Table of Contents

Vol. 7, No. 2
2nd Quarter 2001

Booz Allen Hamilton and Petris Technology, Inc. to Web-enable MMS's Offshore Minerals Management Program

Booz·Allen & Hamilton, a global management and technology consulting firm, and Petris Technology, Inc., a Web-based data management and e-Business solutions provider, are teaming to conduct an e-Government analysis for the Offshore Minerals Management (OMM) Program at the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS).

The team will help MMS transform its Offshore Minerals Management Division into a Web-enabled environment for regulatory monitoring and offshore leasing. Focus will be on ensuring that the public receives value throughout the production lifecycle by decreasing time and costs of industry transactions, customizing information exchanges with both industry and the public, and increasing participation of key stakeholders. 

Operators’ cost savings are potentially large from improved efficiencies and reduced down time. e-Government solutions will also reduce lag time for operators bringing wells into production. Government savings from improvements can be re-invested in improved safety and environmental monitoring. It could also improve MMS' ability to protect the environment by assuring safe operation of offshore oil producing platforms. Taxpayers may see returns because the initiative will provide environmental groups and state and local governments better access to the agency's public information.

Booz·Allen and Petris will help OMM develop a robust and secure IT architecture, addressing industry's concerns about proprietary information. Although government driven, industry stands to gain from efficient access considering offshore's 24/7 scheduling environment.

For further information, contact A.B. Wade, Offshore Minerals Management office, Phone: 202-208-3985 or visit MMS's website (http://www.mms.gov/offshore).

Finding New Reserves in Old Places

In the May 2001 AAPG Explorer, Robert Sneider, AAPG's Powers Award medallist, shared his experience-based insights for finding reserves in mature properties. Applying these insights, beginning during the downturn of the 1980s, Sneider's company acquired 46 mature fields with over 625 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) at a cost of $2.69/BOE. Properties were acquired from major oil companies in competitive bid sales. Success relied on both a targeted acquisition process and an aggressive development program once fields were acquired. This process is as valid today as in the 1980s and insights are being summarized herein for industry's benefit.
When acquiring properties, Sneider used either geologic criteria or production comparisons to analog fields to identify acquisition candidates. Prime targets were near-marginal fields that were determined to be more heterogeneous than perceived by the current operator. Depositional environments with thin, vertical and horizontal flow barriers-tidal flats, tidal bars, mud-rich deltas and turbidites-were prime environments. Undrained or poorly-drained pay intervals were identified by comparing completion intervals with actual completions.

Key parameters for identifying potential reserves were hydrocarbons in place, percent recovery, and remaining reserves. Potential from workovers, recompletions, infill locations and subtle or hidden pays, such as from low resistivity zones, was quantified. Inherent to this evaluation was an assessment of the value of reprocessing or acquiring new 2-D and 3-D seismic data. Knowing current production and potential reserves, a thorough economic analysis was performed. In addition to the obvious production/reserves forecasts, the economic analysis considered known potential obligations, such as environmental liabilities, inactive wellbores, surface facilities and necessary maintenance/upgrading. 

Once acquired, development programs were rapidly implemented. Technical ideas for increasing reserves were tested a couple times with appropriate core/lab data taken during these initial tests. Where these tests for upside potential did not prove out, fields were sold. Thus, attention stayed focused on fields where new approaches were working. As noted, this approach proved economically attractive. 

It is insightful to know what Sneider experienced using this approach. In fields with no supplemental recovery potential that produced by primary recovery, most of the reserve additions (44%) came from field extensions due to improved reservoir characterization. Infill wells and bypassed pay accounted for another 29% and 21%, respectively. In fields where supplemental recovery potential existed, 40% came from waterflood installation, 36% from infill wells for the waterflood, bypassed pays/ recompletions and workovers, and 24% from field extensions. For fields with existing waterfloods, additional reserves came from infill wells (45%) and flood pattern modification (19%).

Excerpted from AAPG Explorer, May 2001. The full article is accessible on the Internet at http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/ documents/sneider/index.htm.

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In-Depth Technical Training Online

Workshops and conferences are great, and PTTC and others continue to serve a broad industry audience through them. But there are limitations. Frequently, time constraints allow only exposure to technologies, not the in-depth training required before application. And time-pressed producers may not be able to break free to attend workshops or conferences, let alone shoulder the travel costs. Emerging online alternatives within professional groups include: 

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) now offers five online courses (http://www.spe.org) taught by recognized experts for a nominal fee of $205 for SPE members. Current offerings, which are anticipated to expand, include:

• Fundamentals of Amplitude Versus Offset (Al Frisillo and Gary Cancienne, Flamingo Seismic Solutions, LLC)
• Wellbore Stability-A Course for Drilling People (Steve Devereux)
• Reservoir Characterization: From the Laboratory to the Field (Larry Lake, The University of Texas at Austin)
• Monte Carlo Simulation for the Oil and Gas Industry (James Murtha, consultant)
• Hydraulic Fracturing/Pressure Analysis (Michael Smith, NSI Technologies, Inc.)

These virtual classrooms allow users to work with interactive examples and receive one-on-one guidance from the instructors. Since 2000, the Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), The University of Texas at Austin, together with the American Geological Institute (AGI), has provided the Multidisciplinary Continuing Education (MCE) program, begun by AGI in 1996. These courses are Internet distributable, interactive, game-based, and multidisciplinary. Courses are composed of several modules. Each module delivers a core concept, skill or knowledge base within a limited time period and acts as a stand-alone, no-instructor-required program. Unlike most web-based learning programs, MCE is game-based. That is, users participate in the decision-making process and apply acquired knowledge to real-world problems. This allows users to internalize important cause-and-effect relationships as they manipulate, test, and revise input data. Web-based tools duplicate the traditional hands-on approach used by many professionals.

Contact Scott Rodgers, the developer at BEG (Scott.Rodgers@beg.utexas.edu or phone 512-471-2949), for information about the available MCE courses and how they work.