Improved Recovery Week articles from July 1996

Improved Recovery Week archives from July 1996

Customer reports buoy mobile pumping unit prospects.
July 1, 1996... With a sale pending from the Peoples Republic of China, and a "large" repeat order recently received from another national oil company, MIA Manufacturing Co.'s Klaeger Oil Retrieval System is finally beginning to gain acceptance in the oil patch....

UPR buys Chalk properties. (Union Pacific Resources Group Inc.; Aviara Energy Corp.'s Austin Chalk assets)
July 1, 1996... Fort Worth, Texas-based Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. (UPR) last week completed its $26.75 million acquisition of Aviara Energy Corp.'s Austin Chalk assets in Texas. The transaction with Aviara, formerly Columbia Gas Development Corp.,...

EU probes new directional modes. (European Union)
July 1, 1996... Financial and facilities support is being given under the European Union's THERMIE research program into advanced front-end drilling techniques designed to reduce well costs. The research is aimed at marginal offshore oil and gas fields...

New subsea tree designed.
July 1, 1996... Responding to challenges for new deepwater well techniques, the Scottish-based Expro Group has used skills in downhole technology to develop a dual-bore completion tree for subsea installations. The innovative design was originally devised for...

Cased-hole density tool in works.
July 1, 1996... Halliburton Energy Services and Gas Research Institute (GRI) say they are developing a wireline logging tool capable of measuring through-casing formation density, to debut in 1998. According to a recent bulletin from the Petroleum Technology...

Apache to tap Aussie reserves with benders. (Apache Corp.)
July 1, 1996... Apache Corp.'s Australian unit plans to drill at lease two horizontal production wells this year to develop an offshore reservoir which already had been written off in some industry circles. As operator, Apache (with 22.5% working interest)...

Coalgas drilling guides Virginia producers.
July 1, 1996... The main impetus for new natural gas drilling and production in Virginia remains coalbed methane. In June, the Virginia Dept. of Mines, Minerals and Energy (DMME), Division of Gas and Oil, reported operators in the state produced 49.8 bcf last...

HPHT packer set remotely. (high pressure/high temperature)
July 1, 1996... Baker Oil Tools' new remote actuation system was deployed commercially for the first time recently to set a high pressure/high temperature (HPHT) retrievable packer at Shell Offshore's Mars Deepwater Subsea Development Project in the Gulf of...

Phillips exec touts coalgas. (Phillips Petroleum Co.)
July 1, 1996... A Phillips Petroleum Co. executive said last week the company is using advanced technology to strengthen its core exploration and production operations and expand into new high-potential markets, including coalbed methane gas. Speaking at a...

Western schedules largest Gulf 3-D survey. (Western Atlas Inc.)
July 1, 1996... The Western Geophysical division of Western Atlas Inc. has kicked off a three-year, $150 million nonexclusive 3-D seismic survey that will cover about 1,000 offshore blocks in deepwater areas of the Gulf of Mexico. It will be the largest...

Three university groups to research polymers.
July 1, 1996... Three university research teams have been granted federal cost-sharing funds by the Energy Dept. to study advanced secondary recovery technology. More than $2 million will be awarded to the Univ. of Kansas Center for Research Inc., Lawrence,...

Stretching the limits of marine streamers.
July 1, 1996... There's a trend toward using longer streamers of hydrophones on 3-D surveys in the Gulf of Mexico to better sort through the seismic signals that bounce back and forth between the sea floor and the ocean's surface, as well as within rock deposits...

Captain field heavy crude can pass as fuel oil.
July 22, 1996... Finding heavy oil can sometimes be a drawback for explorers in the North Sea, where most production comprises lighter grades of sweet crude much in demand by modern refineries geared to gasoline output. But Texaco U.K. Ltd. may gain marketing...

Okla. marginal wells get relief. (Oklahoma)
July 22, 1996... A bill granting gross production tax relief for marginal oil wells in Oklahoma was signed into law recently by Gov. Frank Keating. Marginal gas wells, however, were excluded from the new law, since the state has few marginal gas wells and the...

Amoco's rotary short-radius system touted. (Amoco Corp.)
July 22, 1996... Amoco's rotary short-radius horizontal drilling technology has now been licensed to six companies in the United States, says a recent bulletin from the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council. Only two of the companies, however, were mentioned in...

Indies to hike spending. (US independent producers)
July 22, 1996... U.S. independent producers have increased their second-half 1996 drilling budgets sharply, says a study by Salomon Brothers. Armed with higher cash flows from higher prices for both oil and gas, independents have more than doubled estimates of...

Suncor sets record 2nd quarter production. (Suncor Inc.)
July 22, 1996... In its report to shareholders for the second quarter ended June 30, Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Inc. said average production from its oil sands operation during the period was a record 79,200 b/d, compared with 75,300 b/d during the same period...

DOE cost-shares gas repressurization demos. (Dept. of Energy)
July 22, 1996... The Energy Dept. last week selected four small independent producing companies for cost-sharing field experiments to test scaled-down gas repressurization processes specially adapted for smaller reservoirs. The process involves injecting...

DOE calls off revamp. (Dept. of Energy)
July 22, 1996... Some of those big plans to consolidate field offices have been quietly canceled by the Energy Dept. Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary recently pulled the plug on the proposed merging of its two fossil energy field offices, as well as the fossil...

Denver 3-D firm stretches high, low for work. (Northern Geophysical Inc., subsidiary to 3-D Geophysical Inc., market expansion to Alaska, Mexico)
July 22, 1996... The application of North American 3-D seismic data acquisition technol ogy is being stretched to directional extremes, at least by one Denver-area company. The Englewood, Colo.-based geophysical company is expanding its share of the 3-D...

Four major companies to pool technology development. (petroleum producers)
July 29, 1996... Four of the world's top producing companies - British Petroleum, Chevron, Mobil and Texaco - are planning to pool resources in a worldwide alliance to develop drilling and other upstream technologies. Each company aims to boost its balance...

TDGO buying Canadian firm. (3-D Geophysical Inc.; J.R.S. Exploration Company Ltd.)
July 29, 1996... Englewood, Colo.-based 3-D Geophysical Inc. (TDGO) is purchasing a Calgary-based geophysical contractor to extend the company's Western Hemisphere operations into Canada. 3-D Geophysical also is expanding the 3-D data acquisition market north...

Producers avoid toxic release list for now. (petroleum producers)
July 29, 1996... Thanks to a letter-writing campaign by various national and oil state groups, oil and gas producers have dodged an environmental bullet. In late June, producers learned they were not going to be included by the Environmental Protection Agency...

NARO calls for relief. (National Association of Royalty Owners)
July 29, 1996... Oil and gas royalty owners are calling on Congress for creation of incentives to increase domestic exploration and production. Meeting in Washington, D.C. recently, the legislative council of the National Assn. of Royalty Owners (NARO) also...

8th PTTC resource hub opens. (Petroleum Technology Transfer Council)
July 29, 1996... The Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) has opened its eighth Regional Lead Organization (RLO) resource center at West Virginia Univ. at Morgantown. The computer-equipped facility offers producers information on the Appalachian Basin...

Utah coalbed methane grows to 12.2 bcf. (billion cubic feet)(Industry Overview)
July 29, 1996... Utah's soaring coalbed methane production grew to 12.2 billion cubic feet (bcf) in 1995, more than 2.5 times the 1994 output with only 19 more wells. According to the Utah Geological Survey (UGS), the 119 coalbed methane wells controlled by...

Nevada heavy oil tested.
July 29, 1996... Lakewood, Colo.-based Foreland Corp. said last week it recovered moderately heavy oil in a drillstem test of a Devonian carbonate section at the company's Ghost Ranch Well No. 48-35 exploratory test in Nye County, Nev. The oil from the Ghost...

DOE alters Elk Hills plan. (Department of Energy; Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve)
July 29, 1996... The Energy Dept. has altered its timetable for the sale of its 78% stake in the Elk Hills field in California. On advice from its sales consultants, the DOE has pushed the date for seeking bids from interested buyers to April 1997 from next...

Sperry-Sun puts multi-lateral system off Qatar. (Sperry-Sun Drilling Services Inc.)
July 29, 1996... Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, Inc., Houston, recently installed a 9-5/8[inches] Retrievable Multilateral System (RMLS) for Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd. in the Idd El Shargi field off Qatar in the Arabian Gulf. The installation in Well...

Seismic mega-deal startles industry analysts.
July 29, 1996... In what promises to be a major boost to the information technology business, Halliburton Co. is in the process of acquiring Landmark Graphics Corp. through a $557 million stock swap. What's more, it's forging a joint venture with EDS to...