Petroleum Engineering Commons^™

Gas Lift Valve Operation Under Elevated Pressure And Temperature Conditions, Pedro O. De Melo Flores

LSU Master's Theses

Gas lift valves are critical components in artificial lift systems, and their performance directly influences well unloading efficiency and long-term production. Current industry models used to correct valve opening and closing pressure for temperature rely on assumptions that have not been extensively validated against experimental data. This study experimentally investigates the opening and closing behavior of injection pressure-operated (IPO) gas lift valves under controlled elevated-temperature conditions. A load rate test bench was modified to include a heating system capable of maintaining valve temperatures up to 220°F. Five gas lift valve designs from multiple manufacturers were tested over a range of …

Investigation Of Co-Current And Counter-Current Multiphase Flow In Upstream Drilling And Production Applications, Hazem Fleifel

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the domain of upstream Petroleum Engineering, the dynamics of co-current and counter-current multiphase flows present huge challenges, significantly impacting the efficiency of associated processes. This study investigates two specific applications concerning these flow behaviors, involving both laboratory experiments and transient computer simulations. This work investigates two distinct well control and production enhancement processes, involving multiphase flow dynamics: the bullheading kill procedure and liquid-assisted gas lift (LAGL).

The first topic (Topic 1) explores the bullheading process, a type of well control methods, by challenging the traditional understanding that gas removal efficiency increases monotonically with injection pump flow rate. Through 1D …

Rheological, Interfacial, And Filtration Behavior Of Lignocellulosic Nanomaterials In Suspension And Emulsion Drilling Fluids, Meen Sung Koo

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, the rheological aspects of suspensions/emulsions applied by cellulose nanomaterials (CNMs) have been gained considerable interests due to high gel-forming properties ascribed by hydrophilicity, crystallinity, ease functionalization, and high aspect ratio. Introducing residual lignin in CNMs (LCNMs) seemed to be capable of achieving various advantages in the application of CNMs ascribed by hydrophobicity, binding effects, and abundant aromatic groups derived from complexity of lignin. This dissertation dedicates to the characterizations of (L)CNMs, and rheological properties of (L)CNMs applied fluids (i.e., suspension and emulsion). In the suspension system, the presence of lignin in LCNMs decreased gel strength, viscosity, and …

Physics-Informed Heterogeneous Spatiotemporal Graph Neural Network For Reservoir Simulation, Ahmed A.M.A. Abdullah

LSU Master's Theses

Reservoir simulation is the state-of-the-art method for predicting the flow of petroleum reservoir fluids in porous media. It provides an accurate and unbiased prediction of the performance of petroleum reservoirs under different operating conditions. Despite its advantages, reservoir simulation is computationally expensive; with typical full-field simulation models running for several hours. This limitation is worsened when simulating reservoirs with several equations for each cell, such as multiphysics or compositional reservoir simulation. The goal of this research is to provide a fast and accurate spatiotemporal machine-learning model that incorporates discretized governing mass balance equations for training. To achieve this, we propose …

A Coarse-Grained Molecular Dynamics Study Of Gas Hydrate Formation And Dissociation, Meisam Adibifard

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The study of gas hydrates has increased significantly over the last two decades because of their potential application in energy storage, production and transportation, water desalination, refrigeration, gas separation, etc. There is a significant interest in commercially developing natural gas hydrates because the energy content of methane hydrate reservoirs (MHRs) is at least twice that of all conventional fossil fuels combined. Additionally, due to the higher storage capacity of hydrates, it is proposed to sequester CO₂ in the form of CO₂ hydrate, thereby reducing the amount of greenhouse gases. Hence, hydrates offer a dual solution to two of …

Improved Modeling And Application Of Data Assimilation In Gas Influx Management During Managed Pressure Drilling, Chen Wei

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The management of gas influxes in a drilling well has been considered one of the most critical topics for maintaining petroleum drilling safety and efficiency. Reliable modeling of gas influx behaviors in a wellbore or a marine riser greatly benefits the improved understanding of a gas kick event and the development of optimized influx management strategies. However, the current studies on transient multiphase flow modeling show varying limitations on both the model rigorousness and the overall numerical efficiency. Meanwhile, the existence of great system uncertainties, such as the unclear influx sizes and distributions in the well/riser, has brought significant challenges …

Investigation Of Gas Dynamics In Water And Oil-Based Muds Using Das, Dts, And Dss Measurements, Temitayo S. Adeyemi

LSU Master's Theses

Reliable prediction of gas migration velocity, void fraction, and length of gas-affected region in water and oil-based muds is essential for effective planning, control, and optimization of drilling operations. However, there is a gap in our understanding of gas behavior and dynamics in water and oil-based muds. This is a consequence of the use of experimental systems that are not representative of field-scale conditions. This study seeks to bridge the gap via the well-scale deployment of distributed fiber-optic sensors for real-time monitoring of gas behavior and dynamics in water and oil-based mud. The aforementioned parameters were estimated in real-time using …

Application Of Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing For Pressure Predictions And Multiphase Flow Characterization, Gerald Kelechi Ekechukwu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, distributed fiber optics sensing (DFOS) has the potential to revolutionize well and reservoir surveillance applications. Using fiber optic sensors is becoming increasingly common because of its chemically passive and non-magnetic interference properties, the possibility of flexible installations that could be behind the casing, on the tubing, or run on wireline, as well as the potential for densely distributed measurements along the entire length of the fiber. The main objectives of my research are to develop and demonstrate novel signal processing and machine learning computational techniques and workflows on DFOS data for a variety of …

Characterization Of Gas Hydrate Formation And Its Impact On Slope Stability In Offshore Environments, Sulav Dhakal

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Natural gas hydrates (NGH) are predominantly methane hydrates formed at high pressure and low temperature conditions typically in submarine sediments and permafrost. This dissertation is focused on the submarine methane hydrates formed by upward migration of free and dissolved gas. The methane gas stored within natural hydrates has more energy potential than all the combined oil and gas resources around the world. Numerical simulation of fluid flow, heat transport, and geomechanical stresses is used to characterize and evaluate the saturation, distribution, reservoir quality, and geohazards associated with hydrate-bearing sediments. Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) simulation of hydrate formation, dissociation, and slope stability …

A Drift-Flux Model For Upward Two-Phase In Pipes With High Velocity Flows, Woochan Lee

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study proposes the evaluation and development of a drift-flux model for upward two-phase high-velocity flow in large diameter pipes. A case where the proposed model is applicable is WCD (Worst-Case-Discharge) calculations for offshore wells. WCD assumes relatively larger pipe diameters and higher flow rates than the flow experiments at laboratory conditions utilized to validate and develop most of the flow models available in the literature.

Most of the two-phase flow models describe flow regime transitions as discrete processes by assigning the required void fraction or velocity for each flow regime transition. Therefore, for each flow regime, flow-regime-dependent correlations or …

Application Of Gravity Data For Hydrocarbon Exploration Using Machine Learning Assisted Workflow, Oluwafemi Temidayo Alaofin

LSU Master's Theses

Gravity survey has played an essential role in many geoscience fields ever since it was conducted, especially as an early screening tool for subsurface hydrocarbon exploration. With continued improvement in data processing techniques and gravity survey accuracy, in-depth gravity anomaly studies, such as characterization of Bouguer and isostatic residual anomalies, have the potential to delineate prolific regional structures and hydrocarbon basins. In this study, we focus on developing a cost-effective, quick, and computationally efficient screening tool for hydrocarbon exploration using gravity data employing machine learning techniques. Since land-based gravity surveys are often expensive and difficult to obtain in remote places, …

Application Of Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd) Process For Enhancing Recovery From Unconventional Resources, Muzher Al Musabeh

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The oil recovery with hydraulic fracturing has played an important role in hydrocarbon production and energy support last decade from unconventional resources. Characteristically, the significant production decline and low recovery factors from these reservoirs triggered the need for new EOR techniques to compensate for the decline and help sustain the production. In this study, an experimental investigation of the Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process in the presence of fractures as EOR process was conducted using Nitrogen (N2) and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) in Berea Sandstone (BSS) and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS). Core flooding and EOR experiments were used to determine the …

Gas Evolution Phenomenon Of Methane In Base Fluids Of Non-Aqueous Drilling Muds Under Controlled Depressurization, Damilola Ojedeji

LSU Master's Theses

As wells become more complex and drilling conditions to reach targets prove even more challenging, being able to detect influx event early and safely handle these influxes has become one of the most important focus areas for improvement in well control safety. The high solubility of formation gas in non-aqueous drilling fluids however makes kick detection and safe handling of kicks more complicated. Recent studies are beginning to incorporate desorption kinetics in well control models to simulate the transient multiphase flow phenomenon associated with gas kicks in non-aqueous drilling fluids to foster safe handling of kicks. However, there is currently …

Enhanced Oil Recovery In Tight Rocks Using The “Slot-Drill” Completion, Hassan Amer

LSU Master's Theses

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is essential in shale/tight formations because primary recovery typically produces less than 10% of the original hydrocarbon in-place (OHIP). This work presents a novel “slot-drill” EOR technology, which involves injecting gas through a horizontal fracture that is cut into the formation near the top of the reservoir (using a tensioned abrasive cutting cable mounted to the drillstring) and producing oil from a second slot-drilled horizontal fracture near the bottom of the reservoir.

The dusty-gas diffusion model was implemented in a compositional simulator to account for the diffusion mechanism expected during the injection of gases in this …

Blowout - Capping - Fracturing - Relief Well, A Full Cycle Workflow, Youssuf A. Elnoamany

LSU Master's Theses

Broaching is defined as the uncontrolled release of hydrocarbons to ocean seafloor after a loss of subsurface well control event. Failed attempts to cap the offshore wells undergoing worst case discharge may lead to hydraulic fracture initiation and subsequent propagation, leading to renewed release of hydrocarbon to the seafloor. During the capping stack shut-in process, pressure build-up will occur along the wellbore, exposing locations of possible fracture initiation to overpressurized fluid, such as directly below the casing shoe, and critical points along the well casing. Shall there be enough build-up pressure to exceed the minimum horizontal stress in an exposed …

Evaluation Of Vertical And Horizontal Wells For Utilization In Carbon Sequestration, Michael R. Bohnet

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

A Systematic Multiscale Investigation Of Nanoparticle-Assisted Co2 Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) Process For Shale Oil Reservoirs, Dayo A. Afekare

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Shale oil reservoirs are prolific on the short term due to hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling but experience significant production decline, leading to poor ultimate recovery and leaving billions of barrels of oil buried in the ground. In this study, a systematic multi-scale investigation of an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process using relatively inexpensive silicon dioxide nanoparticles and carbon dioxide for shale oil reservoirs was conducted. Using the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS) as a case study, aqueous dispersions of nanosilica in conjunction with CO₂ were investigated at nano-to-core scales. At the nanoscale, atomic force microscope was used to investigate …

Experimental And Modeling Study Of The Effects Of Sealing Structures In Lost Circulation Prevention And Remediation, Mingzheng Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Drilling fluid lost circulation leads to non-productive time and increases the overall well cost. In general, wellbore strengthening and lost circulation control are achieved by creating effective sealing structures to inhibit fluid flow through loss conduits such as formation fractures. This research aims at better understanding the effects of sealing structures in fluid loss prevention and remediation, and providing useful references to effectively establishing filtercakes on the wellbore and plugs in the fracture.

Recent research on wellbore strengthening disclosed the critical role of filtercake in sealing microfractures during the initial stages of fracture initiation and propagation. The performance of a …

An Improved Foam Modeling Technique And Its Application To Petroleum Drilling And Production Practice, Yanfang Wang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Foam is one of the most common used multiphase fluid in Underbalanced Drilling (UBD) and Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD). Because of its low density, high capacity of lifting and carrying cuttings, low cost and compatibility with formations, foam has become more superior than the conventional drilling mud when depleted reservoir pressure, severe lost circulation, or unstable borehole are encountered. In general, the success of foam applications rely on the understanding of the fundamentals of foam rheology in downhole conditions.

Foam rheology has been studied for decades. Conventional foam rheological models such as Power Law, Bingham Plastic, Herschel-Bulkley to explain foam …

Fluid-Driven Fracture Initiation From Oil And Gas Wells Considering Lifetime Stresses, Andreas Michael

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Fluid-driven fracture initiation from oil and gas wells is examined in detail. The dissertation covers three subtopics: drilling, completion (stimulations), and post-blowout capping-induced fracture initiation.

Drilling-induced tensile fractures (DITFs) are located in an azimuth orthogonal to wellbore breakouts and are observed from image logs obtained during drilling operations. Fully analytical criteria for the orientation of DITFs initiating from wells in porous, permeable media are derived considering fluid infiltration from a pressurized wellbore. DITF orientation (longitudinal or transverse-to-the-wellbore) is used to constrain the magnitude of the local maximum horizontal principal stress. The range of the possible stress states is indicated on …

Pressure Monitoring For Subsurface Leakage Characterization, Mojtaba Mosaheb

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Undesirable leakage from underground sedimentary formations is a matter of considerable concern due to implications for water resources contamination and greenhouse gas emissions. Leakage in underground formations can remain undetected for a long period. Pressure monitoring is a dynamic method that can be used for leakage detection and characterization. The pressure signals are affected by the hydraulic characteristics of the reservoir media and leakage pathways. Consequently, the pressure data can be interpreted to obtain information about the hydraulic characteristics of the system. Pressure interpretation is useful for early leakage detection, because the pressure signals travel fast in reservoir media. In …

Data-Driven Modeling And Prediction For Reservoir Characterization And Simulation Using Seismic And Petrophysical Data Analyses, Xu Zhou

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the application of data-driven modeling and prediction in reservoir characterization and simulation using seismic and petrophysical data analyses. Different aspects of the application of data-driven modeling methods are studied, which include rock facies classification, seismic attribute analyses, petrophysical properties prediction, seismic facies segmentation, and reservoir dimension reduction.

The application of using petrophysical well logs to predict rock facies is explored using different data analytics methods including decision tree, random forest, support vector machine and neural network. Different models are trained from a set of well logs and pre-interpreted rock facies data. Among the compared methods, the random …

Investigation Of Tracer-Surfactant-Foam Processes In Shallow Subsurface Environmental Remediation: History-Matching And Performance Prediction, Hazem Fleifel

LSU Master's Theses

In-situ subsurface remediation has been widely used as an efficient means of cleaning up non-aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) from contaminated soils and aquifer. The use of tracer, surfactant, and foam are often considered to keep track of the propagation of injected fluids in the medium, dissolve and mobilize contaminants trapped by capillary forces, and overcome the level of heterogeneity and improve displacement and sweep efficiencies.

This study shows an actual remediation process to reduce NAPL within a military base in South Korea, by injecting tracer and surfactant solutions together for a duration of 10 days. The site consists of 5 …

Experimental Evaluation Of How Mineralogy And Microstructure Impact Micro-Geomechanics Of Shale Rocks, Hui Du

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Shales play an essential role in petroleum exploration and production because they can occur either as unconventional reservoir rocks for hydrocarbon extraction via hydraulic fracturing or as caprocks for conventional reservoirs and subsurface gas/ waste storage. For both extraction and storage applications, the success rate is directly depending on the rigorous candidate selection. Conventional rock characterization techniques normally measure rock properties by seismic/logging at the reservoir scale, and on drilled/outcrop cores at the core scale. However, shales are highly heterogeneous in composition, containing a large number of reactive minerals in micro/nanoscale with significantly different properties. The structural features and properties …

The Desorption Kinetics Of Methane From Nonaqueous Fluids For Enhanced Well Control, James Lee Nielsen Jr.

LSU Master's Theses

The mass transfer of a dissolved gas evolving to return to the gaseous phase from a liquid is governed by many parameters. This process affects the development of an oil and gas well due to the possibility of gas contamination occurring from either an influx entering the wellbore, or drilling through gas-bearing formations. Once this dissolved hydrocarbon gas circulates up the wellbore, it will begin to evolve from solution and poses a potential risk to drilling equipment, the environment, and personnel at a drilling rig. Being able to predict the behavior of gas desorption based on a known set of …

Effect Of Surfactant, Oil:Water Ratio And Temperature On The Rheology Of Emulsion-Suspension Complex Fluids: Implications For Oil-Based Drilling Fluids, Gilles Landry Numkam

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Drilling fluids are non-Newtonian mixtures that play a critical role in the timely and successful completion of oil and gas wells. In the particular case of offshore operations, proper design of drilling fluids is of paramount importance in the constant quest to lower break-even prices. Most downhole problems are directly or in-directly related to the rheological and physical properties of drilling fluids, thereby calling for a better understanding of the underlying changes of these properties with respect to drilling fluid composition and external conditions.

The current stance in the design of drilling fluids involves the selection of components and their …

Application Of Pressure And Rate Transient Analyses To Stress-Sensitive Multi-Fractured Composite Systems And Compartmentalized Reservoirs, Oscar Mauricio Molina

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Pressure transient analysis (PTA) is one of the most robust and commonly interpretation tools available for reservoir characterization. Common applications of PTA include estimation of near-wellbore and reservoir properties, detection of reservoir limits and identification of depletion mechanisms. In addition, PTA allows the identification of sealing and leaky faults and the characterization of its properties, such as permeability and transmissibility hence direction of leakage within the fault.

The purpose of this dissertation is to introduce the analytical solution for pressure-transient behavior for three novel reservoir models. First, we develop the analytical model of a multi-fracture horizontal well (MFHW) with pressure-dependent …

Field Drilling Data Cleaning And Preparation For Data Analytics Applications, Daniel Cardoso Braga

LSU Master's Theses

Throughout the history of oil well drilling, service providers have been continuously striving to improve performance and reduce total drilling costs to operating companies. Despite constant improvement in tools, products, and processes, data science has not played a large part in oil well drilling. With the implementation of data science in the energy sector, companies have come to see significant value in efficiently processing the massive amounts of data produced by the multitude of internet of thing (IOT) sensors at the rig. The scope of this project is to combine academia and industry experience to analyze data from 13 different …

Nanoparticle Burst Timing Optimization, Simon Grigoryan

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

String Out And Compressibility Effect On Pressure Rise In A Shut-In Well, Nicholas Henry

LSU Master's Theses

Gas kick migration experiments were performed in a small-scale well prototype model of annular geometry to analyze the behavior of gas kicks in highly non-Newtonian fluids. The objective was to isolate and estimate the effects system compressibility and bubble string out have on the pressure build up in a situation in which a gas kick rises through a noncirculating drilling mud in a vertical well.

The experiments consisted of 2 tests. The first test measured the apparent compressibility of the liquid phase of the experiment – that phase which simulated the drilling mud in a gas kick situation. The second …