Improved Recovery Week articles from June 1997

Improved Recovery Week archives from June 1997

Company developing downhole wireline tractor; plans following with both coiled tubing, open-hole models. (Coiled Tubing Engineering Services)
June 2, 1997... A company near Houston hopes to lower well logging/perforating costs in highly deviated wells by developing its version of a downhole tractor mechanism to convey wireline logging tools and perforating guns down the hole, particularly in...

U.S. contractors only sought for Venezuelan gas recovery project; valued at US$475,000.
June 2, 1997... The Maraven subsidiary of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. (PDVSA) is seeking contractors to develop a feasibility study to evaluate and design systems for low-pressure natural gas and hydrocarbon gas vapor recovery in various Venezuelan oil fields....

Expanded miscible injection capability will lead to enhanced North Slope liquids yield.
June 2, 1997... The owners of the Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope have approved the $160 million Miscible Injectant Expansion (MIX) project, which will add incremental production of 20,000 b/d of liquids from the Prudhoe Bay complex. The project...

Texas A&M/major company co-op gets DOJ okay; producers free to take on joint research. (Texas A and M University; oil companies; Dept. of Justice's Antitrust Division)
June 2, 1997... Now that the U.S. Justice Dept.'s Antitrust Division recently approved a collaboration among six major oil companies and Texas A&M Univ. at College Station, the new venture - the Petroleum E&P Research Cooperative (PEPRC) - can get down to work....

Fiber optic sensors, data-transmission tests being carried out by BP in U.K. field. (British Petroleum)
June 2, 1997... Pioneering work is being carried out by British Petroleum into the use of fiber optics as both sensors and as the medium for data transmission in well monitoring at its Wytch Farm onshore field in the U.K. The company believes the trials on...

LL&E reports 1-tcf gas reservoir lying beneath Wyoming's 50-year-old Madden field. (Louisiana Land and Exploration Co.)
June 2, 1997... New Orleans-based Louisiana Land & Exploration Co. (LL&E) reported recently that three deep wells have encountered a prolific natural gas reservoir which may boost reserves in the 50-year-old Madden field in Fremont County, Wyo., to more than 1...

Shell/Mobil create Aera Energy from combined Calif. upstream assets; it becomes state's top oil producer. (Shell Oil Co. and Mobil Corp. forms Aera Energy LLC)
June 9, 1997... Last week, Shell Oil Co. and Mobil Corp. combined their assets in California formally under a new quasi-independent company, making it the state's largest oil producer. The new entrant is Aera Energy LLC, and it became operational June 1....

Azebaijan's state oil company seeks help in reviving mature fields; opens data rooms. (State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic)
June 9, 1997... The State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic (Socar) is offering investment opportunities related to exploration and rehabilitation of four mature onshore fields near Baku, Azerbaijan. They are the Bibi-Eybat, Buzovni-Mashtagi, Kala and Zirya...

Altura begins its first CO2 flood in Permian Basin; looks for many small/medium floods. (Altura Energy Ltd.)
June 9, 1997... The first carbon dioxide injection project ordered by Altura Energy Ltd. has been started in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The Houston-based company, formed last year by combining the upstream Permian Basin assets of Shell Western E&P Inc....

Tipperary's Comet Ridge coalbed methane reserves top 100 bcf.; more wells planned. (Tipperary Corp.)
June 9, 1997... Denver-based Tipperary Corp., which is drilling and completing wells on the massive Comet Ridge Coalbed Methane Project in Queensland, Australia, has received an independent engineering evaluation of its share of proved reserves found there so...

Arizona CO2 development would give California heavy oil producers a new IOR option; pipeline deal said imminent.
June 16, 1997... Production of heavy oil reserves in California's San Joaquin Valley could receive a significant boost next year if a Canadian company operating in Arizona has its way. Ridgeway Petroleum Corp., Calgary, Alberta, is developing a 600,000-acre...

New study determines it's best to produce gas than oil when it comes to production tax bite.
June 16, 1997... Investing in gas production seems a better bet than oil for energy companies trying to limit their tax bills, according to a report released by the Swiss-based Petroconsultants S.A. Results of a worldwide review show that Britain - along with...

Proposed $3.5 billion Orinoco extra-heavy oil development gets nod from Venezuela congress. (Orinoco, Venezuela)
June 16, 1997... Production of about 36,000 b/d of 9 [degrees] API extra-heavy off is scheduled to begin in 1999 as a result of last week's approval by Venezuela's congress of a so-called "strategic association" involving ARCO, Texaco Inc., Phillips Petroleum Co....

Suncor says 4,500-b/d oil shale pilot plant could begin in Australia within next 60 days. (Suncor Energy Inc.)
June 16, 1997... Stage 1 of the Stuart Oil Shale project in Queensland, Australia, is one step closer to fruition, says Calgary, Alberta-based Suncor Energy Inc. The company said a number of issues have been resolved and that construction of a 4,500-b/d pilot...

$84 million ceramic membrane gas-to-liquids study aimed at prolonging life of TAPS. (Trans-Alaska Pipeline System)
June 16, 1997... The Energy Dept. has selected Air Products and Chemicals,Inc., Allentown, Pa., to conduct an 8-year, $84 million cost-shared project to develop technology that could make Alaska North Slope natural gas economically feasible as a 21st century...

Microwave technology growing in crude oil treatment; new process applicable for steamflooded heavy crudes.
June 23, 1997... A new microwave-based oil sludge treatment process is being marketed as a way to remove the water/oil emulsions from primary and secondary crude recovery operations, among other applications. And while other major markets for the technology...

Fast-track development of U.K. Clair field to hinge on probe of complex reservoir.
June 23, 1997... Chevron is providing U.S. expertise in fractured reservoirs in an attempt to provide an economic development solution for the first oil discovery in U.K. Atlantic waters west of Shetland, made about 20 years ago. A project team drawn up...

IOGCC urges congressmen to increase R&D spending; say federal state incentives work. (Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission)
June 23, 1997... Seizing on the successes experienced by petroleum research and development activities, both partially and fully funded by the Energy Dept., the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) is urging legislators to increase such programs,...

CS Resources spurns Gulf Canada offer for PanCanadian's; more buyouts seen probable. (Gulf Canada Resources Ltd.; Pancanadian Petroleum Ltd.)
June 23, 1997... Despite a widening price differential between light and heavy crude oil, producers of heavy crude and bitumen in Western Canada seem to be taking a "big picture" view of the market, rather than at what they deem to be short-term price anomalies...

PanCanadian sets C$1.1 billion miscible CO2 program at Saskatchewan's Weyburn Unit; to be Canada's largest. (PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd)
June 30, 1997... As if their recent acquisition activity weren't enough, Calgary-based PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd. hogged Western Canadian business headlines again last week with announcement of C$1.1 billion miscible carbon dioxide flood at the Weyburn Unit in...

Company hopes $20 million horizontal plan will identify Colombian 'Austin Chalk' trend. (Harken Energy Corp)
June 30, 1997... Dallas-based Harken Energy Corp. is betting the vertical fracture system beneath its Association Contract acreage in the Middle Magdalena Valley and Llanos areas of Colombia could turn out to be that country's "Austin Chalk" trend. And the...

Construction to begin on Suncor Energy's Stuart oil shale project in Australia; 4,500-b/d plant set.
June 30, 1997... It's official: Canada's Suncor Energy is going ahead with Phase 1 of its joint venture to develop oil shale deposits in Queensland State, Australia. Suncor, along with Southern Pacific Petroleum (SPP) and Central Pacific Minerals (CPM), said...

Altura's Denver Unit produces 1 billionth barrel; Wasson satellite site of world's largest CO2 flood. (Altura Energy Ltd; Denver, CO; Wasson field in Texas)
June 30, 1997... The Denver Unit of the Wasson field in West Texas - which is the site of the world's largest carbon dioxide flood produced its 1 billionth barrel of oil recently, says the operator, Altura Energy Ltd. Only 15 fields in the U.S. have produced...