U. S. Department
of Energy • Office of Fossil Energy |
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Access
Technologies Optimizing
Production Subsurface
Imaging Arctic
Energy E&P
Snapshots Calendar |
For information about NETL's oil and gas
E&P R&D, please contact Roy Long at For
a free subscription sent via e-mail, please contact Susan Griffin at Customer Service:
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A small-business spinoff from Noble Corp., in partnership with
the National Energy Technology Laboratory under its oil and gas R&D
program, has developed a new technology that uses automated torque control
to greatly improve the efficiency of conventional downhole motor and
measurement-while-drilling (MWD) systems. Slider LLC, Houston, TX, has
recently commercialized this technology, called "Slider,"
which overcomes the shortcomings of steerable motor/MWD systems employed
in directional drilling. Field tests of the Slider technology in the
Austin chalk showed that the system increased rate
of penetration (ROP) by as much as 200 percent for estimated savings of 11 to 23
percent of total well costs. How Slider enhances
directional drilling In effect, during sliding drilling, the bit and drilling assembly are "pushed" ahead without drill pipe rotation. Sometimes the drilled hole becomes sticky due to contact of the drilling assembly with the formation, and the drillstring's progress is impeded. To overcome this hurdle, directional drillers often use a rocking motion to reduce drill pipe stickiness and improve ROP. "Rocking" the drilling motor and tool face is accomplished from the surface by manually moving the drill pipe a few degrees forward and backward to get the drilling assembly back on the desired directional well path. It is common for the downhole motor to stall during such operations, especially in deeper sections of a well. Slider
is a patented new tool that controls torque from the surface with a
combination of hardware and software that integrates surface and MWD
data to automate the rocking motion typically applied during the sliding
operation. The Slider system overlays the pipe rotation equipment (top
drives, power swivels, or silicon-controlled rectifier-driven rotary
tables). No equipment is added downhole. Slider deploys a small "robot"
mechanism that interfaces with the top drive control and automatically
rocks the pipe to the right and left following a rigorous analysis of
torque data with specialized software. Because it constantly makes torque
and drag calculations, Slider gives the directional driller the capability
to reorient the tool face during slide drilling while still remaining
on bottoma task impossible in conventional slide drillingwhich
results in substantial time savings. Slider also eliminates instances
of motor stalling during sliding drilling, reducing the number of unnecessary
trips and lengthening motor and bit life. Slider LLC has also built
a plug-in interface for control of existing rig top-drive equipment,
thus eliminating the need for robotic control. This new interface allows
the Slider system to work with any rig utilizing conventional top-drive
controls.
To pursue further development of the Slider technology, NETL contributed funding to a Drilling Engineering Association (DEA) joint industry project (JIP)also funded by Chevron Corp., San Ramon, CA, and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., The Woodlands, TX. The funding provided by NETL was critical to getting the JIP initiated. The DEA JIP focused on modifying the Slider software to accommodate electric top drive drilling systems, building a two-robot system, and testing related robot software. Slider LLC then conducted at least three field tests to validate the technology on electric top drives and documented the cost-effectiveness of the technology. The company also trained directional drillers for the three field tests and analyzed the test results. Benefits
·
Improved ROP and horizontal-reach capability through
automated rocking, using torque as an input.
·
Faster tool-face correction through a torque pulse method
(essentially "rolling" or "bumping" the drillstring
during rocking).
·
Enhanced well trajectory through an order-of-magnitude
improvement in time and ease of tool-face correction while on bottomon average less than 2 minutes vs. as much as an hour
involved with manually adjusting the tool face during conventional sliding
drilling.
·
Avoidance of orientation time losses through a semi-automated
transition from rotating to sliding
·
Virtual elimination of stalling, thus extending motor
and bit life. Field tests of the Slider technology in the Austin chalk showed
that the system increased sliding ROP by 60-200% for estimated savings
of 11-23% of total well costs. For more information on this project, please visit the NETL website
at
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ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES
The NETL-sponsored project has marked the
following milestones on the four key components:
·
Accomplishing an industry first by
moving closer to achieving the top goal on the JIP's wish listan electrically erasable, programmable,
read-only memory (EEPROM) chip capable of withstanding the high temperatures
in deep gas wells. Honeywell developed two test chips that proved that
the project's technology can produce circuits that will allow instructions
to be written to or read from the EEPROM chip. These tests demonstrated
the EEPROM's capability of retaining data for over 1,000 hours at 225
°C (437 °F) as well as performing read/write functions at these
temperatures. A full-scale design of the EEPROM is completed and has
been released for fabrication. This is the last and most complex of
the four chips developed by this project to be fabricated.
·
Testing successfully and distributing
to JIP members a precision amplifier (OpAmp), which conditions data
signals received from downhole sensors. With a designed operating range
of -50 °C to 225 °C. (-58 °F to 437 °F), the OpAmp performed
well within design specifications at 300 °C for over 1,000 hours.
It remained functional at temperatures as high as 375 °C (707 °F).
·
Like the OpAmp, the field-programmable
gate array (FPGA) achieved a first-pass design success. The FPGA contains
more than 3 million transistors, 32,000 gates, and 492 points for circuit
contacts. An FPGA is a semiconductor device whose components and interconnections
feature programmable logic. These flexible chips can be reprogrammed
in the field to accommodate a change in purpose for a particular electronic
circuit. The EEPROM provides instructions to the FPGA.
·
The 18-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter
(ADC) was developed to provide a 16-fold improvement in resolution from
the existing standard. This kind of electronic circuit converts continuous
signals to discrete digitsbasically converting voltage to a
binary digital number. Testing of the ADC has shown an operating capability
of about 17.5 bits. Detailed testing at Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
which participated in its design, and at Honeywell revealed a signal-to-noise/harmonic
distortion problem between 30 °C and 50 °C. An error in the
Dither circuit was discovered. This error was corrected on a test sample
and tested successfully but could not be repeated on two subsequent
chip repairs. This circuit error, along with some minor changes recommended
by the JIP was incorporated in the second design pass, which will soon
be released for fabrication. Honeywell is designing these four components
to withstand the extreme heat encountered during deep drilling. It will
be the responsibility of the end user to provide packaging for these
components to also withstand the high pressures found at these depths.
For more information, please see the project summary on NETL's website
at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41834SiliconInsulate.html
MWD tools NETL is funding $4.2 million of the $6.4
million project. For more details, please see the project summary at
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41835MWDTool.html
Supercement After evaluating a large number of cement
formulations, CSI determined that resin and magnesium oxide cements
showed very good mechanical strength and bonding characteristics as
well as exhibiting properties that remain controllable at HT/HP conditions.
The new resin cement formulation has been used successfully in more
than 50 field plugging jobs and in one HT/HP squeeze job. This is the
"supercement" that earned CSI an award for engineering innovation
from Hart's E&P magazine (see preceding News Bulletin). NETL is funding $1.6 million of the $2.7
million project. For more details, please see the project summary at
http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/NaturalGas/Projects_n/EP/DeepTrek/DT_A_41836SuperCement.html.
More information is available on the Deep
Trek program on NETL's website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/EP_Technologies/AdvancedDrilling/DeepTrek/index.html |
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The Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas-Austin,
in partnership with NETL and as a part of NETL's core oil and gas R&D
program, has completed a 3-year project that demonstrates innovative
new seismic imaging technology that could revolutionize the way that
geophysicists interpret and map subsurface data.
The research project developed and demonstrated a new
approach to seismic interpretation based on elastic wavefield seismic
stratigraphy. The results of this research provide the oil and natural
gas industry with a better methodology for understanding reservoir and
seal architectures in order to improve interpretation of hydrocarbon
systems. As domestic exploration targets become harder and harder to
locate, the addition of such new tools to the exploration geophysicist's
toolbox is critical to our ability to find every bit of oil and gas
remaining in our Nation's mature producing areas. Project background In this project, researchers view all modes of an elastic wavefield
as having equal value for studying subsurface geology. Specifically,
one wave mode of a multicomponent seismic wavefield often reveals depositional
sequences and facies across a stratigraphic interval that cannot be
detected with the other modes of that wavefield. Elastic wavefield seismic
stratigraphy involves the imaging and interpretation of four elastic
modes (P, SH, SV, and C). The project demonstrated that each of those
four modes can image different stratal surfaces. The results showed that each reflected wave mode can provide
rock and pore-fluid information for reservoirs. Researchers investigated
3-C, 4-C, and 9-C data in both offshore and onshore areas, analyzed
both deep and shallow targets, and studied both carbonate and sand/shale
sequences. Project details Among the project highlights:
·
9-C/3-D seismic data from the Williston Basin were interpreted.
The research team documented distinctions and similarities between P
and S seismic sequences and seismic facies observed in these data.
·
The greatest differences observed between P and S seismic
sequences and facies occurred in deepwater, near-seafloor strata. Several
examples were documented.
·
A numerical study of P-P, P-S, and S-S reflectivities
was undertaken to define key petrophysical properties that cause these
modes to exhibit different reflection behavior for identical geological
layering. Other partners in the project with BEG-UT were Fasken Oil & Ranch, Midland, TX; Vecta Technology, Dallas, TX; and WesternGeco, Houston, TX. NETL funded almost 80 percent of the nearly $930,000 project. For more information on this project, please visit the NETL website at http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/Petroleum/projects/EP/Explor_Tech/15396.htm |
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Partners with UAB and Southern Company in the project are the
Citronelle field owner and operator Denbury Resources Inc., Plano, TX;
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL; Alabama A&M University, Huntsville,
AL; Geological Survey of Alabama, Tuscaloosa; and University of North
Carolina at Charlotte, NC. Total project cost is about $6 million, with
DOE's share just under $3 million and the project performer's cost share
accounting for the balance.
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NETL’s pioneering research with the University of Alaska-Fairbanks
(UAF)
With NETL sponsorship, UAF researchers have joined with representatives
of the oil industry, various environmental organizations, and State
and Federal agencies to address questions regarding the potential environmental
consequences of water withdrawal for use in building ice roads and pads.
Possible effects include impacts on aquatic organisms and impacts on
the lake-water chemistry. Questions have also been raised about the
consequent effects of water withdrawal on neighboring (and potentially
connected) unfrozen zones within frozen rivers that serve as over-winter
fish habitats. |
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DOE-Funded 'Microhole' Drilling Rig Demonstrated Successfully in Midcontinent
A DOE-funded technology that could change the way America's oil and
natural gas wells are drilled has been successfully demonstrated in
the Nation's Midcontinent region. DOE's Microhole R&D Program Yielding Promising New Tools
Technology being developed under the Energy Department's ambitious,
two-year-old Microhole Initiative is already yielding new tools designed
to drill ultrasmall-diameter natural gas and oil wells. More on microhole drilling. Colorado Company Pursues Low-Cost, Low-Impact Technology to Develop Nation's
Oil Shale Resources A DOE-funded project has successfully
demonstrated the viability of a new technology that could prove to be
the key to unlocking America's largest potential source of oil. DOE Project Revives Oil Production in Abandoned Fields on Osage Tribal
Lands A technology developed with DOE funding has
revived oil production in two abandoned oilfields on Osage Indian tribal
lands in northeastern DOE-Funded Technology to Upgrade Low-Quality Natural Gas Commercialized
The research targets subquality gas resource comprising a third of Model Shows $250 Billion of Benefits from DOE’s Core Oil & Natural
Gas R&D—Also read R&D success stories
Recent results from DOE’s National Energy Modeling System have
indicated that the Office of Fossil Energy’s core Oil and Natural
Gas R&D Program will benefit the Nation by $250 Billion of cumulative
benefits through the year 2025. UPCOMING
PRESENTATIONS April
2, 2007: The poster presentation “New Techniques for New Discoveries—Results
from the Lisbon Field Area, April
2, 2007: The poster presentation “Covenant Oil Field, Central Utah
Thrust Belt: Possible Harbinger of Future Discoveries” will be
given at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists’ annual
convention in April
2, 2007: The paper “Microbial enhanced oil recovery technologies:
A review of the past, present, and future” will be given at the
Society of Petroleum Engineers Production and Operations Symposium in
April
3, 2007: The paper “Estimating Fracture Reorientation Due to Fluid
Injection/Production” will be given at the Society of Petroleum
Engineers’ Production and Operations Symposium in April
5, 2007: The presentation “Innovative Technologies for Stripper Well
Operators” will be given at the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project’s
17th Annual Oil Recovery Conference in April
30, 2007: The paper “Numerical Studies of Geomechanical Stability of
Hydrate-Bearing Sediments” will be given at the 2007 Offshore
Technology Conference in April
30, 2007: The paper “Gas Production From Oceanic Class 2 Hydrate Accumulations”
will be given at the 2007 Offshore Technology Conference in April
30, 2007: The paper “Strategies for Gas Production From Oceanic Class
3 Hydrate Accumulations” will be given at the 2007 Offshore Technology
Conference in May 21–25,
2007 (presentation date TBD): The paper “Novel Applications
for Biogeophysics: Prospects for Detecting Key Subseafloor Geomicrobiological
Processes or Habitats” will be given at the American Geophysical
Union’s 2007 Joint Assembly in |
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National Energy
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E&P Focus is a publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s
National Energy Technology Laboratory. It features highlights of DOE’s oil
and natural gas E&P research programs. Want more information
about NETL’s oil and gas research programs? http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/EP_Technologies/EP_main.html
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