What's new in production
Nanosensor research. A group of petroleum-producing and oilfield service companies have banded together with the University of Texas at Austin in a joint research venture to create and develop new oilfield nanotechnology. The Advanced Energy Consortium (AEC) plans to develop subsurface nanosensors that can be injected into oil and gas wells. These sensors would be forced through the existing pore space and into the surrounding rock formation. There, they would collect the reservoir’s physical characteristics. Exactly how this would be achieved is the focus of the consortium. This data could then be used for production optimization studies. Consortium members include BP America, ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil, Occidental, Shell, Schlumberger Technology and Halliburton Energy Services. Project management will be provided by the University of Texas at Austin (UTA). Industry members will each contribute $1 million research funding per year for the first three years to underwrite the project. UTA will own all inventions resulting from the research and each member that contributes will receive a royalty-free, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide perpetual license to use the inventions for noncommercial, internal use. They will also have the right to make, use and sell any patented inventions. With the approval of AEC members, UTA will license rights to third parties. All AEC members will be able to conduct independent research and development studies and gain intellectual property rights related to their research. For interested organizations, additional qualified companies may join AEC with the approval of two-thirds of the existing members and the concurrence of UTA. Pipeline update. BP is continuing to increase throughput on the 1,768-km Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline. By late next year it expects to reach the goal of averaging 1 million bopd transported through the line. By the middle of 2007, the company had grown throughput to 700,000 bpd with a peak to 1 million bopd for a short time. This oil flow was enough to fill one to two tankers a day at the Ceyhan terminal on Turkey’s southern Mediterranean Sea side. Most of the oil is coming from the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli fields in Azerbiajan. BP increased production from those fields to an average 686,000 bopd, a near 80% increase from 2006 production. The BTC pipeline is operated by BP (30.1%), with partners Chevron (8.9%), Statoil (8.7%), TPAO (6.53%), Eni/Agip (5%), Total (5%), Itochu (3.4%), Conoco Phillips (2.5%) and Hess (2.36%). Turkmenistan began construction of a 7,000-km gas pipeline to China. Gas will enter the pipeline from eastern Turkmenistan fields, which may hold as much as 45.9 Tcf (1.3 Tcm) of gas. The pipeline will cross Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and then enter China carrying up to 1.06 Tcf (30 Bcm) of gas per year, according to Neutral Turkmenistan, the official newspaper. The pipeline is scheduled for completion in 2009. Metal-to-metal seal. At the recent Offshore Europe conference, Caledyne introduced an innovative seal that combines the durability of a metal-to-metal seal with the flexibility of a retrievable elastomer sealing system. It should prove useful for many production well-sealing applications. The tool has an elastomer bonded between shaped metal sides. When weight is exerted on the seal, the “sandwiched” elastomer controls the external metal skin’s expansion rate, reshaping it and forcing it into the outer casing’s inner wall. Retrieval is done by pulling on the seal to elongate the shortened section. This reduces the seal’s OD and frees the tool. The new tool is designed for HPHT, sour gas wells and well abandonment service among other uses. It is suitable for permanent or retrievable bridge plugs, packers, liner hangers, sliding sleeves, crown plugs or flange seals, according to the company. The tool has already seen service in the North Sea. New output. Production began from Ormen Lange field in Norway’s North Sea about 120 km from the Norwegian coastline. Maximum daily exports will reach 2.4 Bcf (70 MMcm) of gas and 50,000 bbl condensate. The field was discovered in 1997 by Norsk Hydro in water depths from 800 to 1,100 m. The gas is being moved by pipeline to Nyhamna on Gossen Island. After processing, the gas is exported through the Langeled gas pipeline 1,200 km across the North Sea to Easington, UK, where it enters the UK system. Partners in the project include Norske Hydro (18.0728%), operator during construction, Shell (17.0375%), as production operator, Petoro (36.4750%), Statoil (10.8441%), DONG Energy (10.3420%) and ExxonMobil (7.2286%). Shell takes over the operatorship in December and will be responsible for future drilling. Murphy Oil began producing 20,000 bopd from Malaysia’s deepwater Kikeh field. Production is expected to increase to 120,000 bopd by this time next year. Kikeh field is in 1,300 m of water in Block K, some 210 km from Kota Kinabalu in eastern Malaysia. The field is a SPAR development with oil produced from subsea wells through dry trees. Murphy operates the field with an 80% stake, while its partner Petronas Carigali holds 20%. AWE began oil production from Tui Area Development, in the Taranaki Basin, offshore New Zealand. Production has been stable at 42,000 bopd into the Umuroa FPSO, but that flow will increase to 50,000 bopd after optimization and debottlenecking. The field should produce up to 10 million bbl during its first year. Four subsea wells in three fields are tied back to the FPSO. The development is operated by AWE, a partnership of New Zealand Overseas Petroleum Pty Ltd. (22.5%), and AWE New Zealand Pty Ltd. (20%). The remaining interests include: Mitsui E&P New Zealand Ltd. (35%), Stewart Petroleum Co. Ltd. (12.5%) and WM Petroleum (10%). Talisman Energy began producing oil and gas from Blane field in the North Sea. The field is some 260 km east of Aberdeen and strattles the UK-Norway boundary in Block 30/3a (UK) and Block 1/2 (Norway). Output is increasing to a planned 17,000 boepd, most of which is oil. The field is tied back 34 km to Ula field (Norway), from which production is sent to Teeside Oil Terminal in the UK through the Ula Tambar and Norpipe pipelines. The field is unitized between UK (82%) and Norway (18%).
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