Improved Recovery Week articles from February 1999

Improved Recovery Week archives from February 1999

DOE unveils two new cost-sharing thrusts to aid independents: Reservoir Class Program revisited, grants for small firms set.(US Department of Energy)
February 22, 1999... To new Energy Dept. initiatives' to help beleaguered oil producers were announced last week by DOE Secretary Bill Richardson. One is the long-awaited reopening of the Reservoir Class Program to aid development of new upstream technologies...

PanCanadian drilling E-R well in western Newfoundland; vintage looking for partners.(drilling of an enhanced oil recovery well by PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.)
February 22, 1999... Interest in exploration for both oil and gas in eastern Canada has not been confined only to the huge offshore areas around Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Producers are still interested in western Newfoundland and St. George's Bay, which...

Berry Petroleum uses spending cuts to lower '98 loss; acquisitions to add 20% to proved reserves.
February 22, 1999... Thanks to its move early last year to slash costs in the face of falling oil prices, Taft, CA-based Berry Petroleum Co. cut what would have been much larger losses for all of 1998. The company last week reported net income for 1998 of...

Shell Canada, ATCO studying C$100 million-plus cogeneration plant at Muskeg River mine.
February 22, 1999... Adding a 172-mw cogeneration plant is a possibility should Shell Canada Ltd. go ahead with its C$3.4 billion Muskeg River oil sands mining complex near Port McMurray, AB. Neil Camarta, vice president, said the cogen plant, estimated to...

Conoco uses remote recorders in San Juan Basin 3-D survey; shorter cables cut injuries.
February 22, 1999... Land seismic surveys, like most oil and gas exploration efforts, are getting a smaller "footprint." Not only is seismic source equipment getting more compact, but recording cables also are getting much shorter. In fact, Conoco says it...

Power Exploration drilling multi-lateral well in age-old Texas oil field; plans ASP flood for secondary recovery.
February 15, 1999... Fort Worth, TX-based Power Exploration Inc., formerly known as Titan Energy Corp. Inc., says it has concluded the first phase of its campaign to return its 4,500 acres of leases in the venerable Corsicana field to production. The company...

Industry, lawmakers applaud DOE/DOI initiative to take royalty oil to bolster strategic reserve.(Department of Energy, Department of Interior)
February 15, 1999... In response to calls from all over industry and from powerful Congressmen, the Energy Dept. last week announced it would partially re-fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) with federal royalty oil from the Gulf of Mexico. The...

Pennaco earmarks $18.4 million for 1999 development of Powder River coalbed gas.(Pennaco Energy Inc.)
February 15, 1999... Denver-based Pennaco Energy Inc. says it will spend $18.4 million this year, all of it directed at the company's Powder River Basin Coalbed Methane Project. Pennaco is among a number of companies actively engaged in developing coalgas in...

New company gets option to buy 25% working interest in LAK Ranch SAGD project in Wyoming.(steam-assisted gravity drainage)
February 15, 1999... A Bellingham, WA company, Power Direct Inc., says it has signed a letter of intent with Rising Phoenix Development Group Inc. of Vancouver, BC, Canada to acquire a 25% working interest in the LAK Ranch oil recovery project in Wyoming. ...

Shell, Baker Hughes form company to market expanded tube technology; useful in cased wells.(Shell Guardian Ltd.)
February 15, 1999... A new company has been formed to develop and market advanced well construction and remediation technology developed by affiliates of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Baker Hughes Ltd., a subsidiary of Baker Hughes Inc., and Shell Guardian...

Horizontal well hikes flow from upgraded Caspian Sea platform; upped by 54,000 b/d in five months.(barrels per day)
February 15, 1999... The Azerbaijan International Operating Co. (AIOC) set a production record last month in ongoing development of the Azeri/Chirag/Guneshli fields in the Caspian Sea off Azerbaijan. According to Norway's Statoil, a partner in the consortium,...

IPAA says survey shows half of U.S. producing wells could be shut-in by mid-year; calls for help.(Independent Petroleum Association of America)
February 8, 1999... Want to know just how bad things are in the "oil patch?" Try the findings of a new survey conducted by the Independent Petroleum Assn. of America (IPAA), which was released late last week. After a survey of its membership and those of its...

Oil, gas R&D funding up slightly in DOE's FY 2000 budget; reservoir class program 'revisit' among major initiatives.(US Department of Energy)
February 8, 1999... While the proposed Clinton Administration budget for the Energy Dept. for fiscal year 2000 is considerably lower the dollars actually appropriated by Congress for the current fiscal year, the budget requested for both oil and gas research and...

Alberta regulators end hearing on Suncor's expansion; incentives-based alliance formed.
February 8, 1999... It looks like the C$2 billion Project Millennium expansion of Suncor Energy Inc.'s oil sands plant at Fort McMurray, AB, is almost a go. At least, Suncor officials believe so, even though a final go-ahead by Alberta's Energy and...

Petroleum industry the focus of Senate hearings; 'quick-fix,' long-term tax cuts among suggestions.
February 1, 1999... The Asian economic crisis, freewheeling exports of oil from Iraq and a warm winter all were blamed in part for the cause of the current deep recession in the petroleum industry. Those and other industry concerns were aired last Thursday...

Despite heavy losses, ARCO remains committed to Alaska EOR projects, Venezuelan operations.
February 1, 1999... Though 1998 earnings came in drastically lower than a year earlier; ARCO still has ambitious plans for both its IOR and heavy oil projects in Alaska. And while the company admits to mulling over whether to go ahead with its huge...

Syncrude concedes world market influence on long-term expansion; strategy meetings skedded.(Syncrude Canada Ltd)
February 1, 1999... Calgary-based Syncrude Canada Ltd. seems to be the first major Western Canadian oil sands/heavy oil developer to acknowledge that the world oil price situation may force it to change its long-term capital spending plans. That might...