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A geographical and lithological diagram pertaining to oil well cementing is presented for the Delaware Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. The composite cementing programs were selected from jobs performed in the area. Jobs selected were used as examples of design considerations for the problems which can be expected in the area. The materials and equipment are discussed in relationship to formation conditions which determine their selection. Cementing techniques of the area are presented in detail. One method considered unique to the area is presented.

Fluid pound has long been a problem with maintaining good run life of the pumping system. The result of fluid pounding is costly and deprives the industry of dollars that can be used to invest in improvements instead of repairs. With the bottom line decreasing, how can each operator remain in business and stay profitable? The cost of making that extra barrel of oil may be greater than the revenue received.

A discussion of the Cummin CD&W San Andres waterflood project in Ector County, Texas is presented. This waterflood, operated by Cities Service Oil Company, began in 1961 with a pilot consisting of four water injection wells and one oil well. The project has been expanded to twenty-eight injection wells and twenty-five oil wells based on the results of the pilot project. Secondary oil recovery to date exceeds 800,000 barrels. The success of the project has been attributed to close spacing of water injection wells and relatively low water injection rates.

When an operator is faced with the prospect of fracture treating large pay intervals, several options exist. The most popular technique appears to be single stage limited entry, followed by multiple stages with bridge plugs or baffle rings. With the growing acceptance of 3-D fracture simulators the technique of cluster perforating has provided a third option. The 3-D models often suggest that large intervals can be effectively connected to the wellbore using a single propped fracture initiated from a relatively small perforated interval.

This paper will review how the current electronic tubing inspection equipment and interpretative techniques are being applied on field tubing inspection and electronic scanning jobs.

The primary function of a well service rig during the well maintenance process is to retrieve and run drill pipe, tubing, and/or sucker rods. Producers recognize that the proper assembly of these well components is critical to maximizing the time between maintenance jobs, and to maximizing profitability. Producer and contractor management alike, have the expectation that rig personnel can meet optimum torque requirements specified by manufacturers of these tubular goods. However, the equipment available to crews to accomplish their work has not significantly changed in decades.

Lockheed Petroleum Services Ltd. offers an oil and gas production system that allows operators to locate much of the producing equipment on the ocean floor, out of sight and far removed from shipping and weather hazards. Oil and gas wells are drilled from a drillship or semisubmersible drilling rig, and submarine flow lines carry produced fluids to a nearby platform. With this system. a large oil or gas field can be developed without using multiple platforms, as one will serve " an entire field when subsea well completions are used.

A faster downstroke in a beam and sucker rod pumping system, traditionally considered unfavorable to the best production practices, may have some surprising, beneficial side effects not readily apparent to the casual observer. This particular kinematic characteristic may increase productivity in several ways; reduce peak rod and structural load and maximum rod stress; deliver more safe work to the bottomhole pump; and in some cases even decrease rod load range and soften the impact resulting from fluid and gas pound.

With the increased use of polysaccharides in fracturing treatments, subsequent problems have been encountered with inadequate polymer hydration, weak or over crosslinked fluid, formation of fish eyes, low viscosity and uncontrolled breakout. Problems have also occurred due to inadvertent contamination from water supplies and fracturing tanks. In field studies of the Lost Hills and South Belridge areas in Kern County, Calif., field conditions and operational procedures were found to constitute critical factors in successful dispersion and in ideal cross-linking of polysaccharides.

A safe and effective biological paraffin control technology, based on the use of a mixed culture of naturally occurring bacteria, has been developed by Kiseki Inc. A research program was undertaken to determine the main mode of action of the microbial paraffin control technology. From the initial phase of this study, the results from field studies on 26 oil wells in Alberta are discussed in relation to the use of bacterial counts in the produced fluid as an indication of effective paraffin control downhole.

A presentation of a three year field study covering 225 pumping wells from depths of 400 to 8000 feet utilizing electrical and internal combustion prime movers. Operational and maintenance costs, motor controls, accessories, record and inspection programs for both methods are discussed.

The primary purpose of this paper is to present a field evaluation of paraffin problems and to show how they can be alleviated by using certain plastic flow lines and plastic coated tubing. In order to more fully examine the advantages and disadvantages of the various methods available, a paraffin cost study of Field A and Field B is presented.

Diverting methods have been developed and used extensively to distribute treating fluids in a zone or to divert them from one zone to another. Diverting may be accomplished mechanically or chemically. Mechanical diverting with perforation-sealing balls is a common procedure, but conditions may exist which make it ineffective. The height of the zone, number of perforations, limited pump rate, and capacity of the formation to take fluid are factors which may lower fluid velocity so that it is not adequate to seat the balls on the perforations.

The oil and gas regulatory data mapping portal was introduced to New Mexico in 2009. The purpose of the mapping portal was to help oil and gas operators, natural resource environmental managers, and other related sector professionals evaluate natural resources and man-made features within a subject area. While initially designed for the New Mexico Pit Rule, the data provided by the portal has proven to be useful for other applications and beyond the borders of New Mexico. The mapping portal has been expanded to include data for surrounding states.

Success and progress in our industry depend upon a coordinated system of integrated activities seeking, but not always maintaining, a balance between production and consumption. We must continue to advance in the technology of finding, producing, transporting and refining petroleum, and, as well, in the transformation of the raw materials into useful products through petrochemical processes. We recognize, therefore, that a good job much be done up and down the line.

Better design, study of operations and planned maintenance of subsurface equipment can often result in reduced lifting cost per barrel of oil. A suggested graphical history of pumping operations will be presented which acts as a graphical records help to readily illustrate problem wells and are also good guides for determining remedial action when necessary. Field cases using the graphical form and results of remedial work will be presented.

The "Ultrasonic Cement Analyzer" (UCA) is the name given a new generation device (Fig. 1) that continuously monitors strength development of oil well cement compositions. A single sample of cement slurry is placed in the instrument under pressure and heated to simulate downhole conditions. Measurements of the cement's ultrasonic velocity are started during the fluid state and continue through initial set to any desired point of partial or final strength development. Strength values are continuously computed and displayed until the test is terminated.

In the 1940's neutron logging was commercially developed as an alternate method of determining porosity. The ability to respond to formations behind casing foretold a great future. Unfortunately, however, the same principles which allow a neutron log to predict porosity as a function of the hydrogen index of a formation also produce many undesirable effects. The principles of operation of the compensated neutron log represent the culmination of technology intended to overcome these undesirable effects and to provide a usable tool in the search for petroleum products.

Low-temperature (50F to 100F) wells present a special problem for the application of fracturing technology using current highly viscous water-gels. As the gelling-agent concentration increases, the gel/s require more time to effect a complete breakdown of the gel. This tends to slow turn-around time after treatment and, in some cases, inhibits complete clean-up. Techniques have been developed to circumvent this problem, but they involve lowering the gelling-agent concentration. This has also resulted in lowering the proppant concentration and increasing the pump rate.

The objective of most all waterfloods is to inject water at rates as high as possible without fracturing the formation. Sometimes fractures of limited length are required to reach beyond near wellbore damage of an injection well. However, a fracture that grows to larger distances may drastically affect the volumetric sweep efficiency of a waterflood pattern. As waterflood projects mature, increasingly higher water rates are necessary to maintain oil rates. Increasing water injection rates may exceed the fracture gradient and start or extend a fracture.

Maintaining hole gauge has always been a drilling concern and problem. Historically gauge protection above the bit has been accomplished by using hard metals that offer good wear resistance. There are limitations to this method for actually sustaining a quality gauge hole. Other methods for accomplishing a gauge hole are mechanical devices placed in the drilling assembly, such as reamers. These tools also have limitations in directional applications and hostile environments.

In a well bore, the cement sheath is subjected to pressure changes from various well operations such as changes in the densities of displacement fluids, pressure testing, fracturing, and remedial operations. Failure of cement sheath in annulus due to pressure changes can lead to debonding from the formation or the casing causing microannulus formation, and/or produce cracks in the cement matrix thereby providing flow paths for fluids such as oil, water or gas. Such failures lead to expensive remedial operations in a producing well, or continuous monitoring in an abandoned well.

Several methods of calculating downhole dynamometer cards from surface dynamometer cards have been presented in the literature. Each of the methods requires knowing the viscous damping coefficient. This paper presents a non-iterative method for finding this term. A new method for calculating-a downhole dynamometer card is also presented. This method is faster and more accurate than the fourier analysis and the finite difference method using the second order damped wave equation. In Gibb's patent, two methods of determining the damping coefficient are presented.

The vast majority of hydrogen sulfide monitoring systems historically use the solid state, semiconductor, metal oxide film type sensor. This type of H2S sensor has some inherent traits which manifest themselves in the field as application problems. Examples of these application problems include lack of repeatability (span drift), partial or total loss of response with removal of power, frequent and complicated calibration requirements, desensitization with exposure to moisture and the need to subject the sensors to H2S gas between calibrations to prevent them from "going to sleep".

Gas passage performance of gas lift valves under dynamic conditions has only been studied in the last twenty years. Proper assessment of gas injection rates at valve operating conditions requires the use of sophisticated measuring and control equipment only a few companies possess; and involves tedious and time-consuming data acquisition procedures. As a result, many gas lift installations are designed even today without properly accounting for the dynamic behavior of operating gas lift valves.