JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY V. 64, N. 1, JAN 2012

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY 

V. 64, N. 1, JAN 2012

6 Performance Indices

10 Regional Update

12 Company News

14 Presidents Column

16 Comments

22 Technology Applications

26 Technology Update

98 People

100 SPE News

102 Professional Services

107 Advertisers’ Index

108 SPE Events

CONTENTS

18 GUEST EDITORIAL

Building a “New Normal” on the Bedrock of Risk Management

Baker Hughes’ new CEO Martin Craighead writes about how the oilfield service industry of the future must be built on the bedrock of effective risk management.

30 The Tantalizing Promise of Oil Shale

As much as 6 trillion bbl of in-place resources of oil shale are estimated to exist worldwide. With world proved reserves of crude oil estimated at 1.3 trillion bbl, why does oil shale remain a scarcely touched resource?

38 Reducing the Hidden Costs of Subsea Well Completions

Subsea completions tied back to platforms have allowed marginal fields to be put into production, but maintaining that production long enough to reach the industry average for recoveries is an unsolved problem. A small group of companies are working to change that.

48 MANAGEMENT

Trends in Monitoring: How to Use Real-Time Data Effectively

Real-time data is not about well control, it is about well control avoidance. Recent catastrophic blowouts have underscored the value of real-time data and have also underscored the value of having the right kind of experience to understand well data interpretation in real time.

54 Unconventionals, Future Challenges Highlight Annual Conference

Coverage of the 2011 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Denver, which featured presentations on shale and other unconventional reservoirs, long-term global energy strategy, environmental considerations, remote operations, and other important regional and discipline-focused topics.

99 2011 Editorial Review Committee Awards

Every year, SPE recognizes those who have made an exceptional effort to ensure the technical excellence of its peer-reviewed journals.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

60 EOR PERFORMANCE AND MODELING

Baojun Bai, SPE, Associate Professor of Petroleum Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology

61 Storing CO2 with next-generation CO2-EOR Technology

64 Steamflooding to Enhance Recovery of a Waterflooded Light-Oil Reservoir

67 Rheology of a New Sulfonic Associative Polymer in Porous Media

70 EOR Potential in Middle East : Current and Future Trends

74 MATURE FIELDS AND WELL REVITALIZATION

Syed A. Ali, SPE, Research Advisor, Schlumberger

75 Seria Field, Brunei : 80 years on-near-field Exploration Going Strong

78 Doubling Production From a Mature North Kuwait Reservoir

82 Marlim Field : Mature-Field Optimization

84 WELL CONTROL

Jerome Schubert, SPE< Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University

85 Kick-Tolerance Misconceptions and Consequences for Well Design

89 Kick Detection and Well Control in a Closed Wellbore

94 Kick Mechanisms and Well-Control Practices in Deepwater Vugular Carbonate