What's new in production

Apr. 2002 Vol. 223 No. 4  What's New in Production

Perry A. Fischer,  Engineering Editor

World’s first FLNG approved. Woodside Petroleum has approved Shell’s daring proposal to develop their Timor Sea gas resources via the world’s first floating LNG facility, rather than bringing the gas onshore through a pipeline. The decision ends an argument with Phillips Petroleum, the other partner in the $4.9-billion Greater Sunrise project, which wanted the conventional, proven pipeline transport, partly because it would enable the sharing of infrastructure with its Bayu Undan project, the first Timor Sea field being developed. The decision also hurts the Northern Territory, whose government has long hoped to use gas to develop an industrial base in Darwin.

Woodside, operator of Sunrise, was asked last year to evaluate and choose between the competing proposals. The company went with Shell’s plan because it was more economical. "The fundamental economics of a floating LNG facility at Sunrise are significantly better than bringing the gas to shore," said John Akehurst, managing director of Woodside.

Phillips has not commented on the decision, but even if it agrees to the Shell plan, the Australian government could refuse permission for a floating LNG facility. The Northern Territory, as well as the Australian gas industry, has been lobbying hard for a pipeline. Under Shell’s proposal, the gas would be processed, liquefied and stored on the facility before being loaded on tankers and exported, without ever entering Australia.

New downhole telemetry system. Halliburton Energy Services performed its first data-acquisition project using the Acoustic Telemetry System (ATS) in a well off the coast of the Netherlands. The proprietary system transmits data as acoustic signals through the production tubing, allowing bottomhole reservoir data to be monitored at surface without using electrical cables. Its primary use is for well testing.

The sensor package is tubing-conveyed and is made-up within the tubing string. The battery-powered, downhole sensor package can transmit data as frequently as every two minutes for up to 20 days. Halliburton says it reduces dependency on wireline operations, enhances safety, reduces rig time and provides more efficient operations.

This world-first was achieved offshore in Well K12-16 in Block K in the Netherlands for Gaz de France. Two-way acoustic signal transfer was achieved in both shut-in and producing modes. The ATS transmitter was positioned at 12,050-ft MD in the well; pressure and temperature data were sent to surface, and surface command signals were received at bottom with only one ATS signal repeater, positioned at 6,348 ft. Reservoir temperature was 257°F, while static reservoir pressure was 6,396 psi, although the tool specs allow up to 300°F and 15,000 psi.

Hefty production. Statoil-operated Norne field in the Norwegian Sea has set its own production record of over 236,000 bopd. On some days, it produces 15,600 bbl above the design capacity of the production ship. The field is currently Statoil’s largest single producer on the Norwegian continental shelf. The hefty production is partly due to removal of bottlenecks in the production facilities and in the producing wells, such as large pressure drops at the valves.

The field is currently producing from nine wells, with two spectacular wells that produce up to 50,000 bopd each. Norne field, which came onstream in November 1997, has a commercial life span of at least 14 more years.

Jade comes onstream. Phillips Petroleum announced first production from Jade field in the UK sector of the North Sea. The field is producing 60 MMcfgd and 4,500 bopd. Plateau production rates of about 200 MMcfgd and 16,000 bopd are expected by the third quarter 2002, after the remaining initial-development wells have been drilled. Phillips will also test the deep potential in Jade by drilling an exploration tail on one of the wells.

The company feels this development confirms that high-pressure / high-temperature fields like Jade can be safely and economically developed. The platform provides a valuable infrastructure extension to those existing at Judy. Located in Block 30/2c, Jade field was discovered in 1996 and confirmed by an appraisal well in early 1997. The field has been developed using a Normally Unattended Installation, connected by a 16-in. multi-phase pipe-in-pipe pipeline to the Phillips-operated Judy platform, 12 mi south of Jade. Following initial processing of Jade production on Judy, gas will be transported through the CATS pipeline to the CATS terminal on Teesside and oil through the Norpipe pipeline to Phillips’ Seal Sands terminal, also on Teesside.

Phillips is operator of the Jade field with a 32.5% interest. Co-venturers are: BG Group, 35%; Texaco North Sea UK, 20%; Agip (UK) Ltd., 7%; and OMV (UK) Ltd., 5.6%.

Enhanced oil recovery projects. Nearly two-thirds of the original oil discovered in the U.S remains in the ground after conventional recovery operations. This oil – about 200 billion bbl – could be recovered if new technologies can be developed. The Department of Energy’s Fossil Energy research program is adding three new EOR projects to be carried out by three of the Nation’s top petroleum engineering universities.

Louisiana State University will receive $1.2 million to develop a new gas-injection EOR process. The goal is to effectively recover trapped oil by boring a producing well horizontally near the bottom of the oil-bearing formation, then injecting gas through vertical wells to create a gas zone that will force the oil to drain into the producer well.

University of Houston will receive nearly $1.2 million to develop an inexpensive surfactant – a soap-like chemical – that can free oil trapped in carbonate formations. Carbonate formations hold perhaps 20 billion bbl of unrecovered oil in three major Texas regions alone, but they pose difficult challenges for producers. Surfactants were developed for sandstone reservoirs, now University of Houston researchers want to determine if, under the right conditions, they can be effective in carbonate reservoirs.

Oklahoma University will receive nearly $1.5 million to focus on microbial enhanced oil recovery. University researchers are developing more effective and cost-efficient biosurfactants – microbial organisms that behave like detergents to sweep oil from a reservoir.

These EOR projects are geared more toward smaller independent oil producers who conduct virtually no research on their own. Most unrecovered oil in the U.S. resides in fields operated by independent producers, and they produce 50% of domestic petroleum in the Lower 48.

Comments? Write: fischerp@gulfpub.com