Is there any room for gravity in petroleum exploration? Let's open the door again!

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 761
Author(s):  
Sergey Shevchenko

The seismic method has been thriving in the oil and gas industry for decades. Technological progress in acquisition, processing and interpretation have made it practically the only geophysical method used for petroleum exploration. Unfortunately, gravity, as a pioneering geophysical method appears to have been completely forgotten in Australia’s oil and gas industry. Most of the gravity data in Australia were collected in the 1960s and 1970s. Only government agencies and a few exploration companies have conducted gravity surveys in petroleum basins since that time. Australia’s mostly flat terrain, economical aspects of the gravity method such as low cost and the ability to cover vast underexplored onshore basins in the country, all seem to be positive factors indicating that this method should be commonly used as a part of petroleum exploration. Given the petroleum industry is currently trying hard to make exploration more economically effective, this may be an opportunity to revive the gravity method in petroleum exploration.

Geophysics ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 201-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Killough

Exploration for oil and gas has soared to an all time maximum, and it will continue to increase. In eleven western states such exploration will be predominantly on our public lands. These lands are managed to (1) conserve and perpetuate natural resources, (2) give greatest good to the greatest number, and (3) have the benefits exceed the cost. The conservation program of the Bureau of Land Management is engaged in the construction of soil and moisture conservation projects, range improvements, and revegetation. At the present time the Bureau is actively engaged in controlling the poisonous invader Halogeton, employing herbicides and reseeding. Seismic methods, as often employed, may be destructive to soil and vegetation or surface resources and therefore opposed to other activities and interests. Direct losses occur through improperly bulldozed trails and the use of stockwater reservoirs. Shot holes left unplugged are dangerous. The oil and gas industry must develop conservation policies within its own ranks. Roads may be properly constructed and damage repaired. The petroleum industry must decide by its own actions its future place on our public domain.


1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (11) ◽  
pp. 1687-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean-Claude Roegiers

The petroleum industry offers a broad spectrum of problems that falls within the domain of expertise of mechanical engineers. These problems range from the design of well production equipment to the evaluation of formation responses to production and stimulation. This paper briefly describes various aspects and related difficulties with which the oil industry has to deal, from the time the well is spudded until the field is abandoned. It attempts to delineate the problems, to outline the approaches presently used, and to discuss areas where additional research is needed. Areas of current research activity also are described; whenever appropriate, typical or pertinent case histories are used to illustrate a point.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cenk Temizel ◽  
Celal Hakan Canbaz ◽  
Hakki Aydin ◽  
Bahar F. Hosgor ◽  
Deniz Yagmur Kayhan ◽  
...  

Abstract Digital transformation is one of the most discussed themes across the globe. The disruptive potential arising from the joint deployment of IoT, robotics, AI and other advanced technologies is projected to be over $300 trillion over the next decade. With the advances and implementation of these technologies, they have become more widely-used in all aspects of oil and gas industry in several processes. Yet, as it is a relatively new area in petroleum industry with promising features, the industry overall is still trying to adapt to IR 4.0. This paper examines the value that Industry 4.0 brings to the oil and gas upstream industry. It delineates key Industry 4.0 solutions and analyzes their impact within this segment. A comprehensive literature review has been carried out to investigate the IR 4.0 concept's development from the beginning, the technologies it utilizes, types of technologies transferred from other industries with a longer history of use, robustness and applicability of these methods in oil and gas industry under current conditions and the incremental benefits they provide depending on the type of the field are addressed. Real field applications are illustrated with applications indifferent parts of the world with challenges, advantages and drawbacks discussed and summarized that lead to conclusions on the criteria of application of machine learning technologies.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 584 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.M. Gagnon ◽  
K. Grice ◽  
R.I. Kagi

Field assessments using biochemical and chemical markers in marine organisms will be necessary to provide the Australian Petroleum Industry with a realistic evaluation of the impact of their activities on the marine environment. In field investigations, wild or caged animals are sacrificed and their organs are collected in order to assess if industrial activities do have a significant adverse impact on the organisms' health. Biochemical markers of chronic exposure to contamination may include reversible effects such as induction of a detoxification system, or permanent effects such as damage to nuclear DN A. Studies of sentinel species using biochemical markers of exposure, complemented by chemical analyses provide a realistic holistic method for assessment of environmental health. This multidisciplinary approach has proven valuable in Europe and North America.This paper outlines the need for biochemical and chemical markers to assess environmental health in a dynamic milieu such as the North West Shelf of Australia. Selected biochemical markers for use by the oil and gas industry in field monitoring of ecological health, and the complementary chemical measurements focussed on persistent contaminants such as poly eye lie aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), are described. The biological and ecotoxicological significance of the biochemical markers applied in sentinel marine organisms is reviewed, and some limitations regarding their interpretation are stated. It is suggested that biochemical monitoring of the environment complemented with sophisticated chemical measurements can provide environmental managers working within the oil and gas industry with a system for ecotoxicological monitoring programs in offshore Australia.


Author(s):  
Marilia A. Ramos ◽  
Alex Almeida ◽  
Marcelo R. Martins

Abstract Several incidents in the offshore oil and gas industry have human errors among core events in incident sequence. Nonetheless, human error probabilities are frequently neglected by offshore risk estimation. Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) allows human failures to be assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the petroleum industry, HRA is usually applied using generic methods developed for other types of operation. Yet, those may not sufficiently represent the particularities of the oil and gas industry. Phoenix is a model-based HRA method, designed to address limitations of other HRA methods. Its qualitative framework consists of three layers of analysis composed by a Crew Response Tree, a human response model, and a causal model. This paper applies a version of Phoenix, the Phoenix for Petroleum Refining Operations (Phoenix-PRO), to perform a qualitative assessment of human errors in the CDSM explosion. The CDSM was a FPSO designed to produce natural gas and oil to Petrobras in Brazil. On 2015 an explosion occurred leading to nine fatalities. Analyses of this accident have indicated a strong contribution of human errors. In addition to the application of the method, this paper discusses its suitability for offshore operations HRA analyses.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 2116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Frank ◽  
Robin Kamenicky ◽  
Dimitris Drikakis ◽  
Lee Thomas ◽  
Hans Ledin ◽  
...  

An oil and gas separator is a device used in the petroleum industry to separate a fluid mixture into its gaseous and liquid phases. A computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study aiming to identify key design features for optimising the performance of the device, is presented. A multiphase turbulent model is employed to simulate the flow through the separator and identify flow patterns that can impinge on or improve its performance. To verify our assumptions, we consider three different geometries. Recommendations for the design of more cost- and energy-effective separators, are provided. The results are also relevant to broader oil and gas industry applications, as well as applications involving stratified flows through channels.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1868-1874

Global oil prices have encouraged the development of the oil and gas industry. The passion for the revival of the oil and gas industry needs to be followed by solid steps. Efficiency is a theme in all business aspects. Enterprise Architecture (EA) is believed to be able to help realize the achievement of the company's goal. But EA implementation is challenging. The company must provide sufficient resources to ensure the EA implementation goal is achieved. It is therefore necessary to estimate the EA implementation to detect any gaps. This research offers a method to estimate the EA in the upstream petroleum industry. The method is a combined approach of Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and structured interviews. Interviews were conducted with a modified System Usability Scale (SUS) using the perspective of effectiveness, efficiency, agility, and durability. The evaluation results concluded that the EA implementation was still below the usability threshold. This fact encourages further EA development efforts, including the selection and utilization of specific and simple EA components.


2002 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 669 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Heiden

This paper provides a brief overview of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the Act) and discusses the operational performance of the Act in the first 18 months.The introduction of the Act on 16 July 2000 has created a new environmental assessment and approval regime at the Commonwealth level. Proposals are no longer referred for assessment on the basis of government decisions, but on the basis of the potential for a proposal to impact upon a matter of National Environmental Significance (NES). An analysis of projects that have been referred, assessed and approved provides a useful guide to the types of activities, and the circumstances under which proposals are captured by the Act. This exercise is particularly valuable for the oil and gas sector.With a significant proportion of referrals received being generated by the petroleum industry, many issues with the administration of the Act have been identified. Environment Australia has undertaken a number of initiatives to address these concerns. Examples include involvement in the Strategic Assessment being conducted by the Department of Industry Tourism and Resources (DITR), a review of the Referral form and an undertaking to provide a more industry-specific form, and regular, high level meetings between Environment Australia, the DITR and APPEA to facilitate and streamline the working arrangements between parties.The paper also identifies areas where industry can work closely with the Commonwealth Government in new ways to achieve a balance between environmental protection and the continued development of the oil and gas industry.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 719
Author(s):  
Matthew Smith

This extended abstract uses the reference case project, initiated by National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, now led by National Energy Resources Australia, to delve into the underlying issues in the environmental approvals process and propose the root causes that have influenced this flagship collaborative effort. Collaboration for competitors is inherently difficult. The basis for meaningful collaboration is to find intractable problems that are better solved by a collection of participants with a common purpose. The environmental approvals process has evolved into an intractable problem that is adversely affecting the oil and gas industry’s ability to explore by becoming a barrier to investment and a source of uncertainty in project execution. Successive Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conferences, and oil and gas industry leaders, have frequently promoted the collaboration imperative to the industry. Indeed, there is broad agreement, and many international examples on matters of health, safety and environmental management, that there is no value in competition. Why then is meaningful collaboration so difficult to deliver in an environmental management setting in Australia? This paper explores the successes and failures of the reference case project to illuminate the realities of collaboration in the Australian offshore petroleum industry. The paper shares insights from project leads, participants, decision makers and stakeholders and covers how collaboration can unlock barriers to investment and deliver greater certainty to the oil and gas industry and the Australian community.


1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 494
Author(s):  
Catherine A. Hayne

Oil and gas exploration and production opportunities in the United States represent possibilities for investment by Australian petroleum companies in the 1990s. This paper focuses on the unique characteristics of the oil and gas industry, and is intended as an entrepreneurial guide to some of the practical business and tax issues which corporate executives will confront when proposing to do business in the United States. It provides a detailed examination of the key issues, but, due to the complexity of United States and Australian laws, this paper should not be used as a substitute for detailed advice.


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