Trans-Pecos Section SPE
All daytime meetings will be held at the Odessa Country Club unless otherwise specified and will begin at 11:30 a.m. Please check the postings for evening meeting locations and times. We need speakers for the 2004 - 2005 year. If you would like to make suggestions for specific topics, or you would like to offer to speak to our section in the future, please contact;
Please call or email:
Prentice Creel @ (432) 683-0246,
Prentice Creel
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Odessa Country Club is located on the East side of Odessa off Hwy 80 (Bus 20)
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Preliminary & Scheduled Meeting Dates
[ Fall 2006 - Spring 2007 ]
Monday May 14, 2007
Formation Testing in the Dynamic Drilling Environment
Mark A.
Proett
Halliburton Energy Services
Abstract:
Formation testing objectives have changed little since their introduction in the early 1950's. A formation test is used to determine the formation pressure, obtain fluid samples, estimate formation rock properties, and, ultimately, evaluate reservoir producibilty. Wireline formation testers (WFT) were introduced soon after drill stem testing (DST), but they have now nearly replaced DST through a succession of technical innovations. More recently, formation testing while drilling (FTWD) has been introduced. FTWD tools introduce new capabilities that address the drilling environment.
The drilling environment truly offers challenges for testing because mud column pressures are indeed dynamic, and invasion while drilling is in its early stages of progression. Dynamic changes typically introduce pressure transients that are not detected in other forms of testing. New pressure-transient analysis techniques have therefore been developed and introduced to analyze these changes. The advantages in analyzing pressure transients are that they can determine properties of interest to drilling, such as filtrate loss rate and depth of invasion. Traditionally, it had been assumed that measured pressures only reflect formation pressures, an assumption that is not always valid.
FTWD testing is still in its infancy; and if history repeats itself, this form of testing will take a larger role in formation evaluation in the future. Some applications have already been developed, applied, and successfully demonstrated. Highlights of these developments will be emphasized in this talk. New applications very likely will be developed as this testing technology evolves.
Biography:
Mark A. Proett is a Senior Scientific Advisor for Halliburton Energy Services in the Strategic Research group. He received a BSME degree from the University of Maryland and a MS degree from Johns Hopkins. He has been involved with the development of formation testing systems since the early 1980’s, and has published extensively. Proett holds 27 patents, 23 of which deal with well testing and fluid flow analysis methods. He has served on the SPWLA and SPE technical committees and served as the Chairman for the SPE Pressure Transient Testing Committee. Mark also served as an SPWLA Distinguished Speaker in 2004 and was recently elected to the position of Vice President (Northside) of the Houston Chapter of SPWLA.
Monday Dec 11, 2006
Managed Pressure Drilling Technology: Applications, Variations and Case Histories
Don
M. Hannegan, P.E.
Weatherford International Ltd.
Abstract:
As opposed to an open-to-the-atmosphere drilling nipple, bell nipple or upper marine riser, a litany of drilling techniques utilizing a closed and pressurizable mud returns system at the rig floor have been evolving over the past decade. This is particularly the case in the U.S. today where almost 75% of the land-drilling programs drill at least one section with such a system, up from approximately 10% in 1995. Some are drilling with compressible fluids (air, mist, foam) and others are practicing underbalanced drilling (UBD) where a closed annulus returns system is a necessity. The balance, almost 50%, are practicing what the industry has rather recently defined as a technology within itself, Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD). The desire to reduce drilling non-productive time and other costs associated with loss circulation, narrow downhole pressure environment windows, slow ROP, excessive casing programs and enhanced control of the well are key incentives to practice MPD.
The technology is uniquely applicable to offshore drilling for two reasons; the rewards of dealing more effectively with trouble zones are higher than onshore and MPD, unlike UBD, discourages hydrocarbons influx during the drilling process. With several dozen "first adopters" of MPD in marine environments to date, all have experienced safe and effective programs and plan future MPD projects.
There are two Categories of MPD, Reactive and Proactive. There are four Variations of MPD; Pressurized Mud Cap Drilling, Constant Bottomhole Pressure, Dual Gradient, and HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment). Each variation of MPD addresses different conventional drilling related issues with the common theme of reducing drilling non-productive time.
This talk will address the background of MPD, provide several recent case examples where specific drilling-related barriers are overcome, and illustrate equipment layouts required to practice each variation of MPD from all types of rigs,
Biography:
Don Hannegan is a Registered Professional Engineer, a founding Officer of the Arkansas Section of SPE, past Chair of the SPE MPD/UBO Technical Interest Group, and recipient of the World Oil 2004 Innovative Thinkers Award for his work in defining and developing MPD technology. He is primary technical content provider for the MPD Chapter in SPE's new textbook-in-progress, Advanced Drilling Technology & Well Construction. He is inventor of several offshore designs of Rotating Control Devices and fit-for-purpose elastomers for rotating annular seal elements. He has authored numerous technical papers and published articles speaking to well control considerations of Performance Drilling, Underbalanced Drilling and Managed Pressure Drilling.
Preliminary & Scheduled Meeting Dates
[ Fall 2005 - Spring 2006 ]
May 10, 2006 - Wednesday
American Legion Hall - Midland
Joint Meeting
Michael Smith
Distinguished Lecture Presentation
"Hydraulic
Fracturing - The Multi Discipline Process"
Michael B. Smith is the President of NSI Technologies, Inc. He
has over 20 years experience with a major operator and as a consultant. He has
served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer and authored two chapters in the SPE
Monograph Recent Advances in Hydraulic Fracturing. Most recently, he was awarded
the Lester C. Uren award for his technical contributions. He is a graduate of
Rice University with a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering.
April 6, 2006 - Thursday
American Legion Hall - Midland
Joint Meeting
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $15
SW Tour and visit by Giovanni Paccaloni,
ENni AGIP, SPE President 2005
Giovanni Paccaloni
Eni Agip
SPE Today and Tomorrow
Giovanni Paccaloni currently serves as Senior Advisor at Eni Agip’s headquarters in Milan. Since joining Eni Agip in 1971, Paccaloni has worked worldwide in various leadership roles, including Vice President, Corporate E&P Laboratories (1997-99); Vice President, Drilling and Production Optimization (2000-02; and Vice President of R&D and Technology Planning (2003).
An SPE member since 1986, Paccaloni served as SPE Director Europe and Africa Region during 1995-99 and was named an SPE Distinguished Member in 2000. He has served twice as chairperson of the Italian Section and has played an active role in that section’s governance for more than 15 years.
His many SPE activities include service as chairperson of the Forum Series Implementation Committee (1993-95), the Forum Series Coordinating Committee (1995-97) and the 1992 Forum Series in Europe Steering Committee. He served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer during 1988-89 on the topic “Optimization of Matrix Stimulation Treatments.”
Paccaloni is honorary professor at the Daqing Petroleum Institute (China) and the University of Guayaquil (Ecuador), and Visiting Professor at the Xian Shiyou University (China). During his career, he has authored and co-authored several technical papers, including articles published in JPT and SPE Production Engineering. Paccaloni holds an MS degree in industrial chemistry from the University of Bologna.
March 15th - Wednesday
American Legion Hall - Midland
Joint Meeting
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $15
Professor Larry Lake
UT Petroleum and Geo-Systems Engineering
Characterizing Reservoirs by Analyzing Injection and Production Rate Fluctuations
The University of Texas at Austin
IAMG Distinguished Lecture
Characterization of mature field is hindered by the lack of data, particularly pressure data. One type of data--production and injection rates--is nearly always present, and it is the hypothesis of this work that such information can be used to infer properties of reservoirs. This presentation summarizes attempts to validate this hypothesis.
Over several years we've modeled interwell connectivity as regression coefficients (parametric and nonparametric), as linear interactions or weights (as would occur in incompressible flow), and more recently as slightly compressible flow (capacitance model). All of these efforts are successful when applied to simulated data: the techniques are able to extract information about faults, fractures and other forms of heterogeneity between wells. We have also been able to identify causes of negative or nonphysical weights: collinear injection rates, variable bottom hole pressures, and excessive fluid compressibility. These observations constitute a validation of the original hypothesis.
We also applied the methods to several field data sets. These have been successful though less successful that the applications to simulated data. Success or failure is difficult to judge because the truth is poorly known and we are limited to comparisons with geologic or geophysical inference. This problem, which is pervasive in Earth sciences, constitutes a major barrier to the application of the scientific method because it means that hypotheses cannot be easily invalidated.
Biographical Sketch
Larry W. Lake is a professor of the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He holds B.S.E and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University and Rice University. Dr. Lake has published widely; he is the author or co-author of more than 100 technical papers, the editor of 3 bound volumes and author or co-author of four textbooks. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineers and has received several awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers and The University of Texas. He has been at The University of Texas for 27 years prior to which he worked for the Shell Development Co.
February 15 - Wednesday
American Legion Hall - Midland
Permian Basin Section Meeting - Invitation
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $15
Stephanie Sparkman
Executive Director
West Texas Energy Technology Initiative
Permian Basin Future Developments
February 14 - Tuesday
Odessa Country Club
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $20
Steve
Metcalf
BJ Services
"Carbonate Acidizing, designs for Success"
January 25, 2006 - Wednesday
American Legion Hall - Midland
Joint Meeting
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $15
Richard Spears
Tuesday - December 6, 2005
Editor, Upstream CIO newsletter
Today’s Oil Industry:
High-Tech Tools Improve Your Quality of Life
Distinguished Lecture Presentation
Abstract:
The oil industry of 2005-2006 is not your grandfather’s oil industry. Today’s oil industry is high-tech and environmentally responsible. Innovations in oilfield technologies enable engineers and geoscientists to find and produce the hydrocarbons that make a good lifestyle possible.
The Digital Oilfield is nearing reality. Rather than sending people in trucks out to take readings in the field, today electronic data is sent by satellite to the Web. Rather than filling out purchase orders in quadruplicate, we order online and have electronic field tickets to document receipt. Rather than drilling many vertical wells right next to each other to drain an oil reservoir, we drill horizontal and multilateral wells, resulting in a much smaller footprint.
Today’s oil operations are clean, protective of human safety and the environment, and very necessary to a pleasant standard of living. Oil is more than energy; it is also the main source of molecules used as building blocks for the plastics, polyester, nylon, fertilizers, paints, medicines and cosmetics we use every day. We cannot conserve our way out of the need for oil, and developing countries are going to demand more of it as their standard of living improves. SPE members need to help educate the public about our high-tech tools for finding and producing the hydrocarbons needed for useful products.
Biography:
Jeanne Perdue is Editor of Upstream CIO newsletter, published by Zeus Development Corp. in Houston. She calls herself a Petroleum Technology Evangelist, zealously preaching the good news about oilfield technologies by writing technical articles for the upstream oil and gas industry.
After earning a BS degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York at Albany in 1980, Perdue worked at the Texaco research labs, performing core analysis and heavy oil analysis. At the Texaco technical library, she conducted online literature searches for fellow scientists and engineers. She later joined Hart Publications as a technical editor for Petroleum Engineer International and Hart's E&P magazines. Perdue also gained experience in e-learning at IHRDC and in energy conference production with The Energy Forum prior to taking charge of Upstream CIO.
An active member of the SPE, Perdue was the first woman to be appointed Review Chairman for the SPE Peer Review Committee. She helped develop the SPE Magic Suitcase and the SPE MasterDisc CD-ROM. She has also served on the SPE Public Energy Education Committee and acts as Implementation Coordinator for the Gulf Coast Region. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Section for three years, serving as Community Services Chairman in charge of 14 committees. She now serves as Publicity Chair for the Section’s Digital Energy Study Group.
Perdue received the SPE Young Member Outstanding Service Award in 1992, was named one of 50 Key IT Women in Energy in 2003, and was honored as a 2004 Woman of Excellence by the Federation of Houston Professional Women.
November 7, 2005 - Monday
Craig Cipolla
Distinguished Lecture Presentation
Abstract:
Hydraulic fracturing has been routinely applied for many decades now, with mostly positive economic results. However, our understanding of hydraulic fracturing was quite limited until relatively recent advancements in technology allowed engineers to see what hydraulic fractures really look like and better understand what governs fracture growth and well performance. The introduction of tiltmeter and microseismic fracture mapping, along with advances in tracer technology, now provides our industry with the tools to truly understand fracture growth. But as with all newly acquired knowledge, it is often difficult to fully evaluate the implications of the information and reap the economic benefits. Too often, engineers focus on one aspect of hydraulic fracturing, such as fracture modeling or performance evaluation and now maybe even fracture mapping – resulting in at best a limited understanding of how to improve future treatments and many times miss-diagnosing critical problems. This approach often times leads to inappropriate, sometime costly changes in hydraulic fracture designs and field development strategies. However, by utilizing and fully integrating fracture treatment, production, well test, geological, and fracture mapping information, the right designs changes and better field development strategies can be implemented – thus realizing the economic benefits that technology AND engineering have to offer. To illustrate this process, several examples are presented that document how utilizing a number of independent technologies and integrating their results can lead to a much better understanding of fracture and overall field performance, resulting in changes to both treatment designs and field development practices that significantly improve production economics. Conversely, the pit-falls of a myopic approach to hydraulic fracturing are also illustrated. The case histories presented will illustrate that the appropriate technologies to apply depend on the questions you need to answer, the cost of the technologies and the potential benefits, and the economic environment.
Biography:
Pinnacle Technologies - Vice President Engineering Services
Mr. Cipolla has over 20 years experience focused on hydraulic fracturing. Craig directs Pinnacle’s engineering services group, providing technical support to both fracture mapping and consulting projects. In addition to managing projects and supervising personnel, Craig’s responsibilities include the design and evaluation of hydraulic fracturing treatments, training engineers in the use of “real-time” data analysis, reservoir engineering, integrated field studies, and supervising stimulation treatments. In addition, Craig is an expert in the application of fracture mapping technologies to optimize treatment designs and field development strategies. Craig’s worldwide experience includes work in the US, Canada, Mexico, South East Asia, North Sea, West Africa, Australia, Russia, and the People’s Republic of China. Prior to joining Pinnacle in 1996, Craig worked for Union Pacific Resources, where his responsibilities included integrated field studies, economic evaluation and acquisition of oil and gas properties, fracturing technology, and engineering support of exploration and infill drilling programs. Since joining Pinnacle in 1996, Mr. Cipolla has worked extensively applying state-of-the-art fracture technology worldwide, including the application of tiltmeter and microseismic fracture mapping to directly measure fracture geometry and the integration of well testing, reservoir simulation, and fracture modeling to evaluate & optimize hydraulic fracture treatments and field development. He is currently serving on the SPE Well Stimulation committee and was a member of the SPE Completions committee from 1994-1997. He also served as the technical advisor for the JPT Well Stimulation feature from 2000-2003. Mr. Cipolla was a member of the 1992 SPE Gas Reservoir Engineering Forum committee and the 1998 SPE Hydraulic Fracture Diagnostics Methods Forum committee. Mr. Cipolla has authored 34 technical papers and conducted numerous presentations in conjunction with the Society of Petroleum Engineers, Gas Research Institute, Department of Energy, and other petroleum industry organizations.
No TPSPE Section Meeting Planned
October 13, 2005 - Thursday
Please try to make this meeting
American Legion Hall - Midland
PB SPE Section Meeting
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $15
Allen Wilkins
"Swelling Packer Case Histories in Open Hole"
Wells today are drilled to drain more than one zone or reservoir. Zonal isolation is a requisite for inflow control as well as stimulation placement in open hole wells to maximize productivity and recovery from each zone. Annular isolation is key, but has until now been difficult due to prolonged complex rig operations and systems that have not adapted to the formation’s irregularities. An annular packer based on the swelling properties of rubber in hydrocarbons has proven to be a reliable tool for zonal isolation in open hole wells as well as being a facilitator for other technologies in various applications including carbonate stimulation, smart wells, and multilaterals. This presentation will give an overview of this technology in addition to applications including case histories.
Biography
Allen Wilkins is the North American Regional Manager for Easy Well based in The Woodlands, Texas. Allen started his career with the Sand Control Division of Otis engineering in 1976, and held various technical, sales and management positions in the Gulf Coast, Mid-East and Asia-Pac regions. In 1993 Allen joined Petroline Ltd. (Expandable Sand Screens) as their North America Region Manager based in Houston. Weatherford bought Petroline in 1999 and Allen assumed the position of Gulf Coast Region Manager of the Completion Division. Allen joined Easy Well in July 2004.
September 21, 2005 - Wednesday
Dr. Michael Economides -
Energy
Geopolitics
Distinguished Lecture Presentation
Michael Economides, author of “The Color of Oil” will be the guest speaker on Wednesday September 21st for the Permian Basin section meeting.
Professor Economides has been in Midland on other occasions and has provided very interesting perspective to the oil industry and with our current oil pricing he may offer some interesting thoughts in regard to the trend of demand and pricing over the next few years. He has historically drawn a large crowd.
Reservations @432-685-6546 or @ SPE-PB.ORG, Catfish & Company, $15.00
Wednesday September 21st 11:30 AM - Dr. Michael Economides - Energy Geopolitics
We are privileged to have Michael Economides, author of “The Color of Oil” as our guest speaker on Wednesday September 21st for our section meeting.
Professor Economides has been in Midland on other occasions and has provided very interesting perspective to the oil industry and with our current oil pricing he may offer some interesting thoughts in regard to the trend of demand and pricing over the next few years. He has historically drawn a large crowd.
Reservations @432-685-6546 or @ SPE-PB.ORG, Catfish & Company, $15.00
Trans-Pecos SPE Section Board meeting following the event
Board Meeting
August 10, 2005
11:30 - 2:00 PM
Odessa Country Club
plans for the upcoming year
Please RSVP
Matt Lippman
ConocoPhillips
4001 Penbrook
Odessa, TX 79762
Phone: (432) 368-1267
Fax: (432) 368-1507
E-Mail: matt.lippman@conocophillips.com
Past Meeting Dates
[ Fall 2004 - Spring 2005 ]
Continuing Education Units
The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), through SPE Professional Development, will award Continuing Education Units (CEU) for participation and completion of SPE short courses, distance learning programs, applied technology workshops, and sanctioned learning activities. One CEU equals 10 contact hours of participation in SPE continuing education activities. A permanent record of a participant's involvement and awarding of CEU will be maintained by SPE. SPE will provide a copy of the participant's record upon request. These CEUs may be used toward the 15 required Professional Development Hours (PDH) in the State of Texas for license renewal by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers.
The sections meetings of the SPE and their Study Group meetings may be used to accumulate PDH (Professional Development Hours). Down load the TP-SPE Spread sheet containing the 2003-2004 meetings list and enter the attended dates to get a form containing your acquired participation Contact Hours. Remember, 10 contact hours of participation equals one CEU.
Contact Hours for 2004-2005
Tuesday - May 17, 2005
11:30 AM Presentation
Cost $20
Cory Frederick - Drilling
Engineer
Yates Petroleum Corporation
John Kimes – Manager of
New Technology Development
Marquis/Dynamic Specialty Fluids
Silicate Based Drilling Fluids
Cory Frederick is the Rocky Mountain Drilling Engineer/Supervisor for Yates Petroleum Corporation in Artesia, NM. Cory has been and Yates Petroleum for 8 years and currently supervises all drilling projects for Yates Petroleum Corporation and its sister companies in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Louisiana, Nevada, and California. With a broad area of drilling operations, Cory has gained experience in deep HPHT wells, horizontal wells, and wells in very remote areas within the western states. Prior to becoming the Rockies Drilling Supervisor, Cory was responsible for design and engineering of wells in the Permian Basin.
John Kimes is the Manager of New Technology Development, Purchasing and Operations for Marquis/Dynamic Specialty Fluids located in Denver, CO. With over 20 years of experience in the Oil and Gas industry, John leads the Marquis/Dynamic team in the introduction of high performance drilling fluid systems. John previously served in various positions with Phillips Petroleum including drilling fluids specialist for Phillips E&P’s western division in the mid 80’s and more recently was in charge of the western US for the Drilling Specialties Company division of Chevron Phillips Chemical Company.
Potassium Silicate Drilling Fluids/Case History
In recent years Potassium Silicate drilling fluids systems are fast becoming an environmentally safe and economically viable alternative to oil-based fluid systems. Developed in Canada in the late nineties, Silicate fluid systems offer excellent shale inhibition and penetration rates comparable to oil-based fluid systems. Potassium Silicate is mixed at a set percentage into a water-based system. When circulating the fluid a three dimensional gel network forms by the reaction of the Silicate with the neutral PH of the pore fluid. This property along with other ionic reactions provides long term shale stability. Silicate systems are attractive because they do not carry the same environmental concerns of oil-based fluids. In fall of 2004 Yates Petroleum Corporation elected to use a Potassium Silicate fluid system on deep well in central Wyoming to provide shale stability while drilling the Waltman shale, a highly reactive shale section. This was the first Silicate project in Wyoming. This presentation will cover the results of this project and the results of a few projects performed by other operators in the Rocky Mountain region.
Section Business: Officer Nominations will be conducted for the 2005-2006 year.
Tuesday - May 10th -
Permian Basin Section Meeting and InvitationPathways to Cleaner
Energy: Hydrocarbons, Hydrogen and Renewables
Eve S. Sprunt
2006 SPE President
ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures
Abstract
Renewables complement fossil fuels and other sources in meeting the world’s energy requirements. However, use of all forms of energy affect the environment in some way. In comparing different forms of energy and the ways in which they are applied, we must consider the environmental impact over the full cycle and all the associated costs.
Liquid hydrocarbon fuels have a large advantage in fueling passenger vehicles, so alternative energy technologies will provide greater competition for hydrocarbons in stationary electric power generation and heavy vehicles, such as trucks and buses.
Hydrocarbons currently play a minority role in electric power generation. In the year 2000, for example, coal fueled 39 percent of worldwide electricity generation, followed by renewables (mostly hydroelectric) at 19 percent, natural gas (17 percent), nuclear (17 percent), and oil (8 percent). (Source: International Energy Agency, Renewables for Power Generation 2003.) In recent years, natural gas-fired power generation has been increasing because it is cleaner than coal. However, mitigation technology including CO2 sequestration along with concerns about energy security may revive competition from coal.
As advances are being made in hydrogen and renewables, major improvements are also occurring, which reduce the environmental impact of traditional energy development and use. New internal combustion engine technology and hybrids have significantly reduced the emissions from hydrocarbon-fueled vehicles.
Oil and gas companies provide products the marketplace demands, which may include hydrogen and various types of renewable energy, but it is the customers, who ultimately consider multiple factors including environmental impact, convenience and cost and make the decision as to what to purchase.
Biography
Eve Sprunt is Senior Technical Advisor for ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures LLC, a subsidiary of ChevronTexaco Corp., which manages ChevronTexaco’s research, venture investing and business ventures in emerging energy technologies, such as hydrogen, wind, solar and biomass.
Previously, she served as Venture Executive for the Venture Equities and Energy and Power Funds with ChevronTexaco Technology Ventures. She joined Chevron in 2000 as Senior Science and Technology Coordinator, Health, Environment, and Safety, managing the corporation’s global climate change policy.
Before joining Chevron, Sprunt worked for 21 years for Mobil Corp., including positions in upstream new business development and analyzing global supply and demand for oil, natural gas and liquefied natural gas. In addition, she worked in research and development in a wide range of technologies, including formation evaluation and production engineering.
A member of SPE since 1980, Sprunt holds 23 patents and has authored 28 technical articles, edited two books, and has been a frequent editorial columnist for petroleum industry publications including SPE’s member publication, Journal of Petroleum Technology. She is a 2000 SPE Distinguished Member and served as a member of the SPE Board of Directors during 1991–94. She also served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer during 1998–99.
Sprunt served as Program Committee Chairperson of the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in 1988. She is a founder of the Society of Core Analysts and has served on visiting committees for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Colorado School of Mines. Sprunt holds BS and MS degrees from MIT in earth and planetary sciences and a PhD degree from Stanford University in geophysics.
Wednesday - April 13, 2005 -
Permian Basin & Trans-Pecos Joint Meeting - Distinguished Lecture SeriesAli
Daneshy, Ph. D.
Daneshy
Consultants
International
Consequences of Off-balance Growth in Hydraulic Fracturing
Theories of hydraulic fracturing and all fracture design models and programs assume the created fracture follows a planar path, that the fracture is in opening mode (simple tensile fracture), and that it consists of a single fracture extending on both sides of the borehole. In reality hydraulic fractures never satisfy these requirements. Because of anisotropy and inhomogeneiety of most reservoir rocks the hydraulic fracture is always mixed mode (mostly tensile, but also including some shearing and sliding mode fractures), and often with branches. Well completion details and treatment design and details of execution further complicate the fracture growth. Because of its irregular and random growth path and pattern such a fracture is called “Off-balance”. As recently published by the speaker (“Off-Balance Growth: A New Concept in Hydraulic Fracturing” JPT, April 2003, 78 – 84) an off-balance fracture does not occupy a single plane, its growing tip moves randomly around the fracture and is not necessarily at its farthest point from the wellbore, fracture has an irregular and rough surface, and includes tensile as well as significant shear fracturing and branching. Under these conditions the movement of the proppant inside the fracture is also not in a piston-like manner and it occupies the fracture in a random distribution dictated by the irregular growth of the fracture tip. In off-balance fracturing, the proppant nearest the wellbore may be the segment first pumped into it! In other words, last in is not necessarily the first out!
Off-balance fractures usually have narrower widths, shorter created and propped lengths, and often even less height than computed by simple fracturing models.
Details of well completion and job design contribute to its off-balance growth.
The presentation discusses the causes of off-balance growth and its consequence on fracture geometry, proppant deposition and flowback, production increase, fracture life, and re-fracturing.
About the Speaker. Dr. Ali Daneshy has over 30 years of experience in the technology of operations of hydraulic fracturing. He is the recipient of SPE Distinguished Service Award for his contributions to the subject. He has designed and executed numerous fracturing treatments all over the world. He has over 30 technical publications in the area of hydraulic fracturing and is the author of chapters on Hydraulic fracturing in several books, including Recent Advances in Hydraulic Fracturing (published by SPE), Petroleum Well Construction (John Wiley & Sons), etc. He is recognized worldwide as a technical expert and pioneer for his contributions to rock mechanics and hydraulic fracturing.
Dr. Daneshy has taught hydraulic fracturing as a guest lecturer in many universities in US and outside. He has made numerous technical presentations on the subject to a worldwide audience. Mr. Daneshy will begin serving as a SPE At-large Director in 2005.
Ali Daneshy
www.daneshy.com
281 584 9444
Tuesday -
April 12, 2004 -
Director and Chair Meeting
Tuesday - March 15, 2005
Operating Cost Trends in the Permian Basin - The Efficiency Challenge
Richard M. Tucker – Vice President, Marketing & Client Relations, Ziff Energy Group will substitute for Pat Oenbring
Mr. Tucker is responsible for marketing Ziff Energy Group’s E&P Services to upstream oil & gas producers in the US. He has 27 years experience -- 8 with Ziff Energy Group -- providing consulting services to the energy industry, upstream and downstream.
During the 1990’s, Mr. Tucker was a Vice President with Petroleum Information Corporation (now IHS Energy), responsible for managing a number of commercial energy databases utilized by natural gas producers, pipelines, marketers and local distribution utilities.
During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Mr. Tucker consulted to electric utility clients as Senior Managing Consultant with DRI/McGraw-Hill’s Energy/Utility Consulting Practice, and prior as Utility Economist with Chase Econometrics. Mr. Tucker built and forecast with econometric models of electricity demand. Mr. Tucker also forecast industrial production and prices as Senior Economist-Industry Economics with Evans Economics, a macro-economic forecasting firm.
Mr. Tucker graduate Summa Cum Laude, with Departmental Honors in Economics from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College), and attended graduate studies in Economics at the University of Chicago and Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
Pat Oenbring
The presentation will provide an informative operators' perspective on field operating costs in the Permian Basin. Significant results and findings from Ziff Energy Group's 2003 Permian Basin Reducing Field Operating Cost (RFOC) benchmarking study will be discussed, along with suggestions for actions to be taken by operators to use benchmarking study results to create value by improving field cost performance.
Patrick R. Oenbring - Executive Associate, Ziff Energy Group, has 29 years experience in the Exploration and Production business. Upon graduating from the University of Kansas in 1974, Mr. Oenbring worked for Conoco Inc. for 23 years and for Occidental Petroleum for 6 years in positions of increasing responsibility. His professional postings and travels took him to Canada, the US, Indonesia, Dubai, Egypt, Venezuela, the North Sea, Nigeria, Qatar, Yemen, and Pakistan in a variety of project management, operations, and executive roles. In 1997, he became President and General Manager of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar, Oxy's largest international E&P operation. From 2000 to 2003, Pat Oenbring served as President and General Manager of Occidental Permian, the largest oil producer in Texas.
Tuesday - February 15, 2005
Arden McCracken
Object Reservoir
Improving Reservoir Characterization Through Early Knowledge
Abstract
Object Reservoir's process and technology have been developed to allow members of the asset team to collaborate in ways that have not been possible before. This is due to OR's ability to model actual reservoir shapes using an new gridding methodology, as well as being able to integrate a geoscientific approach with an engineering approach. McCracken's presentation will describe the process and technology that make these things possible, as well as what this has meant to our clients so far. The session will be interactive, with questions and discussion welcomed.
Biography
Dr. Arden McCracken, a veteran reservoir engineer with more than 30 years of both domestic and international experience with both major and independent oil companies. McCracken's geographic experience spans nearly all productive basins in the U.S. and Canada and most of the North Sea, Middle East, North Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, and South America. Arden is currently a Senior Reservoir Engineer with Object Reservoir.
Tuesday - January 18, 2005 - Distinguished Lecture Series
Donald L. Whitfill
Technology Application Leader
Wellbore Pressure Containment
Baroid Technology
Managing Circulation Losses with Nonaqueous Drilling Fluid—Past and Present
Controlling circulation loss during well construction is more than just selecting the proper type of lost circulation material (LCM). A fully engineered approach is recommended. This approach incorporates a number of planning tools, including: borehole stability analysis; hydraulics modeling to estimate equivalent circulating density (ECD); and drilling fluid and LCM material selection to help minimize effects on ECD. Planning should include means to provide on-site monitoring using pressure while drilling (PWD) and connection flow monitoring, plus timely application of LCM and treatments. The following practices are advocated to provide the best available technology: base the amount of LCM on volume rather than weight; pretreat with LCM before drilling high risk lost circulation zones; add subsequent treatments as sweeps, rather than adding into the bulk drilling fluid system in the suction pit. Results from a new joint industry laboratory study on LCM testing are discussed and compared to more classic large scale laboratory data from Drilling Engineering Association (DEA) joint industry experiments conducted in the 1980s.
Donald L. Whitfill received his PhD in chemistry and taught one year as an instructor at the University of Oklahoma before joining Conoco Inc. in 1967. He served in a variety of R&D assignments in drilling and completions including Group Leader and as Section Manager of the Reservoir & Recovery Section. He joined Baroid Drilling Fluids in 1997 as a member of the High Impact Technology Team. He is Technical Applications Leader for Wellbore Pressure Containment for Halliburton's Baroid Drilling Fluids unit. He has twenty-five publications plus seventeen patents. During his career in the petroleum industry he has served in a variety of professional capacities throughout the industry including: Chairman, Reservoir and Recovery Forum, 1995-96; Board of Directors, Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1989-92; Distinguished Lecturer, Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1987, and Chairman, API Committee on Standardization of Drilling Fluid Materials, 1985-86.
281-871-6042
281-381-1829 (cell)
don.whitfill@halliburton.com
Monday - December 13, 2004
RICHARD J. ERDLAC, JR., Ph.D.
Deep Permeable Strata Geothermal Energy (DPSGE): Giant Heat Reserves Within Deep Sedimentary Basins: A New Paradigm For Untapped Energy In Permian Basin Strata
Recently, the prices of oil and gas have sharply risen. As dollars compete for decreasing worldwide reserves and ever increasing worldwide demand, particularly in the China and India sectors, prices will continue to rise over the long-term future. However, the reserves of oil and gas produced in the Permian Basin will continue to decline. This is the natural and inevitable result of the production of a nonrenewable energy resource. Even as domestic companies step up efforts to maximize produced oil and gas reserves, another energy giant quietly sleeps within the Delaware and Val Verde Basins, and in other deep sedimentary basins throughout the world – GEOTHERMAL.
The oil and gas industry has long been aware of regions of both high subsurface temperature and abundant brine water, generally considered by our industry as liabilities. However, these two commodities are of great importance for geothermal energy production. The deepest parts of the Permian Basin (Delaware and Val Verde Basins) have demonstrated bottom hole temperatures in excess of 150oC. These regions display a shallow lognormal and a deep linear temperature gradient that is quite different from those posited by the few past investigations of the area. The geometry of this “thermocline” has significant implications to understanding the thermal history and resources of these basins. Deep gradients on the order of 30oC/km or higher are common. With proven porosity and permeability, this region has the potential for significant future geothermal production.
The current ‘GeoPowering The West’ program of the DOE, targets an increase in electric power production from geothermal energy sources. Such programs will require expansion of efforts into new geological environments in which such energy can be developed. Domestic oil and gas companies with the foresight to plan and develop this untapped resource will be well positioned to take advantage of our increasing energy needs, with potential for excellent return on investment. When the thermal value of this resource is calculated against yearly production of oil and gas, energy values of many billions of dollars are possible, potentially rivaling or surpassing the current Texas oil and gas industry. The question is whether the entrepreneurial spirit that created the oil and gas industry will rise to inaugurate a new energy revolution in deep sedimentary basins, one that creates an energy triad….oil….gas….and geothermal combined.
Biography
·
Ph.D. in Structural Geology,
1985-1988, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
(Structural Development Of The Terlingua Uplift, Brewster And Presidio Counties,
Texas – [Committee: William R. Muehlberger, Amos Salvador, Sharon Mosher,
Christopher D. Henry, George A. Thompson])
·
MS in Geology, 1975-1979,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
(A Study Of The Chixoy-Polochic Fault And Its Nature In Western Guatemala –
[Committee: Thomas H. Anderson, Edward G. Lidiak, Victor A. Schmidt])
· 1 Graduate Year in Physics, 1974-1975, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
· BS in Physics, 1970-1974, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Over 20 years experience within oil and gas exploration activities, applied geoscience research, management, and teaching. Energy experience with majors and independent oil and gas companies through direct company employment and by company support of exploration research. Abilities as an exploration geophysicist (seismic interpretation and processing) and geologist (log interpretation), with strong expertise in structural geology. Identified numerous oil and gas exploration trends within the Permian Basin. Co-investigated exploration prospects as part of team effort. Developed a diversified, multiphase capability in applying geological and geophysical technologies, and data sets, combined with computer skills, including GeoGraphix, Geophysical Micro Applications, Seismic Processing Workshop, ProMAX, Seisviewer, Seisvision, Geological Services well top database, various GIS platforms including DLG Viewer, MicroDEM, and ImageMate, as well as other software packages. Chairman and co-developer of a non-profit applied natural resources research center. Acquired over $1 million in exploration research funds from energy industry. Co-developed a concept for using deep depleted gas wells as geothermal energy extraction wells.
4900 Thomason
Drive The University of Texas of the
Permian Basin
Midland, TX 79703 Center for
Energy & Economic Diversification
432-699-5288 4901 E.
University, Odessa, TX 79762
rcerdlac@cleansed.net
432-552-2442
erdlac_r@utpb.edu
Download document - Article on Permian Basin as a source of geothermal energy
Monday - November 1, 2004 -
Permian Basin & Trans-Pecos Joint Meeting - Distinguished Lecture Series
Gary W. Schein
BJ Services Company
Abstract
Much has been said and asked about the use of slickwater as the primary fracture fluid to stimulate wells throughout the U.S. Operations. Slickwater has been used for years in many naturally fractured carbonates with great success. In recent years and since the 1996 publication of SPE Paper 38611 “Proppants. We Don’t Need No Proppants” the “technology “ and applications of this method to complete tight gas sands have generating significant discussion. This presentation will focus on the criteria for slickwater frac stimulation candidates and their success. There are many areas and formations where this technique is being utilized. The successes in these areas have been dependent on continual change on the completion to find the optimal treatment. The stimulation design then becomes based on how specific reservoirs respond to the treatment during pumping requiring much more than doing in one area what works in another area. These changes include determining the optimum volume, proppant concentration, proppant size/type and pumping technique used to place the best treatment. The final test for the success of these treatments is the production results for areas where slickwater fracturing treatments are performed.
Biography
Gary has BS degree from Northern Arizona University in 1978 and joined BJ Services. He has worked in well completions and stimulation for 25 years. He began work in the Mid-Continent Area as a Service Supervisor and District Engineer prior to moving to Houston where he was Product Manager and Engineer analyzing well treatments and design. He transferred to Dallas, Texas as Region Technical Manager in 1993 and has been responsible for the treatment design and completions engineering for the East Region, which includes North Texas, East Texas, North Louisiana, and Mississippi. He is responsible for over 2,000 jobs per year performed within the Region.
Tuesday - October 12, 2004
Director and Chair Meeting
11:30 AM
Doug Boone
IHS Energy
Production Optimization At The Surface Level
Smart wells and real-time optimization systems keep top-performing wells in high gear. But what about the other 90% of your producing assets? Most of the industry’s breakthroughs in field automation and production optimization have overlooked the hard-working, but unspectacular well and the maturing surface network.
It is possible to increase production and reduce operating costs, with surprising gains even for “average” O&G assets using evolving wireless, compact and affordable wellhead automation devices.
In the past, automation depended on dumb devices, sending lots and lots of information to a central server. Maybe every 10 or 15 minutes, you’d have lots of resources on your database where you’d pick up alarms. Daily reports and decisions were made from the vast information coming across, with some kind of editing and communication. Now, systems are available that deliver the right amount of data at the right time.
Biography
Doug Boone is a Director, Product Management for IHS Energy, located in Denver, Colo. With 29 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry, Boone leads the IHS Energy team that built PowerTools, a reserve analysis software program, and FieldDIRECT, a Web-based field data collection service. Boone previously served as technical editor for the SPE. Boone’s areas of focus include property and acquisition evaluations, oil and gas forecasting, and field data collection. Boone created the Petroleum Engineering ToolKit spreadsheet programs. The author of more than 30 articles, he has also published a 15-part series of articles for Petroleum Engineer International.
Doug Boone's contact information:
Direct: 303-736-3479
Mobile: 303-885-2177
email: doug.boone@ihsenergy.com
Tuesday - September 14, 2004
Director and Chair Meeting
11:30 AM
Odessa Country Club
Cost $15
Russell Stevens
Abstract
The elimination of all failures within the artificial lift system is impractical, if not impossible, and the cost associated with such an undertaking would be astronomical! Therefore, you must efficiently manage your failure rates to generate the highest revenue possible for you or your company. Trending and understanding failure patterns helps correctly identify failure causes and is paramount to managing failure causes.
Bibliography
Russell Stevens is the Technical Services Coordinator for Norris Sucker Rods. Stevens has been with Norris for 21 years and has served in various sales/technical capacities. His previous experience includes 10 years with Norris/O’Bannon during which time he became a District Sales Manager for the Permian Basin. In 1993 he became involved with the sales group for Norris Sucker Rods until 1996 when he was promoted to his current position of Technical Services Coordinator. Stevens is a member of SPE, NACE, and ASM. He serves as an alternate task group member of API Committee 1, Subcommittee 11, and Field Operating Equipment.
Russell Stevens
Office: (432) 561-8101
Facsimile: (432) 561-8182
Cellular: (432) 559-4895
rstevens@norrisrods.com
Satellite Meetings
Iraan, Texas
TBA
- Irran
- Monahans
No title or speaker information is available at this time.
For more information regarding this meeting, please contact Matt Lippman @ (432) 368-1267 or Prentice Creel at (432) 683-0246.
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Scheduled Meeting Dates [ Fall 2003 - Spring 2004 ]
Thursday - May 13, 2004
W. Hoxie Smith, M.S.,
P.G. - Director
Petroleum Geotechnology Training Center
Midland College
"New TBPE Continuing Education Requirements and Midland College's Role with the Oil and Gas Industry"
Continuing Education Units - Need to fulfill your educational credits for the Texas Professional Engineer's License? Coming - the required one hour Ethics course
W. Hoxie Smith, M.S., P.G. - Mr. Smith is the Director of Midland College’s Petroleum Geotechnology Training Center. He graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. Degree in Geology (1982) and began his career in the oil and gas industry in 1983 with ARCO Exploration Company. Mr. Smith received his Master's Degree in Geology from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (1995) while working for Dawson Geophysical Company where he also served as the Project Manager for a U.S. Department of Energy Project. From 1996 to 2003 he served full-time as a Principal and Vice President of GeoSpectrum, Inc., a reservoir development and Internet engineering company based in Midland, Texas. Mr. Smith has presented at numerous professional society meetings, including national conventions of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He has authored and/or co-authored over twenty-five publications in his field and is a member of six professional societies including the SPE.
Thursday - April 15, 2004
Dave Cramer
Distinguished Lecturer 2003-2004 Tour
Evaluating Well Performance and Completion Effectiveness in Hydraulically Fractured Gas Wells
Abstract
Hydraulic fracture stimulation often dictates the economic outcome of wells completed in gas reservoirs, especially in reservoirs exhibiting low permeability. Making the effort to understand well performance—the rate and pressure behavior of a well over its productive life—provides the opportunity to discover the key elements driving stimulation and completion effectiveness in any particular environment. This presentation demonstrates the integrated use of reservoir engineering tools to evaluate well performance, identify flow regimes, and distinguish between reservoir and completion induced behavior. These tools include well log analysis (for pay identification and petrophysical calculations), the reciprocal productivity semilog method (to normalize the inevitable variations in flow rate when evaluating the post-linear, infinite acting radial flow period), type-curve analysis, material balance (estimation of reservoir volume during pseudo-steady state flow) using the Cartesian plot, pressure buildup analysis (prefracture and post-fracture), finite-difference reservoir simulation, and systems analysis. Case studies of single wells and entire fields draining low permeability gas reservoirs are used to demonstrate this methodology, and significant reservoir, completion, and production factors affecting well performance are identified as an outcome. The above results are compared to history-matched output from 3D or pseudo-3D hydraulic fracturing simulators, comparing the simulated hydraulic fracture characteristics with the actual impact of the emplaced fracture, offering additional clues to stimulation effectiveness. The impact of critical completion and production factors will be revealed and discussed. These problems and factors include wellbore liquid loading (in reducing or eliminating the effective hydraulic fracture length), treatment fluid and proppant volumes, proppant concentration, fracturing fluid systems, treatment isolation strategies and sequencing of multipay completions, treatment flowback strategy, use of velocity/ tubing strings and selection of landing depths, and shutting in a producing well. Remedies are suggested for stimulation and completion induced problems.
Biography
Dave Cramer is the Rocky Mountain Region technical manager for BJ Services. He has 25 years of experience in well stimulation and cementing. Cramer has authored 33 papers, delivered more than 100 technical-society presentations on well completion and performance topics, and is a co-inventor of two U.S. patents. He was awarded the Henry Mattson Technical Achievement Award by the Denver SPE chapter in 1993. Cramer was Director of the SPE Denver Section in 1995–96, Section Chairperson in 1994–95, Vice Chairperson and Program Chairperson in 1993–94, and Membership Chairperson in 1992–93. He also has been a Session Chairperson for numerous regional meetings and a frequent speaker at SPE and American Petroleum Inst. events. He earned a BA degree in economics from Rutgers U.
Monday - March 8, 2004
Andrew Wojtanowicz
Distinguished Lecturer 2003-2004 Tour
Downhole Water Separation
Abstract
During the economic life of a producing field, the volume of produced water may exceed the volume of hydrocarbon produced by 10 times. During late stages of production, it is not uncommon to find that produced water can account for as much as 98% of the extracted fluids. Historically, the average worldwide water cut is 75%, while the average water handling Opex cost to the oil industry is $0.50 per barrel of water, amounting to $40 billion total.
Since the conventional process of fluid separation is energy intensive and very costly, the industry has searched for innovative techniques that would move the separation upstream the production process, i.e. to the wells’ bottom, or even back to the reservoir.
The presentation will introduce modern technologies for separation of water in oil and gas wells. In principle, these techniques fall into one of two categories: bottomhole separation and separation in situ. The bottomhole separation techniques utilize separation inside the well. Discussion will include bottomhole systems based on gravity separation of gas and water (modified plunger, bypass tool, ESP) and gravity separation of oil and water—dual/triple action pumping (DAPS/TAPS), hydraulic submersible pump (HSP), and horizontal gravity separator (HSep). The discussion will include field performance and several case histories, since some of these systems have been successfully commercialized.
Also presented will be the downhole oil water separation (DHOWS) technology using bottomhole mechanical separators—hydro cyclones with or without ESP. The presentation will discuss downhole installation and completion aspects of these techniques as well as the limitations of hydro cyclones as separation devices. Several case histories of DHOWS demonstration projects will be also presented.
The final part of the presentation will concern a dual-completion technology using in-situ separation of water from oil or gas in the reservoir outside a producing well (downhole-water-sink technology, or DWS). In DWS wells, the second (bottom) completion is used for draining water in order to maintain the well’s potential for production of oil/gas from the top completion. Explained will be principles of DWS well performance in the bottom water and edge water reservoirs. A case history will show details of downhole installation and production data. Also discussed will be the comparison of DWS with conventional wells and incremental recovery due to the technology.
Biography
Andrew K. Wojtanowicz is Texaco-endowed Environmental Chair in Petroleum Engineering at Louisiana State U. and U.N. expert in drilling engineering. He has worked in the petroleum industry as a drilling engineer, drilling supervisor, and drilling fluids technologist in Europe and Africa. Wojtanowicz has held faculty positions at three universities and conducted research in drilling, completion, and production operations with emphasis on environmental effects and prevention techniques. His studies are reported in 180 publications and four books. He is an Editor-in-Chief of ASME Transactions Journal of Energy Resources Technology and a registered petroleum and environmental engineer in Louisiana. As a Conoco Environmental Research Fellow ’91/92, he developed dewatering technology for closed-loop drilling systems. He has also developed water coning-control technique with Downhole Water Sink (DWS) well completion, for which he received Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation in 1996. He has directed a DWS Joint Industry Project at LSU since 1997.
To obtain a copy of "Downhole Water Sink Technology,"
a presentation (Adobe) covering the presented subject -
use this link.
The complete SPE Lecture presentation will be available at Andrew's LSU website
http://www.pete.lsu.edu/faculty/wojtanowicz.htm at the end of the SPE lecture season in June 2204. Also, you may link the information on DWS to: http://www.pttc.org/98casestuds/casestudy1.htm where one will find case history on field application. Please, let me know if I could be of any help to your SPE section members.Tuesday - February 24, 2004
James Crafton
Distinguished Lecturer 2003-2004 Tour
Why Shut the Well in?
You've Already Got the Data
Abstract
Production data analysis is emerging as one of the oil and gas industry’s most powerful tools for well performance evaluation. The use of a theoretically rigorous production data analysis tool is allowing operators to find significant additional financial value in their wells with data they already have in hand. Accurate analysis of that production data can be performed very quickly, at several levels of detail, and at less cost than traditional solutions of well testing and simulation. The method makes possible the observation of time-dependent skin damage, changing transmissibility, interference, liquid loading, and drainage geometry—as well as the quantitative evaluation of effective fracture length, drainage volume, permeability thickness, skin, and recoverable reserves. Production data analysis is readily accomplished with data, already acquired in the normal course of business, although most electronic data collection systems already record with “near well-test” quality resolution. Even very low-resolution monthly data often provides reliable interpretations. By contrast, traditional shut-in well testing incurs costs that include lost production, well services fees, and (very often) formation damage.
The primary focus of this presentation is to show a variety of the diagnostic signatures that arise in performing production data analysis. The presentation will show actual well history examples including both oil and gas wells, high and low permeability, onshore and offshore, from several different countries, although the origin, operator, etc. will not be discussed. Examples with different signatures arising from water production, such as an active aquifer, a failed completion, and free water production from a producing zone will be shown. One of the examples shows the impact of a shut-in on the productivity of a gas well in multiphase flow. The impact of reservoir geometry on well performance is observable in one example, and another shows the effect of changing transmissibility versus changing skin. The theoretical basis for the method will be presented with simulation generated examples. In most cases, the visual assessment will be concluded with a quantitative evaluation.
Biography
Dr. Crafton received the Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Tulsa in 1975, after attending the University of Missouri at Rolla for the B.S. and University of Oklahoma for an M.S. in Petroleum Engineering. In addition to employment with Gulf Research and Development Corp., Pan American Petroleum Corp., and Texaco, he worked for Trunkline Gas Company and Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line, Co., where he progressed to the position of Chief Reservoir Engineer. He then formed CBW Services, an 18 person consulting firm specializing in multi-disciplinary reservoir studies. In 1982, the opportunity to teach at the Colorado School of Mines arose, where he continued the development of inter-disciplinary programs, including unique graduate level courses, was instrumental in the U.S. DOE Geoscience Forums, and was awarded the Henry B. Matson Technical Achievement Award for work on Water-Drive Gas Reservoir Management. In 1991, he was awarded a patent for a "fluid conveyor system", which was the basis for the formation of Crafton Lift Systems, Inc., a company attempting to develop low-cost artificial lift equipment. After working with Snyder Oil Company as their Staff Consultant, he formed Performance Sciences, Inc., a consultancy specializing in the evaluation of production data for evaluation of reservoir performance and completion performance efficiency. His areas of technical specialization have been in reservoir simulation, pressure transient behavior, well completion methods, well stimulation and geologic reservoir characterization. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Gamma Epsilon, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi, Pi Epsilon Tau and others. He has authored over 30 technical papers and books, and taught numerous industry short courses.
Tuesday - January 13, 2004
Ali Daneshy, Ph. D.
Impact of Off-balance Hydraulic Fracturing on Well Performance
Theories of hydraulic fracturing and all fracture design models and programs assume the created fracture follows a planar path, that the fracture is in opening mode (simple tensile fracture), and that it consists of a single fracture extending on both sides of the borehole. In reality hydraulic fractures never satisfy these requirements. Because of anisotropy and inhomogeneiety of most reservoir rocks the hydraulic fracture is always mixed mode (mostly tensile, but also including some shearing and sliding mode fractures), and often with branches. Well completion details and treatment design and details of execution further complicate the fracture growth. Because of its irregular and random growth path and pattern such a fracture is called “Off-balance”. As recently published by the speaker (“Off-Balance Growth: A New Concept in Hydraulic Fracturing” JPT, April 2003, 78 – 84) an off-balance fracture does not occupy a single plane, its growing tip moves randomly around the fracture and is not necessarily at its farthest point from the wellbore, fracture has an irregular and rough surface, and includes tensile as well as significant shear fracturing and branching. Under these conditions the movement of the proppant inside the fracture is also not in a piston-like manner and it occupies the fracture in a random distribution dictated by the irregular growth of the fracture tip. In off-balance fracturing, the proppant nearest the wellbore may be the segment first pumped into it! In other words, last in is not necessarily the first out!
Off-balance fractures usually have narrower widths, shorter created and propped lengths, and often even less height than computed by simple fracturing models.
Details of well completion and job design contribute to its off-balance growth.