Preface

Several objectives guided the preparation of this second

edition of the Standard Handbook of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering. As in the first edition, the first objective
in this edition was to continue the effort to create for the
worldwide petroleum and natural gas exploration and production industries an engineering handbook written in the
spirit of the classic handbooks of the other important engineering disciplines. This new edition reflects the importance
of these industries to the modern world economies and the
importance ofthe engineers and technicians that serve these
industries.
The second objective of this edition was to utilize, nearly
exclusively, practicing engineers in industry to carry out the
reviews, revisions, and any re-writes of first edition material for the new second edition. The third objective was, of
course, to update the information of the old edition and to
make the new edition more SI friendly. The fourth objective
was to unite the previous two volumes of the first edition
into a single volume that could be available in both book and
CD form. The fifth and final objective of the handbook was
to maintain and enhance the first edition objective of having a publication that could be read and understood by any
up-to-date engineer or technician, regardless of discipline.
The initial chapters ofthe handbook set the tone by informing the reader of the common language and notation all
engineering disciplines utilize. This common language and
notation is used throughout the handbook (in nearly all
cases consistent with Society of Petroleum Engineers publication practices). The 75 contributing authors have tried to
avoid the jargon that has crept into petroleum engineering
literature over the past few decades.
The specific petroleum engineering discipline chapters
cover drilling and well completions, reservoir engineering,
production engineering, and economics (with valuation and
risk analysis). These chapters contain information, data,
and example calculations directed toward practical situations that petroleum engineers often encounter. Also, these
chapters reflect the growing role of natural gas in the world
economies by integrating natural gas topics and related
subjects throughout the volume.
The preparation of this new edition has taken approximately two years. Throughout the entire effort the authors
have been steadfastly cooperative and supportive of the
editors. In the preparation of the handbook the authors

have used published information from both the American

Petroleum Institute and the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
The authors and editors thank these two institutions for
their cooperation. The authors and editors would also like
to thank all the petroleum production and service company
employees that have assisted in this project. Specifically, editors would like to express their great appreciation to the
management and employees of Weatherford International
Limited for providing direct support of this revision. The
editors would also like to specifically thank management
and employees of Burlington Resources Incorporated for
their long term support of the students and faculty at the
New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and for
their assistance in this book. These two companies have
exhibited throughout the long preparation period exemplary
vision regarding the potential value of this new edition to the
industry.
In the detailed preparation of this new edition, the authors
and editors would like to specifically thank Raven Gary. She
started as an undergraduate student at New Mexico Institute
of Mining and Technology in the fall of 2000. She is now a new
BS graduate in petroleum engineering and is happily working in the industry. Raven Gary spent her last two years in
college reviewing the incoming material from all the authors,
checking outline organization, figure and table organization,
and references, and communicating with the authors and
Elsevier editors. Our deepest thanks go to Raven Gary. The
authors and editors would also like to thank Phil Carmical
and Andrea Sherman at Elsevier for their very competent
preparation of the final manuscript of this new edition. We
also thank all those at Elsevier for their support of this project
over the past three years.
All the authors and editors know that this work is not perfect. But we also know that this handbook has to be written.
Our greatest hope is that we have given those that will follow
us in future editions of this handbook sound basic material
to work with.

William C. Lyons, Ph.D., P.E.

Socorro, New Mexico
and
Gary J. Plisga, B.S.
Albuquerque, New Mexico