M AY 2 0 1 6 V O L U M E 6 8 , N U M B E R 5

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

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CONTENTS

Volume 68 Number 5

14 GUEST EDITORIAL CREATING VALUE FROM FLARED

NATURAL GAS
Capturing flared gas presents an opportunity to reduce
environmental impact and generate an additional revenue stream.
DNV GLs study shows that economically viable solutions for
carbon abatement and development of flared gas for societal use
are possible.

30 UNCONVENTIONAL MEASURES FOR SHALE

RESERVOIRS

An array of new in-well testing methods involving drill bit

geomechanics and DNA sequencing are coming to the market.
These new technologies provide unconventional producers with
low-cost rock property data from the wells they fracture.

39 PRESSURE TEST FOR E&P INNOVATION

For innovators, the oil price crash offers an opportunitycustomers

willing to try new methods they would not have in better times.
The downside is, they can only sell to the survivors.

44 SEISMIC SHIFTS IN OKLAHOMA LEAD TO STRICTER

REGULATIONS

Oklahoma officials have ordered their tightest restrictions yet on

disposal wells, ones that may impact production, in an effort to
reduce the high rate of earthquakes rattling residents.

By analyzing the DNA make up of

microbes living in shale reservoirs
along different points in the
wellbore, operators may be able
to generate production profiles for
a lower cost and improve future
completion designs. Image courtesy
of Biota Technology.

50 OTC ASIA REVIEW

Highlights from the OTC Asia conference recently held in

KualaLumpur. The conference reflected Asias position as a
globalprovider of E&P technology. More than 15,000 energy
professionals representing 2,500 organizations and 60 countries
attended theconference.

54 MANAGEMENT TRANSFORMING THE UPSTREAM

SERVICE INDUSTRY TO INCREASE OPERATOR
MARGINS

In the current downturn, operators and service providers alike are

rethinking the way they work. Companies can no longer afford
business as usual. It takes a conscious decision and strategic vision
to improve operator margins sufficiently to survive, indeed, thrive.

An Official Publication of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.

DEPARTMENTS
6
8
10
12
18
22
26
96
98
99
100

Performance Indices
Regional Update
Presidents Column
Comments
Technology Applications
Technology Update
E&P Notes
People
Professional Services
Advertisers Index
SPE Events

Printed in US. Copyright 2016, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Solutions for the Life Cycle

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drilling use our swellable packer, Casing Annulus Packer, and Port Collar for cement
integrity during primary and secondary cementing operations. The versatile TAMPlug
effectively isolates lost circulation zones.
Unique completions products include the PosiFrac HALO frac seat and PosiFrac
Toe Sleeve. TAMs extensive suite of swellable packers is available in multiple
elastomer compounds to fit the specific application.

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We provide the exclusive TAM-J Multi-Set Inflatable Packer and the PosiFrac
Straddle System tools for selective production testing, acid stimulation, and sand
fracturing placement. Our Single-Set Inflatable Packers can be used as production
packers, bridge plugs, and scab liners. If P&A operations are needed, our Single-Set,
Cement Retainer, TIP, TAMPlug, and TAM-J packers present reliable solutions.
Whether companies are planning, drilling, completing, producing, remediating, or
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RESERVOIR OPTIMIZATION

2/10/16 3:20 PM

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
58 DEEPWATER PROJECTS
Morten Iversen, SPE, Well Integrity Section Head, BG

59 Advancing Deepwater Kick Detection

62 CLOV Project: Overview
64 Riser-System Design in Water Depths Greater Than 3000 m
67 Subsea Production Optimization in Field BC-10 Offshore Brazil
70 INTELLIGENT FIELDS TECHNOLOGY
John Hudson, SPE, Principal Production Engineer, Shell

71 Flow-Control Optimization Maximizes Accuracy of Multiphase-Flow

RateAllocation

74 Geology-Driven Estimated-Ultimate-Recovery Prediction With

DeepLearning

76 Machine Learning Applied to Multiwell-Test Analysis and Flow-Rate

Reconstruction

79 MULTILATERAL/EXTENDED-REACH WELLS
Bernt S. Aadny, SPE, Professor of Petroleum Engineering,
University of Stavanger

MAKING
EVERY
TRIP
COUNT.

80 Innovative Tool Improves Hole-Cleaning Efficiency in ExtendedReachWells

83 New Rotary Shouldered Connection Expands Capability of ERD Operation

86 Magnetic Referencing and Real-Time Survey Processing Enable Tighter
Spacing of Wells

88 CEMENTING/ZONAL ISOLATION
Gunnar DeBruijn, SPE, Standards and Knowledge Development Manager,
Schlumberger

89 New Approach Tests Cement-Sheath Integrity During Thermal Cycling

92 An Integrated Approach to Solving Sustained Casing Pressure in the

ZeroTime is a game-changing
logging-while-working solution
that eliminates stand-alone
diagnostic surveys by adding
intelligence to routine trips
in hole. ZeroTime enables
operators to plan their next
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Cana-Woodford Shale

94 Design Procedure for Cementing Intercalated Salt Zones

- Minimise risk
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- Minimise costs

www.zerotime.info
The complete SPE technical papers featured in this issue are available
free to SPE members for two months at www.spe.org/jpt.

Smart Solutions for

Complex Drilling Challenges

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SPE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

OFFICERS

SOUTH AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN

Anelise Quintao Lara, Petrobras

2016 President
Nathan Meehan, Baker Hughes

SOUTH ASIA
John Hoppe, Shell

2015 President
Helge Hove Haldorsen, Statoil

SOUTH, CENTRAL, AND EAST EUROPE

2017 President
Janeen Judah, Chevron

SOUTHERN ASIA PACIFIC

Vice President Finance

Roland Moreau, ExxonMobil Annuitant

SOUTHWESTERN NORTH AMERICA

Matthias Meister, Baker Hughes

Salis Aprilian, PT Badak NGL

Libby Einhorn, Concho Oil & Gas

WESTERN NORTH AMERICA

REGIONAL DIRECTORS
AFRICA
Adeyemi Akinlawon,
Adeb Konsult

CANADIAN
Darcy Spady, Broadview Energy

EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

Bob Garland, Silver Creek Services

GULF COAST NORTH AMERICA

J. Roger Hite, Inwood Solutions

MID-CONTINENT NORTH AMERICA

Andrei Popa, Chevron

TECHNICAL DIRECTORS
DRILLING AND COMPLETIONS
David Curry, Baker Hughes

HEALTH, SAFETY, SECURITY, ENVIRONMENT,

AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Trey Shaffer, ERM

MANAGEMENT AND INFORMATION

J.C. Cunha

PRODUCTION AND OPERATIONS

Jennifer Miskimins, Barree & Associates

Michael Tunstall

MIDDLE EAST

PROJECTS, FACILITIES, AND CONSTRUCTION

Howard Duhon, GATE, Inc.

Khalid Zainalabedin, Saudi Aramco

RESERVOIR DESCRIPTION AND DYNAMICS

NORTH SEA

Tom Blasingame, Texas A&M University

Carlos Chalbaud, ENGIE

NORTHERN ASIA PACIFIC

Phongsthorn Thavisin, PTTEP

DIRECTOR FOR ACADEMIA

Dan Hill, Texas A&M University

ROCKY MOUNTAIN NORTH AMERICA

Erin McEvers, Clearbrook Consulting

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS

RUSSIA AND THE CASPIAN

Anton Ablaev, Schlumberger

Khaled Al-Buraik, Saudi Aramco

Liu Zhenwu, China National Petroleum Corporation

JPT STAFF

The Journal of Petroleum Technology magazine is a

registered trademark of SPE.

Glenda Smith, Publisher

SPE PUBLICATIONS: SPE is not responsible for any

statement made or opinions expressed in its publications.

John Donnelly, Editor

Alex Asfar, Senior Manager Publishing Services
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VISURAY

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X-RAY VIS

PERFORMANCE INDICES
WORLD CRUDE OIL PRODUCTION1+
THOUSAND BOPD

HENRY HUB GULF COAST NATURAL GAS SPOT PRICE

6

O PEC

2015 JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

Algeria

1370

1370

1370

1370

Angola

1890

1910

1800

1810

538

537

539

538

Iran

3300

3300

3300

3300

Iraq

4375

4275

4425

4275

Kuwait*

2550

2550

2550

2550

400

360

375

415

Nigeria

2270

2320

2320

2370

Qatar

1537

1537

1537

1537

10290

10290

10190

10140

UAE

2820

2820

2820

2820

Venezuela

2500

2500

2500

2500

33840

33769

33726

33625

Ecuador

TOTAL

THOUSAND BOPD
NON-OPEC

2015 JUL

AUG

SEP

Argentina

532

529

529

535

Australia

361

360

335

330

Azerbaijan

867

867

867

872

2466

2547

2395

2406

Brazil

3821

3912

3412

3581

China

4263

4278

4317

4259

Colombia

947

968

1009

1030

Denmark

154

157

154

157

524

511

510

509

Eq. Guinea

250

250

250

250

Gabon

215

215

215

215

754

768

757

758

801

777

800

801

1592

1593

1594

1595

599

591

652

619

2308

2291

2306

2314

Norway

1611

1599

1581

1685

Oman

1001

990

985

980

Russia

10200

10180

10150

10140

Sudan

257

254

255

257

30

30

30

30

Mexico

Syria
UK
USA

MAR

FEB

2016
JAN

DEC

NOV

OCT

SEP

AUG

JUL

JUN

MAY

APR

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

2016
JAN

FEB

MAR

Brent

46.52

47.62

48.43

44.27

38.01

30.70

32.18

38.21

WTI

42.87

45.48

46.22

42.44

37.19

31.68

30.32

37.55

WORLD ROTARY RIG COUNT

REGION

SEP

838

788

862

912

9433

9407

9460

9347

343

307

348

333

22

22

22

22

2496

2479

2517

2509

OCT

NOV

DEC

2016
JAN

FEB

MAR

US

848

791

760

714

654

532

478

Canada

183

184

178

160

192

211

88
218

Latin America

321

294

284

270

243

237

Europe

109

108

108

114

108

107

96

Middle East

396

403

419

422

407

404

397

Africa

India

Malaysia

WORLD CRUDE OIL PRICES (USD/bbl)

Asia Pacific

Indonesia
Kazakhstan

OCT

Canada

Egypt

Libya

Saudi Arabia*

USD/million Btu

TOTAL

96

93

90

91

94

88

91

218

213

208

198

193

182

183

2171

2086

2047

1969

1891

1761

1551

WORLD OIL SUPPLY AND DEMAND2

MILLION BOPD
Quarter

2015

2016

2nd

3rd

4th

1st

SUPPLY

95.50

96.39

96.52

95.47

DEMAND

93.11

94.81

94.21

93.76

INDICES KEY

Vietnam
Yemen
Other

Total

46685

46670

46312

46446

Total World

80525

80439

80038

80071

Figures do not include NGLs and oil from nonconventional sources.

* Includes approximately one-half of Neutral Zone production.

1 Latest available data on www.eia.gov.
2 Includes crude oil, lease condensates, natural gas plant liquids, other hydrocarbons for refinery feedstocks,
refinery gains, alcohol, and liquids produced from nonconventional sources.
Source: Baker Hughes.
Source: US Department of Energy/Energy Information Administration.

JPT MAY 2016

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*Mark of Schlumberger. Copyright 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. 16-ST-121508

Salik full page for JPT April, May, June 2016 16-ST-121508 AD.indd 1

3/7/16 9:35 AM

REGIONAL UPDATE
AFRICA
Tullows Cheptuket-1 well in Block
12A ofnorthern Kenya has encountered
goodoilshows over an almost 2,300ft
interval, the company reported. The
first well to test the Kerio Valley Basin,
Cheptuket-1 was drilled to a final
depth of10,114 ft. The results indicate
the presence of an active petroleum
system with significant oil generation,
the companysaid.Post-well analysis
now underway will affect future basin
exploration decisions. Tullow is the block
operator with a 40% interest. Delonex
Energy (40%) and Africa Oil (20%) are
theother participants.

ASIA
Rosneft has spudded the PLDD1X
exploration well in Block 06.1 of Vietnams
Nam Con Son Basin, the first Rosneftoperated international offshore drilling
project. Lying in 532 ft of water, the
well hasa design depth of 4,528 ft.
The company said the PLDD geological
structure is expected to hold recoverable
reserves of 444.9 Bcf (12.6 Bcm) of
natural gas and 0.6 million metric tons
(5.4millionbbl) of gas condensate, which
can be developed by subsea completion
and tiedback to the Rosneft-operated
LanTay platform. The company has a
35%stake in the block with Petrovietnam
(20%) and ONGC (45%) holding
theremainder.

AUSTRALIA/OCEANIA
Mosman Oil and Gas said that its
Amadeus Basin project in Australias
Northern Territory holds trillions of
cubic feet of recoverable natural gas. A
report by SRK Consulting on the basins
resourceprospects within permit EP 145,
in which Mosman holds the sole interest,
highlights the potential for conventional
gas in proven reservoirs of the West Walker
Anticline and unconventional gas in the
Horn Valley Siltstone. According to the
report, there are unrisked prospective
recoverable resources of 12.44 Bcf
of conventional gas and 1.4 Tcf of
unconventional gas within both plays.
Chevron began liquefied natural gas
(LNG) and condensate production and

LNGexports from the Gorgon Project on

Barrow Island offshore Western Australia.
The USD 54-billion project produces gas
from the Gorgon and Jansz-Io fields off
Australias northwest coast. Gorgons
major facilities include a Barrow Island
LNG plant with 15.6 million metric tons of
annual capacity, a CO2 injection project,
and a domestic gas plant. Chevron, the
fieldoperator, holds a 47.3 % interest in
Gorgon. Other participants are Exxon Mobil
(25%), Shell (25%), Osaka Gas (1.25%),
Tokyo Gas (1%), and Chubu Electric Power
(0.417%). Gorgon is Australias largest
single resource development ever. With
production from Gorgon and other projects,
Australia will surpass Qatar as the worlds
largest LNG exporter in 2018, the Australian
Petroleum Production & Exploration
Association said.

EUROPE
Eni has started production from the
Goliat field on Production License 229 in
the Barents Sea offshore Norway. The first
oil field to produce from the Barents Sea,
Goliat was developed through the use of
the worlds largest floating production,
storage, and offloading (FPSO) system
with a storage capacity of 1 million bbl.
Field output will reach 100,000 B/D from
22 subsea wells, of which 17 are now
completed. Goliats reserves are estimated
at 180 million bbl. Eni is the operator with
a 65% interest in the license, with Statoil
holding the remainder.
UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG)
said that the Horse Hill-1 onshore
discovery wellin Petroleum Exploration
and Development License (PEDL) 137 in
southern England has shown North Sealike oil flows. Located in the Weald Basin
near Gatwick Airport, the well flowed at
a stable rate of 323 B/D of oil in its latest
production test. With the inclusion of
earlier results, the well has achieved a
total aggregate stable dry oil flow rate of
1,688 B/D from three tested zones. In an
independent study, Schlumberger has
reported that a mean of almost 11 billionbbl
of oil in place is embedded within the
PEDL 137 and PEDL 246 Horse Hill licenses.
UKOG and Solo Oil hold 20.163% and 6.5%
stakes in PEDL 137, respectively. Horse
Hill Development, the operator, holds the
remaining stake.

MIDDLE EAST
Enis Zohr 2X well in the Zohr field
oftheShorouk Block offshore Egypt
hasdelivered up to 44 MMscf/D of
naturalgas during production tests.
Thewell, which was constrained by
surfacefacilities, has an estimated
production capacity of 250MMscf/D
(46,000 BOE/D), the company said.
Eni,thesole interest holder of the block
license, plans to drill three additional
wellsin the field this year.

NORTH AMERICA
Northcote Energy said that the
LutcherMoore (LM) No. 21 well at the
Shoats Creek field in southwestern
Louisiana will be spudded May 16 as part
a fully funded work program. Following
completion operations, the LM No. 22
well will be drilled. Preparations are under
way to drill the LMNo. 23 well in the third
quarter. Potentially five Shoats Creek wells
will be producing by year-end, the company
said. Northcote is also doing geophysical
and engineering work in preparation
for high-grading drilling prospects in
the deeper Cockfield formation in the
samevicinity.

SOUTH AMERICA
Petrobras reported that its early
production system in the Sepia area
(formerly the Nordeste de Tupi area) has
begun operations in the Santos Basin presalt layer offshore Brazil. The FPSO vessel
Cidade de Sao Vicente is set to produce
about 20,000 B/D of oil during the test
period. Deployed in 7,218 ft (2200m)
of water, the FPSO system is connected
to the 1-RJS-691 well and will remain at
itscurrentlocation for 180 days.
Shell plans to launch a new exploration
phase of the BC-10 project in the Campos
Basin offshore Brazil, where the company
operates the deepwater Parque das
Conchas oil and gas development. Despite
market uncertainties, Shell wants to
keep investing in Brazil because of its
viable oil reserves, said Andre Araujo, the
chief executive officer of Shell Brazil in
a recent presentation. The company has
invested more than USD 1 billion in the
BC-10Block.JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Hope Is Not a Strategy But Without Hope,

There Is No Strategy
Nathan Meehan, 2016 SPE President

A great benefit of being the SPE president

is the chance to interact with students
and young professionals around the
world. Many are anxious about the future,
but not panicked. I have been asked if this
is the worst time ever in the oil business,
a question that made mesmile.
For some reason, it is natural to try and
scale a current calamity with past ones. For example, financial recessions are compared with the Great Depression of the
1930s during which the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP)
dropped 15% in 3 years. In comparison, the recession of 2008
2009 saw a 1% drop in worldwide GDP but certainly felt huge.
WTI crude oil prices dropped from USD 145.31/bbl on 3 July 2008
to USD 30.28/bbl in less than 5 months. The US rig count followed
suit, dropping from 1,987 in August 2008 to 895 by mid-2009. It
certainly was not good, but it was relatively short-lived.
Fig. 1 compares US rotary rig activity during the four most
recent significant downturns. Leo Tolstoys quote about families may be paraphrased to apply to downturns: Each oil price
downturn is unhappy in its own way, and each downturn and
recovery had different causes. In Fig. 1, I have started with the
peak US rig activity immediately prior to the beginning of the
downturn and normalized subsequent weekly activity to this
peak. Each prior downturn recovered to about 80% of peak activity within approximately 2 years after dropping from 45% to
55% of peak activity.

Rigs Operating as Percentage of

Pre-Downturn Level

125

100

75

50

19972001
20012004

25

20082012
2014March 2016

0
0

50

100

150

200

Weeks From Beginning of Downturn

Fig. 1The relative US rig count vs. number of weeks

from peak rig activity.

250

We are currently at less than 25% of the prior peak activity

level and at an all-time low for the Baker Hughes reported US rig
count dating to 1944. Compare this with the 1980s. In late 1981,
rig activity peaked at 4,530 rigs and in the subsequent ice age,
the rig count dropped to 663, less than 15% of the peak. While
this was a steeper drop from the peak level, current rig activity
is now approximately 70% of that ice age bottom, and future
drops are certainly possible. Current rig activity is lower than
what the US has seen in a very long time.

Is the Current US Rig Count the Lowest Ever?

I have been looking at historical rig activity measures. The Baker
Hughes rig count data from 1944 include only rotary rigs. Before
the 1950s, cable tool rigs accounted for a significant portion of
drilling activity. Cable tool drilling dates to 1806 with horsepowered rigs. These were replaced in the 1830s by steam engines
to provide rig power, and in 1860 when J.C. Rathbone used a
steam-powered cable tool rig to drill a 100-B/D producer in West
Virginia, cable tool activity took off. During the US Civil War,
many hundreds of cable tool rigs were drilling, primarily in West
Virginia, California, and Pennsylvania. If we include cable tool
rigs, total US rig activity has exceeded 500 rigs since Abraham
Lincoln was the US president, making the rig activity of 464 as of
24 March this year a truly historic low.

When Will It Come Back Up? Is There Hope?

In a recent article in The Way Ahead (TWA 2016), I wrote about
the assumption that we are riding the storm out and pretty
soon things will return to normal. It is impossible to know how
long the status quo may last, or when an upswing will occur.
Hoping that prices will recover soon is not a strategy to deal
with low oil prices. While the TWA article dealt with individuals
strategies for responding to the downturn, I am also concerned
about companies and SPEs strategies.
Few companies took very long to resort to familiar actions.
Capital expenditures were cut and then cut again. Service companies were required to lower prices multiple times. Headcount
reductions now exceed 300,000. Projects are shelved and company efforts focus on lowering costs. While few companies have
reduced salaries, bonuses and other benefits have been lowered
or eliminated. Many companies have cut or eliminated dividends. Research and development budgets have been lowered
for larger companies, shifting the focus to technologies with
near-term payoffs. Training and travel budgets were slashed.

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

10

JPT MAY 2016

Service companies reacted early and most dramatically.

Oily independents and highly leveraged companies were
next, followed by larger independents, and then by integrated
companies. National oil companies often had significant capital
contraction even if they had few (if any) layoffs. Every company
is focused on lowering costs and increasing efficiencies.
No company could just hope for the best and keep doing
what they had been doing. This is also true for SPE.
Taking a trip down memory lane, I reviewed copies of JPT
from the downturn in the late 1980s. Noel Rietman, 1987 SPE
president, focused on how SPE was responding, member benefits, company support, and the relevance of SPE to members
who had been laid offall very familiar topics from the past
year of SPE Board of Directors discussions.
SPE has a reserve fund for rainy days like these, to allow us
to maintain continuity in our services for members. However,
since we do not know how long current conditions will last, we
cannot simply continue with business as usual and hope that
conditions improve before funds are exhausted.
SPE receives a large portion of its revenue from attendance
at conferences, workshops, and training courses. Training budgets slashed by operators have led to course cancellations. Attendance at our events has been affectedmore in some locales
than othersso we have relocated many events to major oil and
transportation hubs to facilitate ease of attendance. Sponsorships and, to a lesser extent, exhibitions have been affected by
the financial difficulties of the companies who support SPE activities. Despite these difficulties, SPE continues to offer events
and training in which members can network, share, and learn.
While times were good, we invested our profits into growing
the portfolio of services offered to our members. Recently, the
Board has had to prioritize services and make cuts in several
areas. SPE offered a voluntary severance package to staff, followed by an involuntary severance. The resulting 12% reduction
in the number of SPE employees was a sad first in ourhistory.
Nonetheless, there are many reasons for hope. At SPE, the
number and quality of technical papers remain high and the
brand is solid. This reflects in no small measure our greatest assets, the members whose voluntary service and participation has
never been greater. With more than 165,000 members and vast
technical resources available through OnePetro (onepetro.org)
and PetroWiki (www.petrowiki.org), we continue to be the most
significant place where upstream energy professionals collect,
disseminate, and exchange technical information.
Most importantly, SPE remains focused on supporting our
members through good times and bad. We provide eMentoring
services, free web events, dues waivers for up to 2 years for
members in transition, a competency management tool, health
insurance, networking opportunities, free admission on one
day of many conferences, and most importantly, a way to stay
current with evolving technology. JPT

Reference
Meehan, N. 2016. Should I Stay or Should I Go? The Way Ahead.
12(1): 45. http://www.spe.org/news/article/should-i-stay-orshould-i-go-young-professionals-and-the-industrys-future.

JPT MAY 2016

COMMENTS

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Bernt Aadny, University of Stavanger
Syed AliChairperson, Schlumberger
Tayfun Babadagli, University of Alberta

Technologies of the Future

John Donnelly, JPT Editor

William Bailey, Schlumberger

Mike Berry, Mike Berry Consulting
Maria Capello, Kuwait Oil Company
Simon Chipperfield, Santos
Nicholas Clem, Baker Hughes

The future of technology in the global energy industry will be

driven by cost pressures, the scope of government regulation,
and increased digitization. DNV GLs Technology Outlook 2025
report, released last month, lists six emerging technologies
that it predicts will have a significant impact on the upstream
sector over the next decade.
While the technologies are not necessarily new to oil and gas,
they are likely to be adopted at an accelerated pace and more
broadly than currently. The report predicts these technologies will be increasingly in
use over the next several years because of economic, regulatory, and environmental
factors, and continued strong demand for hydrocarbons.
The first technology, fully automated drilling operations, has the potential to
improve the speed and safety of drilling operations and greatly reduce costs. But its
widespread adoption will require a complete redesign of drilling processes in order
to gain all of the benefits. It will also require the use of related technologies such as
automated drillpipe handling, managed-pressure drilling, single-trip drilling, and better monitoring and diagnostic capabilities. Automated drilling could cut both drilling
time and costs by up to 50% compared with conventional operations, the report says.
Smart completions, including better monitoring and more precise control of production zones to maximize recovery, should be heavily adopted by the industry. Lowcost smart completions, reconfigured without a rig, could potentially boost additional output from complex reservoirs, such as thin oil pay zones.
Subsea systems will rely more on monitoring and data analytics to enhance production stability. That will help better predict flow-related problems and ensure continuous flow from the well. Improved monitoring and analytics, with more sensors
and higher computing power, will drive simpler field development through the use
of longer tie-ins and simpler designs, said Pierre Sames, DNV GLs group technology
and research director. This will improve leak detection, inspection, maintenance, and
repair, all contributing to uninterrupted flow and better integrity, he said.
Rigless plugging and abandonment could be a particular boon in the North Sea,
which has 8,000 wells that need attention. Current practice for plugging and abandonment involves costly permanent plugging, accounting for up to half of the total decommissioning expenses. Plugging without the use of a rig would require that plugging and
abandonment be performed with the well tubing in place, according to thereport.
Autonomous inspection of pipelines and the use of biodegradable polymers for
enhanced oil recovery also should be in full operation by 2025. Autonomous underwater vehicles are more efficient than remotely operated vehicles in performing regular pipeline inspection and will be equipped with sonars, cameras, and sensors.
Unmanned aerial vehicles will be used for onshore pipelines, but regulations will need
to clarify their further use in civil airspace.
DNV GL forecasts the world to be consuming up to one-fifth more energy by 2025
than it does now. With operational cost pressures and oil price volatility, there will be
a need to drill new wells more efficiently, highlighting the need for such technologies
as fully automated drilling and smart completions, Sames said. JPT

Alex Crabtree, Hess Corporation

Gunnar DeBruijn, Schlumberger
Mark Egan, WesternGeco
Mark Elkins, ConocoPhillips
Alexandre Emerick,
Petrobras Research Center
Niall Fleming, Statoil
Ted Frankiewicz, SPEC Services
Stephen Goodyear, Shell
Omer M. Gurpinar, Schlumberger
A.G. Guzman-Garcia, Retired
Greg Horton, Consultant
John Hudson, Shell
Morten Iversen, Karachaganak Petroleum
Leonard Kalfayan, Hess Corporation
Tom Kelly, FMC Technologies
Thomas Knode, Statoil
Sunil Kokal, Saudi Aramco
Marc Kuck, Eni US Operating
Jesse C. Lee, Schlumberger
Silviu Livescu, Baker Hughes
Shouxiang (Mark) Ma, Saudi Aramco
John Macpherson, Baker Hughes
Casey McDonough, American Energy Partners
Stephane Menand, DrillScan
Badrul H Mohamed Jan, University of Malaya
Lee Morgenthaler, Retired
Michael L. Payne, BP plc
Zillur Rahim, Saudi Aramco
Martin Rylance, BP GWO Completions
Engineering
Otto L. Santos, Petrobras
Luigi A. Saputelli, Hess Corporation
Sally A. Thomas, ConocoPhillips
Win Thornton, BP plc
Xiuli Wang, Baker Hughes
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 JPTs editor, email [email protected].

12

JPT MAY 2016

GUEST EDITORIAL

Creating Value From Flared Natural Gas

Martin Layfield, Global Segment Leader Gas Value Chain, DNV GL

Approximately 5% of world annual

gas production is being flared or vented. This is equivalent to approximately
110140 billion m3 (Bcm) of gas, and
equates to the combined gas consumption
of Central and South America in2013.
The World Bank estimates that flaring 140 Bcm would cause more than
350 million tonnes of CO2 release into
the atmosphere. If this could be harnessed for power, for example, it could
produce 750 billion kW-hr/year, more
than Africas entire annual consumption.
Capturing the flared or vented gas
presents an opportunity for operators
to reduce the environmental impact as
well as provide an economic opportunity to generate an additional revenue
stream. The World Banks Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative is calling on governments and companies to
achieve this target within the next 15
years. To address both the need to end
routine gas flaring and tackle climate
change concerns, DNV GL has conducted
research titled Natural Gas Capture
Clean and Economic, which examines
the viability of alternative solutions and
their revenuepotential.
The conceptual study looked at four
existing oil and gas facilities, onshore
in North Dakota, Algeria, and Russia,
and offshore Vietnam, which provided
a variety of volumes and rates of gas
being flared. This enabled the modeling of a range of diverse technologies

on real locations and field conditions as

most flaring occurs at either aging and/
or remote locations.

Understanding the Challenges

A number of factors can affect the drive
and desire to undertake a reduction in
gas flaring. Existing solutions are mature
for large-scale applications, but fewer
technologies have been used commercially at a small scale. This is perhaps due
to uncertainty in the industry about the
technical and economic viability of capturing the gas at these levels.
Retrofits and transportation of recovered gas to processing facilities can be
costly. Without a global cost penalty for
emitted carbon there is seen to be little
benefit to capture the flared gas, particularly in countries with developing economies. Similarly, different geographies
conjure various technical, regulatory,
and economic drivers and limitations.
Access to funding to develop projects
and the implementation of technologies
is also a major factor.
Where there are carbon emissions regulations in place, there is obviously more
incentive to capture the waste from gas
flaring. In the US, there are limits in
place for gas flaring that penalize operators through the curtailment of production for missing targets. As a result, new
technologies are emerging with a variety
of solutions. Since issuing its research,
DNV GL has had a number of companies

Martin Layfield is the global segment leader of the gas value

chain for DNV GL. He has more than 25 years of commercial
experience in industry and more than 10 years with DNV GL in the
oil and gas industry, developing solutions and securing and
managing contracts and relationships with a range of major
international clients. He holds a degree in business administration
from Coventry University.

14

approach for assistance with the qualification process to help establish technologies in the market. The North Dakota Petroleum Council has set targets to
reduce flaring. These were set to 26%
by the fourth quarter of 2014, 23% by
the first quarter of 2015, 15% by the first
quarter of 2016, and 10% with the potential for 5% by the fourth quarter of 2020.

Technology Solutions
Gas flaring releases toxic components
and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that can have harmful effects on
the health and wellbeing of local communities as well as contributing to
climatechange.
Proposed technology solutions are
largely dependent on the flow rate, gas
compositions, and distance to market,
and the viability of different technologies
will vary accordingly. During the conceptual study, our company considered
the technoeconomic viability of 19 different conversion methods. These were
considered at different flow rates, gas
composition, and the distance to market. More than 150 suppliers/vendors
and their technologies/methods were
researched. By examining the most costeffective ways of transporting and converting the gas into products of a higher
value, they were able to identify opportunities to produce valuable product alternatives like ammonia, ethanol, gas-toliquids, and hydrogen.
More novel techniques examined how
to bring the market closer to the source
of the flaring and the opportunities to
capture in-situ. These included water
desalination, gas-to-power, liquefiedpetroleum-gas and natural-gas-liquids
recovery, and carbon black. The technology solutions and means of transporta-

JPT MAY 2016

Manara

PRODUCTION AND RESERVOIR

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Water cut
Fluid flow rate
Pressure
Water cut
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 junctionsall 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

Temperature

Source of
associated gas

Assess gas
flow rate and
product demand

Offshore

Select suitable
products from CNG,
gas-to-wire, LPG/
NGLs, and batteries

Assess technology
solutions and
distance to market

Assess technology
maturity, safety,
and reliability

Onshore

Selected suitable
products from the
diagram

CNG Compressed natural gas

LPG Liquefied petroleum gas

NGL Natural gas liquids

Capex Capital expenditure

Assess Capex,
Opex, NPVs, and
economic viability

Select technology
solution

Opex Operational expenditure

NPV Net present value

Fig. 1Technology selection methodology flow chart.

tion explored can also be applied to the

following.
Monetization of small-scale
stranded gas fields
Monetization of associated gas from
extended well tests
Resolving demands at remote areas
where there is no infrastructure
Capturing vented gas
In some North American shale regions
that experience a lack of infrastructure
and remote exploration and production
activities, as much as 30% to 40% of
gas is being flared. Installing transportation infrastructure is often costly and
so looking at more economic and flexible solutions is highly attractive. As well
as generating a valuable revenue stream,
converting the gas can be highly beneficial to local populations. The fracturing process used in onshore shale gas
extraction generates a great deal of produced water. Desalinization can clean
that water and make it useable for local
communities as a water source. Although
some solutions might be immature for
near-term implementation, current
applications such as micro liquefied natural gas, compressed natural gas, natural
gas hydrates, and conversion methods
can deliver significant benefits, and are
key in shale gas regions where regulations will drive flaring reductions.
Many of the novel techniques explored
in the study, particularly for small-scale

16

capture of natural gas, are maturing well

in the US. Many are at the pilot stage at
least. However, few are yet to be adopted
elsewhere. Innovation is largely driven by
the US shale industry, where many of the
wells in North Dakotas Bakken Basin are
already implementing affordable alternatives to flaring through connections to
existing gas-gathering networks. These
handle associated liquids-rich gas from
more accessible drilling areas which are
being used to produce propane, methane, butane, natural gasoline, and industrial feedstock ethane.
By using the four case studies with
small-scale gas flow rates, the study
proved that economically viable solutions to assist in carbon abatement and
the development of flare gas for societal use are possible. It is a complex
process to determine suitable technology solutions as alternatives to flaring
and the flow chart (Fig. 1) shows the
methodology used in carrying out the
conceptualstudy.

Future for Gas Flaring

Though support for the World Banks
Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative
is gaining momentum, greater awareness and understanding of the technical
and economic possibilities for gas flaring, beyond operational modification, is
needed to encourage commitment from
operators and policy makers. Many of
the existing policy and technology devel-

opments are focused on reducing carbon

emissions, rather than using the flared
gas to benefit society.
If the industry is serious about ending
routine gas flaring and addressing climate
change concerns, it also needs to overcome the nontechnical hurdles such as
financial investment, time and resource
commitment, and the requirement for
regulatory and legal frameworks.
Major political forces will be a vital
component to progress. Although critics of the Obama administrations climate change plan are determined to
oppose it, the US has already made progress toward reaching its emissions targets. Obamas plan proposes a 32% cut
in carbon emissions from power plants
by 2030 on 2015 levels. However, emissions from power plants have already
fallen by 15% between 2005 and 2013
without regulatory incentive. There has
been some criticism of the emphasis
that Obama has placed on renewables,
given that natural gas still has much further to go to displace coal as a friendlier carbon-based energy source. However, this emphasis on renewable growth
should only serve to increase the environmental and sustainable credentials
of natural gas given the improvements
being made to reduce emissions in gas
production. Tapping into the opportunities to create value from flared gas will
drive emissions targets further, both in
the US andglobally. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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?
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interface and
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with all third-party
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Chemical EOR
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Water and gas injection

PumaFlow is part of the OpenFlow suite

of E&P software

www.beicip.com
[email protected]

TECHNOLOGY APPLICATIONS
Chris Carpenter, JPT Technology Editor

Production-Measurement
System

Vibration-Monitoring Platform

Production logs have been an industry

standard for many years, but by themselves they are not a reliable way to evaluate the complicated flow regimes in modern multistage wells. Production logs
work well at determining the phases of
flow in horizontal or vertical wells, but
determining from which stage or cluster
the production is originating is more of a
challenge. The Refrac Road Map Focused
Production Measurement System from
Tech-Flo measures fluid entry and the
phases of flow while in the hole (Fig. 1). It
uses the flexibility of a hydraulic jet pump
to produce and stabilize the well while
each zone or stage is isolated between
straddle packers. It is movable and resettable. It increases and measures a flowing
wells production, produces and measures
a dead wells production, and can produce
a zone or stages absolute openhole potential. It measures three-phase flow, temperature, static bottomhole pressure, and
flowing bottomhole pressure to determine a wells in-flow performance. It can
be run in real time or memory mode. Conveyance methods include jointed pipe,
coiled tubing, or fiber coiled tubing. Suggested uses of this system include postfracturing evaluation, pre-refracturing
evaluation, and evaluation of vertical
wells with stacked pay.

The ClampOn LPHP vibrationmonitoring platform combines high

sensitivity with low power consumption, resulting in a standalone vibrationmonitoring and data-logging system that
can run continuously for weeks using
only a small battery pack. At the core
of the LPHP platform are three state-ofthe-art microelectro-mechanical-system
(MEMS) accelerometers in a three-axis
configuration. The platform includes several other sensors, such as a three-axis
gyroscope, a three-axis magnetometer
that can be used as a compass, and an
additional low-power accelerometer for
longer battery life. MEMSs are traditional mechanical systems on a microscopic
scale. An MEMS accelerometer consists
of a system of springs and masses, and
uses capacitive sensing to measure the
position of the proof mass. MEMS accelerometers offer several advantages over
traditional piezoelectric accelerometers,
including small size, low power consumption, and low price. Together, all the sensors can be used for so-called inertial
navigation. Inertial navigation is accurate for small movements, but the measured absolute position will tend to drift
over time. Combined with knowledge
about expected movements, or other sensor inputs, the position measurements
can still become very precise.

For additional information, visit

For additional information, visit

www.tech-flo.net.

www.clampon.com.

Fig. 1Schematic of the Refrac Road Map from Tech-Flo. Left inset: jet pump;
right inset: pup joint with Doppler production-logging tool.

18

Fig. 2Weatherfords ComCAM20/160-SL bucking machine.

Bucking Machine
The ComCAM-20/160-SL bucking
machine from Weatherford enables fully
rotational, high-torque makeup and
breakout operations of tubulars. It can
be controlled remotely, which enhances
safety by reducing the number of personnel and avoiding manual tubular handling. The open-head design enables
side loading to minimize space requirements (Fig. 2). With only three sets of
easily interchangeable clamping jaws, the
machine reduces the number of required
jaw changes and enhances operational
efficiency. It can reverse from makeup to
breakout mode instantly, and the gripping force can be adjusted on the basis
of tubular material. During makeup or
breakout, the free-floating backup system design compensates for bending
and shearing forces to reduce strain. The
bucking machine can be used for all types
of tubulars, including premium connections, with diameters ranging from 4.5
to 22 in. It is capable of generating torque
up to 160,000 lbf-ft. According to ATEX
regulations, the system can operate safely in Zone-2 hazardous areas. This unit
operates in conjunction with a Weatherford integrated pipe-transport system,
and the combined equipment is compact
enough to fit within limited pipe deck
space. The machine is compatible with
the companys TorkPro3 torque/turns
analyzing software, which records, analyzes, and evaluates data from premium
connections in real time.
For additional information, visit

www.weatherford.com.

JPT MAY 2016

HyFleX

SUBSEA TREE SYSTEM

Based on field-proven components and designed for

operational flexibility to reduce life-of-field costs.
The HyFleX* subsea tree system provides benefits of both vertical and horizontal conventional trees without the usual compromises.
Designed so that the tubing hanger and tree can be installed and recovered independently of each other, the HyFleX subsea tree system
can provide significant cost savings with multiple installation and recovery options.
Based on field-proven components, the patented HyFleX subsea tree system offers functional flexibility and the ability to batch set wells,
mitigates risk, and can help deliver operators significant cost savings in field development over the life of the field.
Learn more about our leading technology at

onesubsea.slb.com/HyFleX
All referenced trademarks are owned by or licensed to Schlumberger. 2016 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. OSS-1062

Fig. 4The Wraith Frac Ball

dissolvable fracturing ball from
Phenom.

Fig. 3Self-propelled transport trolley from Protea.

Pneumatic Trolley
Over the past 15 years, Protea has supplied a range of pneumatically driven
winches, predominantly for use on offshore drilling rigs and floating production units. The Protea pneumatic-drive
system ensures precise and reliable load
control and that the equipment can be
used in hazardous areas per ATEX regulations. Previous projects include a coiledtubing-handling system comprising an air
winch, transport trolley, and control system that was installed on the Aseng floating production, storage, and offloading
vessel currently on charter to Noble Energy. Protea has recently developed a selfpropelled transport trolley with an integrated pneumatic-drive system (Fig. 3).
A self-propelled trolley is a versatile solution because it can be used at multiple
locations, requires less deck space, and is
simpler to commission, because there is
no need to install a separate winch system
complete with tow lines. The new trolley
incorporates a proven pneumatic-drive
system and can transit loads of up to 50 t
at an average speed of 12 m/min. The first
unit is currently completing a program of
extensive testing at Proteas production
facility in southern Poland.

tain integrity and isolation during highpressure fracturing. The Wraith Frac Ball
dissolves at controllable and predictable
rates, to allow production from all treated zones. Cast and machined from an aluminum base, the Wraith Frac Balls high
shear strength is suited for high-pressure/
high-temperature applications and horizontal and extended-reach operations.
The Wraith Frac Ball requires only exposure to fresh, salt, or produced water
at temperatures greater than 100F to
begin dissolving; however, faster dissolve
rates may be achieved through the addition of corrosive fluids or an increase in
temperature. Phenom has developed an
empirically proven equation that accurately and reliably predicts the dissolve
rate of the Wraith Frac Ball in water on
the basis of its (compound and physical)

properties and specific bottomhole temperatures. Phenom offers two versions

of the Wraith Frac Ball, solid and hollow,
each currently available in five different
formulations to accommodate a variety of
operatorrequirements.
For additional information, visit

www.phenom-us.com.

Reservoir Simulator
Stone Ridge Technology has introduced
ECHELON, an ultrafast extended blackoil reservoir simulator supporting major
engineering features. ECHELON runs on
graphics processing units (GPUs), the
current generation of which provides 5X
or more memory bandwidth than central processing units and a similar advantage in computing throughput, both critical to a simulators performance. By
combining the extreme computational power and bandwidth of GPUs with

For additional information, visit

www.protea.pl.

Dissolvable Fracturing Ball

Phenoms patent-pending Wraith Frac
Ball is a metallic dissolvable fracturing
ball designed to provide zone-successive
isolation for fracturing plugs, fracturing
sleeves, and static-isolation subs (Fig. 4).
Its high shear strength allows it to main-

20

Fig. 5Graphic of Stone Ridge Technologys ECHELON reservoir simulator inuse.

JPT MAY 2016

recent advances in solver algorithms and

modern software design, ECHELON is
able to achieve unprecedented run times
with only a modest hardware footprint
(Fig. 5). With ECHELON, models up to
35 million active cells can now be run
on a single desktop with turnaround
10 to 50 times faster than that of existing solutions that require big clusters.
The ability to simulate very large models allows the use of highly detailed geologic descriptions without the need for
upscaling. The fast run times and capability to handle very large models provide a
powerful and cost-effective tool for engineers to handle multiple realizations for
uncertaintyquantifications.
For additional information, visit

www.stoneridgetechnology.com.

Removable Packer
Removable production packers can eliminate nonproductive time, costs, and risks
during well-intervention operations,
but can become permanently set when
exposed to high pressures and temperatures. The Baker Hughes BASTILLE high-

Fig. 6Baker Hughes BASTILLE HP/HT removable production packer.

pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT)
removable production packer creates a
reliable seal between the casing and tubing while the well is flowing, and just as
reliably disengages when well intervention is needed (Fig. 6). The BASTILLE
chassis has been engineered specifically to separate from the casing wall when
released, even after prolonged exposure
to temperatures up to 400F (204C)
and differential pressures as high as
17,500psi (1207 bar), an industry first at
these ratings. When intervention is needed, a mechanical pipe cutter severs the
inner mandrel below the bottom slips, but

leaves the outer packer wall intact. When

the production tubing is pulled uphole,
the inner mandrel follows. This action
releases the bottom slips and relaxes the
elastomer. As pulling continues, specially
designed segments break loose, the packer wall flexes inward, and the upper slips
pull free from the casing wall. This reduces friction and separates the packer from
the casing. On its way uphole, shoulders
on the mandrel catch the outer packer
wall, and the entire assembly is retrieved
with the production tubing. JPT
For additional information, visit

www.bakerhughes.com.

SameDrift. A More Efficient Way

To Get Through Trouble Zones.
Enventures SameDrift lets you extend a casing string to
isolate trouble zones, while keeping the same ID. You can
either tie back to the previous casing or simply clad the zone
or both. This ground-breaking technology will help you get
through trouble zones more efficiently than ever before.
The results?
s Youll reduce NPT.
s Youll start production sooner.
s Youll increase production rates.
To find out more about Enventures ground-breaking
SameDrift technology, visit us at OTC booth 9053.
www.EnventureGT.com/SameDrift

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE

Mature Flood Surveillance Using Streamlines

Rod P. Batycky, SPE, and Marco R. Thiele, SPE, Streamsim Technologies

With the recent drop in oil prices, operators are shifting to optimization of
existing assets with minimal costs. For
mature floods (water, chemical, and
CO2), one low-cost optimization strategy is the intelligent adjustment of wellrate targets. While it is easy to identify
high-water-cut or high-water-rate producers, it is not obvious to identify which
injectors are contributing to oil production or fluid cycling. This makes setting
injection targets a guessing game at best
without a calibrated reservoir (simulation) model.
However, detailed calibrated reservoir
models require simulation expertise, are
time-consuming to build, and can even
be considered overkill for short-term reservoir management. Reservoir surveillance techniques sidestep this problem
by using measured well data combined
with simpler models to create a feedback
loop that is informative and valuable for
reservoir management.
The starting point for any improvement of an ongoing flood is the proper
identification of well patterns and reliable pattern metrics. Which patterns
have historically outperformed and
which have underperformed? How much
oil is being recovered from each pattern for each unit of volume injected into
thepattern?
Being able to answer these questions
with confidence enables target rates to
be set that will improve sweep and reduce
fluid cycling. And as new production/
injection data are collected, rate targets
are realigned to ensure that field recovery remains close to optimum.

Streamlines as a Solution
Streamlines, which represent flow from
injectors or aquifers to producers, offer a

22

powerful solution to define injector patterns and associated key production metrics. Advances in streamline-based flow
modeling since the early 1990s allow
streamlines to be traced in 3D, account for
complex geological descriptions, include
all well geometries, and incorporate a
wide range of flow physics. However,
applying streamlines for surveillance
requires only a subset of these extensions
and is much simpler toimplement.
Most floods are driven by pressure gradients rather than absolute pressure, and
at reservoir conditions, it can be assumed
that the fluids are nearly incompressible.
This is certainly true for water/polymer/
chemical floods. Even CO2 at high pressure behaves like a liquid.
For surveillance purposes, the calculation for the total velocity field needed
to trace the streamlines can be significantly simplified. Specifically, the velocity is solved conditioned to a) measured
(historical) total injected and produced
volumes at the wells; b) a description of
the subsurface geology, including faults
and flow barriers if available, and if not,
a homogenous box can be used; and c) an
assumption of in-situ fluid distributions
if available, and if not, a uniform saturation distribution will do.
Although these assumptions seem substantial, they are reasonable for surveillance because the primary objective is to
identify current well pairs and allocation
factors rather than forecasting.

Model Calibration Not Needed

The assumption of fluid incompressibility implies that the past spatial pressure
distribution and gradients are immaterial to the solution of the current velocity
field, and so streamlines can be extracted for any moment in time without the

need to calibrate the model to the past.

Using measured historical produced and
injected total rates implies that the velocity field will properly reflect the influence of wells relative to each other in
terms of production/injection volume
and spatiallocation.
An often overlooked detail is that historical well data implicitly contain information about reservoir connectivity
high injection/production volumes are
usually indicative of good pay and support compared with low injection/production volumes. This is the reason why
bubble plots are popular among engineers looking for clues to the spatial
quality of a reservoir. By using historical
measured rates to solve for the current
spatial pressure gradients, the resulting velocity field will implicitly reflect
suchconnectivity.
It is possible to add a spatial description of geological properties such as permeability, porosity, or net to gross, etc.,
as well as transmissibility barriers, such
as faults and shale barriers, to further
condition the velocity field. Special consideration should be given to flow barriers, as these will radically affect the flow
field and tracing of streamlines. Local
permeability/porosity modifications, on
the other hand, are a lesser factor.

Defining Injection Patterns

Once the total velocity is known, tracing
streamlines from injectors to producers automatically defines patterns and
injector/producer pairs. For example, a
pattern may be defined as an injector
(light blue bubbles displaying injection
rates in Fig. 1) and all the producers
connected to that injector by streamlines. Alternatively, one can define a
pattern as being centered on a produc-

JPT MAY 2016

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Fig. 1(left) Injector-centered well allocation factors (WAFs) and (right) producer-centered WAFs, determined by the
streamlines and displayed using a patented flux pattern map, where connection thicknesses can be used to display
each wells production allocation factor in addition to using a label. The bubbles represent injection (light blue) and
production (water=dark blue, oil=green) rates. All images courtesy of Streamsim Technologies.

220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

allocation factors (WAFs) as the ratio of

the total rate of an injector/producer pair
to the total well rate of either the injector or producer on either end of the connection (Fig. 1). Furthermore, as production history changes, the streamlines are
updated, the WAFs are recomputed, and
the patterns evolve through time.

Estimating Pattern Efficiency

With WAFs in hand, it is straightforward

to estimate the efficiency of each pattern
(injector), which is simply the oil production rate of all the connected producers weighted by the respective producer WAFs and then divided by the water
injection rate. In other words, it is possible to associate oil production with an
injector (as shown in the left frame of
Fig. 2). It should be reiterated that all
the calculations are based on historical

0.40

observed well ratesfrom the derivation

of the streamlines to the final calculation
of the WAFsgiving a summary plot of
good vs. poor use of injected fluids based
on measured data.
It is also possible to estimate the
cumulative oil produced by each pattern
(injector) by properly accounting for the
changing production rates and WAFs
over time (as shown in the right frame
of Fig. 2). The plots in Fig. 2 are a powerful diagnostic view of the flood, quantifying the relative efficiency of each pattern historically (right) and currently
(left). This is what makes the streamline-based surveillance model so unique
and useful.
The final goal is to estimate future well
target rates based on the streamlinebased pattern metrics. A crucial value is
the efficiency of each injector/produc-

1.4106
Cumulative Oil Produced (rm3 )

Rate Oil Produced (rm3/d)

er with associated injectors connected

by streamlines. There are usually fewer
injectors than producers, and because
the goal of a flood is to produce oil by
sweeping it with injected fluid toward
the producers, centering patterns on
injectors has proven to be a good, practical choice.
To extract pattern metrics, it is useful
to consider each streamline as being the
center of a streamtube carrying a fraction of the total flow rate of the wells to
which it is connected. The sum of all the
streamlines ending or starting in a well is
therefore expected to equal the total flow
rate of that well.
Similarly, summing up the rates of the
streamlines between any injector/producer pair will quantify the total rate
between the well pair (Batycky et al.
2008). That allows estimation of the well

1.2106

0.30

0.20

0.10

100

200

300

400

Rate Water Injected (rm3/d)

500

1.0106
8105
6105
4105
2105
0
0

2106
3106
1106
4106
Cumulative Water Injected (rm3 )

5106

Fig. 2(left) Each triangle represents one injector with current water injection rate on the x-axis and allocated offset
oil production on the y-axis. The diagonal lines represent efficiency thresholds. (right) Cumulative oil production
associated with each injector as a function of cumulative injected (water) volume, gives a historical rank of pattern
efficiencies.

24

JPT MAY 2016

er pair, the fraction of oil produced at a

well due to a fraction of volume injected by the associated injector. With this
information, well rates can be modified
to promote higher efficiency connections and demote lower ones (Thiele and
Batycky 2006), which amounts to a datadriven approach to improve sweep.

Connection Efficiency
The ability to identify efficient vs. inefficient connections across the injector/
producer networkthe flux pattern
map (Fig. 1)is what makes streamline-based surveillance unique. Operators know not only which producers are
high-water-cut or high-water-rate wells,
but now which injectors are contributing to the offset oil production and the
efficiency of this contribution. It is a
fundamental improvement over the classic rate-target management workflow of
predefined fixed patterns and the adjustment of rates to maintain the fixed pattern voidage replacement ratio, which
usually does little to promote sweep or
avoid fluid cycling.
As well rates and water cuts change
over time with updated well-rate targets, the patterns and injector efficiencies will also change. Because there is
no assumption about fixed patterns, the
streamline-based surveillance metrics
should be updated routinely, resulting
in new rate targets. Using this feedback
loop, the field is nudged toward improved
sweep as the good injector-producer connections are promoted and the bad ones
are demoted, subject to operational constraints, such as injection volumes and
pump capacities.
Operators have shown that using a
streamline-based surveillance approach
to update rate targets can lead to incremental oil production increases above
base decline rates, ranging from 1% to
10% of fieldwide daily oil rate, with minimal effort. In Oman, an operator has seen
a 2% increase in the fieldwide oil rate for
a heavy oil flood as a result of the intelligent redistribution of injected water.
In Austria, OMV has achieved a 30%
increase in oil rate for a three-pattern
portion of a waterflood (Kornberger and
Thiele 2014). The improvements in both
cases came at minimal cost.

JPT MAY 2016

Summary
Mature pattern floods can benefit significantly from streamline-based surveillance-type workflows, allowing engineers to make decisions quickly and
efficiently to manage short-term oil production. Surveillance models are easy to
build and can be used in real time, rather
than requiring months to assemble and
calibrate as with classic reservoir simulation models. The limitation of a surveillance model is that it cannot be used for
forecasting, but the wealth of information on injector patterns, well pairs, and
allocation factors can be used in a realtime feedback loop to continuously manage the reservoir.
Streamline-based surveillance is an
alternative to other surveillance workflows and distinguishes itself by (1)
defining patterns automatically from
the production/injection data through
the use of streamlines that connect
injectors and producers; (2) accounting
for the dynamic nature of fluid flow and
allowing patterns to change in time; (3)
extracting per-injector/-producer met-

rics, such as WAFs and efficiencies, and

(4) being applicable to water, CO2, and
chemicalfloods. JPT

References
Batycky, R.P., Thiele, M.R., and
Baker,R.O. et al. 2008. Revisiting
Reservoir Flood-Surveillance
Methods Using Streamlines. SPE
Res Eval & Eng 11(2): 387394.
SPE95402-PA. http://dx.doi.
org/10.2118/95402-PA.
Kornberger M. and Thiele M.R.
2014.Experiences With an
Efficient Rate-Management
Approach for the 8th Tortonian
Reservoir in the Vienna Basin.
SPERes Eval & Eng 17(2): 165
176. SPE 166393-PA. http://dx.doi.
org/10.2118/166393-PA.
Thiele, M.R. and Batycky, R.P.
2006. Using Streamline-Derived
Injection Efficiencies for Improved
WaterfloodManagement. SPE
Res Eval & Eng 9(2): 187196.
SPE 84080-PA. http://dx.doi.
org/10.2118/84080-PA.

25

E&P NOTES

Drilling Down On Particle Size Analyzers

Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

Automated particle-size analyzers are

something you will not see on most
drilling rigs, but some think this outside-the-oil-field technology will play
a big role in the future of the drillingsector.
They are routinely used in a number
of industrial processes for quality control, including agricultural plants and
mines to measure things such as the size
of corn kernels or to identify materi-

als that might damage a rock crusher,

forinstance.
On a rig, particle size analyzers would
generate value by making drilling under
difficult conditions significantly easier,
and they may also help move automated
drilling efforts forward.
As drilling fluids circulate thousands
of feet through a wellbore, the bits of
material that flow back up to the surface can be a telltale sign that the oper-

Particle-size analyzers deliver precise measurements of drilling fluids, which allow drillers
to quickly determine wellbore conditions and avoid problems. Photo courtesy of J.M. Canty.

26

ation is running smoothly, or running

intotrouble.
Directly measuring these particles
would give rig crews and engineers an
unprecedented ability to quickly determine how the well is really holding up
and react if things head south. Fully
automated analyzers would go one
step further by acting on the data to
make precise adjustments to the fluid
mix, creating a savings opportunity on
drillingchemicals.
Eric van Oort, a professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, believes
the adoption of such technology is in
the early stages, but he sees immediate benefits for operators and contractors who commit to using it. He
coauthored a technical paper on the
subject that was presented in March at
the SPE Drilling Conference and Exhibition in Fort Worth, Texas, which outlines the capabilities of various analyzer technologies.
Van Oort, also the director of UTs
automated drilling research consortium, explained that analyzers will
improve upon how drillers currently
monitor and make decisions in maintaining the quality and size of lost control materials (LCMs)substances used
to plug fractures in wellbore walls that
may lead to the partial or total loss of
the drilling fluid, otherwise known as a
loss circulation event.
Addressing these areas could help
avoid or mitigate lost circulation events,
which still account for billions of dollars in [nonproductive time] annually
across the industry, van Oort said.
A critical characteristic of LCMs is
that they tend to break down inside the
well, a process known as shear degra-

JPT MAY 2016

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dation, which ultimately renders them

less and less effective. Industry standard methods to deal with shear degradation involve the manual use of sieves
for measurement and a sacks per hour
criteria for mitigation. Simply put,
such imprecise methods are not sufficient for automated drilling operations
and as mentioned above, have a severe
financialimpact.
The longer-term objective is much
bigger, van Oort went on to say, adding
that he predicts analyzers will eventually enable the automation of key measurements including how much fluid is
being lost into the formation.
Future systems, he said, will allow us
to fine-tune [particle size distributions]
for optimum fluid loss control and tailor them to the requirements of any particular well, in a way that is much more
appropriate than the current, highly indirect fluid loss measurement that
uses paper as a filtration mediumand
how much paper do we drill around
theworld?
One caveat is that the analyzers must
be able to leave the laboratory and
the static environments of processing

plants, and demonstrate a strong performance in the oil field and be easy to
use and maintain. Otherwise, the benefits of the technology evaporate quickly, van Oortsaid.
Among the systems studied by UT,
top marks for accuracy went to a device
built by J.M. Canty, a Buffalo, New Yorkbased firm that develops process technology for a number of industries.
Whereas other systems depend on
lasers to gather their measurements,
Cantys relies on high-resolution cameras. We see whats there and measure
exactly whats there, thats why were
spot on, said Miles Priore, a business
development leader with Canty.
In the UT study, the Canty device
used was a laboratory model and since
then, the company has developed
a field-hardened version that is fully
automated. But due to the down market, only one of the new devices has
been installed on a working rig for an
undisclosedcontractor.
Priore said the system is equipped
with automated valves controlled by
software which eliminates the need for
much human involvement in the devices

operation. Setting up the analyzer has

also been simplified. Once installed, the
device is calibrated and the user just has
to press start.
The critical components include a
LED backlight, a flow cell, and a microscopic lens attached to a high-performance camera that captures images of
the fluids passing by. As the software
detects changes, it can alert a remote
monitoring center via the Internet or it
can take action by sending commands to
an operational system on the rig.
By adding a hard drive to the system,
the images can be recorded and analyzed later. Priore said that in the event
of a problem, You can look at the video
footage of the particles at that exact
time and see if there is a correlation.
One of the unique features about the
companys device is that the flow cell
that allows the fluid and particles to
be observed is built by fusing glass to
metal, a process that allows glass to be
used at extreme pressures. Canty says it
has used the technology to develop the
sight glasses on space shuttle fueling
lines and is the only company using it in
the oil and gas industry.

Simplification Key To Delivering Efficient Projects

in Low-Oil-Price Climate
Stephen Whitfield, Staff Writer
To survive in the current low-price
environment, exploration and production (E&P) companies must better handle the complexities inherent in their
projects through practices that promote capital effectiveness and collaboration. Owners and operators
must emphasize the long-term viability of their assets over high returns, an
expert said.
In a presentation hosted by the SPE
Gulf Coast Section Projects, Facilities,
and Construction Study Group, Neeraj Nandurdikar discussed the collective actions the industry should take to
improve project efficiency. Nandurdikars presentation, Journey Towards
Efficiency, was the fourth installment of the study groups Spring Event
Series, Delivering Projects at Less

28

Than USD 50/bbl. He is the director of the E&P practice at Independent

ProjectAnalysis.
Nandurdikar said that while simplification is key to developing efficient
projects, the task itself is harder for
E&P companies now because they do
not engage in enough cross-disciplinary
collaboration. In addition, with national oil companies (NOCs) and service
companies managing their own projects, and NOCs partnering with specialists in other countries outside of
their home base, the role of a traditional multinational E&P company is
in flux. Nandurdikar said these companies can only determine the ways in
which they can simplify their operations after they determine their roles in
a low-priceenvironment.

If we want to achieve efficiency,

weve really got to attack complexity, he
said. We have to attack it everywhere
we see it, and all aspects of complexity
that we see. The reason is because complexity, or specialization, creates the
illusion that we are headed in the right
direction. We think were solving the
right problems, but oftentimes, until the
fog clears, we dont know whether this is
the best project to do.
Nandurdikar said there are three
types of complexities that E&P companies face in their operations: technical, political, and organizational. Technical complexities typically revolve
around the geological aspects of a project
such as water depth and reservoir pressures and volumes. He said the industry has learned how to handle most of

JPT MAY 2016

these issues, but areas remain in which

it can improve. An example he gave is
technological redundancy on facilities,
such as the use of unnecessary valves
orseparators.
Political complexities arise when
dealing with the local conditions of a
given project. These include local content requirements, government regulations, and the requirements of other
stakeholders such as joint industry project partners. Organizational complexities are the additional departments,
functions, and specializations present
in companies that did not exist in previous years.
Nandurdikar said organizational
complexities may not have a particularly
negative impact by themselves, because
adding functions and departments creates additional jobs. However, when
combined with technical and political
complexities, they may wreak havoc
onprojects.
To solve organizational complexities, Nandurdikar suggested that E&P
companies not think of themselves in
a transactional manneras operators
putting out projects and dictating needs
to the supply chainand start thinking
of themselves as part of a larger, symbiotic ecosystem with service companies,
subcontractors, and suppliers.
There is no single company, no single supplier, that can do a project anymore, Nandurdikar said. There are
these divisions. Any ripple effect cascades down the line, and you create
problems down the entire supply chain.
Until we start thinking of this as an ecosystem, I doubt were going to get the
kind of innovation we need.
Political complexities require the
adoption of a concept called coopetition, or competitive competition.
He said it is possible for companies to
embrace a collaborative spirit on issues
like local content requirements in a
region while still being mindful of their
competinginterests.
Nandurdikar used safety as an example. The industrys push for increased
safety in its operations in recent years
is the result of a cultural shift that was
accepted by owners, operators, and
the supply chain. He said such a cul-

JPT MAY 2016

ture shift is necessary in the current

economicenvironment.
Yes, you are all competitors working
for different goals. Chevron, Shell, BP,
and Exxon are competitors, but guess
what? Theyre also working together,
or they should be working together,

on government issues or local content

issues, trying to make sure projects are
done safely. Were going to bring that
same culture that drove safety to now
drive costs, and thats not going to happen unless competitors are willing to
cooperate, hesaid. JPT

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29

Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

ne of the biggest ways to lower

the cost of production from
shale would be to identify
zones that are productive, or not, before
fracturing them.
There is a growing group of companies
selling new ways of cutting the cost and
time required to gather data while drilling, which will allow completion engineers to reduce the number of stages producing little or nothing.
I think better placement is where
the money is, said Vikram Rao, executive director of the Research Triangle
EnergyConsortium.
While the methods and data points
vary, these new ventures are all seeking
to gather data or samples during normal
operations that can be quickly turned
into a report on a limited number of data
points, which can be used to improve
fracturing productivity.
Customers want it cheap, want it fast,
and want to see a return quickly, said
Chuck Matula, a board adviser for Drill2Frac, a startup company created by
Vorpal Energy Solutions, that uses data
recorded while drilling to compare rock
hardness along a wellbore.

30

It is competing with another newcomer, Fracture ID, whose website describes

what it does as drill bit geomechanics.
Both are selling rock property analysis
methods that are lower-cost alternatives
to accepted methods, such as well logs,
whose price limits their use in unconventional plays. But the cost, data-gathering
method, and output of these two methods
differsignificantly.
Others are relying on readily available,
alternative sources of data: cuttings, fluids,
or well pressure readings. They are hitting
the market at a time when low oil prices
have created an appetite for newideas.
Definitely we are exploring lots of
technology options right now. Anything
to drive down our dollar per foot completion cost, said Kevin Wutherich, director of completions for Rice Energy. We
are even looking at stuff that could save
USD 20,000 a well. We have a program
that might yield 70 wells a year, so that
is about USD 1.5 million. That might not
have been too big a deal (when oil was at
USD 100/bbl) but these days we will chase
that down.
Based on favorable tests, Rice Energy
is moving toward using Drill2Frac data

to design completions for gas wells in

theMarcellus.
The methods vary, as do the scale,
options, and prices, but they share some
common traits. They are offering ways
to gather information that do not affect
operations at a price and pace that allow
targeting the most productive spots during fracturing.
Ingrain, which is the most established
of the group but still a young technology
company, sells a competitively priced service analyzing rock cuttings with chemical and elemental analysis testing to measure total organic content, mineralogy,
and brittleness, as well as scanning electron microscopic (SEM) imaging down to
the pore scale.
Biota is doing DNA analysis of drill cuttings and produced oil to identify sources of oil along the wellbore. Each well
can generate more than 50 million data
points that can be used to decide where
fracture stages should be placed and
which stages in an existing well should
be refractured.
The technology used has only recently become affordable enough to use on
a large scale. If you were to do a DNA

JPT MAY 2016

sequence of a cup of coffee it would have

cost you USD 100,000 5 years ago
today its a hundred bucks, said Moji
Karimi, the business development manager at Biota.
A spinoff from Statoil, Reveal Energy
Services, is looking at the fractures produced. It is taking what it learned from
converting available pump pressure data
during fracturing to map fracture networks and working to turn it into a business. All are aimed at answering questions that can be answered in other ways
using tools such as well logging, microseismic testing, or core samples.
A growing part of Ingrains unconventional rock business is testing drill cuttings to see if they can be readily broken when hydraulic pressure is applied
and if they have the organic content
that can make them likely to fracture.
What makes it different is its analysis
of a select group of samples using a
SEM to see if kerogen is found in the
pores, and the geometry of the pore network, which help determine if it will
be productive.
Almost every well we look at is surprising in some way. The amount of
heterogeneity in a lateral wellbore can
be really, really high, said Joel Walls,
director unconventional technology at
Ingrain. He said some layers of the
Wolfcamp shale play in the Permian
Basin, for example, are so thin that the
rise and fall of the wellbore along a lateral can put it in multiple zones with
differentcharacteristics.

The Point
The value of these ventures will depend
on their ability to increase production.
Our whole goal here is to provide
information that allows operators to
optimize fracturing at each stage by
matching rock properties with the stimulation design, said Chris Neale, president of Fracture ID.
The business plans assume that the
industry needs diagnostic systems that
can be used regularly while drilling in
formations prone to abrupt changes from
well to well.
The products need to be reliable, costeffective, and high resolution, Neale
said. The goal is to offer detailed data,

JPT MAY 2016

Three stages, each with three perforations spaced

50 ft apart, will encounter different stresses based on
Poissons ratio, which is a rock mechanical property
that affects stress.

Fracture modeling, based on rock property data gathered during drilling by

Fracture ID, shows how the performance of three stages will likely vary due
to distinctly different rock properties. The nine figures on the right predict
how fracs will develop at each of the perforations. The numbered pictures on
the right predict what is likely at the numbered locations along the yellow
horizontal well shown on left. Courtesy of Fracture ID.

which now are obtained using logging

tools that are too expensive for regular
use and present risks, such as getting
stuck in a horizontal wellbore.
New rock testing methods are hitting
the market at a time when the industry
has slowed to a crawl and is reconsidering how it completes its wells.
Prior to the crash they never slowed
enough to do any science, Matula said.
The erratic results from designs stimulating regularly spaced spots along a
wellbore, known as geometric fracturing, has led to a lot of energy put into
how to do the best placement of perforations, he said.
The value of the new methods will
hinge on the willingness of companies to
diverge from their habit of using geometric designs, and the ability of fracturing
crews to precisely target stages.
There is an increasing number of references in the literature of companies
doing geological spacing of fractures,
Walls said. It will become more common
as we move forward. The trends are in the
right direction. The data are more widely
available. The penalty for doing it wrong
is quite high. There is such a small margin
in these wells at these prices.
As with the drill bit data companies,
Reveal is commercializing a lower-cost
diagnostic method for unconventional
formations using readily available data.
Selling it will require convincing users
that significant insights can be gained
from using this new method in conjunction with other data.

Much of the testing was done in the

Bakken Shale. Darren Schmidt, a principal engineer in Statoils shale oil and gas
research and technology group, said, It
is a simple, quick, relatively inexpensive
way to come in and verify your model as
to what is happening.
All of the companies mentioned are
working on field tests comparing their
results with standard diagnostics to convince users of the value of their information. The ultimate endorsement would
be a paper from an operator laying out
how data from one of these diagnostic methods were used to significantly
improveproduction.
Those sorts of details are hard to come
by. Statoil said fracture images based on
pressure data led it to makes changes
such as altering the size mix of the sand
used, but did not provide further details
it says are proprietary.
In the real world of unconventional
development, the alternative is often no
testing at all.
Cost has long been a barrier. Well logging costs have been sharply discounted
since the oil price downturn. Matula said
logging, which once cost USD 350,000
a well for the service and rig time needed to deploy it, now costs half that
much, but in this market that is still a lot
ofmoney.
No one is logging a well anymore
because of the expense and risk of running a tool into a long horizontal well,
Matula said. These are little technologies fit for the times.

31

Getting a Feel for the Rock

Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

he force required to drill through a

rock is a direct test of its strength
and stiffness. Anyone who has ever used
a power drill to drill through plaster
and then hit a wooden beam can feel
thedifference.
Turning those feelings into a reliable
measure of the properties of rock based
on the force required to drill a long lateral is a large challenge.
Two startups, Drill2Frac and Fracture ID, are selling services that do that,
though their methods vary based on the
sources of the inputs and the outputs
offered to customers. Both are offering
an option that can become a routinely
used diagnostic method by those designing fractures by providing information
comparable to that from a sonic log, but
at a significantly lower price.
Rock property information was also
often a missing piece for those doing
microseismic testing, which images the
impact of fracturing based on the sound
produced during certain types of fracturing. Users wanted better rock property information to improve the inter-

pretation of the changes in microseismic

data gathered around a well, said Chris
Neale, president of Fracture ID, which
uses downhole drilling data for imaging.
When I was deep in the microseismic
world I was very frustrated. I could not
tell them what microseismic was telling
them. There was no in-well data to correlate the microseismic, said Neale, who
was a cofounder of MicroSeismic Inc.
We needed an inexpensive data stream
that could give us high-resolution rock
properties for every well drilled.
Data gathered while drilling offer a
measure that avoids the time and logistical challenges of running a sonic logging
tool into a horizontal wellbore or setting
up surface receivers for microseismic.
These companies are building on
work going back decades on formulas
to quantify rock properties based on
data gathered while drilling and rock
propertyanalysis.
In a recent paper (SPE 178842), BP
described a formula that it developed
to estimate pore pressures using drilling data. The work improved on formu-

las dating back to the late 1960s and

early1970s.
That approach is based on the theory
that the energy spent at the bit to remove
a volume of rock is a function of the
differential pressure (wellbore pressure
minus pore pressure) that a rock is subjected to while drilling, the paper said.
A key measure in that approach and
others is mechanical specific energy
(MSE). It is a number calculated using
measurements such as the torque, revolutions-per-minute, weight on bit, and
the penetration rate while drilling.
Drillers use it as a measure of how efficiently they are working, and to measure
the efficiency of various combinations
of hardware and settings while drilling.
Experts in geomechanicswhich apply
mechanical engineering techniques to
rocksuse it as a measure of the force
required to break up those rocks.

Mechanical Factors
The changing condition of the rock and
the drill bit both affect these measures.
For example, as the bit wears, the rate of

Trajectory Plot
10,570
10,580

Total Vertical Depth (ft)

10,590
10,600
10,610
10,620
10,630
10,640
10,650
10,660
10,670
10,800

12,000

13,500

15,000

16,300

Lateral Length (ft)

Based on data gathered while drilling, Drill2Frac creates a wellbore map showing variations in hardness along a
wellbore. Image courtesy of Drill2Frac.

32

JPT MAY 2016

penetration will slow as if it were cutting

through stronger rock. The challenge for
those measuring the rock properties is to
tell one from the other.
Another obstacle is that the drilling data
gathered are different based on where the
measurement is done. This becomes particularly difficult in horizontal wells.
For example, measures of torque done
at the surface are often considerably
higher than measures done near the drill
bit. The difference is due to the energy
lost to friction as the drillpipe comes in
contact with the surrounding hole, and
the force required to twist a pipe that is
miles long. Maneuvers required for drilling a curved well also affect the output.
Drill2Frac gets its data from the surface drilling data recorder, including
units sold under the Pason and NOV
Totco brands. The data are transferred
into a cloud computer system that can
return a report within hours. To gather a
downhole measure of torque, it uses the
differential pressure and standpipe pressure as well as the mud motor pressure,

Color

Hardness

MSE

HD1

015K

HD2

15K30K

HD3

30K50K

HD4

50K75K

HD5

75K100K

HD6

100K125K

HD7

125K150K

HD8

150K175K

HD9

175K200K

HD10

200K225K

HD11

225K250K

HD12

250K300K

HD13

300K400K

HD14

400K500K

Hardness Increases

Hardness Index

MSEMechanical specific energy

Drill2Frac measures the hardness of

the rock along the wellbore. Image
courtesy of Drill2Frac.

JPT MAY 2016

which offer an estimate of the force at the

drill bit. It also uses proprietary formulas to estimate the impact of bit wear and
identify when the bit is sticking or slipping, which affects the readings.
To avoid the challenges that come with
correcting surface data, Fracture ID gathers downhole data using sensors located
directly behind the drill bit in a 12-in.-long
carrier sub. Placing sensors right behind
the drill bit allows us to directly measure
the forces on the bit, rather than estimating them from surface data, Neale said.
Its equipment records data with every
turn of the drill bit to detect changes
in rock strengthYoungs modulus
and its ductilityPoissons ratio. Abrupt
changes in the rock properties are used
as an indicator that fractures are present.
Fracture IDs analysis is designed to
adjust the data to filter out differences
caused by changes in the tool condition,
which can quickly go bad during shortlived incidents. The data are retrieved
from the sensors when the drillstring
ispulled.
Both companies are offering reports
on well sections after they have been
drilled, and are working on ways to deliver reports in real time. Real-time drilling data could serve double duty, because
MSE can also be used by drillers to maximize drilling efficiency and monitor the
condition of the bit.
On the drilling side, the idea of using
downhole information to improve the
rate of penetration and monitor the condition of the bottomhole assembly is getting a lot of uptake in this environment,
Neale said.

Checking Value

Selling drill bit geomechanics will require

convincing users it generates reports as
accurate as the established methods, and
offers valuable insights.
Drill2Fracs methods have been used to
evaluate about 200 wells for 25 operators
over the past 18 months, Matula said.
Some of those jobs were by C&J Energy
Services, which was an early partner in
development of the software that Matula
said is no longer involved. It still shares
ownership of the first version of the software, which was used for work covered
in paper SPE 174839. Drill2Frac is using

a newer version of the software with significant changes, Matula said.

The tool attracted the interest of Rice
Energy as a possible lower-cost alternative to sonic logs, which it uses to identify
spots with similar rock properties to target during fracturing.
Based on data and logs from old wells
the tool appeared to offer data which
are comparable to the sonic logs. The
company plans to test how it performs
on a four-well pad compared to a sonic
log, with two wells fractured based on
log data and two based on drilling data,
said Kevin Wutherich, director of completions at Rice Energy.
Fracture ID reports it has worked in
four unconventional basins, and it has
been doing tests comparing its results
with dipole sonic logging in horizontal
wells. Those tests will help validate the
output, but their goal is to convince users
to make these tests a regular part of the
process when planning completions.
The cost is low compared with the
alternative, with Drill2Frac charging
USD 10,000. The output shows differences in the strength in the rock along
the wellbore.
For Fracture ID the cost per well is about
USD 30,000, which Neale describes as
well within the noise level of drilling and
completion costs on wells. The report
looks at changes over much shorter spans
than Drill2Frac, and offers added detail,
including locations of significant fractures intersecting the wellbore.
The drilling data analysis companies
are hitting the market at a time when
there are numerous theories as to why
performance varies widely from stage
to stage. More data may help answer the
question Why do results vary so much?
The initial sale process is to the 10%
to 15% of the companies leaning forward
and using more science, Neale said.
At this stage the users are looking
for correlations between the data gathered and their fracturing results. If users
find ways to turn drill bit rock-property
reports into even modest gains, it could
catch on.
On a completion, if we can help them
get just a 3% to 4% increase in the ultimate recoveries everyone is a hero,
Neale said.

33

DNA Sequencing: A New Diagnostic

Tool for Shale Wells
Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

place the wells, and how they should

becompleted.
We are addressing questions that our
customers cant answer today across multiple scales: Where are the sweet spots
and producing intervals for each stage,
what is the fracture height for each well,
and what is the connectivity between
multiple wells? said Ajay Kshatriya,
chief executive officer of Biota.
Biota so far has used its technology
on 60 wells operated by six different US

Mean Production

or the past 2 decades, the use of

DNA sequencing technology has
largely been relegated to the domains
of criminal forensics and the healthcare industry. The company betting that
the shale industry soon will join that
list is Biota Technology, a Californiabased startup.
Founded in 2013, Biota says DNA
sequencing technology can help maximize production in horizontal shale
wells by directing operators where to

Biotas DNA-Based Oil Potential Score

Oil Frac Tracer % Contribution

For the application of production profiling, same-well comparisons have shown

that microbial DNA sequencing is about as accurate as chemical tracers, and
it provides usable data over the life of the well, not just the life of the tracer.
Graphic courtesy of Biota.

34

producers. Its novel approach involves

analyzing the DNA of tiny microbes that
coexist with the oil, water, and rock in
the subsurface. There are hundreds of
thousands of different microbes living
inside a formation but certain species
are associated with hydrocarbons tend
to stand out.
Their unique signatures and locations
along the wellbore allow Biota to generate a production profile which can then
be used to design engineered completions in subsequent wells, or to identify
refracturing opportunities.
Think of the DNA as a tracking
device, said Kshatriya. It is a highresolution data source that provides 4D
analysis across the production life cycle,
which doesnt introduce environmental
risk or require downhole tools.
During a drilling operation, as many
as 600 samples may be taken from a single well. These samples come from drilling mud and cuttings and provide baseline data needed to characterize the well
as production begins and comingles all
of the microbial DNA.
More samples are taken during completion operations and then from produced oil and water during production.
To screen for contamination, Biota samples several sources of DNA, including
the humans working on the job and any
dirt at the drillsite that may be swept
into the well duringoperations.
All this information is compiled and sifted through by the companys data scientists and its machine
learning software to find the most
importantcorrelations.
Among Biotas largest investors is a
multibillion dollar company called Illumina, a leading DNA technology developer that credits itself as a pioneer in
the effort to drive down sequencing
costs from around USD 100,000 per
sample to about USD 100 in just 5 years.
As it continues to build a track record
and demonstrate its value proposition

JPT MAY 2016

to the industry, Biota has yet to disclose

its pricing structure.
But the company notes that it was
founded on the idea that the new and
dramatically lower price point meant
shale producers could now afford to
use DNA sequencing as a diagnostic
technology in each and every wellan
aspect that the company hopes will distinguish it from the established technologies it is competing against.
Production logs are generally viewed
as expensive and they require wells to
be shut in for a period of time until the
tool run is completed. Biotas sampling
process is done at the surface, from a
shale shaker or a flowline for instance,
and requires no shut-ins or anything to
be sent downhole.
Tracers and microseismic are also
great tools, noted Kshatriya. But you
cant get that 4D snapshot along the life
cycle of the wellyou get an initial point
in time and thats their reallimitation.

We are addressing
questions our customers
cant answer today across
multiple scales.
Ajay Kshatriya,
Chief Executive Officer, Biota
Biota is also putting its technology next to downhole fiber-optic systems which have gained wide acceptance in the industry for their ability to
deliver high-resolution data. Like DNA
sequencing, fiber-optic systems provide
data for months after installation, if the
fiber remains intact, but their biggest
downside is cost. At around USD 1 million per installation, fiber-optic systems
are generally used only on pilot projects
and science wells.
Perhaps the most similar technology to DNA sequencing in terms of data

Stuck with a packer you

thought was removable?

output is geochemistry testing. DNA

sequencing and geochemistry tests can
be run at any point in time to analyze the
makeup of a wells production stream
and depend on the presence of organic
materials to generate usableinsights.
Biota says its DNA data line up with
geochemistry tests, per independent
studies. But the company points out that
DNA sequencing provides 1,000 times
more data than a geochemistry test,
which allows it to detect much smaller
variations in production behavior.
The company has also explored DNA
sequencing applications for conventional wells and offshore production facilities. In the short term, Biota has goals
to integrate DNA data with other subsurface data sets that companies routinely use. Farther down the road, it
hopes to develop new ways to analyze
the DNA data in real time. Current lead
time from field to laboratory results is
about 23weeks.

Unlike other removable packers,

the VO-rated BASTILLE production
packer stays removableeven after
maintaining a gas-tight seal for years
in a 400F, 17,500-psi well.
Visit Bakerhughes.com/BASTILLE to
learn more about this industry-leading
HP/HT removable production packer.

2016 Baker Hughes Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. 44216 04/2016

Grinding Out Big Data

From Tiny Samples
Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

using better diagnostic testing at a time

when drilling has greatly slowed.
The asset teams and technology that
remain in these (operating) companies
are some of the best in the industry,
Walls said. With the slowdown there is
time to consider what they need to do,
plan, and do more testing. The testing
is guided by the realization that production performance varies widely from well
to well, and from stage to stage due to
unpredictable variations in the rock.
Before the oil price crash, companies
commonly would optimize a drilling
program by doing a few heavily moni-

Vertical Direction

hen describing what Ingrain does

for oilfield clients, the rock-testing companys director of unconventional technology, Joel Walls, points out that
it is not just forscience.
He brings it up repeatedly because the
company, known for being a pioneer in
methods built on imaging ultratight rock
at the core level, has built a business testing drilling cuttings to help identify productive, fracturable rock to help operators design bettercompletions.
The pricing and turnaround time is
designed to fit into the industrys need to
sharply increase the productivity of wells

1 m

An image of a microscopic rock sample shows the different sources of oil and
gas. There is kerogen (green) making up 22% of the volume, while pores with
kerogen in them (red) make up 8.6%, and water filled pores (blue) 0.2%. The
permeability is from 0.3 to 0.9 microdarcy. Courtesy of Ingrain.

36

tored science wells to establish a standard

design for the many wells thatfollowed.
Wide performance variations made a
case for the value of adding individual
well data. But there is a limit on the time
and money available to do so.
The objective is to do it relatively inexpensively on every well drilled, he said.
To deliver on that Ingrain had to develop
a system to scale up that process to deliver
results in time to be used to adjust completion designs based on field-scale data.
The trend is doing it quickly and
doing it in a repeatable fashion on a commercial scale using current technology,
Walls said.
The turnaround time can be days, but
it is normally about a week, for a price
that he said is in the same range with
other new testing methods costing less
than USD 100,000 per well.
The cutting testing program uses mineral and elemental tests to measure brittleness, which can highlight if sections
can be effectively broken using hydraulic
pressure, and a look at pore-scale imaging to quantify the hydrocarbon-filled
pores, which provides a good estimate
ofpermeability.
Everyone is interested in drill cuttings,
Walls said, adding the qualification, They
may be doubtful we can get information
they want from rock samples so small.
That points to the toughest challenge
facing those selling wide area analysis
based on testing tiny rock chips drawn
from cuttings gathered every 30 ft in laterals often 10,000 ft long. To select 10 to
20 representative samples, Ingrain has
developed a machine learning algorithm
capable of recognizing patterns along
the wellbore and identifying which spots
could offer a view of the big picture.
The data from these high-resolution
scanning electron microscope images, and similar observations from other
wells in the area, are used to spot trends
and relationships in the rock properties
and estimate the reservoirvolume.

JPT MAY 2016

The 2016 generation Anti Stick-Slip Tool (AST) uses a new

counterforce solution for balancing the load on the PDC cutters
in both axial and angular directions. This makes it possible to land
any PDC drill-bit on hard rock without risk of impact damage.

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The bit drilled for 235 hours to a local TVD record of 5350m
(17500). Back on surface, the bit was graded 1-3-WT.
A similar result was obtained by a major operator drilling on
the UK shelf where the planned turbine and impregnated bit
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The counterforce upgrade enables the new XC-AST to

continuously balance the loading on the cutters. This
prevents the onset of damaging vibrations when the
cutters are lowered to fast on to hard rock or when the
bit bites too deep in to a new formation layer.

Mapping Fracturing
With Pressure Change
Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

service using pressure data from a

few nearby unconventional wells to
map fracturing will soon be for sale.
Statoil developed the method, and has
used it to improve how it completes wells
in three US unconventional plays, said
Matt Dawson, investment manager at
Statoil Ventures, which created a company to market the method, called Reveal
Energy Services.
The approach assumes that in formations where most of the hydrocarbons
are trapped in a dense, nearly impermeable matrix with a limited number
of fractures, the pressure of the flow
through those pathways can be measured
in nearby wells.
The signalsa poroelastic pressure
responsecan be 10100 psi, said Dawson, who also helped create the method.
The extremely limited flow in the formation, and the fact the monitoring wells
are pressurized with water to protect

them from the fractures growing from

the well to be stimulated, ensures that the
measurements are of the pressure profile in the stimulated fracture, he said.
With multiple surface measurements
of pressure changes during fracturing
data from at least two wells are required,
and more is betterDawson said it is
possible to measure the largest fractures
length, height, and angle.
The method developed to track fluid
flows through fractures has been used to
evaluate Statoil wells in the Bakken, Eagle
Ford, and Permian shales, and Dawson
said we are confident it will work in
those three.
More than one-third of the companys
wells in the Bakken were tested over a
12-month period, he said. Within a year
he said they hope to be able to gather and
interpret the data quickly enough for it
to be used by crews as they are fracturing the well.

This rig is drilling in the Eagle Ford for Statoil, which has been using a method
it developed to track the impact of hydraulic fracturing using wellhead
pressure data at several nearby wells. It is now marketing the test to others.
Photo courtesy of Statoil.

38

When Statoil researchers asked engineers in the field if they could try the test
during fracturing in the Bakken, there
were questions about how much it could
complicate fracturing.
It really turned out to be not very difficult to accommodate into normal operations, said Darren Schmidt, a principal engineer in Statoils shale oil and
gas research and technology group. The
method requires setting plugs at certain
times while fracturing, but if you are
zipper fracturing a well, you can fit this in
normally on a multiwell pad and then get
some good information, said Schmidt,
who was then doingcompletions.
Fracture analysis based on pressure
readings has been compared by Statoil
against 11 other diagnostics, including tracers, shut-in interference tests,
and production rate transient analysis.
Reveal is currently running a field test
for an operator comparing its results
with microseismic imaging, fiber optics,
and electromagnetic imaging, he said.
The service, which has been used by
several customers already, will likely be
priced at the high end of the range from
USD 10,000 to USD 90,000, Dawsonsaid.
The method requires a pressure response from a limited number of fractures. It will not work in a conventional
reservoir or in unconventional ones with
extensive natural openings for fluid flow,
such as the Barnett. A strong fracture hit
into an adjoining well means data from
that stage cannot be used.
Adding what has been learned about
fracturing using pressure analysis to other
observations led to changes in fracturing
methods, from a shift in the sand size mix
to better prop smaller openings to earlier
deployment of diverter to more effectively
limit growth of the largest fractures.
Fracture mapping is another tool to
help us better understand our fracture
geometry with minimal cost incurred,
said Wesley Zurovec, a completions engineer for Statoil in the Eagle Ford.JPT

JPT MAY 2016

PRESSURE TEST
for E&P Innovation
Stephen Rassenfoss, JPT Emerging Technology Senior Editor

il prices are so low that the oil

industry is having to consider
doing things differently. It is a
hopeful sign for the future for innovators who have been struggling to keep
going and have potential customers with
little to spend and a lot to worryabout.
What we see is a lot of consolidations
and slowdowns now. A lot of risk-averse
folks out there who do not know if their
companies will survive from one day to
the next, said Chuck Matula, who is a
board adviser and founder of a company
called Drill2Frac, which offers services
aimed at unconventional producers.
2015 was an absolute blur. Absolutely everyone was trying to keep an
oilfield operation afloat, there was so
much indecision and uncertainty, Richard Broderick president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Fountain Quail
Water Management, said during a session at the recent IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston.
Demand for the water company and
others has slowed as drilling and completion work plummeted in shale fields
where the cost of adding production
exceeds the price of oil, which dipped
below USD 40/bbl in early April.
Those still on the payroll have powerful motivation to consider how to reduce
operating costs or increase production
enough to pump profitable barrels if oil
edges toward USD 50/bbl.
Those with likely answers to that
question were getting some traction
when prices where high, but not as
much as they are now, said Vikram Rao,
executive director of the Research Tri-

JPT MAY 2016

angle Energy Consortium. Sales are limited because they can only make that
point to survivors.
Rao divides the market into three
groups based on their financial needs.
At the top are the companies with
secure financial futuresthe majors
and the strongest of the independents
and at the bottom are those in serious
financial trouble. The rich have resources to spend, though it is limited by their
drive to reduce costs; but their survival
is not at stake. That is the issue for companies at the other extreme, which have
no money to spend because they are
focused on dealing with creditors.
In the middle are those companies
with some money to spend and a great
sense of urgency. Their long-term future
depends on quickly lowering their cost
per barrel enough to survive with oil
selling for less than USD 50/bbl. And
they will not be able to get there by
squeezing suppliers for more discounts.
What is happening is, basically, innovate or perish for anyone in between,
Rao said. They have 2 years to show they
can survive, and 3 years to makegood.
They cannot keep doing things the
same way and they are looking for new
solutions, said Mark Wilkinson, a vice
president for GroundMetrics, which is
trying to convince companies that they
can better understand what is going on
in the ground by using electromagnetic
imaging to track water and carbon dioxide flooding, or spot missed oil reserves.
Faced with similar cost pressures,
and an equally awful economic environment in the 1980s, Rao said opera-

tors did manage to quickly reduce the

cost of production, frequently employing innovations from the service sector. The industry embraced 3D seismic,
subsea completions, horizontal drilling,
and logging while drilling (LWD).
Dogged persistence is an essential trait for oilfield innovators in
good times and bad. Most operators
are not adverse to new technologies,
but few can afford to be new technology leaders, said George King, distinguished engineering adviser at Apache
Corp. High on his long list of obstacles:
Most new technology promoters do
not appear to know how to effectively
introducetechnology.
The comment speaks volumes to
Pradeep Anand, a consultant who teaches Strategic Marketing in the Energy
Industry to a class of graduate students
at Rice University, drawing on his experience marketing oil and gasinnovations.
We are dealing with a very riskaverse industry that is very measured
in its adoption of new technologies and
rightfully so. Add to it, the increasing
reluctance to change corporate and process habits over time and we have a
seemingly immovable object, he said.
The key is to win support from the
select group of companies whose business is built on innovation. Rather than
developing an infinite force to move this
immovable object, technology innovators have to work on the fringes, which
are firms that have good reasons to
adopt new technologies to create competitive advantages in their markets,
Anandsaid.

39

trative expenses, increased competitiveness, and improved estimated ultimate

recoveries, Manning said, adding that
with low prices, the need for investment
in innovation is moreurgent.

While working as Halliburtons chief

technology officer, Rao said the company tracked which customers were most
likely to use new technology. Because the
list of innovative operators was short,
they paid close attention to the top five,
four of which were big independents.
A few oil companies are much more
aggressive about innovation. It differentiates them. Their culture is based on it,
said Rustom Mody, chief engineer enterprise technology for Baker Hughes.
Pioneer Natural Resources is an
example of a company that has continued to invest in new technology through
the downturn.
Technology innovation is one of
Pioneers key paths for growth in the
coming decades, said Sha-Chelle Manning, director of corporate innovation
atPioneer.
Pioneer estimates the value of its innovation program is USD 500 million over
the next 10 years, which will foster greater
efficiency, reduced general and adminis-

Shock Treatment
Oilfield innovation is talked about as if
it were an endangered species. That is
understandable after waves of layoffs
and budget cuts. One technology consultant, who asked not to be named, said,
One of the concerns we have heard, and
it is a very real concern: Have we cut so
much we will not be able to restart the
industry again?
Those selling innovation are waiting
uncomfortably for a rebound. I do not
see that new technology is going into
use like it was in cycles past. I cant
say why. Perhaps because it was such a
rapid downturn, said Richard Spears,
vice president of Spears and Associates, which has also invested in a couple
ofstartups.

Service company layoffs represent the largest number of the more

than 250,000 workers laid off in 2015,
according to a survey by John Graves,
a Houston oil industry consultant. Big
service company budget cuts have hit
research and development (R&D). For
service companies I am seeing doubledigit reductionsaround about minus
15% in R&D budgets, said Carolyn
Seto, director of upstream technology
and innovation atIHS.
A review of company annual and financial reports for 2015 shows a 9.1% drop
in research and engineering spending at
Schlumberger, a 29% drop at Halliburton, and reductions at Baker Hughes and
Weatherford of around 20% each.
All those were well short of the revenue declines that led to deeper cuts in
operational budgets. As a result, Halliburtons spending on long-term technology development rose in 2015 to 2.8%
of its 2015 revenues, up from 2.4% the
year before, and Schlumbergers rose to

175

3,000
Left axis

150

2,500

125

Left axis

100
1,500
75
1,000

Right axis

500

0
1977

Oil Price (USD/bbl)

Number of Firms

2,000

50

25

0
1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

Year

E&P Firms

Oilfield Services Firms

Oil Price

Oilfield service companies have taken over as the big spenders on research and development in exploration and
production after oil companies reduced their role during the 1980s oil bust. Both groups significantly increased their
outlays until cuts in 2015. Chart courtesy of IHS.

40

JPT MAY 2016

3.1% of revenues last year, from 2.5%

in 2014.
Pessimists warn of a repeat of the
1980s, when the lingering slump led
to many years of R&D spending cuts.
But the structure of technology development has changed. Back then, big oil
companies were the biggest spenders on
R&D. Now the service sector is the leader by a widemargin.
The transition period resulted in low
R&D spending for a time. It took until
the mid-1990s, when the large service
companies grew through consolidation,
for service company spending to surpass what oil companies were doing.
Service sector R&D spending has
grown sharply since then, with a surge
beginning in 2010. Inflation-adjusted
R&D spending in the industry is far higher now than the peak in the early 1980s
boom, even with last years dip. Service
company R&D outlays are nearly double
what oil companies spend, which is also
up from where it was early thiscentury.

The question this time around is, if

the slump continues, will service companies continue cutting R&D spending
as oil companies did in the 1980s. While
the pressure is there to spend less, deep
cuts in innovation programs now come
with significant downsides for service
companies in the long term.
For them, a productive technology
development program is a competitive weapon. At a time when buyers are
demanding, and getting, deep discounts
for most products and services, a new
offering which is able to lower the cost
per barrel of production can still sell for
a premium price, Rao said.
On the one hand, service companies must keep up with the biggest
names in the business; on the other
is the threat to margins posed when
prices are set by low-cost producers or
commoditymarkets.
Carbo Ceramics has committed to an
innovation program to add value to the
ceramic grains of proppant it sells, in a

business where the price of plain proppant is set by competition with low-cost
international manufacturers, and even
lower-cost sand.
The company is creating a growing
line of products that add new functions
to the ceramic grains that go beyond
propping the reservoir, such as one that
delivers a controlled release of scalereducing chemical in a reservoir. Its
most ambitious project, which moves it
into the geophysics business, is a proppant with a coating that shows up in
electromagnetic images. That groundbreaking initiative has required that a
company whose expertise is in ceramic
manufacturing create methods to detect
it and data-processing algorithms
forimaging.
Keeping technology development
going in this downturn is not easy, said
Terry Palisch, global engineering director for Carbo. We have committed to
this project. It is tough. Customers are
not willing to spend much money.

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Data Survey
DNV GL recently asked 900 senior oil and gas professionals about
data use now and in the future. The survey shows that they are
interested, but have theirdoubts.
20% considered operations highly digitalized today
36% plan significant or moderate investment in big data and
analytics in 2016
45% see solid or high potential for data and analytics to make the
industry more efficient
Cost constraints and uncertainty about the cost-saving potential
are two factors that are limiting spending
The certification body identified these opportunities:
Condition monitoring for more effective maintenance and
inspection programs, dictated by industry, historical, and real-time
data, leads to reduced downtime, with preventive maintenance
based on early warnings from sensor data.
Instant information from fields can provide timely decisions on
underperforming wells and other potential issues, which could
lead to enormous costs if not dealt with.
Detecting anomalies during drilling and operation can lead to
more effective decisions for cost savings.

But the commitment is seen as an

essential piece of its business strategy.
If you are going to be a tech company
and you do not spend money on technology, you have a gap in your program,
he said.
Long-term commitments are required
because technology development requires professionals with hard-to-find
skills mixing technical skills and the
ability to create products that profitably
solve difficult problems.
It takes years to build it. The skill
sets, the personnel, the know-how,
Mody said. When a program is shut
down, that talent will be quickly hired
elsewhere, he said, adding, it is expertise you better protect.

Quick Fixes
In an industry where marketers love to
claim they are selling the next gamechanging technology, operators are
just looking to play the game better
andcheaper.
Research and development spending, and innovation spending, must
align with the strategy of the com-

42

pany in the near term, Seto said. With

the low oil price there is a greater focus
on R&D innovation that has a more clear
line-of-sight path to benefits within an
18- to 24-month time frame.
Statoil has shown what is possible in
24 months, with a cost-cutting drive to
trim the bloated cost of offshore development, which reduced the average cost
of development from USD 70/bbl to
USD41/bbl last year, and it is seeking to
push it lower.
Most people think of innovation
as new technology, said Margareth
vrum, executive vice president technology, projects, and drilling for Statoil.
But she said it can be existing technology used in another way.
Statoils project included some ambitious efforts to leapfrog the existing way
of doing things. vrum has long been
committed to developing subsea factories that move processing from offshore
platforms to the seafloor. Last year, the
company demonstrated it could successfully locate a large gas-compression system on the seabed. Now she said the
company is working to take what was

learned from that technical achievement and reduce its cost and complexity
enough to make it a widely used option.
Making what is technically possible a
profitable fact of life is the challenge facing large segments of the industry now,
such as US shale operators. We know
what to do, we just need to do it costeffectively, Rao said.
Industrywide there is a lot of room
for productivity improvement. Over the
past 10 years, a four-fold rise in global
E&P spending yielded only 15% more
produced oil, according to Schlumberger. The largest service company uses
that statistic as an argument for a greater role in managing projects in a way
that selects and integrates technology
more productively.
Others offer interpretations of the
commercially and psychologically complex relationship between those who
own and operate wells and the companies competing to equip and help manage them. But there is little argument
that the key performance measure is the
cost per barrel produced.
It is a well-supplied world. Everyone
will have to compete on that cost-ofsupply basis and margins will be king,
said Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, speaking during a session at IHS
CERAWeek.
We have instrumented about everything we have in the business, and we
are learning how to sift through all those
things, he said. One goal is to reduce
downtime and extend the life of equipment, like compressors, with results so
predictable it will be possible to extend
the warranties.

Data Points
Ask what is new and hot, and the answer
is data. They offer a path to quick savings using an available technology
from another industry and a little used
assetdata stored and ignored.
For Christopher Robart this looks like
a great opportunity. He and his brother
Alexander Robart, who previously built
a shale data consultancy firm called PacWest Consulting Partners and sold it to
IHS, are partnering with a private equity firm to build an oil and gas software
company through multiple acquisitions.

JPT MAY 2016

The timing couldnt be better to be a

buyer buying low and selling for higher
valuations. It is perfectly timed for valuations, said Robart, who wants to start
with a handful of established operations that offer cash flow and customer
lists to support later acquisitions. The
initial focus is on companies enabling
operators to produce better, faster,
andcheaper.
The goal is to build and sell the company in 5 years, but the upside is limited compared with Silicon Valley, where
investors brag about finding unicorns
companies worth USD 1 billion or more.
Digital E&P applications sell to a limited group of customers with specialized functions, time-consuming testing requirements, and the need for
significant support after the sale. While
the thinking is that combining singleproduct companies into an operation
able to sell a wider range of products to
a larger group of customers can create
significant value, there is a limit. As he
put it: There will be no unicorns in oil
and gassoftware.
We have no illusions it is easy or simple, Robart said. It is all about getting
in a position for a pretty significant upcycle in 2 to 3 years.

Startups
An invention does not become an innovation until someone buys it. Big leaps
require a customer willing to commit
the time and effort needed to prove that
something new works, fit it into their
operation, and tell others how it can help.
During the 1980s, Anand had the critical role of finding the initial customers
for one of the big technical leaps of the
era, the LWD tool made by NL Industries Sperry-Sun division.
I got thrown out of more offices, he
said. I knew one guy extremely well. He
asked me to leave. He said, There was
no way I would risk my credibility on
yourtool.
That point of his story explains why
much of what is sold as new is actually
an update of what is available.
Most service companies sell incremental (gains) because that is what most
buyers want. Not what they need, but
what they want, Rao said.

JPT MAY 2016

Pioneer Resources Drilling Ideas

Pioneer stands out because its culture has long emphasized the value
of innovation and the company has the cash on hand now to support
it at a time many others do not. Its projects include the following:
Rig Power Optimization: Partnered with a rig operator to pilot
and scale a power system to offset peak load from generators. The
potential benefits are reduced generator stack maintenance and fuel
use, as well as the ability to better track power use for analysis.
Real-Time Communications: Piloting and improving real-time
communication services required to improve rig communication
services and real-time analytics.
Analytics for Improved Team and Rig Performance: Partnering with
a software company to provide analytics to compare and understand
rig performance differences and share improved practices. This has
yielded an efficiency gain of half-a-day per well.
Improved Performance of Drilling Tools: Partnered with suppliers
to improvethe design of a directional drilling component to reduce
failure rate by 50%. A partnership with a private lab is investigating
drilling-data-acquisition techniques.

Rao joined Halliburton when it

bought Sperry-Sun, then part of Dresser Industries, after it proved LWD could
be a highly profitable business. And
while he worked there, he saw that pattern repeated many times as it acquired
startups with promising technology.
The truth is that most new oilfield
technology comes from four guys leaving a company. They are impatient
with their inability to pursue their idea
where they are working so they quit
to start something in their garage,
Spears said.
The flood of talented people out of
work now could create a flood of startups from some of these involuntary
entrepreneurs. Industry experience is
a plus. Veterans in the field know the
problems that plague operations, and
what it takes to build something that
stands up to field use. But selling a new
idea is still a slog.
An example of that is Airborne Oil
and Gas, which is trying to convince
operators that flowlines made of thermoplastic composite pipe are stronger

and lighter than metal, will not corrode, and could reduce the cost of offshore installations. Its shareholders
include Shell and Chevron. Yet, when it
comes to finding customers, lead initiation has been relatively easy. Lead
conversion is very, very difficult, Eric
van der Meer, CEO of Airborne, said
during a session at the IHS CERAWeek conference.
The downturn in demand is a factor.
Like many startups, Airborne struggles
to find jobs in which it can demonstrate
what it can do in the field. It has worked
with two joint industry projects to prove
that its pipe is capable, which took time,
and still there is resistance.
We find an asseta flowline to
replacesomeone says I do not like it
[Airbornes pipe] or trust it, it is not
qualified enough, or I would like to see
it somewhere else, and then it stops,
he said.
The barriers are not a sign of the times.
Based on what he expected after a 25-year
career at Shell, it has proved almost
exactly as difficult as I thought.JPT

43

Seismic Shifts
inOklahoma
Leadto Stricter
Regulations

Waste Water
Disposal Well

Trent Jacobs, JPT Senior Technology Writer

ndustry regulators in Oklahoma have rolled out broad new

restrictions on more than 600 disposal wells as part of the
largest action of its kind taken in response to earthquakes.
An additional 118 wells have been included in an area of
interest and face increased reporting and monitoring requirements. Altogether, the plan affects approximately 20% of the
states disposal wells and marks a major change for the fourthlargest oil- and gas-producing state in the US.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission, the states industry
regulator, spent a year issuing volume reductions and shut-ins
at a number of specific disposal sites, efforts that failed to slow
the rising rate of earthquakes. Then on 13 February, the thirdstrongest earthquake in Oklahoma history shook homes across
the state and was felt hundreds of miles away by residents of
three neighboring states. No serious damage or injuries were
reported. But just days after the 5.1 magnitude trembler, regulators abandoned their pinpoint approach and announced a
regional earthquake response plan that covers approximately
10,000 sq milesan area twice the size of Qatar.
For the foreseeable future, no new disposal well permits will
be granted in the restricted zone, and operators must curtail
fluid injections into existing wells by 40% of their 2014 average
rate. Based on last years figures, that means a reduction of fluid
injection of approximately 300,000 B/D.
Because water disposal is a necessary component of oil and
gas operations, the immediate scarcity of disposal wells may
drive up fees at sites operated by third parties. Recycling or
trucking the water outside of the restriction zone are expensive
options that few operators can afford right now.
If there are no feasible alternatives, ongoing production
declines may accelerate in the Mississippian Lime, the most significant play affected by the order. The play is a carbonate formation, and unconventional techniques are used to recover oil
and gas from it. Last year, production in the Mississippian Lime
was estimated to be around 100,000B/D, which accounted for a
quarter of the states overall production.

Scientists and regulators in Oklahoma have concluded

that the high-volume injections into the subsurface are
increasing the pore pressure inside the rock along the
faults, which creates a greater risk of the faults slipping.
Graphic courtesy of Steven Than/Stanford University.

44

7,000 ft

Producing Wells
Waste Water Pipelines

te
Wa
ing

Drin

The play is notable for being the leading water producer in the
state. To handle all the produced water, along with much smaller
fractions of drilling and fracturing fluids, operators have spent
millions of dollars on drilling a vast network of disposal wells.
As they do around the world, disposal wells in Oklahoma
allow companies to efficiently and cheaply dump billions of barrels of waste water a year deep into the ground. In most locations, this is a safe and standard practice.
But when the volume of water being injected in Oklahoma
soared to new levels, so did the rate of earthquakesnow 600
times higher than it was before 2008, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey (OGS). The consensus among regulators,
scientists, and many industry experts is that wastewater injections are the root cause of the earthquakes, a process termed
induced seismicity.
It could take several months for regulators to decide if their
current plan has worked. If it fails, then some experts expect
to see even tighter rules or an outright moratorium on injections. There are also those who believe that reductions are
not the solution; instead, a better understanding is needed of
where disposal wells will have little or no chance of triggering
fault slips.

Mississippian Lime in Trouble

L
ing

rs
aye

du
Pro

tio

a
orm
F
le

uck
Arb

Fault
ent

sta
Cry

llin

eB

m
ase

16,000 ft

Only 4 years ago, the Mississippian Lime was hyped up as the

next Bakken Shale, a bold prediction that missed the mark by a
wide margin. Operators have struggled to make the play a commercial success and though the latest restrictions seem to cast
more dark clouds over the Mississippian Limes future, low oil
and gas prices are likely to mask any immediateimpact.
Richard Zeits, founder of Zeits Energy Analytics, researches
shale operators for investors and said a number of producing
wells are likely to be shut in as a result of the new constraints.
But he also noted that production in the area is already on
course to decline by 20% or more by the end of this year.
Even without regulatory restrictions, he said, there are
many questions with regard to what threshold oil price might
be required for [the Mississippian] Lime to be a profitable play.
Initially, the Mississippian Lime was seen as a perfect application for horizontal drilling, according to an OGS report written in 2012 when activity levels were starting to ramp up. A year
later drilling activity peaked and several companies sold off
their entire positions at fire-sale prices.
The plays largest producer and operator of a number of disposal wells, Oklahoma City-based SandRidge Energy, doubled
down around that time and acquired more core acreage leases.
In March, the company said it may not survive for much longer.
If that is the case, SandRidge would be the largest shale producer to file for bankruptcy protection since the downturn began.
Operators competed for large swaths of the play that spans
both Oklahoma and Kansas knowing it had higher than normal water cuts. In addition to high oil prices, they believed the
water handling costs would be offset by lower drilling and completion costs. Many areas of the Mississippian Lime are considered shallow compared with other plays (between 1,600 ft and
7,000 ft) and since it is a carbonate as opposed to a shale, it is

45

Arbuckle Disposal Wells 20122014

OK Earthquakes 20142016, magnitude
<2
23
Map by: Sam Limerick
34
[email protected]
5.1

Date: 4/4/2016

Water Injection Volume Reduction Areas

Central Plan Est. 3/7/2016
Western Plan Est. 2/16/2016
Area of Interest for Study

After a 5.1 magnitude earthquake in February, the Oklahoma Corporation Commission has taken its biggest steps yet to
mitigate the growing earthquake problem in the state. Graphic courtesy of Sam Limerick.

easier to drill through and requires lower

horsepower rigs.
But the more operators got to know the
Mississippian Lime, the less they liked
it. Wells depleted too quickly and due to
its remoteness, companies faced spending tens of millions of dollars on power
lines needed to run pumps for lifting
anddisposal.
And the water cuts were not just higher than normal, they were often extraordinarily high. Newly completed oil wells
have been known to pump out as much as
98% water at a rate of thousands of B/D.
Those who have worked the Mississippian Lime sometimes quip that it is really
a water aquifer with just a little bit of oil
sitting on top.
Even if prices rise enough to make the
play profitable, the disposal limits will
essentially act as a cap on future oil production. And as bad as things are now,

46

they could always get worse if further

limits are put in place. Zeits said the biggest risk facing operators is the uncertainty about how the situation will play
out and whether the response plan meets
its objective.
If there are more big earthquakes, the
regulators may have little choice but to
impose even stricter rules, he said. I am
not saying this will happen, but if it did,
the impact on production and cash flows
would be potentially a lot more severe.

Legal Faults Widening

The spike in Oklahomas seismic activity prompted the US Geological Survey
to recently issue its first 1-year forecast
for earthquake hazards in the continental US. The federal agency, whose seismic risk assessments are used to develop
building codes and guide policy makers, said Oklahomans face a 5% to 12%

chance of incurring minor home damage such as fallen plaster or cracks in

the walls due to an earthquake induced
by injections. It is the same risk level
assigned to naturally occurring earthquakes in the seismically active state
ofCalifornia.
Keith Hall, a professor and director
of the Mineral Law Institute at Louisiana State University, presented a technical paper on the legal risks associated
with induced seismicity at last years SPE
Hydraulic Fracturing Technology Conference. He said that since then, there
have been more earthquakes, more regulations, and more lawsuits filed by homeowners. The one thing I am seeing less
of is skepticism about whether there is
really a problem, he said.
Hall added that environmental groups
have begun using the issue as a legal
wedge that may affect future permits,

JPT MAY 2016

Behind the Oklahoma Earthquakes

JPT MAY 2016

Most of the earthquakes are happening within the crystalline basement

rock that is much deeper than oil and gas operations.
High-bulk permeability sections within the Arbuckle allow pressure from
injections to be transmitted several miles away from a disposal well.
The high density of disposal wells in central and north-central Oklahoma
and the geologic characteristics of the Arbuckle make attributing specific
wells to specific seismic activity difficult.
Source: Oklahoma Geological Survey

now analyzing the known faults in Oklahoma to determine which are close to
slipping and which ones you couldnt
make slip if you tried.
He added that through his research it
is becoming increasingly clear that the
problem in Oklahoma is not about individual wells but a combination of many
wells that all contribute to pushing sensitive faults past their limits.
One thing weve told the operators is
that it is no longer just about what they
are injecting down the well, he said. Its

what all of your neighbors are injecting

down their wells too that matters.

New Modeling Efforts

One way to observe the pressure regime in
the Arbuckle would be to use decommissioned disposal wells as monitoring wells.
The first person to lead such an effort is
Kyle Murray, a hydrogeologist at OGS.
As part of an agreement between SandRidge and Oklahoma regulators, Murray will have access to five nonoperating
disposal wells. He plans to install pres-

2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
1998

2000

2002

2006

2008

2010

Injection and earthquakes in Oklahoma

200

150

2004

SWD
Unknown
EOR

2012

2014
6

100
4
50
3
0
2000

2005

2010

Earthquake magnitude

The latest research has moved past proving that the earthquakes are induced
and is focusing on unanswered questions
such as why some areas with lower injection volumes have more seismic activity
than areas with higher injectionvolumes.
There is a lot more than just injection
that is needed to cause earthquakes
you might think of it as a perfect geologic storm, said Rall Walsh, a PhD candidate at Stanford Universitys department
ofgeophysics.
At the center of that storm is the deepest sedimentary rock layer in Oklahoma called the Arbuckle formation, the
primary target for most of the states
disposal wells. Walsh published a widely circulated study last year that found
that between 1997 and 2013 injection
volumes doubled to 160 million bbl
per month, most of which went into
theArbuckle.
Much in the way that accountants will
follow the money, we followed the water
through Oklahoma, he explained.
The Arbuckle lies below the hydrocarbon layers and just above the fault-laden
basement rock. It has been described as
the ideal formation for disposal. Due to
its low pressure, it eagerly vacuums up
incredible volumes of water, and vast
networks of natural fractures, vugs, and
caves provide plenty of extra real estate
for the injected water to reside in. Or so
it was thought.
Because the formation is not hydraulically isolated, Walsh and other researchers believe excess fluid pressure is
migrating into the basement layer where,
in some cases, it spreads out for a mile or
more. And when the pressure on a fault
exceeds the pressure holding it in place,
it slips, causing an earthquake. Walsh is

The majority of produced-water injections are taking place in the Arbuckle

formation that overlies the crystalline basement rock.

Cumulative number of
magnitude 2.5+ earthquakes

Research Looking for Details

Earthquake swarms are occurring over approximately 15% of the state

where injections of produced water have risen significantly in recent years.

Injection rate
in millions of
barrels per month

especially for those on federal lands.

And so far, two class-action lawsuits have
been filed in state court against disposal
well operators in Oklahoma.
While most of the earthquakes have
caused little damage, Hall said if enough
homeowners report small cracks and too
many sleepless nights, then you could
get significant [monetary] damages, even
though no particular plaintiff suffered
that much.

2.5
2015

Using statewide data, researchers have shown a correlation between the

number and rising strength of earthquakes and disposal well injection volumes
in Oklahoma (data available up to 2014). SWDsaltwater disposal; EOR
enhanced oil recovery. Graphic courtesy of Rall Walsh/Stanford University.

47

Chance of damage based on the average of horizontal spectral response acceleration for 1.0-second period and peak ground acceleration

Based on results from the 2014

National Seismic Hazard Model

Based on results from this study

Chance of damage from an earthquake in 2016

<1%

1%2%

2%5%

5%10%

10%12%

The US Geological Survey (USGS) issued a map showing parts of Oklahoma are now considered as seismically
hazardous as areas of California where natural earthquakes occur regularly. Graphic courtesy of USGS.

sure transducers just below the fluid line

inside the wells to take measurements
on a second-by-second basis and build
hydrogeological models with the data.
He is hoping that the transducers
will identify a pressure front moving
through the Arbuckle formation and said
such information could help operators
find safer locations to drill disposal wells
in the future, as well as where it would be
a bad idea.
This is the raw data that has been missing, he said. We think that the Arbuckle
disposals are related to seismicitywe
think that it is pressure propagating away
from those wells and reaching basement
faultsbut until someone starts measuring that pressure in the Arbuckle, and
possibly in the basement rock, we wont
ever be able to documentit.
The project is being funded by industry
partners and emergency funds released
by Oklahomas governor to address the
earthquake situation. Murray said his

48

ultimate goal is to establish a network of

at least 12 monitoring wells.
Another modeling approach to the seismic situation is to take emerging geomechanical modeling technology designed
to predict the effects of hydraulic fracturing at the wellbore level and use it to
predict fault behavior on a regionallevel.
Ahmed Ouenes, chief executive officer of the geomechanical modeling firm
FracGeo, believes that injection reductions alone will not solve the problem.
The problem is not about injection volumes only he said. Its really all about
where you inject.
He recently coauthored an SPE paper
outlining how his companys software
can identify the existing stresses involved
with regional fault networks and put
them into two categories: those with low
induced-seismicity potential, and those
with a high induced-seismicity potential.
The difference between the two categories
could help explain why some areas with

high injection volumes observe few earthquakes and others that have low injection
rates experience manyearthquakes.
Geomechanically, it is very simple,
Ouenes said. When we see these high
injection volumes happening in the low
induced-seismicity potential areas, and
we dont see earthquakes, that confirms
that the location is more important than
the volume. JPT

For Further Reading

SPE 173383 On Liability Issues
Concerning Induced Seismicity in
Hydraulic Fracturing Treatments
and at Injection Disposal Wells:
What Petroleum Engineers Should
Know by Keith Hall, Louisiana State
University et al.
SPE 180461 The Effects of Faults on
Induced Seismicity Potential During
Water Disposal and Hydraulic
Fracturing by Nick Umholtz and
Ahmed Ouenes, FracGeo.

JPT MAY 2016

From
evolution to
revolution
Cut more,
weigh less,
last longer.
Find out how at
nov.com/beyond20K

To learn more about NOV 20K, download GO NOV

from the App Store or Google Play.
2016 | National Oilwell Varco | All rights reserved

Malaysian Prime Minister Dato Sri

Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak,
center, officially opens OTC Asia
with Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan
Ariffin, left, chairman of the OTC
Asia Advisory Committee, and Arnis
Judzis, right, chairman of the OTC
Asia Oversight Committee.

CONFERENCE REVIEW

OTC Asia
Highlights
Industry
Achievements
Stephen Whitfield, Staff Writer,
and Adam Wilson, Special Publications Editor

More than 15,000 energy professionals

representing 2,500 organizations and 60
countries gathered from 21 to 25 March
in Kuala Lumpur for the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) Asia. With the
theme Excellence in Asia, the conference builds upon the highly successful
inaugural OTC Asia held in Kuala Lumpur in 2014.
The conference reflects Asias position
as a global provider of exploration and

50

production (E&P) technology, in which

cultural and geographical diversity foster
collaboration and innovation.

Opening Session
The prime minister of Malaysia, Dato Sri
Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, gave
the keynote address during the opening
ceremony. Speaking about Malaysias role
in both the Asian oil and gas industry and
the global economic market, the prime

minister said the country was in position

to further develop a diverse economy and
become a central figure in an industry
undergoing volatile change.
Najib said the industry must have a
realistic perspective on its immediate
future. He said crude oil prices will likely remain low because of several external
factors, including the continuing supply
of shale oil in the US, Irans re-entry into
the oil and gas market, and the intransigence of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in cutting production to limit supply.
Despite this immediate outlook, Najib
said the Malaysian economy is in position
to withstand the aftereffects of the lowprice environment in large part because
of his governments push for greater economic liberalization during his 7 years in
office. The prime minister cited his MYR67-billion stimulus package in 2009 as a
significant driver of economic growth.
Since I came in office, the [Malaysian]
government has been making the necessary steps to have in place important
measures to ensure that our economy
remains resilient, to buffer our economy
so as to weather any significant systemic
shocks from domestic as well as external
sources, he said.
Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin, chairman of the OTC Asia Advisory Committee

JPT MAY 2016

and president and group chief executive

officer (CEO) at Petronas, said that Asia
is positioned to play a leading role in the
global hydrocarbon market. The continent accounts for nearly one-third of the
global economy, and he estimated that it
will deliver two-thirds of global economic growth over the next 4 years.
Notwithstanding the current slowdown, Asia will continue to drive [the
industry], spreading its sphere of influence across the globe, he said. During the 19971998 Asian financial crisis,
Western economies suffered little from
the ripple effects. However, today, they are
no longer immune to Asias oscillations.
Zulkiflee said that one side effect
of Asias economic push is that it has
opened the floodgates of innovation
and technological development.
On all fronts, Asia is striving for excellence. For the oil and gas industry, currently adapting to a fundamental shift,
this mindset and drive for excellence will
be critical to adapt to the challenges at
hand and to ensure long-term robustness, he said.

Executive Plenary Sessions

Two executive plenary sessions were the
highlight of the conference, giving executives a platform for discussions about the
industry in Asia in particular and leadership in general.
At the first executive plenary session,
the panel discussed the steps needed to
approach sustainable growth in the midst
of low oil prices. The session, titled Offshore Technology and Excellence in Asia,
also touched on possible technology gaps
between Asia and the rest of the world.
Andy Brown, upstream international director at Shell, said that deepwater
projects still represent the most economical path for the industry in a low-price
environment primarily because of their
prolific production output per well. In
addition, because the sector is more
established, deep water offers the most
opportunities for owners and operators
to deliver innovative technologies and
keep costs down.
Its looking at the unit costs of these
projects, Brown said. We have to have
projects that will deliver the best. That
is the important thing, our ability to be

JPT MAY 2016

The second executive plenary session examined the prevailing traits of leaders.

at the lowest cost on the overall cost

curve and not be the marginal cost company. Thats why deep water is going to
be an important part of our portfolio
goingforward.
The panelists also discussed the role
of collaboration in the current economy and whether it is a useful tool in
increasing project efficiency. Jeffrey
Miller, president and chief health, safety, and environment officer at Halliburton, said collaboration is only effective if the involved parties are willing
to change their procedures in the pursuit of a better outcome. I would say,
in the current commodity environment,
that were having better discussions
around what collaboration might look
like and how it might reduce costs, but,
at its heart, it needs to define an outcome that we can achieve as opposed to
defining how we achieve that outcome,
Miller said.
The panelists also discussed Malaysias
role in the industry and whether development in the country and the Asian continent is lagging behind other parts of the
world. Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, senior
vice president of upstream Malaysia at
Petronas, said many investors see the
region as a low-cost opportunity. However, he said, continued investment will
help the region catch up to the technological developments seen elsewhere.
Anuar pointed to Petronas investment
in carbon dioxide sequestration, separation, enhanced oil recovery, and imagery
as examples.
In the region, I think its a mixed
bag of development along the technology space, Anuar said. By far, in Asia,

we are very much being used as a place

to build manufacturing facilities, almost
a low-cost labor position. But were going
up the curve.
Brown and Miller disagreed with
the notion of Asia being purely a lowcost opportunity for owners and operators. Miller said it is a mistake to equate
increased manufacturing in Asia with
purely cost-cutting motives and that
research and development efforts in the
region have been just as important to the
industry as any cost savings. Brown said
Malaysia, in particular, was a great place
for innovation.
The second executive plenary session
of the conference gathered three leaders,
who also happen to be bosses, on stage
to talk about the distinction between the
two titles.
Tan Sri Tony Fernandes, group CEO
and director of Air Asia; John Rice, vice
chairman of General Electric; and Rajeev
Peshawaria, CEO of the Iclif Leadership
and Governance Centre, were the speakers at the session, titled Achieving Excellence in Asia: Leadership Stories. The
session was moderated by Satish Shankar, managing partner of Bain and Companys Southeast Asia region.
While the three speakers appeared to
have differing leadership styles, as evidenced by the suits worn by Rice and
Peshawaria compared with the jeans
and T-shirt worn by Fernandes, they all
seemed to recognize common traits that
differentiate leaders from bosses. These
traits, they agreed, were transparency
and honesty.
Our best leaders do two things
always, Rice said. They are who they

51

say they are, and they do what they say

they are going to do.
Fernandes continued the thought. I
think too many leaders are not transparent and poor communicators, he said.
So there is suspicion between the team
they lead and the leader himself.
Rajeev, who wrote the book Too Many
Bosses, Too Few Leaders, took the distinction further. To me, leadership is not
a title or a position, which is what a lot of
people confuse leadership with. To me,
leadership is a burning desire to create a
better future.
That better future is created, from a
leadership perspective, through empowering people, the panel said. Leadership
is about turning raw diamonds into diamonds, Fernandes said. You are only as
good as the people behind you.
Bosses use position power, Peshawaria added. Bosses use their title to
coax people. Leaders use the power of
their values and their purpose to influence, not their position. Leaders look to
the future. Bosses cling to the past.
The panel was able to offer a perspective of the oil and gas industry from the
outside because none of them work within the industry. Fernandes pointed out
that the low oil prices were actually good
for his airline business. However, he said,
his company does not act differently during the good times than it does in the difficult times.
The first page of the playbook is its a
cycle, Rice said. Thats Rule 1. Rule 2 is
communicate. Youve got to be out front
talking to people.
In a downturn, its the people that
suffer the most, Fernandes said. And
the message to organizations here is
that your biggest asset is your people.
And that should be the last thing that

52

you want to cut, really, because you have

invested hundreds of millions of dollars
in developing these people.

Panel and Special Sessions

In addition to the plenary session, the
conference also presented 10 panel session and six special sessions. These sessions are designed to be highly relevant
to the industry in the current climate, as
it deals with the impact of low prices,
said Muhammad Zamri Jusoh, vice president of Malaysia Petroleum Management
at Petronas and chairperson of this years
program committee. Taken together,
the sessions provide a holistic view of the
challenges and opportunities facing the
industry and what it can achieve by getting things right.
The fifth panel session of the conference
encapsulated that concept of challenges and opportunities. After an introduction that presented the current depressed
state of the oil and gas market, industry leaders from service, production, and
consulting companies found room for
cautious hope, reminding attendees that
oil and gas is a long-term business.
Speakers James Taylor, vice president
of consulting and project management
at Halliburton; Brian Truelove, senior
vice president of global offshore at Hess;
Datuk Mohd Anuar Taib, senior vice
president of upstream Malaysia at Petronas; Max Bellotti, managing director at
Saipem Asia; Shah Hakim Zain, CEO at
Scomi Group; and Dan Young, senior vice
president and head of consulting, Asia
Pacific, at Wood Mackenzie, presented
their views on the industrys future at the
panel discussion Oil Price Volatility and
Implications to Industry.
The panel members agreed that the
current market volatility will not last. The

only question, said Zain, was when the

market would recover and at what price
point. Zain was the least optimistic of the
panel members, saying the current subUSD-40/bbl market will last for the next
5 years. He went on to point out that the
current situation was only bad in light of
the USD 100/bbl companies had grown
accustomed to.
When asked if he thought the party was
over, he said, Its still a party. At USD 40,
its still good. In the 1990s, we all made
money at USD-20 oil. Everybody lived
very happily, and we had great lives.
The panel agreed that preparation
and vigilance are necessary during times
of a strong market, and, although the
panel increasingly found a hopeful tone,
hope is not a strategy, Truelove said.
So we try not to focus too much on
predictingprice.
Hess, he pointed out, was in the fortunate position of recently having gone
through a major reorganization in 2013,
selling assets it did not consider core
to its portfolio and implementing lean
processes. We did all that when oil was
USD100/bbl, so we entered the downturn
with very low debt and a good amount of
cash on hand, he said. The result has
been that Hess has not had to eliminate
positions or cancel any major projects.
Not all firms have been as fortunate.
One problem that appeared with the
healthy market was a sense of complacency that led to a trend away from efficiency. When oil was USD 100/bbl, Truelove said, it was almost too easy to make
money, and people got a little bit lazy.
The struggle now is for firms to find
the efficiency that was not tended to during the higher-price market. Once in a
while, Taib said, the industry does need
to be recalibrated. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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MANAGEMENT

Transforming the Upstream Service Industry

To Increase Operator Margins
Jeff Spath, Texas Oil and Gas Institute, University of Texas System

From organizational structures to procurement strategies to engineer staffing

and development, the upstream exploration and production (E&P) industry
is undergoing a transformation. Operators and service providers alike are not
just tweaking, altering, and fine-tuning
in this most recent downturn, they are
completely rethinking the way they
work. Our business of finding, developing, and producing oil and gas profitably,
dependably, and in an environmentally
responsible manner is facing unparalleled challenges.
In conversations with many chief executive officers during my term as president of SPE, the most common concern
I heard expressed was cost control. And
that was before the downturn. In fact, it
has been a concern for management for
most of the past decade.
The combination of escalating finding and development costs, relatively flat
global oil production, and a steep decline
in commodity prices has put significant
pressure on profitability and free cash

flow throughout the entire E&P value

chain. Part of the reason for this is an
extended period of underinvestment in
the previous 3 decades. More importantly, the aging production base requires
more investment to fight decline, and
the newer resources such as pre-salt and
unconventionals are more complex and
expensive in terms of cost per barrel.
Eighty percent of the global upstream
research and development (R&D) spend
is devoted to maintaining existing productionarresting decline.
One additional statistic that powerfully
summarizes the situation is that over the
past 10 years, global upstream spend has
increased more than 400% while production has increased a mere 15%. Much
of this production increase came from
relatively expensive new frontiers such
as shale oil and deep water. However,
there have been significant cost increases throughout the upstream industry due
to such factors as labor costs, material costs, inefficiencies in supply chains
and logistics, as well as the complexity of

Jeff Spath, SPE, is chief executive officer of the newly formed

Texas Oil and Gas Institute, based in Houston. Before assuming
this position, Spath was part of the Schlumberger executive
management team with past positions that included president of
the Reservoir Management Group and president of Data and
Consulting Services. He joined Schlumberger as a well testing
field engineer in 1984 and held various global positions of
increasing responsibility in reservoir engineering, research, and
executive management.
Spath serves on the Deans Advisory Council at the College of Engineering at Texas
A&M University and the University of Utah and is on the Petroleum Engineering
Industry Advisory Board at Colorado School of Mines. Active in SPE, he has served
as technical director for Management and Information on the SPE Board of Directors,
as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer on production enhancement, and was the 2014
SPE President. Spath has published 26 technical papers and holds 14 patents on
the subject of oil and gas production. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in petroleum
engineering from Texas A&M University and a PhD in reservoir engineering from
Mining University of Leoben, Austria.

54

project design, customization, decreases

in equipment reliability, and the misuse
or nonuse of appropriate technology.
One of the overarching objectives of
my term as SPE president was to increase
the extent with which our industry collaborates with other industries. We have
much in common with and much to learn
from industries such as the automotive,
aerospace, and biomedical industries
to name just a few. It is clear that adopting technologies and processes from
these sister industries is one way in
which we can improve our own technical
and financial performance.
In this article, I describe several additional areas of focus, primarily within
the service providers domain, which
when taken individually or collectively, can significantly reduce costs and
improve efficiency levels and operating
companyreturns.

Innovation
The largest oilfield service company in
the world, Schlumberger, began actively
transforming its business in 2008well
before the downturn. The first phase of
the companys transformation focused on
boosting the performance of its technology R&D organization in several areas,
including shortening time to market and
speeding up the rate of innovation.
Why start there? Because as the industry has matured, both technical and
financial challenges have become enormous. Mistakes in todays highly complex, often hostile environments can cost
billions of dollars.
Many oil and gas projects have become
so capital intensive that evolutionary or
incremental changes in tools, equipment,
software, and systems are no longer sufficient to keep our heads above water.

JPT MAY 2016

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We need revolutionary new solutions

in other words, innovations and breakthroughs in technology design, development, and deployment.
Reducing the number of engineering
iterations required to develop new technology, hence, shortening time to market, was one of the main motivations and
is being achieved in two ways:
Through more extensive use of
software and computer simulation
modeling to perform rapid
prototyping
Through developing comprehensive
catalogs of standard technology
building blocks that can be shared
and reused throughout the R&D
organization.
Significant acceleration in the rate of
technology innovation is being achieved
in two ways. First, by giving scientists
and engineers greater flexibility and
freedom in how they pursue fundamental research. Second, by complementing
internal sources of innovation with external sources such as universities, other
industries, and targeted acquisitions.
My new role at the newly formed University of Texas System Texas Oil and Gas
Institute is capitalizing on this second
trend by combining faculty, graduate students, and industry experts to facilitate
collaboration between industry and academia to more efficiently provide solutions to industry problems. This type
of collaboration is proving increasingly
essential to innovation. No single company, university, or government today
has all the expertise it requires. We all
need to leverage one anothers strengths.
Another way this can be done is by
geographically locating service company
centers of innovation close to the types
of resources they intend to exploit, and
close to operators who have deep understanding of those particular challenges. For example, an innovation center
for complex carbonates was established
in Saudi Arabia. Carbonate specialists
from around the world were brought
there to join forces with local experts
and speed the development of new tools
andtechniques.
Another means of increasing the rate
of innovation is by partnering with established experts outside the industrytake

56

nanotechnology, for example. Numerous

potential applications of nanotechnology exist in oil and gas, from drilling fluid
modification to robotics and nanosensors for enhanced oil recovery. It makes
much more sense, however, to collaborate with a leading nanotechnology think
tank such as the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT)as Schlumberger
has donethan to try to recreate that
highly specialized knowledge and skill
from scratch within our industry.

Reliability
If upstream service companies could
improve the reliability and performance
of their downhole tools, rig equipment,
petrotechnical software, and other critical technologies, oil and gas companies
could significantly improve the turnaround time and financial performance
of complex projects.
Boosting reliability can, in fact,
increase the profitability of both operator
and service provider. How? By reducing
or eliminating the need for redundancy
extra backup tools and systems in the
event of failurewhich has such an obvious impact on everyones bottomline.
As a methodology, reliability begins
with better design up front. Traditionally,
reliability improved only through a long,
brute-force process of trial and error.
The service company would develop and
introduce a new tool. An operator would
try it in the field, frown, and send it back
for round two.
A more optimal design process, on the
other hand, would engage both the service provider and operators as early as
possible, reducing the total number of
iterations and minimizing the tendency
to customize tools for specific end users
and settings.
Using a modern data-driven approach,
the design phase should include the
tools failure patterns, the operators
performance objectives, and expected operating environments. To enhance
performance out of the box, technical
complexity should be minimized, while
the quality and sophistication of laboratory testing and field qualification rigs
and facilities should be maximized. Finally, appropriate maintenance strategies
should be developed both to monitor and

assess the health of new technologies in

real or near-real time during operations.
Achieving optimal reliability requires
dedicated, multidisciplinary collaboration throughout both design and training
processes. Benefits include greater utilization of every tool, decreased maintenance costs, lower nonproductive time,
and higher overall service quality.

Efficiency
Another key transformational strategy for reducing both the service providers and operators costs is efficiency.
This can take several forms, the most
important of which is people productivity. Schlumbergers goal is to increase
productivity at least 20% by borrowing
best practices from other industries. One
example is the companys recent transition from a highly distributed service
model to a hub-and-spoke model that has
been proven for many years by experts in
logistics and distribution, such as FedEx
and UPS.
In this model, the vast majority of
trained specialists work out of one or a
handful of centralized hubs, rather than
dozens or hundreds of locations. Not
only does this streamline the distribution of goods and materials, but also it
requires far fewer experts to serve a particular geographic market.
Consider proppant fracturing services.
In the past, if there were, say, 25 districts
throughout the lower 48 US states, each
would be staffed with its own proppant
expert and stock its own inventory. However, demand varied from district to district. Some locations were slow, experts
were underutilized, and excess inventory sat untouched. Others were busy,
experts were overworked, and supplies
ran short. Both scenarios proved unnecessarily costly.
Shifting to the hub-and-spoke model
over the past 2 years effectively consolidated both inventory and intellectual
capital. Today, a much smaller number
of multiskilled specialists can efficiently handle proppant fracture operations
across the US from one of two major hubs.
This has dramatically improved people
productivity while lowering inventory
costssavings now being passed along
to operators nationwide.

JPT MAY 2016

Innovation

Extending technical performance with

game-changing technology

Reliability

Learning from other industries and

adopting new ways of working

Efficiency

Optimizing the support platform and

leveraging scale

Integration

Aligning technical and commercial

interests across the E&P value chain

Areas of focus to improve operator margins. Image courtesy of Schlumberger.

Integration
Given the increasing scale, speed, and
complexity of oil and gas projects, one
way to reduce the ultimate cost per barrel of oil equivalent is to increase the integration of various facets of the project.
Historically, operators tender most
oilfield products and services separately. Individual suppliers and service lines
within the large service companies submit separate pricing for each of their discrete services. As a result, any project
requiring the cobbling together of multiple services quickly becomes unwieldy,
inefficient, and costly.
To control costs and minimize downtime, operators may solicit tenders for
bundled services, lumping several discrete offerings from a single supplier for
a lower total price tag. However, this
approach often fails to boost efficiency,
especially when all the product lines and,
in many cases, individual service providers continue to function independently.
The solution lies in transforming isolated products and services into truly
integrated operations. An integrated
operation is one in which the interactions
among the parts are fundamentally different than they have been in discrete or
bundled service operations. All the products, services, and personnel are streamlined and coordinatedacross traditional domain boundariesas a cohesive
system with a single objective.
As an industry, not only do we need
to integrate services in the field, we also

need to integrate technologies and workflows back in the office.

In the Eagle Ford Shale, for example,
the integration of geological, geophysical, petrophysical, and geomechanical models enabled an operator to space
fracture stages geologicallythat is, in
zones of similar qualityrather than
geometrically, as in the past. In the first
eight laterals completed this way, perforation cluster efficiency jumped from less
than 64% to an average of 82%.
Integrated operations have, in fact,
been around for years. But the total percentage of truly integrated operations in
the industry remains relatively low. Overcoming the inertia of old, familiar ways
can be tricky. It takes a conscious decision
and strategic vision to begin integrating
technologies, workflows, services, disciplines, and organizations that have long
been segregated or merely bundled.

Bottom Line
To improve operator margins sufficiently to survive, indeed, to thrive in this
severe downturn, we must rethink the
fundamental ways in which we do business. In this article, I have described four
areas that have the potential to significantly improve operator margins when
exercised by the service provider. The
bottom line is that we can no longer
afford business as usual and these four
areas should be a part of an entire service industry transformation, perhaps
longoverdue.JPT

Volunteering
looks good
on you.
In the new SPE League
of Volunteers, giving
back suits you well.
As a volunteer for SPE, you
provide the energy that makes
our Society work. When you
join and give back, you are
supporting your peers and
the future of E&P. You are also
enhancing your leadership and
collaborative skills and expanding
your professional profile as you
showcase your knowledge and
talents to the industry.
Engage. Support. Contribute.
Learn more and join us at
www.spe.org/volunteer.

Share your story: #SPElov

JPT MAY 2016

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Deepwater Projects
Morten Iversen, SPE, Well Integrity Section Head, BG

The high costs surrounding deepwater

developments and the low price of oil are
a challenging combination for operators
and service companies today.
Considering transportation, services,
qualifications, permitting, and infrastructure costs, capital-expenditure
costs for deepwater developments are
much higher than they are for onshore
developments. Similarly, operating in
remote locations, where risk must be
low and safety and preparedness must
be high, operating-expenditure costs are
also much higher for deepwater projects
than they are for those onshore.
Industry has recognized that, even at
USD 100/bbl, the costs of some deepwater developments were not sustainable, and, when it comes to USD 30/bbl
oil, it is obvious that the operator cannot
justify this capital and operating cost.
During the first decade of the 2000s,
escalating oil and gas prices were the rising tide that lifted all boats. It essentially bailed out many floundering projects,
masked poor project performance, and
bred profligacy and complacency.

If deepwater operations
are to survive going
forward, the luxury of
unnecessary customization
of facilities and individual
company specifications of
components must cease.
In addition, operators were able to
justify designing operations that were
more flexible and could respond to a
greater number of scenarios. However, this resulted in complex designs,
which involved more engineering and
greatercosts.
However, in the current cost environment, the operator must now work with
the service companies to discuss what
acceptable specifications are. If deepwater operations are to survive going
forward, the luxury of unnecessary customization of facilities and individual
company specifications of components

Morten Iversen, SPE, graduated from the University of Stavanger

in 1981 and has worked throughout the world for different operators and for several service companies. He works for BG in the
Karachaganak Petroleum Operating (KPO) development in
Kazakhstan as the Well Integrity Section head responsible for
well integrity for all wells within the KPO development. Iversen
holds several patents, including a patent for a tubing-conveyed
perforating-shot detection system and a deepwater-blowoutpreventer system for riserless light well intervention (RLWI). He has worked on implementing the RLWI technology from its infancy in the late 1980s and later as a global
subsea adviser for Welltec, optimizing the use of RLWI technology to increase well
recovery in subsea wells. Iversen serves on the JPT Editorial Committee and can be
reached at [email protected].

58

must cease; industry needs to develop

a more-cost-effective good enough
mindset.
By simplifying, standardizing, and
industrializing deepwater technologies,
2530% reductions in lead time and
costs are possible, but there are limits to
how much this can save.
The resources we are developing no
longer come from massive fields, which
limits the economic and cost-saving
potentials. Second, the industry cannot
create a commodity industry like the
automotive industry.
These issues may be overcome with
the willingness of the deepwater industry to continue investing in technology
developments, and, in particular, technology and constant innovation are what
will bring us acceptable economic profitability, which will allow us to continue
deepwater development.JPT

Recommended additional reading

at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE/IADC 168048 New Applications
of Cementing Valve Technology for Gulf
of Mexico Deepwater Operations
byJim McNicol, Archer Oiltools
OTC 25802 Deep Offshore Gas Fields:
A New Challenge for the Industry
byE. Gyllenhammar, Aker Solutions, et al.
OTC 25868 Lucius and Hadrian South
Projects: Development Overview
byM. Lamey, Anadarko, et al.
OTC 25896 Developing Megaprojects
Simultaneously: The Brazilian Presalt
Case byFlavio Gonalves Reis Vianna Filho,
Petrobras, et al.

JPT MAY 2016

Advancing Deepwater Kick Detection

umerous developments in
automation have made the modern
mobile offshore drilling unit a marvel of
engineering achievement and a model
of efficiency. Yet, even with the surge in
advancements, kick detection, which
can be comparatively elementary for
a fixed drilling unit, has proved to be
significantly more difficult to master
on a vessel subject to wave motion
and currents. This paper describes
experiences, challenges, and approaches
to solving the problems related to
creating an advanced early kickdetection system suitable for floating
mobile offshore drilling units.

Enhanced Kick Detection

The complete paper provides a discussion
of conventional approaches to kick detection. However, managed-pressure drilling
(MPD) has surfaced as a natural response
to drilling in unconventional or otherwise
difficult fields, and the need for an enhanced kick-detection system has been
established somewhat naturally from the
imposed needs of MPD systems. MPD is
based upon the most fundamental principles of drilling; balancing the equivalent
circulating density to formation pressure
minimizes influx and stabilizes the wellbore. The MPD system aims to drill a well
within a margin of the balanced pressure
of the formations being drilled. To accomplish this goal, a rotary head or other annular sealing device is coupled with an active drilling choke that can automatically
adjust the casing pressure. Though configurations of the MPD system may vary, the
primary feedback mechanism for the MPD
system in all cases is the return flow rate.

When bottomhole pressure (BHP) is lower

than formation pressure, influx of formation fluid occurs.
Closing the system with an annular seal
offers many benefits. The closed system
creates a fixed, known well volume that
is a function of the casing and bit diameters and the volume occupied by the drillstring. With fluid in the wellbore being
mostly incompressible, the pressure upstream of the choke and the flow rate
through the return line become valuable in
determining the size and severity of kicks.
Sealing the wellbore has also led to the use
of meters that can measure multiphase
flow accurately. Conventionally, wellbore
and fluid characteristics are determined
by analyzing trends and catching samples
after the fact, whereas a closed-loop system allows a higher level of automation,
real-time automated analysis, and actionable data on the basis of which engineers
can quickly make decisions.
These solutions have undoubtedly reduced the amount of time required to trigger an alarm. But there still exists a void in
terms of what is done with the feedback
from the closed-well system. To complicate this matter, deepwater drilling presents challenges to kick detection to which
fixed offshore installations are not subject. Additionally, deepwater formations
tend to be some of the most prolific in the
world, often displaying high productivitydesirable for production, but risky
from a drilling perspective.
Fortunately, an advanced, robust kickdetection system can be constructed from
many components that are already available and, in many cases, already used in
the downstream sector of the industry.

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 167990, Advancing Deepwater Kick Detection, by Austin Johnson,
Christian Leuchtenberg, Scott Petrie, and David Cunningham, Managed
Pressure Operations, prepared for the 2014 SPE Drilling Conference and Exhibition,
FortWorth, Texas, USA, 46 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Deepwater Kick Detection

(DKD)
Besides adding smart meters to conventional pressure/volume/temperature (PVT)
systems, the DKD system must account
for vessel movement, wellbore effects, and
changes in rheology and drilling parameters, and it must feed information directly
to the MPD system. This may be done in
such a way as to be evolutionary and natural, as opposed to revolutionary and incoherent, with the larger-rig-design philosophy. Ultimately, DKD should be achieved
in such a way as to refine and automate existing drilling-data measurements and enhance proven practice with the addition of
accurate flow measurement.
In the effort to modernize the mudprocessing system, the conventional PVT
system provides a firm foundation upon
which to build. In order to detect a smallvolume influx or loss, reduction of error
in the current format is the key. At least
two approaches exist: One may reduce
error by increasing accuracy of the instrumentation involved, and one may reduce error through discretizing the larger system into more-manageable pieces.
Specifically referring to the mudprocessing system, it has been the case
historically that the well, the pits, and all
processing equipment are grouped together when drilling with a closed-loop configuration. This approach is reliable when
detecting large volume changes but suffers
in small-volume-change detection because
of precision errors. In the process of discretizing the system, the next logical step
is to separate information coming from
the well from information coming from
the mud-processing equipment. In accomplishing the aim of decoupling the well
from the mud-processing plant, it may be
seen that defining boundaries between the
well and the processing equipment is advantageous. A suitable boundary on the return side of the system is the flowline immediately downstream of the diverter. The

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT MAY 2016

59

Operational Improvement
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Drilling and
Tripping

RGH
+DKD

10

Drilling

MPD
PD

Time To Recover After Kick (days)

Fig. 1Reducing kick volume increases operational efficiency.

ideal boundary for defining the inlet to the

well would likely be at the topdrive.
With boundaries and volume set, the
next step is to understand the flux across
these boundaries. Conventional PVT systems detect influx on the basis of volumetric accounting. But volumetric flow rate
is not the only lens through which a kick
may be spotted. Here, knowledge of the
mass-flow rate is beneficial. Direct measurement at the mud pits allows for some
confidence in the type and quality of mud
being pumped downhole. Hardware and
controls improvements to the PVT system
will serve to enhance the base further.
It is important to note that improvements in the accuracy of instrumentation
alone will not provide the full DKD solution; process is as important as precision
and accuracy, if not more so. One of the
root causes identified in the Macondo
blowout was that simultaneous operations interfered with the crews ability to
recognize the influx. A simple calculation
comparing the number of pump strokes
with the tank level could have been used
to identify the influx.
Risers pose unique challenges and
unique opportunities for offshore drilling operations. On one hand, risers are
large, heavy, and time consuming to run,
and they do not often protect against
high pressure. On the other hand, risers allow for instruments to be present
in the annulusa luxury that traditional
casing strings cannot offer. Spaced along
the length of the riser, multiple pressure

60

readings allow for density measurement

as the fluid is returning to the surface.
The type and the spacing of the pressure
transducers are important. Over long
distances and large pressure changes, a
simple comparison may be performed
between two independent transducers.
However, as the distance shortens and
the change becomes smaller, the readings are unusable because of the resolution required. Diaphragm-type pressure
transducers are favorable over a shorter
distance. As far as downhole pressure
readings are concerned, an incorporation of BHP would be desirable. Pressurewhile-drilling tools do make this possible,
but careful consideration should be given
as to how such data areincorporated.
Concerning floating rigs specifically, an
account must be given for the effect of
wave motion. Accurate measurement of
flow and pressure is vital, but it is also
vital to have an understanding of what the
flow and pressure should be. It is known
that wave motion has a noticeable effect
on riser volume because of the use of a
telescopic slip joint. In the case of a highpressure diverter or rotating control device installed above the slip joint, a direct
measurement can be made of the riser
heave through use of a laser range finder
or similar device. With the known dimensions and displacement of the slip joint, a
slip-joint correction factor may be applied
to the known displacement, resulting in
a real-time calculation of riser volume as
a function of wave motion. With a known

riser-heave displacement and a volumetric

correction factor applied, the DKD system
may anticipate nonsteady-state conditions
and send alarms when anomalies occur.
With the onset of pumped riser systems
and the possibility of riserless systems, an
alternative form of riser-heave measurement must be achieved in the event that
the telescopic slip joint is not installed.
Global positioning offers one solution,
while installing accelerometers offers another. In field trials, accelerometers have
not yet proved reliable when compared
with the laser range finder. In cases where
the return flow is routed through a hose
(as opposed to the riser), considerations
should be made to account for any possible lag caused by using a hose.
Drilling parameters such as drillpipe
rotational speed, rate of penetration, and
weight on bit can affect BHP. The DKD
then must contain a robust control and
data-processing system.
An automated DKD system mitigates
risks and delivers value to the drilling
operation by alerting the crew to small,
manageable problems before these have
the chance to become large, unwieldy
problems. When considering kick management through conventional means,
considerable volumes of formation fluid
may enter the well before a problem is
suspected. A considerable amount of
fluid may further be invited into the well
while performing a conventional flow
check. It is not uncommon to see kicks of
50 to 100 bbl or more in deepwater environments. It is evident that the best way
to reduce the amount of corrective work
is to reduce the magnitude of the event.
This concept is illustrated in Fig. 1.

Conclusions
A DKD system will require a holistic approach to sufficiently meet the challenges
posed by drilling in deep water. In addition
to traditional volumetric flow accounting,
a mass-flow accounting approach should
be implemented, as well as modeling to account for fluid and wellbore effects. By detecting kicks earlier, less work is required
to resolve the event. Reduced kick volume
results in significant time savings, which is
realized through a reduction in total circulating time. Ultimately, the need for highspecification pressure-control equipment
may be reduced if the source problem, gas
influx, is mitigated. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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CLOV Project: Overview

his paper describes the CLOV

deepwater megaproject in
Block 17 offshore Angola. This major
development encompasses four separate
oil and gas accumulations in waters up to
1400 m and aims to recover 505million
bbl of both light and heavier oil plus
associated gas in quantity sufficient
to require an export solution to shore
for inclusion in the Angola liquefiednatural-gas (LNG) project.

Introduction
The CLOV megaproject of USD 8.4 billion (to first oil) in Block 17 offshore Angola is the fourth in a series of deepwater
developments. The cluster of fields that
gives the megaproject its nameCravo,
Lirio, Orquidea, and Violetais 140 km
off the coast of Angola and is west/northwest from the earlier developments at
Girassol, Dalia, and Pazflor in waters
ranging in depth from 1100 to 1400 m
(Fig.1). CLOV came on stream on 12 June
2014 and reached its production plateau
3 months later.
The four fields have recoverable reserves expected to be produced over a
20-year period. The oil is a mixture of
good-quality light Oligocene crude (75%
of recoverable reserves) and lowerquality Miocene crude. The presence of
the latter has had a material effect on the
development scenario for the complex.

Exploration Development
The complex of fields was first discovered in the summer of 1998 when the
Lirio-1 well was drilled, finding a significant Oligocene accumulation with a large

gas cap. The oil-bearing reservoirs in the

northeast compartment of the structure
were confirmed by the Lirio-2 appraisal
well, which also further delineated the
size and extent of the gas cap.
The following year, Cravo-1 confirmed
further light-oil reserves before the first
appearance of the heavier Miocene oil at
Orquidea-1. Additional exploration wells
further revealed the complicated nature
of the reservoirs at the location. Violeta-1
added to the Miocene reserves, but the
Orquidea-1 well, drilled into a deeper horizon and 15 to 20 downdip of the main
reservoir, revealed more light oil, which
would provide an additional challenge at
the well-design stage as a result of difficulty in defining well objectives.
Subsurface work continued, and revised reservoir models indicated that
the reserves for Cravo-Lirio would exceed the 245 million bbl given by an
earlier estimate. The question remained
whether the reserves warranted a
standalonedevelopment.
The first conceptual studies for these
accumulations were carried out in spring
2005 to give some definition to subsea
architecture, topside design, and a central facility. After the Lirio-2 appraisal
well (drilled later that year) increased reserves, preproject studies were launched
on the assumption that Cravo-Lirio would
constitute a standalone hub with a floating production, storage, and offloading
(FPSO) vessel, with the Miocene finds as
a later tieback.
A year later, following additional integrated geological and geophysical
studies of the Miocene finds, which in-

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper OTC 25789, CLOV Project: Overview, by Genevive Mouillerat, Total, and
Francisca Silva, Sonangol, prepared for the 2015 Offshore Technology Conference,
Houston, 47 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Copyright 2015 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

cluded data from two more appraisal

wells (Orquidea-2 and Violeta-2), it was
decided to choose a development concept that incorporated the Oligocene and
Mioceneaccumulations.

Concept
The development scheme for the CLOV
complex closely followed the path that the
organization had established on its three
earlier Angolan projectsa large FPSO
with an extensive subsea infrastructure
but with a few differences, including innovative oil processing and power systems.
The FPSO is 30561 m with a storage capacity of 1.78 million bbl and is
secured to the seabed with a spreading
mooring system of 16 lines. There is a
single processing train for commingled
Oligocene and Miocene crudes, capable
of handling 229,000 B/D of total liquids
and 160,000 B/D of annual average oil
production and providing 319,000 B/D of
water for injection purposes.
The processing system uses a washtank system and continuous settling for
oil/water separation, a concept the operator had used previously on a project
in Nigeria (Usan) but not in Angola. The
system uses two large below-deck wash
tanks, operating in parallel, with water
continuously siphoned from below and
oil flowing over a weir and pumped away,
with the degassed well stream refilling
the tanks. The oil is then desalted in two
settling tanks. With a high gas/oil ratio
and a no flaring policy, the topside is
equipped with compression capacity of
6.5 million/d.
Produced water (122,000 B/D), which
can be used for injection purposes, travels through a multistage purification
process. Treatment through two hydrocyclones, operating in parallel, removes
the last of the oil, after which two desanding cyclones remove particles to 10 m.
Seawater supplements produced water,
with the onboard lifting pumps capable

The complete paper is available for purchase at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

62

JPT MAY 2016

Violeta

Lirio

Perpetua

Africa

Anturio
Orquidea

Cravo

Gulf of
Guinea

Hortensia

Indian Ocean

Tulipa
Rosa

Zinia

Dalia
Jasmin

Acacia

Girassol
Camelia

Fig. 1Block 17.

of providing up to 1,400,000 B/D. It

is coarse filtered then ultrafiltered to
remove fine particles. Sulfate removal
with a membrane system is followed
bydeoxygenation.
Power generation is developed
through three aeroderivative turbo generators rated to produce 28 MW each.
This power-system design, initially deployed on a Nigerian project, drives an
all-electric machinery concept based on
variable-frequency drives.

Well System
One of the major enterprises on this
project is the drilling program of almost
2,500 days: 34 wells to be drilled by two
drillships: West Gemini and Ensco DS-1.
By first oil, they had drilled and installed
the completions in 14 wells (11 producers and three water injectors), which allowed the design peak (168,000 B/D) to
be reached on 30 September 2014.
The vast majority of the wells (32) are
of a horizontal design with a maximum
length of 1800 m, with the other two
being deviated. As with the geology of
the other Block 17 developments, the Oligocene reservoirs are highly faulted and
thin. In order to ensure a full understanding of the structure of the reservoir, a
pilot well and the two deviated wells were
drilled initially to calibrate vertical uncertainties and plan the remaining horizontal wells.
As with all of the Block 17 reservoirs,
there is potential for significant sand
production, which required either sand
screens or gravel packs in all of the wells.
Fourteen production wells and 13 of the
water injectors have standalone sand

JPT MAY 2016

Block 17

Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean

screens, while the remaining five producers and two injectors have selective,
or intelligent, completions.

Subsea Production System

The subsea production system of 34 wells
(19 producers and 15 water injectors) is
typical of systems implemented by the
operator in west Africa, but its delivery was designed to raise the local content of the project compared with earlier
ones. A much higher level of assembly of
subsea trees and fabrication of underwater structures took place in Angola
compared with earlier projects, a significant part of the operators commitment
to an increase in local activity.
The subsea-tree system on this project
is not dissimilar to those that the operator has deployed in the past (10,000-psirated vertical tree weighing 39 t). Each
tree is equipped with a chemical-injection
valve, an insert choke valve, and a multiphase flowmeter installed on the well
jumper. There are eight production manifolds, four 12-in. four-slot manifolds at
Cravo and Lirio and four 10-in. four-slot
manifolds on Orquidea and Violeta.
Two features of the subsea-productionsystem concept for the CLOV complex set
it apart from the operators other west African projects. First, fiber-optics communication was adopted for the subsea control system. Each of the eight manifolds
is equipped with a subsea router module
that handles the flow of data between the
subsea production wells and the master
control station on the FPSO. The other
differentiating feature of CLOV is the application of a multiphase pumping system
driven by helicoaxial pumps to provide
flow boosting for the heavier Miocene oil
produced at Orquidea and Violeta. These

fields have both low reservoir pressure

and a high-viscosity wellstream.
The subsea umbilical, riser, and flowline system installed at the CLOV complex is described in the complete paper.

Health and Safety

The CLOV project team achieved outstanding health, safety, and environmental performance on this development,
aided by its contractors. A particular
highlight was the achievement by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) in its work executing half
of all the man-hours performed by contractors on the project. DSME performed
its 17 million man-hours without a single lost-time injury at the Okpo yard in
South Korea and has already received two
awards as a result.

Angola and the Future

While the description of any project such
as CLOV is based on discussing technology, it is necessary to make mention of the
drive to maximize the amount of work
to be done in the nation and to bring
a new well-trained local workforce into
theproject.
While five local fabrication yards were
used to fabricate a variety of project
structuresincluding manifolds, pipein-pipe stalks, and at least one module
for the FPSOit was the overall quantity of work done in country that was the
target for the operator. At the turn of the
century, when Girassol was being developed, 1 million man-hours of work was
performed in Angola, primarily at one
fabrication yard. For the CLOV development, however, 10 million man-hours of
work was performed in Angolan fabrication facilities. JPT

63

Riser-System Design in Water Depths

Greater Than 3000 m

he offshore industry anticipates

the need for production-riser
systems in ultradeepwater fields.
The development of these fields [this
paper considers a field located in the
central Gulf of Mexico (GOM)] leads
to many challenges with respect to the
selection of the riser concept; in some
instances, such applications may require
extending riser technology beyond its
current limits. This paper evaluates the
feasibility of a number of productionand export-riser configurations for
ultradeepwater applications.

Riser-Wall-Thickness Sizing
Please note that riser-design criteria,
methodology, and data (riser functions
and associated pipe sizes; riser internalfluid properties; and riser-strength assessment) are provided in the completepaper.
Production Risers. Steel-catenaryriser (SCR) wall-thickness sizing is initially carried out when considering
X65 line pipe. For a design pressure of
5 ksi, the wall thickness of the production riser is primarily driven by collapse
because of external hydrostatic pressure. The maximum wall thicknesses required for 8-, 10-, and 12-in. pipes are
1.51, 1.85, and 2.17 in., respectively, and
are driven by burst owing to the 15-ksi
internal design pressure. It should be
noted that these wall thicknesses are designed to resist only the burst and collapse pressures. The longitudinal-load
and combined-load design checks are
performed after the sizing is performed

for collapse and burst. For ultradeep

water, the longitudinal-load design criterion becomes a limiting requirement. For
3000-m water depth, the production risers meet both the longitudinal-load and
combined-load design criteria. Buckling
caused by combined bending and external pressure is also checked with the calculated wall thicknesses. The allowable
bending strains of all the production risers are determined to be greater than
the assumed maximum bending strain
of 0.5%.
The field-proven thickest wall to date
for conventionally welded X65 singlepipe wet-tree production-riser systems
is 1.65 in. In this paper, the maximum
wall thickness that can be welded for offshore fatigue-sensitive riser systems is
assumed to be 1.9 in., on the basis of existing tests. Only the wall thickness required for a 12-in. production riser with
a design pressure of 15 ksi exceeds the
1.9-in. limit.
Export Risers. SCR wall-thickness sizing is initially carried out considering
X65 line pipe with a design pressure of
5,000 psi. The wall thickness of the export riser is first calculated to resist
the burst and collapse pressures. It is
determined that the wall thickness required for collapse is higher than the sizing based on burst for all water depths
and outer diameters. However, the wall
thickness driven by collapse does not
meet the 0.5% allowable bending strain
considering the combined bending and
external-pressure criterion. The wall

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of
paper OTC 25840, Frontier Deepwater Developments: The Impact on Riser-System
Design in Water Depths Greater Than 3000 m, by N. Saglar, B. Toleman, and R.
Thethi, 2H Offshore, prepared for the 2015 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston,
47 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Copyright 2015 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

thicknesses of the export risers are increased to maintain the allowable bending strain of 0.5% in the pipe. Therefore,
the wall thickness of the export risers
is driven primarily by buckling because
of the combined bending and externalpressure criterion. The wall thicknesses
of the export risers are shown in Fig. 1.
The maximum wall thicknesses required
for 16-, 20-, and 24-in. pipes are 1.55,
1.95, and 2.32 in., respectively, and occur
at a water depth of 4500 m.
When considering the longitudinal
load from the static tension in the flooded condition at the top of the riser in
water depths of at least 3750 m, the effective tension exceeds the 60%-of-yield
tension capacity. For ultradeep water, the
longitudinal-load design criterion becomes the limiting requirement.

Water-Depth Limitation
After wall-thickness sizing is carried out,
an optimum water depth is calculated for
each SCR configuration while meeting
all of the American Petroleum Institute
(API) RP 1111 criteria. Water-depth limitations of each riser are determined considering both X65 and X70 steel grades.
X70-grade pipes result in thinner wall
thicknesses compared with risers with
X65-grade pipe. X70-grade pipe also results in a lighter static riser weight at the
top of the riser because of a thinner wall
thickness and hence extends the waterdepth limit. The maximum water depths
for the X65 8-, 10-, and 12-in. production risers considering a 5,000-psi design pressure are 3617, 3495, and 3422 m,
respectively. As the riser design pressure
increases, the water-depth limit decreases. The maximum water depth for the
production risers is 3,903 m considering
X70 8-in.-outer-diameter (OD) pipe and
5,000-psi design pressure.
As with production risers, higher
water depths can be achieved with X70
pipe, with a maximum water depth of

The complete paper is available for purchase at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

64

JPT MAY 2016

2.40
2.20
Existing Technology Limit=1.9 in.
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
16-in. OD
20-in. OD

24-in. OD

Static Effective Tension/Yield Tension

Well Thickness (in.)

X65, Wall Thickness at Range of Water Depths

(Design Pressure of 5,000 psi)

X65, Tension Ratio at Range of Water Depths

(Design Pressure of 5,000 psi)
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
16-in. OD

20-in. OD

Pressure (psi)
3000 m

3750 m

24-in. OD

Pressure (psi)
4500 m

3000 m

3750 m

4500 m

Fig. 1Oil-export-riser wall-thickness-sizing summary: X65 line pipe.

3340 m. The maximum water depth does

not change significantly for different
ODs. It should be noted that these waterdepth limits are obtained for the risertop angle of 12.
SCRs are constructed from conventionally welded line pipe. A typical steel
grade used in the SCR applications is X65.
However, X70 pipe is also used in some
SCR projects in the GOM. X80 welded
line pipe has not been used to date for

the conventionally welded SCR systems.

Weldability of thick-walled X80 line pipe
offshore is not qualified in the industry
yet for sour-service conditions; therefore, it is not considered in this paper.
Riser-wall-thickness sizing performed
on the basis of API RP 1111 indicates that
an advantage can be gained by increasing wall thickness along the top section
of the riser instead of specifying a single
wall thickness along the entire riser.

Strength Assessment
Strength analysis is carried out for the
following three riser configurations:
X65, 8-in. production SCR, 0.67-in.
wall thickness, 5-ksi design
pressure, 3617-m water depth.
X65, 10-in. production SCR, 1.85-in.
wall thickness, 15-ksi design
pressure, 3283-m water depth.
X65, 16-in. oil-export SCR,
1.17-in. wall thickness, 5-ksi

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65

78 June 2016 Calgary, Alberta, Canada

BMO Centre at Stampede Park
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Cycle Workshop
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designpressure, 3100-m water

depth.
Preliminary analysis shows that the
SCRs exceed the allowable stress ratio of
0.67 in 10-year-winter-storm operating
conditions. This is because 60% of the
pipe-stress use is already taken by the
static effective tension of the riser. With
the addition of bending moments caused
by vessel dynamic motions and hoop
stress caused by operating pressure, the
SCRs do not meet API RP 2RD criteria in
the maximum operating environment.
The SCRs do not meet the allowable
stress ratios in the 100-year-hurricane
condition. For the 100-year hurricane
survival condition, only the 8-in. production SCR does not meet the criteria. During the 1,000-year-hurricane condition,
the stress in the riser exceeds the yield
capacity of the pipe at the touch-down
point (TDP) because of high bending moment induced by compression loads.
The SCRs experience compression in the
touch-down zone because of the high
heave motions of the deep-draft semisubmersible at the longer wave periods in
a 1,000-year-hurricane condition. In addition, an 8-in. production SCR is a relatively lightweight riser and extends into
3617-m water depth, which makes the
riser very slender and susceptible to the
heave motions of the floater. Because of
this, excessive compression and stresses above yield are observed in the touchdown zone of an 8-in. production SCR.
On the basis of the dynamic response
of the risers, it is seen that an X65-grade
SCR attached to a deep-draft semisubmersible with a flexible joint presents a
significant challenge to provide acceptable strength behavior in water depths
greater than 3000 m.

Steel-Lazy-Wave-Riser (SLWR)
Strength Assessment
Because of the challenges faced by traditional SCRs to stretch into water depths
greater than 3400 m and to provide acceptable strength behavior, an assessment is performed with an SLWR. This
is a special SCR with a segment of its
length equipped with external buoyancy
modules; its upward buoyancy force in
water is greater than its downward gravity force. Because of this buoyancy force,
the top tension of the riser at the vessel
hang-off reduces significantly.

As with the SCR strength analysis, a

preliminary strength analysis is also carried out with an SLWR configuration for
the 10-in. production riser with 15-ksi
design pressure in 4500 m of water.
A buoyancy section of 5,250 ft is installed above the TDP, which isolates
the porch-heave motions from the TDP.
On the basis of the analysis results, the
SLWR meets the design-strength criteria for all load conditions considered. The maximum von Mises stress
does not exceed the yield strength for
a 1,000-year hurricane, demonstrating
the robustness of the SLWR system. No
compression is observed along the lazywave riser.
On the basis of the dynamic response
of the risers, it is seen that the SLWR
configuration leads to more-viable global response in water depths greater than
3000 m because of its lower top tension
and its ability to control the dynamic
heave response along the riser.

Conclusions
The 12-in.-OD production risers constructed from X65-and X70-grade pipe
with a design pressure of 15 ksi result in
wall thicknesses greater than 2 in. and
are not feasible for a welded-line-pipe
solution. 24-in.-OD export risers lead to
wall thicknesses greater than 2 in. because of high external collapse pressures
and very high static axial loads; hence,
they are not feasible for conventionally welded SCR applications in ultradeep
water. The maximum water depths obtained by large-OD (16- to 24-in.) export
risers with conventionally welded SCRs
are less than 3400 m. It is determined
that SLWR systems are a feasible option for water depth beyond the reach of
SCRs because of additional uplift forces
obtained from the buoyancy modules.
As the water depth increases, the
mixed-mode axial and bending excitation frequencies of the risers tend to
move into the range of wave energy and
increase the likelihood of exciting the
risers in small-period sea states that tend
to drive long-term fatigue life. If a floater has a heave response even with small
amplitudes at a mixed-mode excitation
frequency matching that of the riser, it
would be sufficient to induce significant
dynamic motions in a suspended riser
and increase fatigue damage. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

Subsea Production Optimization

in Field BC-10 Offshore Brazil

he BC-10 asset, located in

deepwater offshore Brazil,
produces heavy oil in the range
of 16to24API. Mudline caisson
separators with electrical submersible
pumps (ESPs) are used to process
fluids frommultiplewells and
boost them to the receiving floating
production, storage, and offloading
(FPSO) vessel.There aresignificant
flow-assurance challenges in
operatingtheasset. In this paper,
twoexamples ofproduction
optimization for this fieldwill be
provided (further examples are
available in thecompletepaper).

BC-10
BC-10s production comes from four
fields located in water depths ranging
from 1650 to 1920 m and is dependent
on artificial lift. This summary focuses on optimizations involving the Ostra
field. The subsea architecture that enabled the development of these separate
reservoirs consists of multiple drill centers coupled to production manifolds.
Manifolds are routed to caisson ESPs.
These caisson ESPs will henceforth be
referred to as MOBOs (derived from the
Portuguese acronym for pump-boosting
module). To minimize equipment costs,
each field has only two production flowlines routed to the host: one is for production, and the second is for hot-oil
displacement and production. In the
case of Ostra, a third riser for gas separated subsea is also present. This design
reduces the number of risers required.
In line with this philosophy, there are

only three oil-production trains and one

gas separator on the host.

Ostra Field
Ostra consists of seven producer wells, with production collected
by two manifolds and routed through
two 8-in. intrafield flowlines to the
artificial-lift manifold (ALM), which
houses four caisson separator MOBOs.
The operating philosophy is to run three
units out of four, leaving the fourth unit
as a standby in case of MOBO failure.
Because the ALM is not located with
permanent vertical access, MOBO interventions require the use of a rig capable
of pulling the 140-t unit to surface. For
this reason, having an installed spare is
critical. The production manifolds allow
one of two routings per well, which allows a flowline to be aligned to one,
two, or more MOBOs; full bypass of the
MOBO; and routing of hot oil for MOBO
startup and planned shutdown from the
surface by a dedicated choke. It is also
possible to allow the 4.5-in. hot-oil supply line to be used for production. The
8-in. gas line features a common choke
on the ALM to control backpressure
on the MOBOs and a surface choke at
the FPSO vessel as a second means of
control. In practice, to avoid a well trip
causing a rapid loss of MOBO pressures
(with corresponding well-rate increases), the subsea-gas-line choke is used
only in special circumstances, with daily
control being performed by use of the
topside boarding choke, which allows
a much larger gas-storage volume and
hence limits rapid pressure transients.

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper OTC 26220, BC-10: Optimizing Subsea Production, by N.C. Sleight and
N.Oliveira, Shell, prepared for the 2015 Offshore Technology Conference Brasil, Rio
de Janeiro, 2729 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Copyright 2015 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

The Ostra field has seen good pressure

support through the first 5 years of operation because of a strong supporting aquifer, and it currently produces
60,000 to 70,000 B/D gross. Gas disposal was performed through an injection well deeper in the Ostra aquifer
while gas export was commissioned.

Subsea-Processing System
The MOBO system is composed of several major components. The top-end assembly (TEA) is the structure on the top
of the caisson and contains the inletand outlet-isolation valves and actuators, the subsea control module, and
injection points for methanol and one
other chemical. The electrical and hydraulic connections are also made to
the TEA.
The caisson itself is a 32-in.-innerdiameter, 80- to 100-m-long section of
pipe with a reduced diameter at the base
to act as an accelerator for the fluid flow,
to prevent solids buildup.
Inside the caisson, suspended on
5.5-in. pipe, is the ESP hanger and
13-in. ESP shroud. The function of
these components is to force fluid down
the caisson to the base, cooling the
motor as it passes. The caisson may
be operated in one of two modes: separated and nonseparated. In separated mode, the caisson flow rate is controlled indirectly by a level controller,
which aims to maintain a constant level
inside the caisson by use of the level derived from the pressure gauges. With the
nonseparated caisson, level is no longer
controlled and instead floats depending on the temporary balance of inflow
and outflow. The pressure in the caisson, however, must be controlled, because this determines what the wells
will produce.
The TEA is connected to the ALM with
a multibore hub that features bores for
inlet, gas outlet, and oil outlet. For cais-

The complete paper is available for purchase at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

JPT MAY 2016

67

Manifold
Manifold
Conductor
Caissons

Spacer

MOBO
TEA

Caisson

Fig. 1Schematic of the entire caisson and ALM (top left); the support structure, 42-in. conductors, and the manifold on
top (top right); ALM populated with four MOBOs (bottom right); closeup of the TEA, showing it attached to the 32-in.inner-diameter caisson; this forms the MOBO (bottom left).

son control, there are three pressure

gauges situated along the length of the
caisson. These allow a liquid density in
the caisson base to be measured and, in
combination with the top gauge, allow a
level to be calculated on the basis of this
determined density.
The entire MOBO is retrievable and
is supported on the manifold, which, in
turn, is supported on the conductors;
these also serve to provide a slot inside
which the caisson can sit (Fig. 1).

Optimization 1: Embracing
Foaming Operation
Early on in the life of Ostrathe only location of separated MOBOs in BC-10
the criticality of subsea defoamer injection was identified. Without it, the
liquid in the caisson became very frothy
and started to carry over and also limit
the pump because of reduced boost capacity. However, at some point, the nature of the foam changed from liquid
in gas (early life) to a gas in liquid. The
change was observed during an event in

68

which the defoamer injection was unable to suppress the formation of foam
in the lower caisson during transient
operations. At this point, it was noted
that the defoamer was not effective, so
it was taken off line to see whether this
was causing the foaming. Once the transient passed through the system, it was
noted that the gas at the top of the caisson was still dry (no free liquids) and
that the density of the liquid in the caisson was lower than before, suggesting it
was holding more gas.
On the basis of these observations, it
was decided to try not injecting defoamer on the other caissons to see if they
could operate without liquid carryover
and with higher gas volume fraction
(GVF). In all cases, the caissons managed to maintain gas dryness, but there
was a decrease in pump performance
(head) with the increased GVF.
In the field, the additional gas entering the main oil line through the MOBOs
caused a dramatic reduction in flowline
backpressure because of the gas lifting

effectapproximately 15 bar, which,

given that the MOBOs boost in the field
was approximately 120140 bar, represented a 1012% reduction in boost
and, hence, load.
The increase in capacity over the
threeunits was approximately 5,000B/D
gross. Furthermore, the defoamer
chemical was the most expensive used
in BC-10 on a volume basis, so the requirement to stop continuous injection
saved approximately USD 4 million on
an annual basis.

Optimization 2: Nonseparated
Operation on Ostra
With the Ostra MOBOs now operating
without defoamer, there was still some
unrealized well potential in the field because the MOBOs were still constrained
with respect to power. To increase capacity, and in light of the experience
gained operating with higher GVFs on
the pump without defoamer, it was decided to try operating one of the MOBOs
in Ostra nonseparated so as to further

JPT MAY 2016

increase the gas entering the oil riser,

with the expectation that this would
reduce boost requirements and, again,
free up some ESP power.
The first step was to select the MOBO
with the lowest gas feed and convert
this to an in-situ GVF for the pump.
Then, the pressure in all the MOBOs
was increased to 85 bara (suction) to
allow power to be freed up. Finally, the
level inside the caisson was increased to
allow a buffer of liquid. The gas-outlet
valve on the MOBO was then closed, and
the control scheme was switched from
level to pressure control. The level in
the caisson slowly started to rise until
it filled the entire caisson; during this
time, inflow and outflow were roughly
similar and suction pressure remained
at the target of 85 bar. Over successive
days, the pressure was reduced in the
caisson to stimulate additional well production and, as this happened, the level
in the caisson diminished, indicating
that, for a given GVF, there is an equilibrium level at which point enough gas
is carried under with the liquid to equal
the amount flowing in from the wells.
As the pressure was reduced, additional
gas broke out of the oil phase, causing
the GVF to increase.
The second MOBO was then also converted to nonseparated mode, and its
suction pressure was adjusted downward to maximize the aligned well capacity. Finally, the remaining MOBO,
still in separated mode, had its suction
pressure increased until as much energy from the wells was used as possible. In effect, this meant that instead of
throttling the wells over the production
chokes to keep strong wells at a reduced
target and maintain the weak wells on
target through a lower pump-suction
pressure, the boost required for these
stronger wells was much reduced. As before, the reduced boost requirement led
to a reduction in power required, allowing additional well beanups. In the case
of the remaining separated MOBO, the
pressure increased from 75 to 115 bar,
reducing boost by 40 bar and allowing
an additional 10,000 B/D gross to be
pumped. This, combined with the extra
gas lift from the nonseparated MOBOs,
increased total capacity, allowing 1 million bbl of additional oil production
in201314. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

ED ELS EES
T
N OT D

OU ND ATTE
C
IS TS A CE
H

T
H
IG LL A
L
F A
R
FO

Society of Petroleum Engineers

Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition
2628 September 2016
Dubai World Trade Centre
Dubai, UAE

www.spe.org/go/atce2016

See
you in

2628
September
2016

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Intelligent Fields Technology

John Hudson, SPE, Principal Production Engineer, Shell

Over the last couple of decades, we have

seen a steady stream of intelligent
innovations go from ideas to infancy to
catalog solutions. Advances in metering,
measurement, control, automation, and
modeling have changed our daily routine such that our decisions are better
informed, and, as a result, we produce
in more-challenging environments, at
lower cost, and with better recoveries.
Whether deployed in the office or in
the field, the majority of these advances
have pertained to improvements in our
organizations, in our production facilities, and in our wells. While still not
routine, tools based on artificial intelligence, large-scale model integration,
and automated data/model integration
are finding their way into the typical
practitioners toolbox. What is clearly
emerging now are practical solutions

While we push model

integration (e.g., between
static and dynamic and for
entire production systems),
artificial intelligence will
be working behind the
scenes to find model
inconsistencies, to narrow
uncertainties, and to
improve our forecasts and
option assessments.
that take the next step into the reservoir and across solution types and discipline boundaries. In the coming years,
artificial-intelligence applications will

John Hudson, SPE, is a principal production engineer with Shell.

He has more than 25 years of experience in multiphase-flow
research, flow-assurance design of deepwater production systems, and development of model-based real-time operations
decision systems. Since joining Shell, Hudson has held technical
and managerial positions in Europe and North America, including
leading a team that developed a model-based cloud computing
solution that was deployed globally to gas plants with a total production capacity in excess of 10 Bcf/D. He currently provides production-engineering
support for the development of a next-generation simulator. Hudson holds a PhD
degree in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. He serves on the JPT
Editorial Committee and can be reached at www.linkedin.com/in/hudsonjohnd.

70

steer our exploration and appraisal processes. While we push model integration
(e.g., between static and dynamic and
for entire production systems), artificial
intelligence will be working behind the
scenes to find model inconsistencies, to
narrow uncertainties, and to improve
our forecasts and option assessments.
These advances are coming at an
opportune time in that they can support
better decision making in some of our
most-costly decisions (e.g., helping us to
improve our productive drilling rates and
demonstrating the real costs of deviating
from reservoir-management plans). The
papers highlighted in this section provide
clear illustrations of how some of this will
be achieved.JPT

Recommended additional reading

at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
OTC 26209 Proactive and Reactive
Strategies for Optimal Operational Design:
An Application in Smart Wells byA.C.A.
Abreu, PUC-Rio, et al.
SPE 176760 Leveraging Intelligent-Field
Data for Full-Field Pressure-Transient
Analysis byB. Al-Wehaibi, Saudi Aramco,
et al.
SPE 177829 Smart Proxy: An Innovative
Reservoir-Management Tool; Case Study of
a Giant Mature Oil Field in the UAE byS.D.
Mohaghegh, Intelligent Solutions, et al.

JPT MAY 2016

Flow-Control Optimization Maximizes

Accuracy of Multiphase-Flow Rate Allocation

he value added by intelligent wells

(I-wells) derives from real-time
reservoir and production-performance
monitoring together with zonal
downhole flow control. Unfortunately,
downhole sensors that directly
measure the flow rates and phase cuts
required for optimal control of the
wells producing zones are not typically
installed. This paper describes an
active monitoring technique that uses
a direct search method to optimize the
sequence of interval-control-valve (ICV)
positions during a routine multirate test
in an I-well.

Introduction
I-well completions include both downhole flow-control tools and monitoring sensors. Reservoir inflow is controlled by means of passive devices
[inflow-control devices (ICDs)], active
valves (ICVs), and self-adjusting devices (autonomous ICDs and autonomous
ICVs). Reservoir and well-performance
properties should be monitored regularly to support flow-control decisions efficiently. Various physical quantities, including temperature, pressure, flow rate,
acoustics, strain, and seismic, are currently measured by electronic, radioactive, and fiber-optic sensors to assist the
multiphase-flow rate allocation in I-wells.
Producing from only a single well or
zone during a test is a common practice. This delivers a single flow-rate value
measured at a particular time. However,
this approach is inefficient, resulting in
lost production and possible difficulties
when trying to restart the closed-in wells

or zones. A costly production-logging

well intervention is a possible alternative; it does provide an inflow rate and a
phase-cut profile, but only at a specific
time without the possibility of delivering the current phase cut and production
rate continuously.
The alternative is to use (continuous)
passive indirect measurements. Such
soft-sensing techniques are used widely
in (surface) facilities and process plants
where extensive, complex networks of
sensors can be implemented relatively
easily. They are now being introduced for
reservoir and well applications.
A multiphase soft sensor consists
of (1) an estimation technique, (2) a
multiphase-flow model, and (3) the measurements. The multiphase-flow model
relates the measurements to the parameters required for the estimation of downhole flow rates. The estimation technique
is used to compute these parameters by
minimization of the mismatch between
measured information and predicted
values. Published soft sensors have used
both stochastically and deterministically
based optimization methods as the estimation technique. The complete paper
provides a review of recent research and
developments in this field.
Soft-sensing techniques are subjected to multiphase-flow-model errors and
measurement uncertainties. The latter
refers to variance of the values attributed to a measured quantity. For this
reason, a new approach is required to
overcome the limitation of the passive
soft-sensing techniques used to allocate
downhole flow rates. To accomplish this

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 173873, Flow-Control Optimization To Maximize the Accuracy of
Multiphase-Flow Rate Allocation, by Reza Malakooti, Khafiz Muradov, and David
Davies, Heriot-Watt University, and Alexander Kuznetsov, Weatherford, prepared
for the 2015 SPE Bergen One Day Seminar, Bergen, Norway, 22 April. The paper has
not been peer reviewed.

goal, an active multiphase-flow-rate softsensing method has been developed to

design an optimum series of flow tests.
The soft sensor obtains the most accurate estimate of the zonal properties by
use of the deformed-configuration (DC)
method to optimize the flow-test conditions (the ICV flow area in multizone
I-wells or the wellhead-choke position
for multiple conventional wells). To the
authors knowledge, this work is the first
publication to demonstrate the applicability of the DC optimization method in
well soft-sensing problems.

Active Multizone MultiphaseFlow Rate Soft Sensing

The main principle of the active soft
sensing is similar to that of passive softsensing, where the optimal zonal properties required for the estimation of flow
rates are calculated through minimization of the mismatch between the measured parameters and predicted ones.
In addition to this optimization level,
active soft sensing performs a second
optimization that designs the optimum
ICV settings for a sequence of flow tests
to maximize the reliability of these estimated zonal properties. Zonal properties are the search variables of the former optimization problem, while the ICV
settings are the control variables of the
latter optimization problem. A flow test
with the specified ICV positions is designed and implemented, and the estimated zonal properties are updated with
the new measurements. The work flow
is repeated, and the next flow test is designed with DC optimization if the analysis indicates that a further test is justified
to increase the estimated accuracy of the
zonal properties.
Integrated Measurements. A wide
range of measurement sources can be potentially incorporated in the active softsensing work flow. It is convenient to

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT MAY 2016

71

categorize the complexity of the I-well

measurements and their analysis into
five levels:
Level 0: Well-production flow rates
(oil, water, and gas) and a single
stabilized pressure measured in the
upper well completion
Level I: Measuring well-production
rates and the stabilized zonalannular pressures
Level II: Level I data plus stabilized
zonal tubing pressures and annulus
temperatures
Level III: Level II data plus stabilized
tubing temperatures
Level IV: Level II data plus transient
zonal-annular pressures of any
pressure-buildup (PBU) test
The first combination of pressure/
temperature (P/T) downhole-gauge readings and well-production flow-rate measurements is the simplest in terms of the
downhole data requirements. The subsequent, higher levels benefit from an
increased understanding of the reservoir and reservoir-fluid properties plus
a richer downhole data set. This allows
more-complex models to be used and al-

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72

lows a greater spectrum of estimated reservoir parameters. For example, annular

P/T measurements are combined to calculate fluid properties such as density,
formation volume factor, viscosity, and
compressibility for all the phases that
contribute to the pressure-drop estimate
across the ICVs (Level II) and to model
transient PBU (Level IV).
All levels result in the calculation of
the zonal parameters (e.g., reservoir
pressure, productivity index, water cut,
and in-situ gas mass fraction in the annulus) used to estimate the multiphaseflow rates. However, the higher levels use
more-complex flow models that use the
data more efficiently, achieving a given
reliability level for the estimated values
with a reduced number of flow tests.
In addition, Level IV data add extra
value to the active soft-sensing work flow
through estimation of the zonal average pressure and skin values as well as
zonal permeability (both vertical and
horizontal), provided that the appropriate flow regimes are identified in the
PBUanalysis.
Estimation of Zonal Properties. A
dynamic multiphase-flow model is required to relate the zonal properties (unknown parameters of the softsensing problem) to the measurements.
The flow model consists of several analytical equations for calculation of well
rates and changes of pressure and temperature along the wellbore and across
ICVs. For example,
1. Reservoir inflow-performancerelationship performance and
well rates (linear equation, Vogels
correlation)
2. Pressure [well-testing (pressuretransient analysis) equations,
pressure drop across ICVs, flowpipe correlation]
3. Temperature (heat flows between
formation, annulus, and tubing;
Joule-Thomson effects; mixing
temperature of formation, tubing,
and annular fluids)
Matching of Measurements and Estimations. Here, zonal properties define the estimated variables, while the
total mismatch between the measurements and predictions forms the objective function. The total mismatch in-

cludes all the measurements of existing

flow tests; its calculation is provided in
the complete paper.
Multirate-Flow-Test Design. The optimal sequence of ICV settings in the
multirate test is found with a gradientfree optimization method, the DC technique. Note that the DC method uses
only values of the objective function and
identifies the next flow test so as to try
to increase the mismatch in order to explore the search space better. This provides new, authentic information to the
estimator and improves the overall estimation reliability.
The DC techniques are based either
on a configuration of simplex, as used in
the active soft-sensing algorithm, or on a
configuration of complex. Deformed simplex optimization requires (n+1) flow
tests to initiate the active soft-sensing
work flow in an n-zone I-well. Here, each
flow test is designed with a fixed combination of ICV settings.

Conclusions
This paper proposes an active softsensing technique in which different
combinations (levels) of surface and
downhole measurements are combined
with a dynamic multiphase-flow model
to estimate the unknown zonal properties of the rate-allocation problem in a
commingled-production system. The
active approach of downhole flow-rate
monitoring implies the design of the optimum multirate test by regulating downhole control valves or surface wellhead
chokes. The multiphase-flow rate allocation in a multizone I-well was tested successfully, but the methodology can be
extended easily to multiple conventional wells producing into a common fieldproduction network.
The methodology was applied successfully to multizone I-wells in oil and gas
reservoirs. The required zonal properties
were estimated satisfactorily. As a result,
the zonal multiphase-flow rates would be
calculated. The examples in the complete
paper indicated the use of different data
sets, including annulus transient pressure and stabilized well rate and annular/
tubing temperature and pressure. Also,
the results were promising even when
the measurements were contaminated
witherrors. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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4/5/2016 12:30:02 PM

Geology-Driven Estimated-UltimateRecovery Prediction With Deep Learning

he authors present a geology-driven

deep-learning estimated-ultimaterecovery (EUR)-prediction model for
multistage hydraulically fractured
horizontal wells in tight gas and oil
reservoirs. The novel approach was made
possible by recent developments in the
field of deep learning and by the use of
big data (more than 200,000 geological
data points and more than 800 wells). A
deep neural network (DNN) was trained
to learn the relationship between geology
and the average EUR (estimated by
declineanalysis).

Introduction
Currently, the consensus in the literature
and among geologists is that it is impossible to achieve a good hydrocarbon-inplace estimate for tight or unconventional
resources by entering geological parameters into an equation. Volumetric analysis, for instance, gives only a very crude
estimate and often does not work at all.
This consensus is not wrong, and yet
highly skilled teams of geologists and exploration engineers manage to make good
guesses as to where the sweet spots are,
even in regions where they have barely
adequate geological data. The answer to
that apparent contradiction is that a simple mathematical model, such as an equation, does not come close to the multilayered complexity and abstract-analysis
skills needed to solve the problem.
A DNN is a computational model composed of multiple processing layers to
learn representations of data with multiple levels of abstraction. It uses artificial neurons from interconnected layers
of software modeled after the columns of

neurons found in the brains cortexthe

part of the brain that deals with complex
tasks, such as vision and language, that
require many levels of abstraction. DNNs
use an iterative algorithm to indicate how
the model should change its internal parameters used to compute the representation in each layer from the representation in the preceding layer. Training is
performed by presenting raw input data
to the DNN and providing desired output
data. The model then learns how to transform its internal parameters in order to
minimize the error between the desired
output and the actual output. This process is repeated iteratively many millions
of times until the error stopsdecreasing.
In regard to hydrocarbon estimates
made on the basis of geological data,
one faces a similar problem with a corresponding solution. Before one can make
an educated guess about the hydrocarbons in place, one must be several levels of
abstraction above the raw geological data.

Data
The data used to train and test the model
consist of two data sets, one with geological data and one with well-production
data. The region covered was a part of
the Eagle Ford shale and included both
oil and dry-gas wells.
The geological parameters primarily
used in the model were thickness, porosity, bulk density, vitrinite reflectance,
water saturation, total organic carbon,
and brittleness, all of which can be estimated at an early stage when evaluating
a new play. When the geological data are
derived from a small number of well logs
and interpolated into a grid, the resulting

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights
of paper SPE 174799, Geology-Driven Estimated-Ultimate-Recovery Prediction
Using Deep Learning, by L. Crnkovic-Friis and M. Erlandson, Peltarion Energy,
prepared for the 2015 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston,
2830September. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

grids have low resolution and are quite

smooth. The combination of all geological parameters can, however, provide a
much-higher-resolution map for the predicted variable. The final geological data
set had more than 200,000 data points.
The well data consisted of production
logs for more than 800 wells that have
been producing for several years, so a reliable decline-analysis figure for the EUR
could be obtained.

Model
To build a DNN that understands the intricate structures and levels of abstraction
from the geological data, the authors use
a method called stacked denoising autoencoders. Rather than trying to predict
EUR from the geological data, the user
sets both the input and the desired output
to the same data. The user then, during
training, corrupts the input data (omitting variables and adding noise), forcing
the DNN to try to reconstruct the original
data and in the process discovering and
building all the levels of abstraction. In essence, such a DNN consists of two parts:
an encoder and a decoder. The encoder
breaks down the data into the intricate
structure with multiple levels of abstraction, while the decoder transforms this
back to the original format. This paper is
focused upon the encoder, so once an adequate autoencoder is obtained, the decoder part of the DNN can be discarded.
As a second step, smaller predictor
DNNs that specialize in a particular task
are attached. For the results given in the
complete paper, the authors created two
predictorsone gas EUR predictor and
one oil/gas-ratio (OGR) predictor.

Testing and Validation

To make sure that the model generalizes
well and that it can be applied to new geological regions, the authors split the data
into three different setstraining, validation, and test (Fig. 1). The training set

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
74

JPT MAY 2016

This can be demonstrated by selecting two nearby regions that are relatively
close to each other, but where the model
produces significantly different results.

Future Work

Fig. 1Division into different data sets.

is used to adapt the model to the data. If

a model is computationally powerful and
data are sparse, there is risk of overtraining. This means that the model becomes
overly specialized on the training data at
the expense of performance on new data.
The validation set contains data that the
model has not seen before, and it is used to
evaluate the models ability to generalize.
The model is never adapted directly to the
validation data set, but indirect decisions
might be made on the basis of it. When the
training and validation errors are comparable, the model is in balance when it
comes to performance vs. generalization.
Although the validation set has never been
used for adaptation, it has been used indirectly to determine if the system generalizes well. A third data setthe test setis
used as a final independent test.
It is important that this system work
well in new areas, so the authors selected a test set that covers a separate geological and geographical region, one that
lies between 50 and 100 miles from the
training-set region and contains data
from multiple operators.

ber of wells. This will also be a cause of

variation in the output. Hence, the output
should be interpreted as a baseline EUR
estimate, a value one might expect from
an average well or fracturedesign.
The predictions are not perfect, but
they are still approximately twice as accurate as type-curve region averages that
require substantial production data and
do not generalize outside the regions
they portray.
One can look at the error in absolute
terms or in relative terms. In a data set
that contains large variations in OGR,
it makes sense to look at relative deviations. In an area where the average gas
EUR is approximately 56 Bcf, an error of
1 Bcf can be acceptable, while in an area
with 0.2 Bcf, an error of 1 Bcf is considerable. The standard statistical measure
for this is the mean absolute percentage
error (see the complete paper for a description of this expression).
The test set was in a separate region
that was between 50 and 100 miles from
the training-set region and used data
from multiple operators.

Results, Interpretation,
and Accuracy

OGR. The second model trained was one

that predicts OGR from the same geological data. This was performed to investigate the role of the resolution of
the geological data. When the geological
data are derived from a small number of
well logs and interpolated into a grid, the
resulting grids have low resolution and
are quite smooth. The combination of
all geological parameters can, however,
give a much-higher-resolution map for
the predicted variable.

The model is provided with no knowledge

about how the well was drilled or fractured. Because well and fracture design
affect the EUR, this discrepancy will appear as noise or uncertainty in the model.
The predictive model will therefore produce an averagethe most-probable
value considering all known designs. The
geological data are approximate and are
often interpolated from a limited num-

JPT MAY 2016

The authors are currently compiling more

geological data and data from other plays
with more-diverse geology. This is important because, first, the data are needed to validate that the knowledge carries
over to distant locations and even different geological horizons; second, the new
data will add to the deep models geological knowledge and allow it to increase accuracy and portability (to make use of the
knowledge as it is appliedelsewhere).
The current choice of parameters
(thickness, porosity, water saturation,
bulk density, vitrinite reflectance, total
organic carbon, and brittleness) is made
for historical rather than scientific reasons; these were the parameters to which
the authors had access when they began
building the models. Some can be removed without significant loss of performance, while adding others would likely
increase accuracy. JPT

75

Machine Learning Applied to Multiwell-Test

Analysis and Flow-Rate Reconstruction

ermanent downhole gauges

(PDGs) can provide a continuous
record of flow rate and pressure, which
provides extensive information about
the reservoir and makes PDG data a
valuable source for reservoir analysis.
In previous work, it has been shown
that kernel-ridge regression-based
machine learning is a promising tool
to interpret pressure transients from a
single PDG. In this work, the machinelearning framework was extended to
two applications: multiwell testing and
flow-rate reconstruction.

Introduction
Analysis of PDG data is challenging because of the inherent characteristics of
the data, including continuously variable flow rate, noise, and the large
data volume. Until now, most efforts
in PDG-data analysis have been concentrated on pressure-transient analysis on single wells, although there have
also been some studies on temperaturetransient analysis and multiwall-data
analysis. Recently, however, there have
been some attempts to apply machinelearning techniques for PDG-data analysis. The fundamental idea is to learn
the patterns behind PDG data, where
the patterns contain the reservoir information implicitly. A previous study
on single-well pressure analysis showed
that machine learning has the potential to handle the complexities in PDGdata analysis, and learn the reservoir
modelsuccessfully.
In this work, the authors use machine
learning as the tool for investigation, but
address two different problemsname-

ly, multiwell testing (multiwell pressuretransient analysis) and flow-rate reconstruction. Both topics are important
in PDG-data analysis in practical engineering. The authors have developed a
machine-learning model for each problem and have tested the models on different real and synthetic data sets. The
test results validated the developed approach, and illustrated the flexibility of
the machine-learning framework for different applications by adapting the features and the targets.
Problem Statement. On the basis of the
background information and literature
review, the objectives of this research
were to
Extend the machine-learning
framework for pressure analysis on
a single well to multiwell systems.
The framework should capture the
well interference accurately and
be able to test a greater area of the
reservoir.
Develop a machine-learning model
to reconstruct the flow-rate history
by use of pressure data.
Ensure that both models maintain
the advantages of the machinelearning-based single-well
pressure interpretation in terms
of the accuracy of prediction,
computational efficiency, and
tolerance to noise.
A review of methodologies, including
machine-learning concepts (linear regression, kernel method, and model regularization), multiwell testing, and flowrate reconstruction, is provided in the
complete paper.

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of
paper SPE 175059, Machine Learning Applied to Multiwell-Test Analysis and FlowRate Reconstruction, by Chuan Tian and Roland N. Horne, Stanford University,
prepared for the 2015 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston,
2830 September. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Results and Analysis

Multiwell Testing. Case 1: Artificial
Interference Testing. In this case, two
wells are producing in a homogeneous
reservoir. The flow rate and pressure of
Well 1 are shown in Figs. 1a and 1b, and
the flow rate and pressure of Well 2 are
shown in Figs. 1c and 1d. The pressure
response at each well was designed to be
affected by the production of the other
well. However, because of the nature
of interference, the small magnitude of
pressure change caused by the other well
is mostly hidden by the dominant pressure change at the well itself. This makes
it difficult for the machine-learning algorithm to differentiate the pressure contributions from other wells.
The flow rate and pressure of both
wells were augmented with artificial
noise before training. After training the
model, an artificial interference testing
was created by computing the response
that would occur if Well 2 had been shut
in while Well 1 had kept producing at
constant rate, as shown in Fig. 1e. Well
1 was used as an active well, and Well 2
was used as an observation well. Fig. 1f
shows the comparison of the pressure
prediction at Well 2 and the true data.
Although the pressure change in the interference test is much smaller in comparison with the training case, the algorithm still captured the trend of this
small pressureinterference.
The example of interference testing
demonstrates the ability of the multiwell machine-learning model to learn
the well interactions, even though the
magnitude of pressure interference is
small. The idea of artificial interference
testing can also be useful because it does
not require additional cost in the field
operations. The observation well is shut
in in the computer program but not in
the field. If PDG data from multiple wells
exist, an artificial-interference test can
be implemented easily by picking one

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
76

JPT MAY 2016

2,000

Pressure (psi)

Flow Rate (STB/D)

2,500

1,500
1,000
500

True Data
Noisy Data
0

50

100

150

200

250

Time (hours)

Flow Rate (STB/D)

Pressure (psi)

400
300
200
100

True Data
Noisy Data
0

50

100

150

200

50

100

150

200

250

Time (hours)
True Data
Noisy Data
Prediction

200
300
400
500

250

(d)

Time (hours)
351

50

100

150

350.5
350
349.5

200

250

Time (hours)
0

True Data

Pressure (psi)

Flow Rate (STB/D)

1,500

100

True Data
Prediction

5
10
15
20
25

349
(e)

1,000

(b)

500

(c)

500

2,000

0
(a)

True Data
Noisy Data
Prediction

30
0

50

100

150

Time (hours)

200

250

(f)

50

100

150

200

250

Time (hours)

Fig. 1Machine-learning results on Case 1. (a) and (c) show the true flow rate (blue) and the noisy training rate (circle)
of Well 1 and Well 2; (b) and (d) show the true pressure (blue), noisy training pressure (circle), and the pressure
prediction (red) corresponding with the true flow rate of Well 1 and Well 2; (e) shows the flow rate of Well 1 during the
interference test (Well 2 is shut in); (f) shows the comparison of true pressure (blue) and pressure prediction (red) of
Well 2 during the interference test.

active well and observing the pressure

response at other wells.
Case 2: Pressure Forecast. Here, further complexity is added to the machinelearning task by introducing a greater
number of wells and the presence of twophase flow. The goal is to forecast the
pressure, given flow-rate controls at various well locations. Four production wells
are located at the corners of a homogeneous reservoir, and an injection well sits
in the center.
The key idea in multiwell testing is to
expand the feature dimension to include
the contributions from multiple wells.
Adding more wells only means adding
more features. Besides feature expansion, no other treatment was required to
account for the additional wells. To ad-

JPT MAY 2016

dress the two-phase issue, the authors

replaced the oil rate by total liquid rate
when constructing the features, thus reflecting the physics that the pressure response is caused by the flowing of both
phases. A cross validation was applied.
The results showed an accurate match
to the training set and a good prediction on the validation set, although a deviation in pressure prediction for the injector was observed. Thus, the authors
conclude that the machine-learning
framework does have the flexibility to
work on multiwell systems with twophase flow.
Flow-Rate Reconstruction. Case 3:
Synthetic Data. In this case, the
machine-learning model was trained

with pressure and flow-rate data with

artificial noise. It should be noted that
the direction of the modeling was different, although the training data were
still pressure and flow rate. After training, two pressure histories were used as
input to generate the flow-rate predictions. A high agreement between predictions and true data was observed in
both cases, although the zig-zag flow
rate looks very different from the training rate, demonstrating the ability of
the method to generalize well to unknown data.
Case 4: Real Data. The machinelearning approach for flow-rate reconstruction was tested further on a real
PDG-data set. In the training step, part of
the flow-rate data was hidden to mimic

77

the situation of missing measurements.

After training, the complete pressure history was used as input to reconstruct the
missing flow rate. Usually, continuous
pressure measurements from the PDG
are available, but parts of the flow-rate
measurement are missing or may be unreliable. In that case, as long as at least
one period of consistent pressure and
flow-rate measurements is available to
learn the pattern between the two, the
flow-rate-reconstruction technique can
be applied to create an estimate of the
missing flow rates.
In short, a new set of features was developed to model flow rate with pressure
measurements. Coupled with the kernelridge regression framework, the features
were tested on both synthetic and real
data sets and showed promising performance. The results also indicate another
property of machine learning: the flexibility in direction of modeling by adapting features and targets.

Mark your
Calendar!

Conclusions
There are three primary conclusions of
this work:
The machine-learning approach
for PDG pressure analysis was
extended from single-well to
multiwell systems. The multiwell
model was shown to be able
to capture well interactions
accurately, and to differentiate
the pressure contributions from
various wells. The multiwell
model was tested in two
promising applications: artificialinterference-test creation without
affecting field operation, and
pressure forecasting for multiwell
systems with given rate control.
A machine-learning model
was developed for flow-rate
reconstruction with new
definitions of features and targets.
The model was tested on both
synthetic and real data, and

showed promising performance.

The machine-learning model
provides an effective alternative
approach to estimate the missing
flow rate compared with earlier
optimization or analytical solution
approaches because the latter
approaches require an assumption
of the reservoir model.
This work demonstrates the
flexibility of machine learning
in solving different applications.
Pressure-transient analysis,
multiwell testing, and flow-rate
reconstruction each have their
own complex physical processes.
Machine learning treats these
different applications with the
same solution procedure, by
adapting features and targets for
each application. This work further
demonstrates machine learning as
a promising technique for PDGdata analysis. JPT

79 June 2016 | Calgary, Canada

SPE Canada Heavy Oil Technical Conference

1920 October 2016 | Lima, Peru

SPE Latin America and Caribbean Heavy and
Extra Heavy Oil Conference

68 December 2016 | Kuwait City, Kuwait

SPE International Heavy Oil Conference
& Exhibition

SPE INTERNATIONAL HEAVY OIL

CONFERENCES & EXHIBITIONS

78

JPT MAY 2016

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Multilateral/Extended-Reach Wells
Bernt S. Aadny, SPE, Professor of Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger

The development of multilateral wells

and long-reach wells has become important to maximizing recovery for many
fields. These technologies are often
applied in offshore environments, where
large reservoir areas are drained from
one or more platforms.
In the late 1980s, long-reach wells
started to use existing infrastructure
better by drilling beyond the design limits of that time. Several major operators
were extending their limits, and, in the
late 1990s, BP Wytch Farm showed that
a horizontal departure exceeding 10 km
was feasible. This had a significant effect
on the industry because offshore platforms now could be designed for up to
10-km reach, as opposed to the early
1980s when 3-km reach was common.
A field could now be developed with one
platform instead of three, resulting in
enormous savings.
Multilateral-well technology also
matured during the past 2 decades.

The main benefit from

directional drilling is the
maximizing of reservoir
recovery. From this
perspective, multilateral/
extended-reach wells may
be considered one of the
more important means of
improved oil recovery.
There were many drivers for this development. One of the more important was
the desire to increase production in tight
reservoirs. Another advantage is directional control. Well stimulation with
fracturing has the drawback that the
fracture direction is controlled by the
in-situ stresses in the rock. Multilateral branches, on the other hand, can be
drilled in any direction.

Bernt S. Aadny, SPE, is a professor of petroleum engineering

at the University of Stavanger, specializing in all aspects of well
engineering, including geomechanics. He worked for major
operators in the oil industry from 1978 until 1994, when he transitioned to academia. Aadny has published more than
150 papers, holds several patents, and has authored or
coauthored five books, among them Modern Well Design,
Petroleum Rock Mechanics, and Mechanics of Drilling. He was
also one of the editors of the SPE book Advanced Drilling and Well Technology.
Aadny holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of
Wyoming, an MS degree in control engineering from The University of Texas at
Austin, and a PhD degree in petroleum rock mechanics from the Norwegian Institute
of Technology. He was the recipient of the 1999 SPE International Drilling Engineering
Award and is also a 2015 SPE/AIME Honorary Member and a 2015 SPE Distinguished
Member. Aadny is a member of the JPT Editorial Committee and can be reached at
[email protected].

JPT MAY 2016

There has been considerable development around these technologies. Those

that help clear the challenges, such as
those related to wellbore stability, wellbore friction, equipment limitations,
and operational aspects, can be considered mature technologies today.
The main benefit from directional
drilling is the maximizing of reservoir
recovery. From this perspective, multilateral/extended-reach wells may be
considered one of the more important
means of improved oil recovery.
Although these directional-well concepts have been used for some years,
they were initially costly with a high economic risk. There is a continuous technology development at many levels that
leads to improvements. These result in
more-efficient processes, with increased
field recoveries as a consequence. Therefore, multilaterals and extended-reach
wells are now common and will be very
important for future cost-effective oil
and gas production.JPT

Recommended additional reading

at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE 174035 Technology Qualification
and Installation Plan of Efficient and
Accurate Multilaterals Drilling Stimulation
Technology for Sandstone Oil Application
byKevin Rice, Fishbones, et al.
SPE/IADC 168055 Expanding the
Extended-Reach Envelope at Chayvo
Field, Sakhlin Island byVishwas P. Gupta,
ExxonMobil, et al.
SPE 168235 CT Extended Reach: Can We
Reach Farther? byKen Newman, KNewman
Engineering, et al.

79

Innovative Tool Improves Hole-Cleaning

Efficiency in Extended-Reach Wells

audi Aramco operates a large

offshore oilfield development that
has driven achievements in multilateral
and extended-reach directional wells.
One challenge the operator faces is
to maintain proper hole cleaning in
extended 8-in. tangent sections at
8587 inclinations, which are drilled
in excess of 10,000 ft. In an effort to
drill efficiently, a new technology to
increase cuttings removal was trial
tested on Well A1 from an onshore
location of the field.

Introduction
Historically, drilling very long tangent
sections required the use of several tandem sweep pills, wiper trips, and reaming
and back reaming to maintain hole quality and remove cuttings from the wellbore
efficiently. Poor hole cleaning can lead
to tight intervals, increased torque and
drag, and, eventually, stuck pipe.
Extended-reach Well A1 was drilled
to a measured depth (MD) of 30,480 ft
[8,650-ft true vertical depth (TVD)] into
a stratigraphic environment composed of
limestone, shale, and siltstone. The objective of the trial test for the tool was to
improve the drilling efficiency. To obtain
the best possible hole cleaning, a simulation was performed by placing the new
tools every three stands along the tangent section in the 8-in.-hole section.
The goals of the trial test were
To enhance hole cleaning by
removal of cuttings
To reduce the frequency and
number of tandem sweep pills

To reduce the frequency and

number of wiper trips
To reduce torque and drag levels
and make them comparable with
those of offset wells
To reduce drilling cost
Well A1 resumed drilling from a preset
9-in.-casing point in December 2013
in the Manifa field. The well was drilled
from surface to 30,480-ft MD and into a
stratigraphic environment composed of
limestone, sandstone, and siltstone. The
objective was to hold vertical from surface to 1,535 ft, build up to 85 from 1,535
to 11,659 ft, and hold an 8590 inclination to total depth.
The challenges were to clean hole
while drilling the long 8-in. tangent
section from 11,659 to 24,160 ft. To address these challenges, the tool company
recommended the use of 5-in. cuttingsbed-impeller (CBI) tools at a frequency of one tool per three stands on the
5-in.drillpipe.
The 8-in. tangent section was drilled
smoothly without any hole-cleaning issues (no tight hole or stuck pipe). The
primary hole cleaning was achieved during drilling, and no secondary hole cleaning was required.
A service company installed a cuttingsflowmeter system at the shakers to evaluate hole-cleaning efficiency and performance of the hole-cleaning tools.

Reduced Torque, Friction

The placement of 47 5-in. CBI tools in
the drillstring reduced torque and drag,
limited the chances of getting stuck be-

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper SPE 175165, Use of an Innovative Tool To Improve Hole-Cleaning Efficiency
in Extended-Reach Wells in Saudi Arabia, by Mike Okot, Marlio Campos, German
Muoz, and Alawi G. Alalsayednassir, Saudi Aramco; Matt Weber, Franks
International; and Zahid Muneer, SPE, Schlumberger, prepared for the 2015 SPE
Kuwait Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Mishref, Kuwait, 1114 October. The paper
has not been peerreviewed.

cause of packoff, and ensured cleaner and

more-stable hole conditions.
From 10,828 to 14,000 ft, the offbottom drilling torque progressively
increased from 7,000 to 10,000 lbf-ft
with an openhole friction factor of 0.22.
From 14,000 to 17,000 ft, the off-bottom
drilling torque remained constant at
10,000 lbf-ft and the openhole friction
factor dropped from 0.22 to 0.14. From
17,000 to 19,000ft, the off-bottom drilling torque increased from 10,000 to
13,000 lbf-ft, with an openhole friction
factor of 0.16. From 19,000 to 24,160ft,
the off-bottom drilling torque slightly
increased from 13,000 to 14,000 lbf-ft
and the openhole friction factor dropped
from 0.16 to 0.12.
The CBI tools contributed to the low
rotational openhole friction factor experienced while rotating off-bottom. The
openhole friction factor decreased from
0.22 at the beginning of the run to 0.12
at total depth. Nonrotating drillpipe protectors also were installed on the 5-in.
drillpipe throughout the cased hole and
contributed to the low rotational friction
factor encountered during this run.
From 10,828 to 14,400 ft, the onbottom drilling torque progressively increased from 11,000 to 14,000 lbf-ft and
the openhole friction factor was 0.18.
From 14,400 to 18,800 ft, the on-bottom
drilling torque slightly increased from
14,000 to 15,000 lbf-ft and the openhole
friction factor dropped from 0.18 to 0.12.
From 18,800 to 19,600 ft, the on-bottom
drilling torque increased from 15,000
to 18,000 lbf-ft and the openhole friction factor increased from 0.12 to 0.16.
From 19,600 ft to target depth, the onbottom drilling torque slightly increased
from 18,000 to 19,000 lbf-ft and the
openhole friction factor decreased from
0.16to 0.12.
The use of the CBI tools resulted in a
reduction in the rotational friction factor from 0.18 to 0.12 while drilling the

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
80

JPT MAY 2016

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+<'5$8/,&:25.29(5&(0(17,1*,1'8675,$/1,752*(11,752*(1
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63(&,$/6(59,&(6:(//&21752/

1,300

Cuttings Recovery: 91.6%

110

1,200
1,100

100

1,000

30
20

Drill (12,86518,355 ft)

Recovery 88.7%

10

700

Drill (12,86518,355 ft)

Recovery 89.2%

Drill (23,29224,160 ft)

Recovery 89.5%

40

800

Trip
Secondary Recovery 0.8%

50

900

Drill (18,35519,398 ft)

Recovery 90.7%
Trip
Secondary Recovery 0.7%

60

% Recovery
Sweeps
Theoretical Openhole
Volume (bbl)
Actual Recovered
Volume (bbl)
Volume Excess/
Deficit (bbl)

Trip
Secondary Recovery 2.4%

70

Drill (10,83812,865 ft)

Recovery 93.5%

Recovery (%)

80

Tripping
Secondary Recovery 2.6%

90

600
500
400
300
200
100
0
100

10
,8
11 32
,4
11 35
,9
12 71
,5
12 25
,8
12 66
,8
13 66
,3
13 54
,9
14 43
,5
15 13
,1
15 76
,7
16 31
,5
7
17 2
,4
18 56
,1
18 52
,3
18 55
,3
18 55
,3
19 55
,0
19 15
,3
19 98
,3
19 98
,4
19 62
,9
20 70
,4
20 57
,8
21 91
,2
21 81
,7
22 22
,2
22 37
,6
23 77
,1
23 05
,2
23 92
,2
23 92
,2
23 92
,4
23 59
,8
24 50
,1
24 60
,1
60

Cumulative Dry Volumes (bbl)

Theoretical, Measured by Cuttings Flowmeter, Volume Excess/Deficit

120

12
/1
12 0/13
/1
12 1/1
/1 3
12 2/1
/1 3
12 3/1
/1 3
12 3/1
/1 3
12 4/1
/1 3
12 5/1
/1 3
12 6/1
/1 3
12 6/1
/1 3
12 7/1
/1 3
12 8/1
/1 3
12 9/1
/1 3
12 9/1
/2 3
12 0/1
/2 3
12 1/1
/2 3
12 2/1
/2 3
12 2/1
/2 3
12 3/1
/2 3
12 4/1
/2 3
12 5/1
/2 3
12 6/1
/2 3
12 6/1
/2 3
12 7/1
/2 3
12 8/1
/2 3
12 9/1
/2 3
12 9/1
/3 3
12 0/1
/3 3
01 1/13
/0
01 1/14
/0
01 1/1
/0 4
01 2/1
/0 4
01 3/1
/0 4
01 4/1
/0 4
01 4/1
/0 4
01 5/1
/0 4
6/
14

Well A1 Cumulative Cuttings Recovery Chart

8-in. Section (10,83224,160 ft)

Lag Depth (ft)

Fig. 1Hole-cleaning chart showing percentage of cuttings recovery and dry volumes for Well A1.

8-in. tangent section. A major reduction in the friction factor was also observed in the last 5,000 ft of the run,
when the majority of CBI tools covered
the tangentsection.

Hole-Cleaning Analysis
A cuttings flowmeter at the shaker evaluated hole cleaning. The weight of cuttings
reaching the surface was continuously
measured and analyzed coming off the
shale shakers. By comparing measured
and theoretical volumes, early detection
of inadequate hole cleaning and excess
returns caused by wellbore instability
(caving) or formation damage was possible. Fig. 1 shows the cumulative cuttings
recovery for Well A1.

to the last casing shoe without pump

or rotation was performed four
times because of tool failures and for
blowout-preventer tests.
Pill efficiency was monitored and
optimized on the basis of cuttingsflowmeter data; only one pill was
pumped for every four or five stands
drilled, instead of for every 45 ft or
for every stand drilled.
With the help of hole-cleaning
assurance, up to 1,100 ft was drilled
without pumping any tandem pill.
Final trip at target depth was smooth,
indicating good hole cleaning and
stable wellbore conditions, before
running the 7-in. liner.

Conclusions
Results

82

Drilled 13,332 ft in 8-in. section

without any hole-cleaning issues and
no tight-hole or stuck-pipe events
recorded.
Drilled 5,490 ft and 3,895 ft in one
run each.
Primary hole cleaning was achieved
during drilling; no secondary hole
cleaning was required.
Excellent hole-cleaning efficiency,
with a cuttings recovery of 91.6%.
All planned short trips and wiper
trips were avoided by optimum hole
cleaning, although smooth tripping

The 8-in. tangent section from

10,828 to 24,160 ft was drilled
successfully with five bit runs.
All bits were pulled out of hole
in excellent and rerunnable
condition. The 47 CBI tools
installed in the drillstring met and
exceeded expectations. The CBI
tools enhanced hole cleaning and
ensuredstable hole conditions while
drilling the 8-in. tangent section
of Well A1.
The 8-in. section was drilled
successfully without any holecleaning problems; no tight-hole

or stuck-pipe events were noticed.

Primary hole cleaning was achieved
during drilling, and no secondary
hole cleaning was required.
The cuttings recovery of 91.6%
showed excellent hole cleaning.
All short trips and wiper trips
were eliminated on the basis
of hole-cleaning assurance. Pill
efficiency was also monitored, and
pill frequency was optimized. As
a result, greater than 50% of pill
volume was saved compared with
the drilling plan.
A hole-cleaning comparison between
Well A1 and Well B1, which did
not use the CBI tools, revealed the
effectiveness of the tools, with an
11.7% improvement in recovery and
a 50% decrease in pillfrequency.
The 47 CBI tools resulted in a
substantial reduction in the
rotational friction factor while
rotating off-bottom and on bottom.
The openhole friction factor was
reduced from 0.22 at the beginning
of the run to 0.12 at target depth.
The CBI tools showed a significant
reduction in hookload. The last
trips showed a 27.3% increase in
slackoff weight and an 11% decrease
in pickup weight compared with a
simulated hookload with a friction
factor of 0.150.20. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

New Rotary Shouldered Connection

Expands Capability of ERD Operation

ight of the worlds 10 longest wells

have been drilled by ExxonMobil
as operator of the Sakhalin-1 project
in Russia. Components and drilling
tools involved in the well design are
evaluated and redesigned throughout
the program to maximize penetration
rate and reduce flat time. Drillstringtorque capacity was recognized as
a limiter for increasing penetration
rateand for reaching total measured
depth capability. The operator
consequently sought an alternative
drillpipe connection with higher
torquecapacity.

Introduction
The Sakhalin-1 project comprises the
Chayvo, Odoptu, and Arkutun Dagi fields
off the east coast of Sakhalin Island,
Russian Federation (Fig. 1). Development drilling at the Chayvo field started in 2003 with extended-reach wells
drilled from an onshore location with
the Yastreb drilling rig. In 2005, further
development drilling commenced from
the offshore Orlan platform site. Subsequently, in 2008, the Yastreb rig was
moved approximately 75 km north to the
Odoptu onshore wellsite and drilled nine
extended-reach-drilling (ERD) wells as
part of the initial-stage development of
Odoptu. During the Odoptu campaign,
it was determined that a higher-torque
5-in. drillpipe connection with good
runnability was needed. Following the
Odoptu campaign, the Yastreb rig was
moved back to the Chayvo onshore wellsite in 2011 for further development and
infill drilling of the Chayvo reservoirs.

Fig. 1Sakhalin-1 field overview.

Limiter Identification

Torque Limitation

During the first drilling campaign at

Chayvo, available topdrive torque limited
drilling performance in the long production hole section (>3000 m). Installation of a new topdrive capable of continuous torque in excess of 90,000 lbf-ft
at 140 rev/min eliminated this limiter.
During the subsequent Odoptu drilling
campaign, the 5-in. drillpipe connection was identified as a new limiter affecting rate of penetration (ROP) and
torque operating margin in the production holesection.

The existing 5-in. drillpipe connection used on the ERD wells during the
Odoptu drilling campaign had a maximum makeup torque of 56,600 lbf-ft.
The subsequent Chayvo drilling campaign had planned wells that predicted
surface torque in excess of 70,000lbf-ft.
Using the existing 5-in. connection for upcoming planned wells would
have required significant reductions
in ROP to keep surface torque below
the drillpipe-connection torque rating.
The need for increased torque capacity of the 5-in. drillpipe connection
was identified.

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper SPE/IADC 168049, New Rotary Shouldered Connection Expands the
Capability of World-Record ERD Operation, by S.R. Sanford, SPE, and M.W. Walker,
SPE, ExxonMobil; and J.N. Brock, M.J. Jellison, SPE, and A. Muradov, SPE, NOV
Grant Prideco, prepared for the 2014 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition,
Fort Worth, Texas, USA, 46 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Connection Modifications
To Increase Torque Capacity
Examining the parameters affecting
torque capacity, and the consequences
of modifying them, quickly limits the

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT MAY 2016

83

options to increase the torque capacity of

the connection.

the surface pressure required to maintain

a given flow rate.

Thread-Form Parameters. If possible,

a solution to increase the torque capacity while maintaining interchangeability with the second-generation
double-shouldered connection (DSC) was
preferred. Changing the thread-form
parameters would prevent interchangeability and result in only minor improvements in torque capacity.

Increasing the Coefficient of Friction.

The coefficient of friction is determined
by the thread compound. Rather than
specify the coefficient of friction, the industry has defined the term friction factor to compare the frictional characteristics of different thread compounds.
Zinc-based thread compound with API
Recommended Practice 5A3 is the baseline rotary-shouldered-connection (RSC)
thread compound and has been designated as having a friction factor of 1.00.
The friction factors of other thread compounds are based on their frictional characteristics as determined by testing in accordance with API Recommended Practice
7A1. Several good-quality copper-based
RSC thread compounds are available with
friction factors ranging from 1.10 to 1.15,
providing increased torque capacity.

Increasing Connection Outer Diameter

(OD) and Decreasing Connection Inner
Diameter (ID). With one exception, all
of the area and radius parameters can
be changed easily to increase torque capacity by increasing the connection OD
and decreasing the connection ID. For a
given makeup stress level, increasing the
area parameters will increase the normal
force on the torque shoulders, increasing
the frictional forces. Increasing the connection OD can limit fishability and increase the equivalent circulating density
in the annulus. Decreasing connection ID
increases frictional pressure losses along
the drillstring, which, in turn, increases

Increasing the Makeup Stress Level.

RSCs typically have 120,000-psi specifiedminimum-yield-strength (SMYS) tool
joints and have recommended makeup
torque equal to 60% of the connections

torsional strength. Increasing the tooljoint SMYS to 130,000 psi and increasing the recommended makeup torque will
provide a substantial increase in connection torque capacity. The consequence
of increasing material yield strength
and makeup torque is a possible reduction in fatigue life. A balance must be
maintained between tool-joint strength
andtoughness.

Final Connection Design

Considering all of the torque-affecting
connection parameters, the final design
was chosen on the basis of the desire to
maximize torque capacity, to maintain interchangeability with the existing standard DSC already being used, and to maintain ease of use in the field. The design
used tool joints with 130,000-psi SMYS.
Because ERD wells place the drillstring in
a low-tension (shallow true vertical depth)
and high-torque (long measured depth)
environment, the operator was willing to
sacrifice tensile capacity of the connection
in order to increase torque capacity.
A fatigue-resistant thread form was
also incorporated. The enhanced secondgeneration DSC provides an additional

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Supporting Organizations:

JPT MAY 2016

26% in torque capacity compared with the standard secondgeneration DSC, while maintaining compatibility with the existing standard second-generation DSC that the operator has been
using in this field for 10 years. With the use of a good-quality
copper-based thread compound with a friction factor of 1.15, the
makeup torque could be increased evenfurther.

Fatigue Testing
In order to evaluate the fatigue performance of the enhanced
second-generation DSC, comparative fatigue testing was conducted at the manufacturers technology center. Fatigue testing was performed on a harmonic-fatigue-test machine. This
machine applies a cyclic bending stress by exciting the part in a
whirling motion.
Four samples of the enhanced second-generation DSC and
the standard second-generation DSC (baseline) were fabricated for testing. All samples were tested at a bending moment of
424,000lbf-in., which corresponds to 14,580-psi bending stress
at the outer fiber of the test specimens. The bending stress was
arbitrarily chosen on the basis of previous experience and in an
attempt to perform testing within a reasonable number ofcycles.

Test Results
All samples were tested to failure. Two of the enhanced secondgeneration DSC samples failed in the last engaged thread of the
pin, while the other two failed in the last engaged thread of the
box. Three of the standard second-generation DSC samples
failed in the last engaged thread of the pin, while one failed in
the last engaged thread of the box. The enhanced second-generation DSC samples exhibited better fatigue performance compared with the baseline standard second-generation DSC, failing
on average after 982,300 cycles and 571,276 cycles,respectively.
The test results demonstrate that the fatigue-resistant thread
form incorporated in the enhanced second-generation DSC design adequately compensated for any potential adverse effects
of the increased makeup torque and also improved the fatigue
performance when compared with the field-proven standard
second-generation DSC.

Field Deployment
The enhanced second-generation DSC has been in use for 18
months on two differentrigs. Initial deployment of this connection proceeded without issues, and compatibility with the existing standard second-generation DSC has been successful. The
operator was able to use all existing tools from the standard second-generation DSC and maintain complete compatibility with
the new drillpipeconnection.
No failures of the enhanced second-generation DSC have
been observed in operations. Although the new connection is
in a higher stress state than its predecessor when made up, the
operator has seen no fatigue cracks during routine inspections,
consistent with the history of the standard second-generation
DSC. These field data support the laboratory-testing data in
terms of the enhanced connection not being more prone to fatigue failure than the standard second-generation DSC.
Stabbing and making up the enhanced second-generation
DSC have proved to be identical to previous operations with the
standard second-generation DSC.JPT

JPT MAY 2016

Magnetic Referencing and Real-Time Survey

Processing Enable Tighter Spacing of Wells

ellbore position is computed

from survey measurements
taken by a measurement-whiledrilling (MWD) tool in the bottomhole
assembly (BHA). The MWD tool uses
accelerometers and magnetometers
to measure the Earths gravitational
and geomagnetic fields. Knowing the
direction of these two fields and using
them as a frame of reference enable
drillers to calculate inclination and
direction (azimuth) of the wellbore.
Local high-resolution in-field
referencing (IFR) models have been
produced for the Permian Basin that
significantly improve the accuracy of
MWD azimuth measurements.

Ellipse of Uncertainty (EOU)

Numerous error sources are associated
with MWD-survey measurements, and
each error source contributes in some
form to the magnitude of uncertainty
that propagates along the computed wellbore trajectory. The Industry Steering
Committee for Wellbore Survey Accuracy (ISCWSA) developed a framework for
quantifying the magnitude of uncertainty. The Operators Wellbore Survey Group
(OWSG), an ISCWSA subcommittee, continued development on the original error
model and published a set of instrumentperformance models that enables the
computation of EOU for specific surveying methods. This consolidated set is referred to as the OWSG set of tool codes.
Fig. 1 illustrates the difference between
EOUs for standard MWD vs. advanced
corrections using MWD with IFR and
corrections for sag (MWD+IFR1+SAG).

Generally, one can see that the large

uncertainty of standard MWD can be reduced by 11 to 38% by use of IFR, while
further applying multistation analysis
(MSA) can reduce the uncertainty by 50
to 61%. As shown in Fig. 1, vertical
uncertainty can also be reduced
by advanced survey-correction
methods. Bending of the BHA
brings the accelerometer
out of alignment with
the inclination of the
wellbore trajectory.
This effect can be corrected
for by applying corrections for sag.

IFR
The objective of IFR is to use localmagnetic-field measurements to produce
an accurate 3D magnetic reference model
for the drilled volume. The most costeffective method is to use aeromagnetic
surveys, which have been used for more
than 50 years to map geology and tectonic features. Earlier IFR methods used fast
Fourier transforms or equivalent-source
techniques on planar 2D grids. A recent
analysis showed that these grid methods
can lead to significant errors in the declination and dip reference values because
they assume that the crustal magnetic
anomalies are entirely contained within
the grid. A superior approach is to tie the
grid into the global crustal field inferred
from satellite measurements and represent the solution in terms of global highdegree ellipsoidal harmonic functions.
The IFR method used by the authors
first produces an accurate baseline magnetic field for a given reference date. This

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper SPE 175539, Magnetic Referencing and Real-Time Survey Processing Enable
Tighter Spacing of Long-Reach Wells, by Stefan Maus, SPE, Magnetic Variation
Services, and Jarod Shawn Deverse, SPE, Surcon, prepared for the 2015 SPE LiquidsRich Basins ConferenceNorth America, Midland, Texas, USA, 23 September. The
paper has not been peer reviewed.

Fig. 1A
comparison
of the EOU
at a standard
deviation of
2.79 for 95%
confidence for the
tool codes MWD (green)
and MWD+IFR1+SAG (red). The actual
drilled wellbore trajectory is with 95%
confidencewithin the EOU of the
selected surveying method.

baseline for the reference date is supplied

as an IFR model together with an IFR calculator to the drilling engineer. The baseline can then be extrapolated to any desired drilling date using the main field
model embedded in the IFR calculator.

MSA
MSA is a method for evaluating the quality of MWD surveys and for correcting
systematic bias and scale errors associated with the individual accelerometer
and magnetometer sensors. MWD tools
can measure magnetic-field strength and
dip angle regardless of wellbore direction and inclination. This enables one to
use total field and dip angle as qualitycontrol parameters to test the accuracy of the instrument. When a local IFR
model is used, the accuracy of the magnetic reference values is very high. Therefore, if the measured total field and dip
angle are compared with the reference
total field and reference dip angle, then
one can assume that any difference in
measurements is mostly because of sen-

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
86

JPT MAY 2016

sor errors and magnetic interference.

Comparing these error residuals across
multiple surveys will distinguish systematic error from gross, random, and external errors. Once the systematic error is
identified for each sensor, the error may
be removed from the measurement in the
form of a survey correction. The combination of IFR and MSA provides the highest level of lateral accuracy and quality
control for magnetic MWD surveys.
The standard MWD error is modeled
using the MWD tool code. The error
model makes assumptions about the expected calibration of the instrument as
described by the error coefficients for
biases and scale factors of each sensor.
If MSA corrections are applied to MWD
surveys in conjunction with using an IFR
model, then the MWD+IFR1+MS tool
code can be used, which reduces the size
of the EOUs dramatically (see Fig. 1).
This result is achieved because MSA effectively decreases the magnitudes of the
error coefficients for the bias and scale
errorsources.
Magnetic drillstring interference is the
greatest contributor to MWD azimuth
error. The steel in drillpipe, drill collars,
and mud motors is often magnetized by
magnetic particle inspection and by mechanical stress in the presence of a magnetic field, such as sliding through casing. Magnetized BHA components will
disturb the natural magnetic field and
cause inaccurate measurements by the
MWD tool. The effect of this magnetic interference can be reduced by mounting
the MWD tools inside nonmagnetized
drill collars. However, this will not completely remove the magnetic interference
at the tool. The reduction in magnetic interference is dependent on the length of
the nonmagnetic spacing between the
MWD sensors and the magnetized components as well as on the pole strength
of the individual BHA components. It is
challenging to eliminate magnetic drillstring interference effectively because it
is ideal to place the MWD tool as close to
the drill bit as possible; it is also difficult
to estimate the pole strength of the BHA
components. As a result, the MWD tool
code assumes that a certain magnitude of
drillstring interference is present when
computing the EOUs. Because magnetic
interference caused by the drillstring is
consistent from survey to survey, MSA is

JPT MAY 2016

particularly effective at identifying and

removing that type of error. Thus, the
MWD+IFR1+MS tool code accounts for
this reduction in interference by reducing
the magnitude of the corresponding axial
magnetic-interference errorcoefficient.

Conclusions
Significant positional uncertainty is associated with wellbore trajectories computed from standard MWD measurements.
This uncertainty comes from numerous
error sources inherent to MWD measurements, the largest of which are inaccuracies in the geomagnetic reference
model and drillstring magnetic interference. Using local IFR magnetic models
for computing true azimuth from magnetic azimuth should be the first step toward improving the accuracy of MWD
surveys. IFR models use locally acquired
aeromagnetic data that capture crustal
magnetic anomalies. Once an IFR model
is available, applying MSA corrections
to raw survey measurements can be very
effective at identifying and correcting
systematic errors attributed to drillstring magnetic interference and poorly
calibrated MWD instruments. This establishes a foundation for higher-level
quality control of survey data because
the largest sources of MWD error are
effectivelyreduced.
It is ideal to place wells as closely as
possible to the planned well paths because the spacing is often determined by
reservoir models that will maximize recovery. Because a large amount of uncertainty can exist in wellbore positioning,
it is reasonable to assume that well spacing is not always as consistent or accurate
as engineers and geologists may believe.
This creates the risk that wellbores not
placed where they were planned could
potentially leave unproduced hydrocarbons in the reservoir. Inaccurately placed
wellbores lead to unclaimed volume and
overlap zones. Uncertainty in the wellbore position also makes it difficult to
understand production characteristics
when the well position is not known to
a high degree of confidence. Implementing IFR and MSA as a standard surveying practice offers multiple benefits, including reduced collision risk, greater
reservoir recovery through accurate well
placement, and improved quality control
of MWD surveys. JPT

SI METRIC
CONVERSION FACTORS
The list below includes SImetric
conversion factors for common
engineering units.
acre

4.046 873

E+03 =m2

acre

4.046 873

E01 =ha

acre-ft

1.233 489

E+03 =m3

ampere-hr

3.6*

E+03 =C

1.0*

E01 =nm

API

141.5/(131.5+API)

=g/cm3

atm

1.013 250*

E+05 =Pa

bar

1.0*

E+05 =Pa

bbl

1.589 873

E01 =m3

Btu

1.055 056

E+00=kJ

Ci

3.7*

E+10 =Bq

cp

1.0*

E03 =Pa s

cycles/sec 1.0*
dyne
eV
ft
ft2

E+00=Hz

1.0*

E02 =mN

1.602 19

E19 =J

3.048*

E01 =m

9.290 304*

E02 =m2

ft3 2.831 685

E02 =m3

(F32)/1.8

(F+459.67)/1.8

gal (U.S. liq) 3.785 412

hp
hp-hr
in.
in.2

7.460 43

=C
=K

E03 =m3
E01 =kW

2.684 520

E+00=MJ

2.54*

E+00=cm

6.451 6*

E+00=cm2

in.3 1.638 706

E+01 =cm3

kip

4.448 222

E+03 =N

knot

5.144 444

E01 =m/s

ksi

6.894 757

E+03 =kPa

kW-hr

3.6*

E+06 =J

lbf

4.448 222

E+00=N

lbm

4.535 924

E01 =kg

mL

1.0*

E+00=cm3

mho

1.0*

E+00=S

mile

1.609 344*

E+00=km

oz (U.S. fl) 2.957 353

psi
psi2
sq mile
stokes
ton

E+01 =cm3

6.894 757

E+00=kPa

4.753 8

E+01 =kPa2

2.589 988

E+00=km2

1.0*

E04 =m2/s

9.071 847

E01 =Mg

ton (metric) 1.0*

E+00=Mg

tonf

8.896 444

E+03 =N

1.0*

E+00=Mg

tonne

*Conversion factor is exact.

87

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

Cementing/Zonal Isolation
Gunnar DeBruijn, SPE, Standards and Knowledge Development Manager, Schlumberger

Is zonal isolation provided by cement?

Cementing is central to the discussion of zonal isolation and well integrity because cement typically provides at
least one barrier in a well and is a component of the barrier envelope or barrier
system during well construction and the
operational phases of the well. Cement
parameters are typically included in
regulations and included as part of the
permanent-abandonment requirements
for oil and gas wells.
As an industry, installing and maintaining the cement barrier and well integrity
are part of our social license to operate.
Since the first use of cement in oil wells in
1906, we as an industry have been proud
that we have established and continuously improved cementingpractices.
There is a long history of industry
standards for cementing, with the American Petroleum Institute establishing
the first cementing standard in 1948.
SPE has also included cementing sessions at technical conferences for the
last half-century. A quick search on the
word cement in the SPE OnePetro
database yields 21,133 results, dating
back to 1945.

In the last several years,

regulations have been
updated and rewritten
worldwide. In every
jurisdiction, we can point
to a regulation or industry
standard that affects
drilling and cementing
operations. This regulatory
attention compels us
to double-check our
practices, continue
effective techniques, and
develop technology where
improvements are needed.
In the last several years, regulations
have been updated and rewritten worldwide. In every jurisdiction, we can point
to a regulation or industry standard that
affects drilling and cementing operations. This regulatory attention compels

Gunnar DeBruijn, SPE, is standards and knowledge development manager for Schlumberger, well integrity (cementing). He
holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University
of Alberta and has 26 years of experience working in the oil
industry, mostly in cementing. DeBruijn has worked in North
America and in deep water around the world supporting cementing and well-integrity initiatives. His current focus is on training
and competency development for the worldwide cementing
population. DeBruijn serves on the JPT Editorial Committee. He can be reached at
[email protected].

88

us to double-check our practices, continue effective techniques, and develop technology where improvements
areneeded.
Technology is also focused on improving verification of cement placement and
barrier achievement. Cement evaluation,
including wellsite observations during
cement placement, pressure tests, and
logging techniques, are part of the wellintegrity equation. These enhanced
evaluation methods provide confidence
that zonal isolation and well integrity
areachieved.
As an industry and as SPE professionals, we work to provide energy from
wells that use cement as a key component in providing zonal isolation and
well integrity. We comply with regulations, industry standards, and industry best practices and continually
update technology that instills confidence in zonal isolation and well integrity for our industry, stakeholders,
and society. JPT

Recommended additional reading

at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.
SPE 172937 Achieving Cementing
Improvement in Horizontal Tight-Gasfield
Development byPungki Ariyanto, BP, et al.
SPE/IADC 167922 Intermixing of
Cementing Fluids: Understanding Mud
Displacement and Cement Placement
byZhongming Chen, Baker Hughes, et al.
SPE 175237 A Decade of Self-SealingCement Technology Application To
Ensure Long-Term Well Integrity byArash
Shadravan, ReservoirFocus, et al.

JPT MAY 2016

New Approach Tests Cement-Sheath

Integrity During Thermal Cycling

ell cement is placed into the

annulus between casing and
formation to provide structural support
and zonal isolation throughout the well
life cycle. Nevertheless, operators in the
North Sea have been concerned about the
ability of the cement sheath to maintain
sealing integrity because of the increasing
number of reported failures in mature
wells. A new laboratory setup is designed
to allow visualization of the development
of possible leak paths throughout the
cement sheath when exposed to pressureand temperature-related varying loads.

Cement
pressure port

Casing
pressure
port

Cement-pouring
ports and other
measurements
Rock
Confiningpressure
port

Annulus
(cement)

Cell sleeve

Experimental Setup
The new laboratory setup presented in
this work allows pressurization while
maintaining the capability to perform a
detailed study of the creation and propagation of cement-sheath failures upon
thermal cyclic loads.
The cell is shown in Fig. 1.
The applied formation materials
were Saltwash North sandstone and
Mancosshale.
Some of the current features of the cell
are specified as follows:
Cell is X-ray transparent.
Temperature is controlled (from
inside the casing) during cement
setting and cyclic tests.
There is independent control of
pressure inside casing on cement
and confining pressure (around the
rock) during cement setting and
cyclic tests.
Maximum pressure is set at
approximately 35 bar, while the

Rubber
sleeve

Copper-rod base

Casing

Copper rod

Oil drain

Fig. 1Cement thermal-cycling cell.

allowable temperature range is set

between 1C and 150C.
All components of the cell can be
reused for several test samples.

In particular, the X-ray transparency is

important because it allows for visualization of leak paths without the need to release pressure from the cell, or remove
the internal test sample for a computedtomography (CT) scan, or perform the traditional invasive method of cutting the test
sample cross section. This was achieved
by constructing the cell from aluminum,
which has suitable radiolucent characteristics and allows the radiant energy to
pass toward the test sample with little attenuation. The material also provides a
lightweight cell to facilitate handling.

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper SPE 173871, Cement-Sheath Integrity During Thermal Cycling: A Novel
Approach for Experimental Tests of Cement Systems, by J. De Andrade, SPE,
and S. Sangesland, SPE, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and
J.Todorovic, SPE, and T. Vrlstad, SPE, SINTEF Petroleum Research, prepared for
the 2015 SPE Bergen One Day Seminar, Bergen, Norway, 22 April. The paper has not
been peerreviewed.

The pressurized cell has the potential

to accommodate other types of measurements and to test diverse wellbore conditions. For instance, casing eccentricity and mud filter cake may be included
in the tests. Moreover, the annular space
between the rock and the surrounding
sleeve provides room for the installation
of additional measurement tools during
thermal loading, such as acoustic emission sensors and thermocouples.

Testing Protocol
and Sample Preparation
The aim of the current work was to introduce the testing protocol of the new pressurized cell and compare the thermalcycling resistance of two well sections,
Saltwash North sandstone and Mancos
shale. The testing procedure for each
sample is presented here:
1.At ambient pressure, the casing,
rock, and cell components are
exposed to 66C (cement-curing
temperature).
2. Typically after 1 hours of heating
the cell, cement is poured by
gravity into the annulus through

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT MAY 2016

89

ports thatare closed immediately

afterward.
3. Pressure around the rock and on the
cement is increased to 35 bar.
4. Pressure and temperature are
maintained for 5 days to cure the
cement.
5. The cell is cooled to ambient
temperature (approximately 16C)
while pressure is kept at 35 bar.
6. The cell is disconnected from the
hydraulic system and then placed on
a CT scanner for visualization of the
cement-sheath defects.
7. The cell is coupled again with the
laboratory setup to prepare for
subsequent thermal cycles.
8. Thermal-cycle profile and number
of repetitions are programmed and
executed.
9. The cell is CT scanned as many
times as required following Steps 4
through 6.

Thermal-Cycling Details
Heat is transferred by conduction from
a thermal plate into the copper rod. The
heat is nearly radially transferred to the
pipe/cement/rock sample through a thin
oil layer.
In this study, temperature has not
been experimentally monitored at the cement sheath. However, numerical simulations of transient heat transfer have been
performed to estimate the temperature
changes through the sample. 3D finiteelement simulations were performed with
commercial software. In the calculations,
heat transfer from the thermal platform to
the copper rod and then toward the sample and all cell components has been considered. Heat transfer was estimated as a
conduction process among all the constituents of the test, including the oil film and
nitrogen gas, in order to reduce the complexity of the transient model. Heat convection from the system to the surrounding environment was also considered.

taken to room temperature in order to

create well-known and uniform temperature distributions for CT scanning.

Results
Both sandstone and shale rock samples
were subjected to 10 thermal cycles. Each
sample was investigated by CT at its initial condition and after the first and 10th
thermal cycles. Such a comparison can
reveal which sample defects arise during
thermal cycling and which were initially
introduced by the cementing procedure.
Bonding percentage is calculated by
finding the surface of direct casing/
cement and cement/formation contact
for each sample. The area of this surface is further divided by the total available bonding area. This means that 100%
bonding corresponds to the surfaces
being in direct contact everywhere, while
0% bonding means that there is no direct
contact between the surfaces. The cracks/
voids percentage is defined as the ratio of
their volumes to the total annulus volume.
By comparing the leak-path volumes
for cracks and the bonding percentages, it is clear that crack propagation is
the most significant failure mode when
thermal-cycling loads are applied. Casing/
cement debonding and cement/formation
debonding are less significant, although
more severe for the sandstone sample.
For the thermal loads applied in the experiments, the increment in debonding
has been the result of linking between adjacent debonded areas and cracks/voids
that propagate tangentially from the casing toward the rock. Several of these failures were found along the cement sheath,
although with greater amount in the sandstone sample. For both samples, only a
few tensile radial cracks were seen to
propagate from the casing toward the
rock. Most of the failures were found to
initiate at and propagate from locations
where voids existed initially.

Discussion
Monitoring by CT
In order to obtain detailed 3D information on the size, geometry, and location of
the cracks and debonded volumes in the
cement sheath, CT scanning is applied for
initial and post-cycling sample analysis.
To investigate the effect of a single
thermal cycle or consecutive cycles on
cement-sheath failures, the samples are

90

Effect of Hydrostatic Pressure on

Cement-Job Quality. Cement/casing and
cement/rock bonding has been enhanced
especially by hydrostatic pressure. The
presence of pressure seems to aid in accommodating cement volumetric shrinkage, typically within 2.5 to 3% for Portland
G cement, while maintaining the adhesion
of cement/casing and cement/formation.

The sample cured at ambient pressure

led to a critical situation of poor cement/
casing bonding, with fairly clean microannuli that disable the initial cement-sheath
integrity of this sample. Another interesting observation is that the condition of poor
cement/casing bonding appears to benefit
the adhesion to the formation. Therefore,
the presence of hydrostatic pressure during the curing process is recommended to
achieve a cement-sheath condition similar
to that expected from a wellbore condition, with effective cement-placement design and casing centralization.
Cement-Failure Mechanisms Upon
Thermal Cycling. It should be noted that
most of the failures upon thermal cycling found from both pressurized samples have been initiated at and propagated from initial defects within the cement
sheath. Failures propagate more rapidly
in the cross section than in the longitudinal direction, with cracking being the
most prevalent failure mode found along
the cement sheath. The main origin of
cracking seems to be shear (compressive) failures for both samples. A few tensile radial cracks were found in cement
sheaths of samples and seem to be generated from initial voids along the casing.
Debonding between cement and casing
has not been significant for any sample.
Furthermore, debonding between cement and formation appears to be related
to propagation of shear failures toward
the rock, as well as to links between initial voids along this interface that formed
larger and continuous debonded areas.
These interpretations are the result of
the inspection of 3D reconstructions.
Debonding between cement and formation and cracking increase upon thermal cycling. The first thermal load delivered the largest detrimental effect to
the cement sheath, whereas the effect of
the subsequent 10 thermal cycles spread
these failures with a lower but still significant rate. In addition, the cement-sheath
damage appears to be more severe for the
sandstone sample. Even though the cement sheaths obtained in the shale and
sandstone samples do not correspond
entirely in initial status, the relatively
larger increment of cracks in the sandstone suggests that the sandstone is more
vulnerable to failure propagation upon
thermal cycling. JPT

JPT MAY 2016

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An Integrated Approach to Solving Sustained

Casing Pressure in the Cana-Woodford Shale

any wells in the Cana-Woodford

shale suffer from chronic
sustained casing pressure (SCP) because
of poor cement-sheath bonding. Using
simulation software, centralization of
the production casing was evaluated,
and an optimized frictional pressure
hierarchy was then designed. The
engineered placement method ensured
complete cement coverage around the
casing through an optimized frictional
pressure hierarchy. This multilayered
approach using mechanically optimized
slurries with different mechanisms of
action, including self-healing, provided a
comprehensive cementing portfolio that
contained layers of contingency.

Introduction
One of the major operators in the CanaWoodford field experienced poor bond
logs and SCP both before and after stimulation, with the greatest number of issues appearing after stimulation. SCP can
be defined as the presence of pressure in
the annulus of nonstructural strings. The
presence of SCP is an indication of a path
of flow of hydrocarbons to the surface.
SCP is typically caused by poorly placed
cement or by not taking into account all
factors in a well, such as stimulation conditions. The cement is placed in the annulus for many reasons, but one of the more
significant is to provide zonal isolation.
The zonal isolation is needed for stageto-stage isolation in fracturing; isolation
of the fracture treatment from shallower formations, which are typically in a
lower-stress environment; and for prevention of hydrocarbon flow to surface.

This paper presents the methodology and specific considerations that were
taken into account to integrate all known
information and causal learnings from
logging to design a system to provide
zonal isolation in the challenging CanaWoodford shale.

Field and Design Evaluation

Borehole Geometry. Drilling practices
can have a significant effect on cementplacement results. Several factors must
be examined when evaluating a wellbore
(e.g., washouts, hole size, dogleg severity,
azimuthal gradients, curve build rates).
All these factors can affect the ability to
remove cuttings properly, to place centralizers effectively, and to remove mud
efficiently. The operator placed emphasis on controlling these factors to help
improve the likelihood of success. An oilbased mud (OBM) was used throughout
the openhole section to maintain wellbore stability in the shale formation.
Centralizer Program. The use of centralizers in horizontal wells is not a common practice because of a perception
that they might impede the ability of casing to reach the bottom. With improvements in casing hardware technology
and modeling software, effective centralization can be achieved in horizontal
wells. Without proper casing centralization, the casing will lie on the low side of
the hole. This contact with the wellbore
will make mud removal impossible, and
placement of cement around the pipe
will not be achieved. This can also have
an effect on a stimulation treatment.

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper SPE 174525, Bridging the Gap: An Integrated Approach to Solving Sustained
Casing Pressure in the Cana-Woodford Shale, by G. Landry, R.D. Welty, SPE,
M.Thomas, M.L. Vaughan, and D. Tatum, Schlumberger, prepared for the 2015 SPE
Well Integrity Symposium, Galveston, Texas, USA, 23 June. The paper has not been
peer reviewed.

Stage-to-stage isolation provided from

cement around the entirety of the casing
is important to ensuring virgin-reservoir
stimulation and preventing communication between stages with the now significantly lower-stress environment. A
reduction in drag force can also be seen
by running centralizers. Centralizers can
keep the casing off formation, thus reducing the points of contact.
The operator ran an aggressive casingcentralization schedule on these wells.
The typical schedule was to run three
centralizers per two joints of casing in the
lateral to a few hundred feet above kickoff point (KOP). From KOP to 3,000 ft
above planned top of cement, one centralizer per joint of casing was run.
Mud Properties. Drilling mud is a key
consideration for a successful cement
job. Typical horizontal-drilling muds
have high yield points to ensure cuttings removal and hole cleaning. A thick
mud with high yield is a requirement
before cementing, but this high-yield
mud can be detrimental to mud removal during cementing and can obstruct
cement placement. Proper conditioning
of a mud before a cement job is critical,
although lowering the yield point too
much can make the mud unstable.
Cementing Evaluation. Cement placement was evaluated with a wireline tool
to evaluate the cement bond. Several
evaluation approaches exist in the industry. A high-resolution logging tool
that can help differentiate channels, solids, liquids, and gas should be used because these high-resolution images can
provide causal information on failure
mechanisms to provide feedback into
the design to determine what to change
on future slurries. It is recommended to
use an ultrasonic-based logging tool that
can measure acoustic impedance (AI) as
a minimum. Given the nature of the tight

For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
92

JPT MAY 2016

pore and fracture gradients, the mud,

spacer, mud-recovery fluid (MRF), and
slurries can have very similar AI values.
To distinguish between the fluids and
low-impedance slurries better, having a
log that also measures flexural attenuation (FA) is key when there are overlying or very similar AI values of different
fluids and cements in the annulus. Having independent high-resolution maps
of both AI and FA provides increased assurance in barrier evaluation, especially
in lightweight or contaminated cements.

Proposed Solution
Log Evaluation of Mud Removal. All
evaluations showed poor mud removal.
Several factors must be taken into account when evaluating the ability to remove mud; centralization, density of the
fluids, rheological properties of the fluid,
and the spacer composition are all contributing factors. Through simulations,
the centralization was determined to be
optimized as much as possible. The pore
and fracture gradients dictated that the
optimum fluid-density hierarchy could
not be achieved. Density is not a major
concern in the horizontal section in regard to the ability of one fluid to displace
another, but, as the fluid transitions from
a horizontal orientation to a vertical orientation, the density hierarchy becomes
a major contributor to channeling and
poor mud removal.
Density hierarchy could not be improved because it is governed by the geology of the field. This also dictates the
rates that could be achieved because the
equivalent circulating density must be
managed to prevent losses. The only two
factors left that could be altered were the
rheological properties of the mud, spacers, and slurries and the spacer composition. When designing a solution, the
focus of the design in regard to mud removal will be on rheological properties
and spacer composition.
Post-Fracturing SCP. Regardless of
whether SCP is seen before fracturing,
it was almost always seen after fracturing. A solution would have to take into
account how the well will be stimulated.
The forces that a typical Cana-Woodford
stimulation puts on the cement sheath
are significant, and an analysis of these
forces must be completed by use of simu-

JPT MAY 2016

lation software. Parameters such as treatment pressures vs. time, temperature

changes vs. time, Youngs modulus of formation and cement, Poissons ratio, and
thermal conductivity must be gathered
for evaluation in a stress-analysis simulation. The software will use these parameters to simulate a fracture stage and
evaluate the cement-sheath integrity in
regard to compressional/tractional failures and the formation of a microannlus.
A simulation was performed on a conventional slurry. The results showed that the
cement sheath would fail in compression
and traction and form a microannulus.
This correlated to what has been seen on
resulting SCP. A cement design that could
account for the stimulation treatment
had to be proposed.
Proposed Design. The objectives of this
design were to account for OBM recovery and mud removal, to produce a good
bond log, and to prevent pre- and postcompletion SCP. An MRF was proposed to
achieve effective OBM recovery. The MRF
is a high-solid-content fluid that does not
have significant cementitious content.
This would be followed by a self-healing
cement slurry placed in the casing-tocasing section. The self-healing cement
cap was in place to close the fractures that
may occur during a stimulation treatment in the presence of hydrocarbons.
The self-healing cement cap was followed
by a mechanically enhanced slurry that
would better address the stresses that are
seen during fracturing treatments and
during the life of the well.

be developed faster and more

economically than did trial-anderror methods.
Aggressive centralization schedules
can be used in horizontal wells
effectively, and centralization can
greatly improve the ability to place
critical cement barriers strategically.
Use of an ultrasonic imaging tool
with FA can allow for the analysis
of third interface echoes to evaluate
the actual standoff achieved.
Rheological hierarchy must be
evaluated on a per-well basis
and is critical when operating
in challenging placement
environments.
Cement-slurry designs must take
into account the stress that cement
slurry will see during stimulation
and during the life of the well.
Mechanically enhanced slurries and
self-healing cement slurries are a
vital solution to SCP.
At the time of the writing of this
paper, the engineered approach
had achieved a 95% success rate
at eliminating SCP in the CanaWoodford over the past 2 years. JPT

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Conclusion
The process and methodologies discussed in this paper were shown to be
successful at preventing SCP before and
after stimulation in the Cana-Woodford
shale. The following attributes have resulted in the success of this project:
Evaluation of cement with highresolution tools provided key
insights into the root causes of the
SCP and drove engineered solutions
to the issues.
The engineered approach using
modeling tools to predict cement
performance under expected
conditions against the observed
failure mechanisms on past wells
allowed an effective solution to

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93

Design Procedure for Cementing

Intercalated Salt Zones

ells often require being drilled

through and cemented across
salt formations. In many parts of the
world, salt sections consist of multiple
salt types. This analysis shows that
intercalated salts subject cement sheaths
to a series of tensile and compressive
loads whose magnitude depends
on the size and relative position of
different salts. The salt/salt-interface
effects dominate the general tenet of
increasing creep rate with increasing
depth. This work demonstrates
cement design that includes evaluating
cement-sheath mechanical integrity in
intercalatedsalts.

Introduction
Drilling and cementing challenges associated with salt formations are wellknown. One of the more significant of
these is the plastic deformation of salt
attributed to the existence of deviatoric (shear) stress. This deformation is
known as creep.
To determine the role of creep in the
mechanical integrity of a cement sheath,
it is necessary to analyze the thermostructural model of the well-construction
process using the creep constitutive relationship. The outcome of the analysis is
the stresses experienced by the cement
sheath. It is possible to quantify the risk
posed by salt creep and other operational loads to the cement-sheath integrity
by comparing these stresses to the failure properties of the cement. To provide
an accurate quantification of the risk, it is
necessary to verify the creep constitutive

relationship with data from experimental creep tests.

The type of failure of cement sheath depends on the type of loads exerted on it.
For example, compression loads are likely to result in shear failure. Similarly, extensional loads are likely to result in tensile failure. In a typical well-construction
process, the in-situ stresses attributed to
overburden are greater than the hydrostatic pressure offered by wellbore fluids,
such as drilling mud, cement, and completion fluid. Hence, the deviatoric stress
on salt formations will lead to wellbore
closure. The cement sheath thus will experience compression loads caused by
creeping salts. However, the compression
load is not uniform along the axial direction. This is because the creep rate of salt
varies with depth. The variation is severe
when multiple salts with different creep
rates are intercalated. Fig.1 shows an example analysis of openhole closing in the
presence of intercalated salts. In such
scenarios, the salt/salt-intercalation junctions exert extensional loads on the cement sheath. The closure is not to scale,
and the displacements are magnified for a
better view. Thus, in the presence of intercalated salt formations, the possibility of
tensile failure of a cement sheath should
be investigated in addition to shear failure. Evaluating for both shear and tensile
failure requires analyzing a longitudinal
wellbore model.

Details
The design procedure is explained by
use of a typical example well from off-

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights
of paper OTC 26310, Design Procedure for Cementing Intercalated Salt Zones,
by S.R.K. Jandhyala, SPE, and K. Ravi, SPE, Halliburton, and J. Anjos, Petrobras,
prepared for the 2015 Offshore Technology Conference Brasil, Rio de Janeiro,
2729October. The paper has not been peer reviewed.
Copyright 2015 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission.

Fig. 1(Left) An axisymmetric view of

a virgin open hole consisting of halite
(red), tachyhydrite (yellow), presalt,
and post-salt (green) formations.
(Right) The deformed state of this
wellbore after a finite exposure time
to a predetermined mud weight.

shore Brazil. Analysis is then used to

compare the response of two cement systems. A validated creep model is used to
strengthen the analysis predictions.
Creep-Model Details. There are different forms of creep models covering the
three types of creep regimesprimary creep, secondary creep, and tertiary
creep. This paper uses a two-mechanism
creep law to describe the secondarycreep process because this is the dominant creep regime for downhole applications. Please see the complete paper for a
presentation of the creep equation.
Design Procedure. There are two parts
to building a design procedure. The first
is building a geometric representation of
the pertinent part of the wellbore model
along with the correct creep characteristics of the formations selected. The
second is building the analysis procedure that reflects the loads exerted and
theirsequence.

The complete paper is available for purchase at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

94

JPT MAY 2016

Building Geometric Model. The well

being analyzed had small sections of
tachyhydrite and anhydrite intercalated
with long sections of halite. The entire salt
section is approximately 2020 m thick.
Analyzing the entire salt zone is computationally prohibitive. So, a critical section
of interest that forms the geometric model
should be identified. The procedure to
identify the geometric model is as follows:
Identify the tops of each formation.
Determine the average temperature
and in-situ stresses for each
formation.
Calculate the thermal averaged
creep rate from the temperaturedependent creep properties and
in-situ stresses.
Identify the contiguous layers
exhibiting the fastest creep rate. This
forms the salt section of interest.
To this salt section, add a small
formation above and below to
represent the overburden and
bottom support, respectively. This
forms the geometric model.
Building Analysis Procedure. The
analysis procedure requires the sequence
and duration of each stage during well
construction. The final stress state from
a stage forms the initial stress state for
the following stage. The typical construction process involves the following stages
in the order that they are defined: drilling, running casing, cementing, waiting
on cement, pressure testing, and production. In each of these stages, the thermal
and structural loads experienced by the
formation, the cement sheath, and the
casing will change. Because of the longitudinal nature of the wellbore model,
there is an axial variation of stress and
wellbore pressure.
Cement-Systems Details. Tested mechanical properties of two cement systems are compared. The first system, Cement System 1, is a salt-saturated slurry,
the pumpability of which is not affected
by the contamination of complex salts,
such as tachyhydrite. The second system, Cement System 2, is a freshwaterbased slurry used as a reference.

Results
A comparison of the performance of the
two cement systems analyzed for the well
conditions is made in terms of remaining

JPT MAY 2016

capacity. It is a measure of the residual

capacity of the cement sheath available
for use, with a linear-elastic-behavior assumption. A remaining capacity of 100%
corresponds to no variation compared
with the initial situation (i.e., no loading);
0% corresponds to the onset of nonlinear behavior. Both shear and tensile
modes of response should be compared
because of the axial variation of creep
rate. Because of the high resilience of Cement System 1, the remaining capacity is
significantly higher than that of Cement
System 2 at most sections.
It can be observed that salt/saltintercalation junctions play a critical role
by subjecting the cement sheath to a
combination of shear and tensile stresses. For example, tachyhydrite is the fastest-creeping salt. Therefore, that section
of cement sheath adjacent to tachyhydrite layers will be pushed radially inward more than other sections. This will
result in the cement sheath at the tachyhydrite/nontachyhydrite junction being
subjected to tension. As a result, the tensile remaining capacity will reduce.
Because developing a design procedure is the central objective of this work,
the analysis is performed and the results
are compared for an optimum model
size. It can be interesting to examine
the parametric effects of different model
sizes and salt-layering patterns. Regardless of model size, the general behavior
will not change and Cement 1 will perform better than Cement 2.

Summary
The important aspects of the design procedure and the comparison exercise are
as follows:
A systematic design procedure
wasestablished to estimate the
cement-sheath mechanical integrity
in the presence of intercalated
creeping salts.
Obtaining correct salt-creep
properties and accounting for
overburden effects when using a
realistic model size are two critical
aspects for accurate predictions.
On the basis of the results of a
finite-element model, elastic cement
systems perform relatively better
than conventional cement systems
in the presence of both single and
intercalated creeping salts. JPT

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95

PEOPLE

ROBERT J. BREWER, SPE, has been appointed president of Cepstrum Geophysical, based in Houston. He is responsible for
3D data processing and overall operations
functions, focusing on sales management
and business development. Brewer was
previously region business development
manager for Baker Hughes. He has experience in land and marine surface and borehole seismic data acquisition, processing, and interpretation, and has played lead roles in projects
in the US Lower 48 states, Canada, and Mexico. Brewer holds
a BA degree in geology from Bowling Green State University.
He is a member of the American Association of Petroleum
Geologists, Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts,

Member Deaths
Robert C. Berger, Wichita Falls, Texas, USA
Cy A. Schaadt, Berne, Indiana, USA
Thomas E. Williams, Denton, Texas, USA
Nelson Ed Williams, Surprise, Arizona, USA

Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers.

SEGUN OMIDELE, SPE, has been appointed chief executive officer at Erin Energy
Corp. He will assume the role in May after
the companys annual meeting of shareholders. He was previously its chief operating officer (COO). Omidele joined the company in 2011 as senior vice president for
business development and new ventures. From 2008 to 2011,
he was senior vice president of exploration and production at
Allied Energy Corp. Before that, he held senior technical and
management positions with Shell companies in Nigeria, UK,
and the US for more than 28 years. Omidele holds a masters
degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Houston and is a graduate of Harvard Universitys advanced
managementprogram.
ROBERT TERRELL, SPE, has been appointed regional manager at Aquatic Engineering and Construction and will focus
on growing the companys business in the Americas. He has

In Memoriam
EDGAR RANGEL-GERMAN, SPE, commissioner of Mexicos regulatory agency
National Hydrocarbons Commission
(CNH) and one of the key members behind the implementation of Mexicos recent energy reform for hydrocarbons,
died 23 March. He was 42.
Rangel-German was a thought leader in Mexicos energy
reform, which brought about constitutional changes in
2013 to open the countrys oil and gas market to private investments and technical expertise to increase production.
He was appointed CNH commissioner for a second term in
2013 by Mexico President Enrique Pea Nieto, when constitutional changes charged CNH with regulating, overseeing,
and evaluating all hydrocarbons exploration and production activities in Mexico.
CNH oversees the tenders the country is offering under
the reform. On the success of the second tender in Round
One in September last year, he commented in a JPT article,
We believe that our mandate of obtaining the best conditions for the Mexican state was achieved. neither the
current oil prices nor the minimum value established by
the minister of finance mattered in the second auction. It
seems to me that materiality ruled the tender. The third
auction last December was even more successful with all
25 onshore blocks offered being awarded.
With technical expertise in petroleum engineering and
experience from Mexicos finance and energy ministries,

96

Rangel-German made significant contributions to the success of the reform. His term with CNH began in 2009, with
his appointment as one of the five founding commissioners of the agency by Mexicos president at the time, Felipe
Caldern. Before the CNH appointments, he held other executive roles in Mexican government. He was chief technical
adviser to the undersecretary of hydrocarbons at the secretary of energy, SENER, where one of his early assignments
was to write the first charter for CNH in 2005. He also held
the role of general director for hydrocarbon, electricity, and
water project evaluation at the secretary offinance.
A member of SPE since his student days, Rangel-German
was the president of the SPE Stanford University student
chapter. He continued to be an active volunteer and served
on several SPE committees, including the 2016 SPE Mexico
Health, Safety, Environment, and Sustainability Symposium;
2014 and 2016 SPE Latin America Heavy and Extra Heavy Oil
Conferences; 2014 SPE Applying the Best Technologies in
Extremely Sensitive Environments Workshop; and 2013 SPE
EORTechnical and Managerial Framework for Engineering a Successful Implementation Workshop. He was also
the author of several SPE technical papers on topics such as
heavy oil reservoir thermal simulation and economic evaluation, production forecasting for underdeveloped fields, and
temperature-induced sandconsolidation.
Rangel-German held a bachelors degree from the University of Mexico, and masters and PhD degrees from
Stanford University, all in petroleum engineering.

JPT MAY 2016

In Memoriam
HUBERT (HUGH) L. ELKINS, an industry pioneer in
offshore drilling equipment and technologies, died
18March 2016. He was 81.
Elkins is recognized as a subsea innovator and contributed more than 53 years of professional service,
focusing his work on building safe, innovative technologies. The 6-ft radius technology that he developed for subsea wellhead guide bases and blowout
preventer (BOP) stack guide frames improved deepwater operations safety and became an industry
standard. He held multiple patents on BOPs, control
systems, wellbore pressure controls, and directional
drilling technology.
Elkins joined Hydril in 1973 and served in a number
of executive positions for 2 decades. He retired as director of business development from National Oilwell
Varco (NOV) in 2009.
He was part of important industry innovations in
drilling. Representing NOV, Elkins contributed to the
joint industry project supported by UKs Industry
Technology Facilitator that led to the development
of the continuous circulation system (CCS) technology in 2003. For the first time since rotary drilling was introduced, CCS technology enabled drilling of a hole without interrupting circulation while
new joints of drillpipe were added to the drillstring.
CCS also improved safety by reducing the likelihood
of kicks.
Several industry studies and initiatives aimed toward improving the safety of deepwater operations
benefitted from his knowledge and expertise. He was
a member of the equipment subcommittee of the
task force that put together the International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC)/Offshore Operators Committee Deepwater Well Control Guidelines,
and a member of the drilling vessel and equipment
committee for the IADC Surface BOP Guidelines for
FloatingMODUs.
Elkins was a contributing author of books and training manuals on offshore technology. He authored
technical papers for SPEs technical journals, including SPE Production Engineering and SPE Drilling
&Completion.
For his specialized work in pressure control, motion
compensation, and subsea products, he was awarded
the Exemplary Service Award in 2005 by the IADC.
In 2010, he was recognized with the Distinguished
Achievement Award for Individuals by the Offshore
Technology Conference, and was included as a Technology Pioneer in the Offshore Energy Center (OEC)
Hall of Fame in 2003. In later years, he led various
committees of the OECs Hall of Fame initiative and
refined the process for recognition of industry and
technology pioneers during their lifetime.

JPT MAY 2016

more than 30 years of experience in the onshore and offshore

oil and gas industry, with a focus on subsea operations. He has
experience working in West Africa, UK, Brazil, Canada, and
the US, holding business development, sales, and operational
management positions. Terrell holds a degree in international
management from Louisiana Tech University.
VAN WHITFIELD, SPE, COO and executive vice president of Cobalt International
Energy will resign from his position in June
and will continue as a special adviser to the
company for 6 months. Whitfield has 41
years of experience leading oil and gas production operations and marketing activities globally. He joined Cobalt in 2006 as executive vice president of operations and development and was promoted to
COO in 2011. Before joining Cobalt, he held several executive
positions in other companies, including senior vice president,
western operations, at CDS Gas; vice president, power and
water, at ExxonMobil Saudi Arabia; senior vice president of BP
Global Power; and president and general manager of Amoco
Netherlands. Whitfield holds a BS in petroleum engineering
from Louisiana State University and is a graduate of the executive program at Stanford University.

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97

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[email protected]

FTI

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AVASTHI
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Worldwide Energy Consulting
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Changing Your Address?

Let SPE know
+1.972.952.9393

lenandersen.com
Len Andersen

www.FTIConsulting.com
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[email protected]

800-428-4801

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Associates, Inc.

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PETROLEUM CONSULTANTS
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COUTRET AND ASSOCIATES, INC.

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FORREST A. GARB
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98

PLATT SPARKS

Exploration / Field Development / Training

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MILLER AND LENTS, LTD.

Huddleston & Co., Inc.

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International Reservoir
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Specializing in All Phases of Reserves Evaluations,

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NITEC

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JPT MAY 2016

PERA

ROBERTO AGUILERA, Ph.D.

SERVIPETROL LTD.

Curtis H. Whitson
& Associates

International Petroleum Consultants

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PRA

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Ph: +1-972-473-2767

Petrotechnical Resources of Alaska, LLC

Alaskas Oil and Gas Consultants

Geology, Geophysics, and Engineering
www.Petroak.com
3601 C Street
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SPARTAN OPERATING CO., INC.

310 South Vine Avenue, Tyler, TX 75702

903-593-9660 903-593-5527 (FAX) 800-587-9660

Tarek Ahmed & Associates Ltd.

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WILLIAM M. COBB
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WORLDWIDE PETROLEUM CONSULTANTS
Waterflood & EOR Studies
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Reservoir Simulation
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Phone (972) 385-0354
www.wmcobb.com
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ZAETRIC

Providing technical document development, business process support and printing/binding services
to the oil & gas industry since 2000.
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281-298-1878 [email protected]

ADVERTISERS IN THIS ISSUE

ADIPEC 2016
Page 85

Hexion
Page 13

Saudi Aramco
Page 23

TAM International
Page 2

Baker Hughes
Page 35

Ingevity (formerly MWV

Specialty Chemicals)
Page 55

Schlumberger
Cover 2, Pages 7, 15

Tomax AS
Page 37

South Dakota School of Mines

and Technology
Page 65

Visuray
Page 5

Beicip-Franlab
Page 17
Brookfield AMETEK
Page 25
C&J Energy Services
Page 53
Cameron,
A Schlumberger Company
Page 27
CARBO
Page 73
ChemEOR
Page 11
Cudd Energy Services
Page 81
Enventure
Page 21
Franks International
Page 4
Georgia-Pacific Chemicals
Page 29

JPT MAY 2016

Interwell Norway AS
Cover 3

Wellbarrier AS
Page 91

KAPPA Engineering
Cover 4
KBC Advanced
Technologies Ltd
Page 61
LEUTERT
Page 75
National Oilwell Varco
Page 49
NCS Multistage, LLC
Page 9
OneSubsea,
a Schlumberger company
Page 19
Pyromation
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READ Cased Hole, Ltd.
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JPT ADVERTISING SALES

Brett O. Morgan
Advertising Sales Representative
(Americas, Asia Pacific, and
South AsiaCompanies A-L)
Tel: +1.713.457.6828
[email protected]

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Advertising Sales Manager
(Europe, Middle East, Russia,
and Africa)
Tel: +44 (0) 1227.266.605
[email protected]

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Advertising Sales Manager
(Americas, Asia Pacific, and
South AsiaCompanies M-Z)
Tel: +1.713.457.6857
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Assistant Director Americas
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Tel: +1.713.457.6888
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ADDRESS CHANGE: Contact Customer Services at 1.972.952.9393 to notify of

address change or make changes online at www.spe.org. Subscriptions are USD
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99

SPE EVENTS
WORKSHOPS

30 May2 June ViennaSPE Europec

Featured at 78th EAGE Conference
and Exhibition

13 June Buenos AiresSPE Argentina

Exploration and Production
of Unconventional Resources

78 June CalgarySPE Canada Heavy Oil

Technical Conference

29 November1 December BanffSPE

Thermal Well Integrity and Design

1012 May ManamaSPE

Characterisation and Management of
Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

1315 June Port of SpainSPE Trinidad

and Tobago Section Energy Resources
Conference

FORUMS

2324 May Abu DhabiSPE Global

Integrated Workshop Series: Managing
Well Integrity in a Low Cost Oil
Environment

14 June LondonSPE London Annual

Conference: Adapting to a Challenging Oil
Price Environment

2224 May Kuala LumpurSPE: The Role

of Geomechanics in Conventional
and Unconventional Reservoir
Performance and Management

13 August San AntonioSPE/AAPG/

SEG Unconventional Resources Technology
Conference

1216 June San AntonioSPE Processing

Facilities of the Future

24 August LagosSPE Nigeria Annual

International Conference and Exhibition

1217 June San AntonioSPE Key

Factors for Success in Unconventional
Reservoir Development

1012 May AustinSPE Tight Oil

and Liquids-Rich Gas: Adapting to Survive
in a New Price Environment

2526 May DubaiSPE Coiled Tubing:

Taking the Lead with Coiled Tubing
Technologies in a Challenging Oil Market
9 June CalgarySPE Oilsands:
Competitive Strategies for In-Situ Well Pad
Development
1820 July BangkokSPE Artificial Lift
Systems for Optimised Production
1921 July Colorado SpringsSPE
Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing for Wells,
Reservoir, and Facilities Management
1516 August Kuala LumpurSPE
Reserves, Resources, and Definition
2021 September CalgarySPE Caprock
Integrity for Thermal Applications
912 October MuscatEAGE/SPE
Workshop on Tar Mats and Heavy Oil
1011 October Kuala LumpurSPE
Reservoir Surveillance & Production
Enhancement through Cost-Effective
Technology Integration and Operation
Efficiency

CONFERENCES
910 May AberdeenSPE Oilfield
Corrosion Conference
1112 May AberdeenSPE Oilfield
Scale Conference
2326 May AnchorageSPE Western
Regional Meeting

2224 August SingaporeIADC/

SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology
Conference and Exhibition
2426 August BeijingSPE Asia Pacific
Hydraulic Fracturing Conference
68 September AberdeenSPE
Intelligent Energy Conference
1415 September GalvestonSPE
Deepwater Drilling and Completions
Conference
2122 September MidlandSPE LiquidsRich Basins ConferenceNorth America
2628 September DubaiSPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition
1820 October AccraSPE African
Health, Safety, Security, Environment,
and Social Responsibility Conference and
Exhibition
1920 October LimaSPE Latin America
and Caribbean Heavy and Extra Heavy Oil
Conference

1720 October DubaiSPE Well

Construction Fluids 2025: Meeting the
Challenges

CALL FOR PAPERS

SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show
and Conference Bahrain
Deadline: 15 May
SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and
Exhibition Dublin
Deadline: 23 May
SPE Health, Safety, Security,
Environment, and Social Responsibility
ConferenceNorth America
New Orleans
Deadline: 24 May
SPE International Conference on Oilfield
Chemistry Montgomery
Deadline 16 June
SPE Hydraulic Fracturing Technology
Conference The Woodlands
Deadline: 15 August

SYMPOSIUMS
1718 May HoustonSPE/IAEE
Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation

Find complete listings of upcoming SPE workshops, conferences, symposiums, and forums at www.spe.org/events.

100

JPT MAY 2016

REDUCE RIG TIME WITH

DEEP-SET HEX
Interwells solution for a deepwater well in the Gulf
of Mexico saved the client over $500k in rig time.
The client required a Retrievable Bridge Plug to enable integrity
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24810_Annonse_Deep-set HEX_0416.indd 1

07.04.16 11.19