Assessing the mechanical stability of horizontal boreholes in coal

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-813 ◽  
Author(s):  
C D Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Stability ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Directional Drilling ◽  
Vertical Wells ◽  
Borehole Stability ◽  
Linear Elastic ◽  
Geophysical Logs ◽  
Coal Reserves

Horizontal wells are used in some geological settings in the petroleum industry to produce methane from coal seams. Horizontal directional drilling is used in the mining industry to enhance the effectiveness of coal degasification procedures and to aid in the delineation of coal reserves. Coals tend to be mechanically weak, hence they are prone to borehole instability related problems during drilling, completion, and production operations. This paper includes a review of the mechanical properties of selected coals and provides two empirical cross-plots that can be used for estimating coal strength from index tests and geophysical logs. Linear elastic borehole stability models are demonstrated to be appealing because they are easily implemented, require a minimum of input data, and are well suited to rapid parameter sensitivity analyses. Using experience obtained drilling vertical wells in a given setting, a methodology is described for calibrating linear elastic models to provide realistic borehole stability predictions. Furthermore, as demonstrated using a western Canadian example (a shallow well in the Ardley coal zone), relatively simple elastoplastic models can be used effectively for borehole stability analyses. The important effects of filter cake, coal depth, and rock strength anisotropy are demonstrated with two different elastoplastic models.Key words: borehole stability, coal, methane, directional drilling, strength, stress.

scholarly journals Patent Analysis on the Development of the Shale Petroleum Industry Based on a Network of Technological Indices

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 6746
Author(s):  
Jong-Hyun Kim ◽  
Yong-Gil Lee
Keyword(s):  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Development Pattern ◽  
Directional Drilling ◽  
Patent Data ◽  
Smart System ◽  
Smart Systems ◽  
Complex Development ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Technological Indices ◽  
Degree Of Convergence

This study investigated the technological developments in the shale petroleum industry by analyzing patent data using a network of technological indices. The technological developments were promoted by the beginning of the shale industry, and after the first five years, it showed a more complex development pattern with the convergence of critical technologies. This paper described progress in the shale petroleum technologies as changes in relatedness networks of technological components. The relatedness represents degree of convergence between technological components, and betweenness centrality of network represents priority of technological components. In the results, the progress of the critical technologies such as directional drilling, increasing permeability, and smart systems, were actively carried out from 2012 to 2016. Especially, unconverged technology of increasing permeability and the converged technology of directional drilling and smart system has been intensively developed. Some technological components of the critical technologies are more significant in the form of converged technology.

scholarly journals Analysis of the severity of occupational injuries in the mining industry using a Bayesian network

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. e2019017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mostafa Mirzaei Aliabadi ◽  
Hamed Aghaei ◽  
Omid kalatpuor ◽  
Ali Reza Soltanian ◽  
Asghar Nikravesh
Keyword(s):  
Bayesian Network ◽  
Occupational Injuries ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Expectation Maximization Algorithm ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Safety Training ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Occupational Accidents ◽  
Activity Type ◽  
Training Courses

OBJECTIVES: Occupational injuries are known to be the main adverse outcome of occupational accidents. The purpose of the current study was to identify control strategies to reduce the severity of occupational injuries in the mining industry using Bayesian network (BN) analysis.METHODS: The BN structure was created using a focus group technique. Data on 425 mining accidents was collected, and the required information was extracted. The expectation-maximization algorithm was used to estimate the conditional probability tables. Belief updating was used to determine which factors had the greatest effect on severity of accidents.RESULTS: Based on sensitivity analyses of the BN, training, type of accident, and activity type of workers were the most important factors influencing the severity of accidents. Of individual factors, workers’ experience had the strongest influence on the severity of accidents.CONCLUSIONS: Among the examined factors, safety training was the most important factor influencing the severity of accidents. Organizations may be able to reduce the severity of occupational injuries by holding safety training courses prepared based on the activity type of workers.

AUSTRALIA'S ECONOMIC RESTRUCTURING AND ITS POTENTIAL IMPACT ON PETROLEUM EXPLORATION

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 344
Author(s):  
M.G. D'Arcy
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Economic Restructuring ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Uniform Structure ◽  
Market Signals ◽  
The World

Changes in the structure of a modern economy are a natural function of altered world and domestic economic circumstances. It is important that the instrument of change be the marketplace. Governments around the world have not demonstrated a superior ability to 'pick winners'. There are many instances where governments have used public funds to foster the development of particular industries only to find that, as a result of economic circumstances, the favoured industries' reliance on public funding becomes chronic. The Government's role should be to ensure that market signals are transmitted and received clearly.In Australia structural change in the economy has been a fairly slow process. This has been brought about by the numerous obstacles that have existed in the marketplace. These have meant that, not only were market signals distorted or delayed, but when received did not motivate appropriate responses. For example, labour market rigidities, inequitable taxation policies, a fixed exchange rate, together with State Government charges, have posed real impediments to implementing the necessary adjustments to the Australian economy.The Australian mining industry and the petroleum industry, in particular, have always been geared to the world market and have increasingly constituted an important component of the nation's export receipts. With regard specifically the petroleum industry, the world price downturn of the past few years and the Government's decision to drop its import parity pricing will result in major changes in the Australian industry, particularly in the exploration sector. These signals suggest a world oversupply of petroleum with the corollary that additional reserves are not needed. A resultant downturn in exploration could develop into an irrevocable reversal and jeopardise the nation's strategically important petroleum industry.In light of the diminished circumstances of the sector it is essential that the petroleum industry receives equal treatment regarding taxation and other Government imposts. Failure to remove the discriminations against petroleum and to impose a uniform structure will result in a misallocation of resources and the possibility of a permanent winding down in exploration.

Latest scientific and technical evolutions in the Crocus snowpack model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthieu Lafaysse ◽  
Marie Dumont ◽  
Rafife Nheili ◽  
Léo Viallon-Galinier ◽  
Carlo Carmagnola ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Data Assimilation ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Mechanical Stability ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Radiation Absorption ◽  
Optical Scheme ◽  
Technical Developments ◽  
Forested Areas ◽  
Snowpack Properties

<p>This contribution presents an overview of the last stable release of the Crocus detailed snowpack model in the SURFEX opensource modelling platform. It gathers numerous recent scientific and technical developments in a common code version. An explicit representation of the evolution of light absorbing particles mass in snow (e.g. black carbon, mineral dust) allows representing their impact on solar radiation absorption in the snowpack in the visible and near-infrared spectrum through the TARTES optical scheme, and the consequences on all snowpack properties. Crocus is now coupled to the MEB (Multiple Energy Balance) vegetation scheme and can therefore be applied on forested areas. A module of snow management including grooming and snow making can also be optionally activated to simulate the snowpack on ski slopes. Developments used in the French operational system in support of avalanche hazard forecasting were also fully integrated in SURFEX: the SYTRON module for snow erosion and accumulation by the wind and the expert system MEPRA which analyses the mechanical stability of the simulated snowpacks. Finally, an ensemble multiphysics version of the model (ESCROC) was also developed by implementing from 2 to 4 parameterizations from the literature for each physical process represented by an uncertain empirical parameterization. The different combinations enable the quantification of simulations uncertainty required in various applications: future projections of snow cover; sensitivity analyses of a given process ; data assimilation of snow observations. Crocus and ESCROC are included in the ESM-SnowMIP model intercomparison and exhibit a robust skill in various climates and environments. Several running-time optimizations were also implemented in the latest release. We present an overview of the current numerical cost with a comparison to more classical snow schemes used in NWP and climate model applications. The code is provided through a git repository and with a simple visualization software to help users to display snowpack internal properties at local scale. On-going works are focused on the implementation of new data assimilation algorithms well suited to the numerical specificities of this scheme. An externalized version for coupling with other surface schemes is currently under development.</p>

scholarly journals Mine Development - The Practitioner's View

1981 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
G. Barry Finlayson ◽  
G. C. Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Joint Venture ◽  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Project Financing ◽  
Mine Development ◽  
Exploration And Development

The framework for mineral exploration and development agreements is not always similar to the pattern developed for similar undertakings in the petroleum industry. This paper describes the basic formats for option agreements and to the extent that there is any uniformity joint venture associations that are commonly used in the mining industry. The role and the components of project financing in mine development are also briefly reviewed.

PRODUCTION SHARING AGREEMENTS VERSUS THE ROYALTY REGIMES: WHERE IS THE BALANCE?

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Richard Cottee
Keyword(s):  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Veto Power ◽  
Regulatory Regime ◽  
Fixed Rate ◽  
Regulatory Scheme ◽  
Production Sharing ◽  
The Government

For many years the mining industry made its investment decisions safe in the knowledge that petroleum or minerals in the ground belonged to the State but upon severance of such petroleum from the ground the oil was vested in the miner. Commensurate with the ownership changing, a royalty was payable to the government at a fixed rate. With the enactment of the Petroleum (Australia-Indonesia Zone of Co-Operation) Act of 1990 (the 'Act'), serious consideration must now be given as to whether in the future this basic scheme may be dramatically and radically changed to a scheme based on a services contract whereby a certain percentage of the oil is paid in consideration of the miner 'managing the discovery and extraction of petroleum'.An increasing number of countries, including those such as Malaysia which have legal systems based on common law, have adopted petroleum sharing agreements as a basic method by which they 'encourage' petroleum exploitation. This paper:explores the major features of petroleum sharing agreements (which are now in use in the Timor Gap, Indonesia and Malaysia), and compares and contrasts those models with a regulatory scheme based on statutory leases with royalty payments (being the regulatory scheme used in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and elsewhere);reviews both the economic and legal consequences of the two regimes, assuming a constant Income Tax System.It concludes that whilst there are certain merits in both the royalty regulatory type regime and a production sharing regime it appears to the writer that on balance the royalty regulatory regime is much more beneficial to the industry than the alternate. This is particularly true given the fact that Australian governments generally should have sufficient confidence in their regulatory skills and Australian technology that it does not feel it necessary to be given a veto power for each and every decision made in respect of petroleum exploration or production.The major deficiencies of a production sharing arrangement are the fact that the risk taker does not obtain legal tide to the product until after it has either passed the point of tanker loading or been sold to some third party, and the concept of 'cost oil'. If the rates of government 'take' is so high that it is more profitable to obtain 'cost oil' for the company than to receive its 'share' under the production sharing agreement, then the petroleum industry as a whole will suffer gross inefficiency in that area.

THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE INCOME TAX ASSESSMENT ACT TO THE PETROLEUM MINING INDUSTRY

1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 135
Author(s):  
R. K. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Income Tax ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Capital Expenditure ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
Fixed Rate ◽  
Mining Operations ◽  
Tax Assessment ◽  
Port Facilities ◽  
Petroleum Oil

Division 10AA of the Income Tax Assessment Act provides a basis for deductibility of exploration and capital expenditure for the petroleum, oil and gas industries, with Division 10AAA allowing deductions for transport and port facilities. The taxpayer has the choice of electing out of Division 10AA so that, if he so wishes, he may claim income tax deductions under the normal depreciation provisions for plant depreciable. Within the framework of Division 10AA exploration expenditure may be written off in the year of expenditure to the extent of the net assessable income derived from any source. If there is any excess exploration expenditure it carries forward into an exploration pool and is available for deduction against future assessable income. For a deduction to be available for exploration expenditure, the Commissioner must be satisfied that the taxpayer is carrying on prescribed petroleum operations or a business which includes exploration or prospecting for the purpose of discovering petroleum. The Commissioner generally adopts the attitude that to enable the taxpayer to claim a deduction for exploration expenditure the taxpayer must have an interest directly or indirectly in the permit area.Capital expenditure can be deducted over a 10 year period at the fixed rate of 10 per cent per annum. Expenditure on transport and port facilities, if eligible, can also be deducted over a fixed instalment period of 10 years. Special provisions apply in relation to farm-ins and farm-outs, and where work is carried out by contractors. There is no specific incentive to invest money in the exploration business apart from the 27 per cent rebate found in Section 160ACA. The main provisions of the Income Tax Assessment Act affecting petroleum, oil and gas are summarized, some of the difficulties and the attitude of the Commissioner to the applications of the various sections are explained, and ways of treating certain expenditures are suggested. Topics such as drilling funds are discussed in detail.The Income Tax Assessment Act was basically written prior to the development of the petroleum industry and the Act itself adopts a rather simplistic approach which does not deal in depth with many of the important aspects of petroleum mining operations.

LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVES FOR THE AUSTRALIAN GAS INDUSTRY

1988 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 348
Author(s):  
T. Tormasi
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Mining Industry ◽  
World Market ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
Uniform Structure ◽  
Natural Function ◽  
Market Signals ◽  
The World

Changes in the structure of a modern economy are a natural function of altered world and domestic economic circumstances. It is important that the instrument of change be the marketplace. Governments around the world have not demonstrated a superior ability to 'pick winners'. There are many instances where governments have used public funds to foster the development of particular industries only to find that, as a result of economic circumstances, the favoured industries' reliance on public funding becomes chronic. The Government's role should be to ensure that market signals are transmitted and received clearly.In Australia structural change in the economy has been a fairly slow process. This has been brought about by the numerous obstacles that have existed in the marketplace. These have meant that, not only were market signals distorted or delayed, but when received did not motivate appropriate responses. For example, labour market rigidities, inequitable taxation policies, a fixed exchange rate, together with State Government charges, have posed real impediments to implementing the necessary adjustments to the Australian economy.The Australian mining industry and the petroleum industry, in particular, have always been geared to the world market and have increasingly constituted an important component of the nation's export receipts. With regard specifically the petroleum industry, the world price downturn of the past few years and the Government's decision to drop its import parity pricing will result in major changes in the Australian industry, particularly in the exploration sector. These signals suggest a world oversupply of petroleum with the corollary that additional reserves are not needed. A resultant downturn in exploration could develop into an irrevocable reversal and jeopardise the nation's strategically important petroleum industry.In light of the diminished circumstances of the sector it is essential that the petroleum industry receives equal treatment regarding taxation and other Government imposts. Failure to remove the discriminations against petroleum and to impose a uniform structure will result in a misallocation of resources and the possibility of a permanent winding down in exploration.

Delivered Successfully an Open Hole Side-Track from Very Challenging Formation Through Very Narrow MD Window: A Case Study from Kuwait

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naser Al-Barazi ◽  
Faisal Adel Al-Naqa ◽  
Manoj Chouhan ◽  
Alanoud Mahdi Al-Mekhlef ◽  
Ashraf Mohammad Saleh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
Stock Option ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Directional Drilling ◽  
Borehole Stability ◽  
Narrow Side ◽  
Open Hole ◽  
Side Track ◽  
Cement Plug

Abstract This article presents a unique case study where operating company, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), decided to make an attempt to perform open hole side-track through a very narrow side-track window along with other exiting conditions such as severe downhole losses and drill through very challenging formation. To deliver such project in first attempt requires very detailed planning, close coordination with various service partners such as directional drilling and cementing. Placing a good side-track cement plug in such formation was a challenge, and 2nd challenge to get kicked off from this narrow window in first attempt which was the key. In case of failure, whip stock option has to be planned as a contingency, which possess new challenging of opening a depleted zone leading to commingling low/high pressure formation which could cause a complicated problem such as borehole stability, leads to stuck pipe problem. Failure to side-track from open hole could end of planning to drill extra hole which required extra casing string to run which will put this project well over AFE and heavily impact on well objective. This open hole Side-track was planned because while drilling original hole (12 ¼" hole section) close to planned well TD, experienced complete losses. In attempt to cure the losses, LCM was pumped with no success. Performed thixotropic cement plug job for losses control. While performing thixotropic cement plug job, the cement flash set before finishing the displacement, leading to stuck string. After backing off string and fishing attempts, unable to recover the fish completely. Fish left in hole leading to only 68 ft of open hole window available to side-track where performing a cement job was impossible due to severe losses. Only way to secure the well is to try for open hole side-track. With existing sever loss situation for initiating open hole side-track was a serious challenge due to lack of side force and flow restriction to initiate the side-track. Extensive pre-job planning, peer review and risk assessment was done in coordination with various service partners to deliver such challenging side-track. A hazard analysis decision tree was established to pinpoint the risks and appropriate mitigation measures along with contingency plan put in place. A detailed side-track guidelines was shared and review with the field crew. The wellbore was successfully side-tracked through a challenging reactive shale formation in a first attempt using a customized kick-off BHA, which not only helped to avoid loss zone in side-tracked hole but also provide additional cost savings to the company. The good hole condition at the side-track point was important to enable smooth passing of the following directional BHA to achieve directional goals.

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