Experience and Evaluation of Production Through High-Rate Gravel-Packed Oil Wells, Gullfaks Field, North Sea

1993 ◽  
Vol 8 (02) ◽  
pp. 108-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trond Unneland ◽  
R.I. Waage
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 8691-8722
Author(s):  
B. Y. Queste ◽  
L. Fernand ◽  
T. D. Jickells ◽  
K. J. Heywood ◽  
A. J. Hind

Abstract. In stratified shelf seas, oxygen depletion beneath the thermocline is a result of a greater rate of biological oxygen demand than the rate of supply of oxygenated water. Suitably equipped gliders are uniquely placed to observe both the supply through the thermocline and the consumption of oxygen in the bottom layers. A Seaglider was deployed in the shallow (≈ 100 m) stratified North Sea in a region of known low oxygen during August 2011 to investigate the processes regulating supply and consumption of dissolved oxygen below the pycnocline. The first deployment of such a device in this area, it provided extremely high resolution observations, 316 profiles (every 16 min, vertical resolution of 1 m) of CTD, dissolved oxygen concentrations, backscatter and fluorescence during a three day deployment. The high temporal resolution observations revealed occasional small scale events that supply oxygenated water into the bottom layer at a rate of 2±1 μmol dm−3 day−1. Benthic and pelagic oxygen sinks, quantified through glider observations and past studies, indicate more gradual background consumption rates of 2.5±1 μmol dm−3 day−1. This budget revealed that the balance of oxygen supply and demand is in agreement with previous studies of the North Sea. However, the glider data show a net oxygen consumption rate of 2.8±0.3 μmol dm−3 day−1 indicating a localised or short-lived increase in oxygen consumption rates. This high rate of oxygen consumption is indicative of an unidentified oxygen sink. We propose that this elevated oxygen consumption is linked to localised depocentres and rapid remineralisation of resuspensded organic matter. The glider proved to be an excellent tool for monitoring shelf sea processes despite challenges to glider flight posed by high tidal velocities, shallow bathymetry, and very strong density gradients. The direct observation of these processes allows more up to date rates to be used in the development of ecosystem models.


2010 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tero Härkönen ◽  
Karin C Harding

Phocine Distemper Virus (PDV) caused mass mortality in European harbour seals (Phoca vitulina) in 1988 and in 2002. Both epizootics likely originated from refugia in Arctic seals, where data indicate PDV hops among populations and species. The metapopulation structure of host populations is suggested to be the reason why PDV is preserved among Arctic seals, since the high rate of spread of PDV would require much larger panmictic populations to maintain an infection. The pattern of sudden outbreaks of PDVis also seen in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus), the only to date identified species that could act as a vector between Arctic and North Sea seal populations. Harbour seal populations along mainland Europe were below critical herd immunity levels by 3-5 years after the events, and thus vulnerable for new outbreaks, but historical data and the 14 years between the 2 epizootics suggest that harbour seals in the North Sea area are only rarely exposed to the infective agent. The risk for new outbreaks of the seal plague in North Sea harbour seals is likely linked to the dynamics of the disease in Arctic seal species as well asvector species.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 265-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Andsbjerg ◽  
Karen Dybkjær

A sequence stratigraphic framework is established for the Jurassic of the Danish Central Graben based primarily on petrophysical log data, core sedimentology and biostratigraphic data from about 50 wells. Regional seismic lines are used to assist in the correlation of some wells and in the construction of isochore maps. In the Lower Jurassic (Hettangian–Pliensbachian) succession, five sequences have been identified. The Middle Jurassic is subdivided into four sequences that together span the uppermost Aalenian/lowermost Bajocian to the Callovian. In the Upper Jurassic, better well coverage permits greater stratigraphic resolution, and 11 sequences are identified and mapped. On the basis of the sequence stratigraphic correlation and the construction of isochore maps for individual sequences, the Jurassic basin history of the Danish Central Graben can be subdivided into seven discrete phases: (1) Shallow marine and offshore sediments deposited in a prerift basin extending from the North Sea to the Fennoscandian Border Zone (Hettangian–Pliensbachian). (2) Uplift and erosion in association with a Toarcian–Aalenian North Sea doming event. A major hiatus represents this phase in the study area. (3) Terrestrial and marginal marine sedimentation during initial rifting (latest Aalenian/earliest Bajocian – Late Callovian). (4) Early Oxfordian – Early Kimmeridgian transgression during and after a rift pulse. The sedimentary environment changed from coastal plain and marginal marine to fully marine. (5) Regression associated with a cessation or slowing of subsidence during a structural rearrangement that took place in the Late Kimmeridgian during a break in the main rift climax. Shallow to marginal marine sandstones were deposited above an erosion surface of regional extent. (6) Deep-water mudstones deposited in a composite graben with high subsidence rates related to rift pulses (latest Late Kimmeridgian – middle Middle Volgian). (7) Deposition of organic-rich mudstones and turbidite sandstones during the late Middle Volgian – Early Ryazanian. The main basin shallowed, became more symmetrical and experienced a decreasing rate of subsidence, recording the onset of the post-rift stage. A relative sea-level curve is constructed for the Middle–Late Jurassic. It shows close similarity to published eustatic (global) and relative (North Atlantic area) sea-level curves in the latest Bathonian – late Early Kimmeridgian, but differs in the Late Kimmeridgian – Middle Volgian interval, probably due to the high rate of subsidence in the study area.


2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1209-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bastien Y. Queste ◽  
Liam Fernand ◽  
Timothy D. Jickells ◽  
Karen J. Heywood ◽  
Andrew J. Hind

Abstract. In stratified shelf seas, oxygen depletion beneath the thermocline is a result of a greater rate of biological oxygen demand than the rate of supply of oxygenated water. Suitably equipped gliders are uniquely placed to observe both the supply through the thermocline and the consumption of oxygen in the bottom layers. A Seaglider was deployed in the shallow (≈ 100 m) stratified North Sea in a region of known low oxygen during August 2011 to investigate the processes regulating supply and consumption of dissolved oxygen below the pycnocline. The first deployment of such a device in this area, it provided extremely high-resolution observations, 316 profiles (every 16 min, vertical resolution of 1 m) of conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD), dissolved oxygen concentrations, backscatter, and fluorescence during a 3-day deployment.The high temporal resolution observations revealed occasional small-scale events (< 200 m or 6 h) that supply oxygenated water to the bottom layer at a rate of 2 ± 1 µmol dm−3 day−1. Benthic and pelagic oxygen sinks, quantified through glider observations and past studies, indicate more gradual background consumption rates of 2.5 ± 1 µmol dm−3 day−1. This budget revealed that the balance of oxygen supply and demand is in agreement with previous studies of the North Sea. However, the glider data show a net oxygen consumption rate of 2.8 ± 0.3 µmol dm−3 day−1, indicating a localized or short-lived (< 200 m or 6 h) increase in oxygen consumption rates. This high rate of oxygen consumption is indicative of an unidentified oxygen sink. We propose that this elevated oxygen consumption is linked to localized depocentres and rapid remineralization of resuspended organic matter.The glider proved to be an excellent tool for monitoring shelf sea processes despite challenges to glider flight posed by high tidal velocities, shallow bathymetry, and very strong density gradients. The direct observation of these processes allows more up to date rates to be used in the development of ecosystem models.


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