Location:
Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer.
Social Hour 5:30 PM, Dinner and Talk 6:30 PM.
Topic:
"Geologic/Geophysical Models and Reservoir Characterization of the Gemini Subsalt Discovery, Deepwater Gulf of Mexico"
Speaker:
Jeff Oglivie
Jeffrey S. Ogilvie received his B.S. in geology and geophysics from Boston College in 1983 and his M.S. in geophysical sciences from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1988. Joining Texaco Exploration and Production, Inc. New Orleans in 1988, Jeff has worked with both the Shelf and Deep Water Exploration Groups. Currently he is an exploration geophysicist for the North Sea in Texaco's London Office. He recently co-authored a subsalt technical paper entitled "Effects of Salt-related Mode Conversions on Subsalt Prospecting," and was awarded SEG's Best Paper in Geophysics.
Authors:
JEFFREY S. OGLIVIE, Texaco Limited - U.K.
1 Westferry Circus, Canary Wharf, London E14 4HA England
JOHN H. SHINOL, Chevron U.S.A. Production Co.
935 Gravier Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
CLIVE G. SHARMAN, Texaco Exploration and Production, Inc.
400 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
Abstract:
Exploration and appraisal drilling is underway at the Gemini subsalt discovery
located in Mississippi Canyon 292 in approximately 3300 feet of water. Gemini
is a significant Gulf of Mexico deepwater natural gas and oil discovery made
under joint partnership with Texaco Exploration and Production, Inc. and
Chevron U.S.A. Production Company, Inc. Multiple hydrocarbon-bearing sands
all lie beneath a tabular salt sheet. Seismic artifacts from the salt and
subsalt make interpretation a challenge. Yet, reservoir geometries can be
observed from 3-D depth- migrated seismic data and integrated with
high-resolution logs, analog studies of other similar fields, and detailed
core analysis.
The sands and their associated anomalies reside near the crest and flank of a large faulted structure. These reservoirs are within a deep water, sand-rich, channel-levee system and may be best described as thin-bedded turbidites with significant lateral extent. Two stratigraphically different reservoirs with similar thin-bedded characteristics were perforated and tested. One zone tested at 22 MMCFGPD and 3,778 BOPD, while the other zone tested at 32 MMCFGPD and 627 BOPD.
Note: Talk will consist of slide presentation and 3-D visualization. Shown will be portions of logs from discovery well, generalized structural, stratigraphic, and depositional models, 3-D PSDM, subsalt depthing, subsalt artifacts, amplitude maps, etc., followed by Q&A.
Topic:
"Deepwater Geohazards and Engineering Geology: Meeting Tough Challenges"
Speaker:
Kerry Campbell, Fugro-McClelland Marine Geosciences, Houston.
Kerry J. Campbell is Manager, Geoscience Projects, at Fugro-McClellan Marine
Geosciences, Inc., in Houston, and has been with Fugro-McClelland and
predecessor companies for more than 20 years.
Mr. Campbell has been involved in applying 3-D seismic exploration data to drilling hazards and regional engineering-geologic assessments at various deepwater sites around the world. Mr. Campbell holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in geology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is a Registered Geologist and a Certified Engineering Geologist in California, and a Certified Professional Geologist.
Abstract:
Petroleum exploration and development are now being carried out in water
depths of 5,000 feet and more. Investments for these offshore activities are
huge: rates for some deepwater drilling rigs alone are currently $100,000 per
day or more, and total investment in some deepwater developments has been as
much as $1.2 billion.
To complicate matters, shallow geologic and soil conditions at deepwater sites are often complex and difficult compared with conditions typically found on the continental shelves. These complex conditions present serious engineering and safety challenges that require careful application of geoscience techniques as a basis for avoiding or reducing hazards and to help minimize the cost of deepwater development. Reliable engineering-geologic characterization of site conditions, being increasingly based on 3-D seismic data, is essential to optimize siting, design, and operation of facilities and to thus maximize value to investors.
Complete characterization of offshore sites includes defining water depths and seafloor topography, determining soil geotechnical properties and relationships among soil strata, and making an engineering assessment of geologic conditions. Geophysical data define geologic features and general stratigraphy, whereas borehole data define detailed stratigraphy and soil geotechnical properties at specific points; alone, neither completely characterizes a site. Among the activities requiring offshore site characterization, including geohazards assessment, are well planning and exploratory drilling, pipeline routing and design, and facilities siting and design.
Complex deepwater (water depths >600 feet) conditions in the Gulf of Mexico that can cause engineering difficulties include 1) steep and potentially unstable slopes of 10 degrees or more; 2) irregular, commonly rocky, topography with sharp relief ranging from a few feet to several tens of feet; 3) faults, many of which appear to be active, with seafloor scarps ranging up to more than 200 feet high; 4) both modern and ancient landslides covering large areas; 5) gas hydrates (solid, ice-like mixtures of gas and water found in water depths > 1,500 feet) that may be subject to reduced shear strength and thaw settlement when heated; 6) over-pressured sands at relatively shallow depths; 7) erosion of tens of feet of seafloor sediments; and 8) soil conditions ranging from weak, underconsolidated soils to rock. Similar difficult conditions are found in many other deepwater areas outside the Gulf of Mexico as well.
Several geophysical tools are typically used to help characterize offshore sites: a narrow-beam water-depth recorder with velocimeter calibration and/or a swath-mapping bathymetric system; a side-scan sonar to show a plan view of the seafloor and features on it; a shallow-penetration subbottom profiler (3.5 kHz) to show geologic conditions to penetrations of up to about 200 feet; an intermediate-penetration profiler (minisparker or small air guns, as examples) to show conditions within the foundation zone (to penetrations of about 500 feet); and a deep-penetration profiler (air-gun array with multi-channel digital recording, for example) to show deep-seated faults, buried landslides, and gassy sediments (to penetrations up to 4000 feet).
Results of marine engineering geophysical site surveys include a variety of color graphics such as water-depth map and 3-D perspective views of the seafloor, seafloor gradient map, seafloor soil and soil province maps, soil cross sections, geologic structure and features maps, and hazards maps, including drilling risk and development favorability maps. Results 1) are presented using simple, straight-forward terminology and not in technical jargon the end-user (engineers) may not be familiar with; 2) focus on the important engineering issues and not on survey documentation and methodologies; 3) are presented as quantitatively as possible; and 4) are integrated with geotechnical data for a reliable definition and engineering assessment of both soil and geologic conditions.
Developing trends include increasing use of 3-D seismic data and workstation analysis; site-survey data increasingly being recorded in digital format; integration of site-survey results in GIS data bases; and application of exploration and development techniques (including attribute analysis and geostatistics for direct characterization of materials using seismic data) to shallow engineering concerns.
Characterizing deepwater sites around the world, and developing new techniques and technologies for doing so quantitatively, will continue to provide marine engineering geoscientists with tough challenges into the next century.
Topic:
"Future Gas Development Projects in SouthEastern Asia"
Speaker:
Ian Cross, IEDS Ltd, Singapore
Abstract:
The 1980s and early 1990s saw a spectacular growth in the economies of the
Asian region. Energy demand in the region has been accordingly rapid, and its
growth is set to continue into the next millennium. Demand is estimated to
have increased by 50% in the last decade compared with a world average of
20%.
It is well documented that Asia contains over half the world's population but is less well endowed with hydrocarbon reserves. Only 4.4% of the world's proven oil and 7.1% of its proven gas lie within Asia and Austral-asia. The major oil producers are China and Indonesia, both of which are expected to become net oil importers by early in the next century. It is quite apparent that crude oil production will be unable to keep pace with the region's energy demand despite increased production from Vietnam and Papua New Guinea in the next few years.
In order for the oil exporters to conserve their production and for the region to reduce its dependency on crude from the Middle East there has been a significant move to develop gas reserves in the Asian region. These are estimated to be in the 350 to 400 trillion cubic feet range, and consumption is predicted to increase at an average rate of 10% per annum for the next 20 years. This fuel currently represents about 10% of energy consumption in Asia, compared with 26% in North America and 18% in Western Europe.
Countries holding large reserves of gas in Southeast Asia include Malaysia and Indonesia. Bangladesh, Thailand, the Philippines, Brunei, Burma, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea also have significant reserves. Small amounts have also been discovered in offshore Cambodia, while there may be untapped potential in Laos where only one well has been drilled. In the past 18 months sustained exploration drilling in several of these countries has increased their reserve base. Prospects that in the past had been ignored owing to their gas-prone nature have been drilled and proved to be world-class discoveries, the most notable of these being ARCO's Wiriagar gas discovery in eastern Indonesia.
Sizable gas fields that are expected to be developed in the next decade include:
There is significant upside for major gas discoveries with several key wells planned in the immediate future which could be tracked for early development. Those include:
Topic:
"Using Technology for E&P Success - the Practices of Leader Companies in
Western Canada Sedimentary Basin, E&P Strategies,
and Potential Applications to Other Basins"
Speaker:
George Eynon, P.Geol., Ziff Energy Group, Calgary.
George Eynon is Vice President, Corporate Consulting at Ziff Energy Group. He
is responsible for the firm's ongoing Corporate Benchmarking multi-client
studies and for the development of the Corporate Custom Consulting practice,
in strategic and operational areas of exploration and production in the oil
and gas industry. Over the previous four years he consulted widely to national
oil companies and to Canadian and U.S. oil and gas companies.
Mr. Eynon has 25 years of technical, management, and senior executive experience in the Canadian, U.S., and international oil and gas industry with a wide range of companies. These include integrated multi-nationals (Amoco, Suncor), large independents (Superior, Bow Valley), junior (Paramount) and start-up (SMI). He has held positions in exploration, planning & economics, strategic planning, operations and executive management. He has also worked with several industry, professional and service organizations. He is a Past President of the CSPG, and the current chairman of APEGGA's Practice Review Board. For AAPG he has been General Chairman of the Calgary annual meeting in 1992 and served several terms in the House of Delegates.
He has a B.Sc. from the University of London, an M.Sc. from McMaster University, in Hamilton, Ontario, and is a graduate of the Sloan School of Management at MIT. He has written and presented numerous papers, articles, short courses, and talks on a wide variety of geotechnical, business, and management aspects of the oil and gas industry.
Abstract:
The western Canadian E&P industry has evolved considerably since the oil
price shock of 1986 and the gas price shock of 1990-1992. Early adjustments
focused on reducing G&A and are mainly complete. The second phase, beginning
in the early 1990s, has an operating emphasis. The primary goal is to meet
owners' expectations, whether those owners are public (stock market) or
private (parent company).
In evaluating how the industry is doing and how we measure success, Ziff
Energy has examined, among other things, one of the major critical E&P
success factors (CSF) - technology utilization. This analysis compares the
performances of the "leaders" in broadly defined exploration and production
strategies in the western Canada sedimentary basin (WCSB). By our definition,
the leaders are those companies that [a] more than replace reserves produced
in their chosen strategies, and [b] have a cost of finding and development
that is less than the value of the product (that is, are adding value).
Parallels to various U.S. basins are evident.
While all leader companies recognize effective use of technology as a CSF in
achieving low finding and development costs and high reserves and production
replacement rates, not all strategies require the same technology applications
and not all companies within a strategy approach exploration and production
in the same fashion. What technologies help create a real competitive advantage
in various oil and gas strategies? Through data questionnaires and personal
interviews with executives, we identify technology utilization practices in
the various strategy areas and correlate them with finding and development
cost and reserve replacement benchmarking performance by both the leaders and
losers.
Four significant themes emerge from the leaders. First, the leaders use only
appropriate technologies and know when not to use those that cost too much.
Second, they employ off-the-shelf technologies, rather than develop new ones
themselves. Third, they provide effective dissemination of technology
throughout their organizations. Finally, and most importantly, the successful
companies expect the technologies to help staff do the basics well, but also
demand the use of considerable art and experience in the process.
The study identifies technologies that create a competitive advantage for the
leaders in various WCSB E&P strategies. Our innovative graphical presentation
clearly shows what the leaders do in each of the strategy areas, compared with
the rest of the industry, and indicates the technologies that help create their
success. WCSB results are relevant to E&P strategies in a wide variety of other
basins and form an integral part of Ziff Energy's upcoming series of finding
and development cost performance analysis of U.S. regions.
Topic:
"Exploitation of Thin Oil Rims Using Horizontal Sidetracks at MC 194
(Cognac) Field"
Speaker:
Mike Danahy, Shell Oil.
Michael Danahy received a B.S. in geology from the University of Maryland in 1976 and joined Shell's Western Region the following year. Initial geologic work included secondary recovery projects in the San Joaquin Valley and primary development in the Rockies. Mike spent three and one-half years with two Houston independents in a variety of Gulf Coast Tertiary projects, but primarily focused on an extensive South Texas drilling program in the Lobo trend. He then joined Tenneco's Gulf Coast Division in 1984 with a four-year assignment in the onshore South Louisiana Miocene. After the sale of Tenneco in late 1988, Mike consulted for two years prior to rejoining Shell in New Orleans. His assignment for the last four years as a Staff Geological Engineer has been the further study and development of Cognac Field-MC 194.
Authors:
MICHAEL A. DANAHY, Shell Offshore Inc., New Orleans, LA, and,
JEFFREY R. SCHEIBAL, Shell Offshore Inc., New Orleans, LA
Abstract:
Horizontal wells have been utilized in Cognac Field
(GOM Mississippi Canyon 194) to deplete remaining oil rims in five
Pliocene-age deltaic sand reservoirs between 8,200 and 9,300 feet subsea.
Cognac Field, discovered in July 1975, is a faulted downthrown rollover
anticline developed by a 1,260-foot 62-slot conventional platform in 1,024
feet of water. Primary development drilling concluded in 1981, and a 3-D
seismic survey was shot in 1987 resulting in a successful 20-well redevelopment
program to address bypassed oil.
In early 1993, evaluation of remaining economic potential strongly indicated the need to accelerate the recovery of remaining oil reserves prior to gas cap blow-down. Pulsed neutron logs, combined with conventional production surveillance, delineated rims of 60 to 100 feet of true vertical thickness. Unconventional slim-hole sidetracking techniques (6-3/4" and 4-3/4" holes) were employed by a workover-class platform rig to drill 12 oil rim horizontal wells with an average completed length of 1,160 feet. Recognition and detailed mapping of depositional environments were important in planning and steering sidetracks. Over an average producing life of 12 months, a favorably positioned oil rim horizontal well produces at rates 3 to 10 times that of a conventional completion. Thin oil rims, originally classified as economically marginal, have contributed a robust 41% (5.2 MMBO) of the field's oil production since the beginning of the sidetrack program in January 1994.