Hydrocarbon Exploration and Production

Introduction. About this book. 1. The field life cycle. 1.1 Gaining access phase. 1.2 Exploration phase. 1.3 Appraisal phase. 1.4 Development planning. 1.5 Production phase. 1.6 Decommissioning. 2. Petroleum agreements and bidding. 2.1 The invitation to bid. 2.2 Motivations and form of bid. 2.3 Block award. 2.4 Fiscal system. 2.5 Farm-in and farm-out. 2.6 Unitisation and equity determination. 3. Exploration. 3.1 Hydrocarbon accumulations. 3.2 Exploration methods and techniques. 3.2.1 Introduction to geophysical methods. 3.2.2 Seismic acquisition and processing. 3.2.3 Seismic interpretation. 4. Drilling engineering. 4.1 Well planning. 4.2 Rig types and rig selection. 4.3 Drilling systems and equipment. 4.4 Site preparation. 4.5 Drilling techniques. 4.6 Casing and cementing. 4.7 Drilling problems. 4.8 Costs and contracts. 5. Safety and the environment. 5.1 Safety culture. 5.2 Safety management systems. 5.3 Environment. 5.3.1 Environmental impact assessment (eia). 5.3.2 The eia process. 5.4 Current environmental concerns. 6. Reservoir description. 6.1 Reservoir geology. 6.1.1 Depositional environment. 6.1.2 Reservoir structures. 6.1.3 Diagenesis. 6.2 Reservoir fluids. 6.2.1 Hydrocarbon chemistry. 6.2.2 Types of reservoir fluid. 6.2.3 The physical properties of hydrocarbon fluids. 6.2.4 Properties of hydrocarbon gases. 6.2.5 Properties of oils. 6.2.6 Fluid sampling and pvt analysis. 6.2.7 Properties of formation water. 6.2.8 Pressure - depth relationships. 6.2.9 Capillary pressure and saturation-height relationships. 6.3 Data gathering. 6.3.1 Classification of methods. 6.3.2 Coring and core analysis. 6.3.3 Sidewall sampling. 6.3.4 Wireline loggin. 6.3.5 Logging/measurement while drilling (lwd/mwd). 6.3.6 Pressure measurements and fluid sampling. 6.4 Data interpretation.6.4.1 Well correlation. 6.4.2 Maps and sections. 6.4.3 Net to gross ratio (n/g). 6.4.4 Porosity. 6.4.5 Hydrocarbon saturation. 6.4.6 Permeability. 6.4.7 Quicklook evaluation. 6.4.8 Integration of core and logs. 7. Volumetric estimation. 7.1 Deterministic methods. 7.1.1 The area - depth method. 7.1.2 The area - thickness method. 7.2 Expressing uncertainty. 7.2.1 The input to volumetric estimates. 7.2.2 Probability density functions and expectation curves. 7.2.3 Generating expectation curves. 7.2.4 The monte carlo method. 7.2.5 The parametric method. 7.2.6 Three point estimates : a short cut method. 8. Field appraisal. 8.1 The role of appraisal in the field life cycle. 8.2 Identifying and quantifying sources of uncertainty. 8.3 Appraisal tools.8.4 Expressing reduction of uncertainty.8.5 Cost-benefit calculations for appraisal. 8.6 Practical aspects of appraisal.9. Reservoir dynamic behaviour. 9.1 The driving force for production. 9.2 Reservoir drive mechanisms. 9.3 Gas reservoirs. 9.3.1 Major differences between oil and gas field development. 9.3.2 Gas sales profiles; influence of contracts. 9.3.3 Subsurface development of gas reservoirs. 9.3.4 Surface development for gas fields. 9.3.5 Alternative uses for gas. 9.4 Fluid displacement in the reservoir. 9.5 Reservoir simulation. 9.6 Estimating the recovery factor. 9.7 Estimating the production profile. 9.8 Enhanced oil recovery. 10. Well dynamic behaviour. 10.1 Estimating the number of development wells. 10.2 Fluid flow near the wellbore. 10.3 Horizontal wells. 10.4 Production testing and bottom hole pressure testing. 10.5 Tubing performance. 10.6 Well completions. 10.7 Completion technology and intelligent wells.10.8 Artificial lift. 10.9 Subsea vs. Platform trees. 11. Surface facilities. 11.1 Oil and gas processing. 11.1.1 Process design. 11.1.2 Oil processing. 11.1.3 Upstream gas processing. 11.1.4 Downstream gas processing. 11.2 Facilities. 11.2.1 Production support systems. 11.2.2 Land based production facilities. 11.2.3 Offshore production facilities. 11.2.4 Satellite wells, templates and manifolds. 11.2.5 Control systems. 12. Production operations and maintenance. 12.1 Operating and maintenance objectives. 12.2 Production operations input to the fdp. 12.3 Maintenance engineering input to the fdp. 13. Project and contract management. 13.1 Phasing and organisation. 13.2 Planning and control. 13.3 Cost estimation and budgets. 13.4 Reasons for contracting. 13.5 Types of contract. 14. Petroleum economics. 14.1 Basic principles of development economics. 14.2 Constructing a project cashflow. 14.3 Calculating a discounted cashflow. 14.4 Economic indicators. 14.5 Per barrel costs. 14.6 Project screening and ranking. 14.7 Sensitivity analysis. 14.8 Incorporating inflation. 14.9 Exploration economics. 15. Risk analysis. 15.1 Risk definition and unit of measure. 15.2 Summary of risk analysis techniques in exploration and appraisal. 15.3 Risk analysis for major capital investments in projects. 15.3.1 Brainstorming. 15.3.2 Project risk matrices and risk registers. 15.3.3 Sensitivity analysis. 15.3.4 Stakeholder analysis. 15.3.5 More complex problems – specific subsurface considerations. 15.3 Managing commercial risk. 16. Managing the producing field. 16.1 Managing the subsurface. 16.2 Managing the surface facilities. 16.3 Managing the external factors. 16.4 Managing the internal factors. 17. Managing decline. 17.1 Infill drilling. 17.2 Workover activity. 17.3 Enhanced oil recovery. 17.4 Production debottlenecking. 17.5 Incremental development. 18. Decommissioning. 18.1 Legislation. 18.2 Economic lifetime. 18.3 Decommissioning funding. 18.4 Decommissioning methods. Selected bibliography. Index.