Volume 2 Number 3, Copyright © 1996 Petroleum Technology Transfer Council
| PTTC News | DOE Digest | Regional Roundup | Tech Transfer Track |
USC Expands PTTC Network as West Coast Region
West Coast oil and natural gas producers have a new information resource for exploration and production technologies. On July 25 the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, signed a four-year contract to become a regional lead organization for the Petroleum Technology Transfer Council. Dr. Iraj Ershaghi, director of the university's petroleum engineering program, is responsible for coordinating the region's problem identification workshops and various technology seminars.
The West Coast is the tenth region to join the national mission to identify and transfer technology to domestic producers. Ershaghi's extensive petroleum industry experience will result in the opening of a regional resource center at USC as early as Dec. 6, according to PTTC Executive Director Deborah Rowell. A producer advisory group already has been established to develop programs for the states making up the region: California, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. It is chaired by J.C. "Chris" Hall, president, Drilling & Production Co., Torrance, Calif.
"Iraj Ershaghi has long supported our work on behalf of California oil and gas operators," said Hall, immediate past chairman of PTTC. "He already has worked with the regional oil and gas associations and conducted several technical workshops." The selection of USC has been endorsed by the US Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, state oil and natural gas regulatory agencies, and the California Independent Petroleum Association, among others.
More than 50 oil and natural gas producers, geologists, petroleum engineers-and PTTC regional directors and national staff-attended a July 15 grand opening of the Appalachian regional resource center at West Virginia University in Morgantown.
The facility offers producers computer access to data on the Appalachian Basin and technology resources, including software demonstrations and assistance from geological surveys of West Virginia and surrounding states, and the National Research Center for Coal and Energy (NRCCE). The resource center, supervised by regional Director Dr. Doug Patchen, is located in the NRCCE facility on the university's Evansdale campus. "Our new resource center brings together a lot of current exploration and production knowledge covering a seven-state region," Patchen said. "The university's resources and research facilities and DOE's nearby Morgantown Energy Technology Center offer state-of-the-art information."
Richard Bajura, NRCCE director, welcomed visitors to the center, noting that the space and $150,000 in equipment is the result of funding initiated by West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd. "We value our relationship with the oil and gas industry," he said. "We want you to feel at home here."
Websites Build Network of Regional Information
As more US oil and natural gas producers enter the World Wide Web to search for information, many find the available data poorly organized or incomplete. Petroleum "web surfers" soon learn that exploration and production resources are useless-unless they can be quickly found and applied.
Since becoming one of the earliest petroleum websites, and even more so today, PTTC believes the Internet's future rests with those who know their users best. Independent producers who visit PTTC's 10 regional websites can find a growing, nationwide exploration and production guide to help them get to where they want to go. This electronic network guides producers to regionally organized resources.
Regional staff, the same people who organize the grass-roots producer workshops and operate resource centers, know what exploration and production information is available on-line. They also continuously update their PTTC regional websites, as new technologies and other information come almost daily. Producers can contact regional directors with suggestions.
In addition, as a non-profit organization seeking additional funding, PTTC is developing website programs and other cooperative efforts to allow service and supply companies, consultants, and producers to join the technology transfer mission. These programs include contributions of case studies, new product listings, workshop speakers, resource center open houses and more.
Managing Internet content includes working with producer advisory groups to identify and address technology priorities. The structure encourages frequent communication on the national or regional level (see the article on PTTC's interactive technical forums in the last issue of "PTTC Network News"). It also offers low-cost access to websites that benefit oil and gas producers. The following is a sample of the data, downloadable software, and production information that can be found at regional websites.
The Morgantown, W. Va.-based regional website includes data from West Virginia University's National Research Center for Coal and Energy, site of the newly opened resource center for PTTC's Appalachian Region (http://www.nrcce.wvu.edu/programs/pttcorg.html). Information also is available from the Appalachian Oil and Natural Gas Research Consortium, which includes the geological surveys of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.
For example, petroleum technology research has resulted in an Atlas of Major Appalachian Gas Plays. The gas atlas, funded by the US Department of Energy, includes a map showing the location of all gas fields in a play and a table of reservoir data. The atlas eventually will provide a key information base for the Appalachian region website and resource center. Another project funded by DOE involves measuring and mapping reservoir permeabilities at various scales. Other technologies under study include cost-effective drilling processes to lower the environmental impact.
The Central Gulf Region (http://www.enrg.lsu.edu/pttc_cgr.html), is comprised of Louisiana and its offshore waters and is based at the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. The website includes information from the LSU petroleum engineering department as well as the LSU Basin Research Institute.
Among the resources available at the Central Gulf website:
Facilities include staff offices and laboratories, well-log, core, and publications libraries, open-files, analytical equipment, and computer telecommunications capabilities-with the data available on the website.
Like all 10 regions, the Eastern Gulf provides technical assistance to producers in the region by providing easy access to reservoir and production data, and case histories.
Data on the Illinois Basin are among the resources on the Midwest Region website (http://denr1.igis.uiuc.edu/isgsroot/oilgas/index.html). Additional information for Michigan, Indiana and Western Kentucky is in the process of being developed for on-line access. Current information on the website is collected mainly through the Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, and includes:
DOE/SPE software already available through the PTTC resource center at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, now can be downloaded on the region's website. Data sources available in cooperation with the Kansas Geological Survey include:
Similarly, research institutions aid the expanded Rocky Mountains Region website at the Colorado School of Mines (http: //www.worldenergy.com/PTTC/index.html), which hosts a collection of public domain digital data. It includes downloadable files contributed by organizations and state agencies. For example, the site has the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission's spreadsheet (in a choice of formats) that lists Colorado's abandoned producing properties-and a list of their operators and contact information.
In the Lone Star State, the Texas Region at the University of Texas, Austin, maintains numerous databases on current programs on oil, natural gas, the environment, coastal studies, core research, etc.
Producers can access oil and natural gas information from two websites, the Texas Resource Center website (maintained by the Bureau of Economic Geology): http://www.utexas.edu/depts/beg/pttc and the Texas Outreach website (maintained by the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Assoc.) http://www.tipro.org/pttc/
The Atlas of Northern Gulf of Mexico Gas and Oil Reservoirs (to be published in 1997), is funded by the Gas Research Institute, DOE, and US Department of the Interior, and the Minerals Management Service.
Aggregated subsets of digital data are available, including reservoir pool, field, and tabular data by geological play, as well as files of field and play outlines. The data will be published in the atlases. The Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory for Carbonate Studies is developing improved geological, petrophysical, and geostatistical description methods for 3-D seismic.
PTTC's newest team member, the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, is the West Coast Region. The site already includes links to the Lawrence Livermore National Lab Database developed under the Advanced Computational Technology Initiative (ACTI), DOE Field Demonstration Projects, and various other energy resources. Although its website is still being developed, information content is growing.
The West Coast Region's website address: http://www.usc.edu/dept/peteng/pttc.html.
For more information about accessing PTTC's regional network of websites or the World Wide Web in general, contact PTTC Information Coordinator (aka webmaster) Peter Keys at headquarters, toll free 1-888-THE-PTTC.
PTTC Regions Chosen for DOE Chemical Flooding Study
An industry and university research partnership will soon investigate new ways to make polymer injections more economical for the producer. DOE announced June 20 federal cost-share funding for three university research teams to advance chemical flooding. Two PTTC regions will participate in the study, and all 10 PTTC regions will assist in communicating the results to producers.
More than $2 million will be awarded to the Kansas University Energy Research Center, the New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center, and Prairie View A&M Research Foundation. The Kansas and New Mexico centers are also the locations of the PTTC North Midcontinent Region and the Southwest Region. The three organizations will supply $1.35 million in private sector funding.
The projects will focus on polymers. Polymer injection may be particularly attractive as a way to enhance the effectiveness of waterflooding. Before polymer injection is ready, however, many technical challenges must be overcome. For example, one particular research need is to develop gels that flow easily for several hundred feet into a reservoir, then harden to block water flow.
The Kansas University center in Lawrence will use the DOE funding to continue its research on the use of special polymers that create gels in a reservoir. Such gels can be used to block the flow of waterfloods through areas of the reservoir that have already been swept of oil and redirect the flow to zones that still contain producible oil. The 30-month project will be headed by Dr. Don Green and Dr. Paul Willhite. It will receive $754,000 from DOE and $1.05 million in private sector funding. Results will be communicated to independent producers through PTTC programs and KU's Tertiary Oil Recovery Project.
New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center, a part of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, N.M., will also concentrate on the use of gels and other chemical agents to shut off the flow of water through depleted sections of a reservoir. Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas, will focus on a new family of chemicals for advanced oil recovery that includes starches and blends of polymers and starches.
Producer advisory groups initiate regional workshops to address specific technical concerns. Ten regional directors also cooperate with other industry organizations to broaden the outreach among exploration and production companies. Co-sponsored events greatly increase the number of producers exposed to technologies beneficial to their businesses. Groups like the Louisiana State University Basin Research Institute, a leader in developing combined workshop programs, have brought hundreds of producers to top-rated workshops (its New Orleans workshop on 3-D seismic applications will be repeated in Houston in mid-October).
As a new organization, PTTC has been fortunate to have opportunities to co-sponsor successful events with the LSU Basin Research Institute, SPE, AAPG, IPAA and other producer organizations. On Dec. 9, for example, regional staff will host a workshop on blow-out prevention with the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. These cooperative workshops help provide a multi-disciplinary approach. Workshops with membership organizations also add a convenient meeting location for producers attending midyear or annual meetings. Any organization interested in pursuing co-sponsorships of technical events can contact PTTC national headquarters office toll free at 1-888-THE-PTTC or one of the regional directors.
Note: Producer advisory groups establish PTTC workshop agendas in 10 regions. Many state and regional oil and gas associations and professional societies also assist in identifying specific producer problems and concerns. National membership organizations like the Independent Petroleum Association of America contribute to PTTC's outreach among the nation's 8,000 independent producers. Every two years IPAA surveys its membership; the responses provide PTTC another tool for identifying producers technological needs and for developing future technology workshops. Below are highlights from the 1996 survey report.
A recent survey confirms the increasing role of independent oil and natural gas producers in the domestic oil and natural gas industry with technology playing a leading role. The Independent Petroleum Association of America's "1996 Profile of Independent Producers," shows independent producers dominate exploration and drilling in the lower 48 states.
Independent producers drill 85 percent of the nation's wells in 33 states with oil and gas production. They produce 65 percent of the natural gas and nearly 40 percent of the oil consumed by Americans. These independent producers have become a major player in developing the resource base in areas onshore and offshore.
Technology Driven
In many cases the use of technology is the second most important contributor
to the independents' relative success, ranking after company personnel.
Technology can contribute significantly to a company's bottom line in the
forms of improved efficiency and reduced costs. The survey highlighted the
following two technologies horizontal drilling and 3-D seismic.
The typical firm participated in an average of three horizontal drilling ventures in 1995, with 25 percent expecting to use horizontal technology in 1996. Statistics were much greater for public companies averaging 10 horizontal wells, whereas private companies averaged two wells in 1995.
The typical 1996 company budget for seismic activity is $250,000, but the range spans from $35,000 at the smallest companies to $8 million at the largest. The use of 3-D seismic is now more prevalent, outpacing 2-D. The 1996 seismic budgets increased 73 percent over 1995 levels.
According to the survey, 3-D seismic is an extremely important exploration and exploitation tool for independent producers. The technology has become more competitively priced because of increases in computer speed and memory.
However, 4-D seismic (3-D seismic that is time lapsed to show fluid movements) is not yet being significantly used by independent producers.
Oil and Gas Operations
Independents reported average crude oil production per day of 360 barrels.
Natural gas production was reported at 3,000 million cubic feet. The
typical independent currently operates 50 oil wells and 30 natural gas
wells.
The average firm drilled four oil wells and five gas wells in 1995, and plans to drill slightly more in 1996.
Offshore Activity
The offshore area continues to be one of the fastest growing domains for
independents, who drilled 59 percent of the wells in the Gulf of Mexico in
1995. Slightly less than 11 percent of independents currently operate in
federal waters, while 16 percent operate in state waters. These are
significant increases from the 1994 survey.
Another 16 percent of independents plan to operate offshore in the next five years. The biggest hindrances to those who will not go offshore are government regulations, environmental costs and financial constraints. Independents tend to operate in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with nearly 85 percent operating in water of less than 300 feet and 8 percent in more than 750 feet.
Marginal Wells
Crude oil production from marginal wells accounted for large quantities of
total production in nearly every size company. (A marginal well has daily
production of less than 15 barrels of crude oil or less than 90 thousand
cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas.)
Marginal wells represent 60 percent of total US crude oil production and 40 percent of natural gas. Marginal oil accounts for 75 percent of all crude oil output for small independents, between 30 percent and 50 percent for mid-sized independents and up to 20 percent for large companies.
Independents reported operating an average of 33 marginal oil wells and 19 marginal natural gas wells. As expected, the biggest concerns of marginal well operators are crude oil and natural gas prices. Other concerns listed were environmental costs, produced water, and the costs associated with decommissioning a well.
Independents further reported they operated a median of 12.5 marginal wells that broke even or lost money in 1995 at an average cost of $10 per barrel of oil equivalent, excluding taxes and corporate overhead expenses. The median cost to decommission a 5,000 foot well was $7,500; a 10,000 foot well: $15,000.
Decision Makers
Among the most important results of the study is the development of a
demographic profile of US independents. The vast majority are either
company owners or high-level managers.
Nearly 63 percent report they are responsible for making the final decision in the company's purchase of oil field services and supplies, an additional 18 percent play some role in the decision process.
Of the services typically recommended 48 percent make decisions on drilling contractor services and 41 percent on formation evaluation/well completion services.
The company profile indicates that the typical company has been in business for 22 years and has gross revenues of $2,888,000. The typical independent employs 10 full-time and 3 part-time employees.
Survey conducted by IPAA in association with Industry Insights Inc., Columbus, Ohio. All statistical results reflect a percentage of survey respondents. Production and wells drilled are shown in gross figures.
Contact IPAA at 1-800-433-2851.