JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY V. 63, N. 5, MAY 2011

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY 

V. 63, N. 5, MAY 2011

DEPARTMENTS

6 Performance Indices

8 Regional Update

10 Company News

12 En Route

Alain Labastie

16 Comments

John Donnelly

22 Technology Applications

26 Technobgy Update

30 Techbits

112 People

114 SPE News

115 Professional Services

119 Advertisers´ Index

120 Meetings

18 Guest Editorial • Can the Oil and Gas Industry Live Up to Today’s Dynamics? • Abdul-Jaleel Al-Khalifa, CEO, Dragon Oil

The oil and gas industry must adopt “people first” policies and abandon the current failing “profit-only” business model.

32 Management Oil and Gas: Into the Cloud? • Jill Feblowitz, Vice President, IDC Energy Insights

Will the oil and gas industry, given its global nature, need for security, and existing legacy infrastructure, embrace cloud computing?

34 The Five R&D Grand Challenges Plus One

The first in a series of articles on the great challenges facing the oil and gas industry as outlined by the SPE R&D Advisory Committee.

36 Digital Rocks Out to Become a Core Technology

The search to better understand the inner workings of rocks such as carbonates and shale that challenge traditional laboratory testing has led to a new approach known as digital rock physics.

42 Carbon Capture and Storage: A Mixed Review

The state and progress of carbon capture projects around the globe.

46 Special Section: Offshore Heavy Lift and Decommissioning

56 Drilling Conference Focuses on Changing Environments

Best performance and practices in a rapidly changing technical, regulatory, and economic environment was the theme of the 2011 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference and Exhibition.

62 OTC Recognizes Technology Innovation Award Winners

Fifteen technologies were selected for this year’s Offshore Technology Conference Spotlight on New Technology Awards.

106 Distinguished Author Series • Improved Oil Recovery by Low-Salinity Waterflooding • Norman Morrow and Jill Buckley, University of Wyoming

Low-salinily waterflooding can mobilize remaining oil in reservoirs producing at water/oil ratios that press economic limits.

111 Conference Will Bring Reservoir and Facilities Engineers Together

How reservoir engineers and facilities/process engineers can work together more efficiently is the subject of a new conference in June.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

66 Deepwater Projects

Karen Olson, SPE, Completion Expert, Southwestern Energy

67 Deepwater Workover Experience With Extreme Hydrostatic Overbalance

70 Integrated Production and Reservoir Modeling To Optimize Deepwater Development

74 Measurement and Modeling of Topographically Trapped Waves Along the Sigsbee Escarpment

76 Intelligent Fields Technology

lberê Alves, SPE, Senior Technical Advisor, Artificial Lift and Flow Assurance, Petrobras

77 Field and Installation Monitoring With Online Data Validation and Reconciliation— Middle East and West Africa Offshore Fields

80 Indonesion Fieldwide Application of Intelligent-Well Technology—A Case History

83 Real-Time Measurements of Spontaneous Potential for lnflow Monitoring in Intelligent Wells

86 Multilateral/Extended Reach

Alvaro Felippe Negrão, SPE, Global Drilling and Completion Manager, Repsol

87 Parque das Conchas (BC-10) — Delivering Deepwater Extended-Reach Wells in o Low-Fracture-Gradient Setting

90 Justifying Use of Multilateral Wells in the Samotlor Field

92 New Approach To Extend Horizontal-Drilling Reach

96 Well Construction

Bob Carpenter, SPE, Research Consultant, Chevron Exploration and Technology Company’s Cement Team

97 Use of a Mechanistic Model to Forecast Cement-Sheath Integrity for CO₂ Storage

99 A New Automated MPD System Used in an Onshore Depleted Gas Field

103 An Innovative Approach To Optimizing Design of HP/HT Tubular Strings