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The development of the _ inch sucker rod was necessary to satisfy a growing problem within the oil industry. This problem has been pointed up in ever increasing importance by the upward trend in lifting costs in comparison to a more or less constant or even, at times, downward trend in production profits. There are two principal divisions of cost in any analysis of lifting costs: one of these is labor; the other, of course, is material.

The salt water disposal system should be properly designed in order that maintenance costs may be kept to a minimum. Invariably, oil and gas will enter the system by malfunctioning lease equipment. Proper design of gathering lines, junctions and terminal facilities will alleviate or possibly eliminate problems caused by mixture of oil and gas in the system. Trouble-free salt water disposal systems do not "just happen"; they are properly designed and adequately maintained by experienced supervisory personnel.

Remote monitoring is distinct from more complex and expensive distributed control systems in its focus on providing visibility to the data rather than autonomous control of oilfield processes. Several of the underlying components are similar in name and function though the goals are different. Remote monitoring of production operations outside of supermajors and large independents is still in its infancy. Despite this fact many independents have enjoyed significant economic and operational value from early adoption of the technology. We"ll use several
case studies to highlight their results.

The industry continues to look for automated devices that can assist in optimizing artificial lift performance, with the object of improving efficiency and reducing the workload placed on the level of operator personnel dictated by economic requirements. An intermittent control system has been designed that monitors the critical pressure points of the well and surface facilities, together with flowing condition, and uses them to dictate the Shut In and Flow or Injection cycles in order to optimize its performance.

Gas interference and sand production are two of the biggest challenges for operators of sucker-rod pumped wells in southeast New Mexico's Delaware Basin. This paper will discuss the re-application of an old sucker-rod pump tool that solves both of these problems. The Panacea Pump Tool, which can be installed on any rod pump with a pin threaded barrel, consists of a hollowed out rod-pump extension coupling. A cavity created by the tool maintains a minimum liquid level in the pump barrel, which reduces gas interference and breaks gas lock.

The "Permeator" completion technique is a new approach toward obtaining complete zone coverage and provides a means of controlling the performance of the producing formation throughout the life of the well. Added benefits include maximum protection of cement bonding and reduction of hole-to-hole communication.

Schematic Cross-Section, West to East of the Permian Basin of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico (Fig. 1) is drawn with vertical: horizontal exaggeration of approximately 50:l. This presentation will cover 600 million years of basin formation and sedimentation and about 70 years of petroleum exploration and development in thirty minutes. This will require exaggeration on a scale greater than l00:l, megascale oversimplification and omission of all Aggie jokes. The presentation will describe how the basin formed, dominant time-stratigraphic units and typical hydrocarbon traps.

The most efficient use of the skills of a petroleum engineer allow him to devote the majority of his time and talents to analysis and interpretation of data, multidisciplinary activities such as economic evaluations, creative and research-level thinking. A petroleum engineer's skills may be used more efficiently if he is not required to perform mechanical or data-gathering tasks. Petroleum paratechnologists can absorb most of the mechanical, data gathering, field interpretation and analysis tasks for petroleum engineers.

The Petrovalve technology eliminates the high failure rate and low efficiency inherent to the traditional ball and seat valve configuration which has been in use for the last 70 years. These improvements are due to the guided seating surfaces of the Petrovalve design, providing some exciting opportunities for producing oil companies through both material selection and operating variables. With a larger flow area and less pressure drop across the valve, the Petrovalve design allows for increased pump efficiency. Production increases of 35% are not uncommon in the field.

The Progressive Cavity Pump (PCP) has been used in down-hole applications for over fifteen (15) years and has progressed from only one model and one elastomer to over twenty models and several different elastomers. The depth range for the rod driven pump system has increased from 1000" to 6000" and even a few 8000" applications. These applications call for special elastomers and considerations as to the fit and/or design of the pump and the system. Down-hole pump displacements have increased from 5 to over 1000 bpd/l00 t-pm.

The future of an oil or gas well is dependent on its early life. One of the things occurring in a well's early life which affects its future is cementing the well. Proper application of cement ensures good zone isolation and protection of casing. Good zone isolation is necessary to ensure that the stimulation treatment is applied only to the zone of interest and to limit production of undesirable well fluids.

The ability to estimate descriptive engineering parameters, such as permeability, and to generate production forecasts and reserves based on those parameters, without the cost of fir11 numerical simulation or extended buildup tests, is provided by the Reciprocal Productivity Index graphical production analysis method. The method's theoretical basis arises corn the fact that traditional constant rate or constant pressure (potential) boundary conditions are sufficient, but that the necessary boundary condition only requires that the sandface transmissibility remain constant over time.

Fluid injection into the Permian carbonate rocks of West Texas has generated millions of barrels of additional reserves in recent years. Sufficient performance history is now available so that certain general conclusions may be drawn and guidelines set for future project installation. The fundamental precept for evaluating these reservoirs for fluid injection is a detailed knowledge of their geology. Permian carbonante reservoirs can be characterized by the dominant trapping mechanism into three distinct types. Different performance histories may be anticipated for each type.

The petroleum industry today is faced with an acute shortage of technical personnel. If this trend continues, the industry will suffer economically as well as technologically. The United States" petroleum industry has always been a leader in the world in technological achievements and in all facets of oil and gas drilling and production techniques. Oil, gas and service company personnel have traveled the world over aiding many countries in their oil and gas development.

The internal protection of pipe through the use of plastic coatings applied by "in place" methods has enjoyed a rising acceptance in the oil and gas industry during the past four years. This growth was witnessed in 1958 as compared to all preceding years, not only by a larger dollar value of sales. But also by a larger average job contract; a wider variety of reasons which lead the individual user to select "in place" methods; and by an actual greater number of users.

The Salt Creek Field Unit is located in Kent County, Texas, 70 miles southeast of Lubbock. Mobil E & P U. S. is operator of the waterflood, CO2 flood, a CO2 separation and re-injection plant, and a NGL recovery plant. CO2 injection began October 26, 1993, into the 57 pattern Phase I area. Oil production has increased from 18,500 BOPD in October, 1993 to 29,500 BOPD in November 1994. This paper is a status report of the CO2 operations to date.

The purpose of this paper is to select a normal deep well and to design combinations of tubing strings. In many wells today, the design of tubing strings is not based simply on the function of tension, collapse and burst of available API tubes. Corrosion has been an oilfield problem almost from the beginning of the industry. High field pressures and deeper wells have added a whole new list of words to the oilfield vocabulary, particularly when referring to tubing; words such as stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement and so on.

This paper discusses the selection, fabrication and application of flexible thermoplastic materials that provide impervious liners in oil-field tanks. Installations in steel-bolted, steel welded and other types of tanks are considered. Protection from mechanical damage, pipe connection sealing, inspection and testing are discussed. In addition both successful and unsuccessful case histories are presented.

Since the inception of the rod pump it has been assumed that all rod pumps must lift fluid. For centuries that has been true. In modern times leathers and flapper valves have been replaced with spray-metal plungers and balls and seats, metal barrels have replaced bamboo and wooden sucker-rods are now made of metal, but the concept and primary design has stayed the same.

This paper describes the performance of both a pilot and a Unit-wide carbon dioxide (CO2) flood in the Slaughter Estate Unit, Slaughter Field, Hockley County, Texas. The performance and design of both projects are compared and contrasted. The comparison yields insight into the process, the impact of flood design variables, and the effects of project scale. Between 1976 and 1984, Amoco Production Company conducted a pilot flood consisting of a double five-spot pattern of twelve acres in the Slaughter Estate Unit.

The need for a radioactive waste repository is not predicated upon public acceptance of nuclear power: the need already exists. Wastes from the chemical processes associated with plutonium production have been accumulating within the AEC/ERDA complex since World War II. The nuclear power reactor fuel cycle is plugged with 2000 metric tons of spent fuel awaiting reprocessing, and the backlog is growing rapidly. Clearly, there will be a radioactive waste repository; the only questions to be answered are where and how big it

The statistical analyses of wireline logging data can be used as a guideline to predict the reservoir performance of the Permian and Pennsylvanian sandstone reservoirs in the Val Verde Basin of Southwest Texas. This study shows that the higher the statistical deviation of the logging data associated with the sand, the lower and the more erratic the natural gas production.

The current statutory depletion allowance of 27.5% of gross sales is and has been the subject of much controversy. Critics claim the 27.5% figure is unjustifiably high and should be reduced. However, in practice, with few exceptions, the actual allowable depletion for oil producing properties is less than 27.5% of gross sales due to the provision that allowable depletion cannot exceed 50% of net income. The actual depletion allowance realized depends upon a variety of factors or conditions.

Any procedure used to increase the flow of fluids from a well can be called a stimulation treatment. In general, such treatments fall into two broad categories: first, those performed as a part of normal well completion and second, remedial treatments designed to boost declining production of older wells. The principal stimulation methods are (1) nitro blasting, (2) perforating, (3) acidizing, (4) fracturing, and (5) formation-cleaner treatments.

The reliability of tuning and sucker rods is critical to the successful long-term production of a well. Corrosion, erosion-corrosion and mechanical wear can significantly reduce the life of tubing and sucker rods.
Internal Plastic Coatings (IPC) technology has evolved over the past 75 years and recent advancements in material have significant increased the abrasion resistance of the coatings for Oil Country Tubular Goods (OCTG).