Medium Gravity Research Articles

ON COUNTERACTING RECIDIVISM (BASED ON THE PRACTICE OF THE INVESTIGATIVE COMMITTEE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION)

This article discusses the structure and dynamics of recidivism in the Russian Federation, its regional features. The role of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in countering this social phenomenon is determined. The author conducted a survey of investigators of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, studied the materials of criminal cases. On the basis of the analysis of law enforcement practice, with scientific justification the main directions of counteraction of recurrent crime are defined. It is concluded that the recurrence of crimes does not always indicate an increase in the public danger of the offender, and the principle of economy of repression should be implemented in respect of persons who have committed crimes of small and medium gravity of an economic nature. At the same time, it is necessary to exclude the negative impact of professional dangerous and especially dangerous recidivists on the normal development of society and the state, to prevent the weakening of criminal repression against this category of persons.

Expedited Pre-Trial Proceedings in Criminal Cases: Prospects of Development

The article discusses the issues concerned with the creation of a new model of summary proceedings that will not be unduly burdensome, will be consistent with the needs of law enforcement and allow to secure protection of the rights and lawful interests of persons involved in criminal proceedings to the full extent. The author analyzes the draft law that introduces the concept of a criminal wrong-doing. The article supports the idea that the prerogative to terminate criminal proceedings against a perpetrator who has committed a criminal wrong-doing belongs exclusively to the court. The court should resolve the matter during the court hearings with the participation of the suspect (accused), counsel for the defense, victim, his representative, prosecutor. Dealing with the file in a case with regard to the termination of criminal prosecution and application of measures of criminal character the court during the court hearings decides the issues of fact concerning the crime committed and only then it can resort to the measures having effect within the scope of criminal law. The author comes to the conclusion that the provisions of the draft law provide a significant reserve for optimization of pre-trial proceedings. The author analyses the recorded form of proceedings in criminal wrongdoing cases in the legislation of Kazakhstan, as well as the model of writ proceedings applied in criminal procedure of Kazakhstan. It is concluded that the imposition of a sentence without court hearing in the absence of the defendant and other participants of the trial does not meet the requirements of contemporary justice. The author comes to the conclusion that it is highly promising to establish a shortened period of pre-trial proceedings (10 days) for criminal cases against persons who have committed a criminal wrong-doing or any other crime of minor or medium gravity, a criminal prosecution for which can be dismissed with the application of measures of criminal nature. It is also possible, that requirements concerning providing evidence in a number of criminal cases will be reduced.

О ПОМЕЩЕНИИ НЕСОВЕРШЕННОЛЕТНЕГО В ЦЕНТР ВРЕМЕННОГО СОДЕРЖАНИЯ НЕСОВЕРШЕННОЛЕТНИХ ПРАВОНАРУШИТЕЛЕЙ В КАЧЕСТВЕ МЕРЫ ПРЕСЕЧЕНИЯ

In this article, for the first time, a draft law is being analyzed, which is being considered in the second reading at the time of writing the article. A view is expressed on the need to amend this draft law. The author expresses his attitude to the bill, on the whole considering it as a positive phenomenon, believes that the introduction of a new preventive measure will help solve a number of problematic issues. The author justifies the position that it is necessary to exclude the possibility of imprisonment of minors for committing a crime of medium gravity.

Cele wykonywania kary pozbawienia wolności — kilka refleksji

Objectives of enforcement of the penalty of imprisonment — a few reflectionsNumerous dysfunctions of penitentiary isolation, identified in the course of more than 200 years of application of the penalty of imprisonment, demonstrate that prisons do not improve people and do not make them more pro-social than they had been before they started serving their sentences. The crisis of penal policy based on extensive use of the penalty of imprisonment makes it necessary to expand the catalog of penal measures that do not involve any restriction of liberty and to limit the extent of application of the penalty of imprisonment to only the most serious crimes that constitute a grave threat to society. The authors of the Polish Penal Code of 1997, following the ultima ratio principle in the case of the penalty of imprisonment in the case of petty crimes and crimes of medium gravity, provided an extensive range of possibilities in the selection of the penal-law responses to such crimes. As a result, the penalty of imprisonment should be restricted mostly to perpetrators of acts that are very harmful to society. Given the fact that their sentences are several or even over ten years long, the question about the objectives of enforcement of the penalty of imprisonment is still to be answered.

Oil recovery and wettability alteration in carbonates due to carbonate water injection

Enhanced oil recovery in carbonates due to wettability alteration has received much attention recently. In contrast to sandstones reservoirs, carbonates are neutral-wet or preferentially oil-wet. The use of CO2 dissolved into water has emerged as an alternative method for EOR operations in carbonates reservoirs. In the present paper, oil recovery from two carbonate outcrop rocks was evaluated with different brines containing CO2. The evaluation included a qualitative approach by spontaneous imbibition tests and a quantitative assessment by the Amott–Harvey index. The rocks tested were limestone and dolomite samples known as analogous to Brazilian pre-salt reservoirs. The testing fluids were a medium gravity crude oil, seawater concentration brine, formation equivalent brine and the carbonated version of these brines. Results shown additional oil recovery directly associated with wettability alteration driven by brine concentration switches. Oil recovery increases were observed independently if the brine concentration decreased or increased over the water replacement process. Wettability alteration took place in both carbonate types starting at oil-wet to neutral-wet conditions. Similar tests carried out with equivalent carbonated brines showed similar alterations in the wetting properties, trending no dependence on salt concentration. However, CO2 and its derived ions dissolved in the brines seem to inhibit the wettability alteration mechanism.

PECULIARITIES OF PENALTIES TO MINORs RELATED TO the LABOR ACTIVITY

The article deals with the institution of compulsory work applied to minors, because at present this type of punishment attracts attention of scientists and practitioners. The advantage is that teenagers who commit crimes, which are of no great public danger, have a real opportunity to improve in case they are isolated from the society. However, there are also problems of applying punishment in the form of compulsory community service work to minors. The analysis of the norms of the criminal and labor law in the part of regulating the procedure for appointing the specified punishment in relation to minors was carried out. Some interdisciplinary mismatches in this area have been identified, and possible solutions have been proposed. The question of expediency of using deductions in the amount of 5 to 20% of wages is analyzed. The opinions of both supporters and opponents of such measures are given. Some researchers believe that this provision of the law does not correspond to the principles of humanism, the differentiation of criminal responsibility and punishment. They suggest setting a maximum retention threshold of 10%. Scientists also discuss duration of this measure of punishment. In addition, the author draws attention to the problem of applying compulsory community service work to minors who study at school or institution of higher education. The paper highlights the problem of changing the punishment in case of malicious evasion of compulsory or corrective service work. At present, they can be replaced only by imprisonment. However, part 6 of Art. 88 of the Criminal Code establishes a ban on the appointment of liberty deprivation to a minor convicted person who committed a crime of small or medium gravity for the first time at the age of sixteen, as well as to other juvenile convicts who committed crimes of minor gravity for the first time. Therefore, it is not always possible to replace the corresponding punishments for imprisonment even if a teenager refuses to perform compulsory or corrective service.

ПОНЯТТЯ ТА ЗМІСТ УГОДИ ПРО ПРИМИРЕННЯ У КРИМІНАЛЬНОМУ СУДОЧИНСТВІ УКРАЇНИ

The article is turned out to a scientific search for the concept of "a reconciliation agreement between the victim and the suspect or accused" through the study of the essence of reconciliation and role in criminal proceedings thereof. The author notes that criminal procedural law (until 2012) had been proclaimed another approach to reconciliation between victim and suspect, not involved a dispute procedure as a conflict, the result of which can be reached by compromise and understanding through reconciliation. It is stated that one of the ways to resolve the legal conflict in committing a criminal offense was the opportunity to reach a compromise between the victim and the suspect (the accused) by concluding a reconciliation agreement between them, provided by the Code of Сriminal Procedure of Ukraine (2012). The main attention is placed on the shortcoming of the domestic criminal procedure law which is the lack of the concept of "a reconciliation agreement between the victim and the suspect or the accused", which can be eliminated only through examining the essence or legal nature of reconciliation in criminal proceedings. Taking into consideration the current legislation and modern views on the institution of reconciliation in criminal proceedings, the author's definition of the concept of "a reconciliation agreement" is proposed. Thus, “The conciliation agreement is an agreement in criminal proceedings concluded between the victim and the suspect or the accused person on their own initiative in relation to crimes of minor or medium gravity and in criminal proceedings in the form of private prosecution, the subject of which is the compensation of harm caused by wrongdoing or committing other actions not related to compensation for the damage that the suspect or the accused is obliged to commit in favor of the victim, in exchange for an agreed punishment and sentencing thereof or sentencing thereof and relief from serving a sentence with probation, as well as the statutory consequences of conclusion and approval of the agreement".

Exemption from criminal responsibility in connection with active repentance

The article examines the requirements set forth in Part 1 Article 75 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (the RF CC) and relevant clarifications given in the Decision of the Plenum of the RF Supreme Court of 27 June 2013 № 19 (as amended on 29 November 2016) On Application of Legislation Governing Grounds and Procedure of Exempting from Criminal Responsibility. Attention is drawn to imperfections of certain provisions of the Law (the title of Article 75 of the RF CC, characteristics of a person committing a minor crime or a crime of medium gravity for the first time, voluntary nature of a full confession, facilitation of crime detection and investigation), as well as ambiguity of some clarifications of the Plenum (when a person ceases to be a public danger, facilitating crime detection and investigation, compensation for damage and making reparation for a wrong, possibility of redressing harm with the consent of the person who has committed a crime). It is concluded that, in order to be exempt from criminal responsibility under Part 1 Article 75 of the RF CC, the whole entirety of circumstances indicated therein is necessary and sufficient.

FEATURES OF EXTERNAL BREATHING FUNCTION AMONG THE NORTHERNERS IN THE ANNUAL CYCLE

The function of external respiration was determined monthly for the same group of young men (42 persons, 319 examinations) at the age of 18 years — 22 years (19,0±0,9 years) on a microprocessor spirograph SPM-01-«R-D». Men lived in the territory of the European North (62° N) from six months to two years and were engaged in physical works of medium gravity in the open air. The results were processed statistically using the single-factor analysis of variance and using the Student’s t-test with the Bonferroni amendment. It was revealed that the features of the external respiration function in northerners are increased depth and minute volume of respiration, vital capacity of lungs, greater variation in the annual cycle of values of speed indicators of the function of external respiration, absence of significant statistical differences for temporal functions. The maximum values of pulmonary volumes and velocities were observed in the cold season (from November to April), the minimum values — in warm (from May to September). Adaptive changes of the function of external respiration in northerners can achieve the required level of air conditioning, alveolar ventilation, increase the surface of gas exchange, adapt to the metabolic needs of the organism sufficiently effectively.

Quantifying physical properties of Weyburn oil via molecular dynamics simulation

Weyburn and Bakken reservoirs represent two medium gravity tight oil reservoirs who are currently utilizing CO2 injection as an EOR recovery process. To properly establish the CO2 recovery potential, extensive data are required to characterize CO2-oil mixing characteristics. Such data include compositional changes on oil density and oil viscosity as well as component diffusion coefficients. Additional effects of fluid-rock (sand and clay) interactions are also of importance especially due to the tight oil characteristics of such reservoirs.The necessary laboratory data are currently not available to build a reliable field prediction model. Laboratory experiments are costly and time consuming and often show wide variability, especially for non-equilibrium properties for binary and ternary mixtures. This implies significant uncertainties in the previously employed Weyburn 7 component compositional model used for field simulations.Here, we build a 15 component molecular dynamics (MD) model for the Weyburn oil and its mixing with CO2 to quantify these essential equilibrium and non-equilibrium process parameters. Via MD simulation, we established these parameters for the Weyburn oil at two different field conditions. These property results can be used in future CO2-EOR field simulation for Weyburn. A similar MD strategy can be used for other tight oil reservoirs (e.g. Bakken reservoir). This work establishes that MD simulation can be used as a cost-effective tool, along with laboratory experiments and field simulation, in an integrated approach to proper analysis of an EOR development strategy.

Fast-track procedure in the criminal process: is there a limit for differentiation of the criminal proceedings?

The article defines the dependence of the procedural form of criminal proceedings and its differentiation on the needs of the society at different stages of its development. Overly simplified dissemination of criminal proceedings leads to the abandonment of a full proof in the majority of criminal cases. The author defines the limits of possible simplification of forms of criminal proceedings. The fact-track criminal procedures - a special criminal procedure on plea of guilty and plea agreement - do not comply with the objectives of criminal proceedings and do not fully protect the interests of any person, the interests of the society and the state. The article outlines the main directions for reforming the fast-track criminal procedure and proposes to limit the possibility of a special procedure for rendering a decision to the categories of criminal cases such as lesser gravity and medium gravity crimes, and to clearly define the elements of crime which allow plea agreement.

The influence of the gravitational effect on the spatial differentiation of economic development of poviats

The aim of the study is a statistical analysis of the impact of the so-called gravitational effect on the level of economic development of Polish poviats (districts) in the years 2002–2012. The gravitational effect of macroeconomic analysis is based on the assumption that the level of economic development of the poviat depends, i.a. of medium gravity. This factor connecting two regions is directly proportional to the product of the economic potential of these regions (measured by gross value of fixed assets per capita) and inversely proportional to the square of the geographical distance between these regions. The article describes the spatial variation of taxonomic indicators of economic development and the effects of gravity in the poviats. The paper presents the results of a statistical analysis of the impact of the gravitational effect of the diversity on economic development of the districts. The study takes into account both the effects of national (mutual poviats) and external (foreign neighbors on Polish counties economic development) gravitational interaction.

Geologic evolution of the Iraqi Zagros, and its influence on the distribution of hydrocarbons in the Kurdistan region

Whereas the vast majority of discovered hydrocarbon reserves in Iraq reside in Cretaceous and Cenozoic reservoirs, numerous oil and gas fields have been discovered recently in deeper Jurassic and Triassic reservoirs in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. This study presents a Middle–Upper Jurassic thermal maturity map for the Kurdistan region of Iraq and demonstrates that regional first-order trends in Jurassic source rock maturity show a close correlation to the spatial distribution of oil gravities within the overlying Jurassic (and Cretaceous) reservoirs. This distribution is consistent with compartmentalization of the active source rock kitchens due to Zagros folding, resulting in relatively short-distance migration and charge of the anticlinal structures from the adjacent synclinal lows. The thermal maturity map confirms relatively low maturity over the Mosul high, where the Cretaceous and Cenozoic section overlying the source rock interval is relatively thin, and increasing maturity to the southeast as the thickness of the Cenozoic foredeep sediments increases toward the depocenter located in the southeastern Iraqi Zagros and the adjacent Iranian Zagros. The correlative trend in oil gravities is exemplified by the recent Jurassic discoveries: low to medium gravity oils (14–27° API) in Shaikan and Atrush to the northwest, light oil (39–47° API) in Mirawa and Bina Bawi, and gas condensate (55° API) in Miran West to the southeast. Understanding thermal maturity patterns and hydrocarbon fluid-type distributions will help to guide risk assessment for remaining prospectivity and future exploration drilling within the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Management of Hard Coal Mining and Processing Wastes in Poland

Streszczenie Odpady z górnictwa i przeróbki stanowią największą grupę odpadów przemysłowych wytwa- rzanych i deponowanych w Polsce. Odpady z górnictwa i przeróbki węgla kamiennego tradycyjnie stanowią najważniejszą ich grupę. Obecnie są one wytwarzane w ilościach rzędu 29-33 min Mg/r, przy wykorzystaniu gospodarczym rzędu 85%. Odpady powęglowe dzieli się na dwie główne grupy: odpady górnicze (do 20%) z górniczych prac przygotowawczych i udostępniających, oraz odpady przeróbcze: gruboziarniste ze wzbogacania w zawiesinowych cieczach ciężkich, drobnoziarniste ze wzbogacania w osadzarkach, bardzo drobnoziarniste odpady flotacyjne. Wykorzystywane gospodarczo są głównie odpady gruboziarniste (zarówno górnicze, jak i prze- róbcze). Główne kierunki ich zastosowań to: produkcja kruszyw do prac inżynierskich i budowy dróg, produkcja cementu i ceramiki budowlanej, odzysk węgla, stosowanie jako materiału podsadzkowego. W przypadku produkcji kruszyw, stosowane są dwa rodzaje odpadów: odpady powęglowe surowe oraz samoczynnie wypalony łupek powęglowy. Najważniejszym producentem kruszyw z odpadów powęglowych surowych jest Haldex S.A. z czterema zakładami przeróbczymi (dostarczającymi także łupek powęglowy do produkcji cementu lub ceramiki budowlanej, a także odzyskiwany węgiel) oraz dwoma węzłami krusząco-sortującymi. Łączna produkcja kruszyw w zakładach Haldex S.A. prze- kracza 3 miliony Mg/r. Produkcja kruszyw łupkoporytowych z łupka wypalonego jest prowadzona przez kilkanaście małych firm na łącznym poziomie ponad 0,5 min Mg/r. Surowy łupek powęglowy znajduje zastosowanie do produkcji cementu i ceramiki budowlanej w ilości do 0,3 min Mg/r. Odzysk węgla, prowadzony głównie w zakładach Haldex S.A., obecnie przekracza 0,15 min Mg/r, podczas gdy produkcja granulowanych mułów węglowych w trzech instalacjach Haldex S.A. i dwóch in- stalacjach Tauron Wydobycie jest prawdopodobnie nawet kilka razy większa rzędu 0,6-0,7 min Mg/r. W najbliższych latach nie należy się spodziewać wzrostu produkcji kruszyw łupkoporytowych, a także zużycia łupka surowego do produkcji cementu i ceramiki budowlanej. Dalszy wzrost jest natomiast możliwy w przypadku odzysku węgla z prowadzoną równolegle produkcją kruszyw z su- rowych odpadów powęglowych. Tym niemniej nie należy się spodziewać, że wszystkie wytworzone na tej drodze kruszywa znajdą zastosowanie gospodarcze, nawet na nasypy drogowe i obwałowania rzek w bliskim sąsiedztwie zakładów.

Morphological substantiation of applying the Er: YAG-laser for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women

The article presents the results of morphological evaluation of the vaginal tissues in women before and after treatment of stress incontinence with Er: YAG-laser (technologies IntimaLase and IncontiLase). Marked histological changes (increase of quantity and activity of fibroblasts, the increase of density of connective tissue, the emergence of neoangiogenesis plots) confirm the clinical efficacy of the method (the positive effect was obtained in 70,7 % of patients with I type of UI and 47 % with the II type of UI light and medium gravity).

Effect of the Feed Substrate Concentration on the Dynamic Performance of the Bioethanol Fermentation Process Using Zymomonas mobiliz

In this work, a structured verified nonlinear mathematical model for a single continuous fermenter of bioethanol production using Zymomonas mobiliz is developed to investigate the effect of the feed substrate concentration, which is taken as the main bifurcation parameter for performing a bifurcation analysis. The chaotic, oscillatory, and steady-state behaviors of the fermentation system are investigated. It is found that the system is dominated by oscillatory behavior in the medium gravity (MG) region (80.76 < Cso < 213.6), while it is dominated by stable steady state outside this range; however, at high Cso and low dilution rate, the chaotic behavior dominates the system. It is found that the fermentation system accomplishes the maximum averages of substrate conversion and bioethanol yield in the range of 80.76 < Cso < 97 g/L. These results are in agreement with the experimental results in the literature.

Waterflooding Proves Useful in Deepwater Gulf of Mexico Overpressured Turbidites

This article, written by Special Publications Editor Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper OTC 24111, ’Water Injection in Deepwater, Overpressured Turbidites in the Gulf of Mexico: Past, Present, and Future,’ by X. Li and K.K. Beadall, SPE, Knowledge Reservoir; S. Duan, SPE, Chevron Corporation; and J.R. Lach, SPE, Knowledge Reservoir, prepared for the 2013 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 6-9 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Good primary recovery, high drilling cost, and facility limitations mean water injection is not commonly used in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. However, waterflooding can supply additional reservoir energy for producing substantial quantities of oil trapped by limited displacement drive and poor sweep efficiency. This paper is a detailed examination of Pleistocene-to-Upper- Miocene turbidite reservoirs in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico under water injection. Waterflooding strategies have proved to be highly effective in achieving good incremental oil recovery from these reservoirs. Introduction So far, oil and gas production in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico is mostly from Neogene (Pleistocene, Pliocene, and Upper Miocene) reservoirs. The Neogene reservoirs can be characterized broadly as overpressured, unconsolidated, and highly compacting, with high permeability and containing black undersaturated oil of medium gravity with moderate gas/ oil ratio and some aquifer support. Although waterflooding is a mature technology, few water-injection projects have been conducted in the Neogene reservoirs because they exhibit good primary recoveries, exist in high-cost offshore environments, and are relatively small. In some of these fields, a limited volume of water was injected.

The Mishrif, Yamama, and Nahr Umr reservoirs petroleum system analysis, Nasiriya oilfield, Southern Iraq

Forty rock samples were taken from cores and cuttings, and five oil samples were taken from Mishrif, Nahr Umr, and Yamama formations in the Nasiriya oilfield wells, of longitudinal, asymmetrical anticline structure, of about 34 km length and 13 km width located at the unstable plat form, Mesopotamian basin zone. Three major oil reservoirs in the Nasiriya oilfield: (1) Late Cenomanian–Early Turonian Mishrif Formation with reserved oil approximately 1,009 million tons show measured porosities up to 40 % and the oils are aromatic, medium gravity, high sulfur content, and interpreted as being sourced from: type II/III carbonate rocks interbedded and deposited in a reducing marine environment with high salinity based on biomarkers and isotopic analysis; Middle–Upper Jurassic age is based on sterane ratios analysis of isoprenoids and isotopes, and thermally mature source rocks. (2) The reservoirs of the Albian Nahr Umr of approximately 68 million tons reserved oil show measured porosities up to 23 %. (3) Late Berriasian–Early Valanginian Yamama formations of 275 million tons reserved oil measured porosities up to 28.8 %. The Nahr Umr and Yamama reservoirs oils are saturated, light to medium API gravity, low to medium sulfur content which are usually derived from marine shale and carbonate source rocks (containing type II kerogen). The upper seal is the Middle Miocene anhydrites of the Lower Fars Formation and the lower regional seal is Upper Jurassic Gotnia anhydrites. Source rock geochemical analysis suggests for all Cretaceous source rocks samples, immature to mature, and shows that the Sulaiy and Yamama formations to be of good quality source rock with high total organic carbon (up to 8 wt% TOC). The Lower Cretaceous source rocks were deposited in a suboxic–anoxic basin and show good hydrogen indices, and are likely to have charged the reservoirs with low amounts of hydrocarbons, during the Miocene. The most likely source rock for the Mishrif-, Yamama-, and Nahr Umr-reservoired oils are the Middle–Upper Jurassic source rock. The migration from the source rock is likely to be largely vertical and possibly along faults before reaching highly permeable reservoirs of the reservoir formations. Structural traps in the Mishrif, Nahr Umr, and Yamama formation reservoirs are likely to have formed in the Late Cretaceous.

Reservoir characterization of a “tight” oil reservoir, the middle Jurassic Upper Shaunavon Member in the Whitemud and Eastbrook pools, SW Saskatchewan

New horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracture completion technology have proven successful in unlocking hydrocarbons from previously uneconomic reservoirs. In this paper, we investigate the application of this new technology to a medium gravity oil sandstone reservoir to enhance the poor oil recovery within the pool but also to evaluate if the pool boundaries can be expanded. Petrophysical well-logs were integrated with detailed core descriptions, thin sections and core analysis data to provide insight to the reservoir characteristics and factors controlling production, reservoir distribution, depositional environments and lateral extent of depositional fairways for the reservoirs.The middle Jurassic Upper Shaunavon B sandstone is the main reservoir in the studied Whitemud and Eastbrook pools in southwest Saskatchewan. The reservoirs are composed of mixed siliciclastic/carbonate, shallow marine shoreface deposits which have a strike trend northeast–southwest. Although the pools were discovered in 1953 and 1966 and have cumulative production of 3.3 MMBbls of medium gravity 22 API oil, estimated oil recovery is less than 4%.The Upper Shaunavon B sandstone has two main reservoir facies, shoreface sandstones with permeabilities in the 0.1–10 md range and relatively thin but high permeability (10–1000 md) coquina beds. Until recently, wells targeted mainly the high permeability coquina for its higher production rates and as a means to drain the associated thick, lower permeability shoreface sandstone reservoir.This study evaluates the Upper Shaunavon B shoreface sandstone reservoir quality by examining the reservoir properties, heterogeneity, connectivity, and pore volume of the flow units based on core and petrophysical data. Comparison of production data from wells intersecting both facies of the Upper Shaunavon B versus wells where the underlying high permeability coquina facies is absent allows a perspective on the impact that the coquina has on the recovery factor in both reservoir types.Integration of petrophysical well-logs, detailed core descriptions, thin sections and core analysis data provide insight to the facies interpretation, reservoir distribution and lateral extent of depositional fairways for both units. Reservoir characterization of the lower permeability siliciclastic facies at the Whitemud and Eastbrook pools, coupled with recent advances in horizontal drilling and completion technology show that additional drilling opportunities exist within the pools to improve oil recovery, but also that oil-saturated sandstone reservoirs exist outside the boundaries of the pools. Recent successes with multi-stage fracturing of horizontal wells have confirmed the findings of this study.

Case Studies Examine Exploitation Strategies for Development of Mature Gas and Oil Fields

This article, written by Editorial Manager Adam Wilson, contains highlights of paper OTC 23373, ’Exploitation Strategy in the Development of Mature Gas and Oil Fields: Case Study,’ by Gina Vega Riveros, Reservoir Consultant, and Emad Yehya, Smoothwell Oil Services, prepared for the 2012 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, 30 April-3 May. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2012 Offshore Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission. Two case studies examine the creation of strategies for the development of mature gas/condensate and oil fields. For the gas/condensate field, the integration of geologic, seismic, production, and reservoir data identified new opportunities for drilling. For the oilfield case study, it is clear that the strategy of exploitation can be improved. According to study results, the oil and gas condensate in place have been increased by 9% and 22%, respectively, compared with the official reserves estimates. Gas/Condensate Case Study Geologic Framework. The gas/condensate reservoirs are in the Roble, San Joaquin, and Guario fields, approximately 11 km southwest of Anaco, Venezuela. The geological model in the Guario 3 reservoir allowed for the integration of four reservoirs as a unique hydraulic unit (Fig. 1). Geologically, the study area is within the greater Oficina area, on the south flank of the Eastern Venezuela basin. The Merecure formation is Oligocene to early Miocene and was deposited in a transitional environment, yielding sandstones with good lateral extension. Petrophysics. In Guario 3, ME-G and ME-H sands have an average effective porosity of 14%. Permeability ranges from 20 md to more than 70 md. The water resistivity of 0.1 Ω·m, cementation exponent of 2.00, saturation exponent of 2.00, and shale volume cutoff of 40% were obtained from field data. Both ME-G and ME-H sands showed similar petrophysical properties. Reservoir Properties. The northwest-ern crest of the Guario 3 reservoir is defined as gas/condensate crude. The eastern part contains a volatile zone of medium gravity with a high concentration of paraffin. The integrated static and dynamic models validated the existence of an areal and vertical communication of four reservoirs into a unique reservoir named Guario 3 (G-3). Geochemical Study. To verify vertical and lateral reservoir communication between ME-G and ME-H sands, gas chromatographic correlations of samples from wells in different reservoirs were used to establish a clear vision about fluid communication. Correlations for Predicting Gas/ Condensate Reservoirs. Many empirical correlations have been reviewed in the literature, and they take into account retrograde condensate. The average ranges for applying the correlations and the equations used can be found in the complete paper. Using the correlations, the original gas condensate in place was 1226.84 billion scf, which was considered satisfactory in comparison with the volumetric method of 1267.37 billion scf.