Search Documents

By W. J. Joslin

The frontal-advance equation can determine how the fluid withdrawal rate and subsurface operating pressure influence oil recovery from pressure-maintained reservoirs having characteristics favorable for efficient vertical segregation. For effective vertical segregation in formations having low dip angles, the requirements are: thick, massive sands, low viscosity oil and high vertical permeability with few discontinuous shale members. This approach has been successfully applied to the LL-370, which is a massive Eocene sandstone reservoir containing crude with an average gravity of 26" APT, a dip of only 3" and vertical permeability of ½ darcy. The average gas cap saturation was calculated for various rates of vertical gas-oil contact movement corresponding to a wide range of reservoir producing rates. This method also evaluated the effect of different pressure maintenance levels on oil recovery. Applicability of this procedure for calculating the present oil saturation in the LL-370 gas cap has been substantiated from field performance, where the oil saturation was computed by comparing oil recovery with the gas cap volume vacated. INTRODUCTION During the natural depletion history of the LL-370 reservoir, located in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, excellent vertical segregation resulted in the formation of a thin gas zone over a substantial portion of the oil-productive area. Subsequently, gas injection forced this thin gas-saturated zone slowly downward, reducing the oil saturation in the gas cap to a low value. The oil recovery has been raised considerably above earlier predictions where vertical segregation effects were under-estimated. In order to determine the maximum efficient producing rate and optimum operating pressure for this reservoir, a vertical gas frontal-advance analysis has been made through application of the fractional flow equation. LL-370 RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS The reservoir consists of a truncated monocline of massive. highly-permeable Eocene sandstone, called the B-b formation, covering an area of more than 13,500 acres. The original oil in place was 2.17 billion STB. Internal non-sealing faults subdivide the structure into four blocks called the B-6-x.6, 10, 11 and 13, which are effectively bounded by major faulting on the flanks, an unconformity updip to the west, and an immobile aquifer to the southeast. The producing formation occurs at an average depth of 5,250 ft subsea and has a closure of more than 1,500 ft. A typical producing section has a net oil sand thickness of 170 ft. Scattered throughout the section are a few randomly-positioned shale lenses which increase in thickness and areal extent downdip. The reservoir rock and fluid properties vary with depth. The permeability and produced oil gravity are 1600 md and 28" API at the top, compared to 300 md and 18° API at the water-oil contact. The productivity of updip wells is, therefore, much higher than the reservoir average. The reservoir oil was originally saturated at the crest, grading to a slight degree of undersaturation at the water-oil contact. There was no original gas cap; and material balance and the field performance indicate no water influx. Except for the northern B-6-x.6 block, the fluid and rock properties have already been published.' Average LL-370 reservoir properties are shown in Table 1. RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE UNDER NATURAL DEPLETION Fig. 1 shows production performance from 1939 to date. Early development was gradual, with 30 wells pro-

Jan 1, 1965

Jan 1, 1934

[ ]

Jan 1, 1938

Jan 1, 1930

Alexander N. Winchell, Butte, Mont. (communication to the Secretary): Mr. Spurr calls attention to the fact that an ore-deposit may be due to a succession of concentrations at different geological epochs. He cites an example of such a condition on Napoleon creek, a branch of Forty-Mile creek, Alaska. It will perhaps be of interest to call attention to another example of the same general character, not so remotely situated. The example referred to is located on Pole creek, a tributary of Cherry creek, in the extreme northeastern part of Madison county, Montana. An excellent geological map of this region is to be found in the Three Forks folio (No. 24) of the United States Geological Survey. According to this map, Pole creek, in its upper course, occupies the contact between the " Flathead " formation, which Peale correlates with the Middle and Lower Cambrian, and an area of gneisses and schists supposed

Jan 1, 1903

By G. H. Lair, B. J. Langford, S. H. Rockwood

Volumetric reservoir analysis is dependent upon a firm relationship between porosity, connate water, and net pay. Capillary presswe data on core samples interrelate these three factors. It is shown that other reservoir problems may be resolved: (I) whether water production is indigenous or extraneous to the oil producing interval, (2) an oil-water contact is being approached, and (3) whether the oil-water contact is remotely situated. INTRODUCTION Volumetric analysis of carbonate reservoirs challenges the ingenuity of the reservoir engineer due to an absence of data on the minimum oil-bearing and oil-producing pores of a given reservoir rock. Many studies with this as the ultimate objective are available on the physical characteristics and fluid-flow behaviors of the carbonate reservoir. Some of these publications are: Hassler, Brunner and Deahl's1 study of the role of capillarity in oil production; Jan Law's' and A. C. Bulnes3 statistical treatment of core analysis data; Chalkley's method4,5 or estimating specific surface areas and porosity; Walter Rose's9 report on porosity, reserves, and recovery; Archie's78 tex-tural classification of carbonate rocks; Stewart and Spurlock's9 large core analysis; Purcell'sl0 mercury injection method in studying capillary pressure phenomena; Stewart, Craig, and Morse's" model multiple-phase flow test in investigating the relative permeability effect; and Fatt's12 illumi-nating network model of porous me-dia. The present study shows that the static reservoir parameters of porosity, connate water, and net productive thickness may be interrelated by utilizing a statistical arrangement of mercury capillary pressure data in addition to routine core analysis. This report summarizes the techniques that are followed to obtain these relations which are applicable to carbonate and sandstone reservoirs that do not contain clays. Capillary pressure statistical studies may be extended to include clay-bearing rocks by utilizing water capillary pressure data. POROSITY It is necessary that the laboratory determine the porosity value that includes the pores that are filled with hydrocarbons and water in the reservoir. This is the reservoir's total porosity. When true total porosity values are not available, correlations between porosity and capillary pressure characteristics lose their significance since they cannot be related through oil-base mud core data to the porosity and connate water values found in reservoirs. Methods used to obtain reliable porosity data will not be discussed; however, care should be exercised in selecting samples for measurement. In homogeneously porous formations, small core plugs sampled frequently will furnish adequate information. Where heterogeneity, particularly vugginess, is present, large-core porosity data may be required; in such reservoirs a suite of capillary pressure samples may be selected from small plugs. CAPILLARY PRESSURE Capillary pressure data provide a method for relating two carbonate reservoir parameters, porosity and connate water saturation, which in turn permit delineation of productive rock types necessary for selecting the third parameter, productive thickness. Specific applications of capillary pressure data to petroleum reservoirs were suggested by Archie8 and Pur-cell."' Their work demonstrated that in preferentially water-wet rock, porc

Jan 1, 1958

By A. H. Geisler, F. Keller

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

By F. Keller, A. H. Geisler

Some of the important changes that take lace in the structure of aluminum alloys are largely submicroscopic in character. This is especially true of the changes that accompany age-hardening and recrys-tallization. Although improved metal-lographic practices have been helpful in indicating some of these changes indirectly, results are limited by the resolving power of optical microscope lenses. The electron microscope, however, provides a new and important means for investigating the fine structure of metals in a range not possible heretofore. It is anticipated that this microscope will yield new and useful information to metallurgists when suitable techniques are developed to utilize its very high resolving power. Several unique methods have been devised to permit the examination of the structure of opaque samples by the electron microscope. These are all based 011 the principle of producing a very thin film that represents the prepared surface of the opaque metal sample, which can be examined in the transmission microscope; however, the available methods fall into three categories, depending on the manner in which the film is obtained. With the oxide-film method developed by Mah13-l7 a very thin surface layer of the metallographic sample is converted into oxide by a thermal, chcmical or anodic treatment. .After removal from the metal sample by one of the special techniques described by Evans,l9 this oxide film is examined in the electron microscope, and is found to portray the structure of the original metal surface. Films formed on aluminum,8,l7 nicke1,7 iron3,8,9 and a nickel-beryllium alloyl1 by heating; films formed on iron8,9 by chemical action; and films formed on aluminum3-'" by anodic oxidation, have been examined. The other two are more recent methods developed principally in this country; they consist in making the thin film in the form of a mold or replica of the surface contour of an etched sample. With the negative replica method the thin film is made directly on the sample; with the positive replica method it is made on a negative reproduction of the sample. With both methods, variations in the contour of the metal sample, caused mainly by etching, produce variations in the thickness of the surface replica. Because of the direct dependence of the amount of scattering of the illuminating electrons upon the thickness of the film penetrated, only the variations in thickness of the replica are responsible for tones in the electron image. Negative replicas are made by forming a thin film of some suitable material directly on the polished and etched metal sample, and derive their name from the fact that after removal from the sample they have the high and low points in the sample reversed, as shown in Fig. I. Nega-

Jan 1, 1944

[Appalachian Petroleum Section: James M. Kimbrough, chairman; John H. Adair, first vice-chairman; Walter L. Diddle, second vice-chairman; Byron M. Finch, secretary-treasurer. Balcones Section: Robert V. West, chairman; Frank W. Jessen, first vice-chairman; Zane V. Morgan, second vice-chairman; Brantley G. Myers, secretary-treasurer. Meets 4th Wed., Petroleum Club (San Antonio) or Terrace Dining Room (Austin) Billings Petroleum Section: Charles B. Evans, chairman; L. M. Lyon, first vice-chairman; Gordon E. Lansford, second vice-chairman; Fred. A. Haddenhorst, secretary-treasurer. Meets 3rd Tues., Billings Petroleum Club. California Coastal Section: Robert L. Richardson, chairman; David K. Hayward, first vice-chairman; W. Jackson Bransford, secretary; William N. Harwell, treasurer. Meets 3rd Thurs., Pierport Inn, Ventura. Caracas Petroleum Section: Edwin A. Moo re, chairman;. Jose Cirigliano, vice-chairman; Frank B. Davis, secretary; Robert N. Powers, treasurer. Meets 2nd Tues., Caracas Theater Club.]

Jan 1, 1961

Jan 1, 1922

By GUY C. RIDDELL, Donald M. Liddell

THE electronic arts today constitute the outstanding development in the field of rare metals, if not indeed in the arena of scientific progress at large. The year 1930 may become known as the year in which the electronic tube took hold of the wheels of industry; it is the year in which the tube's emancipation from the art of communication was proclaimed. The little tube which made a $500,000,000 industry out of a vacuum has now been applied to mining, manufacturing, transportation, chemistry, and other industries. Not many appreciate the extensive utility that e1ectroni.t tubes have already found in transportation, where they control the speed and security of express trains, as well as operate traffic lights on important highways-in the case of the Detroit-Windsor bridge counting the traffic and instantly turning the reports into the superintendent's office some distance away. In an Ohio steel mill, ten-ton ingnts 'rash back and forth through the rolls, reversed by their own shadows. The vacuum tube also starts, stops, and levels, fast passenger elevators.

Jan 1, 1931

By E. L. Vickers

Over the years, the pure theorist in economic analysis has accumulated a formidable array of facts in bringing his subject matter under control. Business managers and mining engineers are aware of the theorist's weapons, but the question of applying them to the mastery of practical problems seems hardly feasible, especially in view of the almost innumerable variables plaguing the everyday scene in the mining enterprise. One such sophisticated tool of long-standing in the theorist's arsenal is marginal analysis. Equally long-standing for the operating company and valuation engineer is the problem of defining the cut-off grade the point below which a mineral re- source ceases to be economically amenable to extraction. In other words, what part of a mineralized body of rock is ore and what is waste?

Jan 6, 1961

By William M. Shepard

The Tintic mining districts of central Utah com- prise one of the major silver-lead producing areas in the United States. Ore valued at nearly $450 million has been produced from these districts since the initial discoveries, in 1869, of veins cutting the Silver City monzonite stock. Subsequent production from the famous manto-type "ore runs", which characterize the Main Tintic district, was followed during the past 40 years by discovery of the blind orebodies of the East Tintic district, including the famous Tintic Standard mine and the most recent discovery, the Burgin mine, currently being brought to full production by Kennecott Copper. The occurrence of blind orebodies of exceptional size and grade in both the Main and East Tintic districts has made this area a field laboratory of major importance for the study of geochemical dispersion halos and alteration features associated with known ore, and has led to the discovery of additional concealed orebodies. The larger share of the basic data-gathering and interpretation has been done by members of the U.S. Geological Survey who have been studying the Tintic mining areas since before the turn of the century. These studies have been supplemented and expanded by the geological staffs of the local operating mining companies, by exploration geologists and by students.

Jan 4, 1966

By Frank Soulé

Secretary E. H. Benjamin, of the California Miners' Association, has proposed and begun, in co-operation with the testing laboratory of the University of California, at Berkeley, a series of tests which should prove of great interest and practical use to all persons making extensive application of steel wire cables, and especially to miners who run them in deep mines. Mr. Benjamin is endeavoring to obtain pieces of cable both new, and old and worn, from every deep mine of importance on the Pacific Coast, together with all the data obtainable concerning their manufacture and particular use. Pieces from each sample will be broken ill the laboratory before mentioned: and as far as possible the effects of winding around drums or pulleys ; of sudden starting and stopping when loaded; of heavy shocks, and of the general wear and tear of the cables, will be ascertained by these tests. The Olsen testing-machine of 200,000 pounds capacity will be used to break the cables, and the rupturing force, in different instances, will be applied slowly and also rapidly, in order to make the tests comparable as far as possible with the practical use of the cables themselves. All information and data available should be obtained for each specimen sent to the laboratory, the name of the manufacturer, the date of making, strength of cable when new and unrusted, as well as the circumstances and conditions of the practical use of the cable. Having this information before us, we shall be able to tell, approximately at least, the effects of age, rust, wear and tear, shocks, etc.; and perhaps be enabled to draw the line of limitation beyond which it would be no longer safe to use a cable of known manufacture. Moreover, by means of such tests we may, perhaps, he able to recommend worn cables for other uses, less severe in character, thereby prolonging the life of their effective usefulness. When we consider the great number of miles of steel cable now in use, and of the greater number constantly being manu-

Jan 1, 1900

Following the declaration of a national emergency by the President on Dec. 16, 1950 the Office of Defense Mobilization was established with Charles Wilson as director. It has been obvious since the entry of Red China into the Korean War that the previous defense setup was not adequate for accelerated mobilization.

Jan 2, 1951

By Carl Lee

OXYGEN-FREE high-conductivity copper (OFHC brand) that is now being commercially offered for the first time represents a notable achievement in electro-metallurgy and is the outcome of endeavors that have extended over a long period. Its manufacture is novel in that electrolytically refined copper is melted in electric furnaces and cast into vertical water-cooled molds. The ingots show the "pipe" characteristic of sound gas-free metal and microscopic examination even at high magnification reveals no cuprous oxide in the copper. Owing to the patent situation, the United States Metals Refining Co., the producers, cannot at this time divulge the details of manufacture, but the operations are under precise control so that the castings are of great uniformity and the copper contains no residual deoxidant. Figs. 1 and 2 show photographs of cross-sections of a wirebar and a billet, both vertically cast.

Jan 1, 1933

By P. K. Lucke

One of the interesting features connected with the great continental uplift, which formed the table land of Mexico, is the great depth to which oxidation and secondary enrichment of orebodies occurred. This table land lies at altitudes ranging from 4000 to 7000 ft. (1219 to 2133 m.) above sea level. Several cases could be cited of oxidized zones in copper and lead mines which reached depths of upward of 1500 ft. (457 m.) below the surface, and it is universally admitted that the oxidized zone in a mine is limited by the permanent water level. Mexico, however, like many other countries in which deserts occur, is visited at rare intervals by tremendous floods, which sometimes cause variable water levels over long periods. The following cases bear out the idea, and lead to interesting conclusions of commercial value. My paper demonstrates that carbonates of ores may occur below water level and sulfides above, and I will endeavor to explain the causes of the phenomena in certain specific instances. Case I.—Fig. 1 in this case shows that sulfides of lead remained

Jan 1, 1920

By E. T. Dumble

THE first specimens of this material which came under my notice, as found in the State of Texas, were sent to me by Mr. J. C. Melcher, of Fayette county, soon after the organization of the State Geological Survey. I wrote him concerning it, and had the locality and manner of occurrence described, but 1 had no opportunity to visit and examine the deposit until the present field-season. Later, specimens were collected by Dr. Penrose and myself on a trip made by boat down the Rio Grande, from Eagle Pass to Hidalgo, in June, 1889. At the time of collection I marked the substance "Albertite," doubtfully, but, on examination, it proved to be nearer Grahamite. The geological horizon of the two occurrences is Tertiary. The first locality mentioned is in the upper part of the beds called by us Fayette beds, and provisionally correlated with the Miocene, or Grand Gulf of Hilgard's Mississippi section, while the latter is in the lowest strata of the Eocene which are exposed on the Rio

Jan 1, 1893

By S. R. Dunbas, D. C. Jillson, E. A. Anderson

THE present work was undertaken to furnish information, lacking in the literature, on the deformation mechanisms active in pure titanium at room temperature. Since it was started, Rosi, Dube, and Alexander' have indicated that slip can occur in coarse-grained (2 to 6 mm diameter) titanium on the {1010} and {1011} planes and twinning can take place on the {1072}, (1122) and (1151) planes. Liu and Steinberg,' working with titanium flakes produced by fused salt electrolysis, found evidence of twinning on the {1032$, {1121), {1122}, (1123}, and (1154) planes. The crystals used in the present work were substantially longer (up to nearly 2 in. in length) and possibly purer. Production of Large Crystals It was the purpose of this part of the work to provide single crystal or large grain specimens for use in the deformation studies rather than to study the mechanism of crystal growth. Accordingly, all further exploratory studies on methods were abandoned when it was found that cold-rolled bars sealed in vacuo in individual Vycor tubes and given three or more cycles of 4 hr at 1200°C and three to five days at 850°C, gave large grains. Eighteen specimens about 0.2 in. square x 2 in. long yielded 33 useful grains, ranging from Va in. to nearly 2 in. in length, with an agreeably wide range of orientations, Fig. l. The 0.25 in. thick strip from which the starting specimens were cut had been reduced 67 pct on 18 in. diameter rolls from a scalped, hot-forged (959" to 1000°C), arc-melted, iodide titanium ingot. Thc bar was at room temperature, but the rolls were at 200°C. Reductions of about 0.03 in. per pass were used. The bar was cut into four segments, each of which was rolled in a somewhat different manner. No effect on the growth of large grains was noted. The composition of the titanium, determined on turnings from the ingot scalping operations, is given in Table I. The Rockwell A hardness of the ingot was 26. The standard starting specimens, about 1/4x1/4x2 in., were milled on all four sides, hand polished on 280 and 400 mesh emery papers, etched for 3 min in a 50 HF-50 glycerine solution, rinsed, and dried in alcohol and ether just before sealing them in Vycor tubes. The average specimen weight was 7.5 g, and the tube volume was 6.5 cc. A vacuum of less than 1 micron pressure was applied. The specimen tubes were placed in an evacuated Inconel muffle to minimize the danger of collapse of the glass tubes at temperature. In practice the specimens were first heated to 1200 °C for 4 hr and then transferred fairly quickly to an 850°C furnace where they were held for three to five days. This cycle was repeated at least three times before the specimens were cooled, removed from the tubes, lightly polished and etched on one surface for examinstion. Those in which large grains had not developed were resealed in Vycor and returned to the cycling. Satisfactory specimens (about one out of every four cycled) were polished with emery paper on all four side;, then metallographically polished using ctchinz between wheels to remove distorted metal and, finally, given a very light etch to reveal the grain boundaries. This was necessary because the surface was roughened by the sublimation of titanium under high temperature vacuum conditions. Specimens were identified by TiXl numbers using supplementary letters to designate specific grains.

Jan 1, 1954

By F. C. Farnham

THERE has been very little, if any, uniformity in the reference datum used for magnetometer surveys. It has been the practice to choose a base station at which the magnetic field is assumed to be normal and call the difference in field strength between a given station and this base the anomaly at the given station. For small-scale surveys latitude and longitude corrections may or may not be applied, but for large-scale surveys such corrections usually are applied. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey maps showing lines of equal magnetic intensity are commonly used to determine the normal latitude and longitude variation by scaling values from the map for given points and computing the change per mile north and the change per mile east. This method has been quite satisfactory for isolated surveys, but when two surveys originating at different base stations were extended until they joined, difficulty arose, not only because of discrepancies between base-station values, but also because of differences between the latitude and longitude correction factors used for the separate surveys. It is the purpose of this paper to describe a reference datum for magnetometer surveys which, it is believed, will eliminate most of the difficulty arising from this source. In order to be satisfactory, a general datum for magnetometer sur-veys should be as close as possible to the observed field and still he based on some assumed distribution of magnet poles, in order that the "normal" value of any component of the field for any given point may be computed to as many significant figures as desired. Such a field has been com-puted, and a comparison of the intensity of its vertical component with the average vertical intensity for the United States as shown by the U.S.C.G.S. map of lines of equal intensity for 1935 is shown in Fig. 1.

Jan 1, 1939