Cont. from page 1, Opportunity Still Abounds....

in mature conventional reservoirs. The majority of PTTC's efforts focus in this "taking care of core business" area.

Topics included in conventional resources may not be exotic, but they are profitable. Just a few examples from recent or planned PTTC events illustrate the diversity of topics:

• Stopping methane leaks (Texas Region supported EPA Natural Gas STAR workshops in Texas on technologies proven by industry).
• Aging wells increase concerns about casing integrity (North Midcontinent Region workshop repeated at the request of SPE Wichita; summarized in Tech Connections column in The American Oil & Gas Reporter).
• Low-cost, brine-activated polymer gel improves waterflood sweep (a case study in Petroleum Technology Digest in World Oil).
• Explosives safety (Appalachian and Texas Regions, cooperating to bring Core Labs insight to many new in the industry).

• Forecasting waterfloods using Reservoir Grail (Appalachian and Texas Regions, helping understand a software tool well tailored to identifying waterflood opportunities. Additionally, PTTC is also working towards a workshop on starting small waterfloods).

The above highlights some of the diversity of topics which serves a learning community connected through PTTC's activities in the 34 producing states. The organization focuses on realizing the opportunities in mature reservoirs, primarily in the Lower 48. This base-level conventional production stabilizes domestic supply while developing unconventional resources come to fruition. The onshore infrastructure remains a vast investment that continues to pay dividends quietly and methodically. The core business of conventional production will continue to play an important role in domestic supply as a growth transition to unconventional resources takes place in the coming years.