Improved Recovery Week articles from June 1994

Improved Recovery Week archives from June 1994

U.S. gets 39% of world IOR production in 1992. (improved oil recovery)
June 6, 1994... Despite a long period of falling oil prices with which to compete, improved oil recovery methods are making a significant and growing contribution to world oil supply, says an American-Canadian team. The United States is by far the leader...

First step taken with Roller/Skate. (Chevron Asiatic Ltd. begins production at Roller/Skate offshore oil and gas field in Western Australia)
June 6, 1994... Chevron Asiatic Ltd. said last week that oil production has begun at the Roller/Skate oil and gas project offshore Western Australia. First production at the Roller field began at a rate of about 5,000 b/d, while the Skate field is expected...

DOE seeks industry input on tech transfer. (oil and gas production)
June 6, 1994... Domestic oil and gas producers are getting a look-see at a draft program designed by the Energy Dept. to enhance, apply and transfer to them all new oil and gas technologies developed by national laboratories. The program being shown to...

O'Leary warns of 65% imports. (Energy Secretary Hazel R. O'Leary)
June 6, 1994... In New York City, Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary last week said that while U.S. dependence on foreign oil imports is rising, the United States is becoming less dependent on long-haul shipments from the Middle East. Nevertheless, she added,...

Firm strikes heavy Cuban oil.
June 6, 1994... A joint-venture group has announced a heavy oil discovery in the shallow waters of the Bay of Cardenas, located in Matanzas Province, Cuba. Sherritt Inc. and Fortuna Petroleum Inc., both Canadian producing companies, drilled the discovery...

Sole horizontal brings Gullfaks West on stream. (Statoil A/S offshore drilling in Norwegian section of North Sea)
June 6, 1994... A single well drilled from an existing platform has brought the Gullfaks West field on stream in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. Statoil, the Norwegian national oil company, said the one-well field, a satellite of the larger Gullfaks...

Sooner lawmakers pass tax breaks. (Oklahoma Legislature approves tax incentive legislation for petroleum industry)
June 6, 1994... A package of petroleum industry tax incentive is on its way to Oklahoma Gov. David Walters after gaining overwhelming legislative approval. The incentives, designed to stimulate drilling activity and to bring inactive oil and gas wells...

Amoco plans E-R drilling in Canada. (Amoco Canada Petroleum Company Ltd. uses extended-reach horizontal drilling technology)
June 6, 1994... With the backing of the Alberta government, Amoco Canada Petroleum Co. Ltd. plans to adapt North Sea technology to drill some 20 wells from just five sites in the Whaleback region of the foothills area of southwestern Alberta. Amoco Canada...

New pumps up Kirkella yield. (Red Oak Resources Inc.'s oil field drilling operation in Kirkella, Alberta)
June 6, 1994... New downhole pumping technology is gaining positive results in improving recovery from existing fields, including older fields with declining primary flow. For example, Red Oak Resources Inc., Calgary, said recently that production from...

IOR is the future for Indian offshore field. (improved oil recovery)
June 6, 1994... Despite a turf battle between multinational companies and India's Oil & Natural Gas Commission about who will be in charge (IRW, 5113), things may be looking up for IOR technology in the offshore Bombay High field. In fact, with IOR...

New IOR patents. (E. Gilje, C. Sonesson, P.E. Hellberg, K.Holmberg, S. Svennberg, all of Berol Nobel A.B, Stenungsund, Sweden granted patent for improved oil recovery; Swedish Patent No. 170,411) (Sweden)
June 6, 1994... E. Gilje, C. Sonesson, P.-E. Hellberg, K. Holmberg, S. Svennberg, all of Berol Nobel A.B, Stenungsund, Sweden, have patented a series of branched ether surfactants that generate microemulsion flooding. The surfactants have a high capacity of...

New IOR patents. (E.P. Pierre of Arrow Resources Corp., improved oil recovery, U.S. Patent No. 1,308,378)
June 6, 1994... E.P. Pierre of Arrow Resources Corp. has patented an improved process for the physical separation of tar sand comprising bituminous, mineral and aqueous components into upper bituminous and lower mineral fractions. The improvement consists of...

DOE announces $52 million supercomputer initiative. (Energy Department)
June 13, 1994... Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary June 7 announced the Energy Dept. will spend $25.2 million to help U.S. companies -- including energy firms -- wield a new generation of supercomputers. The new program, called the Industrial Computing...

Texaco to test Alberta heavy oil. (Texaco Canada Petroleum project at Frog Lake, Alberta, Canada)
June 13, 1994... If combined production tests from six vertical and horizontal test wells are encouraging, Texaco Canada Petroleum Inc. says will develop a 1 billion-barrel heavy oil prospect at Frog Lake, Alberta, Canada. According to Alan Cocks,...

Interest flagging in Ohio waterflooding. (falling oil prices reduce interest in secondary recovery)
June 13, 1994... Concurrent with low oil prices throughout the fall and winter, interest in waterflood projects in Ohio is still evident, albeit on a lesser scale than in years past. According to records at the Ohio Oil & Gas Div., 39 waterflood projects...

Aussie tight sands gas study set. (Australia's Queensland Electricity Commission to fund Bowen Basin project)
June 13, 1994... One of Australia's largest utility companies has agreed to finance a research project on methane gas extraction from so-called tight sands in Queensland. Researchers believe they will be able to produce new information on tight sands gas...

Completions down in first quarter. (oil, gas, dry well completions in first quarter 1994)
June 13, 1994... Oil, gas and dry well completions were down 20% during the first quarter of this year, says the American Petroleum Institute. API's 1994 Quarterly Completion Report: First Quarter reported that 5,185 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry...

White House slates meeting with lawmakers. (117-member congressional coalition seeks relief for domestic oil and gas producers)
June 13, 1994... President Clinton is scheduled to meet June 16 with a bipartisan congressional group led by Sen. David Boren, D-Okla., seeking White House action in addressing the plight of domestic oil and gas producers. The Clinton administration...

Fluor to build Suncor scrubber. (Fluor Daniel, flue gas scrubber for Alberta, Canada, oil sands plant)
June 13, 1994... Fluor Daniel, a Houston-based subsidiary of Fluor Corp., Irvine, Calif., has received a $133 million contract to provide engineering, procurement and construction management services for a wet limestone flue gas scrubbing unit. The...

Unconventional oil, gas massive, says USGS. (U.S. Geological Survey report on extra heavy oil, tar sands, tight sands gas, coalbed methane)
June 13, 1994... Unconventional resources like extra heavy oils, tar sands, tight sands gas and coalbed methane are present in large quantities in the world's ultimately recoverable petroleum reserves, says the U.S. Geological Survey. These and other data...

G.O. Brannan and W.J. McCaffrey of Amoco Corp. (patents for improved oil recovery)
June 13, 1994... G.O. Brannan and W.J. McCaffrey of Amoco Corp. have patented an oil recovery method for laterally and vertically staggered horizontal wells. The method uses separate, discrete horizontal injection and production wells that are laterally and...

A.R. Jennings Jr. of Mobil Oil Corp. (patents for improved oil recovery)
June 13, 1994... A.R. Jennings Jr. of Mobil Oil Corp. has patented a method of recovering residual oil from produced fines and solid materials that are obtained during the production of viscous oil from a formation. The fines and produced materials are injected...

New surfactants eat away paraffin, hike output. (new product from Outback Petroleum LLC)
June 20, 1994... A small technology company is reporting successful testing of a chemical surfactant designed to dissolve paraffins that reduce well production and clog up equipment. Salt Lake City-based Outback Petroleum LLC claims production from a...

U.S. firms up domestic drilling. (domestic oil well drilling expenditures exceeded foreign outlays in 1993)
June 20, 1994... For the first time in three years, the 30 largest energy companies spent more money for domestic exploration and development drilling than they did overseas, says Arthur Andersen & Co. According to an Andersen survey of annual...

Conoco to improve flow from North Sea fields. (petroleum producer)
June 20, 1994... The Dutch unit of Conoco Inc. has embarked on a program to coax an additional 1.9 million barrels of oil from its Kotter and Logger fields in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. According to Continental Netherlands Oil Co. (CNOC),...

ICI covers log, field simulations. (petroleum producers will participate in supercomputer program)
June 20, 1994... Under the proposed $52 million cost-shared ICI supercomputer program, announced recently by the Energy Dept. (IRW, 6/13), a number of specific industry projects would be undertaken by petroleum industry companies and the DOE's national...

Okla. Gov. signs incentive bill. (David Walters, oil and gas incentives bill)
June 20, 1994... As expected, Oklahoma Gov. David Walters signed into law a major oil and gas incentives bill, opening the way for Sooner State oil and gas producers to have a shot at improving recovery from wells with the help of some tax breaks. ...

Fear of oil imports aired in several venues.
June 20, 1994... The fear that imports of crude oil and refined products threaten the national security of the United States has been aired recently in several venues. Roy Willis, vice president for government relations with the Independent Petroleum...

Sidetracks solve water problem. (water seepage at Alcorn Production's Philippines oil field)
June 20, 1994... U.S.-based Alcorn Production Co. has solved a water seepage problem at its field in the Philippines by successful sidetrack drilling. Alcorn, a subsidiary of Vaalco Energy Inc., was reported from Manila to have been facing a sharp...

Rigel sets directional development. (Rigel Energy Corp. will use pad-mounted directional drilling to develop Alberta oil reserves)
June 20, 1994... In Alberta, Canada, Calgary-based Rigel Energy Corp. plans to use pad-mounted directional drilling to develop oil reserves at its Moose Mountain prospect in the southern foothills. According to Donald West, president and CEO, Rigel...

Testing set on foamy flow in heavy oil reservoirs. (Alberta's Petroleum Recovery Institute)
June 20, 1994... Flushed with the success of gaining several new oil and gas drilling and production incentives, regulators in Texas are expected to come up with more of them by the end of June. The Texas Railroad Commission says it has considered...

R.L. Christiansen and S.R. Smith, both of Marathon Oil Co. (improved oil recovery patents)
June 20, 1994... R.L. Christiansen and S.R. Smith, both of Marathon Oil Co., have patented a process for recovering oil through sequential injection of a pair of immiscible gases of differing composition. The compositions of the displacement gases are...

Shell underway with big coiled-tubing drilling effort. (Shell Western E&P Inc.)
June 27, 1994... What is certainly one of the world's largest single coiled-tubing drilling programs to date is underway in the McKittrick field in California's San Joaquin Valley. Shell Western E&P Inc. is drilling 68 shallow steam injection wells...

UNITAR moves unit to Edmonton. (United Nations Institute for Training and Research's Centre for Heavy Crude and Tar Sands moved to Alberta)
June 27, 1994... The United Nations Institute for Training and Research has moved its Centre for Heavy Crude and Tar Sands from New York to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The Alberta provincial government said it will provide offices and other "services...

Smaller Pemex presents more opportunity. (Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Assn. meeting; includes information on possible cooperation with environmentalists)
June 27, 1994... Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has cut its work force in half in recent years as part of its modernization program, but downsizing isn't over, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico told the recent annual meeting of the Texas Independent Producers and...

Tracked rig built for jungle. (drilling rig)
June 27, 1994... A mobile drilling rig designed to handle swampy coastal conditions such as those found along the coast of northern South America will soon begin work in Surinam. Though the unit is designed for shallow exploratory and development...

IOGCC to unify oilfield data. (Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission forms Ad Hoc Drilling and Production Database Standardization Committee)
June 27, 1994... The Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission has formed an ad hoc committee to assess government drilling and production data needs and develop a standardized database that can be used to produce useful national statistics. The Ad...

Texaco to reactivate Calif. steamflood.
June 27, 1994... Texaco Inc. is preparing to reactivate a steamflood involving a pair of producing properties in California's Midway-Sunset field. The properties were the center of a bitter dispute some 80 years ago. This time around, there...

WRT benefits from tax breaks. (WRT Energy Corp.)
June 27, 1994... It's not the only company that benefits, but Houston-based WRT Energy Corp. says recently enacted Louisiana tax legislation will decrease its operating costs in one field by as much as $2/bbl. Under the new legislation (IRW, 5/2),...

Mississippi gets incentives. (tax incentives)
June 27, 1994... Revisions in the tax laws enacted recently in Mississippi include five-year cuts in severance taxes for oil or gas development wells which were drilled based on three-dimensional seismic surveys, and for any new oil produced via carbon...

Firm's reserves equal provincial tally. (Syncrude Canada Ltd.; Alberta)
June 27, 1994... Syncrude Canada Ltd. says its reserves could total 2.025 trillion barrels if it is allowed to add reserve additions on two of its oil sands leases in Alberta. At that point, says Eric Newell, Syncrude president and CEO, the...

New IOR patents. (E.P. Pierre, Canadian patent no. 1,308,378; J.F. Hardie, UK patent no. 2,261,030)
June 27, 1994... E.P. Pierre of Arrow Resources Corp. has patented an improved process for separation of tar sand comprising bituminous, mineral and aqueous components into upper bituminous and lower mineral fractions. The tar sand is exposed to microwave...

Clinton leaves door ajar for domestic incentives. (oil & gas production and exploration)
June 27, 1994... He didn't promise anything concrete, but President Clinton apparently lent the possibility of domestic oil and gas exploration and production incentives an air of hope after a recent White House meeting with a bipartisan congressional...