GoM Lower Tertiary: greatest potential, greatest risks
Just as the voyagers of the science fiction Starship Enterprise probed the outer reaches of space to reveal new worlds, oil and gas exploration teams, working in the real world, have boldly gone where no one has gone before to discover giant fields in the deepest reaches of the Gulf of Mexico. They have taken a peek at billions of barrels of potential reserves. The operators and service companies will have to deploy next-generation technologies, some still in design and development, to overcome the greatest risks the industry has encountered to date – challenges like extreme water and target depths, a seismically dense salt canopy, low-porosity and low-permeability reservoirs, and high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) downhole conditions.Pramod Kulkarni, Contributing Editor, reports, beginning on page 38.
Optimizing deepwater salt/subsalt drilling with hole openers
Deepwater drilling today – in the Gulf of Mexico and other basins worldwide – often involves drilling both salt and subsalt intervals. Over the past decade, the use of expandable concentric underreamers or “hole openers” in deepwater drilling has become widespread. An estimated 75% of the salt/subsalt sections in the GoM now use underreamers. There are various reasons to enlarge a hole, including to enhance equivalent circulating density, to reduce cementing pressures, and to counter salt creep so casing will reach bottom. Underreamers are especially important in deepwater wells that require numerous casing strings. Read the full analysis of their uses byMarco Aburto, Schlumberger, and Piero D’Ambrosio, formerly with Schlumberger, beginning on page 56.
US/Mexico offshore border zone exploration
In the first article (July 2009) of our specialOffshore series pertaining to exploration of the US/Mexico maritime border zone, Javier H. Estrada (Analítica Energética S.C.)introduced some of the major legal and geopolitical issues facing development of cross-border oil fields. The geotechnical and engineering challenges to trans-border oilfield exploration and development are certainly no less difficult or imposing.
Accordingly, this month’s article in the series takes on a more geological and geophysical flavor, asAlex G. Blacque and co-authors (all of Fugro) share with Offshore readers the innovative, multi-disciplinary geophysical workflow developed by Fugro consultants to better assess the regional, structural, and stratigraphic context of deepwater Lower Tertiary Play Wilcox prospects and geology.
New geophysical data sets of increasing accuracy, precision, and resolution continue to be acquired in the Gulf of Mexico as an aid to hydrocarbon prospecting efforts. This article showcases how a specially developed workflow can marry state-of-the art geophysical data to cutting-edge geologic thinking and concepts, capitalizing on the strengths of various data sets when used together so as to mitigate weaknesses inherent to individual data sets when the latter are used alone.
The series of articles is directed byRobert Pawlowski, Chevron Energy Technology Co., and Ricardo Fernandez, Fugro Chance de Mexico, Offshore Special Issue Contributing Editors. Read this month’s report, beginning on page 48.
Deep Offshore Technology Conference Feb. 2-4 in Houston
The Deep Offshore Technology International Conference and Exhibition (DOT) returns to Houston Feb. 2-4, 2010, at the George R. Brown Convention Center with this year’s theme “Knowledge is Your Edge.” The theme indicates the critical role of technology in finding, developing, and producing oil and gas in deepwater and ultra deepwater regions around the world. For more than 22 years, DOT has been a forum for industry leaders to address technical issues, to introduce pioneering technology, and to share lessons learned. See what’s in store for you there, beginning onpage 46.
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Eldon Ball • Houston