Improved Recovery Week articles from August 1997

Improved Recovery Week archives from August 1997

Still more spending: Suncor sets C$2.2 billion expansion project to top Fort McMurray production at 210,000 b/d. (Suncor Energy)
August 4, 1997... Because they apparently feel demand won't deteriorate any time soon, and that new technology and improved equipment reliability will continue to lower per-barrel cash costs for Canadian oil sands bitumen, Suncor Energy officials last week let it...

New first-half California well, most of them in Kern County, top last year's tally by 41%.
August 4, 1997... The number of notices to drill new wells in Kern County, Calif., filed with the Bakersfield office of the state's Div. of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), climbed sharply during the first half of this year. The increase signals the...

U.K. government studying special licensing rules for development of coalbed methane.
August 4, 1997... Studies are being carried out by U.K. officials into the possibility of a special licensing regime for coalbed methane exploration in former mining areas. The plan was announced last week by the new Labor government as part of a five-year...

Phased redevelopment of North Sea Brent field to reduce costs by $166 million, says Shell/Esso.
August 11, 1997... Experience gained on the learning curve should enable Shell U.K. Ltd. to complete the massive redevelopment of its Brent field in the U.K. Sector of the North Sea for at least $166 million below the $2.2 billion budget. The project was...

NUMAR, MINCOM join to develop NMR process software. (nuclear magnetic resonance)
August 11, 1997... NUMAR Corp., Malvern, Pa. has formed an alliance with MINCOM, Houston, to form an alliance to further process data collected with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) logging developed by NUMAR. The initial products will include MINCOM-compatible...

Draft EIS now available on Elk Hills sale; opposition may be vocal at Aug 26 hearing. (environmental impact statement)
August 11, 1997... The Energy Dept. has begun distributing a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) on the proposed federal divestiture of the 47,000-acre Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in Kern County, Calif. In announcing the EIS...

Enterprise Oil to try novel WARP survey in Italian play. (wide angle reflection profiling)
August 11, 1997... Britain's Enterprise Oil is hoping for a broader view of subsurface prospects by adopting a novel seismic technique in exploration in the Southern Appennines region of Italy. It is using wide-angle reflection profiling (WARP) in conjunction...

Monterey Resources finals McFarland Energy buyout; more heavy oil acquisitions planned.
August 11, 1997... Consolidation of ownership in the Midway-Sunset field in Kern County, Calif. continued recently as Monterey Resources Inc., Bakersfield, finaled its acquisition of McFarland Energy Inc., Santa Fe Springs. Monterey, which formerly was the...

Boonsville secondary gas recovery project spawns new manual, short course from GRI. (Gas Recovery Institute)
August 11, 1997... Because the demand for 3-D seismic data from a Secondary Gas Recovery (SGR) project in the Texas' Fort Worth Basin has been so high, one of its sponsors, Gas Recovery Institute, has developed a "how-to" manual and short course designed to provide...

New wellsite service delivers real-time data to network workstations wherever they are.
August 11, 1997... You knew it had to happen: Thanks to new computer architecture, producing company people - from the chairman of the board in Houston office to the district engineer in Houma...even to the "company man" on the rig - can now get real-time well...

Study says Athabasca oil sands area rich in heavy minerals.
August 11, 1997... A recent study of the co-products available from Canada's huge Athabasca oil sands reserves suggests they may be one of the richest sources of titanium in the world. Among other things, titanium is used to make pigments for applications in the...

'Mysterious' Hunt well in Newfoundland revealed as respectable oil-gas producer; future brightens.
August 18, 1997... The hot-and-cold nature of drilling off the Western tip of Newfoundland got somewhat warmer recently when it became known that Newfoundland Hunt Oil Co./PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.'s mysterious Port au Port Well No. 1 is a sizeable oil and gas...

Statoil Group chooses Western Geophysical for 4-D modeling of Statfjord field in North Sea.
August 18, 1997... Data collected in 1980 and 1991, along with 3-D seismic being shot at present, will be used by the Statoil Group to produce a large-scale time-lapse - or 4-D - model for future planning of production from reservoirs in the Statfjord field. The...

Amoco Canada plans electricity-steam cogen plant for Primrose/Cold Lake thermal recovery.
August 18, 1997... With the advent of more efficient improved thermal recovery techniques such as single-well, steam-assisted gravity drainage (SW-SAGD), heavy oil producers in Western Canada continue to seek more efficient ways to generate the heat necessary to...

Inactive, 'stripper' incentive bills in committee; said most important to industry in decades.
August 18, 1997... Two landmark bills referred to the U.S. House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee could help bring some 900,000 inactive U.S. oil and gas wells back into production and help keep some 400,000 producing "stripper" wells pumping away....

Michigan governor orders study of horizontal drilling before state can grant permits to producing companies. (John Engler)
August 25, 1997... Emboldened by the current push by the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress to allow the states more autonomy and recognizing a new source tax revenue for the state - Michigan's Gov. John Engler has called for a scientific evaluation of...

Monterey Resources acquisition advances Texaco's plans to be a heavy oil giant.
August 25, 1997... It touted itself as among California's largest "independent" producers, and proved it by purchasing one of its larger competitors in Kern County's massive Midway-Sunset field, but Monterey Resources Inc., Bakersfield, didn't say it wasn't for...

7th UNITAR heavy oil/tar sands conference calls for papers; set for October 1998 in Beijing. (United Nations Institute for Training and Research; Beijing, China)
August 25, 1997... A call has gone out for technical presentations for the 7th UNITAR International Conference on Heavy Crude and Tar Sands, to be held in Beijing, Peoples' Republic of China, on Oct. 27-30, 1998. UNITAR is the United Nations Institute for...

New CD-ROM offers geologic, engineering, production, recovery data on 9,000 fields.
August 25, 1997... The Energy Dept. is offering a new CD-ROM that it says provides one of the most comprehensive national databases to date on the United States' natural gas reservoirs. The DOE's Gas Information System (GASIS) CD-ROM provides geologic,...

Consultancy 'co-op' formed in the U.K.; members to use Internet to seek projects.
August 25, 1997... Effort are being made to improve the reputation of oil industry consultants through the launch of a new company in Aberdeen, Scotland. The venture has been spun off by Petroline, a specialist supplier of oil and gas well technology, in response...