Features
BG Tunisia, the leading gas producer in Tunisia, has implemented Connoisseur* Advanced Process Control (APC) from the SimSci-Esscor* unit of Invensys on its gas condensate production system at the Hannibal plant in Sfax, Tunisia, Fig. 1. Project goals were to maximize condensate yields, improve stability of the condensate stabilization process and ensure that product quality limits are adhered to at all times.
Challenges still exist for dealing with hydrate prevention and remediation in deepwater subsea gas tieback systems.
The global E&P market remains highly unpredictable, albeit very profitable in the current price and demand environment. By all indications, the world economy has recovered significantly from the prolonged weak period that followed the events of 9/11/2001.
This recovery is reflected in very strong demand growth for crude oil and natural gas. To meet last year's increased demand, global oil output grew an unusually robust 3.9%, to 69.6 million bpd. Accordingly, world oil and gas reserves also increased. All these factors are good news for operators, who stand to realize impressive revenue on existing output.
To reduce drilling time and costs on Barnett Shale wells, Hallwood Energy used air hammers with diamond insert bits. For vertical wells, time from spud to total depth dropped from 12 – 14 days to 6 – 8 days, representing about $72,000 per well savings. In horizontal wells, time from spud to kick-off point has dropped from 10 – 12 days to 5 – 6 days. Costs associated with the air-hammer/ diamond-insert bit drilling approach (air compressor, fuel, hammer, hammer bit, supervision) are offset by saving on mud and fewer roller cone bits, stabilization, and/or mud-motor costs. In 6 of 12 wells drilled through June 2004, half were drilled with a single bit/trip. The drilling team expects that its goal of drilling 80%, or 8 of 10 wells, with a single trip, can be reached during 2004.
How do you automate a natural gas field that is roughly 28-mi square to operate as if it were a single plant covering just a few acres? This was the question faced by Repsol-YPF engineers in a project to modernize control of the company's Loma La Lata gas field.
The field is vital to Argentina's economy. Its capacity of 1.413 Bcfd of gas and 84,760 cfd of gas liquids represents 30% of the country's output. Scattered across the field's 768 sq mi are about 200 wells, of which 74 are tied to a SCADA system. There are also 14 primary separation units, a main gas processing plant, a smaller gas plant (including an amine production facility), a field production office and a maintenance facility.
Special Report
Featuring comprehensive listings of major manufacturers' products, this valuable guide helps drilling professionals speed their bit selections.
Columns
Offshore jackup rig action. Jackups have been in the news lately. On the down side, Global Santa Fe reported the sinking of its GSF Adriatic IV,some 25 mi offshore Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea on August 10. The rig was severely damaged during a fire following a well control incident and sank. The rig was located over a production platform owned by Petrobel, an Eni/Egyptian General Petroleum Corp. JIV, and had been on location for 58 days. There were no injuries and all 70 persons aboard were safely evacuated.
Offshore Indonesia, Atwood Oceanics jackup Atwood Beacon, which suffered two leg punch-throughs while positioning for an offshore Indonesia well, had not been moved off location in early August. The rig was to be removed from the location and towed to a shipyard in Singapore for inspection and repair. The rig was moving onto a well for ConocoPhillips at the time of the incident.
A legend passes on. It would be unlikely for you not to have heard of the recent death of legendary oil well blowout specialist Paul N. “Red” Adair. But I know from traveling that what is widely reported in Houston may not be in the rest of the world. I met the man briefly in the early 1980s on an offshore job, where the wellhead had come out of the ground about six feet and rotated 90°. A quick-thinking driller saved the day by managing to get a chain on it while all hands scattered. I was a well-logger at the time. As it turned out, we never needed Red's services: the blowout stayed well into the subsurface at the parted casing. (But I did get a handful of his company stickers, which were better than money when needing help on a drill floor.) He seemed like a fine fellow.
High oil prices, but how much North Sea action? Even if the oil price rise in the North Sea has been somewhat mitigated by the appreciation of the euro and other relevant currencies (Britain's pound and Norway's krone), industry's response to prices seems surprisingly modest. By historical standards, oil prices above $30/bbl should have triggered a surge in exploratory wells, plus extra development projects that might have been marginal at lower prices. Little of this has materialized, particularly in Norway.
According to World Oil , the number of active mobile rigs in Europe and the Mediterranean has declined over the past year. In UK waters, data indicate a slight increase in offshore exploration and appraisal work, but a significant decline in development drilling. Danish and Dutch drilling remains modest.
A 50/50 oil market. Consumers around the world are now facing a “50/50 oil market,” according to Daniel Yergin, Chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA). “There is now a 50/50 probability that the price of oil will reach $50/bbl within the next 50 days,” he said.
A price spike to $50 would be likely to occur if one or more supply disruptions removes 500,000 to 750,000 bopd from the market for several weeks. This is possible because, “The world has one of the smallest cushions ever for absorbing a loss of supply, while demand growth is the strongest in a generation. These conditions mean the world oil market is even tighter now than it was during the 1973 oil crisis.
Truly Passive 3D. On rare occasion, a technology catches my eye that is sufficiently different that it should be brought to everybody's attention. Such is the case with QinetiQ's new passive 3D.
By truly passive 3D, I mean glasses-free, and in a well-lit room to boot. Most so-called passive 3D systems still require glasses, it's just that the left and right sides do not flip, or oscillate: they are polarized and fixed. Active systems require glasses that are a bit more bulky, have batteries or wires, and actively switch left and right frame polarity.
News & Resources
Gulf Publishing Company has suffered the tragic loss of Greg Hudman, our Director of Technology and Manufacturing, whose battle with pancreatic cancer ended July 18, 2004. Greg, 37, was born to Harvey and Shirley Hudman and in addition to his parents is survived by his son, Hunter, sister Natalie Hourshad and a host of aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family.
He joined the Gulf Publishing Company family in April 1996 as classified advertising manager and after displaying his multiple talents, we realized he was destined for greater things.
Paradigm's new epos 3.0-based product suite is available on the Intel Itanium 2 processor-based SGI Altix system. The latest versions offer complete workflows, from seismic data processing and imaging, through interpretation and visualization, to reservoir characterization, petrophysics, well planning and drilling, in a single environment. The epos 3.0 framework provides seamless application workflows, comprehensive data integration and a unified 3D visualization canvas. The SGI Altix family combines supercomputing architecture with Itanium 2 processors and the Linux operating system. The Altix 3000 platform boasts the combined speed of shared-memory NUMAflex architecture with the Itanium 2 microarchitecture to create an open-source Linux environment with 64-bit scalable architecture.
C&C Reservoirs announced the addition of Dr. Robert Trice, an expert in carbonate and fractured reservoirs, to its team of reservoir specialists. Working in the London office, Trice will be responsible for leading the development of E&P solutions services on carbonate and fractured reservoirs. Trice has over 20 years of industry experience with independent and major oil companies, including Shell and Enterprise.
As geopolitical uncertainties have pushed oil prices to new record levels, industry analysts agree that the world's supply cushion has become perilously thin. Their consensus is that whether the amount of spare crude left to pump is 1 million bpd or a greater amount really does not matter. This is because the amount of actual production at risk is even greater. Thus, the mere threat of output disruptions in Iraq, Russia and Venezuela sent crude futures above $46/bbl for the first time on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Aug. 13, the price of WTI crude surged to $46.58/bbl, an increase of $1.08. Although it set a new record, this price, on an inflation-adjusted basis, was still about $11 below the rate leading up to the first Gulf War. Saudi Arabia said it was willing to put an additional 1.3 million bopd on the market, virtually all of the country's available production. However, some analysts said that such a move would only point up the market's supply limitations.
Industry At A Glance
Aug
2004
Vol. 225 No. 8
International
G
Aug
2004
Vol. 225 No. 8
US
Rotary Drilling Ri
Aug
2004
Vol. 225 No. 8
Workover
Rig Co
Aug
2004
Vol. 225 No. 8
World
Oil & NGL P
Advanced Schedule of Articles
Coming in October. . .
Drilling
Report
Hot Mud:
Temperature control of fracture grad
Supplement
Estimated proven world reserves, 2003
versus 2002
(Data compiled by World Oil, with aid of govern
Forecast of 2004 world drilling – comparisons with
2003 and 2002
(Data compiled by World Oil
World crude/ condensate production and
wells actually producing – 2003 versus 2002
(Data com
Fig. 1. (A) Phase 1, as
completed in 2002. Loma La Lata's main gas plant, a smaller gas/
amine plant, field production control room and maintenance office
were modernized with digital plant architec
