DRILLING REPORT

(ConocoPhillips Alaska and Baker Oil Tools) Viscous oil on the Alaska’s North Slope represents millions of barrels in place. But, getting to that oil requires multilateral technology. The authors describe how a new system was used to continuously rotate the lateral, while simultaneously landing a completion to mechanically support the lateral junction. This article will discuss the reservoir and operational challenges that led to the system’s development, completion design, installation and results.

(Authors from StatoilHydro and ReelWell) A joint industry project motivated by the challenges of solving hole cleaning and WOB control for coiled tubing drilling has developed a new drilling method that relies on dual-drillstring with its own annulus —one conduit pumps fluid into the well, while the other returns fluid from the well. The authors describe a recent field test at Rogaland Research (now IRIS) in Stavanger, Norway that proved the concept.

(E-T Energy) Electrical-thermal heating of Alberta’s oil sands is affected by passing electrical current through connate water. At low frequencies, the reservoir becomes a resistor and converts this electrical energy to heat. E-T Energy compares data from numerical simulation and field tests. Data from these tests included amount of water usage per m3 of produced oil, equivalent Steam Oil Ratio (SOR) value, green-house gas emissions, etc.

(Baker Hughes Inteq, Intelliserv/GrantPrideco, and BP) Wired-drill pipe, commercially introduced early 2006, has been used to drill over 40 wells in some of the most challenging environments in the world. With 57.6-kbps data rate (compared to 10–20 bps currently available with mud pulse), wired-pipe technology is set to revolutionize exploration and developmental drilling by optimizing overall drilling and completions process. The authors make a case for deploying wired pipe in deep water.

(ExxonMobil) A Drill and Stress Fluid (DSF) system was developed to build integrity continuously, so as to prevent lost returns while drilling. The primary fluid attributes that enable this are high solids content and extremely high filtration rates, as reflected in API fluid-loss tests. This article presents the results of applying DSF on eight wells, including post treatment evaluation logs of the drilling-induced fractures created while building stress.

(WO staff, Mountain Drilling, Chesapeake, Soilmec) Invented in Italy, this unusual circular rig has been in operation for about four years. Experience is growing worldwide with this rig design. This article describes the experience to date with this rig, with a special focus of using the rig to drill in the Barnett Shale.

 RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION

(Colorado School of Mines). Pressure monitoring in tight gas formations with multicomponent (9C) seismic data by the Reservoir Characterization Project (RCP) of the Colorado School of Mines. Tests were carried out at Rulison Field, Colorado to see if time-lapse, multicomponent (9C) seismology could aid in detecting pressure depletion in a tight gas field. Calibration occurred through zonal pressure testing, acquisition of three 9C seismic surveys, specialized image and cross-dipole logging and microseismic monitoring.

(BG, Rashpetco, Roxar and Cairo University) The Simian Field offshore Egypt presents an opportunity to investigate a giant Pliocene deep marine channel complex, where good 3D seismic coverage combines with exploration and data acquisition programs to understand the reservoir internal architecture. Authors from explain how they generated a general depositional model of the channels’ main reservoir elements using pre-stack inverted seismic data and early dynamic data from producing wells to produce a 3D geological model for the field.

(Nexen) Nexen and OPTI Canada fully integrated all available geological and geophysical data from the McMurray Formation to allow for a realistic geological interpretation and model for oil sands development. The operators demonstrate how a multidisciplinary team integrates various measured rock and fluid characteristics in order to interpret and map reservoir heterogeneities that affect SAGD operation.

(Baker Hughes) Recent advances on NMR log interpretation are discussed in this article. The focus is on complex rock formations that complicate NMR log interpretation. The authors suggest modifications to existing interpretation models to take the lithology, mineralogy or pore structure characteristics information into account. A more successful interpretation of complicated reservoirs can be made with these modifications.

 COMPLETION

(Texas A&M University) The best drilling, completion and stimulation practices for coalbed methane is presented. The authors reviewed literature and gathered industry opinions to identify optimum CBM practices for specific geologic settings; they present the results in a highly useful article that allows for selection of the best methods to approach CBM drilling and production.

 EXPLORATION

(Apachee) Multicomponent on land is every bit as useful on land, and without the high cost of offshore. The article builds on the previous two years of experience in eastern Alberta’s Manville channel sands. By extracting the lamda-rho elastic properties from seismic data, gas-charged porosity can be discriminated, resulting in higher drilling success and improved production.

 LNG REPORT

(Two consultants) New floating LNG technologies make commercial breakthroughs in 2008 as competition intensifies. Floating gas liquefaction (FLNG) has progressed in 2008 from a technology with future potential, where it has resided for more than 20 years, to one with viable commercial projects now under construction. The initially breakthrough came from the independent sector with vessels now under construction. In June, Flex LNG confirmed, with partners Mitsubishi and Peak Petroleum, its intention to jointly develop and market the world's first FLNG project off Nigeria. In the same month, Flex LNG confirmed a second FLNG project offshore Papua New Guinea (PNG) in partnership with Rift Oil.

 RIG CENSUS

The important Reed-Hycalog Rig Census makes its annual appearance. Our industry is showing signs that newbuilds continue to be steadily built, put to work, and displace older rigs. The continuing modest growth in drilling makes this year’s report more valuable than ever, as we try to sort out how many rigs are stacked and how many are being cannibalized. This exclusive report, full of tables and figures, summarizes the firm’s annual survey of US drilling contractors' fleet status and key activity indicators. Content includes Canadian land rigs and some offshore international fleets. Industry professionals find the census especially valuable when forecasting day rates or future rig availability.

 PRODUCED WATER REPORT

(Turner Designs) Surfactant-assisted oil-in-water monitoring. Detergent surfactants can reduce fouling deposits from crude oil and suspended solids, often keeping oil-in-water monitors clean for months without maintenance. Surfactants also condition the water sample for better measurement by releasing oil from suspended solids and breaking up large oil droplets into tiny micelles that disperse evenly through the water stream. This increases the fluorescence emitted by the dispersed oil, allowing reliable monitoring of sub-ppm oil concentrations. Surfactant cleaning also makes practical the use of flow-cell instruments in place of falling stream instruments, which reduces required water flow and thus costs. Recent studies suggest that a surfactant modulation technique could allow one, online flourometer to monitor both dispersed oil and water-soluble organics.

 PRODUCTION

(University of Texas) Slow pumping provides benefits. As reservoirs deplete, there comes a time when a sucker rod pump can lift more liquid than the reservoir can deliver. Excess pumping capacity results in excessive wear from shock loads caused by fluid pound and unnecessary friction and stress fluctuations. One of the largest operating costs associated with sucker rod pumping is the expense of pulling and repairing the rods, pump and tubing, compounded by lost production time. The customary method of limiting this damage is to pump intermittently. However, this method allows the loads associated with motion and fluid pound to reoccur. Stresses can be minimized much more effectively and efficiently by pumping the unit as slowly as possible, using the longest stroke possible.

 EXPANDING ROLE OF NOCS

(Ernst and Young) The author provides an interesting on the continually changing role of NOCs, and asks the question: “Are NOCs becoming the new IOCs?” The author is thorough in describing the “IOC status” of companies such as Petrobras, CNOOC and PDVSA and others.