Professional Documents
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TWA Paper Regarding The Use of New Technology
TWA Paper Regarding The Use of New Technology
of the
Industry
If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.Aristotle
If the pillars of industry such as wisdom, truth, commitment, and character could talk to the generation of young professionals about to inherit the oil and gas industry, the worlds energy
future would definitely be a bright one. The oil and gas industry contains some of the brightest, most innovative, and most dedicated people who practice in any profession, but the time is
coming when they will have to open the door for the next generation. The great crew change is coming, and the benefit from the exchange of knowledge and advice between the two generations is invaluable.
The Pillars of Industry section of The Way Ahead will focus on individuals who have established or distinguished themselves as pillars in the oil and gas industry. They will present their
field of experience from a mentorship perspective. The authors will introduce their career and field of expertise, with emphasis on career advice for success in the industry. They will advise
on how they would begin, develop, and plan a career if given the opportunity to go back and start over again. Finally, they will predict what the future holds for the professionals who are or
who will be involved in the showcased technology.
This section of the magazine will be aimed at educating and offering advice to the broad young professionals audience, irrespective of background, previous knowledge, and
experience. We understand that there is an extremely diverse professional audience in our industry, and an attempt will be made to try to include as much of the oil and gas industry as
possible. The lessons learned will transcend technologies and careers and will hold application for many scenarios. Each article will have something for every reader. I am excited at the
potential of this section and what it can offer my fellow young professionals in the oil and gas industry.
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Tim L. Morrison
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Articles
11. Headline.
12. Byline.
13. Lead paragraph/major
conclusions.
14. Background.
15. Procedures.
16. Case histories.
17. References.
18. Author biographies.
19. Art files.
10. Figure captions.
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Journal articles are often submitted in kit form; that is, the
package will include printed and electronic versions of a manuscript, illustrations, figure captions, author biographies, and
author photographs. There is no utility in applying techniques
such as page layout or use of bold headlines because the journal
editor will arrange the article to fit into the journal style. Table
3 lists the general components of both papers and articles.
In general, a paper will begin at the beginning and progress
logically and chronologically to the end, where conclusions are
given. An article will begin with a lead paragraph that states
the five Ws and H, (who, what, when, where, why, and how).
The major conclusions are included in the lead paragraph or in
the paragraphs immediately following. The abstract of a paper
should also contain the five Ws and H and state the major conclusions. If the conclusion section of the paper is quite large or
detailed, there is no need to include all of it in the abstract.
Lead paragraphs and abstracts are essentially contracts that
the author makes to the readers; the author is obligated to
explain, defend, and prove all claims made in the lead or
abstract. The lead and abstract also serve to let the reader know
what is offered in the piece. Be sure to offer enough information
to enable the reader to grasp the essential elements of information to be gained from a full reading. A good lead or abstract is
especially valuable to future authors conducting research.
Avoid commercialism or promotional language in your
paper/article. Technical venues are not the place to write in
superlatives about the features and benefits of a product or
process. Use of terms such as new, innovative, or novel is
inappropriate. If your presentation of the facts and the merits of
the product or process cause the reader to conclude that it is
innovative or otherwise superior, that is all right. But you should
not try to publish a promotional piece under the guise of technical work. Use of product, process, service, or company name
should be avoided.
Pillars
of the
Industry
I joined the petroleum industry in 1978, at the start of a boom in hiring that led to a peak in staff numbers in 1987. Staff numbers have
now dropped back to about 75% of 1987 levels. In the last 10 years,
the peak age of staff has shifted from 39 to 49 years. The peak staff
age correlates to the boom in hiring that took place in the early
1980s. Essentially, I came into the industry at the early part of that
boom and represent that peak. What insight can I give to the classes of students joining, or young engineers working in, the industry
in 2005, when everything is so different?
The U.K. started importing oil again in July of last year. This may
be a temporary production dip, but it could presage the start of a
decline that is expected to be quite sharp. However, there are still
new discoveries being made in that region, and it is projected by
some that the decline in oil re s e rves will stimulate an increase in
exploration activity, thereby extending the resource base. The
encouraging response to recent U.K. licensing rounds suggests that
activity is increasing in line with that sort of prediction. The potential for increased re c o v e ry in the existing fields is significant as long
as the infrastructure remains in place. These are the underlying drivers to North Sea activity. The industrys pulse is one of dips and
peaks, and I suspect it will stay like that for the next 20 years.
What skills set should the young engineer pick up? If the future
looks uncertain, then make sure there is some flexibility. People talk
about a demographic bubble as the peak plays out through retirement, so that employees who are currently under the age of 35 will,
in 10 years, find themselves in an industry in which they will represent knowledge and experience and be very valuable. They will be
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smaller targets. Cheaper well technologies would help greatly. Smart 3D-seismic age, when the last paradigm shift occurred in the way we
fluids may reduce the residual saturations even more in controlled work. The economic reality of the present time will never see a
sweeps provided by a clear image of the re s e rvoir units. Smart com- return to the golden 1980s, when someone wanting to run a new
pletions can respond to changes in fluid interfaces to maximize log or try out a new survey in your well was welcomed and if some
sweep between wells.
new insight was gained along the way then this was seen as a bonus.
Electromagnetic radiation at various frequencies may be used to The industry, when I joined, fostered an environment in which
further stimulate the mobilization of hydrocarbons. With less uncer- almost anything was given a trial. I was even fortunate to be part of
tainty as to where the injected fluids go, more expensive cocktails can the team that drilled the first horizontal wells in the North Sea,
be used to recover even more of the precious liquid. Carbon dioxide when there was little hard evidence that they would be either drillcould be just one of the components used to swell and move the oil. able or economically beneficial. In the research community in which
The working environment could be much more flexiblewith more I work now, we miss the technology champions within the compaworking from either the home or the beach! These visionary ideas nies who nurtured new ideas until they were mature enough to be
were discussed in a recent SPE Applied Technology Workshop turned into useable and beneficial technology.
(ATW) held in Oman, reflecting a future industry that many would
The evolving role of a petrophysicist over the last 20 years is an
like to see evolve: an industry that takes advantage of developments interesting one to consider. When I was active in wellsite log analyin communications and inforsis, 20 years ago, the role of
the log analyst was to calcumation technology to the benlate net pay, average porosity,
efit of the individual, society,
and water saturation. One did
and the industry. One word of
not want to get these wrong,
solid engineering advice
Training and education
and you felt that everyone was
among all the petro-dream100% focused on this inforery from the Oman ATW:
materials will be so easily
mation during the periods of
Design new production wells
active exploration. Terms
with surveillance in mind, and
available through universities
such as upscaling, effective
make sure you cement the
permeability, and kv/kh ratio
wells in order to last. This
and industry societies that
enables the flexibility demandwere pretty much unused by
ed by future reservoir-managepetrophysicists. Net to gross
professionals will find it easy
ment strategies.
was clearly a 1D measurement
Subsurface energy compaheterogeneity and a property
to switch careers, perhaps
nies will have a portfolio of
that was often too difficult to
assets to manage in the future.
map. One did not get too
moving in and out of the
Coalbed methane, in-situ
much demand from the geogasification, CO2 storage, and
physicists for the latest Vp and
industry, but certainly staying
geothermal energy will all
Vs logs in the 1980s. Now,
benefit from many of the
everything has changed.
on top of new developments
same technical advances.
The London Petrophysical
Operations of these diverse
Soc. recently conducted a sesin their own areas.
sion on uncertainties, and
geo-energy supplies could be
only two of 12 speakers mencolocated in favorable parts of
tioned logs, which shows a
the world. Staff will likely
have the flexibility to switch from one primary geo-energy source to broadening of the professions interests. At the same meeting, a
the next. Training and education materials will be so easily available paper was presented on the importance of understanding the basics
through universities and industry societies that professionals will of porosity measurement in the laboratory. Understanding the basics
find it easy to switch careers, perhaps moving in and out of the is still so important.
industry, but certainly staying on top of new developments in their
The role of logsbut, more important, the fundamental basis for
own areas. Technical societies with their specialist communities will re s e rvoir property modelingis being diminished by the role of
all meet together in the common marketplacethe joint SPE outcrop analogs and seismic amplitudes. Petrophysicists try to
Europec and EAGE annual meeting in Madrid in 2005 (and other maintain the importance of ground-truthing the re s e rvoir models
similar parallel meetings) represents a significant shift in the way with real measurements, as the Soc. of Core Analysts emphasizes in
societies cooperate. The breakdown of societal compartmentaliza- specialist meetings (where incredible commitment is shown to pretion will completely resolve the industrys communication problem s e rving the scarce and often undervalued skills by a few hard-core
practitioners). Core analysts are beginning to think in terms of re pand greatly improve the dissemination of knowledge.
resentivity, stationarity, correlation lengths, and realizationsissues
The Pace of Change
that the re s e rvoir modelers require to be addressed, even at the lab
Now the reader will be thinking all the above is a bit fanciful. Has scale. Where are the future core analysts going to come from?
the author lost the plot? Our industry does not move forward very Underinvestment in core analysis over the last decade and the cloquickly, and we will likely never realize the above visions, or even sure of so many specialist labs will catch up with the industry. Who
come close in 20 years, and petrophysicists and others will be work- will want to invest career time in such a specialty? I hope some
ing the way they always have. People with vision get swamped by young professionals reading this article will pick up the challenge.
In the 1980s, the final logging suite included the full range of re s i sthe here and now and are drowned by their workload. The money
to invest in new technology has dried up since the dawn of the new tivity and porosity tools (sonic, lithodensity, and neutron). Today
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Patrick Corbett graduated in 1977 with a BS degree in geology (Exeter U.) followed by an MS degree in
micropalaeontology in 1978 (U. College London), a postgraduate diploma in geological statistics in 1982 (Kingston U.),
and a PhD degree in petroleum engineering (geopseudoupscaling) in 1993 (Heriot-Watt U.). From 1978, Corbett worked
for 11 years in various positions in international exploration and development geoscience for Unocal in the U.K., The
Netherlands, and Indonesia.
Since coming to Heriot-Watt U. as a professor in 1989, Corbetts research focus has been on the integration of geoscience
and engineering through geological analysis, petrophysical measurement, and flow modeling. Current research areas include permeabilityanisotropy modeling, well-test interpretation, dynamic upscaling, and genetic petrophysics. He has been closely involved in the masters course
in reservoir evaluation and management since its inception, a course designed to teach the integrated nature of reservoir description and modeling to geologists, petrophysicists, geophysicists, computer scientists, and petroleum engineers. Recently, he has become involved in research
initiatives in the broader energy field and sustainability, particularly with respect to the petroleum industry.
Corbett was Student Affairs Committee Chairman of EAGE from 1995 to 2001 and continues to support the EAGE as a member of the
Continuing Professional Development Committee and the Executive Council. He is a Chartered Geologist and coauthor of the books Statistics
for Petroleum Engineers and Geoscientists and Cores From the Northwest European Hydrocarbon Province. He was an EAGE
Distinguished Lecturer (Petroleum Geoengineering) for 1998 and an SPE Distinguished Lecturer (Integration of Geology and Well Testing)
for 199899. He is an Associate Editor of First Break. His chair in Petroleum Geoengineering is the first such position at Heriot-Watt U. in
support of the petroleum industry and is financially supported by Total. In September 2003, he was appointed head of the Inst. of Petroleum
Engineering and Sub-Dean of Heriot-Watt U.
Outside of professional interests, he is actively involved in path projects in the local community and promoting access to the countryside.
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