FIND A CAREER IN GEOMECHANICS | BAKER HUGHES CEO & CHAIRMAN MARTIN CRAIGHEAD | GUIDE TO MEXICO CITY

The Magazine by and for Young Professionals in Oil and Gas

VOL. 9 // ISSUE 3 // 2013

Mature Resource Plays

An Official Publication of

The Society of Petroleum Engineers www.spe.org

Contents
2 3 4 5 8
Americas Office Office hours: 07301700 CST (GMT5) MondayFriday 222 Palisades Creek Dr., Richardson, TX 75080-2040 USA Tel: +1.972.952.9393 Fax: +1.972.952.9435 Email: spedal@spe.org Asia Pacific Office Office hours: 08301730 (GMT+8) MondayFriday Level 35, The Gardens South Tower Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +60.3.2182.3000 Fax: +60.3.2182.3030 Email: spekl@spe.org Canada Office Office hours: 08301630 CST (GMT6) MondayFriday Eau Claire Place II Suite 900 521 3rd Ave SW Calgary, AB T2P 3T3 Canada Tel: +1.403.930.5454 Fax: +1.403.930.5470 Email: specal@spe.org Europe, Russia, Caspian, and Sub-Saharan Africa Office Office hours: 09001700 (GMT+1 ) MondayFriday First Floor, Threeways House, 40/44 Clipstone Street London W1W 5DW UK Tel: +44.20.7299.3300 Fax: +44.20.7299.3309 Email: spelon@spe.org Houston Office Office hours: 08301700 CST (GMT5) MondayFriday 10777 Westheimer Rd., Suite 1075, Houston, TX 77042-3455 USA Tel: +1.713.779.9595 Fax: +1.713.779.4216 Email: spehou@spe.org Middle East, North Africa, and India Office Office hours: 0800 to 1700 (GMT+4) SundayThursday Fortune Towers, 31st Floor, Offices 3101/2, JLT Area P.O. Box 215959, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971.4.457.5800 Fax: +971.4.457.3164 Email: spedub@spe.org Moscow Office Office hours: 09001700 (GMT+4) MondayFriday Perynovsky Per., 3 Bld. 2 Moscow, Russia, 127055 Tel: +7 495 937 42 09 Email: spemos@spe.org

VOL. 9 // ISSUE 3 // 2013

Whats Ahead

Final column from this years TWA editor-in-chief, Todd Willis.

Response to JPT Editorial

TWAs Todd Willis and David Vaucher respond to a JPT editorial.

TWA InterAct

Responses to TWA content sent via social media.

TWA Interview
HR Discussion Forum

Interview with Martin Craighead, chairman and CEO of Baker Hughes.

The power of small when the small is really big.

9 11 14 15 18 21 25 28 30 33 34 36

A discussion of mature oil fields focusing on preventing decline.

Pillars of the Industry SPE 101

Shells Salil Banerjee talks about the challenges of mature oil fields.

How SPE awards are not just for seasoned professionals.

Discover a Career

Shells Hamed Soroush talks about geomechanicsthe oil and gas industrys missing link.

Technical Leaders

Chevrons Thais McComb and the University of Wyomings Brian Towler give their perspectives on tackling mature field development.

Soft Skills Tech 101

A two-part discussion of how ethics and integrity matter in the workplace.

Schlumbergers Kenny Campbell and Rod Smith talk about permannent well abandonment.

Academia

A discussion of how soap is used to revive mature oil fields.

A YPs Guide to... YPCC Update

Find out more about Mexicos capital city, Mexico City.

Outgoing YPCC chair Deepak M. Gala talks about awards, a new YP network site, a video library, and more.

YP Newsflash

Coverage of young professionals events throughout the world.

Your Best Shot

The best on-the-job photos from reader submissions.

An Official Publication of The Society of Petroleum Engineers www.spe.org

Printed in USA. Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers.

Whats AheadFrom the Editor of TWA

The appeal of mature fields.

Todd B. Willis Editor-in-Chief The Way A head

sk most YPs what they want in their career, and youre likely to hear descriptors like cutting-edge, major project, or new development. Ask us where we want to work, and locations like Houston, London, or Dubai might come to mind. You probably wont hear us wanting to tend to 5-B/D stripper wells in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, or be a field engineer in Baku, Azerbaijan, one of the worlds earliest major energy hubs. Upon initial consideration, these places seem unimportantnot the sexy, cutting-edge future of the oil field. They are where the action was 50 years ago, a relic, interesting to read about in history books, but certainly not to work in. The real technology and capital spendingor so the thinking goesis in deep water or unconventional gas fields. Indeed, TWA focused this years first issue on deepwater plays and the technology required to operate in these areas. On closer inspection, though, the level of ongoing investment into mature assets and their significance to the operations of companies large and small show that this initial impression just doesnt hold up. Many operators have invested tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars into sustaining or revitalizing older assets. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and i-Field (intelligent-field) efforts enable an engineer sitting at a desk hundreds of miles away to monitor entire fields single-handedly. Waterfloods, steam floods, polymer floods, infill drilling programs, horizontal side-tracksall of these enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and improved recovery projects bring tens of millions of dollars of investment capital to these so-called oilfield relics. They also bring with them the need for project managers, financial analysts, and talented engineers who can maximize return on investment. This should be of great interest to anyone with ambitious career aspirations. While a younger professional may not have the opportunity to be the lead drilling engineer on a USD500million deepwater exploratory well, many engineers not even 2 years out of college lead multiwell drilling programs in brown fields. Major capital projects in new, billion-dollar developments usually call for entire teams of 25-year veteran engineers to handle the work. But YPs are frequently given the reins in older, more mature fields. It is here that training and hands-on education can be acquired that enable todays young professional to develop into tomorrows technical expert and team leader.

Why do companies bother with these older assets? Why do so many companies agree they are worth hanging onto, despite the amount of work required to squeeze blood from a stone, as it were? One reason: They are predictable, both in terms of production and dollars. Whereas deepwater or unconventional resources often require high-risk investments for uncertain payouts, mature basins bring with them decades of history, gigabytes of information (in the form of openhole logs, decline curves, and known reserves), and reliable cash flows. Predictable cash flows enable organic growth for many companies, and avoid the need for costly external financing. But another reason is that its a lot easier for a company to bear a mistake on the order of a few thousand dollars than one involving a few million dollars. The same could be said for a young professionals career! Brown fields are excellent training grounds to develop your real-world skill set, or to apply advanced techniques and project management skills long before you leave the ranks of YPs. Continuing TWAs tradition of featuring CEOs of some of the industrys best-run companies, we are excited that Martin Craighead, CEO of Baker Hughes, provides some candid insight into what it takes to be a CEO. Our Academia section describes an everyday household itemsoapas an aid for EOR, and in Tech 101, that mainstay of brown fields is discussed: permanent well abandonment. Dont forget to connect with us online, too: The discussion is ongoing at LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Drop us a line, start a conversation! Were always eager to keep communication flowing both ways. Finally, this is a special issue for me, as it is my last as editor-in-chief of The Way Ahead. I would like to welcome the incoming editor-in-chief, DavidVaucher, who will officially take the helm with our January 2014issue. When I applied to join TWAs editorial team over 5 years ago, my primary interest was the chance to improve my writing skills. I never expected being part of TWA would be so rewarding in so many other waysdeveloping my ability to work in teams, improving my leadership and project management skills (putting together articles and issues is definitely a project), and, most importantly, developing friendships, both on the TWA staff and at SPE. Like any good organization, despite all I have given over the years to The Way Ahead, I have received far more in return. For that, I am grateful. TWA

JPT Response

Response to JPT Editorial

Todd Willis, Editor-in-Chief, and David Vaucher, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, The Way Ahead
Todd B. Willis is a production engineer at Chevron, currently managing a tight gas field in Wyoming. He has worked domestically and internationally in drilling, completions, workover, and major capital projects. Willis earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from The University of Texas at Austin, and is currently pursuing his MBA at Rice University. He is a licensed professional engineer with the state of Texas and resides in Houston with his wife and daughter. David Vaucher oversees the Upstream Operating Costs Forum for IHS CERA. Previously he was with TAM International, where he was a technical advisor supporting the companys global operations. He began his oil and gas career as an engineer at Schlumberger based in Texas, and since then has published several SPE technical papers. He is The Way Aheads incoming editorin-chief and also writes the weekly column Building Hydrocarbon Bonds for the Houston Chronicle. Vaucher holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Rice University and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. He is currently earning an MS in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University at College Station.
In the June 2013 issue of the Journal of Petroleum Technology, Dan Hill and Stephen Holditch of Texas A&M make a case for what could be a looming collapse in the petroleum engineering job market. There is incentive for petroleum engineering departments to encourage enrollments: Funding is tied to enrollment numbers, increased funding leads to more opportunities to carry out research and hire faculty, which then leads to more grants or companysponsored research projects. While Hill and Holditch recommended that each department devise an enrollment management plan, we are pessimistic that in current boom times universities will set aside immediate self-interest for the long-term overall good of theindustry. Another concern is the quality of entering undergraduates. With increasing enrollments, are both universities and the industry at large certain that quality standards will be maintained? Now more than ever, we operate under intense public scrutiny, and todays new graduates and hires will be tomorrows operations managers. We should do everything we can to ensure that only the best and brightest join theindustry. While the consequences of this enrollment ramp-up will play out more over the long term, we believe several measures should be taken to ensure that undergraduate enrollmentsand therefore future job candidate pools are maintained at sustainable levels. We have also observed that, though companies convey that talent is scarce, many have extremely selective hiring practices that suggest otherwise. Unless the industry is able to absorb all future capacity from universities, it should alter its message to aspiring petroleumengineers. Furthermore, we believe it would be advisable to take measures to limit the aggregate number of incoming petroleum engineering undergraduates. Specifically, we propose the formation of an SPE committee made up of university and business leaders. This committee could meet once or twice a year to determine the industrys future needs for engineers and make a nonbinding recommendation of a total number of undergraduate enrollments. As a precedent for this recommendation, the industry can look toward the medical field, which has a history of controlling the supply of licensed doctors for the benefit of the profession. Finally, we challenge universities not simply to maintain their standards, but to raise them. Pushing students constantly will ensure that only those who are truly committed and qualified will join the industry, leading to great benefits for the industry and society in terms of safe operations, ethical standards, and technical excellence. As young professionals devoting our careers to the oil and gas industry, we are passionate about what we do and excited about what the future holds for us. Nevertheless, we feel that, just as the industry is always seeking lessons learned to improve future reservoir and well performance, a similar philosophy should guide undergraduate enrollment levels and quality to ensure that future graduates are motivated, challenged, needed, and capable. TWA Do you also have thoughts or commentson this subject? Wed love to hear them! Drop us a line on Twitter (@SPETheWayAhead) or by email (editorTWA@spemail.org).

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

TWA InterAct

From TWAs Twitter Page

We asked people to provide topic ideas for future TWAissues: @ManzoorRoome: I think it is important to reiterate the importance of #safety given the recent unfortunate events in #WestTX #ProcessSafety. Manzoor, we couldnt agree more. There is nothing more important than keeping everyone safe at the job site. Fellow TWA editor and avid Twitter @jtsberg shared a New York Times article on Japans advancement toward undersea methane hydrate extraction. Japan apparently flared gas from a layer of hydrates 300 m below the seabed. This is amazing stuff for the future! This years @BPMS150, a bicycle ride between Houston and Austin to raise money for multiple sclerosis research, featured over 400 teams with a total of around 12,000 cyclists, including representation from a Whos Who of energy companies like ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Anadarko, Schlumberger, Chevron, and of course BP (which had 726 riders!). Heres a snapshot of fellow editor Tony Fernandez (Noble Energy team member and one of the events top 300 fundraisers) taking a break to listen to a fiddle player during the 150-mile ride!

The 2013 SPE International Symposium on Oilfield Chemistry was evidently a success, judging by the great photos submitted by TWA reader @CarlThaemlitz! During the past quarter, incoming TWA editor-in-chief David Vaucher posted pics and comments from his business trips to Rio, Amsterdam, and Paris. @WTSEnergy even offered a hot cup of coffee for him next time hes in Holland. Tough life,no? Finally, fellow reader Angela Dang (@beatnbustem) expressed her approval of editor-in-chief Todd Williss column Perception Is Reality in our Public Perception issue (Vol. 9, No. 2). She also shared a terrific Forbes magazine article regarding talent retention for the millennial generation. Thanks for the great interaction!

From TWAs LinkedIn Page

A Twitter follower posed a simple question for a complex phenomenon, so we decided to put it up for discussion on LinkedIn: @Dekotchy: Why is the price of #Brent always higher than#WTI?

BRENT

WTI

Find us on LinkedIn and join the discussion!

There are many ways to participate in

E
4

Email your thoughts to editorTWA@spe.org. Converse with us on Twitter: @SPETheWayAhead . Find us on LinkedIn at SPE The Way Ahead . Like us on Facebook at The Way Ahead Magazine. Get the TWA app at the App Store and Google Play. Join the TWA Editorial Team for details see pg 4.

TWA Interview

Martin Craighead
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Baker Hughes
Martin Craighead is chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Baker Hughes, a global oilfield services company. Craighead, whose tenure with the company dates back to 1986, was named president and CEO in January 2012. He served as Baker Hughes president and chief operating officer (COO) since 2010, its COO since 2009, and senior vice president from 2009 to 2010. Craighead also served as the group president of drilling and evaluation for 3 years beginning in 2007. Additionally, he held various technical and operational roles throughout North and South America and the Asia Pacific region. He holds a bachelor of science degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Pennsylvania State University and a master of business administration degree from Vanderbilt University. The recipient of the 2010 C. Drew Stahl Distinguished Achievement Award at Pennsylvania State University, Craighead serves his community through a variety of charitable organizations.
What attracted you to the service sector of our industry? When I spoke to our 200-plus interns [this summer], I explained to them that when I was in their shoes I followed what my gut was telling me, which was to pursue a service company career versus an E&P [exploration and production] career. I was comfortable in what I sensed to be a more commercially intensive environment [in a service company] versus a long-term engineering environment [in an E&P company]. A lot of logic can be presented to rationalize an E&P career. In fact, I believe 80% of my colleagues began their careers with an E&P company. It is hard to say how things would have turned out otherwise, but I followed my gut and I am glad I made this decision. The key is to trust your instincts and avoid over-intellectualizing the decision. transition, a tieback to a world that was familiar to me as I entered a world I was not so familiar with. I was also fortunate enough to form genuine relationships with my bosses early in my career. I found my first boss in this new environment to be of high integrity, and he was also very supportive and committed to my success. He created a learning environment that was very constructive. Had I been just one of many engineers and/or was in a hands-off culture, I dont think I would have flourished in such a positive way.

What was the turning point in your career that led you down this leadership path? The turning point was probably the first time I was exposed to the possibility of a senior role. It first became obvious to me when I was thrown into a turnaround operation in western Venezuela as a district manager. I really enjoyed getting the best out of people, particularly unrecognized talent. I was highly motivated to wipe out threats in direct conflict to our business with what I believed was best for the company. I felt like I was doing what needed to be done and that was very satisfying. I then identified local talent that wanted an opportunity to shine. The broader the base I had to do that with, the more satisfying it was going to become. That was an early indication that I enjoyed leadership roles.

Thinking back to when you started working in the oil and gas industry, can you think of specific decisions and/or relationships that had a lasting impact in your career? When I was a student [at Pennsylvania State University] and over the course of the first few years of my career, maintaining relationships to the degree of publishing technical papers with my professors gave me the confidence I needed in an otherwise intimidating workforce environment. People can be overwhelmed when they are surrounded by experts with a great deal of experience and academic reputations. Having that conduit back to trusted professors while I was a junior engineer in the R&D [research and development] function at BJ Services made it a nice

What words of advice do you have for young professionals with visions of an executive career path?

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

TWA Interview
I think it is really important that all employees believe that a role in leadership is possible. If you dont think its possible, no one else will think its possible for you. Nothing is ever likely or obvious, and sometimes the stars wont align in an obvious way. At the same time, leadership isnt for everyone, and nobody should feel like thats a requirement. Imagine if an engineering company like ours had employees that all wanted to be in charge. Its very important that people follow their passions, their hearts, and their expertise, not what other people think they should do. For every supporter and mentor you have, there will be just as many people that will try to talk you out of an executive leadership career as they point to the perceived risks, stress, and sacrifices associated with the job. CEO of a large company. I chose to go this way, and although I do not regret itbecause regret means you would do it differently if you could do it over there is some kind of remorse out of the realization of how complicated life is. From my interaction with other CEOs, I know they have similar reflections. But for me and most of my CEO acquaintances, wed do it all over again. How does Baker Hughes position itself to stay competitive? We see tremendous opportunities for Baker Hughes by investing in the right technologies and the right geographies to leverage the unconventional and deepwater resource development that will meet the worlds growing demand for energy. Giant ultradeepwater fields will present the greatest challenges our industry has ever encountered. To make these new frontiers safe and profitable, we are bringing together dedicated cross-disciplinary teams of experts in key locations, such as our Center for Technology Innovation in Houston, to collaborate with our clients in developing enabling technologies and integrated solutions. On the other side of the world, we have the Baker Hughes Dhahran Research and Technology Center in Saudi Arabia, where weve established an integrated, multidisciplinary approach to understanding and developing unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. Weve made massive technological advances in unconventional resources that are completely redefining the baseline. For example, were incorporating nanotechnology into drill bits, wireline systems, fracturing, flow assurance, and water management. There is another, very important, way that we position ourselves to stay competitive, and that is by recruiting, developing, and retaining diverse new talent. For example, in 2012, 24% of our recent graduates in engineering, science, and technology positions were women. And, 20% of our employees in leadership and management positions are diverse.

How would you characterize the role of service companies like Baker Hughes in the industry? This may be a bit provocative, but in my opinion the worlds energy issues will be solved by the three biggest service companies. Without the service companies, it would be very difficult to discover and monetize unconventionals. George Mitchell will go down in history as a Henry Ford-type of legend in our industry along with Larry Nichols for recognizing the further potential and taking it to the next level, but he needed a service company to accomplish what he did. Opportunities like what operators are doing in the lower tertiary of the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Nicaragua, and the eastern Mediterranean cant be identified and cant be monetized without the technology and innovation from the leading oilfield services sector. My message to young professionals: If you want to be a part of solving the worlds energy issues, and if you want to make a difference and contribute, then sign up with one of the Big Three preferably Baker Hughes. The role of service companies has also changed with the emergence of national oil companies, who are now more than ever vocal on their technological requirements. Led by Saudi Aramco, Petrobras, and CNOOC [China National Offshore Oil Corporation], their rise in our industry includes international ambitions. The role of service companies is critical to their continued emergence, so from our perspective they have impacted our industry in a very positive way.

What are the characteristics one needs to have to make it to this level? What makes someone a CEO? If anyone knew the exact answers to that question, they could write a bestseller book! Unfortunately there is no formula that works for everyone as there are many types of leaders. To me, authenticity is critically important. As a CEO, you may not be like your predecessor and that is okay you just need to be authentic. You also need to care about people, because thats what its really all about. You need to have an unusual level of tenacity and persistence because youre constantly dealing with obstacles. You also have to have a thick skin, because youre being tested all the time by everyone. Lastly and perhaps rather provocatively said, you need a certain degree of selfishness. You must place your career at a level of importance that affects other facets of your life. You must be prepared to sacrifice more than most. Theres no such thing as a work/ life balance in my role. At the end of the day, youll have less dance recitals and birthdays; if youre not prepared to make those sacrifices, then you should not have the aspiration to become the

What do you consider to be the technology of the future? There is going to be a fundamental change in material sciences that I believe is already beginning to emerge, and I think nanotechnology will be at the center of the evolution. Fortunately for us,

a lot of the brain trust in nanotechnology is close to us here within the Houston academic community, where we work with Rice University. I think were in a very fortuitous situation where we can download their knowledge.

How is Baker Hughes addressing the Big Crew Change? We do suffer somewhat from the bimodal distribution in our industrys age demographics to a degree, but the real challenge is the footprint that were expected to cover. On the other hand, the advantage we have is that this footprint allows us to dip into talent pools in geographic areas where this bimodal distribution isnt as severe or presentatall. That said, I dont subscribe at all to the Big Crew Change. I think the world has changed and people arent retiring at 65 anymore for a variety of reasons. Work is more interesting and safer than it has ever been. People are healthier than ever. I believe 65 is the former 55, so now people will retire at 75. We as company leaders have to adapt by changing our work environments, health care benefits, and networking infrastructure. We have to provide an environment where these professionals can be trained to fill mentoring and coaching roles. The whole society is changing, and successful companies will recognize it as a commercial opportunity to gain talent. Talent is the most valuable asset in our industry, and if I can build a culture and infrastructure that makes this change in age demographics an opportunity that can be monetized and used as a competitive weapon, Ill have done my job.

make their world and their priorities more relevant so they can be successful. Sticking to the personnel manual printed back in the 1970s will not work today. We have to have a bias to action and be open to change. I also think we have to be cognizant that young professionals today may be focused on their individual brands, and in todays market they can take those brands anywhere they want. When I grew up, a big part of me was the company I worked for, but today many folks are more about their brand, which is multifaceted. Their employer is only a part of the equation. Therefore, we have to understand how they are going to fuel their brand so we can identify and keep the best brands that are out there. From an entry-level perspective, we make sure we have rigor with intensity and dignity. You dont have to have a cutthroat environment. People in todays younger generations expect more from leadership than an adversarial environment. Theyre not looking for softness; they expect to constantly be challenged, and they want to win, but they also expect leadership to have many dimensions to it where they can be successful through team environments.

Be a part of the SPE Opinion Panel

Short on time? This volunteer opportunity is for you.
For less than one hour of your time each month, you can help shape the future of SPE products and services. Join the SPE Opinion Panel and give feedback about the Society and its programs, as well as participate in industry and technical topic research. Getting started is easy. For more information, log on to www.spe.org/volunteer/ opinion_panel.

What career opportunities exist for young professionals in the service company realm? People are given a larger level of responsibility in the service sector than in the E&P sector at a younger age. When the Big Three toe up against virtually any oil company, young professionals see increased levels of responsibility earlier in their career, ranging the gamut from budgetary, personnel, geographical, and/or innovation/technology responsibilities. I also believe theres a greater degree of geographical opportunities for young leaders. If you tell us that you want to spend some time in, say, west Africa, we are much more open to that at a younger age in your career than an operator would be. TWA

What does Baker Hughes do to retain talent? As an organization, we must have empathy. We need to understand whats important to people, how Baker Hughes falls into their world, and how we can

Society of Petroleum Engineers

HR Discussion

The Power of Small When the Small Is Really Big

Mohamed Tohami

Think big! Have you heard this motivational advice before? It sounds nice, it seems to make sense. However, when you really think about it, the small is usually bigger than the big. One day, I was reading a very interesting article by Laura Vanderkam, titled How to Change Your Life Before Breakfast. Her insight was an eyeopener. She claims you really can change your life by making the best use of the couple of hours before breakfast. She believes early mornings are the secret key to building habits that will make us happier, more productive, andsuccessfulexercising, doing spiritual practices, reading, writing, forinstance. Lauras insight led me to think of thepower of the small: Success is usually achieved by doing small thingsconsistently. Its not always easy to get out of a comfortable bed to hit thegym. We are always encouraged to think big and have big dreams. Indeed, itsimportant. However, a person often gets stuck when it comes to getting started. Having a big goal can paralyze you.

When it looks big, its difficult to know when, where, or how to start. The hard truth is that if you dont start, youll never get where you want to go. When you have a big goal, dont just think about how youre going to achieve it. Focus on doing one small action that gets you started. It could be any action in any direction. It doesnt really matter. The most important thing is to get the ball rolling and start buildingmomentum. Once you set yourself in motion, things tend to become a lot easier. For engineers, thinking in terms of the basic laws of physics makes a lot of intuitive sense. So just think about one of the laws you learned in high school physics: A body at rest wants to stay at rest, and a body in motion wants to stay inmotion. There is a wonderful quotation from Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (one of the great leaders during the Second World War), that says, It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled atatime. A perfect example to illustrate the power of the small is when you buy a new book.

Mohamed Tohami received his degree in telecommunications from Ain Shams University, Egypt. After working for 7 years at multinational companies in the telecom industry, he decided to pursue motivational speaking full time. Tohami is known for his series of interviews with successful people including, among others, Jim Cathcart, Tony Alessandra, Michael Gerber, and Mark Sanborn. He is the author of three books, including The Pharaohs Code, a highly ranked motivational book.

Reading a 300-page book is a big task to complete. A typical tendency is to keep on procrastinating and waiting for a time when youre free and relaxed or when you take a vacation at the beach to start reading the book. And guess what? This ideal time never comes! Shift your focus from the big task and just start reading the first page. Soon youll find yourself finishing 10, 20, 50 pages and maybe the whole book in one sitting. When your goals seem too big to achieve, think of the smallest action possible to begin. Then, think of the nextand the next. The key to achieving the big is to get started with the smallor the smallest. Dont wait until you have created your perfect plan, because there is no perfect plan. You can start anywhere and anyhow. Never ask yourself, What is the first thing I need to do? Instead ask yourself, What is the smallest thing I need to do to get started? Pick the smallest, easiest action, and go do it. Then move to the next easiest, then the next, and so on. As you get going, you will find yourself being able to achieve big goals faster than you could imagine possible. As your momentum grows, the cumulative effect of small actions will be really big. A quotation from Confucius, the great Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher (who was born in 550 BCE and died in 470 BCE), summarizes this mindset. When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, dont adjust the goals, adjust the actionsteps. TWA

Forum

Mature Oil Fields: Preventing Decline

Islin Munisteri, BP, and Maxim Kotenev, Robertson CGG
As the price of oil reached approximately USD 147 per barrel on 3 July 2008, an increasing number of mature oil fields became attractive for redevelopment. On the fifth anniversary of the highest oil price yet attained TWA asked,What defines a mature oil field? According to Paul Bondor, 201011 SPE Distinguished Lecturer, retired from Shell after 35 years of technical and supervisory service, a mature oil field is an oil field that is considered fully developed. There may be infill opportunities but in general the fielddevelopment plan has been executed. There may or may not be secondary recovery with gas or water injection. But if there are no additional wells to be drilled, you are doing a decent job of reservoir management and your production has peaked and is on decline. For example, with a strong and active aquifer you may never put water in the ground but you will still get eventual high water cut. To me, a mature oil field is one where you have development in place, and the field has peaked and is ondecline. Jonathan Williams, geoscience team leader at BP, said, You have really got to think of it in terms of how much ultimate recovery potential you have

50,000 45,000 40,000 35,000 30,000 25,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 5,000 0
5 0 5

Weyburn Unit Oil Production

Vertical Infills

Primary and Waterflood

Pre CO2 Horizontal Infills

CO2 Enhanced-Oil Recovery

5 -0 Ja n

-5

-6

-6

-7

-7

-8

-8

-9

-9

-0

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Ja n

Fig. 1 A production history of the Weyburn Unit in western Canada.

already achieved and where are you in that production profile. Once you come off plateau, thats when you start calling yourself mature. When we look at oil fields, especially at onshore locations, they have 30- to 60- to 100-year lives. Until you reach the technical limit of ultimate recovery, there are opportunities; they may not be economic but there are always opportunities. So a mature oil field is one that has come off plateau, that then has oil processing capacity where

Islin Munisteri is a reservoir engineer at BP, supporting the Mad Dog project in the Gulf of Mexico. She earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. Previous responsibilities include providing reservoir engineering support for the Arkoma basin onshore in the US midcontinent and for the Mars-Ursa basin in the Gulf of Mexico on the Operated by Others team. Munisteri is serving as fiscal year 2014 president of the Society of Women EngineersHouston Area Section. She is an editor for SPEs The Way Ahead.

finding the right technology can unleash those barrels into the facilities. I look at oil profiles almost the other way around. Im always thinking about what is the capacity. That gap between what you are producing and what is the capacityand therein lies the opportunity. If you flipped it on its head and did not look at water-handling capacity or gas-handling capacity and you just look at oil-processing capacity versus oil throughput, in most fields you have a whole fields worth of underutilized capacity. R. Keith MacLeod, president of Sproule International Ltd and SPE Director, Canada, commented, Mature fields are very important, as recent studies estimate that hydrocarbon production from these fields will account for more than one-half of the global energy mix for at least the next 20 years. Since most of the worlds oil basins have been explored andlarge discoveries are occurring less

Ja n

-1

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

Forum
frequently, it will be critical for companies to improve recovery from mature fields. The great asset of mature fields is the large volumes of hydrocarbons in place that have been identified through drilling, testing, historical production, and pressure data. This generally provides very low risk related to encountering hydrocarbons while drilling. Mature fields also benefit from existing wellbores, surface infrastructure, and government approvals that can provide timely redevelopment and improved economics on incremental recovery projects. Mature fields offer excellent opportunities to experiment with new reservoir-management techniques or technologies related to geoscience, production optimization, enhancedrecovery schemes, drilling, and facilities with the objective of enhancing production levels or reducing field decline rates.

Primary Recovery Natural Flow Artifical Lift

Oil Recovery
Generally Less Than 30%

Secondary Recovery
30%50%

Waterflooding
IOR

Pressure Maintenance
>50% and Up to 80+%

Tertiary Recovery
EOR

Thermal
Steam Hot Water Combustion

Gas Injection
CO2 Hydrocarbon Nitrogen/Flue

Chemical
Alkali Surfactant Polymer

Other
Microbial Acoustic Electromagnetic

Source: SPE Papers 84908 and 87864

Fig. 2 Defining improved oil recovery (IOR) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

Technology, Trial and Error

Getting to oil that once seemed unrecoverable is one of the energy industrys tasks. Technological advances should allow hydrocarbon production keep up with world energy demand for some decades to come. An example of where evolving technology played a key role is the Weyburn oilfield unit operated by Cenovus Energy in western Canada (Fig.1). The Weyburn oil field began its decline in the late 1960s, making it mature at that point. However, redevelopment opportunities from the late 1980s until the present have actually increased production. Infill drilling both vertical and horizontal wells has allowed for increased reservoir exposure and decreased well spacing, offering better economics. In 2000, the Weyburn oil field became a carbon sequestration project, whereby CO2 was injected into the reservoir for the purpose of enhanced oil recovery (Fig.2) and long-term CO2 storage. Today, the oil field continues to operate, with CO2 being delivered by pipeline from NorthDakota.

Another example is the Forties field in the North Sea, which was acquired by Apache in 2003. Apaches engineers and geoscientists have increased the value of the field by adding reserves and production. A successful drilling program was initiated by utilizing 4D seismic that identified areas of the field that have not been sufficiently drained, and by reducing costs through utilizing new drilling equipment, such as a modern jack-up rig. Another advancement features the ring main project, which allowed electricity to be generated using natural gas from the field instead of purchased fuel oil. The reward is large: Each additional 1% recovery of the 5 billion bbl of original oil in place is the equivalent of a 45- to 50-million-bbl discovery. This progressive work continues today.

What to Think About When Revitalizing Mature Oil Fields

MacLeod believes that revitalizing mature oil fields can be started with a few steps. The first step, he said, should be to prepare an integrated reservoir study to identify the hydrocarbons initially in place, in all zones, and to develop an understanding of the remaining hydrocarbons in each zone based on the current field-developmentplan. The second step, he continued, should be to review development strategies and technologies used by other companies elsewhere in the world. Utilizing resources such as SPEs OnePetro and other SPE resources as well as those of other technical societiescan help engineers and geoscientists better understand whats out there, said MacLeod. Management

Maxim Kotenev is a reservoir geoscientist at Robertson CGG in the UK, performing geological, dynamic modeling, and integrated exploration and field-development studies. Previous responsibilities include geological and reservoir engineering work with Lukoil; Rosneft; and Technical University of Berlin, Germany. Kotenev was president of the SPE Student Chapter at Ufa Petroleum University, Russia, and now serves as vice-chair of the SPE London Section YP Group. He has coauthored 15 technical papers. Kotenev received a BS degree in petroleum engineering and a BS degree in management at oil and gas enterprises from the Ufa Petroleum University, Russia; an MSc in petroleum geoscience from the University of Manchester, UK; and a PhD in petroleum engineering from the Academy of Science of Russia.

10

Pillars of the Industry

Developments and Challenges of Mature Oil Fields

Salil Banerjee, Shell Introduction
The early 1970s was a critical period for the oil industry, when oil prices were at levels as low as USD 5 to 6/bbl. Back then I was a graduate student at the Missouri University of Science and TechnologyRolla, and I remember that gasoline used to cost only about USD.15 to USD .17/US gallon. Gas station owners used to give away goodies and incentives such as a pack of soft drinks or a set of towels if somebody filled up their car. World oil consumption was just a little more than 50 million B/D then, of which about a third was being consumed by the USalone. After my graduation in 1974, I was working at Exxon Production Research Company (EPRCo) as senior research engineer when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Oil Embargo of 197374 occurred, in connection with the 197374 Arab-Israeli War known as the Yom Kippur War. Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt, Syria, and Tunisia, stopped exporting crude oil to the US and Western Hemisphere countries. This caused a sharp hike in crude oil prices in the US and other Western countries. Long lines at US gas stations were common scenes at that time and tempers often flared between customers waiting a long time to buy gas. Although many felt it would negatively impact the US economy, the Oil Embargo actually proved to be a boon that provoked additional exploration for petroleum resources. With high oil prices, many projects that were not economic before were suddenly kick-started. The targeted countries during this embargo responded with a wide variety of new, and mostly permanent, initiatives to constrain their further dependency on OPEC oil. The 1973 oil price shock, along with the 19731974 stock marketcrash, has been regarded as thefirst event since World War II, as well as the Great Depression precedingit, to have a persistent economic effect. My first project involved laboratory simulation of in-situ dry and wet combustion with a sand pack and crude from Exxons Illinois waterflooded field. After this, I got exposed to my first numerical simulation studyof the giant East Ghawar onshore oil field in Saudi Arabia, while I was in the Aramco studies group within EPRCo. This Saudi Arabian field is an extension of the largest conventional oil field in the world, the Ghawar field. To manage such large fields, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sought help from the international oil majors such as Exxon. A consortium named Aramco was formed, which consisted of four major oil companiesExxon, Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco. This consortium of four major companies along with Saudi Arabia made all the major oil and gas development decisions for the Kingdom. My role on this project was to optimize waterflood efficiency by maximizing the sweep via simulation of many development scenarios. In those days Exxon was at the forefront in developing complex reservoir simulations and we were using the first generation of a simulator known as the General Purpose Simulator or GPSIM. Waterflooding techniques and management were not as sophisticated as they are today: It was difficult to accurately portray heterogeneity across the reservoir/model layers in terms of permeability contrast and hence water fingering in the microscopic sense could not have been modeled effectively in those days. The key to success in exploiting such fields turned out to be effective field surveillance andmonitoring.

Salil Banerjee has more than 38 years worldwide experience in petroleum reservoir engineering, both with major international E&P companies and with oil and gas service companies. He earned bachelors and masters degrees in mechanical engineering and a doctoral degree in chemical engineering, all from Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly the University of MissouriRolla. Banerjee has worked for Exxon, BP, PDVSA, PGS Reservoir, Halliburton, BHP Billiton, Reliance Industries, BG Exploration, and, presently, Shell, serving as reservoir engineering discipline manager for Shell Technology Center in Bangalore, India. He has specialized in reservoir simulation, pressure transient analysis, PVT (pressure, volume, temperature) characterization, modeling of naturally fractured reservoirs, and teaching and training of engineering professionals. Banerjee is a member of the SPE 25-Year Club and in 2006 received the honor of becoming an SPE Distinguished Member.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

11

SPE Bookstore
www.spe.org/store

Mature Oilfield Challenges

The very first challenge in mature field development is to find the remaining oil, which occurs due to inefficient displacement (residual oil in the pores of the swept zones) or poor sweep (bypassed oil). Reservoir characterization techniques were not fully matured back then, in large part because only 2D seismic was available. Today we are advancing 4D seismic technology, which allows us to pinpoint accurately not only structural events but also to track and monitor fluid movement with sufficient density contrast. Back then, logging tools as well did not have the range they have with todays finer precision in collecting data from deeper in the reservoirs, leading to a much higher degree of confidence and reliability. In fact, there are many instances today where improved technology and data recording in seismic and engineering analysis techniques and processes have led to improved recovery from mature oil fields that were in their decline phase. In the earlier days of petroleum exploration and production, more analytical methods of calculation were used, unlike today where sophisticated software is being used for almost everything. Computer hardware used to take up almost an entire floor in our office building. Carrying out complicated reservoir simulation jobs was cumbersome and time consuming. Modern-day laptop computers have much more computational firepower than the old days big and bulky supercomputers. The first digital computers in the early and late 1970s calculated information with data and programs keyed onto punch cards that were fed into card readers. These cardsused to be prepared using keypunch machines as the primary medium for input of both computer programs and data. In those days, keypunch typing was a booming careeras an associated skill in engineering industries. The sophistication and maturity of modern advanced technology today

Weve got the books that can help you meet every technical challenge.

AVAILABLE NOW
SPE-published books are peerreviewed to deliver the highest technical integrity Books for all technical disciplines Interdisciplinary books on core industry topics Monographs with technical applications and solutions Reference works on industry standards, data and test statistics Technical papers from SPE conferences around the world Petroleum engineering textbooks for all levels of university

NEW ORDERING OPTIONS

Online ordering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Member discountsup to 50% on many titles Accurate pricing quotes that include shipping costs Special ordering for university or bulk orders for workgroups Online order tracking

is simplyamazing compared to the daysof 70s! These challenges not only increased the cost of handling huge, mature fields but also meant the means for optimizing oil recovery from the reservoirs were limited. Rejuvenation of mature fields that had a huge potential for remaining recoverable oil was prematurely abandoned due to the nonapplicability of exotic, enhanced technology that was deemed not economically feasible (not to mention the time it took to carry out eachactivity). In the late 70s and early 80s, there was hardly any capacity for knowledge-sharing between different oil companies, unlike today. I was with BP in the early 80s. BP was not a prominent company in the US until it bought SohioStandard Oil of Ohio, the first standard oil company in the US to gain a foothold in the working interest of the giant Prudhoe Bay field on Alaskas North Slope. The in-place volumes in this field were about 20 billion bbl and 27 Tcf of gas. Sohio and Arco, both American companies, discovered the Prudhoe Bay field in1967. This giant fields plateau production rate peaked at around 1.7 million B/D and the ultimate recovery factor is expected to be in excess of 55%. Redetermination of equity was a big issue between the three major partners, BP/Sohio, Arco, and Exxon in the early 80s when I joined the BP team. Arco and Sohio were subsequently subsumed by acquisition into BP. Then, the field had a diverse equity share BP had majority interest in the oil rim, whereas the other two companies had majority stakes in the gas cap. BP was the operator of the western part of the field and Arco was the operator for the eastern part. All three companies spent time in creating their own reservoir simulation models using independent analysis of data. Again, there was no sharing of data between the companies whatsoever. When the models were all set up, the three companies discussed the results by meeting in a neutral city

Visit our online bookstore at www.spe.org/store.

Society of Petroleum Engineers

TR AINING COURSES
totally different from where the three companies were located. This was done to protect data privacy. Each companys model of course focused on preserving or enhancing their own equity interest, whether it was gas or oil, and hence their recovery scenarios were based on maximizing production of their own hydrocarbon resources. Obviously each company had different views of recovery strategies with their own interest inmind. In spite of all these challenges and diversities of interest and ownerships, Prudhoe Bay became a pioneer, with many firsts in implementing new technologies, horizontal well technologyused to exploit the oil rimsbeing one of them. Later during the recovery phases, the Prudhoe Bay miscible flood project became one of the exemplary projects of its kind and also one of the largest. Prudhoe Bay was also able to help justify one of the worlds longest pipeline systems, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. This 800-mile, 48-in. pipeline through Alaska, built starting in 1974, is a good example of a case where the 1973 oil crisis rise in oil prices made the development of a field economicallyfeasible. is critical, each and every part of a mature field development is an important step in gaining incremental recovery. This has especially brought in a sense of cooperation between international major oil companies. They are now more progressive minded and find more and more opportunities to join hands and share risk. Risk sharing between companies has opened up a plethora of exploration possibilities offshore, beginning with exploration in Norway and the Gulf of Mexico offshore and now into much deeper waters and harderto-reach areas. Joint ventures have also enabled companies to return to reserves left behind in previously produced fields due to economic and technologicalconstraints.

Setting the standard for technical excellence.

Relevant. Reliable. Rewarding.

Courses are available for all levels of professionals.
Attend an SPE training course to learn new methods, techniques, and best practices to solve the technical problems you face each day. Find out more at www.spe.org/training.

Advice for Young Professionals

Since the 1980s people have thought that the world would run out of oil, but human ingenuity has been instrumental in disproving this theory. Take Prudhoe Bay, for example, where we have continued to produce more and more every year when everybody thought each year was its last. Our industry has come a long way. Even in 2013 we can say we have years of energy left to beexplored. With a great attitude and talent we can find more hydrocarbons each year. The oil industry has endured a bad reputation on many occasions (e.g., the Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico), but we need to keep in mind that, even there, many thousands of rigs operate safely every day, and we should be proud of our safety and operational advances. At Shell, our motto is Zero Incidents, and we strive for that every day at work. We must continue in our careers to improve our operational capabilities and focus on safety and the environment. With many horizons yet to conquer, safely and soundly, you have an exciting career ahead of you! TWA

Current Vision
It has to be recognized and appreciated that although modern, exotic recovery practice techniques and new discoveries receive the most attention, almost 70% of the hydrocarbon liquids to date have been recovered from mature fields. Considering the substantial quantities of remaining oil at stake, boosting the recovery factor of all the worlds oil fields by a mere 1% would cover 3 years of worldwideconsumption. Today, companies are even more conscious of economics, project execution time, and not wasting manpower resources. Since so-called easy oil is long gone and technology

Get the current schedule wherever you are. Scan here with a QR code reader.

Society of Petroleum Engineers

SPE 101

SPE Awards: Not Just for Seasoned Professionals!

Alex Schmitt, Caracal Energy
With the global breadth of the oil and gas exploration and production industry, it can be easy to lose sight of the impact individual contributions can have on the petroleum community at large. For more than 50 years, the Society of Petroleum Engineers has aimed to help rectify this through several awards that shine a spotlight on outstanding contributions made to theindustry. Each year, SPE gives regional and international awards to deserving nominees (see sidebar). These awards recognize a variety of achievements in all aspects of our industry, from drilling to formation evaluation, academics to corporate support. Many awards are given for life-long contributions. For example, Honorary Membership is limited to less than 0.1% of SPEs total membership. However, if a potential nominee has not been in the industry long enough to be considered a seasoned professional, fear not! There are a number of awards designated specifically for young professionals or for which YPs are often excellent candidates (shown in bold text in thesidebar). Since SPE does not allow selfnomination, its important to recognize that if you dream of someday receiving an SPE award, one way to start along that path is by getting involved in your local section by asking section officers what you can do to help. As your contributions to the industry and to SPE expand year by year, you may one day be an award nominee. What makes for a well-qualified nominee? A good first step is to determine which award best applies to the candidate. This will depend on the nature of their contributions (e.g., technical award or service award). There are also eligibility criteria that must be met for each award (see www.spe.org/awards for details). Occasionally some awards are not presented due to a lack of nominees, so we urge readers to work with their local SPE section to identify qualified candidates. As a result, sometimes you might be looking for candidates who fit an award, rather than awards that fit acandidate. Once youve selected an appropriate nominee and award, begin the nomination process by visiting www.spe.org/awards, where youll find all the latest forms and nomination instructions. When compiling a nomination, be sure to completely fill out the application dont leave blanks! Help the selection
Continued on page 20

Current SPE Awards

Membership Awards Honorary Membership, Distinguished Membership Technical Awards Anthony F. Lucas Technical Leadership Gold Medal, John Franklin Carll Distinguished Professional Award, Lester C. Uren Technical Excellence Award, Completions Optimization and Technology Award, Drilling Engineering Award, Formation Evaluation Award, Health, Safety, Security, Environment, and Social Responsibility Award, Management and Information Award, Production and Operations Award, Projects, Facilities, and Construction Award, Reservoir Description and DynamicsAward Professional Awards Cedric K. Ferguson Young Technical Author Medal, Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal, DeGolyer Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Corporate Support Award, Distinguished Achievement Award for Petroleum Engineering Faculty, Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award, Distinguished Service Award, Public Service Award, Robert Earll McConnell Award, Young Member Outstanding Service Award, Regional Service Award* Eligibility requirements and past recipients are listed at www.spe.org/awards. Italics indicate awards available on both the regional and international level. Bold text indicates awards either specifically set aside for young professionals or for which young professionals may often be well-qualified nominees. *Available only at the regional level.

14

Discover a Career

Discover a Career in Geomechanics

Hamed Soroush, Shell International Exploration and Production
By definition, rock mechanics is the theoretical and applied science of the mechanical behavior of rocks in the force fields of their physical environment. In practice, so-called rock engineering is concerned with the application of principles of engineering mechanics to the design and construction of structures of any type either on or in the rock, such as tunnels, mine shafts, underground excavations, open pit mines, road cuts, dams, skyscrapers, waste repositories, and oil or gas wells. Though initially developed for mining and civil engineering purposes, geomechanics found its way into the oil and gas industry in the 80s in order to improve hydraulic fracturing and drilling operations. In the contemporary petroleum industry, geomechanics is defined as the discipline that integrates rock mechanics, geophysics, petrophysics, and geology to quantify the response of the Earth to any changes in state of stress, pore pressure, and formationtemperature.

Geomechanics: The Oil and Gas Industrys Missing Link

Although systematic application of rock mechanics in the oil and gas industry is relatively new, it was recognized and appreciated by many oil companies in a short period of time and has become a fast-growing field due to its applicability and effectiveness in reducing nonproductive time (NPT). As the virgin state of stress is disturbed by different oil and gas activities, the rocks mechanical state changes, too, and consequently influences drilling, completions, and production performance. These changes can result in serious and unexpected cost and time overruns if not properly predicted and managed. Dodson et al. (Offshore, Vol. 64, No. 1, 2004) conducted a survey of Gulf of Mexico wells and reported wellbore stability issues were the cause of almost 40% of drilling-related NPT, resulting in an annual cost of around USD 8 billion. As a result of experiencing significant improvements in drilling and production operations by utilizing

Hamed Soroush is an internationally recognized geomechanics expert with more than 17 years of experience applying principles of rock mechanics within the mining, civil, and oil and gas industries. He has conducted or managed more than 100 consulting and research projects worldwide and is currently working for Shell as a geomechanics advisor in Houston. Before that, Soroush was the global geomechanics advisor for Weatherford, based in Dubai, providing project coordination, support, and training for geomechanics and petroleum engineering applications. He has also worked with numerous other companies in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, North Sea, and South America regions. Soroush holds a BSc in mining engineering, an MSc in rock mechanics, and a PhD in petroleum engineering from Curtin University of Technology in Australia. He has published three technical books and many journal and conference papers. Soroush has given several industry short courses and has served as a steering committee member for many conferences and workshops. He was selected as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer for 201213, presenting on the geomechanics of unconventional resources.

geomechanics, it has hence become an important and integral part of each and every field development plan, from the early stages of exploration to even after field abandonment. With the recent boom in the development of unconventional oil and gas resources, the use of geomechanics principles has become even more imperative due to the sensitivity and complexity of these reservoirs. Geomechanics is playing a critical role in successfully maximizing shale gas production by helping optimize the use of hydraulic fracturingtechnology. Geomechanical applications in the oil and gas industry include porepressure prediction; helping ensure cap-rock integrity; field problem diagnosis; formation properties evaluation; in-situ stresses estimation; drilling performance evaluation; wellbore stability; borehole trajectory optimization; sand production prediction and control; underbalanced drilling feasibility; fractured reservoir characterization; and production maximization affected by natural fractures, hydraulic fracturing, fluid and steam injection, reservoir compaction, surface subsidence, and casing shear and collapse. Its a longlist! Clear knowledge of how to apply geomechanics appropriately will increase exploration and development efficiency in both conventional and unconventional resources.

Geomechanical Modeling: Turning Impossibilities Into Possibilities

To conduct any of the aforementioned studies using rock mechanics, the first step is to construct a geomechanical Earth model (GEM). A GEM consists of six core components that need to be either calculated or estimated using field data:

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

15

Discover a Career
 Vertical stress, v (often referred to as the overburden stress)  Maximum horizontal stress, H max  M inimum horizontal stress, H min Stress orientation, Azi H max Pore pressure, P p Rock mechanical properties Modeling techniques in geomechanics encompass analytical, experimental, and numerical methods, each having their pros and cons. Generally, numerical models have higher accuracy over analytical ones but require additional input data and more time. Analytical techniques are in return quicker with less complexity. Experimental models are based on physical and mechanical laboratory tests on rock core samples. It is usually costly and time consuming to perform such tests, though they do provide valuable information about rockproperties. As a generic workflow, constructing a 1D geomechanical model starts with rock mechanical property estimation using petrophysical logs in conjunction with core test results. There are different empirical models to make a strength profile; however, laboratory data are required to calibrate thesemodels. The second step is building a continuous overburden profile using density logs. Pore-pressure prediction using logs and available well test data (or seismic data if available) is the next step. Minimum horizontal stress can be calculated using either empirical equations or fracturing data (LOT [leak-off tests]/X [extended] LOT or minifracturing tests) or ideally, a combination of both. Drilling incidents such as ballooning and mud losses can help to constrain the minimum horizontal stress and fracturegradient. The last steps are determining azimuth and magnitude of the maximum horizontal stress. This is the most complicated part of geomechanical modeling, as no direct way of measuring H max is available. Analyzing wellbore failures such as breakouts and drilling-induced tensile fractures from image logs is one of the existing techniques to determine a reasonable range for H max and find its orientation. Using caliper logs, sonic logs, and laboratory measurement of elastic strain recovery are alternativetechniques. Many field examples have proved that geomechanical analyses can open opportunities for drilling into harsh and challenging environments which previously looked impossible. In an example in southeast Asia, where drilling a vertical well was identified as impossible due to lack of a safe operating mud weight window, the well was made possible by geomechanical analysis that led to changing the well trajectory to the safest orientation in a specific formation and thereby widening the window. Geomechanics can also improve casing design and provide a wider mud weight window for drillers. There are examples in Northwest Shelf Australia where geomechanical modeling reduced the number of casings, resulting in significant cost savings for the operators. In the context of production from naturally fractured reservoirs, a GEM can make a real difference in maximizing production by identifying critically stressed fractures which are, in fact, the productive fractures. Identifying the orientation of these fractures enables optimization of drilling orientation to intersect the maximum number of them. Field examples in the Middle East and southeast Asia have shown notable increases in production using these types of studies. benefits geomechanics has brought to the industry, there has been escalating appreciation during the last decade from operating companies toward using it in their operations. Time and money savings by big operators through using geomechanics have convinced them to either establish a geomechanics capability in house or ask for support from external experts. This increasing demand has created a huge potential job market for young professionals interested in building a career ingeomechanics. Currently, however, the oil and gas industry suffers from a lack of enough competent resources in this field; this is because universities offer only a limited number of specialized programs in petroleum geomechanics. Although few universities offer rock mechanics courses at the postgraduate level, they are usually in mining or civil engineering departments. As a result, there is a lack of professionals with academic backgrounds in rock mechanics specifically related to the oil and gas industry. It should be noted that rock mechanics requires a comprehensive understanding of mathematics, physics, and mechanics, and, therefore, having the appropriate academic background is a critical factor in pursuing a successful career in geomechanics. Generally speaking, people with engineering backgrounds are better candidates for becoming geomechanics specialists. Indeed, geomechanics can be as lethal as it is useful if it is used by a person who does not understand the mechanical behavior and strength of materials. Being a software user without understanding the theories and concepts hidden behind the screen is extremely dangerous and can result in misleading outputs which may put a project in jeopardy. There are many cases where companies have lost faithin geomechanics due to bogus results generated by so-called geomechanics specialists who lacked the appropriate background, credentials, andexperience.

Distinguish Your Career With Geomechanics

Due to the remarkable contribution geomechanics has made to the oil and gas industry in solving a plethora of problems related to exploration, drilling, completion, intervention, production, and injection operations, geomechanics specialists can be called petroleum engineering troubleshooters. Considering all the

16

Thus, it is strongly recommended for students with an interest in geomechanics to take any and all rockmechanics-related courses during their engineering degree, or,ifcompleting a nonengineering degree, learn the necessary mathematics and mechanics. Combining a relevant academic background with some industry experience can lead to an exceptional career which can give you the opportunity to choose whether you want to work in the operating or consulting sectors. A geomechanics career is usually associated with a lot of traveling all over the world, which makes it very attractive and exciting. Dealing with a host of different geomechnics applications in petroleum engineering can prevent you from getting stuck in a rut and keep you busy by providing opportunities to learn new things and face new challenges.

The nature of geomechanical studies requires a highly focused multidisciplinary team approach andclose interaction with other experts. This provides opportunities to learn about other interesting disciplines, which is another attraction of this field. For instance, when a geomechanics specialist performs ananalysis for sand production prediction and management, he or she must work closely with completion engineers and production technologists. This provides the opportunity for improving ones knowledge about completion technologies, production techniques, and different sand control tools. Although the job market in geomechanics is not very competitive at the moment due to the scarcity of high-quality experts, it is still essential for people in this field to improve their knowledge and capabilities and update themselves on state-of-the-art advances

and technologies in order to distinguish themselves and to stay on top of their career. Geomechanics specialists are expected to fully understand related industry problems and be able to provide innovative solutions using their rock mechanics knowledge. Good knowledge of mathematics and physics helps you to develop your own analytical and numerical models and have full command of what you are expected to do. Because geomechanics is a new science, there are many avenues open for research and development. Therefore, creativity and having new ideas are key to a successful and evolving career. In addition to all the attractions and challenges of a geomechanics career, it remains one of the exceptional multidisciplinary fields that give you the facility to move to other industries like civil and mining should you feel like making a big change in your career. TWA

Continued from page 10

Forum

will give more serious weight to your recommendations and request for funding, he said further, if they are supported by successful outcomes in analogous fields. The third step, according to MacLeod, is to test the strategies and technologies using a reservoir simulation model and assess their potential economics. It may be necessary to carry out a field pilot project to demonstrate technical and economic feasibility. Ultimately, economics will determine whether a mature field is revitalized. There are several key factors in developing mature oil fieldssome obvious and others less obvious. Reservoir conditions, oil prices, development costs, surrounding pipeline infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks tend to be the more obviousfactors. However one less obvious factor is a governments taxation schemes. An example of this would be in the UK. Tax breaks for the oil exploration and

extraction industry introduced by the UK government during 2012 have had a significant effect on the UK North Sea. For example, many small- to midcap operators have purchased mature oil fields as optimization projects. Guaranteeing brownfield tax allowances to operate mature oil fields in the North Sea helps extend the life of fields, thus helping to make the most out of potential energy resources.

Advice for Young Professionals

According to Williams, when first approaching a mature oil field, it is necessary to understand and apply the engineering principles learned while in college. Know from first engineering principles what good looks like, he said. For a reservoir engineer this would mean looking at decline analysis from existing wells and material balance. For a geologist or petrophysicist, this would mean understanding and calculating the hydrocarbons-in-place; then comparing this with the recovery potential of the

existing wells in that fault block would be key to understanding the total field potential. Williams emphasized not to be afraid to challenge the existing interpretation and use the full suite of production history to redefine what is possible in a mature field. There is usually new surveillance data available that was not there when previous decisions were made. Bondor stressed learning from the past and always seeking out the best options that can be supported by available data. He likens this approach to operating a field trial. Having awareness that different individuals have different drivers basedon their experience is key, he said. Initial pilots, such as to prove a newtechnology, may be done on the worst well in the field because operationsstaff do not want to negativelyimpact their production targets. When pursuing technology pilots, a new well should be drilled so that there are no inherited problems, said Bondor. TWA

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

17

Technical Leaders

How to Tackle the Challenge of Mature Field Development

Thais McComb, Chevron; Brian F. Towler, University of Wyoming

Question: What is a mature oil field in your opinion? TM: An oil field can be classified as mature when its production rate is significantly declining and/ or when it isclose to reaching its economic limit. Afield might also be considered maturewhen it is close to attaining arecovery factor considered acceptablefor its reservoir mechanisms. Typically, a mature field will have veryold wells and aged equipment and infrastructure which have a higher risk ofsafety and environmental issues. BT: One that has been in productionfor many years and has depleted its primaryand secondary reserves. Consequently, its facilitiesandtechnology are usually also very old. Question: What are the methods and technologies used to produce mature oilfields?

TM: There are several methodologies and technologies available to revitalize mature fields. However, before selectingwhich one will be used, it isnecessary to assess what is the target prize of your revitalizationproject. The first step is to get a solid characterization of the reservoir to reduce the technical uncertainty of the resources associated with your project. Today there are many new tools includinglogs, modeling and visualization software, and seismic to help you to identify bypassed oil in yourreservoir. Once you have determined the target prize, you could decide between using an improved oil recovery (IOR) technology (e.g., waterflood, gasflood, horizontal or infill drilling, conformance control, stimulation), an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology (e.g., continuous steamflood, hydrocarbons/ N2/CO2 injection, polymers/surfactants/ alkali/low-salinity injection), or a combination of IOR/EORprocesses.

You can even just choose to revamp your wells and facilities keeping the same production scheme. By using some of these integrated reservoir-management techniques, a young professional will be able to design a field-rejuvenation plan that maximizes production and reserves. BT: Various techniques that can be used include waterflooding, miscible and chemical (e.g., polymer, surfactants, alkali, and ASP) flooding, and steamflooding (for heavy viscous oils). Question: How have these methods changed over time? TM: Technology and computing power have evolved significantly, which streamlines the process and timeframe to develop a more accurate characterization of the reservoir. The new technologies and techniques include 3D and 4D seismic for data processing and interpretation, 3D visualization, new coring and well testing, and advanced software for modeling and simulation. These tools allow you to build models with thousands of wells and finer gridding with faster run times. In addition, we need to recognize recent technology developments that include advanced drilling and completion techniques (including directional and horizontal extended wells); smart wells; remote, real-time wireless surveillance and control systems; reduced footprint rigs; third-generation modular facilities; novel materials and composites which resist high temperatures, abrasion and presence of acid gases; hightemperature-/high-salinity-resistant chemical additives for IOR/EOR

Thais McComb currently works as a CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) advisor for Chevron in Houston. With 30 years of broad experience in reservoir engineering, she has worked for 15 years in research and development related to CO2 injection (fluids phase behavior, rock characterization, slim-tube and core experiments, asphaltene precipitation and dispersion), water injection (conformance control and formation damage), chemical EOR, and heavy oil with Elf Aquitaine (France) and PDVSA (Venezuela). McComb has also held numerous reservoir-management team lead positions in Venezuela (PDVSA and Shell) and the US (Chevron) that involved high-temperature/high-pressure hydrocarbons, N2 and CO2 injection, chemical EOR, high H 2 S production, and heavy oil. She holds a BS in petroleum engineering from the University of Zulia, Venezuela, and an MS and a PhD in chemical engineering from the Institute Nationale Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT) in France.

18

processes; and new techniques for selective stimulation. BT: In the past only waterflooding was used. Now a variety of EOR technologies are applied. CO2 miscible flooding has become very popular as well. Previously, some hydrocarbon miscible flooding was implemented where applicable. But the hydrocarbon molecule being used became too valuable to inject into the ground. CO2 does not have as much use or value, so it became more economical to use CO2 instead of the more valuable intermediate hydrocarbons (ethane, propane, butane, and pentane). For shallow heavy-oil reservoirs, steamflooding has become popular. In certain limited locations, chemical flooding has been gaining ground. Question: What factors play important roles in determining the appropriate techniques for specific fields? TM: If a field has considerable remaining saturation, in part, the reservoir and fluid properties will controlwhich IOR or EOR process(es)are most suitable. There are many industry tools that can be used for preliminary screening of these processes. However, the integrity of the infrastructure and wells, the field location, and the availability of the injectants or additivessignificantly influence the economic feasibility of any of theseprocesses. An example is a mature offshore field, with properties that make it an EOR candidate, and that still has high movable oil saturation. In practice, the feasibility of applying an EOR process in this case is low due to the status and capacity of the infrastructure and the capital investment required to upgrade the facilities to accommodate an EOR infrastructure. Operational expenses associated with the transportation or manufacture of injectants or additives might also be cost-prohibitive. This could also be the case with remote onshore fields, where the cost of transportation of additives/ injectants, equipment, supplies, and spare parts would outweigh the benefit of extending their productive life.

BT: Initially some simple screening techniques are applied but, in my opinion, these have limited applicability. Nearby analogies can be useful because, if a similar nearby field has been successfully flooded, it increases the chance of success in your mature field. Reservoir simulation can give a good indication of the recoveries and rates to be expected from an enhanced oil recovery project. Core floods and other lab tests are important tests to be done which can give an indication of the results to be expected from a particular flooding technique. Such lab tests also provide important data for input to reservoir simulation models. Question: What type of mature fields do you foresee as attractive candidates for trying enhanced oil recovery methods? TM: An ideal EOR candidate field should have remaining oil saturations greater than 35%, reservoir properties that are conducive to EOR, access to an injectant source (e.g., water, CO2), accessible location, and acceptable infrastructure and well integrity. BT: In general, fields with high permeabilities and high oil saturations, and fields that have already undergone successful IOR methods, such as waterfloods, make the best candidates. Reservoir continuity is also important and

desirable. Large reserves of remaining oil in place and thick formations can also be important. But less ideal reservoirs should not be ruled out. If money can be made, EOR techniques should be applied. Question: How does a mature oil fields cost of production compare to a regularfield? TM: In most cases, production costs of mature oil fields are low when comparedto regular fields. Undoubtedly, the cost of extending the fields productive life will require extensive capital investment.To do a fair comparison, one needs to analyze and prioritize each project under the current oil industry economic scenario, whereby sustained high oil prices have been driving production cost increases due to the scarcity of rigs and skilled manpower. It is worth mentioning that the majority of new conventional oil production is coming from deepwaterbasins where production costs are veryhigh. Secondly, the current discovery rate of new fields is low and the costs associated withthedevelopment of this new oil isin somecases four to five timesthe cost of producing oil from onshore, shallow offshore, and maturefields. BT: Generally the cost of production is higher because water/oil ratios and gas/

Brian F. Towler is the CEAS (College of Engineering & Applied Science) fellow for hydrocarbon energy resources and professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at the University of Wyoming. He began his career as a senior reservoir engineer at Arco in Plano, Texas. He returned to Australia to work as the principal reservoir engineer for Oilmin and Moonie Oil. Towler served as chairman of the SPE Queensland Section. Subsequently, he joined the University of Wyoming as an assistant professor in petroleum engineering, where he has conducted research in reservoir simulation, wax mitigation, wellbore stability, coal gasification, and bentonite plugging. In 2004, he was promoted to professor and appointed head of the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering. In 2008, he was appointed CEAS fellow. Towler received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Queensland (Australia). He has two published books: Fundamental Principles of Reservoir Engineering (SPE) and Coal Gasification and Its Applications (Elsevier). He has been a registered professional engineer in the state of Wyoming since 1998.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

19

Technical Leaders
oil ratios can be high and production rates are low. Question: Where are mature oil fields mostly concentrated in the world? TM: I have not done an extensive search on the number of mature oil fields recently, but I will guess that China, the US, Middle East, and former Soviet Union contain the largest number of fieldsfollowed by some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), such as Venezuela. BT: Mature oil fields are located all over the world because the oil industry is a mature industry. But the places where they are most concentrated are: the USA, Russia, Middle East, and China. Question: Are there additional environmental regulations to be followed for mature oil fields? TM: Generally, mature fields have an infrastructure that is aging and was likely built before many of the current environmental regulations were adopted. It is likely that the highest exposure are oil spills from aged wells and facilities, as well as gas venting due to the need for shutdowns for maintenance and repair. BT: Not really. Different conditions may mean different regulations are relevant. In the USA, for example, the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act still must befollowed. Question: Mature reservoirs are accompanied by old wells. So what are the different well-integrity practices used in these mature oil fields? TM: Well-integrity practices might include scheduled Christmas tree or wellhead maintenance, cement-bond logs, pressure tests, temperature and ultrasound logs, or downhole sensors to detect casing, tubing, and valve leaks. Repairs or intervention activities must have very specific and rigorous plans for addressing barriers to prevent uncontrollable flow from the wellbore to the external environment: At least two independent barriers need to be in place during all well activities and operations, including suspended or abandonedwells. BT: Wells have to isolate formations so that oil and salt water cannot contaminate drinking water supplies. It is also necessary to keep hydrocarbons from migrating into other formations and becoming lost. Wells that lose integrity generally have to be plugged and abandoned and/or re-drilled. Question: Do you think young professionals should consider working on a mature reservoir where many processes and methods have already been tested or on a new field where he/ she can implement novel technologies? TM: I believe mature fields give you the opportunity of reviewing the field history and learning from past events. This allows you time to expand your knowledge and become more proficient in reservoir and production engineering. Additionally, in the current economic scenario where oil prices seem to stay above USD 80/bbl, it is reasonable to expect that oil companies will continue to develop projects to revitalize or extend the production of their mature fields. This focus gives young professionalstheopportunity to use their creativity andenthusiasm to apply noveltechnologies. BT: It doesnt really matter. Each situation creates its own challenges and experience. The oil industry is an exciting business. It is always interesting. So take your opportunities when theyarise. TWA

SPE 101

Continued from page 14

committee understand what sets your candidate apart by using clear, concise statements to illustrate why a nominee is deserving of an award. Be specific. Its unfortunate, but sometimes nominations are poorly written. Consider this fictitious example: Maria served on our scholarship committee and as YP liaison. She is now our membership chair. Nothing here makes Maria stand out. Instead, the nominator could write While serving on the scholarship committee, Maria helped us to engage a larger student audience than we had previously been able to reach. Our applicant pool is now twice as big as it used to be. As a YP liaison, Maria brought energy to what

had been a struggling program. It is now alive andwell with regular technical and social activities. Now serving as our section membership chair, Maria has identified a number of innovative ways our section can recruit and retain members. We are starting to implement her ideas. Letters of recommendation are an important part of most award nominations. When considering whom to ask for a letter of recommendation, consider their knowledge of the candidate and their stature within SPE. It may be desirable to show the breadth of an individuals contribution by having letters submitted by colleagues working for a different company than your

nominee. Be sure to check www.spe. org/awards to verify the requirements regarding recommendation letters for the specific award you are considering. Preparing a great nomination isnt as hard as it may seem. Giving your candidate the best chance to succeed does take effort, so bear in mind that nominations are typically due by 15 February and that they may take several weeks to prepare. If youre overwhelmed by the process or have questions, SPE staff are always available to help (contact awards@spe.org for international awards or sections@spe.org for regional awards). All nomination materials will be keptconfidential. TWA

20

Soft Skills

Ethics and Integrity Matter in the Workplace, Part I

Susan Howes, Chevron
For many engineers, it helps to discuss ethical dilemmas with their colleagues and seek guidance for the appropriate application of a code of ethics. Many professional and technicalsocieties have ethical guidelines for their members. SPEsGuide for Professional Conduct for SPE members includes a Preamble, The Fundamental Principle, and 12 Canons of Professional Conduct. The canons (see next page) detail the expectations of SPE professionals in the areas of competency, societal and work consequences, honesty in presentinginformation, ethics, conflicts of interest, nonbiased actions, personal responsibility, impact on public health and safety, environmental impact, multidisciplinary work, and observation of the law. Registration as a professional will often have an ethics component to the testing for licensure (that is, the granting of a license which gives permission to practice) and an annual requirement for continuing education in ethics. The National Society of Professional Engineers in the United States has a Code of Ethics for Engineers with these Fundamental Canons, stating that Engineers, in the fulfillment of their professional duties, shall:  Hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public.  Perform services only in areas of their competence.  I ssue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner.  A ct for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees.  Avoid deceptive acts.  C onduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfullyso as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulnessof theprofession. An employer that encourages and nurtures a pervasive culture of ethical behavior is taking a crucial step toward ensuring long-term superior performance and competitive advantage. Important corporate commitments such as sustainability and social responsibility have higher chances of success in companies where strong ethics permeate the corporate culture. Providing case studies of actual situations illustrating violations of codes of ethics helps employees to understand the potential consequences of ethical violations and their own roles and responsibilities with regard to ethical behavior.

The Complexities of Ethical Quandaries

Ethics can be complex, without clear answers. The Decision Framework developed by the Ethics Subcommitteeof the Society of Petroleum Engineers can help the petroleum professional make sounddecisions when faced with complex ethical issues. The followingare key questions to ask:  Would the resulting action belegal?  Would stakeholders see the action as responsible stewardship?  Would I feel good about the resulting action?  Would I mind having informationregarding the decisionpublicized?  Have I consulted with peers/others regarding the perceived action and possible ramifications?  Would the public view the perceived act as a responsible professional action?

Susan Howes is an organizational capability consultant in the Reservoir Management Department at Chevron, with prior assignments as reservoir management consultant in the Reservoir Management Framework Group and as manager of the Horizons Program. She formerly was the learning and organizational development manager at Anadarko. Howes is a petroleum engineer skilled in reservoir management, business development, knowledge management, economic analysis, portfolio rationalization, and petroleum engineering, with experience in the US Rockies, midcontinent, Permian Basin, and offshore Gulf of Mexico, as well as several other locations throughout the world. A petroleum engineering graduate of The University of Texas, she is the Chevron UT recruiting team lead for petroleum engineering and drilling. Howes is Chevron Womens Network president, having previously served as its vice president. Howes currently serves on the SPE Soft Skills Council.

A Corporate Culture of Ethics

Companies can enhance their ethical competency in a fashion similar to the way safety best practices are learned. Ethics can best be instilled in a corporate culture through

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

21

Soft Skills

Society of Petroleum Engineers

Canons of Professional Conduct

1. Engineers offer services in the areas of their competence and experience, affording full disclosure of their qualifications. 2.  Engineers consider the consequences of their work and societal issues pertinent to it and seek to extend public understanding of those relationships. 3.  Engineers are honest, truthful, ethical, and fair in presenting information and in making public statements that reflect on professional matters and their professional role. 4.  Engineers engage in professional relationships without bias because of race, religion, gender, age, ethnic or national origin, attire, or disability. 5.  Engineers act in professional matters for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, disclosing nothing of a proprietary or confidential nature concerning the business affairs or technical processes of any present or former client or employer without the necessary consent. 6.  Engineers disclose to affected parties any known or potential conflicts of interest or other circumstances that might influence, or appear to influence, judgment or impair the fairness or quality of their performance. 7.  Engineers are responsible for enhancing their professional competence throughout their careers and for encouraging similar actions by their colleagues. 8.  Engineers accept responsibility for their actions, seek and acknowledge criticism of their work, offer honest and constructive criticism of the work of others, properly credit the contributions of others, and do not accept credit for work not their own. 9.  Engineers, perceiving a consequence of their professional duties to adversely affect the present or future public health and safety, shall formally advise their employers or clients, and, if warranted, consider further disclosure. 10.  Engineers seek to adopt technical and economical measures to minimize environmental impact. 11.  Engineers participate with other professionals in multidisciplinary teams to create synergy and to add value to their workproduct. 12.  Engineers act in accordance with all applicable laws and the canons of ethics as applicable to the practice of engineering as stated in the laws and regulations governing the practice of engineering in their country, territory, or state, and lend support to others who strive to do likewise.

programs of awareness, advocacy, andalarmsystems. A  wareness Engineers need to have examples and definitions of when, where, and how ethical quandaries arise. Some employers post ethics alerts in a visible location on their internal websites to provide employeeswith real-world examples of ethical violations.In addition to starting a meetingwitha safety moment, include an ethical moment. A dvocacy Ethical behavior should be promoted via websites,continuing education, and promotional events in a

method similar to the way our industry promotes safety.  A larm Stop Work Authority establishes the authority and obligation of any individual to stopwork when an unsafe condition or act could result in an undesirable event. The yousee-it/you-own-it role should also be applied to ethics, so engineers are required to deal with ethical dilemmas when they are encountered in the workplace. Some employers provide a hotline contact number so employees can report activities that may involve violations of law.

Integrity and Ethics is one category of soft skills addressed by the SPE Soft Skills Council. Early in their career, SPE student members begin to develop their own perspectives on behaviors they see as exemplifying excellence in the areas of integrity and ethics. The ethical behavioral patterns they establish early in their career will help them establish a solid reputation as a professional. Establishing an ethical culture in an organization requires more than just teaching the values and concepts we have just discussed. It requires actions at every level of an organization to reinforce

22

the corporate culture such that the company really supports and encourages employees to behave ethically, even if it takes more time or costs more money. That is, an organization is not always ethical unless everyone acting on its behalf acts ethically. Acting ethically, in the final analysis, involves treating people with dignity, respect, and in the way you would like to be treated by others. We have to look at each interaction from the

other persons point of view as well asfromour own. We must consider how to make ethical decisions in our work. What is important is to continue to sharpen our skills in order to recognize and appropriately respond to ethicaldilemmas. TWA

References
SPE Guide for Professional Conduct, SPE Member Guide. Society ofPetroleum Engineers,

http://www.spe.org/join/docs/ member_guide.pdf. NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers. National Society of Professional Engineers, http://www.nspe.org/ Ethics/CodeofEthics/index.html. Fattahi, Behrooz; Howes, Susan; Milanovich, Narandja; and Paccaloni, Giovanni (2012). Soft Skills Council: A New SPE Initiative. Journal of Petroleum Technology 64(8) 5255.

Ethics and Integrity Matter in the Workplace, Part II

Ken Arnold, WorleyParsons
In the previous article, Susan Howes explained the need to discuss ethical dilemmas in the workplace and discussed the guidance available forthe appropriate application of a codeofethics. By now you are probably saying to yourself, All this makes sense. I have heard some of it before, and therefore, I always act ethically. But acting ethically is hard, and if you believe youhave always acted ethically, you are probably not sufficiently questioning your actions and interactions with others. Acting ethically is easy when itsuits your interests to do so, but it really doesnt count until an ethical dilemma forces you to act in a way that causes you to set aside your owninterests or requiresextra effort. To reiterate what Susan Howes stated, Acting ethically, in the final analysis, involves treating people with dignity, respect, and in the way you would like to be treated by others. We have to look at each interaction from the other persons point of view as well as from our own. We all act unethically from time to time. We do so because we are in a hurry and dont stop to think through the consequences of our actions. We do not always pay attention to the needs of others because we are so focused on our own needs. Sometimes, even though we try hard, we have insufficient information to really understand the consequences of our actions, and it is only after time passes that we discover we actually acted in an unethical manner. We tend to hide behind policies and procedures and blame them for forcing us to act unethically. Here are a few examples of ethical dilemmas I have observed:  A consultant followed a clients directions even though it was a waste of resources. The consultant

Ken Arnold has over 45 years of industry experience in facilities design, project management, and offshore safety. He served 16 years at Shell and founded Paragon Engineering Services in 1980. Arnold is currently senior technical advisor for WorleyParsons and an independent consultant. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2005. Arnold has served on the Board of SPE as vice president of finance and as the first director of Projects, Facilities, and Construction. He is on the editorial board of SPEs Oil and Gas Facilities magazine. Arnold is coauthor of two textbooks and over 50 technical articles and has twice been chosen as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer. He was named 2003 Houston Engineer of the Year by the Texas Society of Professional Engineers, and received the 2013 Individual Distinguished Achievement Award of the Offshore Technology Conference. Arnold has taught facilities engineering at the University of Houston and is a recipient of the SPE Public Service Award, the SPE DeGoyler Distinguished Service Medal, and the SPE Production and Operations Award.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

23

Soft Skills
did not take the time to point out a different solution that would have resulted in reduced cost to the client but have limited the scope of the consultantseffort.  A n operator requested a bid from a vendor that it knew had no chance of winning, to get the three bidders required by the operators companypolicy.  A n operator accepted a bid that clearly showed the vendor did not understand the scope of work and did not make the effort to allow the vendor to understand the problem and thereby give the vendor a chance to increase its price.  A n operator neglected to tell a potential vendor all they needed toknow to judge whether they should invest resources in makinga bid.  A n operator used the threat of their future buying power to force a vendor to abandon a claim for legitimate extras in a current bid.  E mployees were encouraged to contribute to charities by managers and customers exerting undue influence due to supervisory or customer relationships.  C ompany policy was invoked differently for a supervisor than when the same situation was handled for asecretary.  A supervisor demanded that an engineer change his/her work product without adequately explaining why.  Managers ignored concerns expressed by staff, because the managers were anchored on an expected outcome and had biases based on their own experiences, causing them to be resistant to diverse perspectives.  A member of a decision review board did not disclose a conflict of interest that may have had an impact on a decision for which the review board was responsible, and voted upon the decision without recusal and without abstaining from participation inthevote.  A company representative accepted a vendors exclusive tickets to a high-profile sportingevent, prior to an upcoming deadline for a bid ofservices.  A n employee provided a referral for an engineer who is applying for a position at his company and emphasized the applicants positive work experiences over the applicants negative prior workexperiences, in order to receive abonus. Now go back and rethink. We have all had close calls with ethical behavior. What is important is to continue tosharpen our skills in order to recognize ethical dilemmasbeforehand and avoid themin the future. TWA

Dig deeper without leaving your desk.

Too busy to be away from the ofce? Take yourself to greater depths right from your desktop with SPE Web Events. Join our industry experts as they explore solutions to real problems and discuss trending topics. View a list of available web events at www.spe.org/events/webevents.
Connect, share with us on @SPE_Events #SPEWEBEVENTS

24

Tech 101

Permanent Well Abandonment

Kenny Campbell and Rod Smith, Schlumberger Introduction
Well abandonment is nothing new to the oil and gas industryit is an activity that has been associated with well construction since the very beginning of the search for hydrocarbons. One thing that is changing, though, is the sheer volume of wells and fields that are currently shut-in, suspended, or reaching the end of their economic life. Worldwide, governments and legislative authorities are encouraging the oil and gas industry to seal and permanently take offline unproductive wells to prevent them from impacting the environment. In certain mature basins the decommissioning of aging infrastructure is creating such a significant volume of wells to be abandoned that these are now being treated as standalone projects rather than the responsibility of existing asset teams and contract models. For the service companies this large potential business opens up the possibility of the development of tools that can be used to limit the economic impact to operators and also enable fulfillment of the abandonmentobligation. delivers less than the operating expenses, it is time to consider abandonment. In fact, in some cases the decision is made with the knowledge that considerable reserves remain, but the cost to extract these resources is more than the projected income. The cost to P&A a well can vary by many millions of dollars depending on location, and whether the well is offshore or onshore. In the UK, abandonment from a fixed platform will be around USD 2 million, whereas abandonment from a semisubmersible or dynamic positioning drilling unit can be USD 10 million. In an effort to reduce the cost of abandonment operations, operators and regulators strive to improve how P&As are performed and the service companies are continually developing tools and techniques to increase efficiency without compromising safety. Minimizing costs, without sacrificing well integrity, is critical to operators, who make a significant investment with no financial return in the case of P&A operations. areas that contain mature fields and aging infrastructure. As a result, both the North Sea (regulated in the UK by the governments Health and Safety Executive and in Norway by NORSOK standards implemented by independent organization, Standards Norway, which is a member of CEN and ISO) and the GOM (regulated in the US by the federal governments Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement [BSEE]) have well-defined legislation and practices regarding how abandonment operations should be conducted. For example, the BSEE introduced Idle Iron regulations and guidelines for nonproducing wells in the GOM in a Notice to Lessees (known as an NTL), effective October 2010, which aims to provide oil and gas companies with some clarity about the required standards and outcomes expected as part of an abandonment philosophy. The UK offshore oil and gas advocacy organization, Oil & Gas UK, offers (for a price) Guidelines for the Suspension and Abandonment of Wells, in which it states the following: All Distinct Permeable Zones penetrated by the well should be isolated, both from each other and from the surface or seabed by a minimum of one Permanent Barrier. Two Permanent Barriers from surface or seabed are required if a Permeable Zone is hydrocarbon bearing or overpressured and water bearing. In addition, the same guidelines state the following for subsea wells:  Redundant subsea equipment must not present a hazard to other users of the sea.  It is seen as good practice to retrieve all casing strings to minimum of 10 ft below seabed.  All subsea equipment and debris should be retrieved where practical.

Legislation and Design

With regard to global offshore markets, two areas that today have an established and growing portfolio of continuous well abandonment activities are the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) and the North Sea. Both are long-established producing

Managing the Cost of Abandonment

The decision to plug and abandon (P&A) a well or field is invariably based on economics. Once production

Kenny Campbell has over 30 years of experience in the field of well abandonment and workover. Currently he is the well abandonment & decommissioning technology manager for the Schlumberger Integrated Project Management Segment. Before this Campbell served in several technical and managerial roles in the industry including region product line manager with Weatherford, Middle East manager with Norse Cutting and Abandonment, and owner of Deepwater Abandonment Services.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

25

Tech 101
Formation MD (ft) TVD (ft) INC (Deg) ID (in)

CURRENT WELL STATUS

D C B A A B C D

COMMENTS

FINAL WELL STATUS

D C B B C D

11.0 ppg OBM 10.0 ppg WBM 9.0 ppg WBM

Sea 6.184

7", 29#, L80, NVAM Tubing

600

600

20" csg TOC at 600ft

800 1,250 1,500

800 1,248 1,480

1 5 8

30" Shoe
13-3/8" csg TOC at 1250ft

20" Shoe - LOT @ 13ppg EMW

1,700

1,680

15

5.750

7" SCSSSV

1,800 2,000 2,500 Shale 2,700 2,850 2,900 3,000

1,770 1,980 2,450 2,650 2,800 2,830 2,900

17 18 20 20 20 20 25

4.650

7" x 5-1/2" x/o Top of cement abandonment plug #3| P/T and W/T

Plug #3

Section mill from 2700ft to 2800ft 13-3/8" Bridge plug

9-5/8" casing cut @2900ft

9-5/8" TOC @ 3000ft

Shale

4,400 4,500 4,600 5,500

4,200 4,300 4,400 5,300

30 30 32 45

13-3/8" Shoe - LOT @ 14ppg EMW

Top of cement abandonment plug #2| P/T and W/T 9-5/8" Bridge plug

Plug #2

4.670 6,350 6,250 53 4.000

5-1/2", 23#, NVAM Tubing x-nipple

6,390

6,290

55

6.000

9-5/8" PBR shared with 130klbs O/P

6,400

6,300

55

4.750

9-5/8" Permanent packer ELTSR

6,500 6,550 6,600 6,900 7,000 Shale 8,200

6,400 6,430 6,450 6,480 6,500

55 58 60 60 60 4.000 4.500

Top of liner
x-nipple 5-1/2" Mule shoe

9-5/8" Shoe - LOT @ 15ppg EMW

7,900

75

Top of cement abandonment plug #1| P/T and W/T

Plug #1

8,950 9,000 9,100 Reservoir 9,700 9,900 10,000

8,380 8,400 8,500 8,500 8,500 8,500

85 88 90 90 90 90
Top of perforation Gun Top of sh at 9700ft Bottom of perforation

7" liner shoe (CBL ran)

Fig. 1 An example of a well before and after the abandonment process has been completed.

26

10.0 ppg WBM 9.0 ppg WBM

The basics of a permanent well abandonment (PWA) operation will vary little whether the well is on land or offshore. You begin by removing the completion or production string, then set the necessary plugs and cement barriers at specified depths across the producing and water-bearing zones to act as permanent barriers. It sounds so simple, but it is crucial to remember that the key to a successful operation will be a solid plan. Unfortunately, many times this is hampered by lack of data and/or outdated files. The wellhead and subsea hardware (if applicable) are removed last. When operators abandon a well they are obligated to leave it in a condition that protects both the downhole and surface environment inperpetuity. In all parts of the world, regulatory bodies have, to varying degrees, defined procedures and responsibilities for a PWA. Despite disparities around the world, the intent of all abandonment operations is to achieve the following:  I solate and protect all freshwaterzones.  I solate all potential future commercial zones.  P revent in perpetuity leaks from or into the well.  C ut pipe to an agreed level below seabed and remove all surfaceequipment. Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a well before and after the abandonment process has been completed. In this case, the well abandonment procedure could be considered quite complex due to the need to remove tubing and

95/8 -in. casing, and section-milling 133/8 in. casing in order to isolate all the required intervals. Not all wells will require this level of deconstruction, but the principal objectives will be similar. In general, a large number of well abandonment operations could be carried out in a rigless manner. This will invariably save cost overall but can increase the operational time required. Rigless abandonments include the use of highly mobile equipment spreads, such as pumping skids and jacking units. However, the complexity of the initial well design, coupled with possible well issues such as multiple annular pressure issues and lack of wellbore access, may dictate that a rigbased approach is required.

materials and long-term monitoring solutions to provide verified evidence of lasting isolation.

Summary
The industry globally is facing its busiest period ever in relation to abandonment work. With drilling activity adding thousands of wells per year, the volume of this type of work will only continue to grow. The industry needs to address PWA requirements by assigning appropriate resources in both operators and service companies to ensure that a skilled and competent workforce along with fit-for-purpose technology solutions are in place to meet the challenge. The perception that well abandonments involve just a simple reverse-engineering workflow and require only the most basic of tools is far from reality. Well abandonment represents a true challenge that will be here for decades. TWA

Technology Opportunities
Within the scope of well abandonment, many techniques used today can be considered evolutions of those employed for many years. Cement is still used as the primary barrier. Logs generated by cement-bond logging tools are still used to evaluate cement quality. Milling and fishing tools remain similar in nature. With the continued increase in the volume of wells to be abandoned, it is reasonable to suggest that the pace of technology development and deployment around abandonment operations should and indeed must accelerate in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of abandoning wells. Opportunities exist for the development of alternatives to milling, for more advanced measurements to see through multiple annuli before the removal of tubing and casing, and for alternative isolation

Are you reAdy to explore the frontiers of knowledge?

subscriptions available.
OnePetro brings together specialized technical libraries serving the oil and gas industry into one, easy-to-use website allowing you to search and download documents from multiple professional societies in a single transaction. With more than 150,000 technical papers, one search can help you locate the solutions you need. A range of subscription options make accessing the results easy.

Rod Smith is currently manager of the Schlumberger Well Abandonment Business Unit in the North Sea, part of the companys Integrated Project Management Segment. He has been with Schlumberger for the past 15 years and has served in several field, sales, personnel, and managerial roles. Smith took on his current role in March 2012, before which he was a group account manager for several North Sea-based customers.

www.onepetro.org

A constellation of libraries. An astronomical number of papers. Stellar search results.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

27

Academia

Using Soap to Revive Mature Oil Fields

Mojdeh Delshad, The University of Texas at Austin

Most reservoirs in the US under operation by small producers have become mature due to extended waterflooding. In fact, an estimated 80% of the total number of oil wells in the US are now classified as marginal. The mature reservoirs accessed by these wells usually have a high water cut, in the range of 80% to 90%. Also, the industry typically leaves about 65% of oil behind after many years of waterflooding because of reservoir heterogeneity and incomplete sweep of the formation. Excessive water production becomes a major problem as these oil fields mature. High volumes of water production result in increased levels of corrosion and scale, increased load on fluid-handling facilities, increased environmental concerns, and eventually well abandonment (with associated workover costs). Consequently, producing zones are often abandoned in an attempt to avoid water contact, even when the intervals still retain large volumes of recoverablehydrocarbons. Controlling water production has been a challenging goal for most oilproducers.

Reservoir heterogeneity severely affects the flow of gas, oil, and water in the reservoir and thus affects the choice of production strategies, reservoir management, and ultimate oil recovery. Reservoir heterogeneity is the single most important reason for low oil recovery, early breakthrough, and excess water production. To maintain reservoir pressure, these reservoirs have usually been developed by waterflooding from an early stage in their development. Many of them have been hydraulically fractured, intentionally or unintentionally, or have channels due to mineral dissolution and production during many years ofwaterflooding. Reservoirs with induced fractures or high-permeability channels are quite common in mature oil fields. Resin, foam, polymer/gel treatments, and/or polymer flooding are among enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques typically used to correct the reservoir heterogeneity and improve oil production. Chemical EOR (CEOR), involving alkali, surfactant, and polymer chemicals, is currently gaining some attention in the oil industry to mobilize and recover large amounts

Fig. 1 Example of surfactant molecule.

of both unswept and residual oil from mature oilfields.

Chemical EOR Challenges and Recent Advancements

CEOR includes the injection of a mixture of chemicals to improve sweep efficiency and produce residual oil saturation left behind in the swept volume. The following are some of the barriers to widespread implementation of CEOR: 1. Uncertainties in reservoir geology 2.Project logistics 3. H igh front-end investment and delay in oil production and payout 4. C omplex engineering and the need for highly specialized staff 5. S ome negative field experiences dating back to the 1980s However, there have been several crucial improvements to increase the widespread application of CEOR processes. Examples of these improvements include better geological description of oil reservoirs;

Mojdeh Delshad is a research professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. She is also the assistant director for the US Department of Energy-funded Center of Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security. Delshad holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from Sharif University and MS and PhD degrees in petroleum engineering from UT Austin. She has 27 years experience in modeling multiphase flow, fluid property modeling, and reservoir simulation of enhanced oil recovery processes, and is in charge of the UT Chemical Flooding reservoir simulator (known as UTCHEM) development, user support, and training. Delshad was awarded the SPE rank of A Peer Apart for reviewing more than 100 technical papers in 2010. She is currently a member of the SPE Books Development Committee.

28

% Sodium Carbonate
0.0 0.5 0.75 1.0 1.25 1.5 1.75 2.0 2.25 2.5 2.75 3.0 3.5 4.0

method, provided the chemical consumption is not too large and the alkali can be propagated at the same rate as the synthetic surfactant andpolymer.

Laboratory Screening of Chemicals for Chemical EOR

The widespread application of chemicalEOR techniques is dependent in part on the price of crude oil and it is encouraging that field-testing is under way on polymer flooding at a globalscale. The most challenging aspect of chemical EOR is the need for customized chemical formulation design for each field. A fast way to select and screen surfactants for different crude oils is by the observation of phase behavior (Fig.2) and property measurements frompipettes. Phase behavior evaluations are performed to help define which chemical formulations have the best potential to recover additional oil beyond waterflooding, as in a tertiary flood. Phase behavior experiments involve blending the crude oil with the chemical solution using different waterto-oil volumetric ratios (WOR). After the samples are equilibrated (approximately 2 weeks) at reservoir temperature, the phase type (Winsor Type I, II, or III), appearance, and number of phases are recorded. The large amount of oil and water solubilized in the middle microemulsion phase at optimum salinity (i.e., solubilization parameter of >10) is an indication of ultralow IFT (<0.003 dyne/cm). The fast equilibration of samples and low viscosity of the microemulsion phase are indicative of a favorable chemical recipe that will most likely perform well in the core floods, resulting in low chemical retention and high oilrecoveries.

Fig. 2 Surfactant phase behavior test.

improved reservoir simulation; horizontal and multilateral wells; more efficient and better quality polymer and surfactant molecules that are stable at higher temperatures and higher salinities (Fig. 1); new cost-effective CEOR processes, such as alkaline/ co-solvent/polymer, and the use of surfactants for wettability alteration in carbonate reservoirs; and extending the application of CEOR floods to higher temperatures and higher salinities, higher viscosity oils, and carbonatereservoirs.

Chemical EOR Working Principles and Associated Synergism

The way a chemical flood works is through the synergistic effect of a polymer (to improve mobility by slowing down the movement of the water to match that of the oil [i.e., mobility ratio of 1]) and a surfactant (with or without alkaline) to reduce the interfacial tension (IFT) between oil and water and thereby displace the discontinuous trapped oil remaining in the reservoir after the waterflood. Using a surfactant involves the same concept as using detergent/soap to remove oil. The primary objective of surfactant/ polymer (SP) or alkaline/surfactant/

polymer (ASP) flooding is to reduce the IFT between oil and water to values on the order of 0.001dyne/cm or less in order to displace the trapped oil from rockpores. The use of alkaline chemicals for improving oil recovery dates back to the 1920s. The alkaline flooding process relies on chemical reactions between alkali, such as sodium carbonate, and organic acids in the crude oil to produce in-situ surfactants (soaps) that can reduce the IFT. Most researchers of the process have reported that the lowest IFT occurs at very low alkali concentrations. On the other hand, alkali consumption by the reservoir demanded injection of a higher alkali concentration. This problem was resolved by Nelson etal. (1984), who proposed a method to enlarge the low-IFT region and thereby promote optimum salinity by combining the alkali with a surfactant which is more hydrophilic than the in-situgenerated soap. The formation of the in-situ surfactant also reduced the need for a synthetic surfactant in an ASP slug (typically <0.3 wt%) which in turn reduced the overall cost of chemicals. These favorable characteristics make ASP flooding a very attractive enhanced oil recovery

Mechanistic Modeling of Chemical EOR

An ASP flood is very complex because of the numerous chemical reactions
Continued on page 32

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

29

THE YOUNG PR

GUIDE TO

OFESSIONALS

Mexico City
Shruti Jahagirdar, Tyler Roberts, and Jim Stiernberg
Situated in central Mexico, Mexico City sits at a minimum elevation of 7,217 ft in the Valley of Mexico, a fitting location for one of North Americas most important financial centers. It is truly a global city, in every sense of the term, with its rich background and the continuing diversity of its population. Human history in this area stretches back to nearly 8000 BCE, when agriculture (focusing on crops like squash) was first being implemented in the Americas. The Olmec were the first major civilization in Mexico, and gave rise to some well-known groups such as the Maya, Teotihuacn, Toltec, and Zapotec. Contact with early conquerors and settlers entirely changed the Aztec, the final of these civilizations, and eventually led to the creation of a city ripe for international trade. The city itself is not part of any Mexican state, but resides in its own federal district and consists of 8.85 million people (according to a 2010 census); however, the surrounding area, formed by 16 boroughs and other municipalities in the Valley of Mexico, pushes that number to over 21 million. One look at a geographical map of the country of Mexico reveals the complexity of its geology: The Sierra Madre Oriental Range in the east and the Sierra Madre Occidental Range in the west cross it from north to south, the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt bisects it from east to west, and the Sierra Madre del Sur Range runs along the southerncoast. off from the Chicxulub asteroid impact site. Now the Ku-Maloob-Zaap field has taken precedence, with production at over 800,000 B/D. Other potentially lucrative areas under consideration are fields within the Chicontepec basin. Unfortunately, although the original reserves are known to be greatest in terms of barrels of oil equivalent, poor permeability hinders the efforts to extract the basins very light crude. Three different basic varieties of crude are found in Mexico. They are categorized by their grade: the Maya22 (an aptly named heavy, 22 API gravity oil); the Isthmus-34, which lacks a significant amount of sulfur; and the still-lighter Olmeca-39 crude. The state-owned national oil company, Pemex, has exclusive rights to these fluids. Pemexs proven reserves are slightly less than 14 billion BOE as of the beginning of this year. Pemex stands for Petrleos Mexicanos, which was established in the late 1930s. It is currently assessed as the second-largest, nonpublicly listed company by market capitalization. Pemex has its sights set on deepwater targets, which it is beginning to pursue by seeking out

Mexicos Petroleum Industry

The petroleum industry is focused mostly on the coast that hugs the southern part of the Gulf of Mexico and it is here that exploration first took hold in the beginning years of the 20th century. Although the Cantarell and Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields are cited in the news today, it was actually the Poza Rica discovery in 1932 that made Mexico the second-largest oil exporter in the world at that time. The Cantarell field has been producing since the 1970s and was recently placed on nitrogen injection in 2000. The injection allowed it to reach peak production, in 2004, of just over 2 million B/D, but at great cost as the project consumes injection gas. Cantarell is made up of four large fields from the Upper Cretaceous epoch and consists of breccia broken

30

YP Guide
more investment, especially from international oil companies. Former Mexican President Felipe Caldern attempted reform in the oil and gas industry, but succeeded mostly in attracting contractual work from service companies. Current President Enrique Pea Nieto has taken up the mantle and proposed that Pemex join with further private companies on larger ventures requiring more capital and technological resources. Although it has strongly focused on offshore reserves, and currently operates 41 platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, Pemex has not turned a blind eye to onshore development. At the south end of the Bay of Campeche in the state of Tabasco, a new discovery, the Navegante field at a depth of approximately 19,500 ft, was made late in 2012. Despite containing only 500 million bbl by current estimations, the field contains more easily refined light crude oil. Also, playing off the Late Cretaceous boom in southern Texas, Pemex is beginning its own campaign in Mexicos portion of the Eagle Ford shale. A major problem Mexico faces is production theft, via siphoning using illegal taps by criminals thought to be associated with drug gangs such as the Zetas. These illicit operations vary, with some so elaborate they incorporate an entirely new pipeline infrastructure created by those stealing the petroleum. It is thought that the industry loses hundreds of millions of dollars to this black market, which is currently being unraveled by a combined effort between the United States and Mexican governments. In fact, USD 2.4 million has been returned to Mexicos tax administration by the US Department of Homeland Security as a consequence of this investigation. explore or produce in Mexico, there does not appear to be much incentive for them to have a presence in the country or support the countrys technological development. However, there is some activity in the area of energy education. On 23 August 1965, the Mexican Petroleum Institute (IMP) was created. In response to the research and technological development needs of the Mexican oil industry, IMP created 10 research programs devoted to basic research and industrial applications in areas such as deepwater development; integral deposit study; securing of flow; basin/plays evaluation; water control; clean fuels; heavy-oil processing; integral ecosystems evaluation; integral risks; and concurrent engineeringevaluation. The IMP possesses an attractive toolthe commission of an ultrahighresolution electron microscopy laboratory. The laboratorys objective is the volumetric, chemical, and surface structural characterization of materials at the micrometric, nanometric, and atomic level. Such materials will be designed for and used in the development of technologies and products for the oil and gas industry.

Interesting Facts
The Jarabe Tapatoknown as the Mexican Hat Dance in Englishis considered Mexicos national dance.

Mexico City is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world.

The richest person in the world, Carlos Slim Hel, calls Mexico City his home.

Mexico City lies on a basin formerly occupied by Lake Texcoco, which was drained in the 17th century.

Travel Tips
Mexico City is known as the city of palaces due to the large stately buildings in the city center. On a trip to this magnificent city, make plans to visit Plaza de la Constitucin, commonly known as Zcalo, in the historic downtown. One of the worlds largest squares is located in Zcalo. It is surrounded by historic buildings, including the City Hall and the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary of Mexico City. Metropolitan Cathedral is the oldest and biggest Roman Catholic church in the Americas. Containing many altars, its principal altar is stunning and made from solid gold. Mexico City also has plenty of fashion-conscious residents and hence, for a shopping lover, there are plenty of shopping haunts, such as Polanco

Research Initiatives
President Enrique Pea Nietos government is working to overhaul the state-run sector to attract private investment in efforts to access complex offshore resources. Since international oil companies are not allowed to

and Altavista Street, where one can find all the latest fashion in clothes and accessories. The latest styles blend perfectly with the rich history surrounding the city. Mexico Citys enthusiasm for sports is unmatched, particularly when it involves soccer. The city has hosted two International Federation of Association Football (known as FIFA) world cups one in 1970 and the other in 1986. In recent decades, many baseball players of Mexican descent have been invited to play Major League Baseball in the US and Canada. Additionally, Mexico City is the only Latin American city to host the Olympics. This occurred in 1968, and was the impetus for building the majority of the citys sport facilities. Estadio Azteca is the biggest soccer stadium in the world, built in 1966 with a full capacity of 129,300 seats. It is the home of one of the most famous soccer clubs in Mexico: Club America.

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

31

YP Guide
Outside the city lie some amazing landscapes, replete with historical sites. The Aztec, Mayan, and other civilizations permanently transformed the area near Mexico City, where explorers can now enjoy countless historical treasures. The Calixtlahuaca, Chacchoben, Dzibilchaltun, and Ek Balam evoke images of people who occupied these areas in centuries goneby. in the Gulf of Mexico will provide further resources for the country. Moreover, onshore development and the possibility of shale oil add to the optimistic outlook. Moving forward, development of the countrys engineering and technology personnel will likely have a beneficial impact on an expanded oil and gas industry inMexico. The city continues to remake itself into a modern wonder. Mexico City has more IMAX theaters and local museums than any other city in the world, allowing the city to provide every visitor with something special. Vistas of a former world are perfectlycomplemented by the existence of Mexico Citys most modernvenues.TWA

The Way Ahead

As deepwater technology becomes more understood, Mexicos investment

Correction The photograph accompanying the article titled The Young Professionals Guide to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in The Way Ahead, Volume 9, Number 2, 2013, showed a night scene of Dubai, not Abu Dhabi. The Way Ahead apologizes for the error.

Academia

Continued from page 29

that may occur in the reservoir. The reaction of acid present in the active crude oil with alkali to generate additional surfactant called soap and its effect on phase behavior is the most crucial parameter for crude oils containing naphthenic acids. In order to design an effective ASP flood it is very important to consider the mechanisms responsible for the loss of alkali. The most important reactions responsible for alkali consumption are reactions with crude to generate soap, cation exchange reaction with the rock surface, and aqueous reactions. The reaction with calcium sulfate anhydrite or gypsum can consume a significant amount of alkali especially if sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide is used. The soap generation and other alkali consumption reactions and their effects on phase behavior and other process variables make the process highly sophisticated, and modeling such a process becomes complex. Sandstone and carbonate reservoirs with the presence of high clay content or pH buffering minerals such as anhydrite need to be carefully analyzed. Mechanistic simulations of the ASP process help to identify the reactions that may cause the loss of alkali, the formationof scale, and mineral dissolution/precipitation. Mechanistic modeling of an ASP flood considers the aqueous reactions, reactions with acidic components in

the crude oil and with the bases in the aqueous solution, cation exchange reactions with clay and micelles, the reduction of surfactant adsorption at high pH, and the effect of soap on the phase behavior. The phase behavior of the mixture of synthetic surfactant and generated soap is the most critical information for realistic simulations of ASP. Laboratory phase behavior measurements for the mixtures of crude oil/surfactant/brine/alkali at the formation temperature are required to obtain the optimum salinity as a function of WOR (referred to as an activity map); solubilization parameters as a function of WOR; surfactant concentration; and salinity. These ensure the proper design of the salinity of the ASP slug and polymer drive, which is much more complex than an SP flood. Bhuyan (1989) and Delshad et al. (2002) developed a model to account for the geochemical reactions involved in ASP processes, including soap generation, and added this model to The University of Texas at Austins chemical flooding simulator (UTCHEM). Mohammadi et al. (2009) verified themodel where several ASP core floodsand phase behavior experiments were modeled.

test, single-well injectivity test, onepattern pilot, and multi-pattern pilots will help to scale up the design and performanceof chemical EOR processesto full fielddevelopment. The additional oilrecovered by these processes whencarefully designed and optimizedcan reach as high as 30% of original oil inplace. TWA

References
Bhuyan, D., Development of an Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Compositional Reservoir Simulator, PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 1989. Delshad, M., G.A. Pope, K. Asakawa, and K. Sepehrnoori, Simulations of Chemical and Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery Methods, SPE paper 75237 presented at the SPE/DOE 13th Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1317 April, 2002. Mohammadi, H., M. Delshad, and G.A. Pope, Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Floods, SPE Reservoir Evaluation andEngineering Journal, 12 (4): pp 518570. Nelson, R.C., J.H. Lawson, D.R. Thigpen, and G.J. Stegemeir, Co-surfactant Enhanced Alkaline Flooding, SPE paper 12672 presented at the SPE Enhanced Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1518 April, 1984.

Conclusion
Further research and development and multiple mini-field implementations such as a single-well chemical tracer

32

YPCC Update

he Young Professional Coordinating Committee (YPCC) was established by SPEs Board of Directors as a standing committee; the Board Committee on Education and Professional Activities oversees and guides the YP initiatives. Over the years, the YPCC has focused on increasing coordination between YP committees across the globe through events and workshops targeting a variety of interests and topics. Ten such events and workshops, specifically geared toward young professionals, took place in 2012. There are 68+ section YP subcommittees (YP programs). The flagship Ambassador Lecture Program has grown from 61 sessions in 2009 to 100+ sessions in 2012, and further expansion is under way this year.

Most Improved  Bridge Award (new category)YP section that best connects with student chapter, local section, and internationalsociety The awards will be presented to the winning sections YP liaisons 2 October 2013 at the Presidents Luncheon, held during the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in New Orleans, Louisiana. A team of dedicated and qualified YPCC members will be reviewing the applications and selecting the awardrecipients.

or search upcoming YP events, upload pictures, and use many other exciting interactiveresources. A total of 16 YP Champions have been part of the process to kick-start discussions and assist in providing any information you may require. The new YPN can be found here http://www.spe.org/network/pns.php using your SPE login information.

Video Library
We have posted a total of seven industry leaders videos on the video library. SPE has also added new content from the Emerging Leaders Alliance where significant topics such as risk management, motivation, and global team leadership are featured. Additionally, short basic training animations are included in the youngmembers video library. Theseresources can be found at http:// www.spe.org/media/ym/index.php.

New Site for YP Network

Poet and educator Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said, All things must change to something new, to something strange. This applies to the online forum for young professionals. The redesigned and recently launched new Young Professionals Network (YPN) seamlessly aligns with existing SPE Connect forums and will allow a much more user-friendly interface between young professionals. The new site will be a single point of reference where YPs can network and share technical challenges, solutions, and best practicesboth in the workplace and in the community. Added at some point following the launch will be the ability to publicize

YP Committee Awards
The YPCC is proud to announce a new YP Committee Excellence Awards category for 2013. For the first time, there are four awards. Furthermore, starting this year the YP committee awards application questionnaire is integrated into a section report. We received nominations from more than 65 YP committees, an increase of 50% over last year. Award categories are asfollows: Overall Excellence Most Innovative

New for YPCC

We are planning a soft skills workshop for YPs at the upcoming ATCE organized by the Soft Skills Council, Talent Council, and YPCC. This is based on feedback from a survey in which most respondents identified YP workshops and YP sessions at SPE events as very important. In addition, I would like to announce that Manish Choudhary is the incoming chair for 20132014. I leave YPCC strong with 15 diverse members and am confident Manish will carry forward the mission. I have enjoyed my time at YPCC and have built new bridges and relationships with YPs around theworld. Finally, I would like to thank SPE staff for their behind-thescenessupport. If you would like to join the YPCC, please click on this link for more information: http://www.spe.org/ volunteer/yp_coordinating.php. Alternatively, if you have questions for or about the YPCC, you can reach us on the Young Professionals Network.

Deepak M. Gala, YPCC Chair, 20122013

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

33

YP Newsflash

Education Day: The Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference MEOS 2013
The Educational Day workshop, which took place in conjunction with MEOS 2013, was the very first group event where the Bahraini YPs participated in introducing high school students and teachers to the different petroleum industry disciplines. Bahraini YP members effectively contributed to MEOS by assisting the Education Day Steering Committee conduct several educational tasks. The YPs conducted presentations, sharing their personal experiences in the oil and gas industry, assisted attendees in carrying out simple experiments to introduce basic petroleum engineering concepts, held question-and-answer and team-building activities, and led student groups tours of the exhibition associated with MEOS 2013. Recognition certificates were distributed for those who effectively participated in the educational dayevent. Young professionals spread knowledge about the oil and gas industry and its significance to Bahrains prosperity. Bahrain has recently rapidly boosted momentum of its oil and gas activities via the establishment of the Bahrain field development company, Tatweer Petroleum. This in turn has enticed many YPs to join the petroleumindustry.

MEOS 2013 Education Day group picture. Our first SPE YP quarterly meeting was held on 4 April 2013 under the patronage of Tatweer Petroleums Edward Hanley, chief executive officer, and Hisham Zubari, deputy chief executive. The meeting included a technical presentation titled Characterization of the Ahmadi Formation with DFN Model Using Pressure Transient Analysis, conducted by Ammar Shaban, senior reservoir engineer. design a sustainable future, which can be achieved through creating collaborative, global forums where YPs can be heard, promote a realistic image of the petroleum industryits challenges and opportunitiesand bridge the generation gap through mentorship networks. The first YP meet was greeted by the India Section YP liaison, Madhavi Jadhav, followed by an inaugural speech by the Section secretary SanjayParulkar. The section was thrilled to see a large turnout and also happy to conduct the inaugural YPmeet. YPs were also briefed about SPEs e-mentorship program which gives them a chance to be mentored or serve as mentors to students from around the world. A case study titled, Classical Reservoir Engineering Methods to Study Water Surveillance Analysis, was delivered by Sudeb Kundu, reservoir engineer at Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India.

Abdulla Al-Thawadi, Tatweer Petroleum

Young Professional Meet: India Section

The India Section YP Committee acts as a forum for oil and gas YPs to present and disseminate information amongst themselves in order to prepare and equip the new generation of oil and gas leaders to confidently face future globalchallenges. SPE has a vision for youth engaged in the petroleum industry to

India Section Young Professional Meet group picture.

34

SPE Lagos Section 61 YP Soft Skills Workshop group picture. The YP meet certainly justified its objective and is here to stay and nurture YPs for years to come! in a few years, will be stepping up to the challenge of handling leadership and technical positions. One way to develop YPs is to supplement their technical knowledge with so-called soft skills. With this in mind, SPE Lagos Section 61 organized a Soft Skills workshop focused on improving YPs technical writing and presentation skills. The event took place at Protea Hotels, Lagos, on 3 November 2012. In

Kyrmenlang Lyngshiang, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, India

Soft Skills Workshop: SPE Lagos Section 61

The future of the E&P industry rests on the shoulders of current YPs who,

attendance were over 40 YPs drawn from several companies. Also present were some Section Board members, including the Section chairman, Adagogo Jaja. The presentation was delivered by Ezinne Nnebocha (senior production engineer at Schlumberger, known for her excellent technical writing and presentation skills). It was an interesting 1-hour session in which she enumerated the skills importance in the workplace and provided guideline on how to build them. There was an interactive session in which a dummy presentation was made and participants were asked to point out the flaws in the presentation based on the guidelines given. Participants were also given the opportunity to make 1-minute presentations on a topic chosen by the presenter. Finally, participants were asked to vote for the best 1-minute presentation. It was a fun and instructional event for all theparticipants! TWA

Rita Esuru Okoroafor, Schlumberger

Call for Volunteers

Would you like to be more involved with SPE ? Become a volunteer!

Becoming a volunteer lets you use your knowledge and experience to inuence SPE programs and other activities. As a volunteer, you can also enhance your leadership skills while meeting and working with other SPE members from across the globe. There are many opportunities to choose from, regardless of your technical interest, location, or experience level.
Getting started is easy. For more information, log on to www.spe.org/volunteer

Be part of SPEs future.

Society of Petroleum Engineers www.spe.org

MRKT_QP_1076_1108_Volunteer

Vol. 9 // No. 3 // 2013

35

Your Best Shot

THE WAY AHEAD

E DI T OR I A L COM M I T T E E EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Todd Benton Willis, Chevron

DEPU T Y EDITOR-I N-CHI EF

David Vaucher, IHS CERA

TWA A DV ISE R
Max Medina, Statoil

LEAD EDITORS
Alicia L. Koval, ConocoPhillips Amir Soltani, Statoil

Workover Rig in the Uinta Mountain Range, Utah/Wyoming, USA Photo by Andrew Eis, technical advisor for horizontal completions, Halliburton. Pictured here is a workover rig in the Uinta Mountain Range (at an elevation of more than 10,000 ft) on the Utah/Wyoming border in the US. Photo taken in mid-2006 with a Sony Cybershot DSC-P7.

Chris Jenkins, Devon Dilyara Iskakova, Hess Jarrett Dragani, Cenovus Karrie Santos, Chevron Lisa Song, Chevron Madhavi Jadhav, Schlumberger Prakash Deore, Fujitsu Consulting Sanchit Rai, Schlumberger Siluni Wickramathilaka, ConocoPhillips Subhash Ayirala, Saudi Aramco Tony Fernandez, Noble Energy Tyler Roberts, Baker Hughes

ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Ankit Agarwal, Schlumberger Asif Zafar, Halliburton Henny Gunawan, Schlumberger Islam Ibrahim, Cairo University Jenny Cronlund, BP Jim Stiernberg, Louisiana State University (student) Marjan Jamshidi, ConocoPhillips Matthew Drew, Drillmec Matthijs Verhoef, Shell Maxim Kotenev, Fugro Paulo Pires, Petrobras Rita Okoroafor, Schlumberger Rob Jackson, Mountaineer Keystone Shruti Ravindra Jahagirdar, Shell Technology India Thresia Nurhayati, Halliburton

Samarang Complex Platform Captured From the Boat, Offshore Malaysia Photo by Amirah Zakariah (SPE Kuala Lumpur Section), reservoir engineer, Petronas, Malaysia. This photo shows the Samarang Complex Platform, located 49 km northwest offshore Labuan, Malaysia, with a working barge next to the platform. The photo was taken by the photographer on her way back from offshore duty, using a GoPro camera.

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Submit your entry today to bestshot@spemail.org. This contest is open to all SPE members. The two best photographs will be published in each TWA issue. Your image must be in JPEG format, with a file-size limit of 4 MB. Submit photograph information with camera specifications. Provide your full name with your position, company name, and company location.

36