May, 1999 HGS Meetings Calendar

May, 1999HGS Meetings

Highlights of the Forthcoming 1999 Offshore Technology Conference

Date: Monday - Thursday May 3-6, 1999 Place: Astrodome, Astrohall

SEG Sponsored Technical Luncheon, (May 5, 12:00)
Jamie Robertson of Arco will discuss "preparing for the upcoming oil price rise," a scenario that most likely will ensue as peak worldwide production occurs and production starts its inexorable decline. He will argue that investing in E & P technology is essential to preparing for this scenario to cushion the impact of a sharp oil price rise on global growth and stability.
Technology Integration for Reservoir Characterization and Monitoring, (May 3, 9:30-4:00)
Morning keynote speaker Robert Heming of Chevron will call for radical changes in work practices. The morning session will have a case history flavor with examples that span the globe. Presentations will cover a multidisciplinary approach to reservoir management, reservoir characterization and monitoring through integrated geophysical, geological and production data, and the application of time-lapse 3D seismic interpretation techniques. Afternoon keynote speaker John Hopkins of Conoco will provide a perspective of reservoir technology into the next millennium. The afternoon session has an "applied techniques" flavor exploring the effective use of state-of-the-art technology.
Deepwater Exploration and Development, (May 4, 9:30-4:00)
Keynote speaker, William T. Drennen III of Exxon will set the stage by contributing a high-level perspective of the economic and technical issues involved in deepwater exploration and development. Session presentations will illustrate key geological and geophysical techniques for prediction of favorable reservoir properties and reservoir connectivity, as well as structure and stratigraphy, which have led to economical and technical successes in deepwater areas. Emphasis in the morning session will be on the geophysical technology, including seismic pre-stack depth imaging, that is required to understand structure and rock properties. The afternoon session will accent getting the stratigraphy right in the structure/stratigraphy relationship.
Multicomponent 3D Seismic Technology, (May 5, 9:30-4:00)
This session will address the issues of how oil companies are managing the use of marine multicomponent seismic data to find and produce oil and gas more economically. Keynote speaker Jack Caldwell of Geco-Prakla will set a context for the competitive arena of multiple vendors and multiple acquisition/processing technologies. The morning''s talks will center on the geographical theme of 4C seismics in the North Sea. Afternoon presentations will highlight 4C acquisition, processing, and interpretation. The session will seek to put the current achievements of ocean-bottom acquisition in their historical perspective, with illustrative data examples of both successes and failures of this technology and a look to the future: Where is the technology going? And how will it impact exploration and development objectives?

HGS Dinner Meeting
"Low Resistivity, Low Contrast Pays"

Author: JOHN T. KULHA
Date: Monday May 10, 1999
Place: Westchase Hilton, 9999 Westheimer
Time: 5:30 Social 6:30 Dinner

Abstract:
Major hydrocarbon accumulations have been produced over the past 40 years in low resistivity, low contrast (LRLC) sands in the Gulf of Mexico Basin (GOM). LRLC reservoirs were commonly considered wet, tight, misidentified as a shale or completely overlooked due to logging tool resolution limitations, but are being re-evaluated now in other world basins. Low-resistivity pay has been typically defined at or below the 1.0 ohm-meter resistivity level, yet many productive reservoirs are found in the 0.3 to 0.5 ohm-m resistivity range. The interpretation of seismic response, the analysis of drill cuttings, sidewall and conventional cores, the interpretation of log response with the application of appropriate petrophysical models, along with wireline and production testing provide an integrated LRLC evaluation. LRLC sands are found in many U. S. basins, and those in Canada (Alberta), North Sea, Egypt, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Philippines, Italy, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina and Russia.
Geological causes of LRLC pay in the include: laminated clean sands with shales; silts or shaly sands; clay-coated sands; glauconitic sands; sands with interstitial dispersed clay; sands with disseminated pyrite or other conductive minerals; clay-lined burrows; clay clasts; altered volcanic/feldspathic framework grains; very fine-grained sands; microporosity; or sands with very saline formation water. LRLC depositional systems include deepwater fans, with levee-channel complexes, delta front and toe deposits, shingle turbidites and alluvial and deltaic channel fills. The lack of high-resolution logging tools across intervals with reservoir sands below the tool resolution is frequently the "cause" of the LRLC.
Geological and petrophysical models developed in the GOM for the evaluation of LRLC pay are applicable in other world basins. A conventional Archie clean sand or Waxman-Smits shaly sand model are commonly used to evaluate LRLC log anomalies. Often, shaly sand models are not necessarily suited for LRLC evaluation. The Archie lithology exponent (m) and saturation exponent (n) for many LRLC reservoirs can range from 1.4 to 1.85, and from 1.2 to 1.8, respectively. In thinly laminated LRLC reservoirs, net sand distribution is identified with high resolution logging tools, the examination of rock samples and interval testing. Recent application of nuclear magnetic resonance logging has provided a better identification of fluid type, grain size distribution and hydrocarbon saturation in LRLC sands. Resistivity forward modeling can also aid in establishing the "true" resistivity in laminated sands.
Speaker Biograhy:
John T. Kulha is a Houston-based engineering consultant with over twenty-five years experience in petroleum engineering and geoscience studies related to exploration, development, reserve determination and property acquisition. In association with other engineering and geoscience consulting firms, John is a key-member of multi-discipline project teams working with energy companies worldwide. As a recognized authority in the identification and evaluation of low resistivity, low contrast (LRLC) pay zones, John has presented seminars world-wide to energy companies, professional societies and academe on LRLC pay evaluation, petrophysics and reservoir characterization. He has also provided expert witness testimony at the Texas Railroad Commission and for other judicial boards. He previously worked for Shell Oil Company and Loren and Associates, Inc.
John received a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and MS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Houston. He is a member of the Houston Geological Society, Society of Petroleum Engineers, Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, American Association of Petroleum Geologists. John worked with the editorial committee on the joint Houston Geological and New Orleans Geological Societies publication "Productive Low-Resistivity Well Logs of the Offshore Gulf of Mexico" (1993).

HGS Environmental / Engineering Section Dinner Meeting
"Fate and Transport Computer Modeling: An Important Tool in Evaluating Environmental Contamination"

Author: Mark J. Lupo, Ph.D., ARCADIS Geraghty & Miller Date: May 12, 1999 Place: Jalapeno''s - 2702 Kirby (at