Improved Recovery Week articles from August 1994

Improved Recovery Week archives from August 1994

Draft NPC marginal well report has EOR incentives. (National Petroleum Council, enhanced oil recovery)
August 1, 1994... The draft of a National Petroleum Council report on incentives to producers for maintaining marginal oil and gas production recommends increased tax credits for enhanced oil recovery operations. The draft report, released at last week's...

Lateral sidetracks up production. (horizontal offshore oil well)
August 1, 1994... A Canadian producer says its third horizontal sidetrack well in a North Sea field has increased recoverable reserves by 1 million barrels. Vancouver, B.C.-based International Petroleum Corp. said based on outside engineering studies, the...

Two water streams to be injected in Calif. well.
August 1, 1994... A Bakersfield, Calif., independent operator is initiating a unique project in the South Belridge field in the San Joaquin Valley that will combine two important functions of water injection in the same well. Two separate streams of water...

ERCB OK's Syncrude expansion. (Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board, Syncrude Canada Ltd.)
August 1, 1994... Alberta's Energy Resources Conservation Board has approved a proposed production capacity increase by Syncrude Canada Ltd. at its Fort McMurray, Alta., oil sands plant. With the ERCB's approval, annual flow will be upped from 63 million...

Industry indicators point up, says Andersen. (oil and gas industry, Arthur Andersen and Co. survey) (Industry Overview)
August 1, 1994... Three leading indicators for the U.S. oil and gas industry -- exploration and development spending, production replacement and reserve replacement costs -- showed marked improvement in 1993, says the 1994 Arthur Andersen Oil & Gas Reserve...

Numar gets second logging pact.
August 1, 1994... On the heels of a major contract with Unocal Corp. in Indonesia (IRW, 7/25), Numar Corp. recently announced another contract to provide its proprietary magnetic resonance imaging logging services, this time to BP Exploration Ltd. in the North...

Mitchell ups E&P budget. (Mitchell Energy and Development Corp., exploration and production)
August 1, 1994... With about 650-700 proven undrilled locations in Texas and southeastern New Mexico, Mitchell Energy & Development Corp. has raised its drilling and production budget by $11.8 million to $115.9 million for the fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 1995. ...

Arco takes up $1 billion Algerian EOR project. (ARCO International Oil and Gas Co., enhanced oil recovery)
August 1, 1994... An accord Arco International Oil & Gas Inc. is readying to sign with Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company, will in 1995 involve Arco International with an Algerian enhanced oil recovery program that would mean a cumulative investment of $1...

Penn State brine research project unfinished. (Pennsylvania State University, oil well brine treatment research)
August 1, 1994... Pennsylvania state and industry officials are miffed that a Penn State University research program they funded to assist state oil and gas operators with oil well brine treatment remains incomplete. Dane Bickley, director of the...

New IOR Patent. (J.A. Barton, U.S. Patent No. 5,155,293)
August 1, 1994... J.A. Barton of Dresser Industries Inc. has patented a safety booster for a perforating gun assembly. The booster assembly includes a cup having at least one opening and a secondary explosive disposed within the cup. The booster also includes a...

Crosswell seismic tests to use powerful new source. (Gas Research Institute to use new transducer)
August 8, 1994... The Gas Research Institute will use a new transducer that it says is up to 200 times more powerful than current tools as part of a series of crosswell seismic imaging field experiments, beginning this fall. GRI, working with two...

WRT recompletes deep well. (WRT Energy Corp.)
August 8, 1994... WRT Energy Corp. has conducted a successful sidetrack recompletion of a deep well in the Lac Blanc field in Vermilion Parish, La. The company, based in The Woodlands, Texas, said it sidetracked the previously abandoned Exxon Fee Well No....

First Clinton horizontal test fracked in Ohio. (Clinton sand test, Mahoning County, Ohio) (includes related article on Columbia Natural Resources's Rose Run sand directional tests in Ohio)
August 8, 1994... The first stage of an experimental high-angle Clinton sand test was fracked successfully recently in Mahoning County, Ohio. William Murray, an engineer with Belden & Blake Corp., North Canton, Ohio, said no major problems were encountered...

OPIC grants Russia funding. (Overseas Private Investment Corp. letter of agreement with SOCO International Inc.)
August 8, 1994... The Overseas Private Investment Corp. has signed a letter with SOCO International Inc. committing $40 million to development of Russian oil fields in a 300,000-acre area west of the Ural Mountains. The letter is the final stage before a...

Chinese directory published. (Han Consultants Inc. publishes directory of Chinese oil and gas industry)
August 8, 1994... A directory of the Chinese oil and gas industry is now available from Han Consultants Inc., a company based in the Peoples Republic of China. The English-language China Petroleum Directory lists some 300 Chinese petroleum enterprises and...

Arco to expand Midway-Sunset steamflood. (Arco Western Energy)
August 8, 1994... Steam drives heavy oil production in California's Midway-Sunset field, and Arco Western Energy plans to give it a bigger boost with expansion of a steamflood on the Maxwell property, located three miles northwest of Fellows, Calif. The...

Downhole motor record set. (by Anadrill Schlumberger)
August 8, 1994... A new world record for single downhole motor run in 12-1/4" hole was set recently by Anadrill, Houston, who was acting as integrated field services contractor for British Petroleum Ltd.'s Wytch Farm field extended-reach drilling project in...

Pemex to hike secondary IOR. (Petroleos Mexicanos, improved oil recovery)
August 8, 1994... Look for more secondary recovery technology to be used in Mexico's oil fields. According to published reports, Petroleos Mexicanos, Mexico's national oil company, intends to increase the use of secondary recovery techniques in order to...

Well completions fall 21% in first-half 1994.
August 8, 1994... Some 9,891 U.S. oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes were completed during the first half of 1994, says the American Petroleum Institute. That figure was a decline of 21.1% from the 12,539 such completions reported for the same...

Group pushes to 'fix' OPA offshore finance rule. (National Petroleum Council, Oil Pollution Act of 1990)
August 8, 1994... In a draft report, the National Petroleum Council says the U.S. Minerals Management Service can fix most of what's broken in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, including provisions that threaten offshore oil and gas production. The draft...

New IOR patents. (improved oil recovery; T.J.W. de Bruijn and H.J. Woods of Energy Mines and Resources Canada, U.S. Patent No. 5,104,516; J.M. Sanchez and H.G. Weinstein of Mobile Oil Corp., U.S. Patent No. 5,297,627)
August 8, 1994... T.J.W. de Bruijn and H.J. Woods of Energy Mines and Resources Canada have patented several procedures which reduce the viscosity and density of heavy oils to make them amenable for transportation by pipeline from the field to refineries for...

Researchers evaluate well pollution potential. (University of Missouri at Rolla, Missouri in conjunction with American Petroleum Institute)
August 8, 1994... Working with the American Petroleum Institute, a research team at the University of Missouri at Rolla has developed a computer modeling technique that evaluates the potential for abandoned oil and gas wells to contribute to contamination of...

Wood pulp surfactants ready for chemflood field testing.
August 15, 1994... After 10 years of development, Texaco Inc. says its patented lignin surfactant technology is approaching the field testing stage, and the company is looking for potential partners willing to joint-venture the testing. Researchers with...

Aussie coalgas wells underway.
August 15, 1994... Denver-based Tipperary Corp. is carrying out more coalbed methane drilling activity on its Queensland, Australia, grant. Carter Mathies, Tipperary chairman and CEO, said a group in which the company holds 30% non-operating interest is...

Husky Saskatchewan to control upgrader. (Husky Oil Ltd.)
August 15, 1994... Husky Oil Ltd. and the Saskatchewan provincial government have agreed in principle to increase their ownership in the financially troubled Bi-Provincial Upgrader, allowing both the federal and Alberta governments to skate free from it. The...

Okla. gets research funding. (University of Tulsa, National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research)
August 15, 1994... The University of Tulsa and the National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (NIPER) at Bartlesville are scheduled to share $2.5 million in funds approved by the U.S. Senate for oil and gas research. The funding was included in an...

BLM review may provide onshore incentives. (Bureau of Land Management, oil and gas production)
August 15, 1994... The U.S. Bureau of Land Management is in the thick of reviewing its onshore oil and gas program. The effort could lead to incentives for increased production on federal lands. BLM officials say they're open to suggestions from the oil...

Egyptian waterflood contract let.
August 15, 1994... Baker Hughes Process Systems, a U.K.-based unit of Baker Hughes Inc., Houston, will supply a water injection system to Belayim Petroleum Co., an Egyptian company, for the Ras Garra field in the Red Sea. The $2 million system will be shipped...

Kern County thermal wells up in first half. (California)
August 15, 1994... Kern County, Calif., registered a 1.7% gain in the number of notices to drill new wells filed in the first half of 1994 with the state's Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. Statewide the number of notices filed declined. Kern...

MMS says it can't ease $150 million OPA rule. (Minerals Management Service, Oil Pollution Act of 1990)
August 15, 1994... Despite a recent National Petroleum Council draft study finding the Minerals Management Service has the power to ease liability requirements under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, MMS insists otherwise. The NPC draft study, released July 27,...

New IOR Patent. (E.M Andreasson, F. Egeli, K.A. Holmberg, B. Nystroem, K.G. Stridh, E.M. Oesterberg; Norwegian Patent No. 173,146/B/)
August 15, 1994... E.M. Andreasson, F. Egeli, K.A. Holmberg, B. Nystroem, K.G. Stridh and E.M. Oesterberg, all of Berol Kemi AB of Stenungsund, Sweden, have patented an acidizing method using microemulsion injection. Formation surrounding wells are treated by...

New seismic, drilling/completion dope spurs S. Texas boom. (natural gas production)
August 22, 1994... Major and independent producers are mixing improved seismic technology with more sophisticated drilling and completion techniques to increase tight sands natural gas production in South Texas. Add an expanded transportation system and...

GRI cites E&P assistance increase. (calls to Gas Research Institute concerning exploration and production technology)
August 22, 1994... The Gas Research Institute says calls it receives regarding exploration and production technology will increase by 40% this year over last. Myron Gottlieb, GRI vice president of natural gas supply technology, said more than 2,000...

Aussie boffins final shale treating tests. (Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization develops new shale-oil conversion method)
August 22, 1994... Australian researchers have conducted successful tests on a method of converting shale oil that -- when compared with conventional processes -- is potentially simpler, thermally more efficient and lower in cost. In a report issued...

Six Siberian horizontals set. (oil wells planned)
August 22, 1994... A Canadian producer has entered into a joint venture to drill a series of six horizontal wells in three existing Russian oil fields. Veteran Resources Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, says it will drill the wells in the existing South...

India sets EOR sessions. (enhanced-oil-recovery project for Bombay High offshore field)
August 22, 1994... India's Oil & Natural Gas Commission is hearing detailed presentations on a major IOR project from a number of oil companies. Scheduled to end today, the presentations, made by five companies, involve improving production from the...

TIPRO members want new seismic data. (Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Assn. hydrocarbon-detection survey)
August 22, 1994... Texas independent producers favor seismic direct detection of hydrocarbons as the technology of choice. They made their preference known in a recent survey of the 2,500-member Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Assn. ...

Russian IOR program underway. (Total improved-oil-recovery program at Romashkino field)
August 22, 1994... The new cellulose injection program instituted by the French company Total at the Romashkino field in Tatarstan earlier this summer is expected to raise production from some 953,000 b/d to 4.4 million b/d by 1996. According to the...

C-T unit cleans 20 wells. (coiled-tubing; South Texas gas wells)
August 22, 1994... Using a coiled-tubing unit, Dowell, a unit of Schlumberger Oilfield Services, cleaned out 20 high-pressure South Texas gas wells recently, replacing conventional snubbing equipment. According to the company, the cleanout operations,...

Pa. coalbed methane program in development. (Pennsylvania)
August 22, 1994... Faced with a federal government mandate to develop a state coalbed methane regulatory program by 1995, operators and coal mine owners seem to be giving no ground on who should control Pennsylvania's coalbed methane reserves. A state...

New IOR patent. (S-Cal Research Corp.'s M. Gondouin; patent #5,052,482)
August 22, 1994... M. Gondouin of S-Cal Research Corp, San Rafael, Calif. has patented an apparatus for generating downhole large volumes of high-quality steam and gases capable of mobilizing heavy oil. It comprises a downhole catalytic methanator reactor...

New Cook Inlet flow begun. (Stewart Petroleum is shipping petroleum through pipeline from Cook Inlet platforms to refineries near Anchorage, Alaska)
August 29, 1994... Anchorage-based Stewart Petroleum has begun moving oil through a recently completed flowline system hooking its production in Alaska's Cook Inlet with existing onshore production facilities. Stewart, one of the few independent producers...

Long Beach tries triple play for DOE grants. (Long Beach, California; grants to improve oil production from Wilmington fields)
August 29, 1994... The City of Long Beach, Calif., along with producting companies and several universities, is hoping to receive federal matching-fund grants to fine-tune development of the venerable Wilmington field, much of which lies in and around its city...

Nuevo Energy finals Texas horizontals. (wells in Texas strike oil and gas)
August 29, 1994... Nuevo Energy Co., Houston, announced completion recently of horizontal oil and gas wells in two Austin Chalk trend fields in Texas. The company said it completed testing of its Temple Well No. 3-H in the Brookeland field in Jasper County in...

July domestic oil imports hit 17-year high. (US imports 10.059 million barrels per day in July 1994)
August 29, 1994... Total petroleum imports hit a 17-year high last month, averaging 10.059 million b/d, despite a 1 million-b/d drop in voerall demand for petroleum products, says the American Petroleum Institute. The figures jumped 9.1% from the comparable...

DOE awards small business tech transfer grants. (Department of Energy; Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants)
August 29, 1994... The Energy Dept. has made a series of technology transfer grant awards under two special programs for small businesses; however, only 14 of a total of 237 such grants went to businesses whose research encompasses oil and gas exploration and...

IPAA: 1993 drilling costs up. (Independent Petroleum Association of America)
August 29, 1994... U.S. drilling costs in 1993 rose nearly 14% on a per-well basis, says the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America. In its annual costs report, IPAA's Petroleum Cost Committee said the growing attraction of natural gas for producers has...

EORI sells stake to Europeans. (Electromagnetic Oil Recovery Inc.)
August 29, 1994... Electromagnetic Oil Recovery Inc. of Tulsa, Okla., has signed a series of transactions with a group of overseas investors under which the company has sold a major equity stake to the group for some $2 million in common stock and warrants. ...

Rowell named PTTC director. (Deborah Rowell; Petroleum Technology Transfer Council)
August 29, 1994... Deborah Rowell has been named executive director of the newly formed Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC), a national organization formed to speed oil technology transfer. For the past three years, Rowell has been involved in...

Texas horizontal permits total 46 in July. (horizontal oil well drilling permits; July 1994)
August 29, 1994... The Texas Railroad Commission in Austin granted operators 46 permits in July for the drilling of horizontal wells in that state. The July total reflects a decline in activity from the previous month, when 70 such permits were issued. In...

New IOR patents. (improved oil recovery)(US patent numbers 5,036,919 and 5,035,287)
August 29, 1994... C.L. Boney of Dowell Schlumberger Inc. has patented a process for fracturing a formation having a bottom-hole static temperature above about 200[degrees]F., a method of reducing post-fracture conductivity damage in the fracture from a...