Improved Recovery Week articles from December 1995

Improved Recovery Week archives from December 1995

Thermal system ups heavy oil flow; lighter crudes eligible?
December 4, 1995... A new thermal recovery technology for heavy oil is being applied liberally in Western Canada by Elan Energy Inc. of Calgary, Alberta, and they're highly enthusiastic about the results. In fact, the company attributes substantially...

October Texas horizontals rise.
December 4, 1995... The Texas Railroad Commission granted 49 permits for horizontal wells statewide in October, a substantial increase from the previous month. By comparison, 34 permits were issued in September (IRW, 11-20), 46 in August and 53 in July. ...

IOR team plans N. Sea production hike.
December 4, 1995... Norway aims to recover an additional 3.1 billion bbls. of oil from existing oil fields as a result of a program launched to encourage the application of improved recovery techniques. Known as FORCE, the scheme is a co-operative venture...

Petrobras plans 33 deepwater horizontals. (Petroleo Brasileiro S.A.)
December 4, 1995... The successful drilling of a horizontal well in the world's deepest water 1 has encouraged Petroleo Brasiliero to program 33 more horizontals to develop its Marlim field. According to Petrobras, the Marlim Well No. 8-MRL-38H, an...

IPAA reports sees further crude drop. (Independent Petroleum Association of America; domestic crude oil production)
December 4, 1995... Domestic crude oil production is expected to drop by 1.7% to 6.5 million b/d this year, says the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America. In its short-term forecast for 1995-96, released at its annual meeting held recently in San Diego, Calif.,...

Horizontal well proves field. (Santos Ltd.'s Stagefield off Western Australia)
December 4, 1995... Horizontal drilling/has raised the changes for an offshore Australian oil field being developed after vertical wells had failed to establish a commercial resource. Santos Ltd., at its Stag field off Western Australia, has produced 5,820...

Argentina properties bought.
December 4, 1995... Vintage Petroleum, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., recently entered into separate agreements with Astra Compania Argentina Petroleo S.A. and Shell Compania Argentina de Petroleo S.A. (Shell CAPSA) to acquire additional producing properties in Argentina...

Reservoir fluid imaging group formed. (British Petroleum Company PLC)
December 4, 1995... British Petroleum is working toward formation of a new industry group to address improvements to the industry's ability to locate and image fluids in the reservoir. According to the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council in Washington,...

For some, 3-D seismic's a way to 'upsize.' (Parallel Petroleum Corp.)
December 4, 1995... Smart acquisitions and good 3-D surveys have fueled a 60-fold boost in the market performance of publicly traded Parallel Petroleum Corp. The Midland, Texas independent has boosted its market capital from $500,000 in 1989 to around $30...

Coalbed methane wells fund growth. (WestAmerica Corp.)
December 4, 1995... WestAmerica Corp., Scottsdale, Ariz., reported revenues increased more than 300% in the third quarter ended Sept. 30, principally as the result of its success in applying multi-lateral completion technology to wells in thin coal seams...

Alberta adopts generic oil sands royalty; new projects seen.
December 11, 1995... Just as it said it would, the Alberta provincial government put in place a new generic royalty system for all oil sands production - including existing and future projects. And by doing so, the government is receiving assurances from the...

Stampeder reports drilling surge. (Stampeder Exploration Ltd.)
December 11, 1995... Calgary, Alta.-based Stampeder Exploration Ltd. said recently it was the ninth most-active driller in Canada during the first nine months of 1995, due in part to horizontal drilling activity in its heavy oil properties in Saskatchewan. The...

Report cites need for new IOR techniques. (improved oil recovery)
December 11, 1995... While 3-D seismic imaging is now a tool of choice for independent oil and gas producers, it is still considered by them to be expensive and time-consuming, says a recently published report on future technologies required to help independents keep...

Swift, UPR join hands. (Swift Energy Co.; Union Pacific Resources Co.)
December 11, 1995... Two Texas operators, Swift Energy Co., Houston, and Union Pacific Resources Co., Fort Worth, recently signed a joint development agreement for drilling a 19,500-acre area of mutual interest in that state's Fayette County. The agreement,...

U.K. coiled tubing plant set. (Precision Tube Technology)
December 11, 1995... Coiled tubing is taking on a new dimension with plans by Houston-based Precision Tube Technology to set up a plant in Scotland. The plant will be equipped to manufacture in sizes up to 6-5/8[inches] diameter, compared with the largest diameters...

PanAtlas advances Canadian horizontals. (Panatlas Energy Inc.)
December 11, 1995... As operator of the Weyburn horizontal drilling project in southeastern Saskatchewan, PanAtlas Energy Inc., Calgary, Alta., says its seventh horizontal development well was drilled, completed and equipped last month at a gross cost of C$540,000,...

EPA plans to cap 11 leakers in Great Salt Lake.
December 11, 1995... The Environmental Protection Agency is still working out the details, but says it intends to go ahead and cap 11 of 33 old wells by January to halt tar-like oil leaks in Utah's Great Salt Lake. EPA got into the act last spring because of the...

Devon seeks Chevron's Wyoming properties. (Devon Energy Corp.; Chevron Corp.)
December 11, 1995... Oklahoma City-based Devon Energy Corp. plans to buy Chevron's Wyoming oil and gas properties and a gas-processing plant for about $50 million. Devon estimates the properties have proven oil and gas reserves equivalent to 90 bcf of gas. The...

3-D do-si-do: meeting in the middle. (Geokinetics acquires Green Mountain Geophysics Inc.; Universal Seismic Associates Inc. obtains capital financing)
December 11, 1995... At least two significant announcements were made recently - one by a producing company interested in getting into 3-D seismic imaging; the other by a 3-D seismic contractor interested into getting into the production business. In Houston,...

Suncor set to try SAGD at Burnt Lake heavy oil property. (steam-assisted gravity drainage)
December 11, 1995... As part of an earlier announced C$1 billion diversification into Canadian heavy oil and conventional natural gas development, Calgary-based Suncor Inc. last week announced plans for the first phase of a two-part project to develop its Burnt Lake...

The Elk Hills saga: controversy about sale not expected. (California; proposal to sell Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserve)
December 18, 1995... As if anybody doubted it, the proposal to sell the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserve (NPOSR) at Elk Hills, Calif. has evolved into a controversy that involves the Republican Congress, the Energy Dept., major oil companies, consumer advocacy...

CT restores Wytch Farm wells. (coiled tubing; BP Exploration Company Ltd.'s onshore oil field)
December 18, 1995... Record use of coiled tubing has proved its worth in revitalizing two failed extended-reach wells at BP Exploration Ltd.'s Wytch Farm onshore oil field in the U.K. After problems arose with the power drives of electrical submersible pumps, BP...

DOE helps with 'urgent' problems.
December 18, 1995... In the first of what it promises to be many during the coming months, the Energy Dept. last week awarded eight independent producers with funding to help them solve "urgent" production problems. BDM-Oklahoma Inc., management and operating...

Alberta okays Solv-Ex project. (Solv-Ex Corp.)
December 18, 1995... Albuquerque, N.M.-based Solv-Ex Corp. has the formal go-ahead to begin its first-stage project to produce 14,000 b/d of bitumen, with subsequent co-production of minerals, from its Bitumount oil sands lease in northern Alberta. Alberta Energy...

Statoil mulls Orinoco project. (Statoil A/S; Venezuela's Orinoco Tar Belt)
December 18, 1995... Statoil, Norway's state oil company, has set up a project group with a unit of Venezuela's national oil company to study production, transport and upgrading of bitumen from Venezuela's Orinoco Tar Belt. And Statoil is betting on heavy oil as a...

IOGCC stripper study now includes gas wells. (Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission)
December 18, 1995... As is its goal every year, the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) hopes its newest annual report on marginal production will make a case for prolonging stripper well flow and putting idle wells back to work in this country....

PTTC resource centers open. (Petroleum Technology Transfer Council)
December 18, 1995... Six of 10 computer-equipped resource centers around the U.S. have been opened by the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC), and each offers producers access to state-of-the-art software programs, the organization says. Oilfield service...

New Foundland drilling set. (Hunt Oil Co.)
December 18, 1995... Those two "tight" extended-reach wells drilled by Dallas-based Hunt Oil Co. along the shore of southwestern Newfoundland obviously have spawned the need for more. The company went public recently with plans for a possible $16.3 million...

Oklahoma agency offers royalty cuts. (Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office; petroleum producers)
December 18, 1995... The Oklahoma Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO) recently approved a plan to offer incentives in the form of royalty reductions to producers with marginally producing oil and/or gas wells. And while the royalty cut will help, state industry...

New integrated 3-D software said easily run. (Chevron Research and Technology Co.)
December 18, 1995... Three-dimensional seismic surveys provide lots of valuable information. But producers just naturally like to check it against other data to paint the most realistic picture of potential risks and rewards in the subsurface reservoirs they're...

Light oil air injection to revolutionize IOR, say experts. (improved oil recovery)
December 25, 1995... Amoco Corp. is giving other producing companies the air...sort of. For five years, a multidisciplinary research team at the company's Technology Center in Tulsa, Okla. has been investigating air injection as a tertiary recovery method for light...

Firm eyes more coalgas property. (Infinity Inc.)
December 25, 1995... A Chanute, Kan. operating company is continuing to amass acreage in Colorado's coalbed methane-producing area, with an apparent eye on becoming a major player in the Raton Basin. The company, Infinity Inc., said its recently formed unit, CIS...

'Intelligent' completions touted in U.K. (automation of oil well completion)
December 25, 1995... Studies by Shell (U.K.) E&P Ltd. have confirmed quick payback from "intelligent" wells which can maximize output with no operational intervention. Even with incremental recovery as low as 1%, there can be a 40% return on the extra capital...

Proposed Canadian merger told. (merger between Alberta Energy Co. and Conwest Exploration Co.)
December 25, 1995... If it goes through, the buyout announced recently by Alberta Energy Co. of Conwest Exploration Co.'s oil and gas operations would make AEC Canada's second-largest publicly owned producing company in terms of reserves. Alberta Energy said it...

Texaco horizontals planned. (Texaco Inc.'s plan to drill horizontal wells in Colombia)
December 25, 1995... Texaco Inc. has agreed with Ecopetrol, the national oil company of Colombia, to operate three gas fields in the Guajira region until the year 2016. Under the agreement, Texaco will build a second offshore platform to drill up to six horizontal...

Proposed royalty relief targets heavy oil. (royalty cutting legislation in Alaska)
December 25, 1995... For Arco Alaska and BP Exploration and several other producing companies, royalty-cutting legislation to be introduced in 1996 in the Alaska legislature would make it significantly more attractive to develop several North Slope heavy oil fields....

Solv-Ex gets more okays. (approved projects of Solv-Ex Corp.)
December 25, 1995... Only days after it was given the go-ahead by one regulatory body in Alberta to build an oil sands oil/alumina co-production plant, Solv-Ex Corp. last week said it received approval for a second project, an oil sands tailings plant. This latest...

Coalgas measurement touted. (more efficient method for coalgas measurements)
December 25, 1995... An Australian university research project has found what it claims is a more efficient method of measuring methane quantities and volatility in coal seams. Queensland University is working on a computer package which will enable companies to...

Company readies Siberian development. (Xavier Mines Ltd.'s plans of oil and gas production in Western Siberia)
December 25, 1995... A former mining company has embraced oil and gas production in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), after seeking working capital through debt and equity financing, is preparing to redevelop a whole passel of producing oil fields in...

Research helping find by-passed gas.
December 25, 1995... Three-dimensional seismic imaging, though a must for exploration, is becoming more useful in pinpointing passed-over reserves. And it's as valuable for gas as for oil. Since 1988, the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas at...