June 2008

• Putting positioning errors in their place

  A new method for survey design overcomes repeatability issues.

• Casing drilling lowers well costs

  Always on the lookout for new technology that improves efficiency, increases safety and lower costs, one Chinese oilfield operator found a solution by drillling the top section of wells with a casing drilling system.

• Monobore technology expands applications

  A new generation of solid tubular expandable liners provides dependable results even when conditions are deemed high risk.

• Expandables revitalize mature assets

  Expandable technology enables improved efficiency and economics in well remediation and sidetrack projects.

• Expandable casing patch and liner hanger

  Solid expandable technology, expandable casing patch systems, and expandable liner hangers enable many new techniques for drilling and completion operations.

• New system overcomes frontier challenges

  Low-frequency passive seismic can go where conventional seismic often can’t and can provide a clearer indication of hydrocarbon

• Discoveries lead to prospecting

  Offshore opportunities abound from Benin to Sierra Leone.

• Data compression is key

  Chevron overcomes file size limitations to deploy satellite images in mobile field mapping projects.

• Chemical recovery at less than $1/bbl

  A new dilute chemical method can recover more than half of the oil left in depleted, fractured, oil-wet carbonate reservoirs at a chemical cost of less than US $1/bbl of oil. The process depends on compressing the gas in depleted reservoirs by injecting dilute (< 0.1 wt%) surfactant alkaline solutions, altering the wettability, and producing the oil by wettability alteration.

• Impact of miscible CO2 flooding on HCGOR

  The current price regime of crude makes it imperative that CO2 flooding scoping models account for the extra gas processing expense that comes with increased gas handling volumes and the additional revenue that comes from the highly profitable natural gas liquid (NGL) stream.

• Optimization after 60 years of production

  Optimizing reservoir management, re-building surface facilities, and infill drilling result in a substantial increase in the value of a field producing for almost 60 years.

• Assessing contaminated gas

  Although contaminated gas makes up a small amount of the world’s reserves, those reserves are becoming increasingly important to international oil companies (IOCs). National oil companies (NOCs) are capitalizing on easier-to-produce sweet gas reserves and leaving the more difficult contaminated reservoirs for the IOCs.

• Raising the Cherokee Basin’s CBM profile

  The Cherokee Basin is emerging as a significant coalbed methane (CBM) play.

• Water management in CBM reservoirs

  A proposed method reduces total dissolved solids in produced water.

• Continuously monitor metal fatigue on rig

  Complete metal fatigue or even wear before complete failure can be continuously measured using the technology of harmonic footprinting.

• Articulated joint system reduces topside rotation

  Joints make the system react to the applied environmental loads in a fundamentally different manner compared to the performance of single hull floaters.

• BC-10 project is on track

  Shell applies a suite of advanced technologies to develop a challenging project offshore Brazil.

• Providing interpretations, evaluating potential

  Increased oil recovery (IOR) screening of the fractured Mogollón Formation in northwestern Peru has led to a plan that will increase recovery and has targeted areas for additional study.

• Deep or detailed, real-time images pay off

  Faced with developing a tough, multizone reservoir in Ecuador, an innovative combination of real-time images was used to make proactive geosteering decisions.

• Colombia is open for business

  Dr. Armando Zamora, director general of Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (ANH), Colombia’s national hydrocarbons agency, outlined the country’s plans for the upcoming bidding round and the efforts being made to differentiate Colombia as a favorable place for international investors.

• Slimming down the oil and gas well

  Reduced well construction cost through the use of slender well technology is closer to being a reality.

• Alaska’s North Slope: promising or in decline?

  Oil production from Alaska’s North Slope has declined. Will the proposed Denali gas pipeline stimulate a non-existent natural gas market in this prolific region?

• Retain your talented female employees

  Women have made great strides in gaining acceptance in the petroleum industry, but a large percentage feels they face gender-related obstacles. This can lead to retention problems.

• Show and tell

  OTC has become the Home Depot of the global petroleum industry, a one-stop bazaar for all your field development needs regardless of geography or geology, complete with eager clerks standing by to serve.

• Leverage the power of paperless maps

  A map is just a pretty picture unless it’s tied to your data.

• The next great frontier

  Space is the final frontier, but tapping its resources may be closer than we think.

• Coming soon to a field near you

  An exploration of OTC turns up noteworthy new well construction tools.

• Streamlining rig and office administration

  By streamlining business processes, drilling contractors can increase their activity without increasing worker headcount.

• News and Analysis

  June news and analysis.

• The first gun perforator service truck

  The first service “car,” as it was known, worked in the field for seven years. By the time the vehicle was retired from service, larger and more capable trucks were performing its service tasks. The first gun perforator service truck, though, will always have a special place in oilfield history.

• On the Move

  Who's going where in the upstream sector.

• NOC does it right — StatoilHydro ups revenues

  After registering a setback in 4Q 2007 as a result of the merger between Statoil and Hydro, the new company has bounced back with a vengeance. “The merger has strengthened our financial capacity, our competence, and resources base, and thereby our competitiveness,” said Helge Lund, StatoilHydro chief executive.

• Making the most of the hand you are dealt

  Integrated Decision Management (IDM) helps to identify, economically evaluate, and implement superior alternatives — even where it appears that none exist.

• New tool solves conventional jet-pump problems

  Hybrid tool combines qualities of conventional gas lift valves and hydraulic jet pump.

• Tech Trend briefs

  June Tech trend shorts.

• Put the hammer down

  Currently we have a number of hammers in search of a nail — McCain, Obama, Clinton and a host of lesser players.