Improved Recovery Week articles from September 1997

Improved Recovery Week archives from September 1997

DOE's "Support to Independents" field research program deemed a success; reflects workable co-funding plans. (Department of Energy)
September 1, 1997... A two-year-old petroleum research program, in which small producers and the Energy Dept. are sharing the costs of applying new technology in the field, then making results available to the industry, is showing definite signs of success. The...

Offshore E&P tech network set up in U.K.; new seismic, downhole tools to be sought. (deepwater oil exploration and production)
September 1, 1997... Major operating groups are supporting a plan by the U.K.'s Centre for Marine and Petroleum Technology to set up a worldwide information network for the exchange of ideas on deepwater exploration and production. For a joining fee of about...

Record production, new leases and a pilot project start-up set by W. Canadian oil sands companies.
September 1, 1997... Within seven days' time and concluding last week, three producers of Western Canadian oil sands bitumen announced updates of their already burgeoning operations. Last week Calgary-based Suncor Energy said that for the first time in its 30-year...

BlackRock starts SAGD operations at Cold Lake. (steam-assisted gravity drainage)
September 1, 1997... Finally, BlackRock Ventures Inc., a heavy oil/oil sands bitumen producing company spun off from the reorganization last year of Discovery West Corp. (IRW, 10-21-96), recently completed construction of surface facilities at the Cold Lake, Alta.,...

Amber increases holdings in hot Pelican Lake area. (Amber Energy Corp.)
September 1, 1997... Meanwhile, Amber Energy Inc., Calgary, said it had acquired working interests in 68 sections of Crown Oil Sands Development Leases in the highly touted Pelican Lake area of northern Alberta from an unnamed industry third party. The price was...

Offshore ultrasonic process reduces drill cuttings; waste strewn over wider area.
September 1, 1997... Ultrasonic technology developed in Scotland promises to provide offshore operators with a cost-effective method of meeting tighter regulations on dumping oil-contaminated drill cuttings. After field trials at Agip's Thelma field in the North...

Articulated outlet system for multi-lateral drilling applications tested at RMOTC site. (Rocky Mountain Oil Field Testing Center)
September 1, 1997... Anadril-Schlumberger, Sugar Land, Texas, recently field-tested its new Rapid-Connect[TM] system at the Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center (RMOTC) near Casper, Wyo. According to a RMOTC bulletin, the RapidConnect system incorporates an...

Western Geophysical edges back from contractor status in joint ventures with firms.
September 1, 1997... Houston-based Western Geophysical Co., a division of Western-Atlas, Inc., recently signed two multi-million-dollar deals with producing companies to jointly design, conduct and process seismic surveys. Western will be a key player in a major...

Horizontal drilling technology may be the secret to unlocking production in California's N. Shafter field. (Texaco Exploration and Production Inc's North Shafter field)
September 8, 1997... After nearly 14 years of promise weakened by uncertainty, the North Shafter oil field in California's southern San Joaquin Valley may finally come into its own as an important field. The first-month showing of Texaco E&P Inc.'s (TEPI) first...

World's first 'smart' completion system set in Norwegian field; five more scheduled. (PES International's well completion system)
September 8, 1997... Work has finished on installation of what is claimed to be the world's first "smart" well completion system at the Snorre oil field operated in Norwegian waters of the North Sea. It is the first of six wells which the Scottish-based PES...

Petrozuata joint venture spuds first of 500 horizontal wells in Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt. (Venezuela)
September 8, 1997... The first of more than 500 horizontal wells planned for its 55,000-acre tract in Venezuela's Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt has been spudded by Petrozuata, the joint-venture company formed by Conoco Inc. and Maraven, a unit of state-owned Petroleos de...

U.K. North Sea production could reach 2nd peak by 2000, says engineering consultancy.
September 8, 1997... Like the venerable Gulf of Mexico - which has had numerous reincarnations - the British Sector of the North Sea is headed for a "second peak" in oil and liquids production during the next three years. So say consultants Wood MacKenzie, who...

New consortium formed to apply 'virtual reality' capabilities to get 3-D view of complex reservoirs.
September 15, 1997... In Norway, Statoil engineers hope soon to be able to visualize complex oil and gas reservoirs in the best way possible: being there in person, as it were. In partnership with a number of international oil companies, service companies and...

DeepLook funds Los Alamos microhole drilling proposal; 1-1/8 in. boreholes sought. (Los Alamos National Laboratory)
September 15, 1997... Funding has been approved in Houston by the DeepLook collaboration for the first phase of a microhole drilling proposal offered by the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The initial phase of the LANL proposal is to conduct feasibility...

DOE demo project in Michigan's Dundee Formation resulting in rash of horizontals. (Dept. of Energy)
September 15, 1997... If the proof of federal money used to help transfer technology is a reawakened business climate, then bring on more so-called "corporate welfare," say Michigan oil and gas producers. Since September 1995, an Energy Dept.sponsored Class 2...

Aera Energy extends drilling, steaming activity at South Belridge in California's Kern County.
September 15, 1997... Aera Energy LLC will continue an active drilling program in the South Belridge field in California's San Joaquin Valley this year with 32 wells, including 3 horizontals, 11 steamflood injection wells and 18 conventional development wells. Aera...

Western begins first commercial '4-D/4-C' seismic survey in Gulf; time-tracks reservoir. (Western Geophysical)
September 15, 1997... Houston-based Westem Geophysical says it has acquired the industry's first 4-dimensional, 4-component (4D/4C) seismic survey in the Gulf of Mexico. The survey, says Western, was conducted for Texaco E&P Inc. (TEPI) in Eugene Island Block 354,...

States' desire to extend road life serves as impetus for Utah oil sands development.
September 15, 1997... That new U.S. oil sands development by Crown Energy Corp. of Salt Lake City and MCNIC Pipeline & Processing Co. shows considerable promise, since U.S. states want a cheaper source of high-performance asphalt to keep roads in good shape longer,...

Val Verde CO2 pipeline gets new partner; 10" line to carry gas for Permian Basin IOR/EOR projects. (carbon dioxide; enhanced oil recovery)
September 22, 1997... A new company is initiating a move toward construction of the 82-mile Val Verde carbon dioxide pipeline that will connect four gas treatment plants to a distribution system servicing gas injection projects in the Permian Basin area of West Texas....

Thermal recovery yields 42.3% of California's '96 total oil production; Kern County leads.
September 22, 1997... Crude oil production in California's Kern County increased in 1996, but the gain was not enough to offset statewide decline, according to figures in the newly published 1996 Annual Report of the Statel Oil & Gas Supervisor. Kern during 1996...

BP installs ESP to help maintain pressure as oil production increases at N. Sea Harding field. (British Petroleum; electric submersible pumps; North Sea)
September 22, 1997... North Sea oil producers normally try to limit the volumes of aquifer water they produce with oil. But engineers working on the Harding field in the U.K. Sector have found a way of boosting oil output by tapping more of the natural water supply in...

GRI reports on frac pack stimulation show it has become the procedure of choice in U.S. Gulf. (Gas Research Institute)
September 22, 1997... Like horizontal drilling is to conventional vertical drilling, high-permeability fracturing - referred to as "frac packs," - is a more expensive technology as a completion method than regular gravel packing. But like that of horizontal...

UPR extends Louisiana Chalk eastward 75 miles; predicts 10% growth without Pennzoil. (Union Pacific Resources Group Inc.)
September 22, 1997... Mostly practicing due diligence - but partly to refute allegations by takeover target Pennzoil Co. that it's in trouble - Union Pacific Resources Group Inc. (UPR) last week detailed a recent four-well success story from Louisiana's half of the...

Sale of Solv-Ex assets approaches as liquidator hopes to raise US $10.8 million to pay off Canadian creditors.
September 29, 1997... In Fort McMurray, Alta., a Calgary-based auction house is taking bids on the sale of Solv-Ex Corp. assets from its oil sands mine about 45 miles north of that center of Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands activity. The sale was ordered by the Court...

Australia's Santos develops high-temp frac technique; keeps it 'tight' for own benefit. (Santos Ltd)
September 29, 1997... Australian oil and gas producer Santos Ltd. has acquired a new hydraulic fracturing technology which can be used in extremely high-temperature reservoirs. But the company is not releasing any details on the technique - at least until it gains...

Book details 3-year study of IOR research projects for Norway's offshore oil fields. (improved oil recovery)
September 29, 1997... Results of a three-year improved oil recovery program for Norway's offshore oil reservoirs, conducted by various government and petroleum industry research organizations, have been summarized in a 450-page hard cover book, now available. The...

Swift moves Austin Chalk production eastward in Texas with Trinity County horizontal well. (Swift Energy Co)
September 29, 1997... New discoveries of oil, gas and condensate in horizontal wells are expanding along the whole length of the Austin Chalk geologic trend from south-central Texas to central Louisiana. Recently, Houston-based Swift Energy Co. announced it had...

Suncor officially opens bridge over Athabasca River; opens hydrotransport access to mine. (Suncor Energy)
September 29, 1997... To prepare access to its new Steepbank Mine in northeastern Alberta, Canada, where shovel-and-truck extraction operations will begin in 1999, Suncor Energy recently opened Suncor Bridge, a 1,283[feet] span across the Athabasca River near Fort...

IOGCC Chairman Frank Keating calls for new 'energy policy for the Americas.' (Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission)
September 29, 1997... Frank Keating, Oklahoma's governor, told a recent industry gathering that there is a need to recognize and build upon the depth of the interdependence between North and South America in what he called an "energy policy for the Americas." As...

Syncrude awaits world's largest hydraulic excavator; could add eight more by 2000. (Syncrude Canada Ltd)
September 29, 1997... When it is assembled in early October its North Mine in the Mildred Lake area north of Fort McMurray, Alta., Syncrude Canada Ltd.'s new 42-cubic-meter O&K RH-400 shovel will be the world's largest hydraulic excavator. And there could be as...

GRI makes fracturing case histories available; final report featured in interactive CD-ROM. (Gas Research Institute report)
September 29, 1997... Gas Research Institute, Chicago, has prepared a final report on the results of its Advanced Stimulation Technology (AST) Deployment Program, in which GRI sponsored cooperative projects with producers during 1995-96 to help them apply AST in their...