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New
Source of Oil and Gas R&D Funding in Canada
Alberta recently announced that it will
commit $185 million over five years for the Innovative
Technologies Royalty Program. The program, which is a part of
Alberta's energy innovation strategy, is designed to encourage
the piloting and demonstration of new technologies that will
increase the recovery of oil, natural gas and in-situ oil
sands resources along with promoting environmentally
responsible development. It will build on the $15 million CO2
Enhanced Oil Recovery program recently announced by the
province, which also included support from the federal
government.
Working with industry and the Alberta Energy
Research Institute (AERI), the province will come up with the
criteria and the process by which industry can apply for the
support. Alberta will fund 30% of the cost of a project with
industry contributing 70%. An energy department spokesman
indicated the project should be in operation by fall.
Excerpted from "Alberta Government
Announces New R&D Funding," New Technology Magazine, June 2,
2004; view article online at
www.ntm.
nickles.com/article.asp?id=
31193&issue=06022004.
Intellipipe®
"1,000,000 Bits/Second" Technology Moving On
IntelliPipe®,
the high-speed drill pipe telemetry system offered by
IntelliServe Inc., a company owned jointly by Grant Prideco
and Novatek, continues to move toward commercialization. This
new technology, which received initial funding support from
DOE, allows data transmission at a million bits per second
through drill pipe, a rate that will revolutionize drilling.
It was first fully field tested in the Rocky Mountain Oilfield
Testing Center in early 2003. In that test (www.fe.doe.
gov/news/techlines/03/tl_intelli
pipe_rmotctest.html),
over 4,300 feet of 5 7/8-in IntelliPipe was used to sidetrack
an existing well, drilling for almost 400 ft and reaming over
600 ft. Since then, almost 4,000 ft of IntelliPipe has been in
use at a private U.S. test site where it has performed
successfully in a full array of drilling operations. Working
with a drilling jar manufacturer, IntelliServe has developed
and is field testing an IntelliJar®.
Anticipations are that the Intellipipe system will be deployed
to a commercial wellsite soon. More than 11,000 feet of
IntelliPipe has been completed for use in future field trials. |
Excerpted from "IntelliPipe Moving Closer To
Commercial Reality," Drilling Contractor, March/April 2004, p.
43 or online
www.iadc.org/dcpi/dc-mar
apr04/Mar4-Intellipipe.pdf.
Expandable Casing Patch
System
2T Xpatch, an expandable casing patch system
developed by Houston-based TIW (www.tiwtools.com),
gives producers a casing patch option where the casing string
patch is only slightly smaller in diameter. TIW notes that ID
through a liner patch in 5 ½-in casing can be the full
diameter of 4 ½-in casing. Maintaining this large of a
diameter greatly expands future tool, pump and equipment
options.
No special casing is required for either the
expanded or straddling pieces and no casing size or length is
off limits. Complementary expandable products that TIW is
developing include Xpak, a whipstock anchoring system, and an
Xpak liner hanger. Excerpted from
"From Exotic To Routine, The Offshore Quick-Step," Offshore
Engineer, April 2004, pp. 77-83 or online
www.oilonline.com/news/
features/oe/20040401.From_
exo.14127.asp.
SPE Online Consultants
Directory
Through the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE),
a free online database of consultants in the upstream oil and
gas industry now is available. Available at
www.spe.
org/consultant, the directory allows database
searches by name, technical terms or geographic region.
Searches within the directory return a list of consultants
matching criteria specified by the user. Detailed information
is available including consultant's services and contact data
to help facilitate inquiries with the consultant.
Solving Liquid-Loading
Problems, An Expert's View
James Lea, Texas Tech University, is widely
recognized as an artificial lift expert. He and Henry Nickens
with BP shared their insights on gas-well liquid-loading in a
recent Distinguished Author Series article in SPE's Journal of
Petroleum Technology. Liquid loading is not always obvious,
but common symptoms include: sharp drops in decline curve,
onset of liquid slugs at the surface, increasing difference
between flowing tubing-casing pressure, |
and sharp gradient changes in
flowing-pressure survey. Critical velocity calculations, nodal
analysis and experience should be employed in evaluating
liquid loading problems and potential solutions.
Listed solution options include:
- Sizing production strings to eliminate
liquid loading—can be very effective for higher flow ranges;
may eventually have to be downsized to continue flow.
- Compression—economics and operational
reliability can be key issues.
- Plunger lift—may be preferred over
smaller tubing for lower rates. A two-piece plunger shows
advantages in some wells (www.worldoil.com/
magazine/MAGAZINE_
DETAIL.asp?ART_ID=
2102&MONTH_YEAR=
Aug-2003).
- Beam pumping—an option for low pressure
wells; gas interference can be a problem; installation and
operational costs can be high.
- Hydraulic pumping—jet pumping power
requirements can be high.
- Foaming—a common initial solution that
can be evaluated in the lab; condensates will adversely
affect; evaluate economics of continued surfactant usage.
Surfactant can be applied in a number of ways: capillary
strings (www.
worldoil.com/magazine/
MAGAZINE_DETAIL.
asp?ART_ID=1955&
MONTH_YEAR=Feb-
2003) or soap sticks (www.worldoil.com/
magazine/magazine_
link.asp?ART_LINK
=02-09_ptd_automataic-plonski.htm)
- Gas lift—stating the obvious, must have
lift gas from compressor or high-pressure gas well.
- Downhole injection systems—test the
disposal zone to make sure it will take the water.
- Other methods—includes resistance cables
to prevent condensation, tubing joint inserts, etc.
Beyond general insights, the article lists
23 references, many of which are SPE papers presenting field
application results. These papers can be purchased online at
www.spe.org.
Excerpted from "Solving Gas-Well
Liquid-Loading Problems," SPE Journal of Petroleum
Technology, April 2004, p. 30+ available online
www.spe.org/spe/jpt/jsp/jptmonth
lysection/0,2440,1104_11038_
2354946_2395844,00.html. |
Tech
Transfer Track