Gas Development Projects Research Articles

Social preferences for the design of biodiversity offsets for shorebirds in Australia.

Understanding the social acceptability of biodiversity offsets is important to the design of offset policy. We used a discrete choice experiment to quantify preferences of Australians for a migratory shorebird offset in the context of an oil and gas development project. We surveyed a nationally representative sample of 1371 respondents on their preferences for current and prospective offset-policy characteristics via an online questionnaire to inform policy design of the social dimensions related to offset acceptability. The majority of respondents accepted offsetting as a means to allow economic development; the option to reject development (and an offset) was selected in 13% of possible offset scenarios. Substituting protection of a species affected by the development with protection of a more endangered species was a desirable policy characteristic, as was having the offset implemented by a third party or the government rather than the company responsible for the development. Direct offset activities (e.g., improving degraded habitat) were preferred over indirect activities (e.g., a research program), and respondents were strongly against locating the offset at a site other than where the impact occurred. Positive and negative characteristics of offsets could be traded off by changing the number of birds protected by the offset. Our results show that Australians are likely to support increased flexibility in biodiversity-offset policies, particularly when undesirable policy characteristics are compensated for.

Development of Shale Gas Supply Chain Network under Market Uncertainties

The increasing demand of energy has turned the shale gas and shale oil into one of the most promising sources of energy in the United States. In this article, a model is proposed to address the long-term planning problem of the shale gas supply chain under uncertain conditions. A two-stage stochastic programming model is proposed to describe and optimize the shale gas supply chain network. Inherent uncertainty in final products’ prices, such as natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGL), is treated through the utilization of a scenario-based method. A binomial option pricing model is utilized to approximate the stochastic process through the generation of scenario trees. The aim of the proposed model is to generate an appropriate and realistic supply chain network configuration as well as scheduling of different operations throughout the planning horizon of a shale gas development project.

Large-scale Landscape Mapping for Environmental Risk Assessment in the Arctic of Western Siberia (Russia)

Landscape mapping is widely used for the implementation of oil and gas development projects in the Russian Arctic, in particular for environmental impact and risk assessment. Large-scale landscape maps (1:25,000 – 1:100,000) have already been developed within these types of studies for the Yamal project and Tambey group of fields, and for fields in the southern Gydan Peninsula and Nadym-Pur-Taz interfluve. In this study, methods of large-scale inventory landscape mapping were developed and evaluation and advisory maps were generated. Modern research and mapping methods were applied in the preparation of a landscape map of Bely Island (in the Kara Sea). The final data processing included the correction of the planimetric part of the landscape map, and adding information about terrain types and types of landscape units to the database. The configuration of the map was complemented by images and data about areas of the main map units. The morphometric analysis of the research areas was carried out using ALOS World 3D and AsterDEM in the program SAGA.

Faster, higher, stronger: the competitive advantage of efficient data management for front-end decision making

With three major Australian coal seam gas (CSG) to liquefied natural gas export projects in operation phase, there is a need to identify new investment opportunities to maintain the required production and satisfy customer supply agreements. Considering the current global conditions of low commodity prices and the reduced availability of capital, both accuracy of data and efficient front-end decision making are essential. This paper proposes that well-defined front-end data processes and innovative data management technology can empower organisations to identify the value, and quantify the risks, of various development scenarios in a reduced time frame. Arrow Energy’s combined Surat and Bowen gas projects contain thousands of CSG wells currently being considered for further development. This can require the generation of countless technical and commercial scenarios. The challenge was to reduce the turnaround time in running these scenarios and improve accuracy while providing seamless handover and traceability of data. A new approach to data was required. By using global expertise in unconventional gas development projects, a data-centric development planning methodology was implemented. Industry best-practice geospatial tools were developed to introduce a new standard in well field layout scenarios, representing significant cost and schedule savings while improving risk identification and mitigation. This paper outlines a shift from the traditional ‘disposable data’ mentality of front-end development to the creation of ‘live’ datasets that continuously mature to assess and develop CSG projects. It also identifies the significant advantages across the Australian oil and gas industry of implementing basic data management and using new technology to its full extent.

Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) Best Practices to Corporate Shared Value (CSV): A Case of British Petroleum Tangguh Project In Papua

The Tangguh Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Project is a planned natural gas development project located in the remote area of Berau-Bintuni Bay in Papua Province, Indonesia. British Petroleum (BP) Tangguh project aims tobe the pioneer in producing natural gas. It can be concluded that BP contributes an innovative approach, bearing in mind to sustainable development, cultural preservation and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, in each of its corporate actions, BP always integrates the value of community, partnership, consultation and corporate responsibility. It is mentioned that through experience and observation, BP as an extractive company, haveestimated the costs of not finding a better mechanism to adjust to social challenges can be higher than the costs of the uncertainties inherent in the trial of new ideas. However, according to international Non-GovernmentalOrganization (NGO), Down to Earth, BP has conducted a series of human rights violations by exploiting natural resources in Papua and restricting Papuans in enjoying their fundamental human rights. If only the BP keeps this Tangguh project in line with its aim to accommodate concerns from the affected surroundings, thus, will surely bring positive changes in BP’s corporate shared value.

Economic evaluation on tight sandstone gas development projects in China and recommendation on fiscal and taxation support policies

China is rich in tight sandstone gas resources (“tight gas” for short). For example, the Sulige Gasfield in the Ordos Basin and the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Fm gas reservoir in the Sichuan Basin are typical tight gas reservoirs. In the past decade, tight gas reserve and production both have increased rapidly in China, but tight gas reservoirs are always managed as conventional gas reservoirs without effective fiscal, taxation and policy supports. The potential of sustainable tight gas production increase is obviously restricted. The tight gas development projects represented by the Sulige Gasfield have failed to make profit for a long period, and especially tight gas production has presented a slight decline since 2015. In this paper, a new economic evaluation method was proposed for tight gas development projects. The new method was designed to verify the key parameters (e.g. production decline rate and single-well economic service life) depending on tight gas development and production characteristics, and perform the depreciation by using the production method. Furthermore, the possibility that the operation cost may rise due to pressure-boosting production and intermittent opening of gas wells is considered. The method was used for the tight gas development project of Sulige Gasfield, showing that its profit level is much lower than the enterprise's cost level of capital. In order to support a sustainable development of tight gas industry in China, it is recommended that relevant authorities issue value-added tax (VAT) refund policy as soon as possible. It is necessary to restore the non-resident gas gate price of the provinces where tight gas is produced to the fair and reasonable level in addition to the fiscal subsidy of CNY0.24/m3, or offer the fiscal subsidy of CNY0.32/m3 directly based on the on-going gate price. With these support policies, tax income is expected to rise directly, fiscal expenditure will not increase, and gas consumption cost in China will be significantly cut down.

Exploration Decision-Making on Energy Based On Improved Real Option Model and BP Neural Networks

Based on real options method to construct a petroleum exploration and development projects of integrated economic evaluation model, application mechanism real option method in oil and gas exploration and development projects around the expansion, the option value to identify and analyze the process of exploration and development projects exist. Finally, select the appropriate option pricing model, instance data analyzed by gas exploration and development projects, and its contrast with the traditional analysis, pointed out that application of real options method can effectively improve the investment project economic evaluation of science. In this paper, to build an economic evaluation method based on real options method of energy development projects, and to explore applications based on the principle of real options to develop economic evaluation method, proposed mostly for exploration stage oil and gas exploration and development project abandonment option binomial model and the development phase stop start option of partial differential equations, is determined based on the actual parameters of such projects, and to provide solutions to parameter estimation.

A new approach to estimating surface facility costs for shale gas development

Surface facility costs are a significant component of the development costs that account for most of the shale gas development input. In conducting feasibility studies for shale gas development projects, particularly during the preliminary feasibility study stages, better estimation techniques for surface facility costs can help quickly and accurately estimate the input required to unlock shale gas investment opportunities. After investigating the salient characteristics of shale gas surface facilities, this study develops a new estimation approach for shale gas surface facility costs that combines the advantages of considering terrain variance and the law of declining costs. The results of an example in China indicate that this new technique can significantly improve the accuracy of estimating surface facility costs associated with shale gas development. Furthermore, this study can significantly improve the evaluations of the economic viability of shale gas development projects, thereby reducing investment risks and enhancing investment opportunities.

Design and Modeling Pile Breakwater for LNG Jetty at Senoro Field, Central Sulawesi

Senoro Gas Development Project is one part of a joint project between Pertamina and Medco E&P in the field of oil and gas exploration, located in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Senoro gas field built a jetty as berthing facility with length around 500 m from the shore. Based on the survey results showed that significant wave height is 2.7 m height at jetty area, while the requirement for vessel berthing larger than 50.000DWT is 0.7 to 1.5 m. Therefore, pile breakwater was planning to build in Senoro jetty area to protect and to reduce the wave height. From bathymetry data shows that the water depth in front of the jetty is between 20-30m. In this case, breakwater conventional or rubble mound type will not be effective for this depth. Thus, pile breakwater is one of the solutions as protection structures for protecting the jetty area from wave attack. The objective of this study is to modeling the performance of pile breakwater to reduce wave height with numerical model. For this study, analysis of the performance of the breakwater is done with numerical model of computational fluid dynamic analysis. The results indicated that pile breakwater was able to reduce the wave height for safety berthing requirement.

Fee disbursements and the local acceptance of unconventional gas development: Insights from Pennsylvania

This paper explores the extent to which local public support for an unconventional gas development (UGD) project is associated with public revenues disbursed to county and municipal governments where UGD occurs. Pennsylvania adopted “impact fees” in 2012, which have raised more than $400 million for use by county and municipal governments that host UGD. We designed a public opinion survey (N=453) that oversamples residents in UGD counties in Pennsylvania to test whether residents in counties and municipalities that received impact fees are more supportive of a hypothetical UGD project than residents in counties and municipalities that received less or no impact fee revenue. We found that impact fee revenue is positively associated with support for the UGD project. Further, the level of government receiving the funds (county versus municipality) is related to public support for UGD: impact fee revenue disbursed to municipal governments is associated with a higher rate of public support than comparable amounts disbursed to county governments, conditional on the respondent being aware of fracking prior to the survey. Our findings are consistent with the literature on public trust in local government and have implications for understanding the social feasibility of UGD in the United States and internationally.

Review of Oil and Gas Development Life Cycle Project Management (LCPM)

The effective implementation of the project management plays a core roll in avoiding bad project use effect and waste of funds, caused by asset management planning and design errors or equipment selection errors; meanwhile, it can effectively improve the operational efficiency of enterprise assets, lower operating costs and save resources. In June 1974, A. Gordon published a paper “3L Economics Concept” as the starting point, on the “Building and Quantity Surveying”, which is organized by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. In this paper, a review of domestic and foreign research, from 1974 to 2015, on the total life cycle management progress will be given, and then a comment on it will be established. After detailed investigation and analysis of related materials, we can draw a conclusion: the study of the oil and gas development project lifecycle management is just beginning now. Hence, building the whole life cycle planning index system in line with the characteristics of oil and gas development project is very necessary.

The Effect of Community Reinvestment Funds on Local Acceptance of Unconventional Gas Development

A survey with an embedded experimental design is employed to determine whether local public support for an unconventional gas development (UGD) project is influenced by a policy that commits a portion of private revenues from UGD to the state or local government. The public opinion survey (N = 2,700) oversamples residents living in counties of six states where UGD is technically feasible or underway: New York, Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas. We found that proposing a hypothetical UGD site about two miles from where the resident lives decreases support for local UGD, but this effect is attenuated when residents are informed that their community or state will receive benefits from of a portion of the revenues generated by a developer. Further, the level of government receiving the reinvestment funds influences the level of local public support for UGD, such that reinvestment in local government is a much stronger predictor of public support than reinvestment in state government. Our findings have implications for understanding the social feasibility of UGD and can have implications for how reinvestment policies should be designed to influence local community attitudes.

Mixed integer simulation optimization for optimal hydraulic fracturing and production of shale gas fields

Optimal development of shale gas fields involves designing a most productive fracturing network for hydraulic stimulation processes and operating wells appropriately throughout the production time. A hydraulic fracturing network design—determining well placement, number of fracturing stages, and fracture lengths—is defined by specifying a set of integer ordered blocks to drill wells and create fractures in a discrete shale gas reservoir model. The well control variables such as bottom hole pressures or production rates for well operations are real valued. Shale gas development problems, therefore, can be mathematically formulated with mixed-integer optimization models. A shale gas reservoir simulator is used to evaluate the production performance for a hydraulic fracturing and well control plan. To find the optimal fracturing design and well operation is challenging because the problem is a mixed integer optimization problem and entails computationally expensive reservoir simulation. A dynamic simplex interpolation-based alternate subspace (DSIAS) search method is applied for mixed integer optimization problems associated with shale gas development projects. The optimization performance is demonstrated with the example case of the development of the Barnett Shale field. The optimization results of DSIAS are compared with those of a pattern search algorithm.

Permitting program with best management practices for shale gas wells to safeguard public health

The development of shale gas resources in the United States has been controversial as governments have been tardy in devising sufficient safeguards to protect both people and the environment. Alleged health and environmental damages suggest that other countries around the world that decide to develop their shale gas resources can learn from these problems and take further actions to prevent situations resulting in the release of harmful pollutants. Looking at U.S. federal regulations governing large animal operations under the permitting provisions of the Clean Water Act, the idea of a permitting program is proposed to respond to the risks of pollution by shale gas development activities. Governments can require permits before allowing the drilling of a new gas well. Each permit would include fluids and air emissions reduction plans containing best management practices to minimize risks and releases of pollutants. The public availability of permits and permit applications, as occurs for water pollution under various U.S. permitting programs, would assist governments in protecting public health. The permitting proposals provide governments a means for providing further assurances that shale gas development projects will not adversely affect people and the environment.

A comprehensive environmental impact assessment method for shale gas development

The great success of US commercial shale gas exploitation stimulates the shale gas development in China, subsequently, the corresponding supporting policies were issued in the 12th Five-Year Plan. But from the experience in the US shale gas development, we know that the resulted environmental threats are always an unavoidable issue, but no uniform and standard evaluation system has yet been set up in China. The comprehensive environment refers to the combination of natural ecological environment and external macro-environment. In view of this, we conducted a series of studies on how to set up a comprehensive environmental impact assessment system as well as the related evaluation methodology and models. First, we made an in-depth investigation into shale gas development procedures and any possible environmental impacts, and then compared, screened and modified environmental impact assessment methods for shale gas development. Also, we established an evaluating system and assessment models according to different status of the above two types of environment: the correlation matrix method was employed to assess the impacts on natural ecological environment and the optimization distance method was modified to evaluate the impacts on external macro-environment. Finally, we substitute the two subindexes into the comprehensive environmental impact assessment model and achieved the final numerical result of environmental impact assessment. This model can be used to evaluate if a shale gas project has any impact on environment, compare the impacts before and after a shale gas development project, or the impacts of different projects.

Assessment of synergies for selecting a project portfolio in the petroleum industry based on a multi-attribute utility function

Abstract The oil and gas industry engages in risk activities: companies in this line of business are routinely faced with decision making situations under risk and uncertainty. This article focuses on evaluating Exploration and Production (E&P) projects which are in the development phase. Three key aspects that should be considered in selecting projects that aim to develop the production of oil and gas are as follows: the stochastic and multi-objective nature of this decision context, an assessment of a project׳s synergies, and the influence that these aspects have on the decision maker׳s preference structure. The contribution of this paper is to put forward a multi-attribute decision model to aid selecting oil and gas development projects in order to assign them to an appropriate portfolio. For this purpose, the proposed model takes into account the aspects described above. A multi-attribute decision model is proposed to aid selecting such projects and a numerical application is conducted. Questions related to assessing uncertainty and considering multiple objectives are tackled within the axiomatic structures of MAUT (Multi-attribute Utility Theory). Assessing synergies between projects is particularized in the context of selecting an E&P project portfolio and, in addition, the consequences of these synergistic considerations in value- or utility-based decision models are discussed. Finally, a numerical application is set out in order to visualize and discuss the steps of the model, as well as to demonstrate and discuss its usefulness and some practical issues that arise.

Why the wait? Shale gas exploration review and look ahead

Despite unconventional targets being recognised across many Australian sedimentary basins and the Energy Information Administration (EIA), estimating a technically recoverable shale gas resource of >400 tcf in Australia, there have been no definitive tests that prove that any of these potential plays will flow gas at commercial rates. There has, however, been a number of technical successes reported from both shale gas and basin centred gas plays. This extended abstract reviews select plays from both frontier and mature basins across Australia, including basins where Origin is actively exploring or appraising unconventional gas plays—the Perth, Cooper and Beetaloo basins. The technical challenges vary from play to play, but many of the above ground challenges are not play specific. To advance the industry, Origin and other companies will have to demonstrate a resource sufficiency that is economic in a high cost environment like Australia, while maintaining a positive relationship with communities. In its expansion into the NT, through its interest in the Beetaloo Basin, Origin has the benefit of 20 years' experience dealing with complex stakeholders and environmental challenges through its CSG development projects in Queensland. This experience is invaluable in advising best practices for engaging with local communities, landholders, traditional owners, and regulatory and government bodies. For the technically-minded asset development teams charged with exploring unconventional plays in frontier basins, where stakeholders are unfamiliar with oil and gas development projects, new skills are required that need deep organisational support.

Using innovation to lower gas gathering costs for unconventional projects

Moving from conventional to unconventional gas project development requires a significant shift in approach. This presents challenges for operators making this transition, including standards and specifications being mis-matched to functional requirements, the need for robust surface and subsurface field development planning, lack of infrastructure, high construction and procurement costs and the scarcity of supply chain and logistics support. In their need to prove up sufficient reserves in time for downstream LNG plant operations, coal seam gas (CSG) players have neglected the development of appropriate standards, specifications and contracting and procurement strategies that consider how upstream costs can be minimised. This can impact project viability in a high-cost, low-productivity environment. The requirement of shale gas development for continual expansion also presents challenges compared to conventional project development. Adopting a factory approach can ensure a smooth and economic transition through the phase of continual shale gas production across the life of individual wells and through field expansion. Using case studies, this extended abstract describes how innovation can be applied across the gas-gathering development phase of unconventional projects to achieve significant cost savings. Key innovative opportunities include: Maximising modularise construction and operation to reduce the construction schedule and maximise onsite productivity Relocatable, interchangeable, standardised skid designs (design kit approach). Standard modules sized to maximise container volumes (and they minimise freight costs) Low-cost design Asian and Australian fabrication. Fit-for-purpose technology and packages to lower operating costs. Design and fabrication to minimise environmental impacts.

Neuro-fuzzy system to predict permeability and porosity from well log data: A case study of Hassi R׳Mel gas field, Algeria

Characterization of shaly sand reservoirs by well log data is a usual way of describing oil/gas field reservoirs. Over the last few years, several studies have been conducted in the field of petroleum engineering by applying artificial intelligence. This work represents a petrophysical-based method that uses well logs and core plug data to predict well log data recorded at depth in a shaly sand reservoir of Triassic Formation in Hassi R׳Mel field, Algeria. In the study of oil reservoirs, the prediction of absolute permeability is a fundamental key in reservoir descriptions and has a direct impact, in particular, on effective completion designs, successful water injection programs and more efficient reservoir management. The Triassic Formations of Hassi R׳Mel fields are composed of sandstones and shaly sands with dolomites. Logs from 10 wells are the starting point for the reservoir characterization. This paper presents a hybrid neuro-fuzzy model based on the use of data from four wells regarding porosity and permeability estimation. A fuzzy logic approach is used to calibrate the calculated permeability and core permeability; and a neural network was developed in this model, based on the data available from the field. Fuzzy analysis is based on fuzzy logic and is used to choose the best well logs with regard to core porosity and permeability data. A neural network is used as a nonlinear regression method to develop transformation between the selected well logs and core measurements. Porosity and permeability are predicted in these wells through linear regression; and back-propagation models are constructed and their reliabilities are compared according to the regression coefficients for predictions in un-cored sections. This investigative hybrid neuro-fuzzy method becomes a powerful tool for the estimation of reservoir properties from well logs in oil and natural gas development projects.

거시경제모형을 이용한 해외석유가스개발사업의 경제적 효과 추정 연구

In general, quantity results of empirical analysis using model shows how much big performance policy has. Therefore this is useful to evaluate a policy. This paper composed macro economic model based on Bank of Korea`s quarterly model and annual model, that estimates performance of overseas oil and gas development project to Korean economy in aspect of quantity. In this model, we estimated each effect in real GDP, current account, unemployment rate, CPI and exchange rate carried by recovered amount from overseas oil and gas development project. The recovered amount was evaluated in currency coming from oil and gas acquired from overseas oil and gas development project. Macro economic model of this paper benchmarked macro model composed by Bank of Korea(1997, 2004, 2012). We reviewed model robustness using statistical suitability of each equation and historical simulation for from 1994 to 2011. The recovered amount of overseas oil and gas development project has positive effect in every macro economic index except CPI and exchange rate. Economic effect to macro economic index become bigger with time because the recovered amount of overseas oil and gas development project are increasing until now. Although empirical results of economic effects in every year from the recovered amount of overseas oil and gas development project are different, as of 2011, empirical results showed that the recovered amount of overseas oil and gas development project increase 2.226% and 0.401% in current account and real GDP respectively. And it also decrease 0.489%p in unemployment rate. Exchange rate to US dollars also decrease in amount of 0.379%.