Download or read book Reservoir Geomechanical Analyses of Joslyn SAGD Steam Release Incident written by Alireza Khani and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A noteworthy caprock failure occurred on the Joslyn Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) property in 2006 that continues to have a significant impact on the approval process for future SAGD projects. Two reports were released by Alberta government, which are AER Review and Analysis: Total E&P Canada Ltd. Surface Steam Release of May 18, 2006, Joslyn Creek SAGD Thermal Operation, and Total E&P Canada Ltd., Summary of investigation into the Joslyn, May 18, 2006 Steam Release. Several potential mechanisms were postulated within those studies but without definitive resolution. Therefore, the current study's main aim is to reassess the possible causes of Joslyn caprock failure and to forensically investigate the different mechanisms that may have contributed to this steam release incident. In addition, the findings of previous studies, including geomechanical simulations, uncertainties, and risk associated with evaluating caprock containment of SAGD operations using different approaches will be analyzed and the Joslyn steam release will be numerically re-analyzed to understand better the possible causes and mechanisms that led to the only known caprock failure in the 30 years of SAGD operations in Alberta. In the current study, numerical simulations were divided into three stages; 1) geomechanical analyses of a fractured medium in the assessment of caprock integrity, 2) hydro-mechanical analyses of the models to explore the impact of fluid flow on the results 3) coupled reservoir geomechanical analysis to investigate effects of SAGD operation on geomechanical response of the models. For the first stage, multiple realizations of the fracture network in caprock were executed to reflect various geomechanical and geometrical properties of fractures. A distinct element code, 3DEC, was utilized to evaluate the possible mechanisms of caprock failure in a fissured and non-fissured caprock. Then, three-dimensional numerical models including caprock and overburden were simulated under different load conditions and properties to assess the impact of steam injection pressure on caprock displacement, surface heave, the joint normal and shear displacements, as well as failure modes. The second stage of the analyses considered fluid flow in the models to investigate the impact of flow on fractures' geometrical parameters, caprock displacement, and surface heave. The last numerical modeling stage was 3D sequentially coupled reservoir geomechanical analyses to simulate the reservoir's behaviors, caprock, and overburden and examine their complex interactions occurring during SAGD operations from beginning to the end. This stage consists of two sub-sections: first, post-failure simulation to validate the model with actual injection and production data as well as surveillance results installed after the steam release incident and second, using the validated model including all the well pairs and operations from the beginning to the end of the project to better understand the most likely steam release scenario of the failure. Through the analysis of multiple aspects of the Joslyn steam release incident, it is postulated that a chain of events, each impacting one another, contributed to the surface release. The possible, interacting multiple events that led to this failure have been identified as: • excessive bottomhole injection pressure; • potential low quality cement job performed for the abandonment of vertical observation wells; • presence of a gas zone surrounding the abandoned well within the Upper McMurray and Wabiskaw; • relatively low quality (less clayey) and thin caprock on the east side of the Joslyn project area; • occasionally high water saturation zones within the Upper McMurray Formation; and • perhaps most critically, the unexpected migration of fluid flow from the west to the east side of the Joslyn project area leading to elevated pore pressures (and hence lower effective confining stresses) in the region (gas streak zone) directly overlying the well pair where the steam release event occurred. Based on the modeling results in this research which were validated with post-failure SAGD operations monitoring data, it allowed improved confidence in interpreting these complex events and re-adjusting the proposed formula to calculate MOP.

Download or read book Feasibility Study of Centrifuge Modeling of SAGD Caprock Integrity written by Jingyu Wu and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Joslyn steam release incident in 2006 has significantly influenced the approval process for steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) projects, which now require rigorous caprock integrity assessment to be conducted. In the past, most of the research efforts have been devoted to reservoir geomechanical simulation studies of caprock integrity. Physical modeling is conducted to a lesser extent, as it is difficult to carry out physical modeling of prototypes at such a scale as SAGD projects. Within the Geotechnical Centrifuge Experimental Research Facility (GeoCERF) at University of Alberta, research is ongoing to utilize the newly built 50g-ton beam centrifuge for physical modeling study of caprock failure mechanisms at high gravitational fields. The centrifuge model will be spun at 100g. According to the scaling law, a 20m thick caprock formation can be simulated using only 20cm thick test material, which makes scaled physical modeling of caprock failure possible. Prototype, reservoir geomechanical simulation and centrifuge modeling are closely integrated in this research. Caprock is deemed as homogeneous material without any pre-existing faults or weak planes. Thus, shear failure and tensile failure are the two major failure modes of caprock to be explored. In reservoir geomechanical simulations, caprock behaviour is described using the elasto-perfectly plastic model with Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. The development of shearing zones in caprock is analyzed along with displacement profile evolutions at the base of caprock. According to parametric analysis, caprock shearing failure is commonly observed for caprock with different mechanical properties and the shearing patterns of caprock at failure are the same with the vertical displacement at the base of caprock being the main driving force regardless of material property differences. In addition, the vertical displacement profiles at caprock shearing failure also share the same characteristics. A custom-designed electromechanical device named Geomechanical Caprock Deflection Mechanism (GeoCDM) was successfully built and commissioned within GeoCERF to fail the caprock at 100g. In this research, over-consolidated Speswhite kaolin with consistent properties is employed to mimic the caprock in the centrifuge models for the purpose of eliminating the influences of property variability of in-situ materials. Consolidated-drained triaxial tests are conducted on samples cored from the kaolin block and the test results reveal that there are significant property differences between the caprock shale and the over-consolidated Speswhite kaolin in terms of material stiffness, strength and dilation behaviour after shearing. This research is focused on the feasibility study of centrifuge modeling of caprock integrity; however, for future studies, creating synthetic materials with close properties to caprock shale should be a research focus. Through an image-based displacement measurement technique of particle image velocimetry (PIV), the deformation of the kaolin block can be directly captured. Two Kulite miniature pore pressure transducers are installed inside the overconsolidated Speswhite kaolin block for observation of the internal pore pressure changes and an external pore pressure transducer is connected to the base of the kaolin block. Mariotte Bottle is employed to maintain the hydrostatic pressure inside the centrifuge model. Two preliminary tests were conducted to test the GeoCDM setup. Pore pressure transducers are proven to be working well within the GeoCDM setup and the PIV system can effectively track the soil deformation during centrifuge spinning. However, the PIV analysis results had been compromised due to the faulty hydro-mechanical sealing at the base of the kaolin block, which are now being modified for future tests. For future studies, the results of the centrifuge testing should be compared to those of numerical simulations to verify and modify the numerical tools for SAGD caprock integrity study.

Download or read book Reservoir Characterization written by Larry Lake and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2012-12-02 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reservoir Characterization is a collection of papers presented at the Reservoir Characterization Technical Conference, held at the Westin Hotel-Galleria in Dallas on April 29-May 1, 1985. Conference held April 29-May 1, 1985, at the Westin Hotel—Galleria in Dallas. The conference was sponsored by the National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research, Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Reservoir characterization is a process for quantitatively assigning reservoir properties, recognizing geologic information and uncertainties in spatial variability. This book contains 19 chapters, and begins with the geological characterization of sandstone reservoir, followed by the geological prediction of shale distribution within the Prudhoe Bay field. The subsequent chapters are devoted to determination of reservoir properties, such as porosity, mineral occurrence, and permeability variation estimation. The discussion then shifts to the utility of a Bayesian-type formalism to delineate qualitative ""soft"" information and expert interpretation of reservoir description data. This topic is followed by papers concerning reservoir simulation, parameter assignment, and method of calculation of wetting phase relative permeability. This text also deals with the role of discontinuous vertical flow barriers in reservoir engineering. The last chapters focus on the effect of reservoir heterogeneity on oil reservoir. Petroleum engineers, scientists, and researchers will find this book of great value.

Download or read book Energy from Gas Hydrates Assessing the Opportunities and Challenges for Canada written by The Expert Panel on Gas Hydrates and published by Council of CanadianAcademies. This book was released on 2008 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Page 1 ENERGY FROM GAS HYDRATES: ASSESSING THE OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES FOR CANADA The Expert Panel on Gas Hydrates Council of Canadian Academies Science Advice in the Public Interest Conseil des académies canadiennes EnErgy from gas HydratEs - assEssing tHE opportunitiEs and CHallEngEs for Canada Report of the Expert Panel on Gas Hydrates iv Energy from Gas Hydrates tHE CounCil of Canadian aCad [...] Engineering and the RSC: The Academies of. [...] The reviewers assessed the objectivity and quality of. [...] Gas Hydrate Basics - Introduction to the Science and Occurrence of. [...] Energy from Gas Hydrates 3 ovErviEW of gas HydratEs - a primEr on tHE ContEXt The gas held in naturally occurring gas hydrate is generated by microbial or thermal alteration of.

Download or read book Handbook on Theory and Practice of Bitumen Recovery from Athabasca Oil Sands written by Jacob Heskel Masliyah and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Drilling Engineering written by Neal Jay Adams and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 984 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Bitumen written by Peter McKenzie-Brown and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-07-05 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book covers the written record of Alberta's oil sands - the world's second-largest petroleum resource - from 1715 to the present day. The focus is on men and women who contributed to the enormous scientific and technological advances that enabled the oil sands sector to become a petroleum giant. Equally, it reviews recent developments that make much of the sector at best marginally economic. According to renowned petroleum historian Earle Gray, the book "is a powerful addition to the corpus of writing about Canada's petroleum industry. But it is more than history: it is an account of current challenges and visions of future possibilities. While he focuses on the vast oil deposits in the Alberta oil sands, he also sheds wide-ranging light on other aspects of the Canadian petroleum industry's history." The author "has weaved his story from an impressive array of diverse sources, as well as intensive and extensive research," Gray continues in his foreword. "The result is a must-read for anyone interested not only in the history of the Canada's oil business, but perhaps more importantly, Canada's economic history." The Petroleum History Society's Clint Tippett adds, in the Afterword, that "there are still major hurdles ahead if we are to truly fulfil the promise of the oil sands. Extracting the bitumen and upgrading it are intensive both in terms of energy use and of greenhouse gas generation. Transportation and market access continue to be challenges." "It remains to be seen whether the Canadian oil sands sector will be nimble enough to avoid becoming roadkill, or at least become significantly restricted," he says, "in either a fundamental economic sense or through the global controversy concerning greenhouse gases and global warming." Calgary-based economist Peter Findley, whom he cites, a different perspective. Although oil sands production growth "has been impressive and robust since 1999," he said, "it seems that the more production barrels that come online from the massive heavy oil basin, the more headwinds arise that operators must overcome to deliver a return to increasingly impatient investors." Operators had little to show from their investments, he said, "even before the oil price rout." In this bust a "lacklustre" job market elsewhere in Canada (except B.C.) contributed to Alberta's pain, added Todd Hirsch, another of several economists cited. In effect, individuals in the workforce voted with their feet...by going elsewhere. "The nasty recessions of the 1980s saw tens of thousands of people pack up and leave Alberta, resulting in a drop in the size of the work force," he said. "During the darkest days of 1987, the province saw more than 1.2 per cent of its workers leave or drop out of the labour market. This repeated itself during the recessions of 1992 and 2009-10." "One reason was that those earlier busts coincided with stronger economies elsewhere in Canada attracting the province's unemployed," the author says. "Alberta's pain this time around got no such assistance - indeed, new international immigration made matters worse. Unemployment reached 8.6 per cent, the highest since 1994. "Gradually, though, things got better. After touching US$26 per barrel in February 2016, West Texas oil prices doubled within a year. At this writing, the worst of the bust seems behind us."

Download or read book Enhanced Oil Recovery Field Case Studies written by James J.Sheng and published by Gulf Professional Publishing. This book was released on 2013-04-10 with total page 710 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enhanced Oil Recovery Field Case Studies bridges the gap between theory and practice in a range of real-world EOR settings. Areas covered include steam and polymer flooding, use of foam, in situ combustion, microorganisms, "smart water"-based EOR in carbonates and sandstones, and many more. Oil industry professionals know that the key to a successful enhanced oil recovery project lies in anticipating the differences between plans and the realities found in the field. This book aids that effort, providing valuable case studies from more than 250 EOR pilot and field applications in a variety of oil fields. The case studies cover practical problems, underlying theoretical and modeling methods, operational parameters, solutions and sensitivity studies, and performance optimization strategies, benefitting academicians and oil company practitioners alike. - Strikes an ideal balance between theory and practice - Focuses on practical problems, underlying theoretical and modeling methods, and operational parameters - Designed for technical professionals, covering the fundamental as well as the advanced aspects of EOR

Download or read book Underground Gas Storage written by D. J. Evans and published by Geological Society of London. This book was released on 2009 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UK became a net importer of natural gas in 2004 and by 2020 will import up to 90% of its requirements, leaving it vulnerable to increasing energy bills and risk of disruption to supply. New pipelines to Europe and improvements to interconnectors will meet some demand, but Government recognises the need for increased gas storage capacity: best met by the construction of underground storage facilities. Energy security has also raised the likelihood of a new generation of coal-fired power-stations, which to be environmentally viable, will require clean-coal technologies with near-zero greenhouse gas emissions. A key element of this strategy will be underground CO2 storage. This volume reviews the technologies and issues involved in the underground storage of natural gas and CO2, with examples from the UK and overseas. The potential for underground storage of other gases such as hydrogen, or compressed air linked to renewable sources is also reviewed.

Download or read book Silent Violence written by Michael J. Watts and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2013-02-01 with total page 815 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why do famines occur and how have their effects changed through time? Why are those who produce food so often the casualties of famines? Looking at the food crisis that struck the West African Sahel during the 1970s, Michael J. Watts examines the relationships between famine, climate, and political economy. Through a longue durée history and a detailed village study Watts argues that famines are socially produced and that the market is as fickle and incalculable as the weather. Droughts are natural occurrences, matters of climatic change, but famines expose the inner workings of society, politics, and markets. His analysis moves from household and individual farming practices in the face of climatic variability to the incorporation of African peasants into the global circuits of capitalism in the colonial and postcolonial periods. Silent Violence powerfully combines a case study of food crises in Africa with an analysis of the way capitalism developed in northern Nigeria and how peasants struggle to maintain rural livelihoods. As the West African Sahel confronts another food crisis and continuing food insecurity for millions of peasants, Silent Violence speaks in a compelling way to contemporary agrarian dynamics, food provisioning systems, and the plight of the African poor.

Download or read book Safe Drinking Water written by Steve E. Hrudey and published by IWA Publishing. This book was released on 2004-05-31 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drinking water provides an efficient source for the spread of gastrointestinal microbial pathogens capable of causing serious human disease. The massive death toll and burden of disease worldwide caused by unsafe drinking water is a compelling reason to value the privilege of having safe drinking water delivered to individual homes. On rare occasions, that privilege has been undermined in affluent nations by waterborne disease outbreaks traced to the water supply. Using the rich and detailed perspectives offered by the evidence and reports from the Canadian public inquiries into the Walkerton (2000) and North Battleford (2001) outbreaks to develop templates for understanding their key dimensions, over 60 waterborne outbreaks from 15 affluent countries over the past 30 years are explored as individual case studies. Recurring themes and patterns are revealed and the critical human dimensions are highlighted suggesting insights for more effective and more individualized preventive strategies, personnel training, management, and regulatory control. Safe Drinking Water aims to raise understanding and awareness of those factors that have most commonly contributed to or caused drinking-water-transmitted disease outbreaks - essentially a case-history analysis within the multi-barrier framework. It contains detailed analysis of the failures underlying drinking-water-transmitted disease epidemics that have been documented in the open literature, by public inquiry, in investigation reports, in surveillance databases and other reliable information sources. The book adopts a theme of 'converting hindsight into foresight', to inform drinking-water and health professionals including operators, managers, engineers, chemists and microbiologists, regulators, as well as undergraduates and graduates at specialty level. Key Features: Contains details and perspectives of major outbreaks not widely known or understood beyond those directly involved in the investigations. Technical and scientific background associated with case studies is offered in an accessible summary form. Does not require specialist training or experience to comprehend the details of the numerous outbreaks reviewed. By providing a broad-spectrum review using a consistent approach, several key recurring themes are revealed that offer insights for developing localized, tailor-made prevention strategies.

Download or read book Reservoir Geomechanics written by Mark D. Zoback and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-04-01 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This interdisciplinary book encompasses the fields of rock mechanics, structural geology and petroleum engineering to address a wide range of geomechanical problems that arise during the exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs. It considers key practical issues such as prediction of pore pressure, estimation of hydrocarbon column heights and fault seal potential, determination of optimally stable well trajectories, casing set points and mud weights, changes in reservoir performance during depletion, and production-induced faulting and subsidence. The book establishes the basic principles involved before introducing practical measurement and experimental techniques to improve recovery and reduce exploitation costs. It illustrates their successful application through case studies taken from oil and gas fields around the world. This book is a practical reference for geoscientists and engineers in the petroleum and geothermal industries, and for research scientists interested in stress measurements and their application to problems of faulting and fluid flow in the crust.

Download or read book Active Geophysical Monitoring written by and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2010-03-05 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Active geophysical monitoring is an important new method for studying time-evolving structures and states in the tectonically active Earth's lithosphere. It is based on repeated time-lapse observations and interpretation of rock-induced changes in geophysical fields periodically excited by controlled sources. In this book, the results of strategic systematic development and the application of new technologies for active geophysical monitoring are presented. The authors demonstrate that active monitoring may drastically change solid Earth geophysics, through the acquisition of substantially new information, based on high accuracy and real-time observations. Active monitoring also provides new means for disaster mitigation, in conjunction with substantial international and interdisciplinary cooperation. - Introduction of a new concept - Most experienced authors in the field - Comprehensiveness

Download or read book Advances in Remote Sensing for Infrastructure Monitoring written by Vernon Singhroy and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-12-23 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides international case studies of practical and advanced methods using satellite images integrated with other airborne, drone images and field data to monitor infrastructure. The book is timely, as infrastructure spending by national governments is increasing and robust monitoring techniques are needed to keep pace with climate change impacts affecting infrastructures globally. The expert international contributions that comprise the book provide examples of advanced methods using InSAR, high-resolution optical and radar images, LIDAR, UAV, geophysical techniques and their applications to civil infrastructure. The case studies focus on high-resolution, rapid time-series radar interferometry to monitor highways, railways, pipelines, bridges, urban, and water conveyance infrastructures. Other case studies use optical and radar images to characterize urban infrastructure and monitor damages from floods, oil spills and conflicts. The case studies are global focusing on infrastructure projects in Canada, Dominica Guyana, India Italy, Syria Taiwan, United States and the United Kingdom. This compilation of selected case studies will provide useful guidelines for the civil infrastructure characterization and monitoring communities. The book will be of interest to infrastructure consultants and professionals, scientific communities in earth observation and advanced imaging methods, and researchers and professors in earth sciences, climate change, and civil and geoengineering.

Download or read book Heavy Oils written by Satinder Chopra and published by SEG Books. This book was released on 2010 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reservoir characterization requires integration of engineering, geology, and geophysics, with rock physics supplying a key link. In this volume, geophysical methods, especially time-lapse 3D seismic, are emphasized, and a range of enhanced oil-recovery methods (EOR) are discussed, showing the need to accurately describe a reservoir before and after production.

Download or read book 9th International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage ICARD 2012 written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 941 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: