Identification of technical barriers and preferred practices for oil production in the Appalachian Basin

Abstract

The Appalachian Basin is characterized by great number of stripper wells and marginally producing oilfields that face a number of production problems. The purpose of this study was to identify the main problematic issues and preferred solutions for oil production in the Appalachian Basin. Investigation and identification of oil production problems and preferred solutions began with searches in the Society of Petroleum Engineer (SPE) library, and Petroleum Technology Transfer Council (PTTC) website. In addition, journals, workshop, conference were used to find additional information. Formal interviews were arranged with oil producers to gain more insight into problems in the Appalachian Basin. Accordingly, the following production problems were identified and ranked in order of decreasing importance: water production, poor understanding of reservoir heterogeneity, limited availability of compatible water for water injection, lack of sufficient reservoir data such as permeability, porosity, and primary production data for reservoir characterization, and paraffin and asphaltene causing operational issues. The technologies that are investigated included: water controls treatment, water-handling methods, and reservoir characterization using Artificial Neural Networks, paraffin and asphaltene control. In addition, corrosion problems and electrical cost reduction are discussed. Finally and the most importantly, I would like to dedicate my thesis research work to all of my family. Especially my parents, Elizabeth and Fernando for always being excellent examples for me, for their dedication, unconditional help, support, encouragement, and love that they have given to me throughout my life. I am so proud to be their daughter. I would like to thank my sisters Maria and Carla, for being my inspiration and motivation for doing the right things. I hope my example of perseverance and sacrifice with my studies will influence their goals and inspirations. To my grandmothers, Delia and Ana for always keeping an eye on me. I am so glad to have wonderful grandmothers like them. To David for his encouragement, help, advice and love he gave to me, I really appreciate his dedication. In addition, I am sincerely grateful to all of my friends that are thousands of miles away whose encouragement and motivation that was given to me to continue with the project. You guys are really wonderful friends. To all the above mentioned I would like to give my sincerest love. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………...ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS…………………………………………………………….iii TABLE OF CONTENTS………………………………………………………………..v LIST OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………………….ix LIST OF TABLES…………………………………………………………………….xiii

Diagnosing and Controlling Excessive Water Production: State-of-the-Art Review

“…Sheremetov et al [12] categorized the WPMs based on the position of the water intake into the well and utilized this categorization to establish the needed input factors for their research. The WPMs categorization was introduced by Reynolds and Kiker [13] and Del Bufalo Paez [14], depending on the nature and sources of the issue. They categorized the WPMs as mechanical, completion, and reservoir-related issues.…”