Small Oil Fields Research Articles

Ground-to-UAV, laser-based emissions quantification of methane and acetylene at long standoff distances

Abstract. Determination of trace gas emissions from sources is critical for understanding and regulating air quality and climate change. Here, we demonstrate a method for rapid quantification of the emission rate of multiple gases from simple and complex sources using a mass balance approach with a spatially scannable open-path sensor – in this case, an open-path dual-comb spectrometer. The open-path spectrometer measures the total column density of gases between the spectrometer and a retroreflector mounted on an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV). By measuring slant columns at multiple UAV altitudes downwind of a source (or sink), the total emission rate can be rapidly determined without the need for an atmospheric dispersion model. Here, we demonstrate this technique using controlled releases of CH4 and C2H2. We show an emission rate determination to within 56 % of the known flux with a single 10 min flight and within 15 % of the known flux after 12 flights. Furthermore, we estimate the detection limit for CH4 emissions to be 0.03 g CH4 s−1. This detection limit is approximately the same as the emissions from 25 head of beef cattle and is less than the average emissions from a small oil field pneumatic controller. Other gases including CO2, NH3, HDO, ethane, formaldehyde (HCHO), CO, and N2O can be measured by simply changing the dual-comb spectrometer.

Потенциал малых месторождений нефти Юга России для решения локальных задач обеспечения региона нефтепродуктами

Potential possibility of obtaining high-quality petroleum products to meet regional needs at minimal production costs is shown on the example of one of the small oil fields in the south of Russia. In this work a study of the physicochemical characteristics, group chemical and structural-group compositions of oil distillates obtained from oil from the small Priozernoye field was carried out. It is shown that the high density of the studied fractions is due to the high contentof naphthenic structures in the composition of these fractions, which increases even more after extractive purification using N-methylpyrrolidone. High content of this group of hydrocarbons improves the lubricating properties of petroleum products. The development of this field, along with the production of lubricants with good quality, would solve the environmental problems of this region associated with petroleum seeps leading to soil and water pollution.

Motel Builders of the Modern West

Motel Builders of the Modern West

Features of the structure and formation of oil deposits in the sediments of the Bashkirian stage of small oil fields on the western slope of the South Tatar arch

Oil-bearing carbonate complexes of the Bashkirian stage of low-amplitude brachianticlinal structures on the western slope of the South Tatar arch are considered. It has been established that the prospects for oil production are associated with the upper parts of the sections, where layers of algal-foraminiferal limestones - packstone occur, overlain by dense clayed mudstone-wackestone limestones. Oil deposits of the dome type, hydrodynamically isolated, are under the pressure of regional or bottom waters. Cap rocks, reservoir rock, water-oil contacts are clearly distinguished in the structure of deposits. The formation of the main elements of oil fields occurred at the stage of sedimentation due to eustatic fluctuations in the level of the epicontinental sea basin. At the stage of transgression, the formation of future reservoir rocks took place, at the stages of regression - cap rocks. The reservoir rocks acquired high capacitive-filtration properties during the period of migration of water-oil fluids. At this time, the dissolution of micritic calcite cement took place, the removal of the dissolved substance outside the reservoir bed, the filling of the void space with oil, and the displacement of residual water to the wings of uplifts. The next stage of transformation of reservoir rocks is associated with the processes of natural waterflooding of oil deposits. The penetration of regional pressure water into the oil reservoir contributed to the formation of local zones of water-oil contacts. Due to the oxidation of hydrocarbons inside the oil deposits in the OWC zone, bituminous and water-bearing subzones were formed. In the first one, intensive leaching of calcite occurred with the simultaneous formation of patchy-banded segregations of calcitized rocks, healing of cavern cavities with diagenetic dolomite and anhydrite. In the second subzone, the process of dissolution of bituminous films on the walls of caverns was going on, accompanied by secondary cementation of pre-existing cavities with diagenetic calcite and chalcedony, which determined the light color of reservoir rocks.

Assessment of the prospects for oil-bearing deposits of the Visean stage of the Western Zakamya region at the Tatarstan Republic

The structure of geological sections of the Visean stage of small oil fields in the Western Zakamya region of the Tatarstan Republic is considered. It has been established that potentially oil-bearing deposits are carbonate-terrigenous deposits of the Tulian-Bobrikian horizon and carbonate deposits of the Aleksininian horizon. In the Tulian-Bobrikian sediments, oil deposits are localized in fine-grained quartz sandstones, the cap rocks are dense claystones. Due to the small thickness of the layers of oil-saturated sandstones, their development is not very promising. In the deposits of the Aleksininian horizon, oil deposits are localized in cavernous limestones overlain by dense diagenetic dolomites. The thickness of the oil reservoirs is 2.0-2.5 m, which allows them to be considered as potential targets for development. The presence of sulfate mineralization in the pores of reservoir rocks suggests that the oil deposits of the Aleksininian horizon are at the initial stages of waterflooding..

Oil strata formation of small oil deposits in the western part of the Tatarstan republic

Small oil fields in the western part of the Tatarstan Republic, localized within single brachyanticlinal structures, have been studied. The main productive oil deposits are confined to the deposits of the Tournaisian stage. The reservoir rocks are leached lumpy-peloid limestones, grainstones. Oil-saturated limestones are predominantly medium- and high-capacity reservoirs. Within the limits of oil deposits, oils are characterized by a weak oxidation state. Their composition is dominated by the middle fractions of hydrocarbons. Only in the bottom part of oil deposits near the oil-water contact is the prevalence of heavy hydrocarbons. This indicates that the oil deposits are in the early stages of formation water flooding. By analogy with the same small oil fields on the eastern side of the Melekesskaya depression, it can be expected that oil inflows will not exceed 6-8 tons/day.

Drilling Supporting Technology for Exploration and Development of A Marginal Oilfield

Marginal oil fields refer to some small and medium-sized oil fields or oil fields with complex stratigraphic structure and located in remote areas. There are more than 100 large and small blocks marginal oil fields with huge reserves. They have the characteristics of geological reservoirs such as structural fracture, fault development and complex oil reservoirs. The development is uncertain and is not suitable for excessive investment. How to carry out economic and effective exploration and development of marginal oil fields has become a new breakthrough in stabilizing production and improving benefits in A oilfield, as the first marginal oil field with “extended test of development evaluation wells + overall development plan”, designed and manufactured three hole asymmetric underwater wellhead base plate in combination with mudline hanger in order to meet the needs of overall oilfield development, Realize the temporary abandonment of the extended test well after the test, and put it back into production in the overall development stage of the oilfield. It provides a new mode of cost reduction and efficiency increase for the subsequent development of marginal oil fields, which will revitalize a large number of marginal oil fields to be developed and bring huge economic and social benefits. The establishment of a safe risk response mode of “advance can be attacked and retreat can be defended” can improve the efficiency of preliminary research and avoid the risk of oilfield development.

International Comparison of Nigerian Petroleum Fiscal Regime with the US, UK and Norway: A Real Option Analysis on Deepwater Projects Investment

Given the mission of the international oil companies which is to find, develop, refine and market hydrocarbon resource in a fashion that achieves the highest economic returns to the owners coupled with the competitiveness of attracting international investment capital, it follows then that oil producers would give priority to oil provinces or regions with economically attractive petroleum fiscal regime that could aid their mission. The relationship between taxation of mineral resources and investment attraction for efficient recovery of hydrocarbon resource has been established by compelling theories. However, the fact that the behavior and effect of fiscal regime on investment decision are not apparent without detailed economic analysis makes empirical analysis imperative. Thus, this study investigated the economic efficiency and competitiveness of international petroleum fiscal regime using real option analysis in Gulf of Guinea, Gulf of Mexico, and the North Sea with sampled Petroleum Fiscal System in Nigeria, The United States, The United Kingdom and Norway. The economic impacts of the fiscal regimes were estimated by real option analysis methodologies for Large and small new oil fields development. Three future oil prices of $30, $45 and $60 per barrel were considered for the economic analysis. For large oil fields, under the worst case oil price of $30 per barrel, the post-tax option values per dollar investment were $0.67, $0.95, $0.54 and $0.60 respectively for Nigeria, The United States, The United Kingdom and Norway showing the United States as preferred investment destination for international investors. However, for a small oil field, Norwegian fiscal system promises better returns than any of the other oil provinces particular during adverse operating conditions.

Южно-Каспийская нефтегазоносная провинция, Юго-Западный Туркменистан – перспективы разведки мезозойского этажа на газ и нефть

Regarding the South Caspian oil and gas province, it is concluded that the Pliocene productivity prevails in the western part of the province, and that the gas and oil prospects of the eastern land side in the Mesozoic are prioritized. A retrospective analytical review of geological and geophysical data and publications on the Mesozoic of Southwestern Turkmenistan was carried out, which showed the low efficiency of the performed seismic and drilling operations in the exploration and evaluation of very complex Mesozoic objects. A massive resumption of state-of-the-art seismic exploration and appraisal drilling in priority areas and facilities performed by leading Russian companies is proposed. For some areas, a new, increased estimate of the projected gas resources is given. An example of modern high-efficiency additional exploration of the East Cheleken, a small Pliocene gas and oil field, which turned this field into a large one in terms of reserves, is given.

Wave thermal flooding when designing high-viscosity oil reservoirs

The article describes an environmentally friendly and energy-saving method for increasing the volume of oil recovery - thermal flooding of a high-viscosity oil reservoir integrated with wave actions in injection wells. Heating of a remote formation zone to the effective temperature and wave impacts improve the conditions for effective oil displacement. The integrated use of associated gas and waste water from the oil treatment plant increases the energy efficiency and improves the environmental friendliness of small high-viscosity oil fields. For geological and physical conditions of high-viscosity oil deposits, it is recommended to employ the method of wave thermal flooding.

Features and measures to improve the efficiency of development of a perspective small oil field

Despite the current political and economic situation in Russia, mining in small oil fields is important and topical issue. We have conducted a geological and field analysis of the development of one of such small oil fields from setting into operation to shut down and have identified the reasons for the low production of oil reserves and the failure to achieve the design oil recovery factor. At the same time, the field has sufficient reserves of recoverable reserves, and there is an available transport infrastructure, which proves the necessity to consider rerun it for the development. For this purpose, geological and technical actions have been developed and are being proposed for implementation to improve the efficiency of field development. These actions envisage implementation in two stages: the first with minimal costs and the second with higher costs. At the first stage, at the existing reservoir pressure, we recommend to perform forced fluid withdrawals with an increase in depression on the reservoir. At the second stage, we offer actions at a higher cost, such as hydraulic fracturing, sidetracking. As a result of the analysis, actions have been developed to increase selection from initial recoverable reserves and increase the economic efficiency when the field is rerun.

The Morag Field, Block 16/29a, UK North Sea

Abstract The Morag Field is a small oilfield underlying the Maureen Field in UK Block 16/29a. Black oil is trapped within Upper Permian, Morag Member, vuggy and fractured dolomite rafts between 9300 and 10 600 ft true vertical depth subsea. The dolomite reservoir occurs at the top of a Zechstein salt dome. Morag was discovered in 1979 by well 16/29a-A1, the first platform well drilled for the overlying Maureen Field with its Paleocene sandstone reservoir. Morag was produced via a single well (16/29a-A1) between 1991 and 1994. Three more platform wells were drilled into the Permian interval prior to Maureen Field start up but only one penetrated oil-bearing dolomite (16/29a-A2). An additional well (16/29a–A23Z) was drilled into the Morag Field in 1993. The well encountered Morag Member at virgin pressure and tested oil at high flow rate but then the well failed due to mechanical problems. Oil in place was calculated to be about 24 MMbbl in four independent fault blocks. Ultimately 16/29a-A1 delivered 2.6 MMbbl from a fault block calculated to have held 6.7 MMbbl stock tank oil initially in place.

Application of technology of acoustic low frequency exploration for exploration and development of small oil fields in Udmurt Republic

Currently at the territory of the Udmurt Republic there is a depletion of previously discovered large oil fields. The increase in oil reserves is many times behind production. This problem can be solved by the introduction of oil fields with reserves of up to 300 thousand tons of oil. However the classical methods of prospecting, exploration and development makes identification and exploitation of these deposits economically not cost-effective. This problem can be solved by using the technology of acoustic low-frequency exploration at the search and evaluation and exploration stages of exploration. The forecasting scheme of hydrocarbon potencial of Debesskoe, Vostochno-Tylovaiskoe fields, as well as Staroaleiskaya and Marinskaya structures, studied by this method, has been shown. Advantages of application of technology of acoustic low-frequency investigation at carrying out the prospecting and exploration works on oil in the Udmurt Republic have been presented. The most promising geological structures to predict oil deposits by means of acoustic low frequency exploration in the territory of the Udmurt Republic have been suggested.

Main directions in the development of Russia’s oil sector in the first half of the XXI century

This paper discusses the most important aspects of the development of the oil and gas industry in Russia. To replace declining oil production in Russia, we need to change the obsolete paradigm of the development of the domestic resource base. In the twenty-first century, the priority tasks in the search for oil deposits should be the Russian Arctic shelves and immature onshore provinces as well as unique unconventional oil accumulations (Bazhenov, Domanik, Khadum, Kuonamka Formations, etc.). In addition, special focus should be placed on the exploration of small and smallest oil and gas fields, which will be developed with the collaboration of small- and medium-sized oil businesses to ensure up to 20% of domestic oil production. The shift from extensive to intensive development of Russias oil and gas sector will require the prioritizing of technological tasks.

Ecological and economic justification of the utilization of associated petroleum gas at small oil fields of Russia

One of the main environmental problems in oil production in the world today is the utilization of associated petroleum gas (APG) by combustion it in flares. At the same time, this process has enormous economic damage, since APG is a potential raw material that can be used to produce marketable products, power or heat energy. More than 30 billion cubic meters of APG are combusted in flares annually only in Russia, which is about 20% of the total amount of combusted APG in the world. It should be noted that combustion of 1 billion cubic meters of APG is equivalent to the loss of marketable products worth more than 300 million dollars. In the present article, the authors carried out a selection of the optimal method for utilization of APG at small fields in Russia and its environmental and economic justification. The method of power generation directly at the field using gas turbine power station was adopted as the most cost-effective method. The implementation of such a project at the field reduces emissions of pollutants hundreds of times, and payback period does not exceed 2.5 years.

Lifecycle Energy Accounting of Three Small Offshore Oil Fields

Small oil fields are expected to play an increasingly prominent role in the delivery of global crude oil production. As such, the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) parameter for three small offshore fields are investigated following a well-documented methodology, which is comprised of a “bottom-up” estimate for lifting and drilling energy and a “top-down” estimate for construction energy. EROI is the useable energy output divided by the applied energy input, and in this research, subscripts for “lifting”, “drilling”, and “construction” are used to differentiate the types of input energies accounted for in the EROI ratio. The EROILifting time series data for all three fields exhibits a decreasing trend with values that range from more than 300 during early life to less than 50 during latter years. The EROILifting parameter appears to follow an exponentially decreasing trend, rather than a linear trend, which is aligned with an exponential decline of production. EROILifting is also found to be inversely proportional to the lifting costs, as calculated in USD/barrel of crude oil. Lifting costs are found to range from 0.5 dollars per barrel to 4.5 dollars per barrel. The impact of utilizing produced gas is clearly beneficial and can lead to a reduction of lifting costs by as much as 50% when dual fuel generators are employed, and more than 90% when gas driven generators are utilized. Drilling energy is found to decrease as the field ages, due to a reduction in drilling intensity after the initial production wells are drilled. The drilling energy as a percentage of the yearly energy applied is found to range from 3% to 8%. As such, the EROILifting+Drilling value for all three fields approaches EROILifting as the field life progresses and the drilling intensity decreases. The construction energy is found to range from 25% to 63% of the total applied energy over the life of the field.

Vozoff's influence on LOTEM for hydrocarbon applications

Direct Hydrocarbon indicators from electromagnetic measurements have always been questionable. In K. Vozoff?s work they translate to resistive layer and understanding the reliability of resolving resistive layers. Vozoff worked on this subject extensively with the team around him in the 1980s and 1990s. The work started with feasibility studies and a field demonstration over a small oil field in Western Australia. A detailed starting model was derived from the seismic and well logs and joint inversion of electric and magnetic field yield inferred porosity or percentage sandstone section. Vozoff not only pioneered methodologies in electromagnetics but also details of inversion methods that are still of great interest today. Without mistake, he anticipated failure or success of the individual task on hand.

Обеспечение оптимального сбора и транспорта продукции малых морских месторождений

Обеспечение оптимального сбора и транспорта продукции малых морских месторождений

Process Design of Cyclic Water Flooding by Real-Time Monitoring

The gradual decline in the oil production rate of water flooded reservoirs leads to decrease in the profit of water flooding system. Although cyclic water injection (CWI) was introduced to reduce the descending trend of oil production in water flooded reservoirs, it must be optimized based upon the process parameters. The objective of this study is to develop all process design criteria based upon the real-time monitoring of CWI process in a naturally fractured reservoir having five producing wells and five injector wells completed in an Arab carbonated formation containing light crude oil (API = 42 deg). For this aim, a small pilot oil field was selected with water injection facilities and naturally producing oil wells and all data were collected from the field tests. During a five years' field test, the primary observations at the onset of shutdown periods of the water injection system revealed a repeatable significant enhancement in oil production rate by a factor of plus 5% leading us to assess the application of CWI. This paper represents the significant parameters of pressure and productivity affected during CWI in naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs based upon a dual porosity generalized compositional model. The results hopefully introduce other oil producer companies to the potential of using CWI to increase oil production in conventional water injection systems. The results also outline situations where such applications would be desirable.

Extent and persistence of photic zone euxinia in Middle–Late Devonian seas – Insights from the Canning Basin and implications for petroleum source rock formation

Abstract Late Devonian mass extinctions attributed to extensive anoxia and/or euxinia of the oceans are associated with widespread deposition of organic-rich shales. Also in the epeiric waters of the Canning Basin (Western Australia), photic zone euxinia (PZE) prevailed during the Givetian–Frasnian, with geochemical evidence for PZE on the northern (Lennard Shelf)–, and southern (Barbwire Terrace) margins of the Fitzroy Trough. On the Lennard Shelf, shales record episodic pulses of PZE associated with high algal activity due to enhanced nutrient supply, whereas a restricted marine setting on the Barbwire Terrace is thought to be the main driver for the development of persistent PZE and associated bacterial predominance. Structural evidence indicates that the Fitzroy Trough was a confined basin during the Late Devonian with the possibility of limited ocean circulation. Widespread PZE is expected to have developed in the poorly mixed water column, if the basin received sufficient nutrient supply for enhanced primary production. Notwithstanding the presence of anoxia during deposition of potential source rocks, only two small Devonian-sourced oil fields and numerous oil shows have been found in the Canning Basin. Biomarker assemblages show that the oils produced from the Lennard Shelf fields (i.e. Blina-1, Blina-4 and Janpam North-1) have substantially different molecular compositions to the minor oil recovered from Mirbelia-1 on the Barbwire Terrace. A correlation was established between the Lennard Shelf oils and rock extracts from the Gogo Formation at Blina-1 and McWhae Ridge-1 based on their hopane, sterane and carotenoids abundances. A definitive source correlation was not obtained for the Mirbelia-1 oil, but it did show some genetic affinity to the Givetian–Frasnian extracts from the Barbwire Terrace, suggesting that local source rocks are developed in the region.