Petroleum Engineering Commons^™

Arctic Pipelining -- Tough, Costly, But Feasible, William H. Pearn

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

The development of vitally important Arctic petroleum resources presents new and interesting challenges. Although the answers to some questions will undoubtedly undoubtedly go unresolved until considerable operating experience has accrued, we can improve our present insight through an awareness of the work performed by others under similar conditions. This presentation focuses on Soviet pipelining experience in arctic and subarctic regions of Siberia.

Drilling Problems Associated With Arctic Minerals, Robert L. Parker

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

With major involvements in Alaska, the experience gained from these operations reflect the success of talented personnel in meeting the challenges of climate, equipment, logistics, perma-frost, etc. Real concern stems from present delays in the Arctic program due to financing involved as well as increasing dependency of the United States upon these reserves in today’s market and supply situation.

Arctic Marine Terminals -- Some Environmental And Engineering Considerations, Robert L. Mccollom Jr., William W. Moore

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

Studies are presently underway to determine the technical and economic feasibility of various Arctic marine transportation systems, including ice-breaker super-tankers and submarine tankers. An important consideration in these studies is the design and construction of marine terminal facilities which will be suited to the unique problems of the Arctic. Factors which will significantly affect the design of proposed marine terminals include:

1) bathymetric configuration of the continental shelf;
2) influence of moving pack ice on artificial structures, both at the air-water interface and along the bottom;
3) lateral and vertical variations in soil conditions, including residual permafrost, which might adversely …

Arctic Oil And The S.S. Manhattan, Russell H. Venn

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

The discovery of oil on Alaska’s North Slope in 1968 not only focused attention on that remote part of our world, it set the stage for one of the most exciting and significant scientific expeditions of our time—the voyage of the ice breaking tanker SS Manhattan through the Northwest Passage.

In the space available I would like to discuss with you that historic expedition, how it came to be, and comment on the results, as we see them.

Oil And Gas Reserves In The Siberian Shelf, A. J. Eardley

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

The Arctic region must be the world’s largest storehouse of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons, and the vast Siberian region, both “on land” and “off shore” must be considered with envy by the free-world’s geologists for its oil and gas potential. It is here estimated that the off shore continental shelf of U.S.S.R. Siberia contains a reserve of 200 billion barrels of oil and 500 trillion cut. ft. of gas. These very approximate figures come from meager data obtained from the literature on oil and gas discoveries in the Siberian Arctic, the basin location of these discoveries, and the projection of …

The Role Of The Independent In Alaska's Mineral Development, D. L. Simasko

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

In 68 years of oil industry history in Alaska, the independent has already played a substantial role. Eighty-three independent oil companies or operators have participated in drilling 82 exploratory wells or stratigraphic tests. Their activities extended from the discovery of first commercial oil at Katalla in 1902, to the extension of the Prudhoe Bay field in 1970. The success ratio for wildcat wells in Alaska is considerably higher than “outside,” and fields have all been major in statute, thereby reducing the cost per barrel of finding oil.

The most immediate deterrent to the success of the independent in Alaska is …

Maintenance And Operation Of Facilities And Equipment In The Arctic, Charles C. Norris, Charles W. Kelley, Carroll C. Livingston

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

This has been but a short sketch of a few of the problems attached to living and working in the Arctic. Much has been learned about this remote and hostile area of the world; there is much more knowledge and experience required, as has been demonstrated by the controversy surrounding the routing and construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Man’s progress depends not only on means for his survival, but also on deep ecological considerations and solid engineering.--Conclusion.

The Alaska Business Community's View Of The Development Of Alaska, William H. Scott

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

America has discovered Alaska!! Or maybe that’s just the way it seems to us Alaskans. Even though Secretary of State Seward bought the Great Land (that’s what Alaska means in native tongue) more than a hundred years ago, very little of its nature has drifted down to the “Lower 48”. That is until the great oil reserves were discovered on the now-famous North Slope. Only then was the fact of Alaska’s mineral wealth translated into something other than very general admissions that Alaska was the natural resource storehouse of the United States. Now one would naturally conclude that the Prudhoe …

The U.S. Army's Experience In Handling Petroleum In An Arctic Environment, Frederic Johnson

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

This article pinpoints the various facets that the US Military experienced in Petroleum Operations in the Arctic environment Since the Military were the pioneers in Arctic operations, this experience could prove invaluable if and when the TAPS pipeline is constructed. The article deals primarily with various problems which beset the pipeliners during the initial construction phases and the peculiarities experienced during operations. A slightly different aspect will be experienced, however, when the Oil Industry moves relatively hot crude oil through the pipelines with TAPS since the Military moved only clean product.

The article addresses above ground pipeline operations, problems encountered …

The Future Of Anchorage, Claire O. Banks

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

So, in conclusion ... our Air Crossroads of the World contemplates its future, from a similar position as that of the ancient Greeks, or later the city of Rome... and much later ... England — the trade center of its time, between East and West — North and South. In any event, we are in the enviable position of being able to determine our future. Aside from the tremendous growth and build-up factors, we are unique because of our urbanity ... nowhere else are the advantages of modern day living offered to the extent they exist here, while at the …

State Regulatory Controls On Oil & Gas, Thomas R. Marshall Jr.

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

Alaska oil and gas regulatory matters are under the jurisdiction of a three-man Oil and Gas Conservation Committee, all of which are state employees.

In the last 10 years State water bottoms in Cook Inlet have been leased, explored and oil production amounting to about 200,000 barrels a day has been established. Cook Inlet is subject to very high tides and heavy ice flows. Five Salmon runs also occur in the Cook Inlet. The average daily production rate per well in the Cook Inlet area is nearly one hundred times the national average.

The Prudhoe Bay oil field discovered in …

Geologic Considerations And Solid Mineral Potential Of Alaska, A. E. Weissenborn

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

In marked contrast to Alaska’s petroleum industry, production from the State’s mining industry has declined drastically. Despite favorable geologic conditions, mineral exploration and development have been held back by inaccessibility, rugged terrain, severe climate, and scarcity and high cost of labor. Changing economic and political conditions, improved exploration techniques, and the ever increasing demand for minerals have again directed attention to Alaska’s mineral potential. Important discoveries in British Columbia and Yukon Territory have further stimulated exploration in Alaska. The probability that significant discoveries will result is high.

The titaniferous iron ores of southeastern Alaska probably will be brought into production …

Alaska's Possible Petroleum Provinces, George Gryc

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

Petroleum is the major Alaskan source of energy immediately available to the United States. Petroleum accounted for 89 percent or about $219 million of Alaska’s total mineral production in 1969 estimated at nearly $245 million.

Alaska’s first oil field was discovered at Katalla in 1902. About 154,000 barrels of oil were produced from 1902 to 1933. From 1945 through 1952, 45 shallow core tests and 36 test wells were drilled in and adjacent to Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4 in northern Alaska. Oil deposits with possible reserves of 72 to 112 million barrels and gas deposits with possible reserves of …

Acknowledgement Of Symposium Moderators, University Of Missouri--Rolla

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

No abstract provided.

Preface, Paul Dean Proctor, Robert E. Carlile

UMR Journal -- V. H. McNutt Colloquium Series

Because this university, formerly under the well known title of Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, has contributed so much to the nation’s and world’s mineral supplies through the work of its well trained graduates, it was considered appropriate that a major symposium be held during its Centennial Year on one of the last major mineral frontiers of the United States......Alaska.

Preliminary planning for the symposium on “Alaska, Its Mineral Potentials and Environmental Challenges” began in the fall of 1969. In January, 1970, Robert E. Carlile and Paul Dean Proctor visited Alaska to meet with some of the petroleum and …

A Study Of The Phase Behavior Of Carbon Dioxide-Methane-Normal Decane Systems, Raja Audi Mansoor

Masters Theses

“The effect of carbon dioxide concentration, on solubility has been studied for several carbon dioxide-methane-n-decane systems. Experimental results were obtained using differential vaporization tests. Computational results were obtained using equilibrium constants.

The relation between solubility, bubble point pressure and solution carbon dioxide is presented. A ternary diagram showing the bubble point pressure behavior as a function of system composition is also presented”--Abstract, page ii.

Development Of A Technique For The Determination Of Capillary Pressure Curves Using A Constantly Accelerated Centrifuge, Robert N. Hoffman

Masters Theses

"A new technique for determining capillary pressure curves with a centrifuge has been developed and tested. Capillary pressure curves were determined for six cores by this technique and were compared to the curves for the same cores determined by the semi-permeable barrier technique. The technique differs from previously reported centrifuge techniques in that the centrifuge was slowly accelerated from zero to the maximum desired speed, rather than being held constant at particular, progressively higher speeds. An important advantage of this technique over other methods for determining capillary pressure curves is the short time required to obtain the desired amount of …

New Genera And Species Of Myripristid Fishes, In The Gulf Coast Cenozoic, Known From Otoliths (Pisces, Beryciformes)

School of Mines and Metallurgy Bulletins

Studies of fossil and Recent otoliths (sagittae) supply an important line of evidence, bearing on classification of teleost fishes, supplementary to that of anatomy, osteology, and "phylogenetic" paleoichthyology.

Squirrelfishes ( " Holocentridae" of authors) are generalized forms in which evolutionary divergence of some mag nitude is reflected in unpreservable details of anatomy, inconspicuous skeletal structures, and striking differentiation of the sagittae. Otoliths show the holocentroid complex to consist of one homogeneous unit (l\fyripristidae, elevated) and another more heterogeneous group (Holocentridae, restricted). These lineages have been separate. at least since the middle Eocene.

A revised classification, based on available lines of …

Crustacean Gastroliths From The Jackson Eocene Of Louisiana

School of Mines and Metallurgy Bulletins

Wechesia louisianae, n. sp., is described from upper Eocene beds at Montgomery, Louisiana. Second species of the genus, it extends the range of Wechesia Frizzell and Exline from Claiborne (middle) Eocene and validates the generic diagnosis.

A Study Of Invert Emulsion Drilling Fluids, Edward R. Tegland

Masters Theses

"Since invert emulsions are being applied as drilling fluids to cope with special drilling and completion problems, evaluations of existing and new types of emulsions are needed. Three types of emulsions are evaluated in this study: (1) type A emulsions prepared with a commercial emulsifier, (2) type B emulsions prepared by adding clay to the external phase, and (3) type C emulsions containing no externally added emulsifier.

Standard testing procedures were used to measure the viscosity and filtration properties of the emulsions studied. Interfacial tension measurements were made using a technique described in the literature. The degree of stability for …

Graphical Solution Of Concentration At Production Wells Of Injected Radioactive Water Tracers, George E. Vaughn Jr.

Masters Theses

"With the advent of field research in which radioactive isotopes are used as tracers for water injected in secondary-recovery operations, knowledge of the probable transit time between wells of an injected tracer, its concentration at detection points, and the resultant optimum injection concentration has become important. Both detection and, consequently, injection concentrations of radioactive tracers are at least in part functions of the loss of tracer for various reasons, flow characteristics between wells, the rate of decay of radioactive emission, and the sensitivity of the detection apparatus. A method, based on the characteristics of a homogeneous 5-spot system, has been …

A Comparison Of The Effect Of Pvt Data Application Methods On Predicted Depletion Drive Reservoir Performance, Frederick A. Klein

Masters Theses

"It is generally agreed that the evolution of gas from oil within a reservoir is most closely approximated by the differential liberation process, while gas liberation in the flow string, surface separator, and stock tank is most nearly represented by flash liberation. To conform with this assumed physical behavior, appropriate application of both flash and differential liberation data in the computation of reservoir performance by material balance methods is indicated.

In this work, simple depletion-drive oil and gas recoveries were calculated (1) using differential liberation data only, and (2) using differential liberation data adjusted to incorporate the results of flash …

Spilitic Rocks And Mineral Deposits

School of Mines and Metallurgy Bulletins

The principal results of research work on spilitic rocks and mineral deposits carried on since 1945 are briefly summarized. Emphasis is placed on the influence of the results on the theories of rock and ore genesis, particularly the change of "philosophy of exploration" based on the existence of hydromagmatic ore deposition. A re-classification of magmatic mineral deposits is offered.

Rheological Measurement Of A Starch Suspension As A Dilatant Fluid, Earl Edward Pape

Masters Theses

"The measurement of the rheological properties, consistency of viscosity and fluid type, necessary for system design calculations, has fallen behind the industrial applications for non-Newtonian fluids. In the petroleum industry in particular, the process of well flow stimulation known as Hydraulic Fracturing utilizes the properties of various non-Newtonian fluids to carry sand at high flow rates to the formation to be fractured. Other non-Newtonian fluids in the petroleum industry are Bentonite clay drilling fluids, whose unique gelling properties are helpful in suspending drill cuttings when the circulation of the fluid has ceased. In Newtonian liquids and gases the consistency is …

A Simplified Mathematical Method For Petroleum Property Evaluation, Charles G. Edwards

Masters Theses

"The economic evaluation of a petroleum reservoir involves two fundamental operations; 1) predicting future production behaviour, 2) determining the present worth or this future production. This thesis purposes to eliminate the necessity of repeated calculation which is required in performing the second operation under existing methods.

Because the first operation, that of predicting future behaviour, is necessarily an estimate, there is an apparent tendency to employ approximate methods in the determination of present worth. The evaluation method developed in this paper confines estimation to the first operation, where it rightly belongs, and treats all subsequent work with mathematical exactness.The estimation …

An Investigation Of The Use Of Surface-Active Agents In The Secondary Recovery Of Oil By Water Flooding, Robert P. Schafer

Masters Theses

"The importance of producing oil cannot be emphasized enough in this modem world. Therefore, when primary methods of production seemingly exhaust the oil reservoirs, a secondary method of producing more oil is a necessity. At the present time, secondary methods of oil recovery have developed into a large industry. They are not a new development. The need of introducing compressed air or air-gas mixtures into the wells to increase production was quickly realized. Water flooding methods followed, and at first were restricted to the Eastern fields. Later, about 1935, systematic water flooding methods were developed and applied all over the …

Magma 1951, Associated Students Of The Montana State School Of Mines.

Magma 1948-1997

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Oil-Base Drilling Fluids, William Wesley Collins

Masters Theses

"Within the past few years the development of oil-base drilling fluids has become one of the more important contributions to drilling and production technology. The use or these new muds has increased as the benefits obtained have become more widely known and appreciated. Major problems in the petroleum industry have been, for many years, the contamination or drilling muds by salt water; control of mud when drilling through anhydrite, gypsum, or salt deposits; control of heaving or swelling shale; and water or mud blocking or the producing horizons. The development or oil-base drilling fluids is a direct contribution or engineers …

Recovering Oil From An Unconsolidated Sand By Means Of Combustion, David K. Anderson

Masters Theses

"For many years, there has been talk expressing great concern about the oil reserves in the United States. Every four or five years, articles are published stating that we are running out of oil and our proved reserves, to date, are only adequate, at our present rate of consumption, for about 20 years. While this is true, it does not leave us with the complete picture. The industry in the past 20 years has never had more than a 20 year reserve. It must be said, however, that it is becoming more difficult with each passing year to find oil …

Well Interference In The South Silica Field, Langdon B. Taylor

Masters Theses

"During World War II the Federal Government restricted oil-field drilling in the United States in order to conserve steel. The wartime regulations required 40-acre spacing in most areas. At the close of the war, the Federal drilling restrictions were lifted, and control of oil-well spacing reverted to the several state regulatory bodies. Each of these state agencies was then confronted with this problem: should 40-acre spacing be continued or should pre-war 10- and 20-acre spacing patterns be re-established?

The regulatory authority in Kansas, the State Corporation Commission, ordered an investigation in January, 1946, for the purpose of developing information upon …