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The petroleum industry has had to curtail incoming manpower in the last few years due to a changing economic landscape. This change has made optimal use of engineering resources imperative. The optimization need not cause major upheavals within the industry. A shift in managerial thinking and a strategic integration of engineers and engineering managers into functional syndicates will aid in tapping the engineering energy and expertise present in an organization. The human brain processes information in several ways.

Tax investments are one of the vehicles that many investors may consider to reach their personal financial goals. A good tax investment lets you use dollars that would otherwise be paid in taxes, along with some out of your own pocket, to acquire assets that will help increase your net worth. To understand how it works, you have to look at how a tax investment is set up, as well as what it does.

Enhanced oil recovery may be defined as any combination of methods and materials which recovers oil more effectively than either plain waterflooding or gas injection. The three basic mechanisms which can be used (individually or in combination) to achieve increased recovery are to: (1) lower interfacial tension between oil and water; (2) use a solvent to extract oil; and (3) reduce viscosity contrast between the oil and displacing fluid by thinning the oil or thickening the displacing fluids.

Recent advances in the design of sonic logging tools and in the development of computer software have provided methods for the detection of hydrocarbons in porous formations. The detection of hydrocarbons is based on changes in the acoustical proper-ties of the formation, such as compressive wave travel time, Tc, shear wave travel time, Ts, attenuation of the acoustic energy, and changes in the frequency of the acoustic signal. The compressive and shear wave travel time to the compressive wave travel time is termed the velocity ratio.

The main purpose of staged fracture treatments is to selectively treat all the zones of interest in place of a collective treatment. Historically, cast iron bridge plugs were used for isolation of previously treated zones. After all desired intervals were stimulated, the plugs were drilled and the well brought on to production. However, cast iron bridge plugs do not allow the lower zones to be flowed back until the plugs are drilled out of the well bore.

When does a string of tubing look like? When a 10,000ft string of tubing is run into a well, all that is left to see is a few inches of tubing innocently sticking out of the wellhead, graphically portrayed in Figure 1. But, just what does the rest of the tubing look like?

In I977 the on-.site operations began on the Edna Delcambre No. I to evaluate the geothermal potential of high-pressure, high-temperature salt-water-bearing sands which are common to the Gulf Coast region. This projects, which was funded by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), tested two sands of the Planulian sand series. A discussion of the problems encountered, tests conducted, and equipment used. along with a summary of the results is presented in this paper.

Rule 36 of the Texas Railroad Commission is rapidly being recognized as one of the most, perhaps the most significant safety regulation of the post-OSHA era. Until the initial publication of Rule 36 in 1975 the many hazards of HIS were only vaguely understood and no regulation for positive control of the gas existed. It covers drilling operations as well as production and provides that every operator have written operating and training plans to protect both employees and the general public from uncontrolled gas leakage. It provides a workable mathematical formula for computing gas dispersion.

The use of a long slow stroke in rod-pumped oil wells has been the goal of prudent operators for many years. They have recognized that a major cost of operation was the repair and replacement of sucker rods, tubing, and bottom-hole pumps. Since most of these failures were the result of fatigue, corrosion fatigue, or wear, a reduction in the number and magnitude of fatigue-producing strokes would dramatically reduce their operating costs.

In the search for an improvement in rate of penetration in deep wells, the mechanics of rock failure during drilling has been reevaluated in order to understand functional relationships between the cutting process and the drilling parameters. Also, the relationship between wellbore pressure conditions and calculated mechanical specific energy is presented based on the laboratory results of rock cutting with polycrystalline compact diamond cutter under both the atmospheric and different magnitudes of differential pressure conditions.

The purpose of this presentation is to share the internal efforts and measurably successful crusade put forth by an oilfield rental tool company embarking on a quality initiative. The establishment of a viable alternative to the way the company had been operated during the previous seventeen years was paramount to this effort launched in 1989. At that time, the demands set forth by the oil companies of the industry established mandates for tighter and higher standards in the quahty and performance of rental tools.

The principles of cathodic protection, when applied to oil field vessels and well casings, have been more or less generally accepted within the last few years, and the application of cathodic protection to these structures has been the solution of many of the corrosion problems in the West Texas area. It is the purpose of this discussion to outline the procedures for determining the need as well as the application of the equipment to vessels and casings in the West Texas area.

The design of successful well stimulation treatments requires a thorough knowledge of the geologic characteristics of the formations involved. A discussion of the current methods of analysis is presented. In particular, the application of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis is demonstrated. The relative strengths and limitations of all the methods of analysis currently in use are compared. Examples of actual analyses are given to illustrate the value of formation analysis to the design of stimulation treatments.

This paper will demonstrate a different and proven approach to internal corrosion control in steel tubing, line pipe and casing. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and fiberglass-epoxy (FRP) insert linings can be installed in either new or used tubulars to prevent corrosion. These rigid linings afford a smooth uniform nominal inside diameter and are not affected by the rough pitted inner surfaces usually encountered in used pipe. Protecting the connections is a large part of the battle in corrosion control.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the application of pressure and temperature surveys to gas lift installations, not to discuss the mechanics of bottom hole pressure and temperature instruments. The advantages of pressure surveys prior to the installation of gas lift equipment are discussed. The procedure for running surveys in intermitting gas lift wells is offered. The determination of the operating valve or valves, using both the temperature and pressure survey in the same well, is presented.

The Queen Sand of southeastern New Mexico is characterized as a sequence of laminated sandstones and shale, bounded by anhydrite seals. Good permeability is evident but still the Queen requires fracture stimulation to be successful. The case presented in this study is an injection well from Chaves County in southeastern New Mexico. For this stimulation study, surface treating pressure data from a fracture treatment was history-matched with a pseudo 3D fracture simulator.

Safety must be paramount to both the service provider as well as the service recipient as our industry is mandated to provide a safe work environment for all personal involved in the well service and maintenance industry.

When crude oil is brought to the surface, various amounts of water, gas and other elements are mixed with the oil into a homogeneous mixture referred to as an "emulsion. " Before the oil is refined, the water, gas and other elements must he removed from the oil. This removal, or separation process, is referred to as "treating. " A combination of heat, settling and chemical treatment is used to affect "treating." A recent development adds the use of electrostatic grids to improve "treating. "

There are six basic API Loads critical to beam pumping. These loads interact during a complete pumping cycle. Fortunately these loads can be measured and compared against their respective counterparts. A building block approach which combines these basic loads aids in diagnosing operating and design problems. Standing and traveling valve actions tend to follow a fairly definite pattern during a normal pumping cycle. When abnormal pumping conditions occur, these valves may not conform to their respective normal patterns of opening and closing.

There are six basic API Loads critical to beam pumping. These loads interact during a complete pumping cycle. Fortunately these loads can be measured and compared against their respective counterparts. A building block approach which combines these basic loads aids in diagnosing operating and design problems. Standing and traveling valve actions tend to follow a fairly definite pattern during a normal pumping cycle. When abnormal pumping conditions occur, these valves may not conform to their respective normal patterns of opening and closing.

Care in handling either new or used tubing will result in fewer operational difficulties and less maintenance.

The care and maintenance of rod pumps may be considered under two categories; first, proper care, maintenance, and handling of the pump during its assembly, its delivery from the pump shop to the well and its installation in the well; and second, a careful analysis of the conditions of the well being pumped and operating the surface equipment to suit those conditions. We will discuss this subject of how we can prolong the life of pumps before the pump is installed and after it is run in the well.

The three phase squirrel cage induction electric motor built today is the most efficient electric motor that the industry has ever produced. It is the product of over one hundred years of evolution in materials and design of rotating electrical apparatus. Technology has allowed the manufacturer to reduce the physical size of the electric motor while increasing its efficiency.

Although there are many different ways of artificially lifting oil from a well, the old beam type pumping unit is still by far the most popular means and probably the most reliable under all conditions. Most of these units are actuated by a gear reducer which is powered by some kind of prime mover. For years, the internal combustion engine was practically the only source of power. Recently, however, the electric motor is replacing engines to a large degree.

This paper discusses the common causes and effects of measurement error in LACT unit custody transfers. The discussion covers the major components of a LACT unit, and their effects on measurement accuracy. It also pinpoints how the neglect of each of these components causes the loss of millions of dollars to the oil industry through inaccurate measurement. Also discussed is how the failure to strictly observe API procedures, during the testing of the crude oil sample, can result in measurement error.