Improved Recovery Week articles from July 1994

Improved Recovery Week archives from July 1994

Plan sees Texas as high-tech petroleum R&D center. (research and development, Texas Railroad Commission's incentives to the state's oil and gas producers)
July 4, 1994... The Texas Railroad Commission last week came up with 15 possible new incentives to encourage exploration and production activity by the state's oil and gas producers. Some of the proposed incentives center around tax relief for...

Thai waterflood exceeds forecast.
July 4, 1994... The year-old waterflooding of the onshore Sirikit field in Thailand appears to have been successful, says Thai Shell E&P Inc. The $35 million project was last year added to gas injection, which already had doubled oil output, and the...

Canada cashes out of New Grade upgrader. (heavy oil upgrader)
July 4, 1994... The Canadian government will pay C$125 million (US$173 million) to release itself from financial responsibility for the New Grade heavy oil upgrader in Saskatchewan. Under the terms of the agreement, the federal government won't be...

Regulator warns of industry demise. (Louisiana Conservation Commission member Herb Thompson warns Society of Petroleum Engineers)
July 4, 1994... Members of the Society of Petroleum Engineers were fed a hefty chunk of constructive criticism recently: They were warned that if they don't enter the political arena soon, their society might not be around much longer. Herb...

Subroto says U.S. plans raise trade issues. (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Secretary General Subroto)
July 4, 1994... U.S. efforts to establish tax policies to help domestic producers -- and Europe's talks on enacting a carbon tax to stem greenhouse gas emissions -- raise free trade issues that may be subject to international trade agreements, a chief OPEC...

Canada considers oil sands export reform.
July 4, 1994... An exemption from oil export license requirements would boost development of oil sands in Canada, say producers of oil sands-derived synthetic oil. The Canadian and Alberta energy ministries are crafting programs to support...

Flow dwindles at N. Sea field. (Norwegian sector of the North Sea, crude oil flow)
July 4, 1994... Daily oil flow from Statfjord Platform A in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea is declining steadily; however, if it weren't for horizontal and extended-reach wells, the decline would have been much steeper. According to Statoil,...

Okla. strippers need $20/bbl. (Oklahoma, marginal wells survival requirement)
July 4, 1994... Marginal wells in Oklahoma need an average price of $20/bbl if they are to survive over the long haul, says John Taylor, chairman of the Commission on Marginally Producing Oil and Gas Wells. Taylor, head of Hiawatha Exploration Co. in...

New IOR patents. (Canada, Patent No. 2,062,348 and Patent No. 2,012,071)
July 4, 1994... C. Ovalles, A. Hamana, R. Bolivar and A. Morales have patented a process that obtains improved viscosity and improved distillates proportion in heavy hydrocarbons, as heavy crude oil, by providing a feedstock of heavy hydrocarbons containing...

Texas oil production plummets. (from 1993 to 1994) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... Despite a series of tax incentives to help keep wells flowing, oil production in Texas plunged from 1.596 million b/d in April 1993 to 1.49 million b/d in April 1994, a 100,000-b/d drop. That, says Texas Railroad Commissioner Mary...

Talisman finals horizontals; soon to grow. (Talisman Energy Inc. drilling in Western Canada, pending acquisition of Bow Valley Energy Inc.) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... Talisman Energy Inc. is drilling horizontal oil wells and directional gas wells like crazy in Western Canada. What's more, through a pending acquisition of Bow Valley Energy Inc., Talisman is likely to become the third-largest gas...

Halliburton sets $400 million outlay. (Halliburton Energy Services to invest in well-logging equipment) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... Halliburton Energy Services (HES), a unit of Dallas-based Halliburton Co., will invest more than $400 million in its well-logging equipment and services during the next five years. The company announced it will replace existing field...

Report evaluates tight gas fields. (Gas Research Institute report on non-Appalachian U.S. basins) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... The Gas Research Institute has released a two-volume report identifying and evaluating non-Appalachian U.S. basins containing tight formation natural gas reserves. According to GRI, tight formation reservoirs generally produce gas in...

U.S. - Russian tech center inked. (Russian Ministry of Fuel and U.S. Department of Energy to create Russian-American Oil and Gas Technology Center, Western Siberia) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... The U.S. Dept. of Energy and the Russian Ministry of Fuel and Energy will establish the Russian-American Oil and Gas Technology Center in Western Siberia. The agreement was reached during the recent meeting of Russian energy...

Tool improves bore hole imaging. (Schlumberger Wireline and Testing's ultrasonic imager) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... A new ultrasonic borehole imager (UBI) produces very high resolution azimuthal images that allow oil and gas operators to detect open-hole features and potential problems acoustically, even in oil-base muds. Developed by Schlumberger...

Solv-Ex joins oil sands venture. (with United Tri-Star Resources Ltd.) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... Solv-Ex Corp., Albuquerque, N.M.-based developer of a new processing system that recovers bitumen from oil sands, and isolates valuable metals from the clay fines in the discharge sludge, has formed a joint venture to develop Solv-Ex's oil...

Caltex to spend $300 million for Sumatran IOR. (PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia) (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia plans to invest some $300 million in IOR activity in an oil field in Riau, Sumatra, which the company says still holds about 50 million barrels of oil. PT Caltex, a joint venture of Texaco Inc. and Chevron...

Conoco, Energen form coalbed methane pact. (Brief Article)
July 18, 1994... Houston-based Conoco Inc. and Energen Corp., Birmingham, Ala., have signed a multi-year agreement to acquire and develop coalbed methane properties around the world. Taurus Exploration Inc., Energen's oil and gas exploration and...

Chevron, Dowell set record frac in California. (hydraulic fracturing operation in Lost Hills oilfield)
July 25, 1994... Chevron Co. U.S.A., with Dowell Co., in June set what is believed to be a world's record as part of an improved recovery project that has enabled the oil company to more than double its production in California's Lost Hills field. The...

Some ORFD projects may seek private funds. (Oil Recovery Field Demonstration)
July 25, 1994... The Energy Dept. was swamped recently with more proposals than it can handle in the latest round of its Oil Recovery Field Demonstration (ORFD) Program, with 31 proposals requesting $144 million in government co-funding (IRW, 7/18). ...

Amoco gets 20 Antrim permits. (Antrim County, Michigan; oil-shale drilling)
July 25, 1994... Amoco Production Co. has received permits to drill 20 wells in Michigan's Antrim Shale, and some or all of them may be horizontal holes, says Michigan Oil & Gas News, the official publication of the Michigan Oil and Gas Assn. Amoco, which...

BOT forms Russian joint venture. (Baker Oil Tools)
July 25, 1994... Baker Oil Tools, a unit of Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., signed a 50-50 joint-venture agreement recently with Russia's Sidanco, a newly formed oil consortium, to offer well clean-out and completion services in that country. According...

Unocal to use MRI logging in Indonesia. (magnetic resonance imaging)
July 25, 1994... Unocal Indonesia Ltd., a unit of Unocal Corp., has signed a $400,000 pilot program contract with Numar Corp. to use its proprietary Magnetic Resonance Imaging logging services in Unical's exploration and development drilling program on several...

EOR Inc. to heat two Canadian heavy oil wells. (Electromagnetic Oil Recovery Inc.)
July 25, 1994... Tulsa, Okla.-based Electromagnetic Oil Recovery Inc. has contracted to install its patented downhole reservoir heating systems on two heavy oil wells in Alberta's Frog Lake field. EORI said the project is a joint effort with Texaco Canada...

Alba heavy oil flow stifled. (North Sea heavy oil field)
July 25, 1994... Keeping wells flowing in the Alba heavy oil field in the British sector of the North Sea has been difficult for operator Chevron U.K. Ltd. due to horizontal well completion problems. The field, which has been producing since January, had...

Sooner '93 flow hits 74-year low. (Oklahoma Corporation Commission statistics)
July 25, 1994... Oil production in Oklahoma last year was the state's lowest in 74 years, according to statistics released recently by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Production of 96.8 million barrels of oil and condensate was the lowest since the...

Texas horizontal permitting at two-year high. (oil well drilling; Texas Railroad Commission statistics)
July 25, 1994... The 70 permits granted to drill horizontal wells in the state during June represented the highest monthly number of such permits recorded since April 1992, when 72 horizontal permits were granted, says the Texas Railroad Commission. The...

MMS testing offshore royalty plan. (Minerals Management Service; in-kind natural gas royalties)
July 25, 1994... The Interior Dept. is asking natural gas producers to try a new revenue collection plan by which the government agency will take royalties "in kind" and sell the gas in the open market. In a statement, the department's Minerals Management...

New IOR patent. (D.W. Albin, B. Chefike, F.T. Lawrence; UK patent 2,251,445)
July 25, 1994... D.W. Albin, B. Chefike and F.T. Lawrence, all of British Petroleum Co., have patented a method of conformance control of a petroleum reservoir comprising the steps of (a) mixing 70%-98% by volume of a viscous oil with 30%-2% by volume of an...