Improved Recovery Week articles from August 1998

Improved Recovery Week archives from August 1998

Enviro-groups express concern over Suncor group's Australian shale project; company clears the air. (Suncor Energy)
August 10, 1998... Environmental groups in Australia are beginning to stir up concerns about the Stuart oil shale project being developed in Queensland State by Suncor Energy and its local partners. But Suncor says the concerns expressed by the envirogroups, as...

Horizontal drilling, other new technology required for development of Alaska's NPR. (National Petroleum Reserve)
August 10, 1998... Industry groups called last week's announcement by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt that a portion of the 23-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPRA) will be opened to drilling "a victory for states' rights." At a news...

Latest DOE cost-sharing funding involves reservoir characterization projects; totals $5.7 million. (Dept, of Energy)
August 10, 1998... The growing need for more research focused on oil reservoir architecture has prompted the Energy Dept. to prime the R&D investment pump once again - this time with some $9 million. Last week, DOE's Office of Fossil Energy selected nine research...

Swap for ARCO California properties ups Mobil stake in Aera, state's largest independent. (Mobil Exploration and Producing US Inc.'s deal with Atlantic Richfield Co. and Vastar Resources Inc. increases its ownership in Aera Energy LLC)
August 10, 1998... The three-way swap arranged last week among ARCO, Vastar Resources Inc. and Mobil E&P U.S. Inc. gives Mobil a larger ownership percentage in Aera Energy LLC, which now controls 30% of California's estimated 910,000 b/d of off and gas production,...

New venture to market Shell-owned technology; puts 'intelligent' wells high on its list for development. (Shell Technology Ventures)
August 17, 1998... So-called "intelligent" completions technology will be among key components to be marketed by Shell Technology Ventures (STV), a new company formed in Houston to deploy exploration and production technologies developed by affiliates of the Royal...

Recompletions, re-fracs help HS Resources book Denver-Julesburg Basin gas production.
August 17, 1998... San Francisco-based HS Resources Inc. (HSR) is right proud of its second-quarter additions to booked reserves - primarily gas - in the Denver-Julesburg Basin. In spite of lower oil prices and an after-tax, non-cash impairment of $36.5 million...

Chemical injection phase of Wardlaw field ASP pilot imminent: 35,000 bbls. expected recovery.
August 17, 1998... Construction of facilities for a pilot Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flood in southwest Texas has been completed by a unit of United Heritage Corp. (UHC), and the company has begun the pilot project's chemical injection phase, with results...

U.S. court verifies Solv-Ex reorganization plan despite SEC delay request; new shares due Dec. 1. (Solv-Ex Corp.)
August 17, 1998... Try as they might, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was not able to delay the exit last week by Albuquerque, N.M.-based Solv-Ex Corp. from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The SEC, which governs publicly owned companies in the U.S.,...

Inland Resources' Green River waterflood deemed so successful, it could pay for entire DOE program. (Department of Energy)
August 24, 1998... A Denver-based producing company had such success with new waterflooding technology, derived from a cost-shared Energy Dept. reservoir class demonstration project, that it plans expanding associated activity. And while Inland Resources Inc....

Talisman drilling uphill horizontals at Turner Valley; mulls nitrogen injection project there. (Talisman Energy Inc's exploratory drilling in Western Canada)
August 24, 1998... Exploratory drilling in Western Canada may have taken a hefty drop during the last couple of months, but some companies are still trying to wrangle in-place oil from venerable fields, particularly in Alberta. Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc....

Norwegian industry/government IOR group extended three years; log depository said. (Norwegian Petroleum Directorate)
August 24, 1998... The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), Stavanger, announced recently renewed activity in two of its government-industry IOR/technology transfer initiatives. First, all members of the cooperative Forum for Reservoir Characterization and...

Production begins at Ekofisk II field off Norway; 306,000 b/d flow likely from $4.3 billion effort.
August 24, 1998... Ekofisk II, the massive four-year redevelopment project at the Ekofisk complex in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea, last week began producing oil and gas on schedule and under budget, says Phillips Petroleum Go. Norway, operator. The...

Nuevo finals two additional Kern County horizontal wells. (Nuevo Energy Co.)
August 31, 1998... Houston-based Nuevo Energy Co. says it's continuing to complete successful horizontal wells on its Kern County, California heavy oil properties. Last week, the company - California's largest independent oil and gas producer - said it set...

Price plunge cited as culprit in postponement until next year of Petro-Canada's in situ oil sands project.
August 31, 1998... In Western Canada, at least one major oil sands developer is checking its hole card, visa vis construction of a new in situ bitumen production scheme, while two others seem in no hurry to flesh out their new plant blueprints. Petro-Canada,...

Benton tests E-R well from shore to field off California; could awaken offshore activity. (Benton Oil and Gas Co.'s extended-reach horizontal well)
August 31, 1998... Drilling of the first extended-reach horizontal well by Benton Oil & Gas Co. from shore to a point beneath the Santa Barbara Channel off California last week was been tested, the company said. Results of the tests, particularly if the well is...

Second Anticosti well shows noncommercial gas. (Anticosti Island, Gulf of St. Lawrence)
August 31, 1998... The Jupiter Well No. 1, the second exploratory test drilled on Anticosti Island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence this summer, encountered natural gas shows at several intervals, but not in commercial quantities, says Halifax, N.S.-based Corridor...

Consortium to build $375 million compression complex.
August 31, 1998... Mexico's state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) has chosen an international consortium to carry out gas compression activities at its giant offshore Cantarell field in the Bay of Campeche. A group composed of Japan's Marubeni Corp.,...

Houston's Westport Technology Center, Stanford share in oil-based cuttings, mud disposal study.
August 31, 1998... Producers who operate offshore and in remote onshore locations will be the beneficiaries of new research being conducted by the Energy Dept. Last week, DOE's Office of Fossil Energy announced it had awarded a $293,000 grant to Houston-based...

Inland's upgrade of Pennzoil refinery to cost $100 million. (Inland Resources Inc.)
August 31, 1998... Denver-based Inland Resources Inc. says it plans to spend $100 million upgrading a dormant, 8,000-b/d refinery in Roosevelt, Utah it is buying from Pennzoil Co. Inland, which has benefited from cost-shared research with the Energy Dept. on...

Two new North Slope fields go on stream; ARCO applies for commercial status at Tabasco field. (ARCO Alaska Inc.)
August 31, 1998... Major companies on Alaska's North Slope have announced another round of new field production start-ups, one of which is the second field containing heavy oil production so far put on stream there. The speed with which the North Slope fields are...

Sincor Group snags $2.1 billion backing from syndicate of banks.
August 31, 1998... The French company Total and its partners in the Sincor extra-heavy oil development in Venezuela have signed a US$2.1 billion financing agreement with a banking syndicate. Total has a 47% share in the deal, with Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA)...

AOSIS reports on IOR, heavy oil. (Alberta Dept. of Energy, Oil Sands Information Services; improved oil recovery)
August 31, 1998... The Alberta Dept. of Energy, Oil Sands Information Services (AOSIS) makes the following oil sands/heavy oil/IOR technical reports and papers available to interested parties. For copies, call AOSIS in Calgary at 403-297-3631 (fax: 403-2973638)....