questions.
stimulated formations around the coun- gitudinal) of the three distinct tracers. They offer the opportunity to obtain
try (data for all 69 wells restimulated in For multiwell projects, proppant tracers a direct measurement of the commu-
11 formations are provided in the com- can be an excellent tool to measure offset nication and of the type of overall hy-
plete paper). This analysis process il- proppant communication directly. drocarbon drainage area that is being
lustrates that all formations are unique developed (e.g., how much of the re-
and need to be evaluated independently. Offset-Communication Analysis. Re- serves are being shared).
What works well in one area often does cent studies have shown that early inter-
not apply in other areas because of reser- well communication does not necessarily The Refracturing Process
voir differences along with pressure and correspond to long-term communication. Candidate Selection. Developing a
temperature variances. Surface-pressure and water-production master list of available wellbores and
changes are two observed indicators of then grading or ranking candidates by
Diagnostics offset communication. Though a pres- key criteria can improve overall proj-
Proppant Tracers. The primary diag- sure response in an offset well is an in- ect economics significantly. One of the
nostic technique discussed in this paper dication of fracture pressure communi- best criteria to use initially is any large
is proppant tracing, using three dis- cation, it does not definitively indicate unstimulated area identified by original
tinct low-level gamma-emitting trac- a well-connected fracture system. Simi- completion diagnostics.
ers: iridium-192, scandium-46, and larly, increases in water production can It is important to have a strategy in
place to test and confirm (diagnostically)
conceptual ideas early in the refractur-
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights ing program. This will allow operators
of paper SPE 174979, “Refracturing—Diagnostics Provide a Second Chance To Get It to accelerate the optimization process
Right,” by R.S. Leonard, SPE, C.P. Moore, SPE, R.A. Woodroof, SPE, and C.W. Senters, and ultimately gain sufficient knowl-
SPE, Core Laboratories, prepared for the 2015 SPE Annual Technical Conference and edge to “get it right the second time.”
Exhibition, Houston, 28–30 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed. One past mistake was restimulating an

insufficient number of wells with little Other operators are using nonmechan- Performance Metrics. To compare re-
to no evaluation data and then aban- ical temporary isolation techniques such fracturing success from well to well ac-
doning the program before it had been as biodegradable ball sealers or poly- curately, basic decline-curve analy-
tested adequately. mers. These methods typically are not sis was performed on each well. In all
Another common error is to manage definitive isolation techniques, but offer cases, the original maximum monthly
expectations for a refracturing program a cost-effective approach to alter the rate and EUR were documented and com-
improperly. If the operator does an effec- stimulation path. The majority of these pared with the refracturing maximum
tive job of selecting the best candidates, products are designed to degrade with monthly rate and EUR. The key to this
then one should expect some reasonable temperature and pressure. The goal of analysis was consistency using the same
percentage of the original-completion this diversion technique is to force the economic limits. The primary goal of
initial productivity and estimated ulti- fracture to go to a new, unstimulated re- these EUR calculations was to have a
mate recovery (EUR). Typically, poor gion. However, the analysis of the data relative comparison of the quality of the
wells cannot be transformed into good indicates that new rock is seldom being refractured completions.
wells by the restimulation process. contacted after diversions. Anecdotal ev-
idence from a small data set of wells indi- Clusters Stimulated. Determining clus-
Perforation/Completion Design. The cates that proppant slugs are as effective ters stimulated is a straightforward pro-
primary goal of restimulation is to con- as or more effective than degradable iso- cess of examining detected gamma rays
tact new rock. Most operators are add- lation products in generating a surface- across a perforated interval. It is normal
ing new perforations in an attempt to pressure increase. for given perforation depths to vary from
have the refracturing initiate at differ- The final method of diversion that is where they are detected, sometimes by
ent points along the wellbore. Prop- currently being tested within the indus- as much as 40 ft. In some cases, tracer
pant tracers are used to determine try is based on various treatment-design responses split two clusters; barring ex-
what percentages of the new perfora- changes such as sand slugs, stacking of tensive growth, credit for stimulation is
tions are being stimulated relative to the multiple complete fracturing jobs, and given to only one cluster. When looking at
existing perforations. actual job shutdowns. These methods are images from refracturing, it is important
Developing an effective perforation likely the most cost-effective and offer to take into account the magnitude of the
strategy is critical to maximizing overall minimal risk. response, which encompasses footage
proppant coverage. The majority of the The true challenge is determining how along the length of the lateral and counts
operators performing refracturing are an operator evaluates diversion effec- detected. Observation of clusters treated
placing perforations along the entire lat- tiveness. The simplest diagnostic mea- at the heel can give an idea of the near-
eral. Unfortunately, this data suggest that surement of diversion effectiveness is wellbore response that indicates being
approximately 2,300 ft is the longest in- monitoring surface-pressure changes; clearly stimulated.
terval that can be restimulated consis- however, the pressure system in the well- One recommendation for refracture
tantly; the challenge is avoiding the pref- bore is complex enough to mask such design is the inclusion of new clusters
erential treatment of the heel. Several changes. The reality is that not all diver- from the midpoint to the toe, the purpose
operators are now considering the use sion is effective. being to force fracturing fluid toward the
of high-energy propellant-assisted per- Natural diversion is a cost-effective op- end of the lateral. A tradeoff is made be-
forating in the toe interval to increase tion that warrants some consideration. tween covering gaps in the heel half vs.
the likelihood of more-effective prop- The concept is to achieve the path of least stimulating deeper footage. Stimulation
pant coverage. Another technique that resistance through a clean perforating is difficult to achieve beyond 2,300 ft
has been used is initially perforating the tunnel or mini-fracture vs. an existing from the heel.
toe half of the lateral. perforation that could have scale build-
up, stress changes, and proppant placed Near-Wellbore Footage Treated. Calcu-
Diversion. Operators are using a multi- during a previous stimulation. This data lated near-wellbore footage treated is the
tude of diversion techniques to avoid re- set supports the theory that new perfo- number of feet along the wellbore show-
stimulating the same rock as the original rations can effectively break down during a tracer response.
completion. Some operators have elect- ing the treatment even when there are
ed to use mechanical techniques to semi- open, partially depleted perforations al- Clearly Stimulated Length From Heel
permanently isolate the existing perfora- ready in place. Cluster. A metric derived from the diag-
tions with cement, casing patches, coiled nostics is the length clearly stimulated
tubing, or liners. This provides maxi- Data Analytics from the heel cluster. The purpose of this
mum flexibility for the number of stages Diagnostic, completion, stimulation, and metric is to determine the continuous
and stage spacing; however, it involves production data for the 69 refractures, footage treated—essentially, how much
some additional costs, mechanical risks, sorted by completion type, are presented of the lateral was stimulated effectively.
and possible fracture-rate limitations. It and discussed in the complete paper. For This differs from the near-wellbore foot-
also potentially abandons any existing the purpose of this study, multiple diag- age treated in that more of the job was
production unless remedial work is per- nostic metrics were captured from wells
formed to remove the isolation. that used proppant tracers. (Continued on page 92)

An Integrated Methodology To Locate Oil
Opportunities in Mature Reservoirs
A matured field is currently

producing with greater than
85% water cut (WC) and has significant
shore-face deposits. Sands are loosely
consolidated, fine- to very-fine-grained,
and interbedded with layers of silts and
reservoirs in 1980; no samples were
taken from Deep reservoirs. The reser-
voirs mostly contain light oil. Crude-
levels of uncertainty with respect to clays. Porosity ranges from 14 to 26%, oil gravity varies from approximately
oil/water contact (OWC), flank with a fieldwide mean of 20%. The per- 20 °API in the Shallow reservoirs to ap-
structure, depth of spill points, meabilities are on the order of 50 to proximately 40 °API in the Main reser-
production allocation, and residual 3,000 md. Net sand thicknesses are less voirs. The deeper reservoirs contain oil
oil saturation. A robust work flow than 30 ft, with most individual sands at of 40 to 43 °API.
was developed to identify infill approximately 10 ft. The reservoirs are
opportunities by integrating material- subdivided into three categories: Challenges
balance study, cased-hole-log 1. Shallow reservoirs at depths of Despite being under production for al-
information, water diagnostic plots, 4,000 to 5,300 ft are characterized by most 40 years, only the Main reservoirs
decline-curve analysis, and other large gas caps and mostly thin oil rims have a completed static model. However,
information. The comprehensive and are currently considered unfaulted. this was based on the old 2D-seismic inter-
locate-the-remaining-oil (LTRO) 2. Main reservoirs at depths of 5,300 pretation. Hence, as part of the geological
methodologies applied have been to 6,000 ft with no gas caps are also cur- review, the new 3D-seismic interpreta-
successful and have helped to estimate rently considered unfaulted. tion was incorporated into the study and
the potential reserves as well. 3. Deep reservoirs at depths of 6,000 three static models were built for each of
to 9,500 ft can carry high pressures the West Lutong subreservoirs (Shallow,
Introduction and are dissected by a northwest- Main, and Deep). A full-field simulation
The field is 20 km offshore Sarawak, headed growth fault with possible asso- study was planned to evaluate infill and
Malaysia, in water depths of 100 ft. ciated additional faulting. enhanced-oil-recovery opportunities.
The field structure consists of a Production from the field started in One of the major concerns is the struc-
30,000×9,000-ft elongated anticline 1968, peaking in the early 1980s. Cur- tural interpretation; the structure spill
running northeast/southwest and com- rent oil production is approximate- point in the model is above the interpret-
prises a series of stacked reservoirs at ly 5,000 STB/D, with an average WC ed initial OWC. This leads to oil satura-
a depth of 4,000 to 9,500 ft. The field of 80%. The field has moderate to tion spilling over in some of the reser-
is considered structurally simple, with very strong aquifer support. The Shal- voirs in the static model, thus limiting the
a normal growth fault affecting only the low and Main reservoirs mostly expe- confidence in fluid saturation.
deep reservoirs and no other faults vis- rienced strong aquifer support. Cur- Another significant issue encountered
ible on 2D seismic or in the wells. rent reservoir pressures generally have in the modeling exercise was facies def-
The field reservoirs were deposit- declined by less than 10% below the inition. This problem became more se-
ed during the Late Miocene in a lower initial pressures. vere in the Shallow reservoirs because
coastal plain to the coastal environ- Subsurface pressure/volume/temper- the sands were more interlaminated and
ment. The depositional environment of ature (PVT) samples were collected from shaly in nature. Unavailability of core
this field is dominated by a sequence of Main reservoirs in 1968 and Shallow from shallow reservoirs has limited the
understanding of reservoir characteriza-
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights tion. This has led to various realizations
of paper IPTC 18004, “An Integrated Methodology To Locate the Remaining-Oil of facies modeling to tackle reservoir-
Opportunities in Mature Reservoirs in Offshore Sarawak, Malaysia,” by M.J. Zulhaimi, connectivity issues.
Finally, a significant challenge in this
W.M.S. Wan Ibrahim, S. Sanyal, K.A. Zamri, M.N. Mohamad, and K.N.M. Zaini,
mature field is the high recovery fac-
EORC; R.D. Tewari, Petronas; and A.K. Pradhan, ADCO, prepared for the 2014
tor in key reservoirs. This was initial-
International Petroleum Technology Conference, Kuala Lumpur, 10–12 December. The ly inferred to be caused by a potential
paper has not been peer reviewed. production-allocation issue and under-
estimation of stock-tank oil initially in
Copyright 2014 International Petroleum Technology Conference. Reproduced by place. The production-allocation study
permission. was performed, and no major concern

Well-Level Recent Well
Reservoir-Level
Well-Perforation Logs and
Performance Performance
and Log Analysis Cased-Hole-Log
Review Review
Analysis
Plot Drainage Stick Plots

Material Water
Radius To Estimate
Balance Diagnostic
(Allocated by Current
Analysis Plots
Layer) on Maps Contacts
Fig. 1—LTRO-1 work flow.
was observed. The lower volume in the An integrated methodology suitable 2. Estimating the potential reserves
model was found to be attributed to a for the identification of remaining- or (LTRO-2)
skewed porosity distribution owing to bypassed-oil opportunities in waterdrive In LTRO-1, the study focuses on
nonavailability of porosity logs in some reservoirs was developed and applied understanding and performing the
of the key wells. An exponential function in the work flow. The study was car- reservoir-level performance review and
from the porosity vs. gamma ray correla- ried out for each of the reservoir units. well-by-well performance reviews; in-
tion was used for generating pseudopo- Reservoir-performance review was first tegrating well-perforation and -log
rosity logs. Porosity modeling was im- carried out with material-balance and analysis; and leveraging available re-
proved by including the pseudoporosity average-fluid-contact-movement calcu- cent openhole logs and cased-hole
logs, which resulted in better control in lations to understand the drive mech- logs, water diagnostic plots, material-
porosity distribution. anism and estimate the potential cur- balance analysis, well-performance-
rent contacts. Together with animation stick plots, and bubble-map analysis
Rationale of LTRO Approach of production data on maps, a good view (Fig. 1).
A fit-for-purpose static model was ad- of the production aquifer-influx progres- LTRO-2 includes efforts to estimate
opted, followed by an integrated classical sion with time was obtained, enabling possible initial rates from analog wells
methodology to locate the remaining oil initial identification of potential remain- and productivity-index studies, decline-
and to estimate potential reserves. ing oil. Well-performance data were used curve analysis, ultimate-recovery statis-
A new static model that encompass- to evaluate the most likely current fluid tical analysis, density-map volumetric
es the three major groups of reser- contacts and location of remaining-oil analysis, and target ranking and priori-
voirs (Shallow, Main, and Deep), cover- opportunities. The inferred fluid con- tization (the work flow is illustrated in
ing more than 6,000 ft of rock column, tacts were calibrated with fluid contents Fig. 7 of the complete paper).
has been built with the revised struc- observed in recent openhole logs and There are a number of key assump-
ture, contacts, and petrophysical prop- cased-hole logs. tions made in the study. The first is
erties. This “Mega Model” is kept sim- that of production allocation. The
ple and coarse, with an average cell LTRO Methodologies commingled-production and estimated-
height of approximately 10 ft, while the and Work Flow ultimate-recovery (EUR) data were allo-
petrophysical properties were popu- The main methodologies of this work can cated to subreservoirs. The subreservoir
lated through normal kriging. Hence, be subdivided into two major categories: well is then used to estimate the poten-
no facies modeling was involved in this 1. Locating the potential drainage loca- tial ultimate drainage radius. This leads
work flow. tions (LTRO-1) to another key assumption: EUR drain-

age radius. The drainage radius is then
used as the basis for drawing the well
EUR bubble maps to identify potential
undrained remaining oil.
The next assumption is the deter-
mination of possible current gas/oil
contacts (PCGOC) and possible cur-
rent oil/water contacts (PCOWC). The
study assumes the movements of con-
tacts to be linear and uniform and ne-
glects the capillary and gravitation-
al forces. The PCGOC and PCOWC are
determined by integrating information
from recent well logs, material-balance
contact-movement studies, and well-
Registration Now Open!
production performance.
An example of the work flow is pro-
vided in the complete paper to illustrate
the application of the methodologies.
Results and Key Findings

The remaining-oil opportunities iden-
tified are located around the crest un-
derlain by an advancing aquifer (Main
and Deep reservoirs) or are located be-
tween a remaining gas cap and an ad-
vancing aquifer (Shallow reservoirs).
Oil production from the future drainage
points is expected to be accompanied
IADC/SPE
by high producing WC and, in some
cases, by high producing gas/oil ratio
DRILLING
(GOR). The bulk of potential oil recovery
would most likely be produced at a WC CONFERENCE
level of 50–95%. Early or immediate
water breakthrough would be expect- AND EXHIBITION
ed, and the potential oil reserves would
be recovered at increasingly higher WC. Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Those drainage points with remaining 1–3 March 2016
gas cap (Shallow reservoirs) would also
produce at high GOR.
Fort Worth Convention Center
Uncertainties in potential oil-recovery www.spe.org/events/dc/2016
volumes are associated with the current
fluid-contact uncertainties. The identi- Visit www.spe.org/events/dc/2016
fication of remaining-oil opportunities to learn more and sign up to receive
is based on inferences derived from re- conference updates and news.
viewing the remaining-oil opportunities
by use of an integrated conventional ap-
proach. The locations and fluid contacts
are therefore approximate. It is recom-
mended to mitigate this risk by confirm-
ing the higher-oil-saturation intervals
through logging, to optimize comple-
tion intervals. JPT

Conditioning Mature Vertical Wells
To Stimulate and Test Shale Productivity
O ne of the most promising targets

for resource-rock stimulation
in South America is the Vaca Muerta
1990s. The latter zone had approximate-
ly 30 wells, which had exhausted their
economic output from productive areas.
ment placement with proppant plugs for
diversion (HPAP-PPD). A candidate well
was then selected to evaluate the imple-
(VM) shale in western Argentina. It mentation of this new approach (Well D).
is common practice for operators to Phase 1—Study. Initially, of the 30 wells This well did not have a good set of open-
begin exploration projects with vertical in the area, only 22 were able to be op- hole logs, so the approach was to apply the
wells; however, in the Neuquina basin, erated, and only 11 of those had good- technique used in Well C (which already
most already-existing vertical wells quality cement covering the VM forma- had a well calibration). The well geome-
are not viable candidates to assess the tion. One significant point is that these try was similar to previous instances and
VM because they were not designed wells were not designed to meet the had perforation openings in the Quintuco
as shale-type completions. This paper pressure-rating requirements of a shale- (above the VM formation). Additionally,
discusses the preparation of a well type completion; they presented a vari- preconditioning of the location and well-
originally drilled in 1974 to allow for the ety of geometries and older technology. head was required; details of this process
new objective of hydraulic fracturing the A pilot plan was initiated for the evalu- are provided in the complete paper.
VM shale, to test the productivity of its ation of three wells—Wells A, B, and C.
different intervals. Candidates were selected on the basis of Phase 2—Swell-Packer Design. To
the reservoir and well conditions and the condition the well, the use of a pack-
Introduction logistics to be operated. er with a large internal diameter was
This field consists of three main for- required to allow the passage of the
mations—Los Molles, Tordillo, and Phase 1—Pilot Plan. A summary of each bottomhole assembly (BHA) on coiled
Lajas—and oil is produced in the north- of the wells was established in which the tubing (CT). Existing technology (swell-
ern part, known as Agua del Cajón. In main objectives and results were stated, packer) was used to adapt the new
the Agua del Cajón area, the VM for- as well as the developed learning curve. nontraditional application.
mation consists of mudstones and, very For the execution of the work in each of
sparingly, wackestones. the wells, it was necessary to condition Conditioning of Well and Preplanning.
The maximum temperature and them. Details of the pilot plan for each In the conditioning stage, the purpose
productivity-index (PI) values indicate well, and of the good results experienced was to prepare the final geometry for the
that the thickness of the center and for each, are provided in the complete pinpoint completion. Details of logging
northern area is in an oil window, while paper. Because of the positive results and other types of testing for this step are
southward is an early oil window or an from the pilot project, it was decided to provided in the complete paper.
immature formation. The Agua del Cajón attempt to improve the development of
has two distinct areas for its history the VM formation by making older verti- Operation of Well D
and development—a central zone gas, cal wells economically viable. Pinpoint Technique. The HPAP-PPD
currently in full production (El Salitral process in a vertical well is illustrated in
field) and a north zone (Agua del Cajón), Phase 2—Feasibility of New Comple- Fig. 1. The jetting-tool assembly is first
the drilling and exploitation of which tion Plan. To achieve the goals of the positioned at the lowermost intended
were very active in the 1970s and 1980. new completion plan, it was decided to fracture position (Fig. 1a). An abrasive
Development was completed with a use a pinpoint completion type called the slurry is then pumped into the CT and
secondary-recovery operation in the hydrajet-perforating, annular-path treat- jetted out of the tool at high pressures to
form perforations (Fig. 1b). At this time,
fracturing-pad fluid is pumped through
the annulus, increasing pressure rapid-
of paper SPE 172724, “Conditioning Pre-Existing Old Vertical Wells To Stimulate and
ly to cause a fracture to be generated
Test Vaca Muerta Shale Productivity Through the Application of Pinpoint Completion (Fig. 1c). The proppant slurry is then
Techniques,” by Pablo Forni, Capex, and Juan C. Bonapace, Federico Kovalenko, pumped into the fracture, and when the
Mariano N. Garcia, and Federico Sorenson, Halliburton, prepared for the 2015 fracture is extended satisfactorily, an in-
Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference, Manama, Bahrain, 8–11 March. The duced screenout is attempted to form a
paper has not been peer reviewed. solid pack in the fracture (Fig. 1d), and a

(a) Position tool (b) Perforate (c) Fracture (d) Pull tool (e) Clean and (f) Second fracture (g) Third fracture
reposition
Fig. 1—Steps of the HPAP-PPD technique.
“plug” of high-concentration proppant 5.0 bbl/min, achieving the same forma- centrations, so a change was made to
in a viscous gel is left within the wellbore. tion pressure response as observed previ- use 1.5 lbm/gal of 30/60-mesh proppant,
The CT is then lowered to the next perfo- ously. The fracture rate was increased to which resulted in a positive increase.
rating position while reverse cleaning (or 21.2 bbl/min with a wellhead pressure of After the sweep, the trend was stable
vacuuming) the sand plug (Fig. 1e), and 6,530 psi. The treatment was pumped ac- until reaching 2.6 lbm/gal of 20/40-mesh
the process repeats (Figs. 1f and 1g). cording to the program but ended sud- proppant at the formation, resulting in
denly because of increasing pressure and a screenout. After the screenout, prop-
Well Operation. Initially, in the lower screenout. The CT pressure (pseudodead pant was reverse circulated (requiring 2
section of the well, there were problems string) showed a negative trend during hours) and a pressure test (positive) was
with the abrasive-jet perforations (had to pumping of the pad and the first concen- performed on the sand plug to help en-
be repeated or new ones added) and with trations, then a flat pressure response sure isolation of this second stage.
the stimulation treatments (screenout). was observed while pumping 1 lbm/gal of Results for Zones 3 and 4 are provided
This led to a series of changes in the frac- 30/60-mesh proppant. An abrupt pres- in the complete paper, as are final results
turing treatment, to allow adjustments sure increase was observed when 2.5 lbm/ for the 12 stimulation treatments.
to well and formation conditions. These gal of 20/40-mesh proppant hit the per-
modifications allowed the development foration and caused a screenout. After the Conclusions
of the lower part of the well during the screenout, reverse circulating the prop- ◗ The use of a cased-hole-logging
rest of the operations without problems. pant was conducted (requiring 2 hours), methodology (pulsed neutron plus
and two successful pressure tests on the neural network) in old wells with
Initial Operation—CT. By use of CT, sand plug were performed to help ensure little openhole-log information
the BHA was run into the well. Once the isolation of the first fracturing stage. allowed synthetic curves to be
reaching the bottom, the depth of the generated that could be used
mechanical plug (2605 m) was checked. Zone 2. Abrasive Perforation. With the to perform a more consistent
Then, the well fluid was changed to oil CT at depth and repeating the same se- interpretation of the VM formation.
to activate the swell packer. The CT sys- quence as described for Zone 1, a break- ◗ The isolation element (swell packer)
tem’s depth was adjusted because of the down was observed at 6,120-psi pres- used was an existing technology
plug-depth measurement. Then, the BHA sure. During pumping of the stimulation adapted for a new application.
was positioned at the depth for the first treatment (preacid pad), high pressure ◗ The completion technique
abrasive perforation. was observed, which made it impossible [hydrajet-assisted fracturing (HJAF)
to achieve the designed flow rate. It was process] required a total of 7 days
Zone 1. Abrasive Perforation. With CT decided to create a new perforation at (1 day for assembly, 1 day for final
at depth, an annular backpressure of 2547 m, but batch pumping of HCl was re- cleanup, and 5 days to complete 12
2,000 psi was applied. Pumping began moved from the process. Once a displace- fracturing stages).
from the CT at a rate of 2.6 bbl/min ment volume of 900 gal was in the annular ◗ The VM formation can be stimulated
and a pressure of 8,574 psi (abrasive space created by the abrasive perforation, using pinpoint techniques by
perforation), pumping 1,600 gal of lin- the annulus was closed and breakdown adapting fracturing treatments to
ear gel with a total of 16 sacks of sand pressure (5,881 psi) was observed. this technology.
(1.0 lbm/gal). Then, approximately Stimulation. First-stage alterations ◗ Previous perforation/sand-plug
300 gal of 15% hydrochloric acid (HCl) were introduced in the pumping sched- completions (Wells A, B, and C)
was pumped. When the HCl reached the ule. Pumping began at an annular flow used an initial flow rate of 1.8
BHA, the annulus was closed and flow rate of 24.3 bbl/min and 7,350-psi well- to 2.3 bbl/min per hole; Well
was decreased to 1.0 bbl/min. Break- head pressure. A sweep of clean fluid was D, completed using the HJAF
down was observed at 5,482 psi (clear pumped between the two sizes of prop- technique, used a rate of 4 to
connectivity to the well formation). pant, and the treatment ended suddenly 12 bbl/min per hole, which is a
Stimulation. Pumping began through (screenout). The CT pressure (pseudo- higher value and imparts greater
the annulus to create hydraulic frac- dead string) showed a slightly negative energy to initiate and propagate
tures, starting with a preacid pad at trend during the pad and the first con- the hydraulic fracture. JPT

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Well Integrity
Otto Luiz Alcantara Santos, SPE, Master Technical Adviser, Petrobras
The tragic blowout of Macondo has Undoubtedly, significant been making contributions, elaborat-
triggered many technical and manage- ing and revising well-integrity-related
rial developments in the field of well
progress has been made standards (such as NORSOK D-010 and
integrity since its occurrence in April in enhancing safety during ISO 16530-2). Many operator companies
2010. Acting as a catalyzer since all phases of the well life (including mine) and drilling contrac-
then, this event has demanded from tors have been reviewing and updating
all industry players a huge amount cycle, mainly in the areas their well-integrity procedures and prac-
of effort to mitigate the risk of well- of well-control equipment tices, especially those related to deep-
integrity problems. water operations.
Originally, these efforts were aimed at and reliability, subsea well Concerning well-control training and
deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, control and containment, competency assurance, following the
but, with time, they were disseminated recommendation of Report 476 of the
documentation, training
throughout the oil industry, where well International Association of Oil and Gas
integrity is a must. Undoubtedly, signifi- and competency assurance, Producers, the certifying bodies execut-
cant progress has been made in enhanc- and well-integrity ed changes in the contents of the courses
ing safety during all phases of the well to stress important subjects such as bar-
life cycle, mainly in the areas of well- management systems rier management, risk management, well
control equipment and reliability, subsea and processes. influx detection, and immediate response
well control and containment, documen- and to adapt the training to well opera-
tation, training and competency assur- One of the first actions in response to tion, rig category, and responsibility of
ance, and well-integrity management the blowout was the formation of four the people involved with all types of oper-
systems and processes. joint-industry taskforces. Two of them ations. Thus, the crew members are now
Here, I address important headway provided recommendations on operating trained and assessed better according to
made in two areas in which I have been procedures and equipment that result- their roles on the rigs. More class hours
deeply involved during my profession- ed in the revision of some American are now dedicated to simulator exercises.
al career, mainly after Macondo: well- Petroleum Institute standards and the Arguably, this move is making the well-
integrity documentation and well-control development of new ones. Some other control-certification systems more reli-
training and competency assurance. standardization organizations also have able and more standardized among all
training institutions. JPT
Otto Luiz Alcantara Santos, SPE, is the coordinator of the well-

control training and certification program of Petrobras, instructor
Recommended additional reading
of deepwater and advanced well-construction technologies at
at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
Petrobras University, and a master technical adviser of Petrobras.
He holds a BS degree in civil engineering and an MS degree in SPE 175523 Searching for Well-Integrity
petroleum engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Issues—Automated Generation of Annulus-
PhD degree in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State Pressure Trends by Remco Donders,
University. Santos was also a faculty member at the University of Total E&P UK, et al.
Tulsa in 1994. He has written several technical papers in well-construction technology, OTC 25256 Enhancing Well Control
especially on well integrity and directional and horizontal drilling, and he coauthored Through Managed-Pressure Drilling
the book Directional Drilling. Santos is editor of the SPE book Drilling and Production by Oscar Gabaldon, Blade Energy Partners,
Operations in HPHT Wells. He was an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for 2009–10. Santos et al.
is the current program chairperson of SPE Bahia/Sergipe Section and has served or is SPE/IADC 173822 Field Trial of Well-
currently serving on several SPE committees. He is also a member of the JPT Editorial Control Solutions With a Dual-Gradient
Committee. In 2010, Santos received the Exemplary Service Award from the International Drilling System by John H. Cohen,
Association of Drilling Contractors. Enhanced Drilling, et al.

Method of Surface Interception To Access
Annulus With Abnormal Gas Pressure
O ne of the operator’s newly

acquired ventures is in the North
field offshore Qatar. Abnormal rise in
up every time, indicating a continuous in-
trusion of gas. Further pressure bleedoff
was not attempted because of concerns
was ruled out. The 18⅝-in.-casing strings
have nonpremium-thread connections
and are not gas tight. Hence, the likely
Annuli C and D pressures during the last that it may open up the communication path of gas ingress into Annulus D was
phase of drilling highlighted the need to channels and aggravate the situation. believed to be through leaks across the
investigate the condition of producing Several attempts were then made to 18⅝-in.-casing thread connections.
wells on other platforms. The chances lubricate and fill Annulus C with treated
of inner annuli becoming charged with brine, but these attempts did not help Interim Arrangement
shallow-gas pressure and possible to subdue the gas pressure. A propos- for Annulus D
communication to Annulus D was al was then made to operate the wells Overpressure Protection
thought to be a well-integrity concern. with modified maximum-allowable- A temporary arrangement was planned
Establishing safe access to the sealed annulus-surface-pressure and maximum- and implemented to produce the wells
and potentially gas-charged Annulus D allowable-wellhead-operating-pressure with sustained pressures in Annuli C
thus posed a challenge. techniques for Annulus C, considering it and D. Annulus C of the wells was in-
fully charged with gas. stalled with a dedicated monitoring and
Introduction With time, it was established that the bleed-off facility, whereas Annulus D did
The North field is offshore north- same wells also developed gas pressure not have those provisions. To monitor
east of Qatar and is the world’s largest in Annulus D. Annulus D pressure and to bleed off if
nonassociated-gas field. The wells are necessary, Annulus D of these wells was
typically 7-in. monobore completed with a Investigation Into the Source interconnected to Annulus C with ½-in.
26-in. conductor and three casing strings. of Gas in Annuli C and D control line and isolation valves.
Wells are completed with a liner-top iso- To understand the possible source of A single block-and-bleed valve was in-
lation packer, tied back to the surface with the gas, gas samples were collected from stalled in the ½-in. port on the 2-in. flange
7-in. corrosion-resistant-alloy tubing. Annulus C and compositional analysis of Annulus D. This valve was equipped
The annuli between the well cas- was conducted. with a pressure gauge and tubed up to
ings are labeled A (7×10¾ in.), B A comparison of gas-sample analyses the monoflange double-block-and-bleed
(10¾×13⅜ in.), C (13⅜×18⅝ in.), and suggested that abnormal pressure in An- valve on the pressure transmitter (PT)
D (18⅝×26 in.). Provisions were made nulus C was because of gas from the for- of Annulus C. This arrangement provid-
for monitoring and bleeding off pres- mation at a shallow depth. The migration ed local pressure reading when bleed-
sures in Annuli A, B, and C. path of the gas was believed to be through ing off Annulus D into the Annulus C
channels in cement in Annulus C. flare connection.
Background A pressure increase in Annulus D could A risk assessment was performed be-
During the drilling and well-completion occur because of 18⅝-in.-casing thread fore implementing the temporary ar-
phase, some of the wells developed un- leaks or from the 26-in. conductor shoe. rangement. A risk of overpressurizing
usual pressures in Annulus C. Attempts The conductor shoe was far from the Annulus D with Annulus C gas was iden-
were made to bleed off gas through the charged part of the formation; hence, gas tified. To avoid communication of high
drilling facility. However, pressures built migration through the conductor shoe Annulus C pressure to Annulus D dur-
ing the depressurization process, a step-
This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights by-step procedure was developed. This
of paper IPTC 18122, “A Safe and Efficient Method of Surface Interception To Access procedure ensured isolation of Annu-
lus C before lining up Annulus D to the
Outermost Sealed Annulus Charged With Abnormal Gas Pressure Relieves Well-
flare header.
Integrity Concerns,” by Prashun Kumar Das and Wael Moneer El-Mandrawy,
Qatargas, prepared for the 2014 International Petroleum Technology Conference, Interception
Kuala Lumpur, 10–12 December. The paper has not been peer reviewed. of Sealed Annulus D
Primary well design did not include any
Copyright 2014 International Petroleum Technology Conference. Reproduced by provision to monitor and control Annu-
permission. lus D pressure. Annulus D of most of the

Pressure-gauge (PG) connection Vent connection
Current configuration: 6-in. flange with isolation valve is hooked up Current configuration: 2-in. flange with valve is hooked up
to a PG located at tree level. to vent line.
New configuration: New PT is installed; to be hooked up New configuration: New PRV with valves lined up; to be hooked
downstream of needle valve. up downstream of needle valve.
Fig. 1—Temporary and permanent hookup configurations for the Annulus D overpressure-protection system.
wells was plugged. Attempts were not On-Site Installation. A 30-in. saddle adapter was then installed on the flange,
made to remove these plugs because of clamp was rigged up on the conductor ensuring proper access to the ¼-in. test
the possibility of trapped gas pressure. A along with the hot-tap unit. A pressure port. A pressure test was performed. The
procedure was developed to remove the test was conducted successfully. The 2-in. hot-tap assembly was then installed on
plugs safely while maintaining control of solid plug was drilled out with a ¾-in. the packoff adaptor, and pressure was
any trapped annulus pressure. This pro- drill in a controlled manner. The trapped tested to 1,500 psi. After the test, pres-
cedure also included installation of ad- pressure was bled off safely. The hot- sure of 1,000 psi was maintained. A
ditional outlet equipment to monitor and tap unit and the saddle clamp were then sudden drop in the pressure would in-
control annulus pressure. rigged down. The 2-in. solid plug was re- dicate a successful plug-removal opera-
moved from the flange easily. A 2×½-in. tion. The ½-in. plugs were removed,
Drilling of 2-in. Solid Plugs. A method reducer and needle valve and a pressure and the trapped pressures were bled off
was developed to drill the 2-in. plugs safe- gauge were installed. successfully. The hot-tap assembly and
ly by use of a manual hot-tap unit and to the packoff adaptor were rigged down.
bleed down the trapped pressure. A risk Removal of ½-in. Hex Plugs From the A pressure-bleedoff and -monitoring
assessment was conducted while prepar- 6-in. Flange of the Starter Head. An- manifold consisting of a needle valve,
ing the procedure. Though attempts to other procedure was developed to re- two bleed-off caps, and a pressure gauge
bleed off Annulus D pressures in other move the ½-in. hex plugs safely from was installed.
wells were successful, there was an uncer- the 6-in. flange of the starter head and to
tainty concerning whether the trapped bleed down the trapped pressure safely Permanent Arrangement
Annulus D pressures in these wells could with a manual hot-tap unit. A risk assess- for Annulus D
be bled off completely. If bleeding off ment was performed while preparing the Overpressure Protection
pressure was unsuccessful, there was a procedure. In the event of unsuccess- A permanent overpressure-protection
possibility that the purpose-built hot-tap ful removal of the plug or unsuccessful system is designed with the operating
saddle, packoff, and ball valve would have blowdown of trapped pressure, the pro- philosophy that the Annulus D pres-
to remain as part of the wellhead assem- cedure incorporated a contingency plan sure can be monitored and depressur-
bly. This would allow an access point to to leave the purpose-built hot-tap pack- ized remotely through manual inter-
pump into the annulus if required. The off and low-torque valve in place as a vention. Annulus D is now connected
second risk identified was potential dam- part of the wellhead assembly. to the flare system through a dedicated
age to the inner casing (18⅝ in.) while Workshop Trials. The packoff of the line. The bleed-off line from the 2-in.-
drilling the 2-in. plug. A mitigation action hot-tap unit was designed to seal on the flange side on Annulus D incorporates
was in place to avoid such an occurrence. outer face of the 6-in. flange. As with the a manual bleed valve for manual con-
Workshop Trials. The packoff of the plug-drilling job, a stack-up test was control and a pressure-relief valve (PRV) for
hot-tap unit was designed to seal on the ducted in the shop before mobilizing the overpressure protection. A PT is hooked
outer face of the threadolet. A stack- equipment. A pressure test was conduct- up to the existing needle valve on the
up test was conducted in the shop be- ed up to 2,500 psi in the workshop. 6-in.-flange side. The changes in the an-
fore mobilizing the equipment. To avoid On-Site Installation. Using a stan- nulus hookup configuration conducted
potential damage to the inner casing dard hot-bolting technique, the exist- on-site are shown in Fig. 1. With the pres-
(18⅝ in.) while drilling the 2-in. plug, the ing ¾-in. studs were replaced one by ent setup, Annulus D pressure is moni-
exact drilling depth was defined. one with ¾×9-in.-long studs. A packoff tored remotely. JPT

ENGINEERED
PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION
A recognized leader in well control, Cudd Well Control provides
¿UVWFODVVHQJLQHHULQJDQGFULWLFDOZHOOLQWHUYHQWLRQVHUYLFHVWR
LGHQWLI\ULVNVDQGGHVLJQVROXWLRQVWKDWUHGXFHQRQSURGXFWLYH
time, saving you valuable time and resources.
Our expertise stems from experienced engineers and

specialists that are dedicated to ensuring the safety and
functionality of your investment.
At Cudd Well Control, we stand prepared to prevent and

respond immediately to return your assets to production
TXLFNO\VDIHO\DQGHI¿FLHQWO\
Well Intervention Services

Well Control and Kick Resolution
Oil and Gas Well Firefighters
Blowout Specialists
Hot Tap and Valve Drilling
+LJK3UHVVXUH6QXEELQJDQG&RLOHG7XELQJ
Freeze Operations
Engineering Services
Rig Inspections
5HOLHI:HOO3ODQQLQJ
Kick Modeling
'ULOOLQJ3ODQ5HYLHZV
%ORZRXW&RQWLQJHQF\3ODQV
Regulatory Compliance Verification
Shear Test Verification/Witnessing
'\QDPLF.LOO3ODQQLQJ 0RGHOLQJ
www.cuddwellcontrol.com
+1.713.849.2769
Smart Kick Detection—First Step
on the Well-Control-Automation Journey
O n the basis of safety performance

results achieved through
automation downstream, an operator
Given the challenge of finding a way
to automate the initial well-control re-
sponse to a kick, it soon became apparent
floating rig using the kick-detection
equipment supplied with the rig.
The base case+best sensors fault tree
set out to achieve the same advances in that setting a goal to provide the driller provided the opportunity to envision the
its upstream business. Automating the with a reliable kick-detection system that potential incremental performance im-
initial well-control response to an influx uses the three different methods, as cur- provement that could be achieved by re-
was the initial focus area, with the goal rently taught for each of the listed activi- placing existing sensors with the highest-
of assisting personnel in identifying ties, would be a good starting point. accuracy kick-detection sensors available.
and stopping any influx without delay. To better understand what a “smart The base case+best sensors+smart
This led to collaboration between an kick-detection system” might look like alarms fault tree provided the opportu-
operator, a rig contractor, and a rig- for a deepwater floating rig, the essen- nity to envision the potential incremental
equipment supplier. This paper describes tial kick-detection and well-shut-in re- performance improvement that could be
the development, deployment, and sponse steps were identified for each of achieved by adding kick-detection soft-
field testing of the first upgraded kick- the three relevant well-construction ac- ware capable of alerting the driller to
detection system from this collaboration. tivities listed. a kick as early as possible with both a
By combining these steps with appro- unique audible alarm and an easy-to-
Introduction priate reliability data, it was possible to understand, operationally relevant pop-
Kick detection is a critical activity during conduct a sensitivity analysis on a num- up kick-alarm window.
well construction that typically involves ber of the key variables to help define The base case+best sensors+smart
the driller monitoring various inputs to the opportunities for designing reliabil- alarms+automated shut-in fault tree pro-
determine if there is any indication of an ity into any new kick-detection system. vided the opportunity to envision the po-
influx of formation fluids into the well. tential incremental performance improve-
From a kick-detection perspective, the Kick-Detection ment that could be achieved by completely
majority of well-construction operations Fault-Tree Analysis automating the well-shut-in process.
can be categorized into one of the follow- To understand the value of possible im- The biggest improvement in kick-
ing three activities that require the driller provements to current kick-detection detection and shut-in performance
to use different kick-detection methods: systems in common use on deepwater (16.9%) was predicted to be from includ-
◗ Drilling or circulating floating rigs, the kick-detection and well- ing the best sensors. Adding smart alarms
◗ Making connections shut-in fault-tree analysis included evalu- resulted in a smaller-than-predicted, but
◗ Tripping in or out ation of the following sensitivities: still significant, additional performance
The primary kick indicators for drill- ◗ Base case improvement of 9.1%. Perhaps the most
ing or circulating are increase in mud- ◗ Base case+best sensors surprising result was that the predict-
return-flow rate (vs. mud flow in) and pit ◗ Base case+best sensors+smart ed incremental performance improve-
gain. While making connections, contin- alarms ment from adding automated shut-in was
ued return flow with pumps off and pit ◗ Base case+best sensors+smart only 1.3%. However, this may be attrib-
gain are the primary indicators. While alarms+automated shut-in utable to the driller’s high degree of kick-
tripping in or out, continued return flow The base-case fault tree was built to detection and well-shut-in competency
and trip-tank gain (vs. expected change) represent the typical performance of a assumed in the base case.
are the primary indicators. driller deployed on a modern deepwater As a result of the fault-tree sensitivity
analysis, a project was initiated to upgrade
the kick-detection system on a deepwater
This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
floating rig, with two focus areas:
of paper SPE/IADC 173052, “Smart Kick Detection—First Step on the Well-Control-
◗ Using industry-recognized effective
Automation Journey,” by J.D. Brakel, SPE, and B.A. Tarr, SPE, Shell; W. Cox, kick-detection sensors and
Noble Drilling Services; and F. Jørgensen, SPE, and H.V. Straume, National Oilwell duplicating all sensors
Varco, prepared for the 2015 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition, London, ◗ Developing new kick-detection
17–19 March. The paper was peer reviewed and published in the September 2015 issue software that included operationally
of SPE Drilling & Completion. specific alarms

Functional Specification while drilling, and return flow with zero
for Smart Kick Detection strokes/min (SPM) during connections]
Objectives. On the basis of the sensitivi- are used to trigger a distinctive audible SI METRIC
ty analysis, it was clear that the proposed kick alarm and the associated pop-up CONVERSION FACTORS
kick-detection-system upgrade for the kick-monitoring display. The kick-alarm The list below includes SImetric
conversion factors for common
targeted deepwater floating rig had to in- sound for these three alarms is a dedicat-
engineering units.
clude the following features: ed second-stage alarm tone that is distin-
◗ Best practical sensor technology guishable from all other alarms. acre × 4.046 873 E+03 =m2
with duplicate measurements for
acre × 4.046 873 E−01 =ha
all key parameters using different Kick-Detection-System Upgrade
acre-ft × 1.233 489 E+03 =m3
sensor types where possible Installation and Commissioning of
ampere-hr × 3.6* E+03 =C
◗ Robust rig-operations event Additional Sensors. Because commis-
detection to identify which kick- sioning was to be conducted in a small Å × 1.0* E−01 =nm
detection technique was applicable time window between wells, the new re- °API 141.5/(131.5+°API) =g/cm3
◗ Specific kick-detection algorithms mote input/output cabinet and all the atm × 1.013 250* E+05 =Pa
for the different rig-operation additional sensor cables were installed bar × 1.0* E+05 =Pa
events when different kick-detection before commissioning, leaving only the bbl × 1.589 873 E−01 =m3
techniques are required new pit-level sensors to be installed dur- Btu × 1.055 056 E+00 =kJ
◗ Audible kick alarm distinctively ing commissioning. Ci × 3.7* E+10 =Bq
different from other drilling-system Before installation of the additional pit- cp × 1.0* E−03 =Pa • s
alerts and alarms level sensors, detailed sensor-installation cycles/sec ×1.0* E+00 =Hz
◗ Easily understood kick-alarm pop- and -commissioning instructions were is-
dyne × 1.0* E−02 =mN
up window display for each type of sued along with sensor user manuals con-
eV × 1.602 19 E−19 =J
kick-detection technique taining detailed information on mounting
ft × 3.048* E−01 =m
restrictions with regard to pipes, walls,
Additional Sensors. A rig survey was agitators, and mud guns. ft2 × 9.290 304* E−02 =m2
conducted to verify which sensors were ft3 × 2.831 685 E−02 =m3
already installed and to find suitable lo- Installation and Commissioning of °F (°F−32)/1.8 =°C
cations for the required sensors to pro- Software. Following acceptance test- °F (°F+459.67)/1.8 =K
vide full redundancy of key measure- ing, the new kick-detection system was gal (U.S. liq) × 3.785 412 E−03 =m3
ments. The survey looked at additional installed and commissioned on the rig hp × 7.460 43 E−01 =kW
pit-volume sensors, standpipe-pressure when it was between wells and in con- hp-hr × 2.684 520 E+00 =MJ
sensors, return-flow sensors, and stroke junction with a training module. The in. × 2.54* E+00 =cm
sensors for all pumps. training module consisted of a classroom in.2 × 6.451 6* E+00 =cm2
walkthrough and a live demonstration.
in.3 × 1.638 706 E+01 =cm3
New Software. The pop-up kick- The software -installation and
kip × 4.448 222 E+03 =N
monitoring-display concept had already -commissioning sequence was as follows:
knot × 5.144 444 E−01 =m/s
been developed by the rig-equipment ◗ Back up all the existing software and
supplier on the basis of functional design computers. ksi × 6.894 757 E+03 =kPa
requirements for the type of information ◗ Install new software on all kW-hr × 3.6* E+06 =J
that would help the drilling team recog- remote workstations in the lbf × 4.448 222 E+00 =N
nize a potential kick, and the concept was accommodations. lbm × 4.535 924 E−01 =kg
ready to be integrated into this project. ◗ Install new server to host new mL × 1.0* E+00 =cm3
The pop-up displays were designed not software. mho × 1.0* E+00 =S
only to reinforce the audible kick alarms ◗ Install a new network router to mile × 1.609 344* E+00 =km
but also to provide enough alarm valida- accommodate the additional oz (U.S. fl) × 2.957 353 E+01 =cm3
tion data to guide the driller to make the components in the system. psi × 6.894 757 E+00 =kPa
decision whether to shut-in the well. ◗ Install new software on the drilling-
psi2 × 4.753 8 E+01 =kPa2
The objective of this pop-up display controls servers and programmable-
sq mile × 2.589 988 E+00 =km2
(for drilling and making connections) logic controller.
stokes × 1.0* E−04 =m2/s
was to reduce the amount of information ◗ Perform final commissioning of the
that must be monitored actively while system. ton × 9.071 847 E−01 =Mg
grouping the information in a manner ton (metric) × 1.0* E+00 =Mg
that allows the crew to take actions ap- Implementation Results tonf × 8.896 444 E+03 =N
propriate for the kick being experienced. Influx-Detection Performance. The tonne × 1.0* E+00 =Mg
For drilling and making connections, best way to speak about the newly in-
three key kick indicators [active pit- stalled kick-detection-system perfor- *Conversion factor is exact.
volume gain/loss, return-flow increase mance to date is to describe its response

during an actual small influx event that
occurred a few days after the system was
installed and commissioned.
In that instance, the driller experi-
enced a well influx while making a con-
nection. The driller began to decrease
the mud-pump strokes to zero in prep-
aration for another connection. A flow
Motivate check was then conducted by the drill

crew. The average pumps-off time for re-
turn flow to decrease to zero had been
Inspire noted as 90 seconds from previous con-

nections. The driller waited the normal
90 seconds and then asked a member
of the drill crew to perform a visual flow
Educate check. The crew member reported con-

tinuous flow, and the driller reacted by
shutting in the well. A few minutes later,
Nominate the driller completed the well-shut-in

operation successfully.
The first positive indication of an in-
flux occurred just seconds before the
pumps were shut down and was based
on the small detected increase in return
flow that triggered the new, kick-
specific audible alarm and the corre-
sponding new pop-up window. How-
ever, because the driller was ready to
make a connection, the driller simply
acknowledged the return-flow-increase-
while-drilling alarm and proceeded with
Do you have colleagues who the planned flow check that was part
are authorities in their fields and of the routine connection procedure he
experienced public speakers? If was using.
you do, consider nominating one Before the driller completed the well-
or more of them for the Society of shut-in operation, increasing return flow
Petroleum Engineers Distinguished triggered the return-flow-with-zero-SPM
Lecturer Program. positive influx indicator, resulting in the
second kick-specific audible alarm and
corresponding pop-up-window event.
Learn more about the program at
The observed small return-flow rate after
www.spe.org/go/NomDL.
pump shutdown was not easy to detect
from the paddle-style return-flow mea-
surement selected for this plot. It was
later identified from the positive slope
seen in the total pit-volume response after
the initial pump-shut-down transient. No
alarm was triggered by the abnormal pit-
volume response, or fingerprinting, after
pump shutdown because this type of pos-
itive influx indicator was not included in
this first-generation smart kick-detection
Nominations are accepted until 15 March. system. However, a second-generation
The SPE Distinguished Lecturer Program is funded by the SPE smart kick-detection system is now under
Foundation, Offshore Europe, AIME, and companies that allow development that could include an ab-
their professionals to serve as lecturers. normal-fingerprinting-type positive in-
flux alarm that will be active when the
mud pumps are shut down. JPT

Analytical Model Estimates Flow Rate
and Total Discharge in Gas-Well Blowouts
D espite multitier safeguards,

blowouts occur. When such
accidents happen, rate estimation is
Reservoir Model. In the reservoir
model, the material balance in the res-
ervoir is considered to calculate the
sure may decrease gradually to a point
at which the flow becomes marginal. In
all situations, wellhead pressure controls
an important and daunting task. This average reservoir pressure so that the the blowout behavior.
study presents an analytical model average reservoir properties can be
coupling the flow in a reservoir/ addressed properly. Reservoir/Wellbore Coupling. The
wellbore system of a gas well. The phenomenon of a blowout is similar
model considers flow in the tubing, Wellbore Model. During the blowout, to high-rate production, except that
annulus, and riser and the attendant a large amount of formation fluid flows the rate for the blowout keeps chang-
heat transfer. To gauge safety concerns, from the reservoir to the bottom of the ing over time. As a result, it is possible
plume dispersion is modeled under hole. Because of the high pressure deep to apply flow equations of a drawdown
various wind-speed scenarios when in the wellbore, the velocities are rela- test to the blowout model by neglecting
ignition sources are not present. In tively low. The upward movement of the superposition in time. The authors
the event of ignition, the energy of fluid will reduce the pressure, and the considered both the early-time tran-
the explosion is estimated with an velocity of formation fluid will increase sient and the late-time pseudosteady-
empirical method. until it reaches sonic velocity because state flow for a gas well in a bounded cir-
of the thermodynamics limitation. The cular reservoir.
Introduction existence of sonic velocity rarely oc-
The main purpose of this investigation is curs with a single-phase oilwell blow- Applications of Model
to assess the coupled nature of transient out because the large hydrostatic pres- The blowout rate declines with time as
fluid flow in the reservoir and the com- sure gradient does not allow such high reservoir depletion occurs. To simpli-
bined fluid and heat flows in the well- velocity. It generally does not happen fy the problem, the authors divided the
bore. To that end, a coupled reservoir/ with offshore wells, either, because the blowout duration into small segments.
wellbore analytical model was developed, pressure difference between the well- They assumed that the blowout rate gen-
which was then validated with field ex- head and the bottom of the hole is not erally remains constant in each time
amples. In addition, this study attempts significant enough. However, with on- segment. They first determine wheth-
to address issues related to dispersion shore gas wells and oil/gas wells, the er the sonic velocity could exist at each
of the blowout plume and the explosion sonic velocity becomes a critical fac- timestep. If the reservoir pressure is high
hazard that the gas poses. tor that needs to be considered. It is enough to withstand the existence of
important to calculate sonic velocities sonic velocity, the velocity becomes a
Model Development of different phases under various well- constraint at the wellhead. They used
When a blowout happens, the forma- head conditions. the sonic velocity of the fluid under stan-
tion fluid comes into the surroundings In a blowout situation, various sce- dard conditions as an initial input. The
through the wellbore without any con- narios may play out given the unknown new sonic velocity serves as a new input
trol and, in the meantime, the reservoir nature of formation conductivity, reser- for the model. The iterative calculation
pressure declines because of depletion of voir pressure, and fluid properties. For procedure was continued until the solu-
the reservoir. To understand the blowout overpressured reservoirs, the diameter tion convergence was attained within a
mechanism, the authors split the blowout of the flow conduit will largely dictate specified tolerance at a given timestep.
model into three parts—reservoir, well- the wellbore-pressure gradient. In small- In addition, reservoir pressure can be
bore, and their interaction. volumetric reservoirs, the wellhead pres- obtained from the results at previous
timesteps. This computation process
continues until the wellhead pressure
nears the ambient condition, indicat-
of paper SPE 170274, “Flow-Rate and Total-Discharge Estimations in Gas-Well ing that the blowout is governed by the
Blowouts,” by R. Liu, A.R. Hasan, SPE, and S. Mannan, Texas A&M University, and constant wellhead pressure. If the sonic
C.S. Kabir, SPE, Hess, prepared for the 2014 SPE Deepwater Drilling and Completions velocity cannot exist, the wellhead pres-
Conference, Galveston, Texas, USA, 10–11 September. The paper has not been sure becomes the constraint at the well-
peer reviewed. head and controls the blowout behavior.

area affected by explosion. Fig. 1 pres-
140
ents the worst-case scenario of an ex-
plosion when the ignition source is 5 ft
90 from the well. The ovals indicate an over-
Distance Crosswind (ft)
pressure of 0.3 psi (for a specified wind

40 speed), which is considered a safety lim-
itation for buildings and personnel. Any
–10 buildings and personnel inside the oval
will be in danger if explosion occurred
soon after the blowout. As Fig. 1 shows,
–60
a distance of 150 ft from the blowout
source is covered by overpressure high-
–110 er than 0.3 psi when the wind speed
is 9.8 ft/sec. With an increase of wind
–160 speed, the unsafe area becomes smaller.
–160 –110 –60 –10 40 90 140
Jet fire is a flame with turbulent diffu-
Distance Downwind (ft)
sion because of the combustion of con-
9.8 ft/sec 16.4 ft/sec 26.2 ft/sec tinuously released hydrocarbon gas in
a particular direction. Many jet fires are
Fig. 1—Late explosion or the worst-case scenario caused by a blowout. followed by explosions. The jet fires may
occur immediately after a blowout in the
presence of an ignition source. In that
Modeling Dispersion results illustrate the boundary of the case, the radiation generated by the jet
of Blowout Plume plume. The top of the plume is higher fire must be taken into account.
During an onshore blowout, one of the for the low-wind-speed situation than
following scenarios may play out: it is for other situations because of the Discussion
◗ Without an ignition source, buoyancy effect. At higher wind speeds, The blowout model presented here is
the gas will disperse to the the buoyancy effect is reduced and the applicable for onshore gas wells, and it
surroundings on the basis of wind plume begins to touch the ground. As a also shows the potential application for
speed. Therefore, the toxicity and result, the health and safety of person- offshore gas and oil wells. For offshore
dispersion of the plume, and the nel and residents in the area will be in wells, because of the hydrostatic pres-
consequent hazard, need to be jeopardy. In addition, the mixing effect sure at a given water depth, the flow is
understood. of released gas and air is enhanced with unlikely to be choked. Therefore, the
◗ In the presence of an ignition the increase of wind speed. Therefore, blowout behavior will be governed by
source, the gas/air mixture may the plume affects a larger area in gentle the constant wellhead pressure.
ignite and result in jet fire and wind speeds compared with situations One difficulty with the proposed ap-
explosion. To evaluate the fire and with stronger winds. proach is that it is assumed that the
explosion hazards, the authors When there is an ignition source near blowout rate reaches maximum value
used the heat-flux intensity the wellbore, the gas/air mixture might immediately after the blowout. In fact,
associated with a jet fire and be ignited, leading to explosion and fire. the blowout rate would increase from
the overpressure caused by an The explosion of gas leads to a reac- the normal production rate to the max-
explosion. tion front moving away from the igni- imum value and then decline. Such an
The methodology presented in this tion source, accompanied by a shock increase in the rate at the beginning of
study provides an opportunity to cap- wave. Even when the reaction mate- the blowout would take several minutes.
ture the evolution of blowout events rial is exhausted, the movement of the This short time period can be neglected
under different operational conditions. shock wave does not stop. The pres- when the blowout lasts for days. Howev-
The quantitative assessment of the risk sure resulting from the shock wave over er, for blowouts lasting a short period of
related to a blowout can also help op- normal atmospheric pressure is called time, such as several hours, the period
erational personnel make the right deci- overpressure, and this is an important in which the blowout rate increases will
sions at the right time. characterization of the consequence of become significant for the prediction of
In the absence of ignition, a plume the explosion. production loss.
will form because of the dispersion of When the effect of explosion is evalu- This study provides a useful approach
the toxic/flammable gas. The shape of ated conservatively, the worst-case sce- to modeling blowouts under the assump-
the plume depends on the wind speed nario is always considered. It indicates tion of a single tubing diameter in the
and buoyancy effect. that the ignition source is present im- absence of other wellhead restrictions.
The evolution of the plume under dif- mediately after the initiation of blowout, However, the model is capable of captur-
ferent wind speeds was analyzed with when the plume of the released gas has ing phenomena that are more compli-
a commercial software package. The the largest volume, leading to the largest cated during real blowout events. JPT

Evaporate your water quality concerns.
Before After
Introducing HiBrine-XL™, the breakthrough crosslinked

frac fluid from Innospec Oilfield Services.
The HiBrine-XL™ fluid system is specifically designed for hydraulic Let’s talk today.
fracturing treatments using high TDS produced or flow-back waters to
HiBrine-XL is just one more way IOS
reduce or eliminate dependence on freshwater. This versatile fluid system
combines basin specific requirements,
easily hydrates in all waters, besting more expensive derivatized polymers
safety and environmental stewardship with
and water conditioning equipment.
superior chemical solutions. For complete
details, call us at 1-844-MY-IOSCHEMS or
Performance and versatility adds value in challenging environments. contact your Innospec Oilfield Services
representative.
No matter what the water source, the high-temperature tolerant HiBrine
formulation is designed to perform – while maintaining a focus on fracture
geometry and proppant transport. It's so robust, while pumping and using
multiple water sources, sudden changes in water quality are easily
managed without shutting down.
Phone: 1-844-MY-IOSCHEMS | Email: [email protected] | Website: innospecinc.com

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Decommissioning and Abandonment

Win Thornton, SPE, Vice President of Decommissioning, Global Projects Organization, BP
Decommissioning is a focus item for level of transparency now by operator can enable the supply
the newly formed Oil & Gas Authori- sharing asset-specific information chain through early sharing of asset
ty (OGA) in the UK. The OGA Corpo- (i.e., facility drawings or well details and flexibility in contracting
rate Plan (www.gov.uk/government/ schematics), condition, and COP. and delivery.
consultations/oga-corporate-plan-draft ◗ Start early in planning (5–7 years
-for-consultation) provides an interest- before COP) to identify and Industry—Be Realistic
ing view of decommissioning as seen actualize possible cost savings. This ◗ Decommissioning must be
through a North Sea lens. With the cur- is a strategic enabler for the supply focused on delivering the right
rent low-oil-price environment, the cost chain; they need information and scope, no more. Cost reductions
of decommissioning is seen as a key driv- early access to the project. can be achieved equally through
er for the ongoing economic viability of ◗ Keep things simple. Be flexible. performance or by selecting the
the basin. Decommissioning is not a first-oil right scope. Decommissioning
What does “good” look like for decom- schedule-driven project. Operators should never be seen as a
missioning in the North Sea? Like the need to approach decommissioning replacement for capital-project
Gulf of Mexico? Probably not exactly; as a demolition project vs. a activity. Industry must continually
however, many lessons learned by the capital or brownfield project. Step strive for low-cost delivery year
operator community, supply chain, and back and let a knowledgeable, after year.
industry can be considered and adopted empowered supply chain deliver. ◗ Contracting must consider
for the basin. Here are a few thoughts on appropriate ownership of risks,
what “good” might look like. Supply Chain—Be Strategic both during the project and in
◗ The supply chain should provide perpetuity.
Operators—Be Transparent integrated solutions relative to ◗ Industry should share performance
◗ Operators should share their today’s portfolio of projects. The and scope data, warts and all.
view of timing and key drivers for supply chain should have “skin Without a creditable baseline,
timing change for the run up to in the game” with remuneration industry has nothing by which to set
cessation of production (COP). The coupled to performance. realistic market expectations or to
Oil & Gas UK Decommissioning ◗ The supply chain sees the broader performance-manage continuous
Insight report is a good generic market view, whereas the operator improvement. JPT
starter (oilandgasuk.co.uk/ view can be somewhat myopic.
decommissioninginsight.cfm). Use this view to bundle and
Operators can shift to the next campaign work programs. The Recommended additional reading
at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE 173693 Coiled Tubing Completes
Win Thornton, SPE, is is vice president of decommissioning, global Unique High-Pressure Well Abandonments
projects organization, at BP. He has more than 35 years of in Remote Alaskan Field by Brendon Webb,
experience in offshore construction and decommissioning projects Schlumberger, et al.
working as an operator for BP, Chevron, and Oxy; as a contractor SPE 173694 P&A on a Deepwater
from Brown & Root and WorleyParsons; and as a consultant for Compliant-Tower Asset Using Hydraulic
Winmar and TST. Thornton holds a BS degree from the Georgia Workover (HOW): Addressing the
Institute of Technology and an MS degree from the University of Challenges for Successful Execution
Houston. His recent work includes offshore decommissioning and by Ralph R. Sinno, Halliburton, et al.
reuse projects in the Gulf of Mexico, west Africa, California, Alaska, southeast Asia, and SPE 175426 Preparation for Cost-
South America. Thornton has championed the environmentally sound and cost- Effective Decommissioning and
effective disposal of obsolete platforms through placement in state-sanctioned “Rigs Abandonment of Subsea Pipelines
to Reefs” programs. He is a member of the JPT Editorial Committee. by Julie Burke, Intecsea, et al.

Plasma-Based Tool Facilitates
Plugging and Abandonment
P lugging and abandonment

(P&A) is the largest category
of decommissioning expenditures,
representing 40–44% of the total
investment. If the well operator
performs P&A inadequately, results
may include water flows, gas or oil
seeps from the seabed, or underground
crossflow between formations, with
a huge effect on the environment
and marine life. This paper presents
current advances in the development (a) (b) (c)
of a plasma-based milling tool and its
use in casing-section milling for P&A. Fig. 1—(a) Plasma-based tool entering multistring-casing sample; (b) upper
view of the sample after the experiment; (c) sample after diagonal section was
removed to reveal steel/cement removal.
Introduction
Only 7% of existing North Sea instal-
lations have been decommissioned, rig is preferred, which is more expen- ◗ The potential for swarf to damage
which creates an enormous opportu- sive. Present casing-milling technology blowout preventers (BOPs): Milling
nity for companies engaged in such a consists of using the common casing- generates swarf, which then must
business. Naturally, operators world- section mill. This mill is a hydraulically be removed before cementing.
wide are seeking effective solutions actuated tool used for milling a section However, swarf removal can
that would cut the massive expenses in casing or tubing. The main part of the damage BOPs. To avoid well-
of decommissioning. mill consists of milling knives dressed integrity issues, the BOPs must
Each P&A job depends on well con- with tungsten carbide. Once the cas- be dismantled, inspected, and
struction, well location, production his- ing mill is run into the hole to the de- repaired at considerable expense.
tory, casing condition, and many other sired depth, the circulation of drilling Specific problems are related also to
factors. From time to time, there is an mud starts. milling of exotic alloys and their influ-
option to use a rigless solution for P&A. According to some oilfield-service ence on the milling knives and tool wear.
In this case, the well is plugged with- providers, the two main challenges of All the aforementioned challenges are
out pulling tubular or milling casing. conventional casing-section milling for redoubled by the infrastructure used for
Cement plugs are set directly to the P&A are P&A. Operators would prefer performing
production string, and, after success- ◗ The time and expense of P&A with a light well-intervention vessel
ful pressure tests of the plugs, wellhead milling casing: For example, (LWIV). The use of an LWIV results in a
and casing strings are cut with a special Norwegian regulations call for significant reduction of daily rental costs
device a few feet under the seabed and cementing two 50-m sections (a third of the cost of a conventional-rig
removed to surface. P&A in a wet-tree of casing above and below each rental and half the cost of a heavy well-
scenario is more expensive. Because all hydrocarbon-bearing zone. Each intervention vessel).
operations occur under water, remotely section may take more than 10 days The plasma-based technology pre-
operated vehicles are needed. For this to mill and may generate 4 tons sented here addresses all of these
type of P&A, the deployment of a heavy of swarf. challenges. In general, electrical plas-
ma can be used for drilling or well-
intervention operations.
of paper SPE 175431, “Use of Plasma-Based Tool for Plugging and Abandonment,” by Methods and Procedures
Matus Gajdos, SPE, Tomas Kristofic, Slavomir Jankovic, Gabriel Horvath, and The plasma-based technology for P&A is
Igor Kocis, GA Drilling, prepared for the 2015 SPE Offshore Europe Conference and in the prototype stage, under develop-
Exhibition, Aberdeen, 8–11 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed. ment within a joint-industry project.

Currently, development advances in types of steels. Materials analyzed were smooth surfaces. The ratio of cement
the research-and-development center of carbon steel S355 and alloy steel having particles is approximately the same for
the technology provider, with the testing 20% Cr and 12% Ni. each size group. SEM/energy dispersive
infrastructure consisting of a customized In real casing conditions in a water X-ray analysis has been conducted on
rig, diesel generators, technology con- environment at low pressures, the value each size group and concluded that the
tainers, and a control center. The tech- of ε was found to be in the range of oxidation processes penetrated into the
nology container covers water- and air- 3–4 MJ/kg. When considering a power steel volume.
cooling systems for the milling process output of 250 kW, plasma-torch effi- The chemical composition inside the
and electrical power sources able to sup- ciency of 70%, and net energy require- structure of oxidized cuttings revealed
ply a plasma torch. ment per unit mass of removed steel of the presence of calcium in the struc-
Testing was performed on either 3 MJ/kg, the value of the steel-removal ture, caused by thermal diffusion into
simple- or multistring-casing samples in rate is 210 kg/h. This value means an the melted and oxidized metal. This is
a liquid environment. Multistring-casing ROP of 2.0–4.5 m/h for 9⅝-in.-casing- evidence of strong volumetric oxidation
samples are of a tube/cement/tube/ section milling, depending on the and high-temperature oxygen diffusion
cement-monotube structure. Fig. 1a wall thickness. This ROP is compara- into the metal.
shows the plasma-based tool entering a ble with that of current section-milling Chemical analysis of the oxide sur-
multistring-casing sample. Fig. 1b shows techniques; however, the difference is face of particles that are approximately
an upper view of the sample after the ex- in the fact that the plasma-based tool 1 mm shows higher oxygen content and
periment. Fig. 1c shows a sample after is able to mill various casing dimen- a higher content of impurities from the
a diagonal section was taken to reveal sions (as well as multistring casings) cement structure.
steel/cement removal. It is obvious that with one tool. This means a reduction The dominance of oxidized cuttings
the inner casing and cement layer have of tripping and a significant increase in is proof of the presence of exothermic
been removed completely on the chosen net productivity. reactions that highly improve the over-
section. The experiment team proved all energy balance of plasma milling and
that a 3.5-in. tool is capable of milling a Various Steel Types. For S355 steel, a supply additional energy to the milling
wide range of casing sizes, including 4.5, scanning-electron-microscopy (SEM) processes, increasing the ROP.
5.5, and 7 in. analysis that showed the microstructure The experimental results confirmed
Moreover, to prove the feasibility of the of formed cuttings clearly revealed the that the produced cuttings from plasma-
technology, scaled testing was performed dominant presence of iron (II) oxide. based milling are not of a size that
in pressures up to 1,450 psi. On the basis Structural analysis proved a heterogene- would make them dangerous for
of the aforementioned casing-section- ity between the formed oxidized and dif- well-control equipment.
milling challenges, rate-of-penetration fusive metallic layers in the cuttings. This
(ROP) parameters, the influence of vari- resulted in differences in the thermal- Conclusions
ous types of steel, and the effect of cuttings expansion coefficients of metal/oxide The potential effect of plasma-based-
from plasma milling have been analyzed. systems at the border of metallic and milling technology is to simplify the pro-
oxide layers. Therefore, hydrodynamic cess of P&A and, therefore, significant-
Results and Observations destruction of such weakened multilay- ly reduce the operation time. The main
ROP. A series of experiments conducted ers could be realized relatively easily. technology advantages include
at different boundary conditions showed In the case of alloy steel, the men- ◗ Rigless operation allows for cost
that the effectiveness of cutting steel can tioned differences in thermal-expansion saving with LWIVs because the
be characterized by one special param- properties of metal/oxide multilayers are system is designed for use with
eter. This parameter, ε, describes the en- significantly higher because of a higher coiled tubing.
ergy needed for the total removal of a grade of chemical heterogeneity of the ◗ Rapid structural degradation of
mass of a steel under certain physical microstructure. steel with plasma enables a high
conditions. Parameter ε has a statisti- On the basis of the results of the exper- milling ROP. When compared with
cal character because it summarizes the iments, the plasma-based tool is capable the conventional approach, this
liberated energy coming from the exo- of milling carbon steel and alloy steel feature saves time because no
thermic iron-oxidation processes and the without significant obstacles. tripping is needed.
real electric energy put to the plasma ◗ The mechanism produces tiny
generator. Therefore, it is evident that Cuttings Size. By use of a sieve analy- steel particles instead of swarf.
ε is always lower than the level of consis, the size distribution of cuttings from This is beneficial for proper BOP
sumed electric energy. It was also found the milling process was evaluated after operation, as well as for other
that ε is dependent on the degree and drying. Smaller particles are formed components where swarf usually
type of steel oxidation and the hydro- from small fragments of oxidized par- causes failures.
dynamic circumstances. In order to de- ticles with irregular shapes. A fraction ◗ The noncontact approach brings
termine the value of ROP, testing with a of the larger particles contains great- improved reliability by minimizing
plasma generator was performed on two er amounts of globular particles with wear and tear of the tool. JPT

North America Congress 2016
Artificial Lift Optimization *
15% OFF
Increasing Production, Optimizing Efficiencies And Further Reducing Costs
READER OFFER
Use Code EAGP16JPT
At the Checkout
Assessing Selection Criteria For Artificial Lift Systems

In Horizontal Wells:
Fully Optimizing Rod Pumps, Gas Lift, Plunger
Lift & Artificial Lift Techniques
Increase Production Efficiency, Reduce Equipment And Energy Costs And
Mitigate Failure Rates
Case Studies From Production Specialists From Across North America, Including: March 22-23, 2016 - Houston, Texas
Fred Schoch Fred Clarke Pallavi Hardin Leslie Malone

6HQLRU$UWLFLDO/LIW6SHFLDOLVW 6HQLRU3URGXFWLRQ 2SHUDWLRQV 6HQLRU6WDII(QJLQHHU
3URGXFWLRQ6XSHULQWHQGHQ
Murphy Oil Engineer Murphy Oil
BOPCO
Oxy
M Follow us @UnconventOilGas
www.artificial-lift-congress-north-america.com Organized By:
+ (1) 800 721 3915 [email protected]
6th Annual
*
15% OFF
READER OFFER
Use Code SWM16JPT
At the Checkout
Practical Case Studies To Minimize Cost Per Barrel And Maintain

Cost Effective Operations In The Marcellus & Utica
Strategies For Produced
Innovative Water Management
Water Treatment, Disposal & Discharge
Whilst Complying With Seismicity And Disposal Regulatory Requirements
March 30-31, 2016

Case Studies From E&P Water Experts From Across The Marcellus And Utica, Including: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rob Wingo Peter Dorrins Eddy Biehl Jeremy Manno

&KLHI2SHUDWLQJ2IFHU President President ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH'HVLJQ&RRUGLQDWRU
Rice Energy Junex Stone Bridge Operating Carrizo Oil & Gas
M Follow us @UnconventOilGas
www.shale-water-marcellus-utica.com Organized By:
+ (1) 800 721 3915 [email protected]

Miniaturized Coiled-Tubing System Reduces
Costs During Pipeline Decommissioning
T his paper presents the challenges

and obstacles faced in the use
of a new technology for the plugging
platform before the plugging and aban-
donment of the subsea well (211/19-2),
PL123 had to be flushed of contents and
During deployment of coiled tubing,
capstan friction becomes the dominat-
ing factor in the ability of the coiled tub-
and deoiling of sections of unpiggable a barrier had to be installed between the ing to traverse multiple bends within the
flowlines before decommissioning. subsea well and the Murchison platform. pipeline successfully and safely without
The solution used an ultralightweight, The operator examined options for causing damage and to reach the cor-
miniaturized coiled-tubing system cleaning up and plugging the flowlines rect depth without helical lockup. Cap-
that was deployable from the platform to allow decommissioning to commence. stan friction, by its definition, relates the
lower decks with minimal laydown area Every option examined would have re- hold force to the load force if a flexible
required. The system had the ability to quired dive-support-vessel intervention. tubing is wound around a cylinder or, in
traverse multiple bends, deoil the line, It was suggested that a novel miniatur- this case, around a bend within a pipe-
and deliver an expandable cement to ized coiled-tubing system would be suit- line or riser.
plug the pipeline in a single operation. able for this application. This would be In the worst-case scenario, the result
deployed through all the bends to the end of this force can be catastrophic. In some
Introduction of the flowlines at 855 m. An expandable- cases, in the removal of coiled tubing
First production in the Murchison field cement product was identified as being from a pipeline, capstan friction has re-
began in 1980, and the field has now suitable for sealing the flowline after it sulted in damage to the integrity of a pipe-
reached the end of its life. As part of the was cleaned. line to such a point that the tubing eroded
decommissioning project, one of the sub- The resulting multicompany team pro- through the pipe wall. The effect of this
sea wells was seen to be still connected vided the hot tap into the flowline, a could include the release of hydrocarbons
to the Murchison platform by two flow- miniaturized coiled-tubing system to tra- into the environment and the potential to
lines contained within a subsea bundle verse the flowlines, and an expandable- incur major fines to restore the environ-
(PL123), with these flowlines having 4-in. cement product to provide the pressure ment to its previous state. It is worth not-
outer diameters. These lines were in- barrier within the flowline to allow de- ing that this has also been experienced
stalled to provide early production for commissioning to continue. during the running of coiled tubing in well
the first year until all the infrastructure Upon later completion of the operations. In a lesser scenario, capstan
was put in place. The control lines and subsea-well abandonment, the flow- friction ultimately might prevent running
pressure-monitoring system had been lines would then be removed in accor- to depth, therefore preventing the suc-
disconnected at the platform sometime dance with the operator’s approved cessful completion of the project.
in the past (Fig. 1). decommissioning program.
The bundle was inspected on the plat- Application
form, and a hot tap was performed to iden- Theory The system had been deployed previ-
tify any pressure in the lines and to identi- When working within a tortuous ously to remove a 470-m sand block-
fy the line contents. It was found that one pipeline-and-riser system, the flexibility age within a riser-and-pipeline system
of the two flowlines contained crude at and weight of the coiled tubing is an im- from a floating production, storage, and
a pressure of 122 bar. The pressure was portant factor to consider. This is espe- offloading (FPSO) vessel in west Africa.
reduced to zero, and the bleed line was cially relevant when the line is to be de- FPSO vessels characteristically have little
closed with a gauge installed to monitor commissioned because it cannot always space available in terms of laydown area.
the pressure. It was noted that the pres- be guaranteed that the integrity of the During the scope of this work, the equip-
sure increased slowly over time. To con- pipeline is suitable for the use of conven- ment was laid down in a small section of
tinue with the decommissioning of the tional coiled tubing. available deck space and the coiled tub-
ing was run through a flexible lubricator
to the riser entry point, which was 60 m
This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights away through the topside process facili-
of paper SPE 175487, “Cost-Reducing Pipeline-Decommissioning Technology,” by ties. Working in this tight space gave a
Hugh MacKenzie and Callum Jones, Paradigm Flow Services, prepared for the 2015 solid foundation for working on a plat-
SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition, Aberdeen, 8–11 September. The form, where typically more space is avail-
paper has not been peer reviewed. able for operations.

Murchison Platform
211/19-3 211/19-6
Redundant Removed
PL 115 16-in. Oil Export
Murchison to Dunlin A PL 124 Disused
Bundle Water Injection
PL 123 Disused Bundle
Early Production
211/19-2
PL 165 6-in. Gas Import/Export
Umbilical
PL 125 Disused Bundle

Early Production
211/194 Redundant
Fig. 1—Murchison platform.
The Murchison project provided a sim- would be required, primarily because of ed to crushing. The procedure was con-
ilar challenge, with the tie-in point on the the weight creating more capstan fric- ducted for undiluted cement, which was
cellar (lower) deck of the platform, ne- tion. This ultralight-footprint approach designed for use in this project, and for
cessitating that all equipment other than is made possible by new materials and a second sample that was diluted by 25%
the reel be moved by hand from the lay- allows significant downsizing of equip- with water. The compressive-strength
down area to the rig-up location. ment, therefore reducing costs, stresses readings for both samples were in excess
The equipment was designed with very on pipework, and necessary platform re- of what was required by the operator and
high portability in mind, allowing for sources (e.g., space, beds, and diesel). showed only a 15% reduction in compres-
deployment in these scenarios. Typi- The equipment was lowered to the sive strength for the diluted sample.
cal coiled-tubing injectors, for example, cellar-deck laydown area and then manu-
weigh up to 6000 kg, with miniatur- ally rolled to rig-up location. The coiled- Result
ized coil injectors weighing 1500 kg. The composite-pipe reel followed and was The lines were jetted throughout their
modular injectors used for this technol- permanently sited in the laydown area. entire length, allowing a rapid cleanup to
ogy weigh approximately 200 kg each. The tubing passed from there through less than 40 mg/L. The time from start
Furthermore, the system is designed to a gooseneck to allow the correct orien- of rig up to P1 flowline reaching required
be deployed on a horizontal plane, allow- tation to the injectors and blowout pre- cleanliness and being cemented was 52
ing for easy rig up without lifting support. venter. After the pipe passed through hours, while P2 was cleaned and cement-
However, the lightweight nature of the the pressure-control system, a 5,000-psi ed 24 hours later. Within P1, approxi-
system is possible only because of the flexible lubricator was used to con- mately 796 m of cement was set, while
innovative composite pipe used to per- nect to the hot-tap tie-in point a further 730 m of cement was set within P2. Both
form the operation. At 0.25 lbm/ft in 25 m away (past 90° of bends to pass the lines were pressure tested to ensure that
water, it is approximately five times more superstructure). a robust cement seal was in place before
buoyant than steel coiled tubing (steel After the tie-in point, a 90° elbow sent the equipment was rigged down.
coiled tubing has buoyancy of 1.4 lbm/ft), the riser subsea, where it passed through
and, with a minimum bend radius of another 45°, followed by another 90° be- Conclusion
36 in., it does not yield like steel pipe fore running across the seabed to 862 m. In less than 1 week, two pipelines were
as it passes each bend. The combina- A specially built jetting head, complete cleaned to a standard of less than
tion of low residual bending stiffness with knuckle joint and dual backpressure 40 mg/L of oil in waste and were sealed
and high buoyancy allowed the pipe to valves, was used to clean up the pipeline with an expanding cement. This support-
be pushed to 863 m, passing through before a 0.74-in. cement nozzle was de- ed the expectation by the operator that
more than 360° of bends within the first ployed for the pumping of the cement. The a miniaturized coiled-tubing system for
150 m and with a snubbing force of ap- expandable cement was subject to a rigor- platform-based decommissioning would
proximately 200 kg. Modeling for steel ous testing procedure before its use. In be more cost effective than conventional
coiled tubing of equivalent size would in- the test, cubes of the cement were placed methods for decommissioning the flow-
dicate that a snubbing force of 3000 kg in a compression testing unit and subject- lines discussed within this paper. JPT

Behind-Pipe-Log-Evaluation Study:
Deepwater Subsea Abandonments
T echniques for well-abandonment

log evaluations have been
studied in the Gulf of Mexico since
ing strings, the results can be mislead-
ing. Sonic logs such as the CBL do not
yield quantitative results in concentric
barite settling creates a unique envi-
ronment, because it bonds casing but
has an unknown compressive strength
2012. Legacy practices typically strings of casing because of the inability as defined by traditional logging tech-
used acoustic methods consisting to predict the influence of the outer cas- niques. This has proved difficult for
of cement-bond-log (CBL) and ing on the log response. Misleading data ultrasonic tools to quantify because
ultrasonic-scanner devices. The and experiences in well abandonments ultrasonic tools measure acoustic-
new methods described in this have left the industry actively seeking impedance values of material on the
paper consist of adding nuclear alternatives to the conventional method outside of the casing wall to evaluate
sensors to supplement the acoustic of identifying the material in the annu- the material’s compressive strength.
measurements and introduce novel lus, to increase the efficacy of the aban- With very limited availability of appro-
processing methods. The overall donment process. priate acoustic-impedance data, the in-
solutions package consists of behind- terpretation of the presence of mud sag
pipe-evaluation techniques (BPETs). Abandonment Log-Evaluation becomes challenging.
When properly modeled and analyzed, Methodologies With this in mind, this paper investi-
these data have the potential to Historically, it has been common prac- gates the deployment of a suite of log-
reduce the cost of removing casing tice to use ultrasonic imaging technol- ging tools and unique interpretation
strings significantly. ogies in combination with traditional algorithms to quantify the materials be-
sonic-waveform data to characterize the hind the casing better. The tool string
Introduction annular space of wells that are can- consists of an acoustic tool to deter-
Much of the nonproductive time associ- didates for casing-retrieval operations. mine cement bond and an ultrasonic
ated with well abandonments is attribut- However, this approach is inadequate tool. The latter is used to identify cas-
ed to difficulty circulating the stagnant for evaluating a phenomenon that is ing properties such as internal diameter
material left behind in the casing-to- often observed in older wells that con- and thickness, as well as to character-
casing annuli during well construction. tain concentric casing strings that were ize the acoustic impedance of materials
Many improvements have been made in not cemented to the top of the string. In within immediate pipe contact behind
the design of these fluids; however, drill- those cases, the original drilling fluid the casing. These tools are combined
ing muds using barite as the weighting between the casing strings experienc- with conventional openhole density and
agent still suffer phase degradation over es degradation. As the drilling fluid neutron tools, containing a cesium-137
time, leaving a column of material with degrades, solids in the fluid begin to and an americium/beryllium chemical
a density that increases with depth, ex- settle out and migrate toward the bot- source, respectively. This combination
cept when solids bridging occurs. In ex- tom of the well or toward areas of high has been deployed in multiple casing
treme cases, the precipitated barite ad- deviation or dogleg severity. The set- configurations to provide annular char-
heres to the outside of the casing wall, tling of these solids is commonly re- acterization using through-casing den-
impeding the removal of the severed ferred to as barite sag, mud sag, or sity measurements and through-casing
casing section. barite settling. hydrogen-index trends.
When traditional sonic and ultra- In addition to increasing friction- Supplementing this unique tool
sonic logs are run over concentric cas- al force on the internal casing string, string to aid in evaluation is an ad-
vanced form of processing and peak
This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains analysis for cement evaluation (PACE),
which is applied to the resulting data
highlights of paper SPE 174777, “Behind-Pipe-Log-Evaluation Study: Deepwater
to interpret the acoustic-tool respons-
Subsea Abandonments in the Gulf of Mexico,” by Glenn Donovan, SPE, Peter
es in this environment better. In short,
Fadesere, SPE, George Ware, and Lou Daigle, SPE, Shell Offshore, and Suparman, this process uses statistical variation
SPE, Gary Frisch, SPE, Phil Fox, Mike Englar, Gordon Moake, SPE, and and actual waveform activity to deter-
Weijun Guo, SPE, Halliburton, prepared for the 2015 SPE Annual Technical mine if the material behind the cas-
Conference and Exhibition, Houston, 28–30 September. The paper has not been ing is either fluid or solid to vary-
peer reviewed. ing degrees.

Interpretation of To get a feel for the effects of solids ◗ Density-neutron evaluation
Combined Results on the modeling results, tension pre- associated with annulus contents
The use of the crossplots of density- dictions are given for two downhole en- (solid, liquid, gas)
detector count-rate ratios, including vironments. One set of results is based ◗ Prediction of the tension-
z-axis neutron hydrogen-index trends, on the as-logged conditions. This set requirement profile (CPTP) to
allows the interpretation of character- of conditions could contain volumes of extract casing in both as-logged
istics of the material behind pipe. Origi- mud, settled mud solids, cement, gas, and liquid-annulus states
nally, interval zoning was used to allow or hydrates in the annulus. The com-
quick data interpretation. However, bined acoustic and nuclear responses Experimental Foundation
the information these crossplots sup- are interpreted to give fractional vol- for Future Work
plied was not presented in a continuous umes of each component as a function An experimental program for BPETs was
depth-based log display. A software proof depth. Coefficients for each com- undertaken with two objectives in mind.
gram that converts the crossplot data ponent are applied using their respec- The BPET was developed by use of field
into automated phase clustering is being tive contributions to frictional drag. data acquired with an earlier version
tested currently. A second set of results details forces of the spectral density-log tool. To use
involved in casing extraction on the the technique with a newer tool design,
PACE Bonding Index basis of a fluid-filled annulus, which it was necessary to construct a map-
A new method of analyzing the cement- represents a case where the annulus ping between the two. The normal tool-
bond-logging waveform creates four has been cleaned efficiently by circula- characterization process develops this
concentric, cylindrical regions between tion operations. mapping between the two, in the sense
the casing and the formation. This that each tool is characterized to read
annular space could consist of the Data Processing and the same density when presented with
phases previously mentioned, but Interpretation Work Flow the same openhole environment. How-
it could also contain multiple casing Through the evolution of interpreta- ever, the BPET uses ratios of count rates
strings, depending upon the well tion methods, the work flow has been measured in a cased-hole environment,
construction. The separation is based refined to deliver the highest-quality and the normal mapping does not apply.
on an analysis of the waveform peaks interpretation. The current method of Consequently, it was necessary to gener-
rather than being strictly time based. primary interpretation is based on the ate a mapping of ratios between the two
The average amplitudes of the peaks run-in-hole acquisition. After quali- tools so that BPET processing could be
of each region are normalized to the ty control of the free-pipe section, the used without modification.
maximum amplitude of the free pipe well is logged from the mudline to the
detected in Region 1. This allows bottom of the required log interval. Conclusions
easy determination of the bond or Upon reaching total depth, a series of Throughout the life of a well, degrada-
classification of materials between the products is delivered for verification of tion of the mud system in the annulus
casing and the formation. The method data quality, and data are transferred can lead to migration of mud solids,
is also applied to radial segmented for further post-processing. While the which settle at areas of high deviation or
CBL responses. well is logged up, service-company increased dogleg severity. For abandon-
log analysts and technical advisers re- ment scenarios, accurately identifying
Cut-and-Pull view sensor responses and determine these materials and predicting the fric-
Tension Predictions if the data are of adequate quality for a tional effects they contribute to string
A log-response-based cut-and-pull useful evaluation. weight during removal become para-
tension-prediction (CPTP) model has The next level of interpretation in- mount. An unsuccessful extraction can
been developed. The results are based volves several activities performed in lead to increasingly costly rig downtime.
on an analytical model that predicts how parallel by the data-processing and log- Resolving ambiguous or misrepresen-
much tension is required to pull the cas- analyst teams. These usually are com- tative log responses spurred by tradi-
ing string, driven by the measurements pleted, reviewed, and delivered to the tional evaluation methods will increase
described in this paper. Predictions are client team within 4 hours from the time the efficiency and precision of a com-
reported in terms of the total force re- the logging tools are at total depth. The plex abandonment process. It was found
quired to pull a specific length of casing, groupings of individual disciplines con- that density and neutron logs reduce
and they are presented as a function of sist of this ambiguity. Methods described with-
the depth at which the pipe is to be cut. ◗ Acoustic processing, providing in this paper, when implemented prop-
After cutting the pipe at the desired ex- relative-amplitude shells erly, should significantly reduce the
traction depth, the well is circulated, ◗ Ultrasonic analysis time and expense associated with well-
which can change the distribution of the determining the solid/liquid abandonment operations, while creat-
annular materials that existed when the distribution on the casing ing a safer environment for the person-
well was logged. exterior surface nel involved. JPT

PEOPLE
ROBERT DRUMMOND, SPE, has been ap- president of Venture Oil and Gas, and chairman of Omni Oil and
pointed as a class III director to the board of Gas. His experience includes generating geological prospects
directors of Key Energy Services. He was ap- and drilling funds, acquiring oil and gas leases and producing
pointed president and chief operating offi- properties, mergers, and supervising drilling and completion of
cer of the company in June. Before that, wells. Johnson attended the University of Texas at Austin major-
Drummond worked for Schlumberger for 31 ing in geology and petroleum land management. He is a mem-
years, where he began his career. He has ber of Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners, Inde-
held several senior management positions in business develop- pendent Petroleum Association of America, and Louisiana Oil
ment and operations and was president of North America at the and Gas Association.
time of his departure to Key Energy. He serves as a member of
the executive committee of the National Ocean Industries Asso- FRANCIS NEILL, SPE, has been appointed
ciation and the advisory board of Petroleum Equipment and chief executive officer (CEO) at Ziebel. Be-
Services Association. Drummond holds a BS in petroleum engi- fore this, he was the CEO of EV. He has sev-
neering from the University of Alabama. eral years of experience in the well interven-
tion and subsea sectors. He has been CEO of
GORDON JOHNSON, SPE, has been ap- Gravitec Downhole Instruments, managing
pointed to the board of directors of West director of Brinker, marketing and technol-
Texas Resources. He is the president of Bay- ogy director/casedhole director for Expro, deputy managing di-
side Corp. Johnson has experience working rector/subsea control systems general manager for Kvaerner
for majors and independent oil companies Oilfield Products, and compensation and benefits manager for
in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Montana, Schlumberger. Neill holds a BSc degree in civil engineering from
North Dakota, and Louisiana and has been the University of Bristol.
MICHAEL STOVER, SPE, retired from

Marathon Oil Corp. as vice president of op-
In Memoriam
erations services after 30 years of service
ŞTEFAN TRAIAN MOCUŢA, SPE, died with the company. He joined Marathon as a
on 28 October 2015 at age 83. An SPE roustabout, and in 1991, transferred to the
member since 1994, he was awarded company’s international group, where he
the SPE Regional Service Award for was responsible for reservoir and economic
South, Central, and East Europe in studies for the Marathon-operated fields in Ireland, Tunisia,
2004 for his contributions to the
and Norway. Later, as part of the company’s corporate strategic
establishment and development of
planning group, Stover was responsible for business planning
the SPE Romanian Section. Mocuţa was a member of the
SPE Enhanced Oil Recovery European Steering and corporate portfolio modeling, which supported the reorga-
Committee and was actively involved in the SPE nization of USX Corp. that led to the establishment of Marathon
Romanian Section’s technical activities. He spent more as a standalone company. In 2009, he became the director of
than 40 years of his professional career in the field of central evaluation and financial planning, responsible for pro-
petroleum reservoir geology at the Institutului de viding financial and portfolio analysis. He assumed his current
Cercetări şi Proiectări Tehnologice (ICPT), Câmpina, position in 2013. Stover holds a BS in petroleum and natural gas
Romania, where he advanced to the position of senior engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
fellow, and also held several managerial positions,
including general manager. He completed more than
200 studies on petroleum reservoirs in Romania, Egypt,
Jordan, Ecuador, Libya, and Hungary. Between 1994 and
1996, Mocuţa served as a senator in the Romanian Member Deaths
Senate, focusing on political and social issues. In 1996, he
returned to ICPT as adviser. He also taught at the James C. Anderson, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Petroleum Gas University of Ploieşti. For his contributions Paul M. Carraway, San Antonio, Texas, USA
to the petroleum industry, he was awarded the Diploma Richard Dean Dunham, Midland, Texas, USA
of Excellence in Research by ICPT Câmpina. Mocuţa Raymond W. Harmer, Snoqualmie, Washington
graduated with a degree in geology from the Petroleum,
Saul D. Laurel, Houston, Texas, USA
Gas, and Geology Institute in Bucharest and received a
Robert S. Miller, San Diego, California, USA
PhD in geology from the same institute.
John B. Morrison, Palm Desert, California, USA

PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
[email protected]
www.AvasthiConsulting.com H.J. Gruy and iReservoir.com, Inc.
AVASTHI Associates, Inc. Geophysics / Geologic Modeling
Petrophysics / Reservoir Simulation
Oil and Natural Gas Reserve Advisors
& ASSOCIATES, INC. Unconventional Resources
Reserve Determinations Market Valuations
Worldwide Energy Consulting Geologic Studies Expert Testimony
Since 1990
iReservoir.com provides world class 3D
Petrophysical Analysis Arbitration
Seismic Interpretation Commercial Models reservoir characterization and simulation
CO2, N2, Chemical and Thermal EOR/ IOR, CCUS,
Reservoir Engineering and Simulation, IAM, Reservoir Simulation Risk Analysis studies along with secure Web hosting of
Geosciences, Static and Dynamic Modeling, Stochastic Evaluations Acquisition Screening results using state-of-the-art geoscience
Geomechanics, Fracturing/ Stimulation,
Three Allen Center
and engineering technology.
Consulting and Training Services for
Development and Optimization of 333 Clay Street, Suite 3850
Conventional/ Unconventional/ Shale, Houston, Texas 77002 1490 W. Canal Ct., Ph. 303-713-1112
TEL: (713) 739-1000
Oil, Gas, Gas-condensate, and
FAX: (713) 739-6112
Ste 2000 Fax. 303-713-1113
Heavy Oil Fields around the World
[email protected] Littleton, CO 80120 E-Mail: [email protected]
Global Head Office: 800 Rockmead Drive, Suite 212
Houston, Texas 77339, U.S.A. • Phone: +1-281-359-2674 www.hjgruy.com www.iReservoir.com
HAAS PETROLEUM ENGINEERING

SPE Benefits SERVICES, INC. HSE Now
Robert W. Haas, P.E., President
SPE’s new web app for health, safety, and
Discover the possibilities. 2100 Ross Ave., Suite 600 Office (214) 754-7090
Dallas, TX 75201 Fax (214) 754-7092 environment professionals.
http://www.spe.org/members/benefits Email: [email protected]
www.spe.org/hsenow
www.haasengineering.com
CG A
Worldwide Petroleum Consulting LARANCE ENGINEERING COMPANY
& HOT
Engineering
Exploration / Field Development / Training
LANE OPERATING COMPANY
Consulting Petroleum Engineers
Reserv. Eva., Sec. Recovery, Unitiz.
Drilling & Completion Supervision
Property Management
2304 Midwestern Pkwy., Suite 202
CAWLEY, GILLESPIE & ASSOCIATES, INC. Integrated Reservoir Studies • Lead & Prospect Wichita Falls, TX 76308 940/322-0744
PETROLEUM CONSULTANTS Generation • Reservoir Characterisation • Field
SINCE 1960
Development Planning • Enhanced Oil Recovery •
LaRoche Petroleum Consultants, Ltd.
Underground Gas Storage • Reserves Audits • Training 30 Years of Professional Service
& HR Development Petroleum Engineering, Geological,
Fort Worth Houston Austin www.hoteng.com and Geophysical Services
(817) 336-2461 (713) 651-9944 (512) 249-7000 Parkstrasse 6, 8700 Leoben, Austria 2435 N. Central Expressway www.larocheltd.com
Phone: +43 3842 430530 / Fax: +43 3842 430531 Suite 1500 Phone: 214-363-3337
www.cgaus.com – [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] Richardson, TX 75080 Fax: 214-363-1608
COUTRET AND ASSOCIATES, INC. Huddleston & Co., Inc.

Petroleum Reservoir Engineers
Property Evaluation, Reservoir Engineering
Domestic and International
Petroleum & Geological Engineers
lenandersen.com
Fluid Injection, Property Management 1221 McKinney, Suite 3700
Houston, TX 77010
Len Andersen
401 Edwards Street, Suite 810 Phone (318) 221-0482
Ph: (713) 209-1100 Fax: (713) 209-1104
Shreveport, LA 71101
www.coutret.com
Fax (318) 221-3202
e-mail: [email protected] 800-428-4801
FORREST A. GARB International Reservoir LONQUIST & CO. LLC
& ASSOCIATES, INC. Technologies, Inc. Petroleum Engineers • Energy Advisors
INTEGRATED RESERVOIR STUDIES www.lonquist.com
International Petroleum Consultants
Seismic Interpretation & Modeling • Reservoir Engineering • Merger & Acquisition Support
Reservoir Engineering Expert Witness
Stratigraphy & Petrophysics • Reserve Determinations • Mineral and Royalty
Economic Evaluation Reservoir Simulation
Geologic Studies Due Diligence
Reservoir Simulation • Economic Evaluations Management
Forensic Engineering Technical Staffing Enhanced Oil Recovery Studies • Underground Storage • Regulatory Filings and
Well Test Design & Analysis Engineering Testimony
Well Completion Optimization • Salt Cavern Engineering • Facilities Engineering
5310 Harvest Hill Road, Suite 275
• Supply Studies • Disposal Well Design
Dallas, Texas 75230-5805 300 Union Blvd., Suite 400
Tel: 972-788-1110 Fax: 972-991-3160 • Mining Engineering • Graphical Information Systems
Lakewood, CO 80228
Email: [email protected] PH: (303) 279-0877 Fax: (303) 279-0936
Web pages: www.forgarb.com www.irt-inc.com [email protected] Austin — Houston — Wichita — Calgary
Frank Givens, CPA M.J. ENGLAND, P.E.

Structured approach to Investment Decisions Changing Your Address? CONSULTING PETROLEUM ENGINEER
Reserve Reports Estate Appraisals
662-404-3798 Fair Market Value Expert Witness
[email protected] Let SPE know 215 Union Blvd., Suite 350
LPL FINANCIAL Lakewood, CO 80228-1840
Member FINRA/SIPC +1.972.952.9393 Telephone: 303/298-0860
Facsimile: 303/298-0861

MHA Petroleum
Consultants LLC
FTI
PLATT SPARKS
™
Enhance Your Career
• Consulting Petroleum Engineers Get Certified
730, 17th Street, Suite 410 • Reservoir Engineering
Denver, CO 80202 • Reservoir Simulation
(303) 277-0270 www.mhausa.com •
•
Reservoir Characterization
Oil and Gas Reserves Evaluation
www.spe.org/certification
• Fair Market Value and Acquisition Valuation
A client oriented consulting firm
SURTEK
• Enhanced Oil Recovery
providing practical solutions to reservoir • Economic Evaluation
• Oil and Gas Production
management problems. • Gas Storage Design and Screening Chemical Flooding Technology
• Regulatory Filings and Database Acquisition
MHA California LLC • Expert Petroleum Engineering Testimony 35+ Years of Chemical Flood Experience
4700 Stockdale Hwy, Suite 110 FTI Platt Sparks www.FTIConsulting.com Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer
Bakersfield, CA 93309 925-A Capital of Texas Highway S. www.PlattSparks.com Alkaline-Polymer
Austin, Texas 78746 U.S.A. [email protected] Surfactant-Polymer
(661) 325-0038 Denver: (303) 271-1478 (512) 327-6930
Mobility Control Polymer
SERVING THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY FOR PRA Practical CEOR Courses
OVER 60 YEARS Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska, LLC Laboratory EOR Design
Alaska’s Oil and Gas Consultants EOR Screening and Field Development
Geology, Geophysics, and Engineering Simulation Field Evaluation
MILLER AND LENTS, LTD. www.Petroak.com
3601 C Street (907) 272-1232 voice
1511 Washington Ave., Golden, CO 80401
INTERNATIONAL OIL AND GAS CONSULTANTS
Suite 1424 (907) 272-1344 fax (303) 278-0877, Fax (303) 278-2245
Anchorage, AK 99503 www.surtek.com email: [email protected]
Specializing in All Phases of Reserves Evaluations,
Including Petroleum Economics,
Reservoir Engineering, Geology, and Petrophysics
Tarek Ahmed & Associates Ltd.
Two Houston Center Phone: (713) 651-9455

SPE CONNECT Taking Petroleum Engineering Training
to a New Level
909 Fannin St., Ste. 1300 Fax: (713) 654-9914 For dates & descriptions
Houston, TX 77010 e-mail: [email protected]
SPE Members Come Together Online of courses held worldwide, please visit us at
Web pages: http://www.millerandlents.com With SPE Connect www.TarekAhmedAssociates.com
A virtual place where you can meet, T. Scott Hickman & Associates, Inc.
NITEC
International Petroleum Consultants
LLC
collaborate, and discuss specific technical
challenges and resolutions, SPE Connect is
now your link to SPE members worldwide.
Consulting Petroleum Engineers
Due Dilligence
Experienced Throughout U.S.A.
Reserve Evaluation
Prospect Screening
Property Acquisition
Reservoir Studies Litigation
Fractured Reservoir Characterization/Modeling www.spe.org/go/connect 505 N. Big Spring, Suite 105 Energy Square Bldg. Midland, TX 79701
TEL (432) 683-4391 www.tshickman.com FAX (432) 683-7303
Gas Storage • Unconventional • EOR • CO2 CCS Black Email: [email protected]
Oil/Compositional/Thermal Reservoir Simulation
ROBERTO AGUILERA, Ph.D.
Provider of LYNX®, MatchingPro®,
SERVIPETROL LTD.
WILLIAM M. COBB
PlanningPro® and ForecastingPro® Software & ASSOCIATES, INC.
International Petroleum Consultants — WORLDWIDE PETROLEUM CONSULTANTS —
Denver, Colorado Independent Oil and Gas Producers
475 17th Street, Suite 1400
Ph. (303) 292-9595 Naturally Fractured Reservoirs Waterflood & EOR Studies
www.NITECLLC.com Log Interpretation Geological & Petrophysical Analysis
Well Test Analysis Reservoir Simulation
Performance Forecasts Unconventional Resource Evaluation
PERA Economics
Numerical Simulation
Petroleum Short Courses
Reserves & Property Valuation
Gas Storage & CO2 Sequestration Analysis
Expert Witness • Technical Training
Curtis H. Whitson E-mail: [email protected]
& Associates 903-19th Avenue SW, Suite 502
Calgary, Canada T2P 3T7
12770 Coit Road, Suite 907, Dallas, TX 75251
Phone: (403) 266-2535 Fax: (403) 264-8297 Phone (972) 385-0354 www.wmcobb.com
EOS Fluid Characterization http://www.servipetrol.com FAX (972) 788-5165 [email protected]
Design & Analysis of PVT Data
Gas Condensate Specialists Wallace International, LLC
Compositional Simulation Expertise
Pipe-It Integrated-Model Optimization SiteLarkA Flotek Company
Unconventional resource studies
Integrated reservoir description projects
Detailed petrophysical analyses
Skonnertveien 7, 1st floor • 7053 Ranheim Norway
Phone 47 7384 8080 / Fax 47 7384 8081
Reservoir Modeling and www.wallace-international.com
[email protected] / www.pera.no Office: 972-386-4581
Engineering Services
ZAETRIC ®
SPE Membership Please Contact: Providing technical document development, busi-

ness process support and printing/binding services
www.sitelark.com to the oil & gas industry since 2000.
Telephone: 469-222-5436
• DOCUMENTATION — Drilling & Completion,
Membership in the Society of E-mail: [email protected] Rig Operations, QA/HSE, Equipment, Reports,
Petroleum Engineers is a continuous Instructions & Procedures
well of career-enhancing opportunities JAMES E. SMITH & ASSOCIATES, INC. • BUSINESS PROCESS — Technical Contracts,
RFQs, Process Evaluation, Project & Vendor
for E&P professionals. SPARTAN OPERATING CO., INC.
Management
310 South Vine Avenue, Tyler, TX 75702
903-593-9660 • 903-593-5527 (FAX) • 800-587-9660 • PRINTING/BINDING — Turnkey, In-House,
Customizable, Quick Turnaround
www.spe.org/join [email protected] • http://www.jes-engineer.com
www.zaetric.com • The Woodlands, Texas
James E. Smith, P.E., Registered Professional Engineer 281-298-1878 • [email protected]

SPE SERVICE DIRECTORY
SPE Online www.spe.org SPE NEWS
Awards Program
Cynthia Thompson, [email protected]
Aberdeen Adopts SPE

Phone: 1.972.952.9370
Book Sales
Phone: 1.800.456.6863 or 1.972.952.9393
[email protected]
Continuing Education/Training Courses
Energy4me Program
Chiwila Mumba-Black, [email protected]
Phone: 1.972.952.1114 The SPE Europe Board has approved spending £10,000 to extend SPE’s
Distinguished Lecturer Program Energy4me program in Scotland.
Cindy Hartley, [email protected]
Phone: 1.972.952.9304 Energy4me is SPE’s energy information resource for primary and sec-
Dues, Membership Information, Address Changes, ondary educators. SPE, Aberdeen’s Satrosphere Science Centre, and the
Copyright Permission Aberdeen City Council have teamed up to adapt Energy4me lesson plans
Phone: 1.800.456.6863 or 1.972.952.9393
[email protected] to Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence education goals. The science cen-
eMentoring Program ter has played a pivotal role in helping promote and enhance the learning
Sandy Wilson, [email protected] and teaching of energy topics in schools in Aberdeen in both primary and
Phone: 1.972.952.9394
secondary schools.
Insurance Program
Sandy Wilson, [email protected] With additional funding, more teachers and students will be able to
Phone: 1.972.952.9394 participate in energy education-related programs such as continuing pro-
JPT/SPE Website Advertising Sales fessional development sessions, classroom activities, and visits to the
Craig Moritz, [email protected]
Phone: 1.713.457.6888 science center. JPT
JPT
John Donnelly, [email protected]
Phone: 1.713.457.6816
Peer Review
Stacie Hughes, [email protected] ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE
Phone: 1.972.952.9343
Professional Development Services ADIPEC 2016 Independence Oilfield Schlumberger
Tom Whipple, [email protected]
Page 19 Chemicals Pages 7, 15, Cover 4
Phone: 1.972.952.9452
Page 79
Section Service American Business SPE Awards Program
Phone: 1.972.952.9451 Conference Group LEUTERT Page 49
[email protected] Page 83 Page 16
SPE Website TAM International
John Donnelly, [email protected] Amros Corporation Messe Düsseldorf, Page 2
Phone: 1.713.457.6816 Page 57 WireTube 2016
University of Oklahoma
Subscriptions Page 23
Phone: 1.800.456.6863 or 1.972.952.9393
Beicip-Franlab Page 21
[email protected] Page 13 NCS Multistage, LLC
University of Regina
Page 17
CD-adapco Page 57
Americas Office
222 Palisades Creek Dr., Richardson, TX 75080-2040 USA Page 45 Pyromation
Visuray
Tel: +1.972.952.9393 Fax: +1.972.952.9435 Page 11
Email: [email protected] Cudd Well Control Page 3
Asia Pacific Office Page 73 Rock Flow Dynamics
Weatherford
Level 35, The Gardens South Tower Mid Valley City, Cover 2
Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Hexion Page 4
Tel: +60.3.2182.3000 Fax: +60.3.2182.3030 Page 9 Saxon Financial
Email: [email protected] Wellbarrier AS
Page 35
Canada Office Page 5
Eau Claire Place II, Suite 900–521 3rd Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 3T3
Tel: +1.403.930.5454 Fax: +1.403.930.5470
Email: [email protected]
Europe, Russia, Caspian, and JPT ADVERTISING SALES

Sub-Saharan Africa Office
1st Floor, Threeways House, 40/44 Clipstone Street, London W1W
5DW UK 10777 Westheimer Rd. Craig W. Moritz Dana Griffin
Tel: +44.20.7299.3300 Fax: +44.20.7299.3309 Suite 1075 (Companies A-L) (Companies M-Z)
Houston, Texas 77042-3455 Assistant Director Americas Advertising Sales Manager
Houston Office Main Tel: +1.713.779.9595 Sales & Exhibits Tel: +1.713.457.6857
10777 Westheimer Rd., Suite 1075, Houston, TX 77042-3455 USA
Tel: +1.713.779.9595 Fax: +1.713.779.4216
Fax: +1.713.779.4216 Tel: +1.713.457.6888 [email protected]
Email: [email protected] [email protected]
Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia Office
Office 3101/02, 31st Floor, Fortune Tower, JLT, P.O. Box 215959,
Dubai, UAE ADDRESS CHANGE: Contact Customer Services at 1.972.952.9393 to notify of address change or
Tel: +971.4.457.5800 Fax: +971.4.457.3164 make changes online at www.spe.org. Subscriptions are USD 15 per year (members). JPT JOURNAL
OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY (ISSN 0149-2136) is published monthly by the Society of Petroleum
Moscow Office Engineers, 222 Palisades Creek Drive, Richardson, TX 75080 USA. Periodicals postage paid at
Perynovsky Per., 3 Bld. 2, Moscow, Russia, 127055 Richardson, TX, and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to JPT, P.O. Box
Tel: +7.495.268.04.54
Email: [email protected] 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836 USA.

SPE EVENTS
WORKSHOPS & Extending The Production Life of 9–11 February ◗ The Woodlands—SPE

Offshore Assets Hydraulic Fracturing Technology
26–27 January ◗ Calgary—SPE 21–24 February ◗ Kuala Lumpur—SPE Conference
Refracturing–What’s Working and Why? Maximising Asset Value Through Data 24–26 February ◗ Lafayette—SPE
2–4 February ◗ Amsterdam—SPE Science & Analytics International Conference and Exhibition
Integrated Water Management 23–24 February ◗ Muscat—SPE on Formation Damage Control
15–16 February ◗ Abu Dhabi—SPE Flow Unconventional Reservoir Fracturing

FORUMS
Assurance and Production Chemistry: 23–25 February ◗ Abu Dhabi—SPE Sour Oil
How to Minimise Downtime, Enhance and Gas Fields: The Challenging Transition
Production and Improve Operations from Appraisal through Development to 18–21 January ◗ Dubai—SPE Next
from Wells and Facilities Operations Generation of Smart Reservoir
Management: The Eminent Role of
16–17 February ◗ Mangaf—SPE Applied Big Data Analytics
Tracer Technology to Maximise CONFERENCES
Hydrocarbon Recovery
21–24 February ◗ Kota Kinabalu— 26–28 January ◗ Abu Dhabi—SPE/ CALL FOR PAPERS
SPE Operating Mature And Very IADC Middle East Drilling Technology SPE Latin America and Caribbean Heavy
Mature Fields—Operating, Upgrading Conference and Exhibition and Extra Heavy Oil Conference ◗ Lima
Deadline: 4 February
Find complete listings of upcoming SPE workshops, conferences, symposiums, and forums at www.spe.org/events.
EOR Performance . . . EOR Performance . . . Mature Fields . . .

(Continued from page 54) (Continued from page 59) (Continued from page 64)
the improvement in mobility during Economic Evaluation. While models likely placed across this clearly stimu-
WAG injection. show technical potential for surfactant lated length reaching farther afield than
flooding to increase ultimate recovery just near the wellbore.
Summary of EOR Pilot Simulations. in the Bakken, the economic viability of
Five processes were simulated with the surfactant flooding must also be consid- Farthest Reach. In the log images, large
pilot-scale simulation model: water- ered. An economic-sensitivity study that intervals that lack tracer deeper than the
flood, polymer flood, continuous CO2 examines three economic scenarios is clearly stimulated length can be followed
flood, CO2 WAG injection, and chemical presented. The optimistic scenario as- by clearly stimulated clusters. Farthest
SP flood. The results indicate that the sumes relatively high oil prices and low reach is an attempt to incorporate these
chemical SP flood performs the best in operational and capital costs, while the deep treated clusters that are not part of
terms of the estimated oil-recovery fac- pessimistic scenario assumes the op- the clearly stimulated length. Thirteen
tor. The CO2 WAG process performs bet- posite. In the optimistic case, a credit of 41 wells that had multiple proppant
ter than the continuous CO2 flood, and is given for the reduced water-disposal tracers pumped exhibit a farthest reach
the waterflood was estimated to per- costs that would otherwise be incurred. 100 ft or more beyond their clearly stim-
form poorly, with an oil-recovery fac- All three models assume the same ulated length.
tor of approximately 25%. The poly- water-injection and oil-recovery pro- Basin case histories for the Barnett
mer flood was estimated to yield an files used in the medium-adsorption case Shale, Haynesville, and Eagle Ford forma-
additional oil recovery of approxi- with the base-case fracture half-lengths tions are provided in the complete paper.
mately 17% over waterflood. The re- of 1,400 ft. Both the base-case scenario
sults suggest that heterogeneity in the and the optimistic economic scenario Summary
SAMA reservoir is one of the key fac- show very favorable economics from The overall refracturing success rate in
tors affecting oil recovery. To realize both a return-on-investment and a rate- these 43 horizontal wells was 65%, and
high oil recovery from the SAMA reser- of-return perspective. In the pessimistic only six wells showed minimal incre-
voir, displacement processes including scenario, with sustained low oil prices, mental reserves from the refracturing.
injection-fluid mobility control are rec- high chemical costs, high operational and Within the analyzed basins, significant
ommended. The EOR pilot-scale simula- capital costs, and no credit for reduced variability in both performance met-
tion results suggest that both CO2 WAG water-disposal costs, the economics are rics and diagnostic attributes is seen.
and chemical SP processes could im- not favorable. The likelihood of operating All of the formations had proppant trac-
prove oil recovery from the SAMA reser- a surfactant flood in the Bakken in that ers showing preferential treatment of
voir significantly. JPT environment, however, is very low. JPT the heel. JPT

CELEBRATING
25 YEARS
REGISTRATION
NOW OPEN
SPE International Conference and Exhibition on
Health, Safety, Security,

Environment and Social
Responsibility
Sustaining our Future through Innovation
and Collaboration
11-13 April 2016 / Stavanger Forum, Stavanger, Norway
Visit www.spe.org/go/HSEreg to register and learn more about

the premier HSE-SE international event including sponsorship and
exhibition opportunities.
SPE Full page ad.indd 1 10/12/2015 14:51

PowerJet Nova
EXTRADEEP PENETRATING
SHAPED CHARGES
Rock-optimized PowerJet Nova charges

improve production around the world.
Achieve maximum production using PowerJet Nova* extradeep penetrating shaped charges to deliver the industry’s
most effective penetration in stressed-rock formations, even those with extreme values of rock strength.
In Ecuador, PowerJet Nova charges exceeded production estimates by 250% by connecting to virgin rock
via clean perforation tunnels—and in the North Sea, gas condensate yield surpassed production estimates
with low-skin completion in an offshore HPHT well.
Find out more at
slb.com/perforating
*Mark of Schlumberger. Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 15-PE-64215

JPT Enero 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

JPT Enero 2016

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

JPT Enero 2016

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

12/17/15 8:23 AM

RFD-006_tNavigator_JPT_0724.indd 1 7/24/15 4:12 PM

14 GUEST EDITORIAL • ENGINEERING DESIGN IN THE

22 YOUNG TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE

32 OFFSHORE SEISMIC FEELING PRESSURES TO CHANGE

42 INNOVATIVE DEVELOPMENTS IN CASPIAN REPUBLICS’

WELL INTERVENTION DRILLING & COMPLETIONS UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCES RESERVOIR OPTIMIZATION

TAM-191_EPIC_JPT_120915.indd 1 12/10/15 8:49 AM

Illuminate the Invisible™

53 EOR-Feasibility Study for a Large Carbonate Field in Kuwait

74 Smart Kick Detection—First Step on the Well-Control-Automation Journey Contact us for a

81 Plasma-Based Tool Facilitates Plugging and Abandonment

86 Behind-Pipe-Log-Evaluation Study: Deepwater Subsea Abandonments

Bring an experienced partner into play. Weatherford production

POC Comps.indd 3 10/13/15 1:25 PM

SOUTHWESTERN NORTH AMERICA

NORTHERN ASIA PACIFIC DIRECTOR FOR ACADEMIA

JPT STAFF The Journal of Petroleum Technology® magazine is a

NON-OPEC 2015 MAR APR MAY JUN

Total World 80100 79883 79246 80116 † Source: Baker Hughes.

6 JPT • JANUARY 2016

Increase production and manage inflow with

Find out more at

*Mark of Schlumberger. Copyright © 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 15-CO-87356

8 JPT • JANUARY 2016

© 2016 Hexion Inc. All rights reserved.

HEXION-3711-Aquabond-Ad-JPT_FA.indd 1 12/3/15 11:00 AM

The Grand Challenges for Engineering

The first brief flight at Kitty Hawk in Incentivizing Technological Innovation

SPE R&D Committee Identifies Grand Challenges

A series of white papers and articles were published in the

To contact the SPE President, email [email protected].

10 JPT • JANUARY 2016

I asked a student to draw a well on the chalkboard; she instinc- //

drilled. Don’t suppose I will ever drill one again.”

JPT • JANUARY 2016 11

Trying to Get in Balance

12 JPT • JANUARY 2016

GEOSCIENCE AT ITS BEST

Looking for your new all-in-one

PumaFlow is part of the OpenFlow suite

Engineering Design in the

14 JPT • JANUARY 2016

Simulate your field development challenges

Find out more at

_INTERSECT_jpt_15_is_89001_ad.indd 1 12/11/15 1:07 PM

16 JPT • JANUARY 2016

Chris Carpenter, JPT Technology Editor

Safety Valve Cable Orientation Beacon Extended-Reach-Well-

Fig. 1—With rigorous testing standards and an extensive

18 JPT • JANUARY 2016

bore stability, and a proprietary encapsulator minimizes clay

Retrievable Bridge Plug

Fig. 4—Peak Well Systems’ Simultra

JPT • JANUARY 2016

Ethernet Connectivity Cables

20 JPT • JANUARY 2016

JPT • JANUARY 2016 21

Metal-Formed Liner Hanger Avoids

Fig. 1—Graphic of Powerscrew.