DISCOVER A CAREER IN UNDERBALANCED DRILLING | GUIDE TO DUBAI | CARBON CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION

The Magazine by and for Young Professionals in Oil and Gas

VOL. 7 // ISSUE 2 // 2011

Energy Companies and Climate Change

An Official Publication of

The Society of Petroleum Engineers www.spe.org

Shenzi first oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico began in March 2009, ahead of schedule and within budget.

On The hOrizOn//
Our license to operate depends on having the right people working with the right systems for maximum performance.

We are delivering prOjecTs in sOme Of The WOrlds deepesT WaTers, and setting drilling records with
efficiency, speed, and world-class safety.
Bhp Billiton petroleum is looking for engineering professionals with five to ten years or more of industry experience to join our growing team of functional experts. as part of the worlds largest diversified resources company, we have the financial strength of a super major combined with the agility and energy of a start-up. in the last 24 months, we brought on stream two of the worlds four deepest Tension leg platforms, and our production volumes have increased at a nine percent compound annual growth rate for the last three years. Behind this performance is the commitment of our team of more than 1,700 employees. We are growing our capability toward functional excellence and an ability to work anywhere in the world. We are seeking engineers with a strong technical foundation who want the opportunity to make a difference on material, multi-billion dollar assets. multiple openings are available in the following areas:

Bhp BilliTOn peTrOleUm

1360 post Oak Boulevard, suite 150 houston, Texas 77056 United states of america p 1.713.961.8500 f 1.713.961.8400 www.bhpbilliton.com inTeresTed in a career WiTh Us? post your resume on our website: www.bhpbilliton.com - people & employment or email directly to: petroleumcareers-Us@bhpbilliton.com

production engineering reservoir engineering facility engineers project engineers drilling engineers

We are also seeking geoscience professionals to support our production, development, and exploration divisions.

Contents
VOL. 7 // ISSUE 2 // 2011
Americas Office Office hours: 07301700 CST (GMT5) MondayFriday 222 Palisades Creek Dr., Richardson, TX 75080-2040 USA Tel: +1.972.952.9393 Fax: +1.972.952.9435 Email: spedal@spe.org Asia Pacific Office Office hours: 08301730 (GMT+8) MondayFriday Suite 23-02, Level 23, Centrepoint South, Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: +60.3.2288.1233 Fax: +60.3.2282.1220 Email: spekl@spe.org Canada Office Office hours: 08301630 CST (GMT6) MondayFriday 425500 5th Avenue SW Calgary, Alberta Canada, T2P 3L5 Tel: +403.237.5112 Fax: +403.262.4792 Email: specal@spe.org Europe, Russia, Caspian and Sub Saharan Africa Office Office hours: 09001700 (GMT+1) MondayFriday 3rd Floor, First Floor, Threeways House, 40/44 Clipstone Street London W1W 5DW UK Tel: +44.20.7299.3300 Fax: +44.20.7299.3309 Email: spelon@spe.org Houston Office Office hours: 08301700 CST (GMT5) MondayFriday 10777 Westheimer Rd., Suite 1075, Houston, TX 77042-3455 USA Tel: +1.713.779.9595 Fax: +1.713.779.4216 Email: spehou@spe.org Middle East, North Africa, and India Office Office hours: 0800 to 1700 (GMT+4) SundayThursday P.O. Box 502217, Dubai, UAE Tel: +971.4.390.3540 Fax: +971.4.366.4648 Email: spedub@spe.org Moscow Office Office hours: 09001700 (GMT+4) MondayFriday Nizhnyaya Street, 14, Bldg. 1, 2nd Floor, Office No. 15 Moscow, Russian Federation, 125040 Tel: +7 495 748 35 88 Email: crodionova@spe.org or jkharitchenko@spe.org

2 4 7 9 12 15 17 20 22 24 26 28 30 32

Whats Ahead

Editor Anthony Onukwu discusses energy companies and climate change.

TWA Interview

A conversation with Melody Meyer, president of Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production.

Forum

Youth and innovation in the oil and gas industry.

Technical Leaders

Neeraj Gupta of the Battelle Memorial Institute and Nigel Jenvey of Maersk Oil and Gas comment on technology applications for carbon emission control and enhanced oil recovery.

Tech 101

Interpreting climate change in Antarctica.

Discover a Career

What the future holds for positions in underbalanced drilling.

Academia@TWA.edu
Current research in CO2 flooding and sequestration.

Public Policy Focus SPE 101

The status of carbon capture and sequestration.

Tips on writing SPE technical papers.

Soft Skills

Tackling climate change is the key issue for the oil and gas industry in the years ahead.

Women on the Frontline

Interviews with three women who are working to develop solutions to climate change.

YP Guide

What it is like to live and work in Dubai.

YP Newsflash

A roundup of YP activities around the globe.

Your Best Shot

Photos from YPs.

An Official Publication of The Society of Petroleum Engineers www.spe.org

Printed in USA, Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

Whats AheadFrom the Editor of TWA

Anthony Onukwu Editor-in-Chief The Way Ahead

Energy Companies and Climate Change

Burning more than one quarter of the current economic reserves of oil, coal, and gas will release sufficient greenhouse gases to create a serious risk of catastrophic climate change. At the present rate of fossil fuel use, we will consume this amount in 40 years or less.
Welcome to the second issue of TWA for 2011 and my last as editor-in-chief. In this issue we are looking ahead as always, focusing on the exciting theme of: Energy Companies and Climate Change. Our industry earns its livelihood from oil, natural gas, and coalthe main sources of emissions of greenhouse gasesand will be severely affected by regulatory measures to curb these emissions. With companies linked in worldwide operations, we should be concerned about the issue of climate change since we are responsible for more than 70% of the global energy source (hydrocarbons) that is a major contributor of greenhouse gases. The question is, as an industry, are we concerned about climate change? In this issue we aim to provide an insight into what the industry is doing to address the problem and the challenges ahead. First, I would like to highlight some of the ways the industry has shown interest in this global issue. American Petroleum Institute members have established their own industry and individual company goals on climate change and are now meeting them through more aggressive action to reduce global warming emissions. The goals range from encouraging every company to develop a greenhouse gas emissions management plan to setting numerical targets for improving energy efficiency and reducing emissions. Some oil companies have responded to this by partnering with major universities and research institutions in multimilliondollar climate change research, both to improve understanding of the global the Sleipner gas field, where more than 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide have been sequestered each year since 1998. In renewable energy, Chevron has installed production capacity of 1,152 MW, primarily geothermal, making it the largest renewable energy producer of any global oil and gas company and the largest producer of geothermal energy. Chevron is involved in four major geothermal energy projects that produce clean electricity for Indonesia and the Philippines. Compared with a typical power grid (coal, oil, gas, etc), this level of renewable energy production represents avoided greenhouse gas emissions of more than 6 million tonnes annually. Shell is the worlds biggest blender of transport biofuels, with a stake in Iogen Energy that is testing new technology to make bioethanol cheaper using waste wood and straw, with carbon emissions 90% lower than for conventional fuels. Anadarko Petroleum sequesters millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide that would otherwise be vented into the atmosphere. Enhanced oil recovery projects in Wyoming use CO2 to stimulate oil production. Anadarko expects to sequester more than 30 million tons of CO2 over the lifetime of the Salt Creek and Monell projects alone. These are a few examples of major contributions from the industry to address this important global issue. However, we have much more to do on climate change. The public image of our

We have much more to do on climate change. The public image of our position on this is still not great and there is much room for improvement.

warming problem and to advance technologies to combat it. ExxonMobil is contributing more than USD 1 million and technical guidance in a project sponsored by the European Commission Directorate General for Research & Innovation that will evaluate a range of technologies to monitor the injection and storage of carbon dioxide from gas streams at the Sleipner and Snohvit fields in the Norwegian North Sea, at In Salah in the Saharan desert in Algeria, and in the German locality of Ketzin. ExxonMobil shares ownership of

position on this is still not great and there is much room for improvement. As young professionals in the energy industry, we have a greater role to play because we are the industrys future. The main challenges for us are: What do we know about climate change? How do we as an industry continueor even take a lead rolein mitigating the effect of climate change? As usual, TWA has it covered, with a range of articles addressing these questions and outlining the challenges ahead. I am sure this will encourage you to start thinking about what our possible contribution could be. As I mentioned, this is my last issue as editor-in-chief. Max Medina of Statoil Canada and Todd B. Willis of Chevron in Kuwait are the TWA leaders in their new capacities as incoming editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief. They have an unparalleled commitment to TWA and the excellent support of our team of more than 30 dedicated volunteers on the TWA Editorial board. So we have a great team in place! I thank you, the readers, my friends on the current and previous TWA boards, all TWA pioneers, and my colleagues at SPE for your support throughout the years. Special thanks to John Donnelly, JPT editor, and the staff involved in TWAs publication processyour unwavering dedication is gratefully acknowledged. We should not forget how remarkable TWA is: a successful magazine, now in its seventh year, dedicated to SPEs young members, and managed and designed by them. Our strong TWA legacy positions us well to achieve even greater success and I am proud to be part of this collective journey. For the final time, I will leave you with an inspirational thought: Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly cant afford the risk of inaction. Rupert Murdoch

EDITORS
Abhijeet S. Kulkarni Shell, Reservoir Engineer Technical Leaders Alex Schmitt DeGolyer and MacNaughton, Reservoir Engineer Technology 101 Series Amarachukwu Okafor Marathon Oil, Reservoir Engineer Soft Skills Women on the Frontline Amir Soltani Statoil, Reservoir Engineer Soft Skills Chike Nwonodi NPDC Reservoir Engineer HR Discussion Dilyara Iskakova Hess Corp., Reservoir Engineer Technology 101 Series Etta Agbor Shell Nigeria, Associate Reservoir Engineer, YP Newsflash Young Professionals Guide To Henny Gunawan Schlumberger, Senior Drilling Engineer Pillars of Industry Jim Stiernberg, Halliburton, Surface Data Logger Discover a Career Melissa Nance Shell, Reservoir Engineer YP Newsflash TWA Interview Your Best Shot Per Olav Eide Svendsen Statoil, Geologist, Co-Editor, Forum Scott Hou Stone Energy, Reservoir Engineer YP Newsflash Shruti Ravindra Jahagirdar Shell Technology India, Reservoir Engineer Young Professionals Guide To Women on the frontline Siddhartha Gupta University of Texas at Austin, Graduate Research Assistant Forum Pillars of Industry

THE WAY AHEAD EDITORIAL COMMITTEE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Anthony Onukwu Senior Technology Analyst, The Industrial Technology Facilitator (ITF) DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Max Medina Max Medina, Statoil, Principal Engineer - Well & Completions Engineer COMMUNICATIONS EDITOR: Prakash Deore Prakash Deore , Hewlett Packard, Energy Industry Consultant TWA ADVISER: Luis Ayala Pennsylvania State University, Associate Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering

LEAD EDITORS
Alicia L. Koval ConocoPhillips, Reservoir Engineer, Women on the Frontline Andres Zoldi Chevron, Petroleum Engineer, TWA Interview Anton Andreev Sakhalin Energy, Reservoir Engineer, Young Professionals Guide To Carlos Chalbaud Gaz de France-Suez, Reservoir Engineer, Forum Chike Nwonodi NPDC, Reservoir Engineer, HR Discussion Chris Jenkins Production Engineer, Saudi Aramco, SPE 101 David Vaucher TAM International, Technical Advisor, Technical Leaders Lisa Song Schlumberger, Wireline FSM, Your Best Shot Manish K Choudhary Stanford University, Graduate Student, YP Newsflash Manish K Lal Chevron, Reservoir Engineer, Economists Corner and Technology 101 Series Michail Tzouvelekis Maersk, Business Development Manager, Economists Corner and TWA Interview Samuel C. Schon Brown University, Ph.D. Candidate, Technology 101 Series Sanchit Rai University of Tulsa, Graduate Student, Academia.edu@TWA and Discover a Career Todd Benton Willis Chevron Kuwait, Workover Engineer, Pillars of Industry and Public Policy Focus Yekemi Bolare Otaru Schlumberger, Production Engineer, Soft Skills

Is TWA delivering what you want from your YP global magazine? We would be delighted to receive your feedback. Please write to us at: EditorTWA@spemail. org, or contact me directly at: anthony.onukwu@inbox.com

Siluni Wickramathilaka, ConocoPhillips, Research Engineer Public Policy Focus Subhash Ayirala, Shell, Research Engineer Academia.edu@TWA

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

TWA Interview

Melody Meyer
President, Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production

MELODY MEYER is president of Chevron Asia Pacific Exploration and Production (E&P) Company in San Ramon, California, and responsible for exploration and production activities in the Asia Pacific region. Until March 2011, Meyer was president of Chevron Energy Technology Company in Houston and responsible for research and development (R&D) and technology services to Chevrons global upstream, midstream, and downstream businesses. In her 32 years with Chevron, Meyer has spent 19 of them working on international projects and in operations assignments, 10 years in leadership roles in North America E&P, and the past three years leading the energy technology company. She has held various positions with Chevron, including manager of operations engineering in Kazakhstan, offshore production manager in Angola, vice president of the US onshore mid-continent Alaska E&P business unit, and vice president of offshore Gulf of Mexico E&P. Meyer graduated from Trinity University in 1979 with a BS degree in engineering sciencemechanical. She attended the Tuck Executive Education program at Dartmouth College in 1997. Meyer is the executive sponsor of the Chevron Womens Network and of the Chevron University Partnership program with the University of Texas at Austin. She is on the executive committee and board of the National Ocean Industries Association, and Trinity University Board of Trustees. In 2009, Meyer was honored by Trinity University as a Distinguished Alumna, by BioHouston with a Women in Science award, and by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers with the Rhodes Petroleum Industry Leadership Award.

March 2011In downtown Houston, Chevron has its largest offices: two twin buildings linked by an impressive sky ring that serves as a bridge. Both towers are partially occupied by Chevron Energy Technology Company (ETC), an organization that forms the nucleus of Chevrons R&D and technical support. And while Fridays are usually quiet in Houston offices, it doesnt seem to be Friday on the ETC managements floor. This same week, the leader of this group of 2,500 people, Melody Meyer, has been promoted to president of the Asia Pacific business unit. Chevrons E&P world is divided into four regions; Meyer was selected to lead one of them. She will have 10,000 people reporting to her and a budget exceeding USD 6 billion. Every person carries a story of her own, and Meyer starts sharing hers:

This interview was conducted by Andres Zldi, TWA Interview Editor

I started in 1979, right out of college, in Gulf Oils pipeline division. The pipeline company had developed all of the West Africa facilities at that time, so I got a chance to work in major capital projects to be installed in Angola, Nigeria, and Zaire (now Congo). At that time, industry was growing aggressively, and I got a chance to work with some very senior people in the team. When I think back, 32 years ago there was no Internet, no email; so we communicated with telex or by short phone calls every other day. and we were investing tens to hundreds of millions (the equivalent of billions today). How did you get into the oil business? I grew up in around the oil field. My dad was a PE. I saw the industry as very exciting because of the importance of energy to the world. It offered unlimited possibilities, with so much responsibility and opportunity, to make a difference. Plus, I hadnt been in an airplane or a hotel before, and suddenly I was introduced to a global environment with lots of responsibility and authority. It was thrilling and exiting. I loved it from day one, and its been like that for 30 years. Is the same feeling valid for a young professional (YP) just starting in this industry? What does it offer? The industry offers the opportunity to make a positive difference. Energy importance is ever growing as communities and economies are developing around the globe. This industry has been reinvented over and over, and YPs play a big role in that: they will continue to make our industry safe and clean, and will address even bigger challenges every day. What we easily do today were once huge challenges in the past. YPs will have to keep an eye on the future. They should be aware that by the time they move up to leadership roles, the generation they will lead are the 10-year-olds of today. Our YPs have to make sure they have the talent and the leadership skills to be ready to face the challenges of the future. Technology companies are definitely places where challenges are tackled. Is ETC a place where technical people can achieve their potential? This industry, and Chevron in particular,

requires leaders with deep technical background. The majority of our leaders are engineers, geologists, and earth scientists, and the skills and knowledge that come with those disciplines are highly valued. The technology company has a unique concentration of subject matter experts that are deep in their fields, and they are absolutely critical to the success of the company. They have broad impact on global challenges, which is definitely a great place to be. Technical leadership and business leadership are both equally important to the success of the company.

YPs... will continue to make our industry safe and clean, and will address even bigger challenges every day.

And after that you started to be placed in managing roles? Yes, I went to Tengiz in Kazakhstan as operations engineering manager. It was in the startup leadership team for several years, so being on the ground and forming a new startup was a real adventure. We made all the early decisions to form the joint operation, and we had a very talented team to pull together. After that assignment, I went to Angola as the production manager. Angola was a mature operation, and I had been a project manager on many of the facilities there early in my career, so it was very rewarding to get the opportunity to lead the operation. Angola operations were offshore, with large tankage and marine offloading, and it was a great opportunity to learn how to work incident-free in a very large production operation. What skills do you look for in the YP that you add to your team? I think it is important to be deep technically but also to have the ability to integrate across disciplines to create business opportunities and business value out of that synergy. So I just look for people who are deep technically, who have a broad perspective and the ability to integrate across disciplines, and who are hardworking with a can-do attitude. I look for YPs who have an attitude of openness to change and always being happy with progress, but never being satisfied, always wanting to drive performance improvements. I think those are the qualities needed for success. The human resources aspect of this industry is very competitive, especially for the kind of YP you just described. What does Chevron do to retain people? I think our strongest enabler for talent retention is the positive culture that we create, coupled with the opportunity to work on high-impact global projects. We have strong Chevron Way values that create a shared culture throughout the company. And you can see throughout the organization that we certainly value high performance. You can also see by walking around ETCs corridors a very broad

We usually find success as a product of combining skill, hard work, and an opportunity taken at the appropriate time. Do you recall any such opportunity? Well yes, after eight or 10 years into my career, I was taken out of project management into development of production operations. At that time, we were exploring in China and in Papua New Guinea, and I was the operations adviser at the front end of those projects. We had to take those discoveries in new regions for us and develop them to first oil. Just the ability to integrate the exploration, development team, legal, and all operations on the ground, and to coordinate the development plan to ensure good economic value, adding opportunity to Chevron, the partners, and the governments. It opened my eyes to understand how all the teams should be engaged for a positive outcome. I was recognized later with a Chairmans award for the Papua New Guinea project. It was a real learning opportunity for me.

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

cultural diversity. What does that bring to the organization? Our diversity brings tremendous different points of view, different approaches, different knowledge bases, and our culture enables everyone to interject those ideas in a comfortable way. If you head down one path, without multiple choices, you tend to have an inferior project. Diversity brings value in the form of broad thinking, innovation, and knowledge. If you had to name one strength and one weakness of Chevron, what would they be? Our strength is in our values and the shared culture of protecting people and environment. Its the Chevron Way values that make us strong. And as far as a weakness, we are constantly working to improve in every area. So, rather than a weakness, we have many challenges. We build on our strengths, but its a constant push to improve and enter in new challenges. We drive for continuous improvement. As those challenges grow, what are the pillars of technology that will keep the industry running for the next 50 years? The energy industry has many challenges. Certainly technologies that help us find the resources and technologies that help us produce those efficiently, economically, cleanly, and safelyall of those are technical solutions. Even in certain areas of operational excellence and safety, there are technologies that enable small footprints and clean operations. I see those areas to continue to be important as they always were. You use the term energy instead of oil and gas. Why? Because while we are an oil and gas company, we are also pursing all forms of energy; and I think it is important to recognize that we need all kinds of energy. Energy is important and it will be delivered in many ways. What is Chevron doing in this respect? We are the largest producer of geothermal energy in the world, taking the same exploration, reservoir management, drilling, and production technologies that we use for oil and gas and applying them to

renewable energy at scale. In recognition of the significant challenges of bringing new supplies of energy to market, we have a sharp focus on energy efficiency improving our own energy efficiency by almost 30%. We also offer energy efficiency services to government and academic institutions through our Chevron Energy Solutions company. We also invest in other forms of renewable energy where they have the potential to be economic, and improve our base business, such as in biofuels.

We also invest in other forms of renewable energy where they have the potential to be economic.
Working cleanly is indeed a way of caring for the environment. What have Chevron and ETC been doing in the aftermath of the Macondo incident? Chevron was a strong participant in the joint industry task forces that made recommendations to the administration to help restore confidence in safe deepwater drilling. Chevron was a key player in that effort. We provided technical experts in the areas of drilling standards and marine well containment response. Significant recommendations made by the task forces have been well received by the administration and are being acted upon. The joint industry organization, the Marine Well Containment Company, was part of the containment recommendation. It was well received by industry and the government. If prevention fails and there is a deepwater blowout in the future, the company will provide containment services, and it has ongoing technology development efforts. However the primary focus of ours has always been, and will continue to be, working on prevention so that this equipment will never be used. Being a technically deep organization, you must have a strong relationship with universities and national

labs. What value does it bring to ETC and Chevron in general? We create a lot of value by partnering with them. Its a great access to tremendous talent. We know that we cannot have all the bright minds that we need when solving a problem. So by partnering with national labs and universities, we can tap into some of the best talents, and by letting them understand our business challenges and our problems, they can be involved with us to help solve those challenges. Eventually, we also have the opportunity (as in the case of the university) to ask that talent to come work with us later. And you must have a very fluent relationship with SPE? We are very supportive and involved with the SPE. In fact, it is clear that we share and support the mission, as one of our employees, Ganesh Thakur, will be the next president of SPE. That is quite exciting for us. This underscores our commitment to SPEs mission and what it does for its members and the industry. Finally, one personal question. A topic that interests many of our readers is balancing work and family. How do you do that? I do get asked that question frequently. I always tell people that it is so important to develop a strong network to support you. Nobody can do it alone. And that it is true for a woman and a man working in this industry, with family, spouse, and children. It is great to have a supportive spouse and children who are also flexible. And actually it is important to have good dialog about what type of things might be faced over your career and how the family responds and is flexible to those. So the key is to have a supportive network. Its a challenge for men and women and certainly for dual-career couples that have unique challenges to manage, but I think over time the whole industry is figuring that out better and better. It doesnt mean that its easy now, but there are certainly increasing examples of how it can be done. Balance is important, because you cannot put off your life goals for career goals; the key is to work them together. TWA

Forum

Youth, Depth, and Innovation In the Oil and Gas Industry

Anton Andreev, Sidd Gupta, Per Olav Svendsen, and Carlos Chalbaud

youth ventures
RAbInDRAnATh TAgORE

Is There a Correlation Between Innovation/Creativity and Age?

When we first asked this question, the answer was neither what we were expecting nor what we were not expecting. Instead it was pointed out that innovation and creativity are two very different things. Hans Haringa, who has been a part of the Shell Game Changer team for many years, says that creativity is the generation of a new idea while innovation is getting value out of those ideas. And most of us

have grown out of being creative long ago. Valerie Guimet, innovation marketing manager at Suez Environment, has a similar definition. According to her, innovation is something new and different that works and generates revenue and has found a niche. Creativity is the tool that was used to create it. So it is a symbiotic relationship in which both qualities are required for a successful output. In the 1950s, professor Harvey Lehman wrote that although creative output in science and invention varies substantially by age, and that peak productivity tends to occur between 30 and 40 years old, the greatest discoveries in math were made by individuals in their mid-20s and 30s (Lehman, 1953). Richard Feynman published his Nobel Prize winning theory on quantum electrodynamics when he was 31. Albert Einstein published histheories of relativity, photoelectric effects, and Brownian movements at 26. Niels Bohr published his quantum theory of atoms when he was 28. Such feats require serious effort and young professionals are more than ready to take on the challenge. However, there is a flipside to this. Thinking beyond the paradigm is often treated as heresy. While young people see change

as an opportunity to do better, more experienced colleagues may disagree or even see it as threatening. Geologist Per Arne Bjrkum, in his book Annerledestenkerne, says: The belief that the era of new significant discoveries is over is something that emerges from time to time. The experts of a certain time, who are well trained within a certain paradigm, often have severe difficulties looking beyond this and when they do try to look into the future, all they can see is the horizon of their own paradigm (Bjrkum, 2003). Rob Buchan, vice president of operations at GDF Suez, believes that seasoned professionals have the benefit of knowledge and experience but this can also inhibit innovation and creativity as one becomes comfortable with the status quo, or indeed takes on the learned helplessness that comes from ideas having been rejected too many times.Younger folks often have less fear of failure and are generally more daring butcreativity can occur at any age providing the ability to challenge and question.

How Important Is Age in Becoming an Expert?

According to Guimet, becoming an expert in a technology domain demands time:

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

ccording to Michael Kenison, technical solutions must have the proper blend of creativity and practicality and ideas should meet a legitimate need. Kenison is a project manager at Schlumberger and has six patents to his credit with six more in the pipeline. He received his first patent at the age of 29. He is just one of the many young achievers in the oil and gas industry. Physics, chemistry, and mathematics are overflowing with people who have exemplified the meaning of prodigy and their names are found in numerous high school and college textbooks. Wikipedia pays respect to these names. Units are named after them. Newborn elements derive their name from these people, not to mention bagel houses. But we rarely take a look in our own backyard. Given that products and services in the oil and gas industry are highly specialized and that young people are given little responsibility in their initial career years, crossing the rift can be tricky. Instead of being inspired by these examples, sometimes young people feel constrained by the long learning curve in the industry. But with the easy oil era over, this is a time for innovation and young professionals can be a source of refreshing insight, unique perspectives, and new ideas.

AGE CONSI DE R S

gREg CAMPbELL

Innovation Culture at the Corporate Level

The concept of an innovation culture is quite elusive and has been the subject of considerable discussion. Culture is a reflection of a groups beliefs and values. An innovation culture, therefore, might be defined as a population that understands and embraces the importance of innovation. It demands that all people in the defined group are engaged in innovation, not just a small subset of people who are specially trained. It also demands that one is open minded. The culture of innovation in an ideal world should be sustained at the corporate level. Each company should create helpful and supportive environment for the ideas to get started. Shells Game Changer program is where innovative ideas are captured, nurtured, and matured until they are ready to be picked up in the mainstream of technology development. Through 2008,

time spent in academic background, years of experience, and sometimes experience in different areas of operations. This cannot be done in a flip of a switch. An expert is someone who can help many different sectors (research, projects, marketing, sales) answer technical questions, or who can give technical (and complex) support quickly. The expert can bring and create high value to projects with talent and knowledge acquired over time. Age and time also factor into another important aspect of innovation. While creative output is one potential channel through which age may impact productivity, it may not be the most essential. It is not idea creation that matters so much as idea adoption. Effective innovation is impossible without two ingredientsgenerators and adopters. Idea adoption is strongly dependent on management and its willingness to support innovation. And here youth might play a role again. It may be that relatively young managers are less bound by tradition and more prone to be pragmatic or even unorthodox practices or ideas. But management positions also require experience, and social constraints may also hold back some young workers from management. Greg Campbell, a senior software engineer at Schlumberger, says that every wonderful idea needs a certain amount of patience. Not everyone will gravitate to it no matter how great it is. Incremental improvements will gain the respect of your colleagues and they will be more willing to support and accept your ideas. Even if you were top of your class in the university, you must accept that you are the new kid on the block and focus on learning from others. Organizations of which you are a part of also play a major role and could be an equally vital part of the success equation as the innovation itself. Campbell further believes that it is important to know the right people who can promote your idea ... or at least know the right people who know the right people. And it is always wise to seek advice and feedback from those with more experience. William Allen White, a renowned American newspaper editor, author, and politician, considered youth as the main driving force for innovation: Youth

should be radical. Youth should demand change in the world. Youth should not accept the old order if the world is to move on. But the old orders should not be moved easily, certainly not at the mere whim or behest of youth. There must be clash and if youth hasnt enough force or fervor to produce the clash, the world grows stale and stagnant and sour in decay. If our colleges and universities do not breed men who riot, who rebel, who attack life with all the youthful vim and vigor, then there is something wrong with our colleges.

every wonderful idea needs a certain amount of patience

approximately 40% of the Shell E&P R&D portfolio had its roots in Game Changer. Russ Conser, Shell E&P Game Changer Program Manager, says that both experienced and young professionals have contributed largely to the idea pool. While young proponents tend toward more novel ideas, more seasoned folks tend more to the practical.Young minds allow themselves to wander into places where someone doesnt already know that something cant be done, he says.Often, more passion and energy is seen in younger innovators, and invaluable asset in overcoming obstacles along the way. Theres a bit of a double edged sword between depth and breadth of expertise, says Conser. One of the best ways to enhance your creativity is to learn about technical fields other than your own. It could be adjacent disciplines, but could also be far afield. If you are an engineer, read a book about biology and think about how nature solves problems like flow and heat transfer. Mandar Apte of Shell agrees. Aim to be connected to other people from industries. Innovation is about correctly observing the challenge, sensing what is around, and then connecting or orchestrating the right performers to co-create a meaningful solution. Developing these softer skills, along with humility and courage to never give up, would help youth tremendously, both in their personal and professional lives... Go MAD (Make A Difference). I would say learn by doing, believe in yourself, and be very open to learning, says Conser. From a competency development perspective, get very good at change management. Campbell gives a simple and apt instruction: Just go for it and you will be amazed by what you accomplish. To which Kenison adds: Learn as much as you possibly can about your particular field, use analytical thinking to find opportunities and flaws in your area of influence, and, most importantly, take the initiative to implement the appropriate solutions. Happy innovating! TWA
References Lehman, Harvey C., Age and Achievement, Princeton University Press, 1953. Bjrkum, Per Arne, Annerledestenkerne, Universitetsforlaget, 2003.

Technical Leaders

Using Technology for Carbon Emission Control and EOR

Neeraj Gupta, Battelle Memorial Institute, and Nigel Jenvey, Maersk Oil and Gas

including advanced seismic surveys, borehole stability, coring, and reservoir testing to prove commercial-scale viability. nJ: Very. One interesting consideration is that most geology in close proximity to coal mines and power stations will have undergone the same burial and uplift that creates the accessible coal seams, thereby probably resulting in diagenesis and permeability/porosity degradation unless preserved by other means. Most of the formations we drill in oil and gas reservoirs havent had this impact, unless, for example, because of secondary migration. Another interesting consideration is that for large-scale carbon sequestration, we will have to displace significant volumes of fluid for the pressures to be managed safely below fracture initiation and propagation. Effectively finding, proving, and operating such large connected pore volumes, many times the size of what we are used to in oil and gas field development, will be a significant challenge. Therefore, the deep saline formations that CCS at some point in the future needs to use are really the unknown territory. Should we expect CO2 floods for EOR to become more prevalent? ng: Yes. Sustained high price of oil alone may be sufficient to increase interest in CO2 EOR floods, even without climate legislation. Climate change-related limitations on CO2 emissions are likely to boost this trend because of the potential for cost offsets with EOR. At the same time, there are significant barriers to overcome for commercial deployment outside the southwestern US, where much of the CO2 EOR work has taken place. In areas like the Midwestern US, these include availability of pure CO2, need for monitoring technologies to prove CO2 retention, permitting, unitization of fields, plugging requirements for old wells, and above all, the need for reliable long-term storage capacity for large-scale CO2 emissions sources.

neeraj gupta obtained bachelors and masters degrees in geology from Panjab University, India, a masters degree in geochemistry from George Washington University, and a doctoral degree in geological sciences, with emphasis on hydrogeology, from Ohio State University. He joined Battelle Memorial Institute in 1993 and has led Battelles efforts on geologic storage of carbon dioxide since 1996. In the AEP Mountaineer Plant Carbon Capture and Storage Project, Gupta leads the geologic storage assessment, and he is a principal investigator for field demonstrations under the Midwestern Regional Carbon Sequestration Partnership. He has authored or coauthored more than 75 reports, papers, and conference presentations.

nigel Jenvey holds a bachelors degree in mining engineering and a masters degree in petroleum engineering from Imperial College, London. He joined Maersk Oil and Gas in 2008, after holding a number of operational, technology, field development, and leadership roles with Texaco and Shell. Currently, Jenvey serves as a director of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects at Maersk, where he is coordinator of research and project portfolio opportunities. He has published multiple papers and served on several SPE committees, including EOR, carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), and reservoir management. Jenvey will chair an SPE CCS forum to be held 914 October in Faro, Portugal.

How dependent is carbon sequestration on local and regional geology? ng: Just like in oil and gas exploration, knowledge of the local and regional geology is critical for ensuring sufficient injectivity, containment, and economic performance of geologic storage sites. Even within a single basin, such as the Appalachian Basin, Battelles experience to date has indicated diversity in geologic feasibility. For example, we are finding

some attractive potential target zones associated with secondary porosity in dolomite layers. Due to the presence of such zones along the Ohio Valley power generation corridor, these finds are critical for deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) in the region and for minimizing the need for long pipelines. However, local or regional continuity can be difficult to predict; thus, layers like these will require a sustained regional exploration effort for site characterization,

Views expressed by the individuals interviewed in this article are their personal views and not necessarily those of their organizations or SPE.

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nJ: I expect so. CO2 is probably the widest applicable EOR technique for the range of reservoir and fluid properties that exists today. However it is expensive to implement, given changes to the wells and processing facilities needed. Recent worldwide screening estimates suggest that 1 trillion bbl of extra oil (i.e., about the same as that produced to date globally) could be economically produced if lowcost CO2 is available at scale. Interestingly, this EOR-based demand for CO2 is enough to satisfy the output from the first 45 years of CCS implementation. It sounds like a win-win situation to me, and would give the time necessary to find, prove, and develop the more risky and costly saline aquifers. Do you feel that there has been an industrywide consensus on climate change thus far?Or are there still largely varying views within the industry? ng: Not really. My perception is that during the last couple of years, the climate consensus within the energy companies has become a bit more elusive, in part because of the lack of clear political consensus. There is an increasing wait-and-see attitude, and perhaps a sense of confusion, toward the climate science and also policy initiatives that are needed to resolve the stalemate at both national and international levels. nJ: I hear of varying views still as to the cause of climate change, which I believe is only healthy in any scientific debate. I sometimes think this is more prevalent in our industry than others, but dont think this itself is because of anything else but the fact that we work on similar science. Let me explain, our geoscientists work with formations that are millions of years old and have therefore gone through previous periods of climatic change. We also work with complicated simulation models populated with only a limited data set, and therefore know there is uncertainty in such predictions. You can obviously suppose then why some question climate change causes and effects that others have proposed. Of course there may be some that dismiss climate change purely as a means to justify their own choice to work in the fossil fuel industry. However, all

that I have spoken to have some scientific reasoning for their opinion. Myself, I recognize that I am certainly not qualified well enough to have any other opinion than that held by the majority of actual climate scientists and instead rely on the scientific process to make informed decisions from which we should act. How much ongoing research is conducted by energy companies regarding the issue of climate change? ng: The science of climate change has been researched primarily by universities and other research institutes, mainly with

Stanford University. This has been ongoing since 2002 and will cost the companies involved USD 225 million, with ExxonMobil having already contributed a reported USD 100 million as of 2006. Additionally ExxonMobil is also the largest spender on CCS-related R&D and has by far the largest number of patents in CO2 capture. What role do you think energy companies can play in the larger picture of educating the public about climate change? ng: I think energy companies have to first develop a stronger scientific consensus within the industry around the issue of climate change. Some of the larger global companies have the resources to evaluate the relevant climate data and help clear the scientific uncertainty and also perform a stronger advocacy role with policy-makers. Furthermore, they can also provide customer outreach about the reduction in carbon footprint, energy conservation, acceptance of mitigation technologies, and the switch to climatefriendly products. There is a significant need for building public awareness of geologic storage options, and the energy companies are well placed to do this. nJ: Educating the public is probably done more effectively by governments rather than energy companies, whose motives will always be viewed by some with skepticism. Instead, the role for companies should be to assist in the implementation of governmental policies regarding climate change. There is much debate on climate change. Has this hindered progress on any new plays or R&D efforts? ng: In the oil and gas domain, the climate issue has not, so far, had a major impact on developing new plays. This is, in part, because of the growing demand for energy in emerging economies. Even with the heightened debate on climate change, R&D continues to advance the state of CCS technology. For example, the potential CO2 emissions, especially from gas processing, have been factored into developing new projects such as the Gorgon field in Australia and In Salah in Algeria, which

Energy companies have to first develop a stronger scientific consensus within the industry around the issue of climate change. Neeraj Gupta

government funding in most countries. Although energy companies have funded some research on climate science, their main focus for both internal research and sponsorship of external research has been on energy technologies and mitigation options. This includes research and demonstrations on CCS technologies, energy efficiency, and alternative energy sources. For example, a group of coal companies and coaldependent utilities are conducting the FutureGen demonstration program with the US Department of Energy (DOE) cofunding. Similarly, DOEs Clean Coal Power Initiative programs bring together coal and oil companies to conduct CCS demonstrations. The combined value of these programs in the US alone will be worth several billion dollars, when completed. On a personal level, it has been highly satisfying to be involved in some of these major national initiatives. nJ: One of the largest externally sponsored areas of research I know of is by ExxonMobil, of the GCEP project (Global Climate and Energy Project) out of

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have included geologic storage to mitigate climate concerns. There seems to be increasing impact on developing new coal-based energy facilities, especially in the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan, where potential CO2 emissions have been a factor in decisions about new capital investments. nJ: I think that climate change is bringing sustainable progress to the oil and gas industry, in terms of improving our consideration of longterm impacts, and the wider implications our work has on the environment and society. We are becoming smarter in our planning, more efficient in our operations, and are generally becoming less focused on short-term gains. Do you think the BP incident in the Gulf of Mexico will intensify the debate on the broader topic of energy companies responsibilities toward the environment? ng: For a while it appeared to be the case. However, over the last few months, I have noticed a sharp decrease in coverage of the incident and certainly the level of debate is not as visible in the media. Still, the incident is likely to have a significant long-term influence on the operational and environmental philosophies of the energy companies and also in the regulatory requirements for exploration and production. nJ: Undoubtedly yes. It will bring questions that will have to be answered, and the level of scrutiny in todays society may mean that some regulations will be made tougher where uncertainty and risk are perceived to remain. Most of the oil majors are investing in CCS technology. Is there a realistic business case to take this forward? Do we need any game changer or government incentives to take this to the next level? ng: CCS is fundamentally a climate mitigation technology. Therefore, the only business case for commercial implementation will come through the regulations on CO2 emissions. In the early years, the technology development and deployment will strongly depend on

the government-funded demonstrations. These demonstrations and early commercial projects will also need a predictable regulatory framework, cost recovery mechanisms, and a focus on issues such as long-term liability and pore-space ownership. Battelles view is that companies that can develop the scientific knowhow and institutional mechanisms to answer these questions will be well placed to have a role in an eventual commercial CCS market. nJ: I expect that a realistic business case for CCS will always need some form of

place or developments in carbon capture technology (e.g., developing a field with CO2 EOR in mind)? ng: I believe it could be seen the other way around, as CCS will build upon the successes of the oil and gas industry. For example, natural gas processing plants are becoming sources of CO2 for geologic storage in current major projects. Eventually, improvements in capture technologies, development of oil fields with an objective of maximizing CO2 storage, and development of monitoring technologies for CCS will play a significant role in the evolution of the oil and gas industry. Another possible trend is increasing collaboration and joint ventures between oil and coal companies. On the flip side, of course, there remains a possibility that 50 years from now, oil and gas will not be a primary source of energy because of dwindling supply or availability of other options. nJ: Yes, I believe more companies will see value in lowering the carbon content of the oil and gas that they produce. This ability will become more of a competitive differentiator for greenfield developments, and indeed will drive a less progressively phased approach to field development than that to which we are accustomed, i.e., why not implement CO2 EOR before waterflooding, rather than when it is too late and too expensive? What do you believe is the place (present and future) of renewable energies such as solar and wind power? ng: There is no doubt that the share of renewable power in the energy mix will increase over time from the current very low baseline. The cost of deployment and geographic reach are significant challenges that must be overcome. The need for land for very large-scale deployment of these options will also become a limiting factor. nJ: Increasing energy demands will have to be met through a variety of sources, and renewables have a growing part to play. What is important is that we need to develop a cost-effective and sustainable energy mix from which all of world society can benefit. TWA
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Climate change is bringing sustainable progress to the oil and gas industry, in terms of improving our consideration of longterm impacts, and the wider implications our work has on the environment and society. Nigel Jenvey
government incentive to establish the carbon price needed to pay for capture and transportation infrastructure. The cost of storage can be relatively low when integrated with existing knowledge, infrastructure, and operations that exist in oil and gas field locations. However the main increase in the effective cost of storage that has to be considered is that associated with the long-term risks of leakage and the financial security and liabilities that are imposed by regulations. Of course, there are some projects, such as those that I work on, where CCS and EOR are combined, and therefore it now becomes more conventional and realistic business, given the additional revenue source. From a long-term viewpoint, say 50 years, do you believe there will be a fundamental change in the way oil and gas industry works because of various emission policies in

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Tech 101

Antarctica: Recording and Experiencing Climate Change

Joseph Levy, Portland State University

ntarctica, the harsh continent, is the highest, driest, coldest, and windiest place on Earth. A continent-spanning ice cap belies cold desert conditions under which climate records accumulate with glacial slowness. Antarctica is the storehouse of the worlds oldest iceborne climate records, preserved in the Antarctic deep freeze for millions of years. But Antarctica is also a living laboratory in which the decadal effects of climate change can be directly observed. Accordingly, Antarctica serves as a valuable scientific resource for understanding past climate conditions as well as for gauging the current trajectory of climate change (Fig 1).

us insight into the response of the Earths biosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere to ongoing and future changes.

Antarctic Ice Cores: The Long Record of Atmospheric Conditions

The Antarctic ice sheets (east and west) are tremendously large glaciersbodies of ice deposited snow (<10 cm of snowfall per year is common at the South Pole), that compress under their own weight (Antarctic ice sheets average ~1 km in thickness) and flow slowly toward the sea. At high points on the ice sheets (called domes), the net velocity of ice is downward, perpendicular to the surface of the Earth (rather than subparallel, as in the case of flowing ice away from domes). As a result, ice extracted from domes increases in age with increasing depth. Snow falling on Antarctic domes traps atmospheric gas, as well as dust and other particular matter, producing a continuous record of temperaturedependent snow isotopic chemistry and atmospheric gas composition. The most common ice core measurements used in climate studies are snow/ice isotope ratios (deuterium to hydrogen and 180 to 160, denoted dD

A Lens for Climate Change

Climate information from Antarctica comes from three major sources: the land ice record, the marine (sedimentary) record, and the ecosystem record. Because marine sedimentary records exist at all latitudes, only the Antarctic land ice and ecosystem records will be discussed. Ice cores from interior Antarctica provide a long and continuous record of atmospheric conditions in the southern hemisphere, while ecosystem records give

Fig. 1 (Above) Map of Antarctica showing sites of interest and surface skin depth heating and cooling trends from NOAA/AVHRR satellite data. Base map courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Data provided by Larry Stock.

and d180, respectively when normalized to international standards), dust content, sodium concentration, ice electrical conductivity, ice grain size, and atmospheric gas composition (carbon dioxide, methane, and atmospheric dD and d180). Dust content is used to estimate paleo-wind intensity (sediments from distant deserts). Sodium concentration and electrical conductivity are used to estimate the contribution of marine aerosols. Atmospheric dD and d180 are indicators of global ice volume and the state of global hydrological activity. Snow dD and d180 vary linearly with the atmospheric temperature at which the snow formed and also with the surface temperature of the precipitation site. This means they can be used to reconstruct a temperature record with time. In particular, D T p = (DdD ice - 8D d180 sw )/9, where DT p is the difference between the current temperature at the altitude of snow formation and the paleotemperature at altitude, Dd180 sw is the global average difference between todays seawater d180 and paleoseawater d18O, and 9 per C is the deuterium temperature-isotope gradient in East Antarctica (Petit et al. 1999). Snowfall atmospheric modeling indicates that DT p is approximately 2 3 D T S, the difference between paleo-temperature

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Fig. 2Data and calculations from the Vostok ice core. pCH4 and pCO2 are the atmospheric concentration of methane and carbon dioxide, respectively. delta-T(surface) is the temperature difference between paleo-temperature and current temperature at the ground surface. del-D is the dD of the ice used to calculate delta-T(surface). All data are reported in Petit et al. (1999).

and modern temperature at the Earths surface. The Vostok ice core is one of the most studied ice core climate records from Antarctica (Fig. 1), and provides a case study in the translation of ice cores into climate data. Vostok station is located near Dome B in East Antarctica (78S, 106E). The Vostok core consists of 3623 m of ice, spanning ~423 kiloyears (ky). Dating of the ice core is based on an accumulation rate model driven by the temperature-dependence of saturation vapor pressure on temperature at the altitude of snow formation, modulated by an ice flow and thinning model (Vostok is not positioned directly at Dome B), and pinned to two dated core segments at 1534 m and 3254 m that correlate with well-dated marine records. Vostok core dates all have an accuracy better than 15 ky, better than 10 ky for most of the record, better than 5 ky for the most recent 110 ky (Petit et al. 1999). The Vostok core contains a clear record of the last four major glacial interglacial periods (Fig. 2) [older, deeper ice cores, for example, the EPICA core from Dome C extend back even further]. Glacial/

interglacial fluctuations in the measured parameters have a similar cyclicity to marine climate records, suggesting that the four most recent ice ages have been driven primarily by insulation changes associated with the Earths orbital eccentricity on a period of ~100 ky (Imbrie et al. 1993). The Vostok record shows that both the succession (timing) and intensity of temperature and atmospheric composition changes are similar through each glacial/intergacial climate cycle, however, the interglacial periods vary in length and temperature evolution. The temperature and chemistry data from the Vostok ice core warrant close examination. The overall surface temperature difference between glacial and interglacial periods in Antarctica is ~12C (Fig. 2). The temperature record has a characteristic sawtooth pattern similar to that observed in marine temperature reconstructions. Warm interglacials cool gradually into glacial periods and end with rapid transitions back into interglacial warmth. This pattern is mirrored in CO2 and CH4 concentrations. CO2 and CH4 concentrations decrease slowly to

minimum values during glacial periods and increase rapidly during transitions into interglacials. There is a strong correlation between atmospheric CO2 and CH4 concentrations and Antarctic surface temperature in the Vostok core (r2 of 0.71 and 0.73 for CO2 and CH4, respectively) [Petit et al. 1999]. Transitions from the lowest to the highest CO2 and CH4 values occur during glacial to interglacial transitions. For example, the last two glacial/interglacial transitions have been associated with precipitous increases of atmospheric CO2 from ~180 ppmv to ~280 ppmv, and with increases of methane from ~350 ppbv to ~650 ppbv. The maximum CO2 mixing ratio reported in the Vostok core is 298.7 ppmv (Petit et al. 1999). Interestingly, during glacial to interglacial transitions, CH4 and temperature decrease in phase, while CO2 concentration can lag by several kiloyears. In summary, the Vostok core shows a strong correlation between orbital timescales and climate timescales, and between surface temperature and CO2 and CH4 atmospheric concentration. Earths climate system responds to external (orbital) forcing, but atmospheric chemistry modulates and amplifies the temperature and timing response of the climate to this forcing in complex ways.

The Ecosystem Record: Decadal Response

Antarctic ice cores provide a perspective on changing climate conditions over hundreds of thousands of years. However, nobody lives in an ice core. Ultimately, the most important outcome of climate science is being able to predict how changing climate patterns will affect the ecosystems on which human beings depend. An ecosystem is the assemblage of organisms in an environment coupled with the nonliving components of the environment with which the organisms interact. As is clear from the broad definition, ecosystems typically are extremely complex. The harsh physical conditions in Antarctica significantly reduce the species richness of south polar ecosystems, making them some of the simplest on Earth. The relative

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simplicity of Antarctic ecosystems, coupled with strong polar sensitivity to climate change, makes Antarctica an ideal laboratory for studying the effects of changing climate conditions on biological communities. These simple systems can serve as models for the warm climate ecosystems upon which human beings most depend. The southernmost terrestrial ecosystem on Earth is found in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, a series of exposed valleys on the shores of the Ross Sea (77-78S, 160-164E) that are protected from the impinging East Antarctic Ice Sheet by the Transantarctic Mountains (Fig. 1). The Dry Valleys are a mosaic of glaciers (alpine and outlet), ephemeral streams that flow during high summer, ice-covered lakes, and permafrost. These landforms provide the habitat for a microbially and algal-based food web that supports microscopic soil invertebrates (tardigrades, rotifers, etc.) and that is dominated by nematodes as the top predator. Liquid water is the limiting resource in Antarctic soil ecosystems, while light is the limiting factor in Antarctic lake ecosystems evidence of their simplicity. The McMurdo Dry Valleys Long Term Ecological Research project (MCMLTER, www.mcmlter.org) maintains a network of continuously recording weather stations throughout the dry valleys. In 2002, Doran et al. reported that between 1986 and 1999, the seasonal average air temperature at the centrally located Lake Hoare station had declined by 0.7C per decade. This cooling trend has continued in the intervening years, and has been observed at most of the weather stations. Cooling in the dry valleys stands in stark contrast to global temperature trends, which have increased by 0.19C per decade (based on 19791998 measurements), and amplified warming along the Antarctic peninsula by ~2C between 1950 and 2000 (Ducklow 2007). Dry valleys cooling is most notable during the summer and autumn months (DecemberFebruary, MarchMay, respectively), which coincide with the months of peak ecosystem functioning (the only months when day-average air temperatures rise above 0C). From 1986

to 1999, summer and autumn seasonal mean air temperatures cooled by 1.2C per decade and 2.0C per decade, respectively. Perennial lake ice in the dry valleys has increased in thickness by 11 cm per year on average during the cooling phase (Doran 2002). The response of the dry valleys biological communities to changing climate conditions has been rapid and severe. During the 19861999 cooling phase, thickening lake ice reduced summertime photosynthetically active illumination of Dry Valleys lakes, reducing depth-integrated primary production in the lakes by 6% to 9% annually. In the soil environment, the effects of cooling air temperatures on soil temperature and soil moisture resulted in a reduction in invertebrate populations of >10% per year during 1993 to 1998. These population reductions occurred in experimental plots that spanned the range of elevations, soil moisture conditions, and nutrient levels common in the dry valleys, and affected all invertebrates, from microbovorous organisms to the top predator, the nematode Scottnema Lindsayae. In stark contrast to cooling trends in the dry valleys, warming along the Antarctic Peninsula is acting as the primary driver of ecosystem change (Ducklow 2007). Since 1950, mean annual temperature along the northern portion of the Antarctic Peninsula has risen by 2C, while mean winter temperature has risen by 6C (Ducklow 2007). This warming has coincided with decrease in the portion of the year when sea ice is present around the peninsula by 8519 days per year. As a result of these ecosystem changes, species that rely on sea ice are being displaced poleward and replaced by species that avoid ice. This is illustrated by the displacement of Adlie penguins by Chinstrap penguins. These rapid and at times unexpected ecosystem responses make the Antarctic a critical test bed for models of ecosystem change under future climate scenarios.

the key to anticipating the future lies in understanding the past. Cooling in Antarctica is driven in large part by continued low ozone levels in the Antarctic stratosphere (ozone is an effective greenhouse gas) [Randel and Wu 1999]. At present, strong circum-Antarctic winds (the South Polar Vortex) trap remaining atmospheric chlorofluorocarbons, reducing stratospheric ozone and promoting cooling. Notably, the South Polar Vortex is deflected southward of the Antarctic Peninsula, explaining in part the dissimilarity in temperature conditions between the peninsula and the dry valleys. Gradual increases in ozone concentrations above Antarctica (repair of the ozone hole) will allow warming to spread poleward, likely bringing higher average temperatures to the dry valleys (~2.0 to 3.5C by 2100 [Chapman and Walsh 2007]). This change to a warming mode, with weakening circum-Antarctic winds, is analogous to ice-core observations showing increased dust fluxes to the deep interior of Antarctica during warm interglacials. Warming in the Antarctic will likely bring even greater changes to the dry valley and peninsula ecosystems. These natural laboratories will make a transition from being bellwethers of climate change to laboratories in which models of ecosystem response to climate change will be tested. New, high-resolution analyses of Antarctic ice cores will begin to provide decadal-scale measurements of past climate, bringing the ancient record to life in a form relevant to climate and ecosystem forecasters. Although permafrost geologists are loath to say it, in a warming world, their subject matter is not a growth industry. Using the scientific resources of Antarctica to understand past, present, and future changes to the Earths climate most certainly is.
References Chapman, W.L., and Walsh, J.E. 2007. A Synthesis of Antarctic Temperatures. Journal of Climate. 20 (16): 40964117. doi: 10.1175/JCLI4236.1 Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P, and Clow, G.D. 2002. Valley Floor Climate Observations From the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 19862000. Journal of Geophysical Research 107 (D24), 4772. doi:10.1029/2001JD002045.

The Future
What does the future hold for climate change research in Antarctica? Any climate researcher will tell you that

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Discover a Career

Discover a Career in Underbalanced Drilling

Patrick B.B. Reynolds, SPE, and Sagar Nauduri, SPE, Signa Engineering

Despite the drilling industrys shift toward managed pressure drilling (MPD) over the past half-decade, underbalanced drilling (UBD) continues to be a desirable option for many operations today, especially when drilling into pressure-depleted formations and/or attempting to reduce skin damage for better productivity. Because of this sustained demand, largely by operators willing to pay top dollar for skilled UBD personnel, a fundamental knowledge of the technique can benefit young petroleum engineers looking to excel in their field.

UBD Overview
The philosophy of UBD is diametrically opposed to traditional/conventional drilling methods and MPD. Conventional drilling uses an equivalent mudweight (EMW) that results in a bottomhole pressure (BHP) greater than that of the pore pressure exposed to the open hole to prevent formation fluids (oil, gas, or water) from entering the wellbore. MPD uses equivalent circulating densitya combination of hydrostatic pressure, circulating friction pressure, and applied surface pressureto create a BHP equal to or greater than formation pore pressure. Conversely, UBD utilizes an EMW maintained deliberately below the openhole pore pressure in at least one point of the open wellbore. The lower hydrostatic pressure exerted by the fluid column enables formation fluids to flow to the surface and through specialized surface equipment, thereby earning UBD the nickname flow drilling. Perhaps the most beneficial aspect of UBD is the reduction or elimination of formation damage. When drilling traditionally, overbalanced drilling fluid can clog up or otherwise damage the naturally porous/permeable areas of the formation in a process called invasion.

If the reservoir does not have sufficient energy during production to force this mudcake out, it can cause a significant decrease inor total shutoff ofthe natural flow of oil and gas from the formation to the surface. In true UBD, the drilling fluid is much less likely to invade the formation; rather, it allows the formation to flow naturally. If the driller maintains an underbalanced state through the completion stage, damage can be minimized or avoided, which can optimize production rates and greatly increase the value of the well. Additionally, drillers can eliminate sophisticated drilling/completion fluid systems and costly remedial stimulation techniques historically used to overcome damage and increase production. Fluids employed in UBD also vary with each operation. They may be composed of single-phase liquid or mud, gasified fluid (a two-phase fluid containing air, nitrogen, or natural gas mixed with water, oil-based fluid or mud), foam (a gasified fluid containing a surfactant), mist (gas with liquid droplets suspended in the mixture) and even air (using pure gas as the drilling fluid). The one constant is that the EMW is less than the pore pressure throughout the drilling

process. Circulating these fluids at the proper rate is imperative for a successful UBD project to ensure adequate removal of the drilled cuttings from the wellbore. Because of the decreased bottomhole pressure in the wellbore, there are further benefits of UBD such as increased rate of penetration (ROP) and reduced likelihood of differential sticking (where the drillstring becomes stuck to the wellbore wall). Another big advantage of UBD is reduction of lost circulation (LC), which occurs when overbalanced drilling f luids f low into the formation. Sometimes lost circulation creates irreparable formation damage or becomes so severe that the well is lost. With UBD, the inherently low-pressured drilling column does not fracture the formation needlessly, providing a likely remedy for formations where LC has been a problem. However, it must be stressed that not all UBD applications lead directly to these benefits. As with all drilling techniques, there is the possibility of damage mechanisms that might counteract the applicability of UBD. A detailed analysis of all the well parameters and the project objectives is

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recommended before deciding whether to choose UBD for a given project.

UBD Fundamentals
Petroleum engineers performing at all levels during application of UBD will be expected to communicate with a wide variety of specialists. As such, a beginning engineer (with no field or design experience) should still expect to have a fundamental understanding of the basic components of UBD, such as hydraulics, fluid rheology, pressure regimes, well design, casing design, equipment layout, rig operations, and chain of command. As an individuals field responsibilities expand, expectations will also increase. After three years, engineers should know whether UBD is viable for their formation, have good interactions with vendors, and also a good understanding of contingency planning. By the seventh year, the UBD engineer should have basic knowledge of all UBD facets, such as hydraulics planning, designing and procuring the necessary equipment, writing UBD procedures, writing contingency plans, and executing/ overseeing the entire drilling operation. Perhaps the most important aspect of successful UBD is a properly designed hydraulics plan, created and tested before the well is drilled. The driller can determine if the project needs to be designed for underbalanced drilling and how much margin exists between fluid pressure in the wellbore and pressure in the formation. A proper hydraulics design is usually done using robust modeling software and once completed provides a road map that shows the driller the optimal parameters for drilling the well. These parameters should account for surface equipment, circulation rate, and fluid density at a minimum. Understanding this UBD road map is essential to a successful UBD operation. Young petroleum engineers should attend training courses on at least two hydraulics modeling software systems and use them frequently enough to become proficient in both. In addition, mastery of spreadsheets and associated graphical data representation (such as Microsoft Office Excel) is essential. For undergraduates interested in UBD, it is important to study courses that

provide a solid understanding of drilling disciplines. Basic drilling engineering courses help students understand standard rig equipment, casing and well design, basic hydraulics design, pressure drop calculations, and pressure management. Students must be able to identify indicators of drilling problems, such as kick-loss cycles, differential sticking, and surge/swab problems. Knowing how to mitigate these issues is just as important, so students should also attend well control courses (methodology and calculations classes) that focus on training both novices and experts to maintain a safe workplace environment. Most of the employers and regulatory agencies now require such well control certifications from their employees. Typically, courses teach 1) How to react in such a well control situation, 2) Different tested procedures to solve the well control situation and resume drilling, and 3) Theory and calculations behind these methods. Courses also typically provide handson experience by means of a simulator. Hands-on experience on an operating rig is a great teacher as well, if the student can get permission to work on a rig. Once these fundamentals have been established, there are several industry training courses that the young UBD engineer should consider. The classes focus on UBD problem solving and situations typically encountered in

UBD operations. They are most often taught by licensed petroleum engineers and include curriculum requisite for prospective UBD engineers, such as equipment design, hydraulics design, well control operations when using UBD, logging while underbalanced, contingency planning, and UBD completions.

Candidate Identification
The first step in any successful UBD application is to ensure whether the formation is a good candidate for underbalanced drilling. It requires proper evaluation in great detail to make this determination. The engineer will need the following data: pore pressure/ fracture pressure gradient plots, rateof-penetration records, production rate or reservoir characteristics to calculate/ estimate production rate, core analysis, formation fluid types, formation integrity test data (casing shoe pressure integrity test [pit] data), water/chemical sensitivity, lost circulation information, sour/corrosive gas data, location topography information, well logs from area wells, and triaxial stress data on any formation samples. Lithological description is a good starting point to determine a UBD candidate, although not absolute. For instance, most UBD has occurred in carbonate rocks, but this is not a requirement. UBD has been applied successfully in limestone, dolomite,
Continued on page 31

Patrick b.b. Reynolds is a technical writer and registered project management professional at Signa Engineering. He has been a professional writer for 12 years and regularly contributes articles to oil and gas industry magazines. He can be reached at preynolds@signa.net.

Sagar nauduri is a managed pressure drilling (MPD) engineer at Signa Engineering. He is a graduate of Texas A&M University in petroleum engineering. His interests are MPD and underbalanced drilling operations. He can be reached at snauduri@signa.net.

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Academia@TWA.edu

Current Research and Challenges Pertaining to CO2 Flooding and Sequestration

Dandina N. Rao and Richard G. Hughes, Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering, Louisiana State University

CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery: Background

With 50% to 65% of the original oil in place (OOIP) remaining in many reservoirs after primary and secondary recovery, more operators and governments are considering the use of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes as an opportunity whose time has come. Additionally, in the face of global warming, the prospect of CO2 sequestration has arisen with the potential of sequestering large quantities of CO2 in depleted oil fields as a means of preventing its release into the atmosphere. The concept of injecting gas into a formation to stimulate recovery of residual oil is not new. Successful laboratory gas-injection experiments generated a lot of optimism in the 1950s, but by the 1970s field experiments yielded only moderate recoveries of 5% to 10% of the remaining OOIP. Viscous fingering, solvent channeling, and reservoir heterogeneity were found to be the main culprits for the disappointing field performance. Early efforts were directed at developing methods to improve the injected gass mobility and volumetric sweep efficiency, and included the water-alternating-gas (WAG) process, using foaming agents

and polymers. Much of these research efforts continue today in universities and other research laboratories. One concern, however, is that the research favors modeling work rather than experimental development of new concepts and processes. In a recent study for the US Department of Energy (DOE), Advanced Resources International identified four advanced CO2 EOR technologies: Higher pore volume of CO2 injection Vertical gravity stable gas injection with horizontal wells for production Miscibility development Effective mobility control in horizontal floods This article discusses the gasassisted gravity drainage (GAGD) technology being developed at Louisiana State University with the support of a DOE research grant.

Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage

The GAGD process is shown schematically in Fig. 1. CO2 injected in vertical wells accumulates at the top of the pay zone and displaces oil, which drains to a horizontal producer straddling several injection wells. As injection continues, the CO2 chamber grows downward and sideways, resulting in larger portions

of the reservoir being swept without any increase in water saturation in the reservoir. This maximizes the volumetric sweep efficiency. The gravity segregation of CO2 also helps in delaying, or even eliminating, CO2 breakthrough to the producer as well as preventing the gas phase from competing for flow with oil. Additionally, keeping the pressure above the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) maximizes the recovery efficiency. This keeps the interfacial tension between the oil and the injected CO2 low, which in turn results in large capillary numbers and low residual oil saturations in the swept region. If the formation is water-wet, water is likely to be held back in the rock pores by capillary pressure while oil will be preferentially displaced by CO2. If the formation is oil-wet, continuous films of oil will help create drainage paths for the oil to flow to the horizontal producer. The GAGD process has the additional advantage of increased oil saturation and consequently improved oil relative permeability near the producing wellbore. The process makes use of existing vertical wells in the field for CO2 injection and calls for drilling a long horizontal well for producing the draining oil. The

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Produced Fluids

CO 2 Vertical Injectors

CO 2

UNDERBURDEN

Gas Invaded Zone

Horizontal Producer

UNDERBURDEN
Fig. 1Concept of the New Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage EOR Process (Rao et al., 2004).

drilling costs of horizontal wells have been significantly reduced in recent years due to technology advances. Our ongoing experimental studies of GAGD have shown recoveries in the range of 73% to 85% remaining OOIP in its secondary immiscible mode and near complete recoveries in miscible modes. The mechanisms of displacement, gravity drainage, and film flow combine to yield such high recoveries even in immiscible gas injection experiments. This opens up a vast arena for further research and practical applications on the use of flue gases for immiscible GAGD EOR applications without having to separate the CO2, which constitutes about 75% of the cost. The CO2 GAGD process is being piloted in a Louisiana field and the results are awaited.

underground coal seams, certain volcanic formations, or deep saline aquifers. The cost of separating and capturing the greenhouse gases as well as of the assessment and assignment of liability for the long-term

The cost of separating and capturing the greenhouse gases as well as of the assessment and assignment of liability for the long-term integrity of sequestration sites are the primary factors limiting widespread implementation of CCS.

Another research area often affiliated with CO2 EOR is carbon capture and storage (CCS). The idea behind CCS is that human-generated (anthropogenic) greenhouse gases are separated and captured from concentrated sources such as power plants, refineries, chemical plants, or cement plants. These gases are then injected into the subsurface in active or abandoned oil and gas reservoirs, deep

CO2 Sequestration

integrity of sequestration sites are the primary factors limiting widespread implementation of CCS. However, there are active areas of research associated with technologies more aligned with oil- and gas-related topics. Chief among these technologies are monitoring the fate of injected CO2, evaluating caprock and wellbore integrity, understanding

sequestration storage mechanisms, and characterizing storage formation parameters with limited data. The primary difference between using CO2 for enhanced oil recovery and for sequestration is that while EOR processes seek to utilize the CO2 efficiently, there is no requirement to ensure that the CO2 remains permanently underground. Ensuring wellbore integrity at the sequestration site relies on understanding and extending oilfield technologies of well construction, cement chemistry, and cement evaluation. Monitoring the fate of the injected CO2 also relies on oil- and gas-related geophysical measurements. For sequestration, the site may undergo depletion followed by repressurization. Since the caprock ensures the storage capability of the site, whether the depletion or pressurization of the formation breaches the integrity of the caprock needs to be evaluated. Modeling of the sequestration storage mechanisms of adsorption, solubility trapping, capillary trapping, and mineralization requires both adequate models for each mechanism and laboratory measurements to calibrate the models. The dominant mechanism for storage depends on pore structure, mineralogy, and rock and fluid

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Tech 101... Continued from page 14

properties. Formation characterization for sequestration differs only slightly from oilfield exploration well characterization in that formation mineralogy must be modeled in addition to the more traditional rock and fluid properties. In the US, funding for CO2 sequestration research is primarily through the Regional Partnership program at the DOE. The seven Regional Partnerships have field projects designed to demonstrate full-scale implementation of CCS in each of the formation types. Budgets for these projects are dominated by the cost of implementation and monitoring. Additional funding is available through industry and through other governmental sources such as the National Science Foundation or the US Environmental Protection Agency. University researchers are also strong local resources for public outreach and education related to greenhouse gas generation and storage.

but any oil- and gas-related research. When oil prices drop, research becomes a bad word among all funding sources. This needs to change. Second, university research should continue to focus on the free flow of knowledge without boundaries, open-minded examination of new concepts and ideas, and independent pursuits of new realms of science. Third, professional journals should publish new material even in the face of controversyacademic careers depend on publications. Fourth, the industry that benefits from these resources should actively participate in university research for it to be relevant. Operators should be more open to implement pilots to try out new ideas, irrespective of their origin, be it the industrial labs or academia. TWA
References Christianson et. al., SPE 71203, 1998 Rao et al., SPE 89357, 2004

Ducklow, H.W., Baker, K., and Martinson, D.G. 2007. Marine Pelagic Ecosystems: The West Antarctic Penninsula. Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society, Biological Sciences 362 (1477): 6794. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1955 Imbrie, J., Berger, A., Boyle, E.A., Clemens, S.C., Duffy, A., Howard, W.R., Kukla, G. et al. 1993. On the Structure and Origin of Major Glaciation Cycles. II. The 100,000-Year Cycle. Paleooceanography 8 (6): 699735. Petit, J.R., Jouzel, J., Raynaud, D., Barnola, J.M., Basile, I., Bender, M., Chappelaz, J. et al. 1999. Climate and Atmospheric History of the Past 420,000 Years From the Vostok Ice Core Antarctica. Nature 399 (3 June): 429436. Randel, W.J., and F. Wu. 1999. Cooling of the Arctic and Antarctic Polar Stratospheres Due to Ozone Depletion. Journal of Climate 12 (5): 14671479. doi: 10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<1467:CO TA A A>2.0.CO;2

Challenges in Academia
The foremost challenge is dwindling research funding, not just for gas flooding

Joseph Levy is a postdoctoral permafrost geologist at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.

Dandina n. Rao is Emmett Wells distinguished professor in the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering at Louisiana State University (LSU). He holds a BTech with Distinction from India, an MS from the University of Saskatchewan, and a PhD from the University of Calgary. After 17 years of research and development work (Shell Canada, Petroleum Recovery Institute, and BDM Petroleum Technologies), he came to LSU in January1999. His experimental research interests include reservoir condition rock-fluids interactions and thermal and nonthermal EOR.

Richard g. hughes is a professional-in-residence for the Craft and Hawkins Department of Petroleum Engineering at LSU. He earned a BS in petroleum engineering from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and held various production, reservoir, and information technology positions with Tenneco Oil, Dwights Energy Data, and Amerada Hess. He then obtained his MS and PhD in petroleum engineering from Stanford University before joining the University of Oklahoma as an assistant professor. His research interests include utilizing CO2 for EOR and carbon sequestration, modeling of multiphase flow in porous media and rock fractures, reservoir surveillance, production data analysis, and unconventional field reservoir engineering.

NEW PERSPECTIVES
SPE ANNUAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION
30 OCTOBER2 NOVEMBER 2011 DENVER, COLORADO, USA

www.spe.org/atce

Society of Petroleum Engineers

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

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Public Policy Focus

Carbon Capture and Sequestration: A Potential Win-Win for the Oil Industry and the Public
Siluni Wickramathilaka, ConocoPhillips, and Todd Willis, Chevron

Concentrations of Greenhouse Gasses from 0 to 2005

(CO2) (ppm), N2O (ppb)

400

2000 Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Methane (CH4) Nitrous Oxide (N2O) 1800 1600 1400 1200

n 1972, the first commercial carbon dioxide (CO2) flood project in the world began with the injection of CO2 into the Scurry Area Canyon Reef Operators Committee (SACROC) unit in the Permian Basin in Scurry County, Texas. The goal was simple: To arrest declining oil production and recover bypassed reserves. Today, nearly 40 years later, CO2 injection is being considered on a much wider scale, and for a different purpose altogether: To help arrest an increase in the average surface temperature of the planet. CO2, among other gases such as methane and nitrous oxide, is a greenhouse gas, a gas that traps heat in the Earths atmosphere by absorbing and emitting radiation within the thermal infrared range, causing a greenhouselike warming effect. The presence of greenhouse gases in Earths atmosphere is vital, for without them, Earths surface would be on average about 59F colder than at present. CO2 is also a key ingredient that nourishes plant life through photosynthesis. However, it is a delicate balance. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the atmospheric presence of greenhouse gases has risen dramatically since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s (Fig. 1), along with

a rise over the past century in the Earths average surface temperature of about 1.3F. According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, seven of the eight warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. In the past 30 years, the rate of warming across the globe has been approximately three times greater than the rate over the past 100 years. Since one of the primary sources of CO2 is fossil fuel combustion, the petroleum industry is bearing much of the blame in the current politically charged environmental debate (Fig. 2). Politics and blame aside, fossil fuels currently comprise approximately 85% of the worlds overall energy portfolio, and there is no existing alternative energy source that will significantly impact this figure for the foreseeable future. Simply put, current economic stability and ongoing economic growth are possible only with the presence of fossil fuels and their derivative products. This dependence comes at a price, however. According to IPCC estimates, global CO2 emissions stemming from fossil fuel sources are projected to increase 40% to 110% by 2030 if climate policies to mitigate this rise are not implemented. As the problem is global, it would seem logical for governments to be proactive in finding ways to mitigate

350

300

1000 800

250

500

1000

1500

2000

600

Fig. 1Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from year 0 to 2005. (Used with permission of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.) the greenhouse gas effect arising from fossil fuel use. Enter carbon capture and sequestration, or CCS. CCS technology is similar to the CO2 flooding technology that has been used on a commercial scale since the SACROC flood began almost 40 years ago. It involves capturing carbon dioxide from a stationary source, like a coal-fired power plant; compressing the gas; transporting it via pipeline, truck, or barge; and injecting it underground for very longterm storage (or sequestration). Power plants now account for approximately 40% of all humangenerated (anthropogenic) emissions in the world. The IPCC estimates that carbon capture technology deployed at these CO2 sources has the potential to

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CO2 ( Other) 2.8% N2O 7.9% CH4 14.3%

F-gasses 1.1% operators around the world have large CCS demonstration projects currently under way. The Statoiloperated Sleipner Project, the worlds first commercial-scale CCS project, began operation in 1996 and currently injects more than 1 Mt of CO2 per year about 1,000 m below the sea floor. Total has invested approximately EUR 60 million in the Lacq Project, which it touts as Europes first end-to-end carbon capture, transportation, and storage demonstration facility, in Lacq, southwestern France. As operator of the massive Gorgon Project in Western Australia, Chevron, along with joint venture partners ExxonMobil and Shell, is currently building what will be the largest CCS project in the world, capturing 120 Mt of CO2 over the predicted lifetime of the project. In addition, both Schlumberger and Halliburton have dedicated CCS units and are involved with various active pilot CCS projects around the world. Government support for CCS is crucial in its current developmental stage. Governments are demonstrating varying degrees of interest in and support for CCS through grants and subsidies to CCS pilot projects. In 2009, as part of the European Energy Recovery Program, the EU announced EUR 1.05 billion in available funds for seven CCS projects. In 2010, USD 1 billion was granted by the US Department of Energy to the FutureGen 2.0 project in Illinois, a clean coal power plant and CCS network. While there is evidence that worldwide CO2 storage in geological formations such as oil and gas reservoirs, deep saline aquifers, and unmineable coal seams has contributed to mitigating the effect of CO2 emissions, the public and private sectors still need to work together to reduce anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Tax incentives and government grants can aid in developing new technology and effective CO2 storage projects, and much can be learned from the many currently operating CCS projects around the world. TWA

CO2 (Deforestation, decay of biomass, etc. 17.3%

CO2 Fossil fuel use 56.6%

Fig. 2 Greenhouse gas emissions in 2004 (Olivier et al., 2005 and 2006).

capture 20% to 40% of all CO2 emissions by 2050. In its CCS Task Force Report, the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States environmental regulatory body, states that CCS could play an important role in reducing overall CO2 emissions in the United States, given enough economic incentives to make the technology commercially viable. There are other hurdles to overcome before CCS becomes a widely used reality, such as the development of CO2 transportation pipelines, the identification of appropriate geologic reservoirs, and the resolution of long-term storage liability issues. Nonetheless, governments around the world have expressed varying degrees

of support for the view that CCS is potentially a critical technology essential for helping transition from fossil fuels to next-generation energy sources. Oil and gas companies have an opportunity to help mitigate global warming, while at the same time possibly contributing to their bottom line by using captured CO2 to stimulate further production of hydrocarbons otherwise uneconomical to recover. A report issued by the US Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage states that one of the many potential benefits of carbon capture is use of the CO2 in enhanced oil recovery. CCS has not been joined with EOR on a commercial scale yet, but many

Todd Willis is a workover and completions engineer for Chevron in the Partitioned Zone, Kuwait. He holds a BS in petroleum engineering from The University of Texas at Austin.

Siluni Wickramathilaka is a reservoir engineer in the heavy oil technology group at ConocoPhillips in Houston. She earned a BS in chemical engineering and recently completed her PhD in petroleum engineering. Her PhD-related research areas included spontaneous imbibition and wettability alteration, correlation of spontaneous imbibition data, the use of nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging to better understand imbibition and waterflooding mechanisms, low salinity imbibition and waterflooding, and enhanced oil recovery using surfactants.

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SPE 101

WRITIng SPE TEChnICAL PAPERS

The chief asset of SPE is the knowledge of its members, which is documented primarily in the technical papers they write. SPE members derive tremendous benefits from papersboth from reading them and from writing them. Authoring papers is a way to share knowledge with the industry and to gain public recognition for ones work. Presenters of technical papers at conferences have the chance to share their findings with peers at an industry event (possibly held in an interesting new place!). The networking benefits for authors at these SPE events often lead to additional paths of study or learning. To help potential authors write the best possible papers, SPE has posted a variety of tips on its website at www. spe.org/papers. Here you can find advice for writing a quality paper proposal and for formatting your paper in the SPE way. Whether you are contemplating getting started on your first SPE paper or have already presented several, you can learn a lot from the experience of seasoned authors. With this in mind, TWA sat down with 2010 Ferguson Medal winner Lujun Lou Ji, a senior research engineer at M-I Swaco. The Ferguson Medal recognizes significant contributions to the permanent technical literature of the profession by an SPE member younger than 36.

What do you think separates an excellent paper from an average one? First of all, excellent papers contain excellent information: new ideas, methods, data, observation, analysis, etc. Secondly, all the information needs to be logically organized so that it is easy for readers to understand. After all, the purpose of a paper is to effectively communicate with others. When reading papers written by other SPE members, what do you think is the most common area for improvement? The majority of SPE papers are very good. Some may have issues such as being overly long or have language difficulties.

What homework should an author do before beginning a paper? While planning a paper, it is a good idea for authors to do a literature review on the same or similar topics in order to know more about the history and the recent advances in the particular subject matter. Do you write a paper with a specific audience in mind, such as for colleagues, researchers, the industry at large, etc.? how might this change your approach? Yes. Actually, papers for different audiences are organized in quite different ways. For example, papers written for the industry at large may need more introductory material

or general technical discussion. On the other hand, papers written for colleagues and peers who are already working in the same field of study may touch more on technical details, ranging from applications and improvements to detailed formulae or experiment analysis. What advice would you give to a colleague who has never written a paper? Where is a good place for them to start? Start with a literature review on your topic of interest and others related to it. The multisociety library at www.onepetro.org is a good place to begin. Some SPE members struggle to come up with a good topic for a paper. Do you have any

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An ExCELLEnT PAPER COnTAInS ExCELLEnT InFORMATIOn

nEW IDEAS

nEW METhODS

nEW DATA

nEW ObSERVATIOn

nEW AnALYSIS

tips to help a potential author determine whether or not something they are working on is a worthwhile topic? Good topics usually can be found by browsing the offerings at SPE events. Clues to popular and interesting topics lie in calls for papers, in the keynote and technical presentations given,and through the networking experiences among members at these meetings. This is one of the great benefits of participating in SPE meetings. Reading SPE papers and journal articles is also very helpful in this regard. how important are co-authors? how much difference is there in the workload taken on by the author as compared to his/her co-authors?

Co-authors are as important as the main authorthey contribute a lot to the paper and are also responsible for its content in the same manner as the author. That said, an author usually has a little bit more workload than co-authors do, since she/ he usually handles the overall organization of the paper and is responsible for including coauthors contributions. Co-authors may write parts of the paper as well, and they also need to review the entire paper, making sure that all of the information that they want to include is present and clearly organized. Finally, the paper must be understandable for all the co-authors, the first readers of the paper. What about posters?

When should an author consider a poster instead of a paper? When authors have enough data or results but do not have enough time to put them into a full paper, they should consider putting them into a poster. A poster briefly summarizes the analysis or experimental method, outlines the associated data, results, etc. and draws conclusions based on these observations. Any final thoughts? Language skills are also important. Weak language skills can prevent readers from understanding the information in the paper. TWA

Interested in reading Jis medal-winning paper? Go to www.onepetro.org and look up SPE paper 110845 A Novel Hydraulic Fracturing Model Fully Coupled with Geomechanics and Reservoir Simulator. Watch for Part II of Writing SPE Technical Papers in the next issue of TWA, where you will find more tips to help you write the best possible paper.

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

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Soft Skills

and

YOu
Larry Pekot, Schlumberger Carbon Services

The starting point is always you. Take ownership of your career. You must be prepared for career progression.

ackling climate changewith the predominant issue being the mitigation of CO2 emissions while at the same time meeting the worlds growing energy demand is in my opinion the technological challenge of the 21st century. The number and complexity of the threads connecting CO2 emission reduction, climate change, and energy companies are far greater than can be dealt with here. However, I will touch on the key issues. First things first. Since the Industrial Revolution began in the latter half of the 18th century, along with a globally burgeoning human population and the

widespread use of fossil fuels, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere has risen 38.5% to 2010s average of 388.5 ppm or 108 ppm above modern preindustrial levels. During the past 400,000 years, smaller periodic increases in CO2 concentration have been associated with global warming and a corresponding rise in sea level. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates the global temperature increase over the coming century will be between 1.8C and 4.0C, far more rapid than temperature rises known to have occurred during the past 10,000 years. Climate change occurs over a time frame far lengthier and on a scale far more massive for many to notice. This

lack of a sense of urgency is a key reason little action on climate change has been taken. Energy companies. I have confidence that our industry is not threatened by the CO2 emission question. As the primary industry driving global warming is petroleum, I believe it will also play a critical role in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, gradually evolving and gathering momentum over the coming decades. As energy demand continues to grow, I believe alternative sources of energy will take a bigger slice of a bigger pie, but oil and gas will remain dominant for decades to come. The industry, I

24

believe, is looking at the CO2 question as an emerging long-term market opportunity in which some companies are leaders and others laggards. However, the industry might not fight global warming for altruistic reasons, but for economic self-interest. Consider CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The technical process of CO2 EOR is proven and effective. And at current prices for both oil and CO2, the economics work. Expansion of the North American CO2 pipeline system continues. More anthropogenic sources, such as power plants and fertilizer manufacturers, are being connected. More flexible EOR development concepts are being considered that will enlarge the range of hydrocarbon projects that might be suitable for CO2 EOR, and more companies and countries are considering their application. Even if companies do not receive CO2 reduction credits from EOR projects, long-term demand for oil as well as the price of oil give CO2 EOR a promising future. If CO2 EOR projects ever become sanctioned as acceptable means of reducing emissions (heavily criticized by some environmental purists), the CO2 EOR floodgates will open all over the world. The industry can make huge contributions to CO2 reduction efforts. Its people have a unique combination of skills that can be applied to the climate change issueranging from the earth sciences to the ability to analyze the cost of environmental risk. Our industry has the knowledge and skill base, as well as size, required to effectively tackle the problem. For meaningful impact,

CO2 reduction efforts should be carried out on a very large scale. This requires billions of dollars worth of investment over several decades. Where will these billions come from? If the public really wants cleaner energy, it will have to pay more for it. Under which legal and public acceptance framework will such efforts be managed? I believe such issues are in more urgent need of resolution than the technical issues. As uncertainties occur more in the political and social arenas, and the standard project economic model does not yet apply, our industry hesitates to step in. Its not surprising that many energy companies are waiting rather than acting. What can you do? If you believe the rise in global temperatures can be mitigated by limiting anthropogenic CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions, such as methane, there are at least three areas where you can act.

participation, and field work? They may be doing more than you realize or less than you feared. Found a team working on CO2? Maybe there is a place for you. In my company, most employees who work in CO2 storage volunteered or were recruited because of their interest in the field. We have had more volunteers than we can take. Our e-bulletin board for CO2 has more than 500 subscribers. Management notices things like that. If your company is not working on the issue and you feel strongly about it, perhaps your best opportunities lie elsewhere.

ThIRD:
Engage the world. Few people understand the scope of the problem better than petroleum professionals. But be prepared for blowback. Some individuals have their minds made up, usually based on a political or preconceived notion that may conflict with the facts. On the other hand, discussion with groups can be quite different. During my Energy vs. Climate talks on college campuses and in high schools, I met with open minds and respect.

FIRST:
Walk the talk. Reduce your own energy usage and carbon footprint. You will get direct experience learning how big the challenge is. It neednt require a stone-age type of existence. There are things you can do that will not overly restrict your lifestyleand they may even save you money!

COnCLuSIOn:
The old-fashioned career advice is still good advice. Learn your strengths and weaknesses and trust your judgment. If you are passionate about mitigating CO2, go for it. Find a mentor or two. The older, experienced pros may be busy, but will probably be flattered you asked. Your interest in climate change issues may be a chance to make your mark on the technological challenge of the 21st century. TWA

SECOnD:
Find out your company stance leader or laggard? What is your company doing, not only in terms of corporate CO2 reduction target announcements and advertising, but also in R&D, engineering, public consortium

The author of this article is solely and personally responsible for the information provided and the views expressed in this article.

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

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Women on the Frontline

Women in Climate Change

For this issue, we interviewed three women working toward a solution for climate change. Two of the women work at the forefront of carbon capture and storage (CCS), developing technology and working on projects at two major oil and gas companies. The third works for a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in the environmental sector in India, and provides us with her view of the oil and gas industry and on solutions for meeting global energy demand in a more environmentally friendly manner. Ashleigh hildebrand Ross Reservoir Engineer, ConocoPhillips My father had a PhD in chemistry, and I was destined to follow in his footsteps until I decided that chemical engineering had wider job prospects. I attended Oklahoma State University where I got an honors bachelors degree in chemical engineering, with minors in chemistry

and philosophy. By graduation, I had rediscovered my childhood environmental passion and attended the University of Cambridge for a masters in environmental policy, researching refineries and environmental enforcement strategies. I then arrived at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to do a PhD in chemical engineering, but turned back to my personal ambitions, gaining masters degrees in chemical engineering and technology and policy, for which I did interdisciplinary research on CCS. I recognized that the oil and gas industry is uniquely positioned to implement CCS projects, so I joined ConocoPhillips and became involved in a real commercial-scale CCS project. I have since transitioned to reservoir engineering, where I am developing subsurface technical capacity in CCS in addition to providing technical support for traditional oil and gas projects. Before I joined the industry, I thought investing in a technology was a straightforward decision. Now that I see how many competing pressures and interests are involved, internally and externally, I understand this is an ongoing struggle. Although our industry

is perhaps the best equipped to take on technological challenges, investing in climate change solutions isnt a profitable businessyet. It will be in the future, but until theres an economic disincentive for emitting greenhouse gases, and legislative and regulatory certainty, investing in low-carbon technologies is hard to justify to stockholders. CCS is a critical technology for the future. It isnt a long-term permanent solution to greenhouse gas emissionsthat must lie in renewable energy. However, as fossil fuels are so deeply engrained in our society and economy, theres going to be a transition period where its use is unavoidable. CCS can mitigate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. The better reservoir engineer I am, the better CO2 storage engineer I can be. Right now I am enjoying the more traditional oil and gas projects as well as my CCS research. In the long term, depending on how the CCS market shapes up, I may start looking for other environmental challenges in the oil and gas industry that I can tackle. I want to feel like Im benefitting society, and I see my role as helping to push forward smart and practical environmental technologies.

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Anuja Datye Research Assistant, gomukh Trust, India My first experience in the environmental industry started at age 18 when I worked as a volunteer at an NGO, preparing modules for gifted tribal students about conserving their sacred forests. I currently work as a researcher at an NGO in India called the Gomukh Environmental Trust for Sustainable Development, which works in integrated watershed development and management, rural development, and lobbying and litigation for green policies. The environmental industry has attracted and engaged me over the years because it transcends and fuses the boundaries between various fields like ecology, sociology, economics, and politics, yet it touches the very fundamental philosophy of people and their life choices in terms of what they eat, wear, teach, and so on. More than 56% of CO2 emissions from fuel come from the use of oil and gas (according to the International Energy Agency), while global energy demand is going to increase by 45% by 2030. However, to blame the producers (the oil and gas industry) for climate change is unreasonable. Climate change is the compounded effect of a lot of different factors like increased industrialization and urbanization. While the oil and gas industry is in many ways affecting the global environment, some oil companies are taking great effort in reducing their own emissions, investing in CCS and renewable energy, and engaging in promotion of the efficient use of fuels. Geoengineering approaches like carbon sequestration seem promising. However, it would be best to take a

precautionary approach as we know very little about the environmental implications of underground CO2 storage. Besides, its cost-benefit ratios need to be studied before its full-fledged implementation. There is not going to be a single answer for meeting global energy demand, but biofuels do emerge as the most promising alternative. Combustion engines are still the best option in the automotive sector, consumers are accustomed to the technology, and biofuels are the closest option to fossil oil. Women in the environmental industry in India are seen as dominating the NGO and research sectors, and in teaching in the environmental education domain. These sectors offer women the flexibility they need, especially in India where women are still looked upon as homemakers and not breadwinners. The environmental industry is still not viewed as a conventional working area, and changing this scene through policies and employment generation will be important in the long run for the holistic development of this domain. Elizabeth Mackie geologist, Shell I joined Shell in 2006, after completing my PhD in geosciences. Initially I worked in research, focusing on CO2, then moved to the CCS and sour gas solutions team in exploration and production. My work there involved risk assessment methodologies of CO2 storage developing exploration-style screening criteria for identifying CO2 storage complexes and monitoring plans. I also contributed to the joint Qatar and Shell

proposal for a draft methodology on CCS under the Clean Development Mechanism proposed to the United Nations. I currently work in Shells sour gas and CCS centre of expertise. I joined this department to gain hands-on experience in major oil and gas projects. The work largely supports asset and project teams to help quickly solve specialized technical problems, including Shell CCS activities. I believe CCS has an essential role to play in the worlds efforts to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. By 2050, it could provide around one-fifth of the CO2 mitigation effort needed. Its the only technology capable of managing CO2 emissions from power plants and other large-scale facilities that burn fossil fuels. The development of CCS is evolving rapidly but demonstration projects still face hurdles around regulations, financing, and public acceptance. There is no silver bullet to resolving climate change. It will require a mix of energy solutions. At Shell, the main low-carbon focus, apart from CCS, is on increasing supplies of natural gas as the cleanest-burning fossil fuel, and on increasing supplies of sustainable biofuels. Biofuels are the most realistic, commercial, and significant way to reduce CO2 emissions in road transport over the next 20 years. As for being a woman in the industry, I personally have not encountered any special challenges. I am about to become a mother and plan to return to work full time. This will bring a new set of challenges especially around work-life balance, not just for me, but also my husband, as we are part of dual-career couple in the industry. Only time will tell. I would encourage women to follow their professional dreams, and not be prejudiced by outdated stereotypes about the oil and gas industry. TWA

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

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YP Guide

ROFESSIONA THE YOUNG P

Du ba i
Burj Khalifa, the worlds tallest tower.

GUIDE TO

L S

UAE
have made Dubai the ideal location for many energy companies and commodity traders to set up offices and regional headquarters. Major oil service providers, such as Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and Weatherford, use Dubai as a base from which they provide services to the whole gulf region. Following the 1966 discovery of oil, Dubai used the revenues to spur infrastructure development, including schools, hospitals, roads, and telecommunications. After decades of exploration and production, Dubais oil output is on a rapid decline. Today Dubai Petroleum produces a total of only approximately 100,000 BOPD from four separate major fields discovered between 1966 and 1976. Furthermore, formerly self-sufficient in gas supply, Dubais depleting gas fields combined with rising gas demand due to expanding economic activities have turned the emirate into a net gas importer. The oil and gas sectors contribution to GDP now stands at less than 3%. Dubais leaders, long recognizing the importance of de-linking its economic development from its resource exports, have made great effort to invest in a world-class infrastructure, foster political alignment with the Western world, develop

Yanglu Ding, Shell MarketsMiddle East Anton Andreev, Sakhalin Energy Investment Company

t is probably not a place you would fall in love with at first sight, but many consider it home, staying longer than they originally envisioned. The true color of Dubais cultural cocktailwith its mixture of lengthy histories embedded in all nationalities that have co-existed in this emirate for centuriesis amazing. It is impossible to find one word to describe the lifestyle you can expect to have here, but it is fairly easy to find a comfortable habitat no matter what type of person you are: a pub-and-club lover, a beach-and-book fan, a sportscraver, or a homemaker. This is Dubai!

Dubais Basics

Located on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Emirate of Dubai shares its borders with two other emiratesAbu Dhabi to the south and Sharjah to the northeast. The Sultanate of Oman touches Dubai from the southeast. While considered one of the worlds wealthiest countries and among the most oil-rich nations in the Middle East, the UAE, as a state, has a relatively modest history. The federation of UAE in its current state appeared in 1971, when seven emirates, including Dubai, united. The UAEs oil reserves are ranked as the worlds sixth-largest (approximately 90% are within Abu Dhabi). In 2010,

the UAE produced approximately 2.81 million BOPD of total oil liquids. The first commercial oil discovery in the UAE was made offshore Abu Dhabi at Umm Shaif in 1958. Two years later, the first onshore oilfield at Bab was discovered, followed by several finds in this area. A bit later, black gold was discovered in Dubai. Dubai Petroleum, a national oil company and the emirates leading producing company, was founded in 1963 to start an intensive exploration campaign in the area. This resulted in the 1966 discovery of oil in the Fateh (good fortune in Arabic) field. Exports commenced in 1969 and by 1991 Dubais crude production reached its peak of approximately 400,000 BOPD. The oil economy led to a massive influx of foreign workers, quickly expanding the city and bringing in international interests. Nowadays, local Emiratis comprise only 17% of Dubais population.

Energy Hub Without Much Energy

Although its modern economic foundation was built on the oil sector, it may sound surprising that Dubai itself is not a hydrocarbon-rich emirate. Its geographic proximity to the worlds major hydrocarbon producers combined with its governments concerted efforts

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clusters of free-zones with tax-related benefits, and present great tolerance to non-Muslim cultures. In so doing, Dubai has successfully attracted a lot of foreign investment and global talent. Despite the ongoing so-called emiratization process, highly qualified expatriates are still in huge demand in Dubai. Taking into account intensive development in the area and lack of inhouse training, the emirates government invited various foreign universities to open up campuses in the city. The Dubai International Academic City (www.diacedu.ae) and Knowledge Village (www.kv.ae) are two main international education hubs. HeriotWatt University in Dubai International Academic City is the only university that provides energy-related courses of study, such as an MS in petroleum engineering and energy engineering (http://www.hw.ac.uk/dubai.htm). Besides its status as a regional business center, Dubai is also known for its ambitious building projects, many of which have set world records, with, for example, Burj Khalifa, as the worlds tallest tower; Palm Jumeirah, as the worlds biggest human-made island; and Dubai Mall, as the worlds largest shopping center. Nowadays, Dubais main economic drivers for development and prosperity are trading activities (including wholesale, retail, and re-export), tourism, real estate, and business and financial services.

Getting Around

As one of the worlds most important trading and business centers, Dubai is easily accessible. Dubai International Airport, is a major aviation hub in the Middle East. Most airlines operate direct flights to Dubai from major cities around the world and it is also a popular transit place for passengers going to other destinations. The Dubai duty-free retail center in itself has become the reason many luxury-lovers fly to or via Dubai. For those wanting to experience different aspects of Dubai, you can split your journey into three themes: traditional, modern, and shopping! For the historic part of Dubai, a good

place to start with is Dubai Museum where you can get a very quick grasp of its history and culture. The museum is close to an old business center of Dubai, called Deira, where gold lovers and curious tourists can visit the Gold Souk (souk means traditional Arab market). Dubai has long been known as the city of gold, and gold in Dubai is generally considered the least expensive in the world. For the modern part of Dubai, there are a few iconic places: Burj Khalifa, Emirates Tower, Burj Arab (also known as Sailing Hotel), and Palm Jumeirah. You can watch the sunset from the observation deck on Burj Kalifa, followed by the Fountain Show by the tower, and enjoy a nice dinner at one of the countless restaurants in the neighborhood. You may also choose to enjoy your ocean sunset view at The Walk in the Jumeirah Beach Residence area, which will remind you of romantic southern European cities. The shopping part is fairly easy. Dubai Mall and Mall of the Emirates are the most famous shopping centers, but many find other medium-sized malls are also worth visiting. What you need is just to get your credit card ready! An automatic reminder on overspend might prove worthwhile, unless you are committed to grow the emirates economy with your last penny! Since the mass transportation system is still not fully developed, it is recommended to rent a car or take a taxi to get around the city. If you choose to drive, dont forget to bring your drivers license and make sure it is acceptable in Dubai.

for centuries, will still be its main competitive advantage. Its advanced infrastructure is already in place and can only be developed further, its economic policy of providing tax-related incentives remains, and its tolerance of many cultures and open mind to embrace new ideas and initiatives will still be appealing to talents around the world. As long as these core foundations remain, there is no doubt Dubai will still be ideal for companies, entrepreneurs, and talented individuals as a place to pursue their future. Gokul Rajendran, recent Heriot-Watt University (Dubai Campus) graduate, contributed to this article. TWA

Just the Facts

Dubais population: 1.8 million total, with active population of 2.8 million during the day. Dubais GDP per capita stands at approximately USD 48,000. The UAE has maintained its proven reserves over the last decade primarily due to the use of enhanced oil recovery technologies that increase extraction rates of mature oil projects. The SPE Northern Emirates Section in Dubai was established in 1985. For more details on SPE activity in the UAE see http://dubai.spe.org/ and http://abudhabi.spe.org/. The SPE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conference and Exhibition will be held 2628 September 2011 in Abu Dhabi (www.spe.org/events/calendar/).

Dubais Way Ahead

Dubai was hit hard by the financial crisis in 2008. Some say Dubai will never get back the glamor that attracted the worlds attention before the crisis; others believe it will simply take time. Who knows! Dubais fate might be linked to the oil business after all. If oil prices hit USD 150/bbl sometime soon, it might be worth rechecking the forecast on Dubais development. No matter what happens with the oil business, Dubais geographic location, which made it a trading hub

Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

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YP Newsflash Program Focuses on Subsea in New YP European Technical Series

A program titled The Subsea Story: Adventures from the Deep, was slated for 10 June in Oslo, Norway, as part of the SPE Young Professional (YP) Technical Series. The agenda focused on technical development topics in the subsea oil and gas industry, ranging from subsea processing to recovery workovers from subsea wells. Included on the agenda was a tour of an FMC Technologies facility to provide a closeup view of subsea equipment. The SPE Oslo YP organization facilitated the event with YP groups of the SPE Aberdeen, London, and Netherlands sections. The event follows the successful inauguration of the YP European Technical Series with a seminar, Carbon Capture and StorageAre We There Yet?, held on 25 March in London. The third session in the technical series, Economics and Decision-Making in the E&P Industry, is scheduled for 7 October in Amsterdam. In establishing the series, participating sections are taking advantage of knowledge and expertise within each YP committee to raise the technical standard and appeal of topical events. In addition, the various YP committees are able to pool resources for logistics, promotion, speakers/ expertise, and sponsorship. The European Technical Series is an excellent example of how our community works together, across borders, to provide the highest quality technical development, said Melissa Schultea, SPE young member program manager. I hope that other YP committees are encouraged to support this effort and do the same in other regions. Already, the Joint Technical Organizing Committee for the series is discussing the 2012 program and welcomes ideas from any European YP committee wishing to participate. For information, contact Liesbeth Zwart, SPE Netherlands; Goril Tjetland, SPE Oslo;

A poster session at the Emerging Engineers Conference showcases innovative technology. Held by the SPE Gulf Coast Section, the event drew 150 participants.

Sankesh Sundareshwar, SPE Aberdeen; or Stephen Howell, SPE London.

Emerging Engineers Conference Attracts Record Attendance

The sixth annual Emerging Engineers Conference (EEC) held last year in Houston by the SPE Gulf Coast Section drew a record 150 participants. The one-day event gave YPs the opportunity to hear from industry leaders on a variety of topics related to global energy outlook, technological innovations, the business side of the energy sector, career management, and more. The conference theme was Riding the Energy Roller Coaster: Challenges, Innovations, and Opportunities. Keynote speakers were Ganesh Thakur, 2012 SPE president, and Jim Longbottom, global business development and marketing manager at Halliburton. Thakur advised audience members to continuously expand their technical, soft, and teamwork skills, actively own their career development, adopt the global nature of E&P business, interact positively with people from different cultures and backgrounds, and create exceptional values for our customers and business. Longbottom encouraged the listeners to love and enjoy what you do, know more than just your job, be ethical

and trustworthy, gear up for challenges, and identify opportunities. The morning session focused on industry challenges and opportunities, with topics such as exploration challenges, deepwater developments, and the potential of unconventional resources. The afternoon session featured innovations, with speakers who discussed improved oil recovery, intelligent-well technology, nanotechnology applications in the energy industry, and business strategies for challenging oil and gas projects. A poster contest offered a platform for YPs to highlight technological achievements and successful projects they had undertaken. A social networking event toward the end of the day gave participants a chance to relax and share ideas with fellow YPs. Eugenia M. Rojas, Chevron

Los Angeles Basin YPs Host Distinguished Guest Speaker Panel

Young Professionals (YP) of the SPE Los Angeles Basin Section hosted a panel luncheon during the SPE Western Regional Meeting last year at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. On the program were two distinguished speakers, Behrooz Fattahi, 2010 SPE president,

30

Discover... Continued from page 16

At the Los Angeles basin YP panel luncheon, from left, Katy Canan, Candra Janova, Behrooz Fattahi (SPE 2010 president), Sam Sarem (WNAR director), and Adi Varma.

and Sam Sarem, 2010 Western North America Region (WNAR) director. More than 50 people attended the luncheon, which included college students and professionals working in the oil and gas industry. Most of the SPE LA officers and board members were in attendance, which showed their strong support for the YP program in the Los Angeles section. YP officers Candra Janova, Katy Canan, and Adi Varma provided topics, and the panelists discussed three main areas of interest: careers, knowledge transfer, and nontechnical skills. One of their messages for YPs was to work hard as team players. They stressed the importance of taking the initiative to join various projects as part of their learning. SPE and industry conferences are places to obtain additional knowledge that YPs may not get in class or at work, they said. They also recommended joining organizations that meet YPs interests in enhancing soft skills, including interpersonal, communication, and leadership skills. Candra Janova, SPE LA Basin Section

First Ambassador Lecture Held at Ghanas Nkrumah University

The SPE Student Chapter at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and

Technology (KNUST) in Ghana held an officers workshop and Ambassador Lecture last year. Both were firsts for the chapter, which was established about a year ago. Addressing the workshop and delivering the lecture was Etta Agbor, young professionals coordinator for the Africa Region. At the workshop, Agbor discussed the duties of the various officers and emphasized the benefits of SPE participation, including exposure to the E&P industry, networking, and developing confidence as student members embark on their careers. He noted how SPE had benefited him in similar ways. Presenting the lecture, Agbor discussed his career, SPE volunteerism, the scope of SPE and its demographics, expectations by members from the society and vice versa, and the maintenance of balance between academics and SPE activities for student members. He stressed the leadership opportunities offered by student chapter participation, the advantages of networking with the industry while still in school, the chance to take part in the student paper contest, and the lifelong learning available through the society. TWA

sandstone, clay, shale, and highly laminated and variable formations. The best candidates for UBD are formations where the full benefit of reduced fluid density, compared with conventional drilling, can be exploited. Conversely, many formations are not suitable for UBD. Wildcat wells, or exploratory wells, so called because of the lack of offset well data, are generally poor candidates because the geologic drilling environment (pore pressure/fracture gradient) is usually unknown. There is also the question of hole stability, either chemical or mechanical. Development wells are much better candidates for UBD because the formation pressures and characteristics are well known. Also, development wells are more likely to be pressure-depleted and require a lower density fluid to drill successfully. As with any unconventional technology, young engineers should remember that UBD must not be applied simply because it appears to be a good solution. Proper planning, candidate selection, design, and economic analysis must be performed to ensure UBD applicability and success. If an analysis shows that extensive stimulation applications will be necessary to make the well productive, even with the use of UBD, then the extra cost of UBD planning and surface equipment will typically outweigh the benefits of using UBD.

UBD on the Horizon

Fields mature every day and difficult to reach reserves are being discovered regularly. Operators are constantly seeking new, improved technology solutions. There is increased emphasis on safer and environmentally friendly operations, as well. These factors have pushed unconventional techniques such as UBD and MPD to the forefront of drilling engineering, which in turn has created a need for more experienced and skilled engineers. Learning to apply UBD properly can lead to a rewarding career for young engineers who enjoy challenges and solving problems before they occur. And since the technique is always evolving, there is always room for advancement and learningeven for experienced hands. TWA
Vol. 7 // No. 2 // 2011

31

Your Best Shot

Get Advice from Experienced E&P Professionals

Sunset in Oman

Join SPEs eMentoring Program Today!

Who can be a Mentee?
Young Professionals* University Students*

Photo by Fausto Minidio, LWD Field Engineer, Weatherford This picture of a vertical high-temperature gas well was taken in the Fahud field area southwest of Muscat, Oman, during a measurement-while-drilling operation. This area is extremely flat with temperatures often greater than 50C during the daytime. Photo taken with a Canon PowerShot SX10 IS.

What you will gain as a Mentee

Perspective from the experience of industry professionals Insight into specialized fields or technical disciplines Practical advice on day-to-day work issues Guidance on academic direction and career choices

When, where, and how

One year commitment Connect anytime, anywhere via email**
* Must be an SPE member ** SPE can provide you with a free email account

Drilling in Marcellus Photo by Samuel C. Schon, student, Brown University The Marcellus Shale is one of the largest emerging unconventional resource plays in the United States, made possible by advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. The play extends from West Virginia through Pennsylvania to New York and portions of eastern Ohio. Photo taken with a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS1.

In addition to being mentees, young professionals can mentor university students.

For more information please visit www.spe.org/eMentoring

CALL FOR EnTRIES

Submit your entry today to bestshot@spemail.org. This contest is open to all SPE members. The two best photographs will be published in each TWA issue. Your image must be in JPEG format, with a file-size limit of 4 MB. Submit photograph information with camera specifications. Provide your full name with your position, company name, and company location.

Society of Petroleum Engineers

In the energy business today, the challenges are immense, complex, dynamic and multifaceted. Yet, when determination and innovation are applied in full, amazing things can happen. At Aera Energy, we specialize in the amazing. Our people work within a culture that thrives on challenge and lives for solutions. We employ leading-edge management techniques,

a unique manufacturing mind-set, advanced technology and real-time data to recover even the most difcult reserves. And we do all of this while keeping safety and respect for the environment as our top priorities. Why do we work so tirelessly and passionately? Well, the petroleum we seek will not produce itself. aeraenergy.com

Produc Producing solutions. u solut ons. lutions u

Society of Petroleum Engineers TRAINING COURSES

Setting the standard for technical excellence.

Relevant. Reliable. Rewarding.

Strengthen your technical skills. Register for an SPE training course near you.
Training courses are offered in conjunction with SPE conferences, at SPEs training centers in Houston and Calgary, and in new locations around the globe. Below are just a few of the courses we offer. Be sure to check our website for the complete schedule.

Calgary, Alberta, Canada Modern Production Data Analysis of Unconventional Reservoirs 1213 September Geology for Engineers 1923 September

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Modified EOR Methods for Better Displacement 18 July Enhanced and Improved Oil Recovery Methodsa Life Line for an Old and Tired Reservoir? 18 July

Aberdeen, Scotland, UK Offshore and Onshore Oil Spill Preventions, Control and Countermeasures 5 September Modern Well Design 56 September

Manama, Bahrain Transient Well Testing 25 September Waterflooding Concepts, Design Prediction, and Optimization 25 September

Austin, Texas, USA Shale Gas Development 23 August Keystone, Colorado, USA Introduction to Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) 2 August

Register todaygo to www.spe.org/go/trainingcourses.

Society of Petroleum Engineers