Latest Oil and Gas News Russia

A networking website, designed by Heriot-Watt Petroleum Learning Centre at Tomsk Polytechnical University graduates to make personal connections, has developing into a popular forum for Oil & Gas Industry professionals.

The idea of website to save links between Heriot-Watt Centre graduates in Russia originally was implemented guestbook by Gennadiy Fedorchenko (PE 2004). Anton Baluev (PE 2004) who became main website administrator together with Almaz Mullagaliev (PE 2003) and Roman Dzema (PE 2004) had developed guestbook into forum - with sections created according subjects and number of questions at forum. Further, as number of registered users was increased Vladimir Volkov (PE 2004) was started to serve as main moderator. Gradually, personal communications between gradutes has developed into discussions about professional subjects which attracted employees of different petroleum companies.

For example, career-related discussions had led to the development of a section at forum about career development in the oil and gas industry. Also, Petroleum companies readily started to post new job openings in "Oil and Gas Vacansies" section, where professionals publish their CV's for review and job search. Technical support for Schlumberger and Roxar software users is also provided through created for that purposes section. A special section was also designed for graduates applying to study at Heriot-Watt's Approved Learning Partner in Tomsk which also delivers Petroleum Engineering and Reservoir Evaluation & Management MSc courses, together with an increasing number of Petroleum Industry short courses.

http://heriot-watt.ru is one of the most popular and well-known forums in the Oil and Gas Industry in Russia, according to forum statistics data. Over 5,000 users are registered currently including about 1,000 users who visit the website each working day. There are now more than 2,000 visitors per day. Alexei Vashkevich, Deputy General Director of Samara-Nafta (Hess Corporation), first year graduate of Heriot-Watt Centre in Tomsk (PE 2002) commented: "Heriot-Watt University and the Petroleum Learning Centre in Tomsk provide a unique chance for Russian technical graduates to get a leading western education, which allows students to get a modern and alternative view on field development, to learn western technologies and management standards and allows them to successfully implement these in Russian or foreign Oil & Gas companies. The growing popularity of Heriot-Watt in Russia is becoming apparent". "Heriot-Watt.ru has already become a popular network source among the broad circle of oil & gas specialists who can publish job vacancies, discuss a wide scope of problems and get answers on questions." The site administrators are considering developing the forum further for use in professional network development in Russia and all over the world. For more information about Tomsk HW Learning Centre visit: http://hw.tpu.ru and for more information about the forum for Oil and Gas Geologists and Engineers or to register, visit: http://heriot-watt.ru

Labels: Heriot-Watt Petroleum, rogtec, Russia

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 11:13  0 Comments

Introduction

In Arctic regions, drifting icebergs represent a very dangerous hazard for navigation, and indeed for offshore structures. To ensure safe operation, an iceberg management plan must be developped; covering iceberg detection to iceberg towing or platform evacuation. One important part of the plan is the iceberg drift forecast. Further to a review of existing drifting models, TOTAL have decided to develop and test a new numerical model that includes wave forces and a stochastic approach.

In previous models, wave effect was often taken into account via a slightly over-estimated wind effect, assuming that waves are only driven by local winds (see Smith [1993] for example). Masson [1991] proposed an hydrodynamic approach to the estimation of wave effect, assimilating the iceberg to a cylinder and computing the transfer function of the object. A similar approach will be generalized here. The new iceberg drift model has been written following the classic rules of drifting problems. The principle is to estimate as best as possible the forces that act on the iceberg, and to compute a trajectory during the course of a few hours using oceanic and meteorological forecasts. The uncertainties on the formulation of these forces are taken into account via a stochastic approach; the model computes areas of probability instead of a single trajectory. The model is validated using a series of drift measurements carried out during the months of June 1983 and 1984 in Canadian waters. This data is used to test the accuracy of the model and to estimate the impact of each parameter on the drift.

In the first section we describe briefly the equations solved by the model and the numerical scheme. Sections 2 is devoted to the validation of the model on the available test cases, and in section 3, we present the stochastic approach that is implemented in the code.

Model Formulation

Principle

The aim of the model is to predict the drift of an iceberg, knowing an estimation of its shape and mass and using environemental factors.

The drift is a result of:

• Current drag force (Fc)


• Wind drag force (Fw)


• Wave Force (Fwav)


• Inertia and Coriolis forces (Fm)

The model numerically solves the movement equation (eq. (1)) to compute the location of the iceberg.

(m+ma)

d2x

dt2 = Fc+ Fw + Fwav + Fm (1)

where m stands for the mass of the iceberg, ma for the added mass, and X for its position. ma is usually taken to be half of m. All the terms in this equation are two-dimensional vectors. We use a fourth-order RungeKutta scheme with adaptative time-step to integrate the equation in time.

Another equation could have been included in the system to compute the yaw of the object. Such a calculation requires having a good knowledge of the shape of the object to be accurate. Furthermore, the formulation of the problem can be very complex, because without using a damping term, we obtain a permanent rotation of the iceberg which is not realistic. And since the choice of the damping coefficient is often arbitrary, it incorporates another source of uncertainty in the model. So we consider that given the lack of details on the precise shape of the iceberg and the number of uncertainties that already exist, it is not significant to include the yaw motion of the iceberg in the calculation at this stage of development.

Drag forces

The classical formulation of drag forces is used: for the wind drag force, in projection on the x and y directions, the expression is simply:



where uw is the wind speed and _w is the wind incidence angle. For the current drag force, the code does not use a single value of current, but vertical profiles. So we have to sum the contribution of each layer to obtain the resulting effort:

where n is the number of layers and uc(k) the current speed at the kth layer. Given the fact that yaw motion is not taken into account in the calculation, the surfaces Sw and Sc must represent a "mean surface" exposed to wind and currents. The drag coeffi

Labels: iceberg Drift, oil gas russia, rogtec

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 15:55  0 Comments

Vision becomes reality as Caledus announces JV and new product


Caledus, the Aberdeen headquartered well construction technology oil and gas service sector business, is reaping benefits with the launch of a joint venture company, entry into new markets and an innovative technology.

Earlier this year the company unveiled plans for significant global expansion with forecasts of 250 employees worldwide and turnover of £50 million in 2012.

As part of the strategy, Caledus is forming a joint venture with Malaysian oil and gas service sector company Deleum Berhad. Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur the joint venture will see Caledus significantly enhance its existing profile in Malaysia, Miri, Indonesia and Brunei and expand into Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar. Up to 20 jobs will be created in the initial phase of the joint venture with a large majority being drawn from the local market. Deleum has over 20 years of oil and gas experience in Malaysia and the surrounding region and is headed up by Chandran Aloysius Rajadurai, Group Managing Director. Chandran, GMD said “We have worked closely with Caledus for the past three years acting as their agent, both companies now feel is it appropriate to enhance that relationship and a JV is the vehicle that we have chosen together.

Also in line with the vision, Caledus has announced its entry into the drilling with casing and liner market with the establishment of a new product line – the DragonBITE* Drill Shoe. DragonBITE* will complement the company’s existing well construction technologies, TD SOLUTIONS™ and SlimWELL®. TD SOLUTIONS™ is a range of individual down hole products and services to reduce non productive time. SlimWELL® slims down the well profile while maintaining well integrity and intervention ability without reducing the final hole size. SlimWELL® has the potential to reduce well construction costs by up to 50 per cent, enhances safety and reduces environmental impact.

The new technology is also seen as having an important role to play in proposals by Caledus to create a Slender Well Alliance – a grouping of like-minded companies, products and services that are focused on the development of lean profile, slender wells. Plans for the Slender Well Alliance are well advanced and it is anticipated that more details will be revealed later this year.

Paul Howlett, CEO and co founder of Caledus said: "Our vision stated that we would look to enhance organic business growth with strategic alliances and acquisitions, and a joint venture with Deleum is proof of that commitment. The Asian market has held up relatively well in terms of the global oil and gas industry and we see tremendous potential for our products in this arena.

"The establishment of DragonBITE* and our entry into drilling with casing and liner market was a logical progression in our suite of well construction technology, and again ties in with our strategic commitment to incorporate new product lines where appropriate to enhance the business. There is a significant demand for this technology particularly, in Asia and offshore and onshore North America.

"Casing and liner drilling, enhanced by the services offered by TD SOLUTIONS™ and SlimWELL®, will form an integral part of our proposed Slender Well Alliance. We are extremely excited about this concept which will bring together a range of products and services to create a slender well solution for the operating community."

Labels: oil gas russia, rogtec, Well Construction

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 09:15  0 Comments

Russia s oil production growth has slowed in recent years, from double digits in 2003 to just 2% last year. The ‘boom’ came mainly from reinvigorating the West Siberia area, first discovered and developed in the Soviet era. Application of more advanced technology allowed production profiles to be increased but West Siberian growth is now slowing.

If Russian production levels are to be maintained, of course one option for Russia is to open, explore and develop new areas, for example by extending West Siberian success to both the north and the south (Yamal and Uvat) or building on early successes in East Siberia.

However, an additional option for West Siberian fields is to recognize the distinction between the recent application of those technologies which have successfully transformed production rate, and the use of "Know How" which could still lead to an increase in reserves and hence, at least potentially, to a transformation in production capacity.

By and large, the application of technology, in the form of for example:

Well Construction, especially Directional and/or Underbalanced Drilling
Coiled Tubing Operations
Completion
Mechanical Operations
Stimulation, Fracturing, Chemicals etc
Artificial Lift

leads simply to existing reserves being produced earlier than otherwise would be the case. Indeed, over-vigorous “pulling” on existing reserves can ultimately lead to damage to a field, for example to premature water breakthrough, and hence to a reduction in field reserves. Saudi Arabian examples illustrate these points (Simmons, Twilight in the Desert, 2005).

In contrast, reviewing studies where increases in reserves are demonstrated, the application of "Know How" seems to be key. I illustrate this with 3 SPE papers:

Back in 1993, BP and Arco (Szabo & Meyers, SPE Western Region Meeting, 1993) described the "Development History and Future Potential" of the Prudhoe Bay Field, the largest producing field in North America, then expected to yield at least 25% more reserves than estimated at start up. Their paper briefly described the history of the field and some of the key developments that had taken place which had contributed to improved recovery efficiency. These incremental developments resulted from a process of continuous surveillance, interpretation of field performance, management of multiple reservoir mechanisms, efficient utilization of the gas resource, and exploitation of the existing field infrastructure.

Four dominant recovery processes were at work in Prudhoe Bay: Gas Cap Expansion/Gravity Drainage, Waterflood, Miscible Flood, and Gas Cycling. Continuous management of these processes and analysis of field performance had led to identification of attractive targets for further development.

Even in 1993, Prudhoe Bay was seen by many as a mature oil field on an inevitable and irreversible decline. However, the major Owners (who included Exxon) in Prudhoe Bay had continued to pursue incremental developments to mitigate decline and supplement proved reserves. Unit technical studies were (and are) typically done in multi-company, multi-disciplinary work teams. The pooling of resources, experience and knowledge in this manner enabled efficiency gains and promoted the sharing of ideas and best practices.

In 2004, ExxonMobil (Wilkinson and others, SPE International Conference, 2004) described "Lessons Learned from Mature Carbonates…." based on three long-life fields in the USA (the Jay, Salt Creek and Means Fields), exemplifying the benefits achieved by a continuous process of data collection, studies, and systematic application of available technologies. The example fields "will achieve a range of incremental increases in the recovery factor of between 8 and 20% OOIP…….." A systematic and integrated approach to reservoir management has been employed to understand the basic rock and fluid physics of each reservoir and the key parameters that impact reservoir performance.
……..ExxonMobil has established a large knowledge base of secondary and tertiary project experience at the laboratory, pilot-test and field implementation stages."

In 2005, several SPE authors (Moulds and others, Offshore Europe, 2005) described reservoir management issues associated with the North Sea Magnus Field. Magnus is a high productivity field from which oil was first produced in 1983 and for which the production plateau of 150mstbod ended in 1995. Post-plateau, a variety of reservoir management techniques has been used to arrest decline and by 2005, through exploitation of a gas injection EOR opportunity, the oil rate was again rising and looking ahead, additional drilling to access more reservoir was anticipated to maintain significant oil production ‘beyond the next decade’. In this opportunity-rich field, prioritisation of drilling targets was seen as key, with EOR wells vying with infill waterflood targets and extended reach wells to the (untapped) field periphery. The particular challenge described (and met) by the authors is that, due to non-uniqueness, a conventional full field reservoir simulator history model cannot sufficiently reduce uncertainty on drilling locations and facilities decision: in fact, future reservoir processes and performance may be sensitive to aspects of reservoir description that have little influence on the history match.

So “Know How” is about integrated, multi-disciplinary teams, building knowledge, dealing with great uncertainties, learning from their mistakes: it is acquired by having explored for, developed, managed and produced hydrocarbons around the globe and thus is the preserve of IOCs.

It is not generally available from oilfield service contractors who may well own some technologies but do not know how as defined above. In addition, contractors do not participate independent from their technology – indeed being paid premium prices for its deployment is part of the business model which induces them to invest in technology development in the first place.

Provinces such as Alaska (for BP and Arco), USA Gulf Coast (for Exxon) and California (for Shell and Exxon), North Sea (for Shell and BP) have honed company and individuals’ skills. Another way of saying this is that the oil & gas industry is knowledge-based, that is, dependent on people and not simply on technology. And all the signs are that in the short to medium term there will be a shortage of appropriately educated and trained or trainable staff. As I’ve discussed elsewhere, I believe that a “scramble” for this resource is under way.

This argument does not of course dismiss the important impact of technology.

In simple terms, IOCs apply technology to developments and producing fields to:

a) Image what’s there
b) Reach what’s there
c) Extract what’s there.

The last ten years have seen dramatic developments in the use of seismic technology, specifically "time-lapse" 3D, otherwise know as 4D, to Image fluids within reservoirs.
This technology – involving conventional surface-towed sources and streamers – has transformed reservoir management from its previous situation where the main approach to understanding reservoir dynamics was to build a 2D or preferably 3D simulation model based on relatively long-term production history (oftentimes an epic labour of love somewhat akin to the building of the Grand Mosque* in Cordoba!).

The North Sea has been greatly impacted by 4D technology but perhaps an even greater impact will come in deep-water fields where wells are very expensive and thus any increase in certainty as to fluid movement is exceptionally valuable.

This said, it would be facile to assume that what is done today represents the limit of what is achievable with geophysical technology, whether in acquisition, processing or analysis. Indeed, it is widely envisaged that The Instrumented Oil Field lies in the (near) future with down-hole
sensors recording seismic and electro-magnetic waves, and perhaps potential fields (gravity and magnetic), and seismic and electro-magnetic sources complementing conventional surface (and sea-bed) sources and sensors.

Globally, the most significant problems associated with this vision are:

Developing sensors and sources that are reliable down-hole,
Delivering said equipment to the reservoir, without interrupting production, and
Analysing the data to deliver a usable Image.

However, the issue in Russia is this:

By an accident of history, Russian geophysical contractors are focused onshore, somewhat regional, have relatively weak technical quality assurance and HSE standards, no experience of 4D, and little understanding of working as an integrated part of a multi-disciplinary (reservoir management) team.

Western geophysical contractors have global onshore and offshore experience, good technical quality assurance and HSE standards, significant 4D experience, and are used to working with multi-disciplinary teams. However, with the exception of WesternGeco via its relationship with PetroAlliance, they have shown little appetite for, or commitment to, working in Russia.

There seems therefore to be both a pressing need and a clear opportunity for a multi-national service company to bring new geophysical ideas to the development and production of Russia’s onshore and offshore resources. A merger between a Russian contractor and a Western one seems to be called for.



*The Grand Mosque in Cordoba:

Cordoba fell to the Moors in 711AD:
Late 8th C AD, the original Mosque was built
833-852 AD, first extension
961-966 AD, second extension
987 AD, final extension.

Following the re-conquest of Cordoba in 1236 AD:
1254 AD, Chapel of San Clemente added
1258 AD, Capilla Real added
Late 15th C AD, Chapel of Villaviciosa added.

Labels: artificial lift, oil gas russia, rogtec, Siberia, Well Construction, Western Siberia

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 17:41  0 Comments

With the EAGE St.Petersburg taking place in April - what are you looking to achieve through this event?

We hope, as in 2006, that this will be a very successful meeting for all involved. With the current buzz surrounding the regions geo market we hope more people will be find the solutions they seek for their businesses. Basically, we are looking to put the latest technologies from the region and around the world in front of the end users.

What technologies do you think will steal the headlines at this year show?

Well that's a tough question . . . I think that simultaneous pre-stack migration, Q-technologies and sparse surveys are found to be the most important in geophysics - these will be among the technologies to look out for at the show.

With more and more international players looking to enter the regions geophysical sector, how do you see them integrating with local Russian competitors?

There are different methods to get integrated in the Russian geophysical sector and different companies chose different strategies. It looks likely that partnership with Russian companies may be a good option and we see more and more international companies taking this route.

What major investments are planned for exploration in 2008? And are there any state incentives for growth in this area?

Investments into exploration are numerous with most majors planning some sort of exploration spend. It also seems that the State is going to accelerate exploration in East Siberia to make sure that sufficient amount of oil is available the East Siberia - Pacific Ocean pipeline. It is a tremendously ambitious project which needs a lot of investments, hard work and luck in exploration and related activities

What regions do you see as being a hotbed of exploration activity in the coming couple of years?

Aside from East Siberia mentioned in the previous answer, a number of areas will prove to be exploration "hotbeds" in the coming years including Timan-Pechora, offshore Far East and Caspian - I think these areas are likely to of key interest in terms of exploration.

With the Russian artic being touted as the final frontier for hydrocarbon exploration, will the harsh and remote environment hold back exploration studies?

On the contrary, as I know almost all major oil companies are involved in studies of exploration potential of the Russian Arctic.

Of course explorers are going to face the most difficult, sensitive and challenging environment ever found, let's not forget the difficulties of working in such conditions. But despite these issues, interest in the hydrocarbon potential of this area will grow massively, providing new and exiting opportunities for regional majors and providing a huge market to the local and international geo-industry.

Even with such interest and potential, it will take no less than a decade to evaluate the full potential of this area.

Is there a demand for geophysical technologies on current brown field sites?

Demand for geophysical technologies in brown field developments will be on the rise for years to come. This is due mainly to the current state of affairs in brown field site and of course the strong oil price.

How will the marketplace have changed before EAGE St.Petersburg 2010 takes place?

I think it is clear that exploration developments are on the rise and that the oil business will be supporting many of us by EAGE 2010 and well beyond.

The Russian oil industry will become more consolidated and quality G&G services will be in greater demand with many new and exiting projects underway. Additionally the development of Russia's harsh and sensitive regions, a lot more emphasis will be placed on correct geo technology development.

Labels: EAGE, KONSTANTIN SOBORNOV, oil gas russia, rogtec, St Petersburg

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 15:23  0 Comments

Welcome to the brand new Russian and Caspian Upstream Oil and Gas Industry news and article forum where you can view archives of all the latest and past oil and gas industry articles produced exclusively by ROGTEC Magazine.

Labels: rogtec, russian oil and gas, Upstream

posted by The Rogtec Team @ 11:29  0 Comments