Issue: August 2013
Improper test methods, used after component manufacture, may lead to catastrophic brittle failures during service. Material testing should be performed on the test specimens taken from the heat treated raw bar and at the critical section of the component.
Results from two case histories in shale plays indicate that the use of an expandable refrac liner gives comparable, or better, gas production than other methods of perforation isolation, and provides assurance for frac stage injectivity.
Just as the Eagle Ford shale is poised to become the nation’s premier onshore liquids producer, operators continue to re-delineate the South Texas play, turning their attention outward, and downward, in the hunt for prospects that extend beyond its 13-county core.
OCS compliance requirements have escalated since the Deepwater Horizon incident, resulting in permitting delays and increased financial burden for bonding. And yet, the potential prize in the deepwater continues, in many instances, to outweigh the risks, regulatory complexities and costs, as evidenced by the steady recovery in the deepwater rig count.
A new round of frontier exploration hot spots challenges the industry’s technical prowess in several offshore areas.
A novel water packing technique for wells that require gravel packing for sand control, and inflow control device (ICD) functionality to manage water encroachment, has resulted in 100% pack efficiencies in Colombia’s Ocelote field. The technique has significantly reduced water cuts and substantially improved project economics.
Taking on the theme of “The Next 50 Years,” presentations and panel discussions at the upcoming SPE Offshore Europe Conference and Exhibition aim to inform attendees about the state of affairs in the historically productive North Sea, and what the future could look like for the area. To be held Sept. 3-6, 2013, at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre in Aberdeen, Scotland, the event will celebrate its 40th anniversary in the city this year.
Coiled tubing (CT) was used, for the first time, to clean out a Gulf of Mexico (GOM) well to 22,610 ft and successfully place a bottom cement plug. The job was completed in 27 days at a lower cost than if a conventional rig was used. Challenges included bottomhole static temperature (BHST) greater than 400°F and the presence of H2S with a concentration of 75 ppm and 4% CO2.
Spurred by liberal fiscal terms and recent drilling success, a greater number of firms are taking a fresh look at Ireland’s largest exploration play.
Gulf Publishing Company’s fourth, annual ShaleTech conference serves as a specialized forum, which focuses the industry’s wide range of upstream activities to the increasingly important recovery of shale oil, gas and condensate. This conference provides opportunities for creators of new shale exploitation technologies to meet and network with those companies who are looking to put such technologies to work in the field.
Using frac sleeves, with a CT frac (half-straddle) method, to place multi-stage treatments in horizontal wellbores, lowers completion costs while reducing negative perceptions about fracing operations by surrounding communities.
Tubing team completes its deepest Bakken clean-out to date
World Oil is pleased to present the 2013 edition of its annual coiled tubing (CT) supplement. Since their introduction to the oil and gas industry in the 1960s, CT applications have increased over the decades through improvements in tubing metallurgy, advances in rig designs and the development of small-bore downhole tools, such as rib-steered drilling motors. CT is now a cost-effective intervention tool with multifaceted re-entry drilling, completion and production stimulation capabilities, with new applications emerging for formation evaluation, shale fracturing, fishing, and even plugging and abandonment, both onshore and offshore.
Corrosive environments, limited coiled tubing reach, steering tool assembly requirements and precise fluid placement limitations call for special solutions.
Producers in the U.S. continue to be concerned about regulatory uncertainty, and as such, the number of wells drilled may not reach the 45,000-per-year mark. In Canada, producers are concentrating on oil production, while being concerned about oil transportation and gas prices. Activity in Mexico is about to slow down appreciably.
Shakespearean farce in the swamps
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Solutions for upstream water usage proliferate
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