Improved Recovery Week articles from October 1997

Improved Recovery Week archives from October 1997

DOE 'pleased' with response by bidders on sale of Elk Hills NPR; winners to be named next month. (Department of Energy; Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve)
October 6, 1997... When the Sept. 30 deadline arrived for bids on the sale of Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve, the Energy Dept. said it was pleased with the response, and will use most of the month of October to evaluate the high bids. DOE spokesman Bill...

Talisman embraces horizontal drilling as a key in C$1 billion 1997 spending. (Talisman Energy Inc.)
October 6, 1997... Calgary-based Talisman Energy Inc. is banking on horizontal drilling technology to develop a number of properties around the world in which it conducts E&P operations. The company in August said it would increase its 1997 capital spending...

BP begins drilling at Badami field on North Slope; reservoir set to produce 35,000 b/d. (BP Exploration Alaska Inc.)
October 6, 1997... Earlier this year, BP Exploration Alaska Inc. said it would seek permission from its U.K-based parent, British Petroleum, to develop the Badami field offshore from Alaska's North Slope (IRW, 2-17). They apparently got it, and the company last...

Caspian Sea republics 'shop' mature oil fields; SOCAR sets up London, Houston data rooms. (State Oil Co. of the Azerbaijan Republic)
October 6, 1997... Those former Soviet republics in the Caspian Sea area are continuing to "shop" development rights to existing fields within their borders, both onshore and beneath the land-locked sea. For example, in its latest move to attract companies...

U.K. university team invokes a standard design for marginal field floating production. (Heriot-Watt University)
October 6, 1997... Petroleum engineers at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University have called for a standard design for floating production systems to make it economical to develop more of the marginal finds in the central and northern North Sea. After studying the...

Ranger acquisition of Elan finaled; Shell Canada seeks regulatory okay on upgrader. (Ranger Oil Ltd; Elan Energy Inc.; Shell Canada Ltd.)
October 6, 1997... Major producing companies in Western Canada's oil sands/heavy oil regions apparently are looking at the "Big Picture" as they continue to consolidate supply through acquisitions - despite evidence of what could be a sustained scenario of...

With $3.65 billion on line, DOE chucks 30-day Elk Hills bid study; Oxy startles industry with highest bid. (Dept. of Energy; Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in California; Occidental Petroleum Corp.)
October 13, 1997... Obviously, the Energy Dept. engaged in gross understatement when it said two weeks ago it was generally "pleased" with the content and number of bids producers had made for the Elk Hills Naval Petroleum Reserve in California. And while the...

Cross Timbers buys Amoco N.M. reserves, including coalbed methane; 350 wellsites set. (Cross Timbers Oil Co buys Amoco Production Co's oil and gas properties in New Mexico)
October 13, 1997... Fort Worth, Texas-based Cross Timbers Oil Co. has agreed to pay $252 million in cash and stock warrants for New Mexico oil and gas properties owned by Amoco Production Co. The properties include 170,000 acres concentrated in northwestern New...

Use information tech advances to augment collaborative ventures, say execs at SPE meet. (Society of Petroleum Engineers)
October 13, 1997... Productivity gains of at least 50% could be in prospect for the oil industry during the next few years if companies take full benefit of advances in information technology to strengthen collaboration, delegates were told at last week's annual...

Railroad commissioner calls for task force to review Texas oil laws; seeks new 'relevance.' (Barry Williamson)
October 13, 1997... A Texas energy task force is being formed to review laws governing the Texas Railroad Commission, say RRC officials. RRC Commissioner Barry Williamson said the task force is being created because Texas' petroleum industry, which is regulated by...

U.S. experts gain control of Australian coalbed methane acreage; 25 wells planned. (methane experts Frederick A Skidmore and John P. Castleman)
October 13, 1997... U.S. coalbed methane experts Frederick Skidmore and John P. Castleman have emerged with control of large coal-gas exploration areas in Australia that are being relinquished by Amoco Australia Petroleum Co. As a result, the two have now forged a...

DOE funds five projects to develop 'smart' drilling systems; goal is to temper $10 billion annual cost. (Dept of Energy)
October 20, 1997... The Energy Dept. is once again providing seed money to private companies and learning institutions to develop leading-edge (and perhaps, this time, "cutting edge") petroleum industry technology that could result in advancing the evolution of...

Amber, Canadian Natural scrap new pipeline to move Pelican Lake heavy oil; buy old one. (Amber Energy Inc; Canadian Natural Resources Inc)
October 20, 1997... Calgary-based Amber Energy Inc. has found a better - and most probably cheaper - way to move heavy oil and condensate from its producing properties in the Pelican Lake area of northeastern Alberta to terminal facilities in the Mitsue/Wabasca area...

Consortium to build world's largest nitrogen plant for Mexico's Cantarell injection project.
October 20, 1997... Based on a recent 26% downward revision made by its official reserves auditor for the offshore Cantarell field, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) Mexico's national oil company, has fast-tracked installation of a massive nitrogen injection program for...

Big waterflood kicked off by Aera Energy in California's giant North Belridge field. (Aera Energy LLC)
October 20, 1997... Aera Energy LLC is targeting the hard-to-produce Diatomite zone in the North Belridge field in California's San Joaquin Valley with a waterflood larger than any tried before in the giant field. The waterflood will involve injection of up to...

Gulf Canada expands Saskatchewan heavy oil holdings in sale, property swap with Phillips. (Gulf Canada Resources Ltd; Phillips Petroleum Co)
October 20, 1997... In a cash and properties trade, Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. last week sold conventional oil and gas producing properties in northwestern Alberta to Phillips Petroleum Co., while taking possession of Phillips' Coleville heavy oil field in...

GRI publishes new underbalanced drilling manual; offers engineering tips, case studies. (Gas Research Institute)
October 20, 1997... A comprehensive manual on the use of underbalanced drilling technology and techniques has been published by Gas Research Institute (GRI), and is available on order from two U.S. petroleum industry organizations. The manual can be purchased by...

One phase of Amoco's West Hackberry air injection project bears good economics; second shows promise.
October 27, 1997... Air injection techniques are getting IOR results in at least one instance for Amoco Production Co. as part of a pilot project the company is conducting in one reservoir at the West Hackberry field in South Louisiana, a salt dome field. And...

Imperial says Cold Lake on target for 123,000 b/d. (Imperial Oil Ltd.)
October 27, 1997... Calgary-based Imperial Oil Ltd. says production from its Cold Lake heavy oil project in eastern Alberta will average 123,000 b/d this year, up some 37% from last year. The company is engaged in the early stages of a C$440 million expansion it...

Shell cuts cost at North Sea Kingfisher field; uses missile guidance systems for hp/ht lines. (Shell Exploration and Production Ltd.)
October 27, 1997... Helped by technology developed for missile guidance systems, Shell E&P (U.K.) Ltd. has made a significant cut in development costs for the Kingfisher field, which is its latest project to achieve production in the North Sea. Though the company...

Taurus parent sets loss; sect. 29 credits to help. (Energen Corp.; Taurus Exploration Inc.)
October 27, 1997... Birmingham, Ala.-based Energen Corp. said its exploration and production subsidiary, Taurus Exploration Inc., expects to experience nearly a 50% increase in oil an gas production in fiscal 1998. Taurus more than doubled its earnings to...

Air hammer drilling being tested by FETC, Smith Tool. (Energy Dept.'s Federal Energy Technology Center)
October 27, 1997... According to PTTC Network News, the quarterly newsletter of the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council, Washington, D.C., a directional air hammer has been developed and initial field testing has been Completed under a shared-funding arrangement...

Barrington captures heavy oil rights on Canadian native lands; forecasts 4,000 b/d. (Barrington Petroleum Ltd.)
October 27, 1997... Calgary-based Barrington Petroleum Ltd., a less-publicized player in Western Canada's heavy oil picture, last week announced acquisition of the heavy oil development rights to a large block of leases inside an indian reservation's lands in...

Chesapeake expands E&P into Anadarko Basin with plan to buy DLB, Anson Production. (Chesapeake Energy Corp.; DLB Oil and Gas Inc.)
October 27, 1997... Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp., which earlier this year admitted to not reaching projected production levels in the Louisiana portion of the Austin Chalk trend, last week shored up its balance sheet by acquiring two other producing...

GHP to extend Newton field with 11,600' infill program. (GHP Exploration Corp.)
October 27, 1997... Houston-based GHP Exploration Corp. has begun a field-extension infill development project in the Newton field in Newton County in East Texas. The initial well is being drilled to a total depth of 11,600[feet]. GHP has an 80% working interest...

Polymer-aided waterflooding said doing wonders in China. (polymer-based improved oil recovery technology)
October 27, 1997... At the recent 15th World Petroleum Congress in Beijing, a senior official of China National Oil Corp. (CNOC) said that after more than 30 years of experimentation, polymer-based improved oil recovery technology is resulting in "remarkable" crude...

IOR patent. (improved oil recovery)
October 27, 1997... L.L. Schramm, C.Ayasse, K. Mannhardt and J. Novosad, all of AOSTRA, have patented a method for testing whether a surfactant-containing foam is stable against collapse in the presence of an oil phase in a subterranean formation by determining the...