INSIDE THIS ISSUE

19 06

Welcome Speech BUE Experience

02 Nathan Meehan - 2016 SPE
International President
03 Atef Abdelhady - SPE BUE
Academic Advisor
Foreword
04 Chapter Presidents Word at
the Publishing of Our
Magazine
05 The Best Way to Predict the
Future is to Create It
Interviews
06 Nathan Meehan - 2016 SPE
International President
08 John R. Hogg - 2016 AAPG
International President
10 Mohammed Alfaraj - 2016
EAGE International President
BUE Paper
18 The Journey from BUE to Baker
Hughes Company
19 Seniors Students Experience in
ADIPEC 2015 & IPTC 2016
Middle Spread
Industry Articles 33
22 Field Experience to Optimize
Gas Lift Well Operations
24 Gulf of Suez Integrated Gas Lift
Optimization Study
Petroleum Focus
26 Effects of Petrophysical Rock
Properties on Tortuosity Factor
28 Factors Affecting Oil Prices
30 Casing Failures Correlated with
37
Cementing Quality in Steam
Injection Wells

12 Economical Slug Size for Using HR Discussion 32

Nano Alumina in EOR Energy4Me 34
14 Comprehensive Investigation
of Pressure Transient Analysis Industry News
Methods of Wells Producing 36 Industry News
under Multiphase Flow
Conditions 37 New Technology
16 Application Of Nanotechnology Chapter News 38
in EOR Polymer Flooding 38
PetroBUE Board 40
Message from the Director of the Quality Assurance
Unit - Faculty of Engineering
Quality system in the faculty of engineering is already working
since its establishment and is continuously monitored by internal
and external monitors. The quality unit in the faculty of engi-
neering was established by faculty council on, February 2015.
The quality unit is an extension of Q&v department in the university which
was established since the launch of the university. The main objectives of the
unit are to monitor the implement of the strategic plan for T&L, research and
community services. These objectives can be achieved through three factors
quality planning, quality control and quality improvement. This is an ongoing
process it is a never ending one. Therefore, improvement is continuous and I
hope benefits return to all of us as a unit and across the faculty. Accreditation
is not the end its only a step towards more progress.
SPE BUE SC
Attia M. Attia WWW.SPEBUESC.ORG
Program Director of Petroleum Engineering & Gas Technology Department and
Director of the quality unit at Faculty of Engineering, BUE.

A PRI L 2 0 1 6 01
 WELCOME SPEECH

Nathan Meehan
2016 SPE International President

Let me be the first to congratulate members of the British University

in Egypt SPE Student Chapter on your inaugural magazine PetroBUE.
With topical news, features, and photos your publication is informative
and quite impressive. Who would expect anything less from such an
award winning Student Chapter? With field trips, an established social
media platform and involved members, you are building a professional
foundation that will help launch the careers of your members.
Volunteer leadership is a cornerstone to being involved in SPE. For
more than 40 years I have been an SPE member and started out
in a student chapter in Oklahoma. Seeing the transformation of
the industry has been incredible to watch. From here to the next
generation and the next, the vision of SPE will keep on striving to

further SPEs mission to enable the global oil and gas exploration and
production industry to share technical knowledge needed to meet
the worlds energy needs in a safe and environmentally responsible
manner. We have to deliver huge volumes of oil and gas that are
needed each day by the 7.2 billion people who inhabit our planet
and that need keeps growing. We have to do it more safely, more
economically, more quickly, and more sustainably. SPE looks to
chapters like yours to keep the momentum going. I wish for all of you
the best for future success.

02 APRIL 2016
 WELCOME SPEECH

Atef Abdelhady
Head of Petroleum Engineering & Gas Technology Department, the
British University in Egypt and SPE BUE Academic Advisor

We are delighted to announce the launch of PetroBUE first issue,

P&E related magazine like no other you have ever encountered
before. PetroBUE is part of a new generation of publications created,
edited, and founded by The Society of Petroleum Engineers at The
British University in Egypt Student Chapter - you will find it online as
well as a soft copy on national level. Our first issue is crammed with
insightful interviews, entertaining and professional technical articles,
all written by industry professionals and edited by PetroBUE own
editorial team.

We believe that we have created a fun, offbeat publication that both

industry professionals and students can relate to and enjoy. PetroBUE
is something we have considered and explored for quite some time,

team, as the chapters faculty advisor Im immensely proud of the

but it took SPE BUE Student Chapter to grab the project by the scruff
of the neck and make it happen. Build with essentially outstanding

result. That Said, its early days and whilst this is still an experiment
we believe theres massive potential. Whats more, with a magazine
offering plenty of interactivity and professionalism, we have ensured
the magazine not only looks gorgeous but provides the immersive
experience you have come to expect.

A PRI L 2 0 1 6 03
 FOREWORD

Chapter Presidents Word at the

Publishing of Our Magazine
Mohamed Hindam - PetroBUE Chairperson, Chapter President and PetroBUE
Founder

SPE has been like a family to me and family always comes first. I dedicated
the majority of my time to SPE and SPE has provided me back with valuable
knowledge, opportunities and a chance to make a difference. People used
to ask me what SPE will give you back in return. Well, SPE does not give, it
educates you and the best price that can be offered is knowledge. I couldnt
be more proud or happier than right now, being the SPE BUE student chap-
ter president was my ultimate dream. Like any other President I started from
scratch. Ive been a member since 2012 and switched positions and then cur-
rently the President. I learned so much from SPE, the true value and ethics
of the oil & gas industry has a lot of things to offer that can influence its
young future members through being active in SPE. Being a volunteer in SPE
teaches you how to be professional from a young age, take charge, positively
impact your community, plan wisely for the future, manage things/work in a
team and most importantly how to dream and make your dream come true.

My journey with SPE was quite an adventurous one. Ive learned a lot and I
had so much fun. I traveled with SPE and attended one of the biggest con-
ferences where I was introduced to chairmens and CEOs of the largest com-
panies across the universe, to students in the same major but from a diverse
and global background. Now Ive planned a more than outstanding season. I
built the best team that can handle each and every task professionally. A team
full of leaders a team full of team spirit and potential. I am ending my season
not worried that the next season will not be able to handle SPE because I left
behind a team that can lead themselves. The Function of leadership is to
produce more leaders, not more followers Ralph Nader

I would advise all young students out there to participate in volunteering

work to learn leadership and to contribute to the society we live in. After all,
volunteerism is all about making a difference.
Volunteers dont necessarily have time, they just have the heart! Elizabeth
Andrew

This year we are going to celebrate our 8 years of success, Today one of my
dreams came true today we publish our first of a kind magazine which was a
great step toward future success. A Magazine which include very interesting
interviews and very important papers and even news but most important it
include the hard work of SPE BUE SC through a whole year.
If you can Dream it, you can Do it SPE BUE SC

04 APRIL 2016
 FOREWORD

The Best Way to Predict the

Future Is to Create It
Ziad Hassan Elkady - PetroBUE CEO, Chapter Vice-President
and PetroBUE Founder

Great opportunities present themselves in different shapes and forms. Suc-

cessful figures have been able to strive to one success after the other through
paths of many difficulties and huge challenges simply by identifying these
opportunities and seizing them. Every sunrise brings with it a set of new chal-
lenges and crossroads that enrol us into a series of decisions that sculpture
the heart and core of our lives. Specially, if you are a young man or woman on
the verge of taking your first couple of steps into the unknown, still capturing
the essence of deeper more profound meanings in life, to life and out of it.

Vision without actions is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes
the time. Vision with action can change the world. Once again we reach out
our hands to share our vision with you. Our dreams are high, our goals are
way far, but our wells are strengthened with faith and our spirits are filled
with hope. Following our outmost belief in the fact that dedication along-
side team work should be the heart and soul of our organization, I see no
more adequate place or time to announce the new intakes for the season of
2015/2016. And what better place would that be than the first issue of our
new yearly magazine - PetroBUE magazine. This magazine is our initiation to
touch the untouchable, go where no one went before, crossing all boarders
and exceeding all the limits and expectations. Through this newly found bea-
con I invite you as readers, professors, members and university students to
share with us the vision that led to realizing this dream into a solid reality.

When we chose our slogan this year IF You Can Dream it You Can Do IT , we
promised ourselves real change, real impact, real volunteerism, real efforts,
real diversity and real integrity. The biggest adventure you can take is to live
the life of your dreams. All our dreams became true after achieving courage
to pursue them. Focus on the journey not the destination. Joy is found not in
finishing an activity but in doing it - Greg Anderson. The Journey of SPE gives
us Memories we can cherish together forever.

As we open a new page in this chapter of our lives, let us take this chance to
renew our vows of committing to hard work, dedication and professionalism.
Let this be a fresh start to a brighter future. Let today be the day in which we
begin to write the first words of our books of success, let today be the day in
which we take our first steps on the long road of glory, let today be the day in
which we decide that our ambitions have no limits, that our potentials must
be fulfilled, let today be the day in which we realize that our words means
nothing without actions. Let today be an end to an era and a beginning to a
new hopefully shining one in our lives.

A PRI L 2 0 1 6 05
 INTERVIEW
Nathan Meehan
2016 SPE International President
(1) Dr. Meehan, First of all I would
like to congratulate you for be-
ing the 2016 SPE President. Can
you tell us how your journey with
SPE has started and what you feel
about it?
Thank you for your kind words. I
joined SPE 40 years ago when I was
in graduate school at the Universi-
ty of Oklahoma. My first petroleum
engineering professor handed me
an application form on the first day
of class and said If you are going
to be a petroleum engineer you
need to be active in SPE. I think
that was the first sentence I heard
in a petroleum engineering class.
As a student I frequently went to
the Section meetings in Oklahoma
City and met many people who be-
came my friends and colleagues.
I presented papers, went to confer-
ences and learned a lot from other
engineers that I was able to apply
in my job. Ultimately I was able to
be an SPE Distinguished Lectur-
erer and travel around the world
talking about horizontal well tech-
nology. My mentor was a former
SPE President who encouraged
my to serve on committees and
eventually be on the SPE Board of
Directorsr. I was honored with the
Lester C. Uren Award for Distin-
guished Achievement in Petroleum
Engineering, the Degolyer Dis-
tinguished Service Medal and the
SPE Public Service Award. SPE was
obviously a much smaller organiza-
06 APRIL 2016
tion when I joined then and a very
North American one. At the time,
most of our members lived in the
US and most of our meetings were
in the US. But that has changed
dramatically and more than half of
our members now reside outside
the US.
(2) Being elected to be 2016 SPE
President, can you tell us how you
managed to reach this position?
I attended my first SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibi-
tion just a few weeks after I start-
ed graduate school. There I met
several SPE Presidents and I have
had the privilege to know each one
of them since then. One became
my mentor and as I continued to
be active in SPE I always thought
it would be awesome to have this
privilege.
Most of my career was spent
working with operators; when I
became a consultant I didnt think
it was likely to be SPE President.
But eight years ago I joined Bak-
er Hughes and I realized that they
would be very supportive.
(3) As someone who had spent his
educational and career life in pe-
troleum industry, to what extend
do you see that SPE is positively
contributing and serving petro-
leum industry?
SPEs contributions to the indus-
try starts with its mission: To col-
lect, disseminate, and exchange
technical knowledge concerning
the exploration, development and
production of oil and gas resourc-
es, and related technologies for
the public benefit, and to provide
opportunities for professionals to
enhance their technical and pro-
fessional competence.
SPE serves its members with a
wide variety of resources for stay-
ing up to date on industry progress
as well as events and publications
to stay connected networking with
fellow colleagues.
Also, in the coming year I have
goals to help SPE improve its offer-
ings by making sure SPE stays rel-
evant and useful to our members
and the industry we serve. Also
we can work towards encouraging
more interdisciplinary and inter-in-
dustry collaboration. We must al-
ways focus on the public benefit
aspect of SPEs mission. The way
to further that is to recruit and
mentor the next generation of oil
and gas professionals and we can
do this even better by expanding
and improving the way we com-
municate.
(4) Through all the daily fluctua-
tions in the global economic sta-
tus, how can you see the impact of
this status on petroleum industry?
Innovation comes about by think-
ing differently and creatively, by
connecting seemingly unrelated
ideas, and putting them together in
unrelated ways to produce some-
thing novel or original. This re-
quires collaboration among diverse
and disparate groups of people. At
SPE the challenges from the down-
turn will result with things like
travel and attendance at events re-
duced. But we can respond to that
with more Web-based events and
communication. The demand for
training and communication is still
there however, as high as or higher
than ever.
On top of the ongoing challenges
we face as an industry, we now
have to contend with low prices.
Yet, we still have to deliver the
huge volumes of oil and gas that
are needed each day by the 7.2 bil-
lion people who inhabit our planet.
And, we have to do it more safely,
more economically, more quickly,
and more sustainably. We cannot
competeor in some cases, even
survivedoing business as usual.
We need disruptive technologies
and processes. But change is diffi-
cult to accept. This is where SPE
can play a pivotal role.
(5) As senior executive adviser at
Baker Hughes, how do you see the
future of oil and gas industry? And
what message would you give to
those who anxious about their fu-
ture career?
None of us in this industry whether
entry level or long time executive
knows how long low prices will pre-
vail. There are advantages to these
stormy times. Instead of chasing
rigs due to high activity levels,
we have to innovate. We have to
find new ways of solving problems,
and we will do so. Our industry will
succeed at any product price. Most
of you will keep your jobs; how-
ever, your jobs will change. As the
most senior professionals reach re-
tirement age during the next 5-10
years, you will have opportunities
for increased levels of responsibil-
ity that no previous generation of
engineers and earth science pro-
fessionals have ever enjoyed.
(6) As an SPE President, how can
you see the role of SPE in the Mid-
dle East generally and Egypts Sec-
tion Particularly?
The SPE Annual Technical Confer-
ence and Exhibition 26-28, 2016
in Dubai will be the ideal place for
the members of your chapter to
network, gain face-to-face inter-
action and start building collabo-
rations. That happens best at SPE
conferences such as ATCE. The
cool part is, for people in Africa,
Asia, and Europe, that will be a
pretty short flight all things consid-
ered. The Middle East is extremely
important to SPE, perhaps more so
now than ever. The Dubai office is
bigger than any othe3r than our
headquarters. There are multiple
Outstanding Student Chapters in
Egypt and the region is home to
some of the best workshops and
Conferences in the world.
I am also excited to see the tech-
nology leadership in the region. As
I flew over Manifah field in Saudi
Arabia I was astonished at how
little environmental impact had
been made in developing this field
capable of 900,000 BOPD. This is
similar in production capacity to
the Bakken, Eagle Ford or Perm-
ian unconventional where a much
larger impact had been felt. Egypt
will soon see the development of
massive natural gas resources and
I expect the total environmental
impact could be very positive and
result in a significant net reduction
in carbon emissions.
(7) How do you see the contribu-
tion of SPE to students all over the
world? And what message would
you like to leave to the chapters
members?
Students of today will be the pro-
fessional colleagues of the future.
SPEs benefit to the industry is re-
ally obvious in terms of being the
source of technical excellence and
expertise. With 143,000+ profes-
sional and student members and
staff, SPEs font of knowledge is
wide and deep. And, its reach and
focus are global.
For example, no place else can
you find an electronic library such
asOnePetro.org, which has more
than 180,000 documents that are
searchable and accessible at a mo-
ments notice. Members have the
ability to access the state of the
art, whether through PetroWiki,
OnePetro, or all the other sources
of information that SPEoffers.
It is phenomenal how much usage
PetroWiki gets. The way people
think about getting information
and sharing it is changing. For ex-
ample, right now, if you forget
what kind of weighting you should
use for mobility in reservoir simula-
tion upstream, you must get a book
and physically look through it. Ul-
timately, you will be able to go to
PetroWiki for that. SPE resources
are where you go to find out about
the facts; it is THE place to find out
about the oil and gas industry.
(8) Back to your life as a student,
what were your major interests?
Also what recommendations
would you give to the students to
be on the right track?
As a student I was mainly focused
on technology and learning the lat-
est and greatest, it was a thrill to
be able to go back to Stanford and
work with the leading minds there.
I soon learned that my fellow stu-
dents were really brilliant and that I
could (and did) learn as much from
them as from the professors. I also
learned a lot from other depart-
ments; this enthusiasm fuelled my
subsequent career.
I encourage students to day to
try and excel and to try and de-
velop real relationships as part of
their networking. Networking isnt
hounding someone for a job. Read
the papers that interest you and
dont hesitate to write the authors
and ask them questions. Ask the
exhibitors and service company
representatives you meet details
about their businesses. Learn ev-
erything you can and this will help
you be a better employee and have
more insights about ways to find
employment that will be meaning-
ful for you.
(9) You have a very busy profes-
sional life. What is your advice on
managing the work/life balance?
I have a wonderful family and my
wife travels with me to many of
trips I take worldwide. I am a bee-
keeper, I collect custom knives, I
shoot long-range rifles, and I write
blogs of my travels and a blog on
BBQ. I study Chinese.
There have been times when my
work meant I didnt have much of
a balance but those times didnt
last. Sometimes you have to put in
the hours but you cant do that for
your whole career. Make sure you
take some time to enjoy life and
time to serve others.
(10) Now, coming to our last ques-
tion, what advices would you like
to give SPE BUE Student chapter?
Get involved in SPE. Pursue a lead-
ership role in your chapter, as a vol-
unteer, read papers, get involved
in PetroBowl, the Student Paper
contest or other activities. SPE is
here for you and will be through-
out your career. The networking
contacts you will make is invalu-
able. Also know, in the upstream
oil and gas industry what you do
is important. Your efforts can im-
prove peoples lives. You joined the
industry to provide safe, affordable
energy and improve the quality of
life for all.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 07
 INTERVIEW
John R. Hogg
2016 AAPG International President
(1) Mr. John Hogg, First of all I
would like to congratulate you for
being the 2016 AAPG President.
Can you tell us how your journey
with AAPG has started and what
you feel about it?
Thank you for reaching out to in-
terview me for you new Magazine
Mohamed, I wish you and your col-
leagues much success in bring in-
formation from the Industry lead-
ers to your readers.
I have always believed that volun-
teerism is important to profession-
als, giving back to our science and
engineering disciplines through
technical articles, papers, and vol-
unteering in the association are all
ways to enhance or professions
and our careers. So I have been
a volunteer for more than thir-
ty-years, starting off with small
and then ever increasing respon-
sibility. Being the AAPG President
is the pinnacle achievement of my
volunteer career and even after
completing this role, Ill still give
back to my Association through
volunteering.
(2) Being elected to be 2016 AAPG
President, can you tell us how you
managed to reach this position?
As I has said previously, I have
had many roles, but to prepare for
the role of President of as Associ-
ation like AAPG that has close to
40,000 members in 123 countries
it is important to have a level of
08 APRIL 2016
management experience and to
have a very good understanding of
the complexity of the Association,
the way it runs the business of the
Association and the role that vol-
unteers play in the working of the
AAPG.
Like most roles in business or
volunteer organizations, I start-
ed working on committees, then
chaired committees and confer-
ences and then a couple roles on
the Executive Committee before
running for the Presidency in 2013.
In AAPG the membership elects
the President, unlike many volun-
teer organizations, so in a two-per-
son race, someone loses and
someone wins. As hard as it is to
win or loose, you do know that the
majority of members supported
you being the President and if you
win, it is very satisficing to know
that you have the support of the
membership.
(3) As someone who had spent his
educational and career life in pe-
troleum industry, to what extend
do you see that AAPG is positively
contributing and serving petro-
leum industry?
There are many ways AAPG con-
tributes to the industry. The first
is AAPG is a professional and sci-
entific organization. We have a
division in AAPG, The Division of
Professional Affairs, that is a high-
er level of certification that pro-
vides members the use of Certi-
fied Petroleum Geologist, and the
use of the designation, CPG after
your degrees. This helps to ensure
that when you are working with an
AAPG member who has obtained
the CPG designation that you have
the highest ethical and profession-
al values.
Another way AAPG helps the in-
dustry is with our scientific publica-
tions. AAPG publishes a monthly,
highly respected, technical journal,
we have a world-class publication
series of Memoirs about petro-
leum geology and conventional
and unconventional reservoirs and
of course we have conferences and
seminars to benefit our members
and the industry.
I would also add that volunteer-
ing with societies, be it AAPG,
SEG, EAGE or SPE, as a volunteer
what you learn helps foster your
understanding business and team
relationships, project planning and
time management all of which will
help you in your professional roles
in your current or future organiza-
tion.
(4) Through all the daily fluctua-
tions in the global economic sta-
tus, how can you see the impact of
this status on petroleum industry?
I started working as a geologist in
1981, I think this is my fifth down-
turn. They are all different, caused
by various issues within the world
economy, oil supply and unfortu-
nately conflicts. The world uses
about 90 million barrels of oil ev-
ery day, many countries produce
oil, some countries market their
oil for export and when, like now,
we have an oversupply the price
drops. This downturn, which really
started in June 2014 was initially
marked by a slow steady decline
in the price, then in November of
2015 when OPEC said that they
would not support the price, the
dramatic reduction of the world
price to the mid-twenty dollar US
occurred. As individuals working in
the industry, this is a very difficult
time for our companies, they are
mostly producing every barrel at a
loss, and corporations are prepar-
ing for difficult times, this usually
is accompanied by freezing hiring,
capital expenses and cutting staff.
The Industry need some level of
stability for the world price of oil,
it does not have that right now, the
longer it takes for oil to stabilize,
the more turmoil for companies
and employees.
My only advice, if you are in a com-
pany, find ways to work on new
ideas and ways to reduce costs, if
you are looking for a job, stay in-
volved with your industry friends,
continue to network with industry
leaders and do some continuing
education in your field, geoscience,
engineering, geotechnical all these
fields will hire again in the future, if
you can show you improved your
skills through the bad times, in-
dustry leaders will recognize your
efforts.
(5) How do you see the future of
oil and gas industry? And what
message would you give to those
who anxious about their future
career?
As we move to decarbonize the
planet, hydrocarbons will play a
smaller role in the future. Current-
ly, the world uses ~90 million bar-
rels a day of oil. Thats a lot of oil.
As you can see from the EIA pro-
jections, as the population of the
planet goes from seven billion to
nine billion people in less than 25
years there will be a demand for
fossil fuel for the next forty to fifty
years and the increases will come
from the countries in green on the
chart below
So, my advice to students and
young professionals is that our in-
dustry needs to continue to sup-
ply hydrocarbons to the planet in
an environmentally reasonable
manner and start tackle the is-
sues of climate change and CO2
produced from the production
of hydrocarbons. So, for exam-
ple, industry should be looking at
restricting fairing of natural gas,
CO2 sequestration, CO2 floods
for mature oil fields and becoming
more efficient with our overall en-
ergy use while extracting resourc-
es. This is the challenge for your
generation; produce the cleanest,
most energy efficient oil and gas
while, at the same time, we need
to do our part to sequester carbon
dioxide.
(6) As an AAPG President, how
can you see the role of AAPG in
the Middle East generally and
Egypts Section Particularly?
Egypt has played an important role
in AAPGs history. We have host-
ed an international conference in
Cairo a few years back and many
AAPG Presidents have visited the
country to speak to professionals
and students about exploration
and production of hydrocarbon
resources. Egypt will continue
to play a strong role with many
western countries because it has a
significant amount of untapped re-
Fig. 1 - Energy Projections from the EIA
sources to the south in the desert
that companies have discovered
and are waiting on infrastructure
to develop.
(7) How do you see the contribu-
tion of AAPG to students all over
the world? And what message
would you like to leave to the
chapters members?
Students are the future of all pro-
fessional and scientific organiza-
tions. As future industry and aca-
demic geoscientists and engineers
your university training will help
you to develop into professionals
and life long learners and in ten to
twenty years, leaders in our indus-
tries. Right now, its hard for you
to see that happening, but trust
me, you will look back from a cor-
ner office some day and say that
was an amazing career, why did I
every worry about finding a job in
this industry.
(8) Back to your life as a student,
what were your major interests?
Also what recommendations
would you give to the students to
be on the right track?
As a student in the 1970s I was
very passionate about science and
wanted to be a chemist. I found
Geology by taking a first-year class
and never looked back. Geology is
an understanding of all the scienc-
es, chemistry, physics, math, biolo-
gy and when you are in the field or
looking at core, you are seeing the
past preserved before you, I have
never gotten over the excitement
of looking at an outcrop for the
first time.
My Professors were my first men-
tors, I did not go to school in an
energy industry town, Professors
told us, we will teach you to be
Geologists, the industry will turn
you into Petroleum Geologists
and that is very true. Learn every-
thing you can about your science,
the industry will teach you what
you need to know to do your job.
(9) You had a very busy profes-
sional life. What is your advice on
managing the work/life balance?
When we work in the industry, we
are considered professional staff,
we are paid by salary, so when a
job needs to be done, your role is
to complete the task. When you
are starting out, there are long
days, sometimes nights are taken
up by wellsite supervision, cor-
ing and logging operations run 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
You wont do those jobs forever,
and there is less work life balance
when you are learning your new
profession. As you grow in your
career, you will find more time for
balance, many of you will marry,
have children and become more
grounded in your family life and
have a much better balance then
when you started your career, so
in some ways, its like universi-
ty, as an undergrad, the workload
is enormous, and when you are a
graduate student the workload is
less, but there is more pressure
place upon you to do your individ-
ual assignments and generate your
own ideas and papers; the industry
is very similar I that respect.
(10) Now, coming to our last ques-
tion, what advices would you like
to give SPE BUE Student chapter?
First off, I wish all of you great suc-
cess in your time in school, work
hard, enjoy the fellowship of your
colleagues and listen to your Pro-
fessors. In your time at the univer-
sity take advantage of the wisdom
and knowledge around you, ask
question about the industry, if that
is what you want to do with your
career, and when guest lectures
from the industry come to speak,
have some good questions to ask
them about their careers, how did
they get started, what do they love
about their jobs and what advice
do they have for you as a student
wanting to get into the industry.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 09
 INTERVIEW
Mohammed Alfaraj
2016 EAGE International President
(1) Dr. Mohammed Alfaraj, first of
all I would like to congratulate you
for being the 2015-2016 EAGE
President. Can you tell us how
your journey with EAGE has start-
ed and what you feel about it?
I have been an active member of
the EAGE since 1988 when I start-
ed my PhD at the Colorado School
of Mines. All the while, I became
more and more involved with the
Association. I always enjoyed read-
ing the EAGE flagship journal of
First Break, in particular the indus-
try news section and the technical
articles. The Geophysical Prospect-
ing journal helped to put the ic-
ing on the cake with its high-level
scientific papers; that got me really
fascinated with geophysics.
As I moved into the management
side of EAGE, I took part in intro-
ducing a number of events, includ-
ing the first-ever workshop on Pas-
sive Seismic in Dubai, UAE in 2006
which I also chaired and which has
since reoccurred every other year.
I continue to work with my fellow
10 APRIL 2016
Board members and peers to mon-
itor new trends in the industry and
academia. There are currently a
number of ideas on the table that
are undergoing further research
and then crystallization before
they transpire in the form of EAGE
services.
I am delighted to have ramped up
my involvement with the Associ-
ation. After many years of expe-
rience in geoscience and also pe-
troleum engineering, I now enjoy
chasing new technological trends
and attempt to nourish them and
adopt them for the betterment
of our business, mentoring young
geoscientists, and reviewing and
critiquing scientific papers.
(2) Being elected to be the 2015-
2016 EAGE President, can you tell
us how you managed to reach this
position?
In addition to the aforementioned,
my profile also includes being an
Associate Editor with Geophysical
Prospecting since 2005, a member
of the Middle East Regional Coun-
cil of EAGE from 2010 to 2013, an
EAGE Board Adviser representing
the Middle East from 2011 to2013,
an active participant in numerous
EAGE conferences and workshops
and an EAGE Board member for
more than two years.
(3) As someone who had spent his
educational and career life in the
petroleum industry, to what ex-
tend do you see that EAGE is posi-
tively contributing and serving the
petroleum industry?
I see strengths in almost all the
bands, ranging from the workshops
to the education programme, our
two divisions of Near-Surface Geo-
physics and Oil & Gas, our six jour-
nals, and an assortment of news-
letters in English as well as foreign
languages (Russian and Spanish
at present). If I were to single out
our greatest strength, Id pick our
annual conference because, in ad-
dition to its excellent organization
and quality content, it embraces
all the aforementioned spectrum
bands and more.
(4) Through all the daily fluctua-
tions in the global economic sta-
tus, how can you see the impact
of this status on the petroleum
industry?
History tells us that drops and rises
in oil prices are periodic. It is, there-
fore, commonsense to assume that
the current low prices will bounce
back at some point. Consequently,
the industry will resume absorbing
professionals to keep the business
going. All geoscientists and engi-
neers, especially those who have
temporarily lost their jobs, should
capitalize on the moment and seek
further education, either formal-
ly from colleges or intermittently
from professional societies such as
EAGE.
(5) How do you see the future of
oil and gas industry? And what
message would you give to those
who are anxious about their fu-
ture career?
All geoscientists and engineers,
especially those who have tempo-
rarily lost their jobs, should seek
further education, either formal-
ly from colleges or intermittently
from professional societies such
as EAGE. This will put them in a
better competitive position once
re-hiring resumes, which it will as
history tells us.
(6) As an EAGE President, how can
you see the role of EAGE in the
Middle East generally and Egypts
Section Particularly?
The Middle East is a very import-
ant region for the EAGE. We have
been working in the region for
some time now but decided in
2006 that it was crucial for us to
be present there on a day to day
basis. In fact this year we will be
having our 10-year anniversary
celebrations starting with GEO
2016 in Bahrain in March and
then celebrating again at our an-
nual meeting in Vienna. Another
fact to highlight the importance of
the region is that we are bringing
all the Board members of EAGE
to Bahrain to show our support of
this GEO during these tough times
in the industry. Geoscience in the
Middle East fully has EAGEs assis-
tance.
As for Egypt, EAGE has five stu-
dent chapters there and they
have each proven to be very dy-
namic with their activities over
and above the plans which EAGE
offers on an annual basis such as
our GEO-Quiz, Student Lecture
Tours, and support of students to
attend our annual conference. As
I have mentioned GEO, this year
we have 18 participating universi-
ties and 4 of which are from Egypt.
EAGE and our sister societies ful-
ly fund and support these chap-
ters with a very vigorous agenda
throughout the conference week
with competitions, Meet & Greet
sessions, technical short courses
and soft skills training to name just
a few.
We continue to welcome all chap-
ters in Egypt to apply for student
memberships and to really take
advantage of all EAGE has to of-
fer. It goes without saying that an
EAGE student chapter will give a
great deal of support to our Egyp-
tian colleagues.
(7) How do you see the contribu-
tion of EAGE to students all over
the world? And what message
would you like to leave to the
chapters members?
EAGE, now a prominent global
player in the geoscience communi-
ty, is applying all efforts to support
the next generation of geoscien-
tists and engineers. The EAGE
Student Fund is there to support
numerous activities, the Student
Lecture Tour for one, allowing
students to get top-class instruc-
tors to engage with them. These
instructors dedicate an enormous
amount of their time to visit each
continent of the world to share
their experience and expertise to
all those who wish to enter this ex-
citing industry.
What I would like all our chapters
to know is that EAGE is your geo-
science and engineering associa-
tion; we are here to support and
assist our chapters enabling them
not only to join in the work of a
global society but to also embrace
all the opportunities EAGE offers
to its membership. We are here
to help you reach your personal
and professional goals in a setting
where you have the backing and
guidance of seasoned profession-
als. We all share a goal of extend-
ing knowledge to further develop
the industry and EAGE is a proven
asset to all our members.
(8) Back to your life as a student,
what were your major interests?
Also what recommendations
would you give to the students to
be on the right track?
I always loved electronics and elec-
trical engineering (EE) when I was
in grade school. I completed my
undergraduate studies in EE at the
University of Wisconsin-Milwau-
kee. I then worked for an electric
company for a year before I real-
ized that not only was geophysics
fascinating but it also had a lot of
commonalities with EE. With a
grant to pursue higher education
in geophysics, I obtained my MSc
and then my PhD degree from Col-
orado School of Mines in 1993.
My advice to new students is to
study hard, gain as much hands-
on experience as possible during
school breaks, become an active
member of relevant professional
societies, and read technical pa-
pers of interest. Perseverance is
important, so always be patient;
remember that it takes some trees
many years before they bear fruits.
(9) You had a very busy profes-
sional life. What is your advice on
managing the work/life balance?
In addition to all classical advices
and words of wisdom articulated
in this regard, and in order not to
lose track, I would like to re-em-
phasize one point here: family al-
ways comes first.
(10) Now, coming to our last ques-
tion, what advices would you like
to give SPE BUE Student chapter?
Be active. This implies, among
other things, organizing period-
ic technical meetings, publishing
newsletters/journals with articles
of interest to the local community,
and participating in relevant pro-
fessional events administered by
SPE and other societies as well.
The European Association of
Geoscientists and Engineers
(EAGE) is a global profession-
al, not-for-profit association
for geoscientists and engineers
with almost 19,000 members
worldwide. It provides a glob-
al network of commercial and
academic professionals to all
members. The association is tru-
ly multi-disciplinary and interna-
tional in form and pursuits.
All members of EAGE are pro-
fessionally involved in (or study-
ing) geophysics, petroleum ex-
ploration, geology, reservoir
engineering, mining and mineral
exploration, civil engineering,
tunneling and environmental
matters.
EAGE operates two divisions:
the Oil & Gas Geoscience Divi-
sion and the Near Surface Geo-
science Division.
EAGE organises the following
activities for its members:
1- Events (conferences, exhibi-
tions, workshops)
2- Publications (journals, books)
3- Educational Programmes
(short courses, lectures)
4- Student Programmes
5- Recruitment
EAGEs Head Office is located
in the Netherlands and has Re-
gional Offices in Houten (Eu-
rope Office), Moscow (Russia &
CIS Office), Dubai (Middle East
Office), Kuala Lumpur (Asia Pacif-
ic Office) and Bogota (Americas
Office).
Mission
The objectives of the Associ-
ation shall be to promote the
development and application
of geosciences and related en-
gineering subjects, to promote
innovation and technical prog-
ress and to foster the commu-
nication, fellowship and coop-
eration between those working
in, studying or otherwise being
interested in these fields.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 11
 BUE PAPER

Economical Slug Size for Using Ali Elaal

Nano Alumina in EOR Petroleum Engineering

Graduate, British University in
Egypt

This paper is an investigation of the optimum economical volume of nano fluid which should be injected in
tertiary recovery. Experiments showed dramatically increase in oil recovery due to injecting nano fluid , but
nano fluid injection may not be successful idea if we couldnt reach the economical amounts as nano fluid
is an expensive material which can cost a lot specially after transferring from the lab scale to field scale. The
approach in this paper is based on laboratory experiments on sandstone and limestone cores by performing
water flooding as secondary recovery and then injecting nano alumina as tertiary recovery because nano
alumina is one of the most effective and economic nano fluids with concentration of(0.05%wt) which is the
optimum concentration proved by previous researches. The nano alumina flooding performed in different
pore volumes to reach the optimum economical slug volume with the maximum recovery factor.

Test procedures & Results
The test consist of six experiments each experiment
have two phases, the first phase is water flooding
using brine with concentration (35,000 ppm) which
represent secondary recovery and the second phase
is nano Alumina (0.05%) concentration flooding which
represent tertiary recovery . The nano flooding will be
performed with three different slug sizes to obtain
the optimum slug size which will give maximum oil
recovery and minimum amount of injected fluid. The
following figure represent the used apparatus which
consist of Fluid injection pump, low pressure core
holder, confining pressure system and differential
pressure measurement.
The first set of experiments will be performed on
sandstone core from Razzak field in the western des-
ert with the following properties:
1- Firstly we will perform water Flooding to know the
recovery without any EOR techniques and we found
the result was recovery of 43%
2- Then tertiary recovery was performed by using
nano alumina with concentration 0.05% and 0.5 PV
slug size then the recovery increased to 53%.
3- The tertiary recovery process was performed sev-
eral times with different slug sizes 1 PV, 1.5 PV,etc,
but this increase in slug size doesnt show any increase
in oil recovery as its remain 53%.

Fig. 1 - Fluid Injection Pump, Low Pressure Core Holder, Confining Pressure System and Differential Pressure Measurement

12 APRIL 2016

Table 1
The following figure shows the recovery of difference
sizes of injected nano alumina in the sandstone core:
Fig. 2 - Recovery of Difference Sizes of Injected Nano Alumina in the
Sandstone Core
The second set of experiments will be performed on
Lime stone core with the following properties:
1- Firstly water Flooding was performed to know the
recovery without any EOR techniques and the oil re-
covery was 30%.
2- -Tertiary recovery was performed by using nano
alumina with concentration 0.05% and 0.5 PV slug
size then the recovery increased to 57%.
3- Tertiary recovery by using nano alumina with con-
centration 0.05% and 1 PV slug size then the recov-
ery increased to 69%.
4- Tertiary recovery was performed by using nano alu-
mina with concentration 0.05% and1.5 PV slug size
then the recovery increased to78%.
5- The increase of the injected nano alumina after
1.5PV doesnt cause any enhancement in oil recovery .
Table 2
The following figure shows the recovery of difference
sizes of injected nano alumina in the carbonate core:
Fig. 3 - Recovery of Difference Sizes of Injected Nano Alumina in the Car-
bonate Core
Conclusion
The novelty of this paper is to use the proper eco-
nomical volume of nano Alumina in tertiary recovery
in both sandstone and limestone rocks, which will
achieve the maximum recovery with minimum cost.
After performing the experiments on sandstone core
showed increase in recovery due to nano alumina in-
jection by 23% after water injection by using 0.5pv
slug size of nano alumina, a lot of experiments done
with different slug sizes but didnt show any increase
in recovery, this for the case of sand stone core. In
limestone core the nano Alumina has incremental in-
crease of recovery after water flooding by 27% for
the 0.5 PV slug size, a lot of experiments done with
different slug sizes with incease of recovery by 39%
for the 1 PV slug size and 48% for the 1.5 PV slug
size. Finally the recommended volume injected which
will achieve the maximum recovery with minimum
cost sandstone will be 0.5PV and for carbonate 1.5
PV.
Achievements
Outstanding Presentation prize in EMW confer-
ence, Krakow, Poland, 2014.
Outstanding presentation prize in ASEC confer-
ence, Zagreb, Croatia, 2014
Presented in UPES SPE festival, Dehradun, India,
2014.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 13
 BUE PAPER
Comprehensive Investigation of Pressure
Transient Analysis Methods of Wells Shahenda Mohamed Mahran
Assistant Lecturer - Petroleum
Producing Under Multiphase Flow Conditions Department, BUE
Engineering and Gas Technology

This paper introduces the results of applying the three
multiphase pressure transient analysis methods (sin-
gle phase analysis using composite model, Perrine
Martin, and multiphase pseudo-pressure method)
on each pressure drawdown test simulated in gas-oil
multiphase flow system. The accuracy of each meth-
od in calculating the reservoir permeability and the
skin factor at variety of conditions of producing GOR
values will also be discussed. Additionally, the effect
of using different inner boundary conditions such as
fully penetrating vertical well, horizontal well, and hy-
draulically fractured well on the accuracy of the three
multiphase pressure transient analysis methods.
1983, method). Viscosities (in both numerical flow
simulator and CCE-CVD simulation) were computed
with the procedure described by Lohrenz et al. (1964)
for both liquid and vapor phases. PVT data of gas and
oil samples used in oil-gas system are listed in Table
2. The viscosity of liquid and vapor phases computed
from the simulation of CCE and CVD experiments for
gas condensate and volatile oil samples are shown in
Fig.1, Fig.2, respectively.

Approach
Our approach involves using numerical simulation
models to generate a series of drawdown and build up
data in gas-oil multiphase flow, and at the presence
of three different inner boundary conditions. The Table 2 - PVT data of gas and oil samples used in gas-oil multiphase flow
system
generated drawdown and build up data were then
analyzed using the three multiphase welltest analysis
methods (single phase analysis using composite mod-
el, Perrine Martin, and multiphase pseudo-pressure
method), and the error between the calculated results
and actual model parameters were computed for each
method.

Numerical Simulation Models
Four 3-D numerical models were built to simulate the
well test pressure data. These models include differ-
ent well test analysis models such as fully penetrating
vertical well, horizontal well, and induced fracture.
The geological parameters and reservoir characteris-
tics for each model are summarized in Table 1.
Fig. 1- Vapor and liquid density during Fig. 2 - Oil viscosity during CVD for
CVD for the gas condensate samples volatile oil samples
Rock-Fluid Petrophysical Model
Two different sets of relative permeability data were
generated using Cory type relative permeability mod-
el. The relative permeability curves used to model
gas-oil multiphase flow systems are shown in Fig.3
to Fig.4.

Table 1 - Reservoir Properties Used in Simulation Cases

Grid Design and Reservoir Description
In the four models, the cell width increases logarith-
mically away from the tested well, with finer grid cells
near the wellbore and larger grids further away, so
that pressure and fluid behavior around the wellbore
can be easily captured.
PVT Modelling
We tested various oil and gas properties spanning
different fluid types of gas condensates and volatile
oils. Using the compositional simulator ECLIPSE 300
and PVTi, the fluid behavior for each fluid was sim-
ulated using the Peng-Robinson equation of state
(EOS) with volume correction. We used an EOS to
simulate laboratory experiments such as constant
composition expansion (CCE) and constant volume
depletion (CVD), also it is used to generate black oil
data of the mixtures (using the Whitson and Torp,
Fig. 3 - Relative permeability curve Fig. 4 - Relative permeability curve
used in gas-condensate system used in volatile oil system
Well test Analysis Results
Gas Condensate Well Test Analysis Results
Well Test Analysis Results of a Fully Penetrating Verti-
cal Well in Gas Condensate Infinite Reservoir.
Using the radial model and the three gas condensate
fluid samples described before in Table 1 and Table
2, a series of a drawdown tests were generated. The
drawdowns were designed by allowing the well to
produce 100 days with different constant gas flow
rates 500, 1000, 2000, 4000 MSCF/D, respectively.
Then, each test was evaluated with the three well test
analysis methods.
Single Phase Analysis
Fig.5 shows the derivative plot on a log-log scale of

14 APRIL 2016
simulation case #1, it indicates the presence of a ra-
dial composite behavior due to condensate accumu-
lation. When the bottom-hole flowing pressure drops
below the dew point, a near wellbore zone with re-
duced mobility is created this behavior is character-
ized by upward shift of the early radial flow derivative
stabilization.
The producing GOR was plotted as a function of skin
factor estimates calculated using single phase pseu-
do-pressure function as shown in Fig.6. It can be
noted that single phase pseudo-pressure function
provides poor results of skin factor if the produced
gas oil ratio is less than 35 MSCF/STB as it tends to
overestimate the skin factor.
Steady State Multiphase Pseudo-Pressure Analysis
The steady state pseudo-pressure function can be
Fig. 5 - Single phase Analysis Deriv- Fig. 6 - Recorded GOR as a function
ative Plot (Case#1) of calculated skin factor using single
phase pseudo-pressure function
(fully penetrating vertical well, gas
condensate multiphase flow system)
calculated as a function of bottom-hole flowing pres-
sure using the integral shown in Eq. (1)
(1)
Using the gas PVT properties, the corrected time can
be computed:
(2)
The steady state pseudo-pressure function was plot-
ted on a semi-log graph as a function of corrected
time as shown in Fig.6. Using the slope and intercept
of the semi-log straight line the absolute permeability
and the skin factor were computed.
The overall results of applying the multi-phase pseu-
do-pressure function on the drawdown tests gener-
ated in the simulation cases are tabulated in Table
3. Based on these results, it was concluded that the
steady state method slightly overestimates the abso-
lute permeability, and significantly underestimates the
skin factor. As the steady state method overestimates
the absolute permeability with error of 4%, whereas
the skin factor was underestimated with error of 1.65.
Table 3 - The overall results of applying the multi-phase pseudo-pressure
function on the drawdown tests generated in a fully pen-etrating vertical
well (gas-condensate multiphase flow system).
Three Zone Multiphase Pseudo-Pressure Analysis
The three zone multiphase pseudo-pressure analogue
used is shown in Eq. (3)
(3)
Field Application
Background
A well was drilled to a total depth of 13,985 ft as an
exploratory well. The LWD, E-Logs and MDT showed
hydrocarbon potential in a particular sandstone for-
mation. Several separate DSTs were conducted to
test the productivity and fluid contents. The forma-
tion produced 40.3 MMSCF/day of gas and 2,200
BPD condensate. The well was completed with slot-
ted liner and perforated using super deep penetra-
tion and stimulation gun.
PVT Data
The PVT data was based on separator samples collect-
ed from the well. The laboratory experiments conduct-
ed on the recombined fluid samples included composi-
tional analysis, constant composition expansion (CCE),
constant volume depletion (CVD) and separator tests.
Table 4 shows the results of the CVD test where the
sample of reservoir gas in the laboratory cell was ini-
tially brought to the dew-point pressure of 4,453 psia,
then the pressure was reduced by increasing the cell
volume at reservoir temperature of 290 F.
Table 4 Summary of Data from Constant Volume Depletion at 290F
Relative Permeability
Curve Relative permeability characteristics were es-
timated from the standard Corey correlations. The
relative permeability curves assumed cretical oil satu-
ration of 0.1, an equal end points (maximum) relative
permeability of oil and gas phases (Krgmax), (Kromax)
of 0.45, connate water saturation (swc) of 0.25.
Test Details
The well was switched to the test separator at 64/64
choke size and showed the results indicated in Table
5, then it was shut in for 36 hours build up period.
Table 5 - Drawdown Test Details
Conclusion
For Gas-Condensate Multiphase Flow Systems
Single phase pseudo-pressure function underesti-
mates the absolute permeability, and highly overesti-
mates the skin factor.
The steady state method provides less accurate re-
sults for richer gas condensate mixture, as it highly
underestimates the skin factor and overestimates the
flow capacity.
The estimated parameters using the three zone meth-
od are not highly effected by the condensate richness.
For Volatile Oil Multiphase Flow Systems
The application of the single phase oil analysis
method to analyze pressure transient data in volatile
oil reservoirs highly underestimates the absolute per-
meability and overestimates the skin factor.
Both the 3-zone pseudopressure apprach and Ra-
ghavan pseudopressure function estimate the abso-
lute permeability with reasonable accuracy.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 15
 BUE PAPER
Application Of Nanotechnology in
EOR Polymer Flooding
supervised by. Prof. Attia M. Attia
This research work aimed at studying the effect of
combining a two special type of Nanoparticle (i.e.
Sodium Magnesium Silicate Nano & Nano-Alumina)
with two classes of EOR polymers namely; (Xanthan
Gum i.e. biopolymer) and (Polyacrylamide i.e. synthet-
ic polymers). Rheological properties of both Xanthan
gum and Polyacrylamide polymers were determined.
Among them are; shear stress, shear rate and viscosity
as a function of Temperature, Salinity, Concentration,
and pH. Rheological model was comprehensively de-
veloped for the two polymers. According Shear Stress
Shear Rate relationships, both polymers illustrate high
degree of consistency with the very well known power
law model. Other factors such as Salinity, pH, density,
Temperature and Concentration were all considered to
allow for accurate modeling of changes in viscosity of
polymer solution during flow in the reservoir.
Core flooding experiments were carried out to exam-
ine the effect of polymer type and nanoparticle on oil
recovery. Results obtained from core flooding exper-
iments revealed that PAM polymer yields a consider-
able oil recovery because adding nanoparticles to the
polymer solution results in changing rock wettability
from slightly water-wet to strongly water-wet. Finally,
Economic evaluation and Profit projections were per-
formed for the two polymers. The main reason for this
is that, both of these polymers proved to be efficient
in one case or the other, therefore economical analy-
sis is one the yardstick that could be applied to show
which polymer will be more profitable based on the
current global economical condition such as oil prices.
Problem Definition and Objectives
Due to extreme and harsh subsurface conditions of
high temperature, salinity and pH; polymers undergo
precipitation and consequently losing their viscosify-
ing abilities. Rheological properties of the polymers
may be subjected to significant changes because of
the adsorption as well as polymer retention in porous
medium. Factors such as salinity, polymer concentra-
tion, pH, hardness, and retention, temperature, and
polymer adsorption and polymer structure have a di-
rect effect and influence on the viscosifying property
of the polymer solutions. Nanoparticles incorporated
with polymers during flooding operation also have
some associated impediments. Most of the Nanopar-
ticles dont dissolve completely in water likewise in
polymers. So they tend to form dispersion and con-
sequently might ended up blocking pore spaces upon
injection which will consequently reduce the rocks
porosity and eventually low oil recovery.
Brief Background / Literature review
The energy crisis that hit the globe is indeed a very
disturbing and terrifying situation considering the in-
creasing demand of energy daily by all nations of the
world. Bp (2011) As of 2005, the global oil consump-
tion has risen by 3.9% (i.e. from 30.7 billion barrels to
34.6 billion barrels in 2010). There is an anticipated
rise in consumption up to more than 44.6 billion bar-
rels by the year 2020. Bp (2012) reported that there
16 APRIL 2016
Hussain Musa
Petroleum Engineering
Graduate, British University in
Egypt
is a big gap between oil consumption and oil produc-
tion which started in 1998, as of 2011 oil consump-
tion exceeded production by an amount of 4.3 mb/d
which is quite significant.
The most important of all factors that contributed to
Fig. 1 - Global Oil Production & Consumption Relationship (Bp Statistical
Review, 2012)
the global energy crisis that weve seen in the past
and which also created the gap between production
and consumption of oil is the continuous decline in
discovery of new hydrocarbon reserves and also in-
efficiency of matured fields to continue to produce
economical amount of oil that will fill in the gap be-
tween production and consumption.
Institute (2013) In order to meet up the everlasting
global energy requirement, it is critical to enhance the
recovery factors of mature oil and gas fields under pri-
mary as well as secondary production phase. Over the
years, polymer flooding has proven itself worthy and
thus implemented for EOR. The idea of using poly-
mers in EOR is to improve displacing fluids rheologi-
cal properties. Polymer flooding gives both faster and
much more oil recovery compared to water flooding
attributable to polymers viscoelastic properties.
Methodology / Approach to the Problem
In order to achieve and accomplished the aforemen-
tioned objectives, the following are the methodolo-
gies adopted in this research project.
Performing rheological characteristics of polymers
for example shear stress, viscosity, density, pH and
IFT before and after using nanoparticles and then
compare the results.
Performing Polymer flooding experiments by intro-
ducing Sodium Magnesium Silicate nano and nano
Alumina and observe improvement if there is any.
Analyzing the results obtained from the experiment,
examining the individual performance of each poly-
mer related to breakthrough as well as general recov-
eries before and after the application of nanoparticles.
Drawing off conclusion according to the result ob-
tained from flooding experiments and corresponding
visual analysis.
 Comparability of all experimental results, polymer
types, nanoparticles and which gives better recovery
and improve performance than the other.
Fig. 2 - Sample Core flooding set-up
Polymer flooding processes
Detling (1944) was the first person to attempt en-
hancing sweep efficiency in water flooding through
branding various additives among which include wa-
ter-soluble polymers to increase the injected water
viscosity, which will consequently improve the mobil-
ity ratio for better oil recovery. As reported by (Taber
et. al., 1997), Polymer flooding is a type of chemical
EOR process, which has been studied for as far back
as 1950s, however it become widely applicable in
EOR processes around early 1980s. Sandiford (1964)
was also one of those that found out that water-sol-
uble polymers when added to injected water can re-
sults to significant improvement in displacement of oil
along with higher oil recovery than conventional wa-
ter-flooding. Water-soluble polymers have been the
usual means of reducing water mobility in porous me-
dia through increasing its viscosity and consequently
improving sweep efficiency.
Types of EOR Polymer
Littmann (1988) Categorized water soluble polymers
into two main categories; those that are produced
synthetically in labs (i.e. synthetic polymers) and
those that are obtained from natural products such
as wood, seeds, or those formed by microorganisms
(bacteria and fungi); which are essentially polysaccha-
rides (Biopolymers). Within the scope of this work,
only those polymers that will be experimented are to
be discussed;
Fig. 3 - Types of EOR Polymers (Littmann, 1988)
Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids
Fluids generally are classified as either Newtonians or
non-Newtonians fluids depending upon the behav-
iors they exhibited under certain conditions. New-
tonian fluids are those in which the shear stress ()
is directly proportional to shear rate () and viscosity
() is the constant of proportionality. This concept is
mathematically expressed as follows:
= *
Fig. 4 - Shear stress and Shear rate relationships for various fluids types
Main results / Achievements
Figure above illustrated the behavior of xanthan gum
with respect to shear stress, viscosity, density, IFT
and pH. As the salinity increases from 0 to 20% NaCl,
there is linear decrease in shear stress of the polymer
solution. Viscosity on the other hand, which is a func-
tion of shear stress and shear rate, also shows exact
trend as shear stress does. Density steadily increases
with addition of NaCl but starts to decline as tem-
perature rises; this is very much in consistence with
law of conservation of mass. IFT increases with salin-
ity attributable to increase in surface charge whereas
temperature causes the drop in IFT since temperature
has the ability to weaken the interfacial forces. Ad-
dition of Nanoparticles shows significant improve in
both the physical properties as well as the chemical
orientation of these polymers (i.e. favorable mobility
& enhanced recovery)
Analysis of Core Flooding Experimental work
Figures below compares the results of polymer flood-
ing experiments Xanthan Gum solution and the PAM
Samples all of which from rheology study weve seen
exhibited very similar non-Newtonian shear thinning
behavior but different shear viscosity behavior.
Fig. 5 - XG polymer flooding Fig. 6 - PAM polymer flooding
Fig. 7 - Relative Permeability Saturation Curve for Base Case & Polymer
Flooding (XG polymer)
Fig. 8 - Relative Permeability Saturation Curve for Base Case & Polymer
Flooding (XG polymer)
Xanthan gum showed the lower oil recovery com-
pared to PAM solutions. The later gave 3.6% recovery
higher than the former. This is solely due to the fact
that PAM flooding results in more wettability alter-
ation (i.e. slightly water-wet to strongly water-wet).
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 17
 BUE EXPERIENCE
The Journey from BUE to
Baker Hughes Company
Amr Maher
Field Specialist in the Wellbore
Intervention Team, Backer Hughes
PR member at SPE BUE SC ( 2010-
2012)
Being part of the student activities is
as important as your summer training.
I would like to take a moment to salute
the students who are participating at any
student activities specially the ones who
are participating at SPE BUE. University is
not about attending lectures and passing
final exams. It is about building your fu-
ture from the day one you stepped with
your feet inside the university building.
Spending 5 years in one place can let you
whether to learn many things, or not to
learn anything at all
Being a member at SPE BUE is being
unique and different. You are not only
improving your technical skills, but also
you are improving your social, cultural,
and soft skills. You will always see things
differently, you will think differently, and
you will be able to transform any problem
into opportunity.
In the oil and gas industry, companies
does not want a graduate who has perfect
technical skills, because there is not any
fresh graduate who can have a perfect
technical skills even if he is a high ranking
student because what you learn at uni-
versity is different than what you are go-
ing to see at the field, yes they complete
each others, but the academic knowledge
you will gain at university will only fulfill
18 APRIL 2016
around 30% from what you need to have.
But companies these days need a gradu-
ate who can be responsible in his actions,
who can negotiate with others, and who
can open up his mind for any improve-
ment and for learning new things, and
these skills will not be gained in your daily
lectures or after passing your final exams,
but it will be gained by joining a student
activity like SPE BUE.
It does not matter what committee are you
going to apply for or what is your position
going to be, Member, head or president.
What matters is being perfect in your po-
sition, even if you think it is small position.
Being perfect in this small position will al-
low you to gain the needed experience to
upgrade to a higher position. At the end
whatever your position is, you will learn
new things and you will gain skills that any
other normal student will not be able to
gain it.
It is very important to document all the
projects and events that you have worked
in at the organization because interview-
ers in huge companies will like to hear
your story and how did you reach your
goals, however, try to avoid showing that
your worked at many organization at dif-
ferent projects or events at the same time
because they might not believe it. Take it
as an advice, work on a single or a couple
of big projects or events that have huge
impact, and try to present them perfect-
ly, rather than working on to many small
projects with small impact at the same
time.
SPE BUE is an added value organization
which will add to you all the values that
are needed in order to go out and face
that tough job market.

Seniors Students Experience in
ADIPEC 2014 & IPTC 2015
By Mohamed Hindam & Ziad Hassan Elkady
As many say that travelling is the world
most joyful experience, some say that trav-
eling can become lifes best teacher. SPE
BUE SC has always given its students the
chance to travel and explore the world
through SPE international. SPE internation-
al have so many conference that students
can attend but SPE International each year
sponsor students to travel and come to pa-
per contests or education weeks such as
IPTC educational week or ADIPEC educa-
tional week. An education week is usually in
conjunction with international Conference.
SPE BUE SC has always had representatives
in Education weeks for more than 4 years.
Mohamed Hindam SPE BUE SC president
represented the BUE & Egypt in IPTC edu-
cational week 2015 in Doha, IPTC organize
an Education Week for the benefit of the
brightest 3rd and 4th year undergraduate
students in science, geoscience and engi-
neering from international institutions.
The purpose of Education Week is to give
university students a clear insight into the
oil and gas industry, to work together on a
joint technical project and to provide op-
portunities for students to form new friend-
ships and to extend their network. At the
same time, the students will be interacting
with a number of major industry employers
who are constantly looking to recruit the
best global talent from international insti-
tutions. Mohamed Hindam had a wonder-
ful experience and had the chance to meet
a lot of multinational companies chairmens
and had the chance to meet four presidents
of international societies and organization,
SPE, AAPG, EAGE, and SEG. Mohamed
Hindam said I wouldnt miss this chance
for anything, I have learned so much and
knew a lot of admirable people.
Also Ziad Hassan Elkady SPE BUE SC
Vice-President has represented SPE BUE
BUE EXPERIENCE
SC & the British University in Egypt in Abu
Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition
& Conference (ADIPEC) Educational week
2014 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
This programme is for the benefit of the
best undergraduate geosciences and engi-
neering students from national and interna-
tional institutions. The Steering Committee
selected 65 students to attend the pro-
gramme. The purpose of this programme is
to give the students a clear insight of the
industry that they are about to join to allow
them to return to their universities and col-
leges with a positive message to relate to
their fellow students and to provide oppor-
tunities for students to form new friend-
ships and to work together on joint activi-
ties. At the same time, the students will be
interacting with a number of major indus-
try employers who are constantly looking
to recruit the best talent from institutions
across the Middle East, North Africa and
South Asia.
Ziad Hassan Elkady had a great experience
in ADIPEC 2014 and had the chance to
meet many intelligent and sharp interna-
tional colleagues and experienced engi-
neers specialists in various topics in Petro-
leum Engineering.Ziad Hassan Elkady said
Take every chance you get in life, because
some things only happen once and become
some memories never fade. SPE BUE SC
advises all its young member not to miss
the chance to attend one of SPE interna-
tional conference in order to attended ses-
sions, seminars and workshops involving oil
and gas industry topics and to know whats
new in technology related to the oil and gas
industry, and also to explore a professional
work and make friend with the oil and gas
workers and get a chance to visit a new
country.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 19
 INDUSTRY ARTICLES

Field Experience to Optimize Gas Atef Abdelhady

Lift Well Operations Former Production General

Manager, Egas

The proper measurement of production in marginal fields and new developments to optimize gas lift opera-
tions is a very important factor in the oil industry. The enhanced allocation of gas lift wells can result in imme-
diate production payback by increasing each well production versus the injection ratio through real time well
data readings.
The changes in a well performance due to increased water cut led by its turn to changes in injection pressure
required to efficiently lifting the well and also a decrease in the reservoir pressure or equipment malfunction.
Hence, production optimization cannot be obtained because too much or too little gas is injected as the output
of constant well performance changes and causes less well production rates. Total production of a field can be
increased, if it is properly managed with exact and accurate measurement of well performance using real time
data. The major challenges are associated with the optimization of gas lift well measurement and monitoring
output through the use of multiphase flow technology.
Traditional well testing
The proper and accurate measurement of oil, October
2007 - Issue 10 By: Dr. Atef A/Allah, Production Gen-
eral Manager, Egas water and gas in the production
stream represents a critical reservoir management.
Multiphase measurement using traditional methods
creates several problems. First of all inaccuracies as-
sociated with the separation of production stream
act as major deterrent in this measurement process.
The second problem, which lies in the entrapment
of phases within each other and also mathematics,
shows that a complete phase separation cannot oc-
cur. With a multiphase flow meter, there is no separa-
tion, hence the oil is measured as it flows through the
meter and instantaneously the readings appear on the
monitor panel. Three phase separator measurements
require costly maintenance schedules. The third prob-
lem of traditional separators is their large size and
heavy weight.
This problem is considered as a critical issue, specifi- Fig. 1 - Multiphase Flow Meter
cally in offshore platforms or remote facilities, where ior, and results in realtime well optimization. This is
space and weight are of major concern. especially evident in secondary recovery technologies
such as gaslift operations as well as diluents or injec-
Multiphase flow meter tion wells.
On the other hand, the Multiphase Flow Meters
(MPFM) provides accurate, real time measurements Gas Lift Measurement Problems
of oil, water and gas flows simultaneously, without The main problems associated with the optimization
separation of the phase. The MPFM can be used in all of Gas Lift Operations lie in the achievement of accu-
flow patterns, having both oil and water continuous rate measurement of small amounts of liquid (23%)
fluid streams. It requires no field calibration or prior in high gas (95-99.5%). Gas injected down hole reduc-
knowledge of fluid properties. Fig. 1 shows the multi- es the density of the fluid and allows the low forma-
phase flow meter. tion pressure to push up the lower density column.
Gas compression incurs expensive capital and opera-
Multiphase measurement brings three fundamental tional costs. If too much gas is injected into the well,
advantages to oil companies and operators the gas can possibly blow through the well and un-
1. Reduction in capital expenditure by eliminating test economically lift a low amount of liquid. The amount
lines, separators and separate flow monitors. The me- of gas that the liquid column can hold depends on oil
ter also has size and weight advantages over test sep- viscosity and surface tension, both of which very from
arators with the ability to perform all measurements well to well, depending on water cut. For example, if
through a unmanned process. All of which, represent the mixture is watercontinuous, the viscosity will be
sizeable investments for such locations as remote ex- close to water, while a tight emulsion of 20-30% wa-
ploratory fields to transfer tankers. ter can be extremely more viscous than the pure oil.
2. More accurate well testing. By tying up well test The second problem of gas lift measurement is the
result and comparing them to the measured shipped lift process itself. To properly optimize GasLift op-
oil at the LACT unit, the overall production process- erations, a measurement device is needed to accu-
es is hindered due to the comparison of old data or rately measure not only all three components but also
shipped oil. to handle the common and irregular multiphase flow
3. Real-time well output measurement. This allows regimes that torment the traditional measurement
the tracking of each wells dynamic production behav- process.

22 APRIL 2016
Field operations
For many years, the industry standard for gas lift
well optimization was based on nodal analysis using
field-proven flowing pressure correlation for vertical
and horizontal flow. In almost all cases, it has been
impossible to accurately make the predicated model
results match the reported well test data, or obtain
a material balance for the field. This has occurred
chiefly because of the inability to obtain accurate and
repeatable well test results using standard testing
methods. The time required to test and analyze an in- Fig. 4 - Well #1
dividual well was restricted, since the test separator
is normally in use and dedicated to standard field op-
erations. By using a multiphase flow meter, GUPCOs
engineers were able to obtain accurate real time data
of well production and review the effects of chang-
ing the operating parameters of an individual well. By
using the data acquired, not only were the operators
able to achieve better results in individual well perfor-
mance, but they were also able to approach a material
balance for field production. The use of a multiphase
flow meter allowed GUPCO to overcome the prob-
lems outlined above. Fig. 5 - Well #2
To use a multiphase flow meter for optimization,
GUPCO had first to consider the required operating
characteristics of such a meter. It needed a meter that
would be accurate and easily transported between in-
dividual wells. This meter was also not to be affected
by changes in fluid properties such as density or sa-
linity. It was imperative to choose a meter capable of
handling high gas volume fractions, as large as 99%,
since gas lift wells fall under this category. It had also
to accurately measure in all flow regimens, due to the
fact that gas lift wells generally present the entire Fig. 6 - Well #3
spectrum of flow regimes in pipes.
(figure 5). This data indicated a serious problem with
Case study the well operation. Notice the severe heading in liquid
We will use a well that is 7,000 feet deep, has 3 inch production and gas injection. The conclusion was that
tubing, a flowing size of 3 inches and 3,000 feet in the well either had a bad gas lift design, a mechani-
length, a wellhead pressure of 80 psi and a P.I. of 5 cal failure of the gas lift valves, or communication be-
bld/psi. The static reservoir pressure is 2600 psi. Typ- tween the casing and tubing. This problem is easily
ical performance relationship predications are shown shown in our real Time data, but it would have been
in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3. These examples show maximum virtually impossible to find using only a standard test
flow rates with variable wellhead pressures for the report.
given well. Moreover, they show the effects of in- Notice the real-time data from Well 3 (figure 6), it
jection gas volume on production. A decision can be shows that the well was logging up approximately ev-
made as to the desirable injection rate and resulting ery four hours. The indications were that there was a
production rate based on field requirements from this mechanical failure in the gas lift valve or poor spac-
data. ing of the valves, which prohibited us from working
The limitation of such a method is that it requires us down-hole to the lowest possible injection point. Ad-
ditionally, we checked characteristics of the produced

water to ensure that all water was from the producing
formation.

It is commonly known that when an oil well is first

completed, the natural reservoir energy causes
the fluid to flow to the surface for some period of
Fig 2. - Predicting Maximum Flow Fig. 3 - Predicting Maximum Flow time. However, most oil wells, at some point during
Rate - Variable Wellhead Pressure Rate - Variable Wellhead Pressure
their economic life, require artificial lift in order to
to assume consistent production rates all throughout increase the reservoir energy needed to raise fluid
the test period. The problem arises in applying such to the surface and obtain the maximum recovery
data, to data received from a typical two pen record- of oil for maximum profit to the producer well. Ar-
er chart. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 show such charts obtained
from a well during the testing cycle. As seen on the
charts, it is virtually impossible to make any accurate
statement as to what the effects of actual rates may
be on this given well. Let us compare that to the real
time data obtained by the multiphase flow meter at
the GUPCO facility (Fig. 4, Fig. 5, and Fig. 6).
hydraulic pumping, and centrifugal pumping. Con-
tificial lift systems include rod pumping, gas lifting,

tinuous gas lift is the most commonly used artificial

lift system in the oil industry. It is inherently a high
volume method and the only one which makes use
of the reservoir gas energy.
Now notice the real time data acquired from Well 2

A PRI L 2 0 1 6 23
 INDUSTRY ARTICLES
Gulf of Suez Integrated Gas Lift
Optimization Study
Adham Hamshary, Ibrahim Sheta, Kareem Basha, Mohamed Atteiya, and Nick Davies, BP Egypt;
Fady Girgis, Raed Fouad, and Mohamed Kamal, GUPCO

Introduction & Field Description ing the major uncertainties in the metering system were
GUPCO is the joint venture operating company be- the first steps towards optimization. The first phase of
tween the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation the project was to perform a gas balance study for each
(EGPC) and BP Egypt. Its divided into 4 geographical separate area. Each study helped define the uncertain-
areas; North, North Central, South Central and South in ties of individual systems, what data could be trusted
which four main fields (October, July, Ramadan and El and what challenges should be expected. This helped
Morgan) are currently operated in their declining phase. define assumptions that were used in the modelling
Gas lift is used for more than 90% of its producing oil phase. As discussed in the previous sections, the GoS
wells as an artificial lift method to compensate for the consists of four areas for which gas balance will be dis-
declining reservoir pressure. Gas lift is a means of arti- cussed in the following paragraphs:
ficial lift in which high pressure gas is injected into the
tubing/casing annulus to support the limited energy of North GoS
the reservoir by lightening the formation fluid column In the North GoS, the gas -lift cycle extends from off-
so that liquids can be produced to the surface. Since shore to onshore due to lack of compression capacity
most of the reservoirs in GUPCO are pressure deplet- offshore ( Fig. 1). The gas balance study revealed 15
ed, wells cant flow on their own as there is not enough MMSCFD of un-captured gas scattered between differ-
energy in the reservoir to push the fluids up to the sur- ent areas; the discharge of HPG from Sulzer modules
face, and hence gas lift becomes crucial for production. on the October complex, the LPG line from offshore
Gas is tracked across the production system through to the Trans-Gulf gas-plant onshore, and the HPG line
Low Pressure Gas (LPG) meters, compression points, from the gas plant to Ras-Bakr HPG compressors on-
High Pressure Gas (HPG) meters before & after com- shore ( Fig. 1). These discrepancies in gas readings have
pression points respectively and by individual gas me- indicated meter calibration errors. Moreover, individual
ters on the wells to monitor injected gas lift rate (IG). sensors on wells were reading less than the total inject-
These gas values are then recorded in the Energy Com- ed HPG by 20 MMSCFD, most of these sensors are be-
ponent (EC) web-based surveillance system and in the lieved to have scale issues and are not calibrated with
platform survey reports. the actual orifice diameters.
Data availability has always been a challenge at GUP-
CO. The biggest issue is having a large number of wells
offshore with limited physical access, limited number
of crews and vessels and frequent bad weather con-
ditions. All of this contributed to limited availability of
surveillance data. Well testing has also been an issue
due to limited testing facilities as test separators have
been put into service as primary production separators
due to either capacity issues or malfunctioning of the
aging producing facility. In addition, many of GUPCOs
multiphase meters are out of service due to a variety of
reasons. This limited availability of surveillance data has
resulted in significant deferred production such as re-
straining interventions in high value wells because data Fig. 1 - North GoS Gas System, the black solid line divides the system into
two locations; onshore and offshore
was not available to support the optimization process.
In addition, a significant challenge has been the avail- North-Central GoS
ability of gas lift gas across the system with the amount The NC area is divided into two main fields, July and
of gas lift gas being insufficient to operate all the pro- Ramadan ( Fig.2). Ramadan was under a rehabilitation
ducing wells. As a result, 50% of the wells are kept shut- project during the study period with almost half of the
in due to their incapability to flowing naturally without platforms in the area shut-in. In the gas cycle shown in
gas lift, while other wells are prioritized based on the ( Fig.2), the compressors were chosen to be the study
available quantity of gas. The wells are being prioritized
based on their IGOR (Injected Gas / Oil Rate) value and
are gathered in one sheet called the, wells sorting list.
Despite all of these challenges and to ensure that the
gas is used in the most efficient manner across the
company, the BMT initiated an integrated gas lift op-
timization project that consisted of four main steps:
gas balance study, well modelling using PROSPER, sys-
tem modelling using GAP and wells prioritization using
creaming curves. Each step will be discussed in more
detail in the following sections.

Data Gathering (Gas balance)

Understanding the gas system in the GoS and identify- Fig. 2 - North Central GoS Gas System

24 APRIL 2016
node, and then production and injection rates were
considered in the analysis. The study revealed an un-
balance of (0-4) MMSCFD between the LPG and HPG
around the compressor node. Subsequent to the study,
the weaknesses of the system which could have caused
this unbalance were identified. The lack of meters to re-
cord the daily produced gas and the outdated well-tests
were the main sources of uncertainties and the possible
reasons for the unbalance.
South-Central GoS
The South-Central Area is divided into two main fields
(Fig.3). The production is directed from the online wells
into the Morgan compressor where HPG is sent to the
gas lifted wells. Some of the gas is consumed for fuel
& some is flared while other amounts are sent to the
national grid. Also, the BSUL (Black Start-Up Line) is im-
porting gas from the national grid, depending on gas
availability in system The gas balance study showed
that by taking the Morgan compressor as the study
node, there is an unbalance of 16 MMSCFD between
the LPG & HPG meters.
Fig. 3 - South Central GoS Gas System
First Phase (Gas Balance) Challenges and Recommen-
dations
During this phase, the team faced many challenges rep-
resented in the following:
1. Data Accessibility: Some data required physical pres-
ence on the platform.
2. Data Availability: Lack of surveillance data, e.g. some
wells had 4 year old well tests.
3. Data Quality: Meters and scanners were not calibrat-
ed regularly.
4. Technical Capabilities: Not all technical personnel are
trained in PROSPER & GAP.
5. Lack of integration between field and office person-
nel regarding system optimization.
Execution Process & Results
After completing the data gathering and optimization
of wells, the next stage was to start closing out the ac-
tions that came out from the computer/paper based
exercise.
Upgrade Testing and Metering
As previously mentioned; one of the challenges during
the whole process was the availability of test data and
metering accuracy. In order to improve it, the following
actions were implemented:
1. Multiphase Flowmeter (MPFM) installations: Three
MPFMs were installed on different platforms to im-
prove the frequency of well tests on those platforms.
Three more are in plan for installation during the next
few months. Another set of six meters will be procured
for phase II MPFM installations
2. Gas Lift Gas (GLG) orifice flowmeters local digital
display installations: 13 wells received new local digital
displays for their GLG orifice flowmeters. Those wells
are located on 3 different satellite platforms and it is
planned to continue the upgrade with new installations
on the rest of the platforms
3. Portable Test Package: a light weight portable test
package has been procured and commissioned recent-
ly. The new test separator should be able to test 50% of
GUPCO wells per year. Based on the data quality and
efficiency of the Portable Test Package, a decision will
be made to purchase an additional one.
4. Replacing heavily scaled test headers: a test header
was replaced recently which provides the means to test
wells on 4 different platforms.
5. Repair of test separators on platform complexes
(gathering stations): currently two test separators have
been isolated and are being repaired which will allow
testing to resume on more than 80 wells on 12 different
platforms.
Gas Lift Performance Monitoring and Interventions
A gas lift dashboard was developed for quarterly perfor-
mance updates and to identify system bottlenecks and
spare capacities. The dashboard improved the aware-
ness of both the technical staff and management on
the effect of GL on the total production. By debottle-
necking the GL systems, the GLG rate increased which
resulted in a positive effect on the production rate as
shown in Fig. 4.
Fig. 4 - Example from the GL Dashboard showing the effect of increasing
GLG rate on the GoS total production
Conclusion & Forward Plan
GL optimization is a journey that never ends. The pro-
cess that was implemented since the start of the proj-
ect was mainly relying on continuous improvement;
therefore, documenting every step in optimization and
keeping an eye on the results have been essential to
achieve a successful outcome.
In order to achieve an 8700 BOPD potential gain (which
represents 12-13% of Gupcos current production rate),
the following forward plan has been initiated:
1. Continue the execution phase and ensure good com-
munication between all teams.
2. Install recommended meters/scanners to enhance
data measurement in order to ensure balanced system
3. Complete GL optimization execution using the de-
veloped optimization process.
4. Continue the MPFM installations.
5. Use the Portable Test Package (PTP) for further en-
hancement of system evaluation & optimization and
evaluate purchasing another PTP.
6. Keep updating the PROSPER & GAP models based
on the new data from surveillance to maximize the out-
come and minimize uncertainties.
7. Update the creaming curves on a regular basis and
use them for planned shut downs.
8. Implement the GLS actions included in the surveil-
lance plan.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 25
 PETROLEUM FOCUS

Effects of Petrophysical Rock Attia M. Attia

Properties on Tortuosity Factor Professor and Program Director

of PEGT, BUE

Abstract %),the cementation factor, the consolidation pres-

Tortuosity factor is an important parameter of forma- sure, the degree of saturation, the formation resistivi-
tion resistivity factor calculations in the Archie for- ty factors and the salinity of brine water. Tables 1 and
mula, which is used to predict water saturation. The 2 shows the summarized results of the petrophysical
objective of this work was to study the effects of pet- rock properties for Berea and synthetic sandstone
rophysical rock properties, i.e., amount of fine-grains, cores, respectively. Presentation and discussion of
porosity, cementation factor, formation resistivity the obtained results are given in the following sepa-
factor,electrolyte concentrations and degree of brine rate heading.
saturation, on the tortuosity factor using Berea and
synthetic sandstones cores. This study also trying to
formulate empirical correlations between tortuosity
factor and these studied petrophysical rock proper-
ties. The obtained results showed that the tortuosity
factor is not a constant value, but it varies largely ac-
cording to many parameters such as were studied in
the present article. It was found that it increases as
a result of decreasing the amount of fine grains, in-
creasing formation resistivity factor, and cementation
factor, and decreasing both porosity and degree of
brine saturation. Tortuosity obtained from electrical
resistivity measurements is very close to the tortuos-
ity obtained from capillary pressure data. The analysis
demonstrated that the correlations between the tor- Fig. 1 - Effect of Percentage Fine Grains in the Sample on the Tortuosity
tuosity factor and the petrophysical rock properties Factor at 5% NaCL
would yield a strong relationship with most accurate
coefficients.

Introduction
Carman (1939) as referenced by Adisoemarta et al.
(2000) shows that the microscopic flow path through
a porous media is approximately at 458 with respect
to the direction of the bulk ionic current through
satu-rated unconsolidated material as:

X = X /cos 45 = 1:414 X (1)

Where X is the actual flow path length and X is the

thickness of porous media. Fig. 2 - Effect of Consolidation Pressure on the Tortuosity Factor at 40%
Fine Grains
The higher value reflects a microscopic flow path with
a larger component perpendicular to bulk ionic flow The results are shown in Figs. 13 show the effects
compared to the component parallel to flow. They of the amount of fines in the core specimens on tor-
concluded that the minimum value of tortuosity fac- tuosity factor at various consolidation pressures. The
tor equal to one and the maximum value is 1.4, leasing percentage of fine sand in the core were changed to
the tortuosity factor equal to one can be unfavorable give different cores having 40%, 60%, 80% and 100%
to the oil in place calculation. Also they found that for fines. These cores were consolidated under three
recalculation of water saturation by setting tortuosi- dif-ferent consolidation pressure: 20.7, 27.6 and 34.5.
ty factor to a unity is between 5% less to 30% more
than the real assumed water saturation. In addition,
Carman defined the tortuosity factor is equal to the
effective length of the fluid flow path within the po-
rous media X over the apparent length X. Tortuosi-
ty is the ratio between the actual length of true flow
paths to the theoretical length of the sample or po-
rous material.

Results and discussion

The results of the present study are demonstrated
graphically in Figs. 129. These figures show the
effects of the studied parameters on the tortuosi-
ty factor, these studied influencing parameters are Fig. 3 - Effect of Consolidation Pressure on the Tortuosity Factor at 60%
the amount of the fine grained sands in the core (by Fine Grains

26 APRIL 2016
Empirical equations for each one relation were ob-
tained as follow
For synthetic sandstones cores
(2)
(3)
(4)
Where FG represents the percentage of fine grains in sam-
ples.
Comparison between the correlations in the litera-
ture and correlations obtained in this article
Figs. 47 show that the comparison between the cor-
relations which were mentioned in the introduction in
the present study and those obtained from resistivity.
Fig. 4 - Tortuosity Obtained from Capillary Pressure and Obtained from
Electrical Properties
Fig. 5 - Comparison Between Tortuosity Calculation by Koponen and Tor-
tuosity Presented in This Article
Fig. 6 - Comparison Between Tortuosity Obtained from Carman and Ob-
tained from Presented in This Article Using Berea Sandstones Cores
Fig. 8 Shows a good agreement between tortuosity
factor obtained according to tortuosity factor ob-
tained from resistivity measurements. Fig. 9 Repre-
sent the relations, between tortuosity factor obtained
bySalem (1993)and those obtained in the present ar-
ticle, using Berea and synthetic cores. It is clear from
the figure, that a variation between the results from
Fig. 7 - Comparison Between Tortuosity Obtained from Carman and Ob-
tained from Presented in This Article Using Synthetic Sandstones Cores
these correlations. This may be due to; the difference
of core preparations, amount of fine and consolida-
tion pressure in synthetic cores.
Fig. 8 - Validation of Tortuosity Factor from Formation Resistivity Factor
According to the Empirical Equation (T= 0.87Fr0.2) for Synthetic Cores
at 5% NaCL
Fig. 9 - Comparison Between Tortuosity Factor Obtained by Salem(1993)
and Presented in This Article as a Function of Cementation Factor
Conclusions
1. For all cores tested, the results showed that tortu-
osity factor is not a constant value, but it varies largely
according to many parameters such as studied in the
present article.
2. Tortuosity factor increases as a result of decreasing
the amount of fine grains, increasing formation resis-
tivity factor, consolidation pressure and cementation
factor.
3. Tortuosity factor increases with decreasing both
porosity and degree of brine saturation.
4. Tortuosity factor increases with electrolyte concen-
tration increase for all cores having different amount
of fine-grains.
5. Tortuosity factor obtained from electrical resistivity
measurements very close to the tortuosity factor ob-
tained from capillary pressure data.
6. New correlations for the tortuosity factor and the
petrophysical rock properties such as porosity,
cementation factor and formation resistivity factor
have been developed to cover a wide range of the
amount of fine grains in the samples.
7. The correlations between the tortuosity factor and
petrophysical rock properties yielded the strongest
relationship with most accurate coefficients.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 27
 PETROLEUM FOCUS

Factors Affecting Oil Prices Mohamed Ali Ibrahim

Society of Petroleum Engineers
Eni spa Exploration&Production,
Milan HQ, Italy

The big question these days is what oil prices will do in 2016. Global oil prices plunged from about
$108 in the first half of 2014 to below $30 currently due to Overproduction in markets. The cur-
rent Oil prices are unsustainably low causing financial pressure on many high-cost oil producers
and oil-producing regions. To answer this question, along with other important ones, when need to
understand the factors that drive crude oil prices.
How many barrels of oil are pro-
duced and expected to be con-
sumed per day?
For 2016, the IEA Oil Market Re-
port forecasts worldwide average
demand of nearly 96 million barrels
of oil and liquid fuels per day that
works out to more than 35 billion
barrels a year. Production breached
97 million barrels per day in late
2015.

Where is the bulk of oil demand

growth going to come from?
In the next five years, non-OECD
Asia will remain the major source
of oil demand growth, with volumes
increasing from 23.7 mb/d in 2015 Fig. 1 - Global Oil Prices Plunged from About $108 to Below $30 Currently Due to Overproduction
to 28.9 mb/d in 2021, though the in Markets
rate of growth is affected by reductions in subsidies and the seller are obligated to fulfill their side of the
and efforts to tackle pollution. China will be central to transaction on the specified date. There are two types
demand growth, partly because of the underlying rise of oil futures traders: (1) hedgers, (2) speculators. An
of oil demand but also due to its build-up of strategic example of a hedger would be an airline buying oil fu-
reserves which will reach at least 500 mb by 2020. tures to guard against potential rising prices. An ex-
This trend for China is set to continue to 2040, as oil ample of a speculator would be someone who is just
demand from the transportation sector is growing guessing the price direction and has no intention of
strongly there as well as in other non-OECD countries actually buying the product. Supply & Demand along
such as India. In contrast, oil demand among OECD with the behavior of market Hedgers & Speculators
countries is expected to decline over the outlook pe- are the real drivers behind Oil bbl price.
riod, driven mostly by government policies on fuel ef-
ficiency and the fact that rates of vehicle ownership What about OPEC?
are already high. OPEC (The Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries), a consortium of 13 countries: Algeria, An-
Main factors that impact Oil price gola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Ni-
The two primary factors that impact the price of oil geria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates
are: (1) supply and demand, (2) market sentiment (the and Venezuela, is the single largest entity impacting
overall attitude of investors). The concept of supply the worlds oil supplies . OPEC is responsible for 40%
and demand is fairly straightforward. As demand in- of the worlds oil production, and sets policies among
creases (or supply decreases) the price should go up. member countries to meet global consumption. OPEC
As demand decreases (or supply increases) the price can affect the price of crude oil, by increasing or re-
should go down. Market sentiment is the overall at-
titude of investors toward Oil market, the feeling or
tone of the market or its crowd psychology, as re-
vealed through the activity and price movement of
the securities traded in that market. For example, ris-
ing prices would indicate a bullish market sentiment,
while falling prices would indicate a bearish market
sentiment.
The price of oil as we know it is actually set in the
oil futures market. An oil futures contract is a binding
agreement that gives one the right to purchase oil by
the barrel at a predefined price on a predefined date
in the future. Under a futures contract, both the buyer Fig. 2 - OPEC and World Oil Supply

28 APRIL 2016
ducing production among member countries. This is
what happened in 2007 and 2008 increase in oil pric-
es due to reductions in OPEC production allocations
in 2006.
Non-OPEC suppliers produce 60% of the worlds oil,
and although they are 50% larger than OPEC, they
dont have sufficient reserves to be able to control
price and can only respond to market fluctuations.
OPEC, however can directly influence market pricing,
especially when the supply of oil produced by non-
OPEC nations decreases.
Saudi Arabia and Swing producer Role
A Swing producer is a supplier of any commodity, like
Oil, controlling its global deposits and possessing large
spare production capacity. A swing producer is able
to increase or decrease commodity supply at minimal
additional internal cost, and thus able to influence
prices and balance the markets, providing downside
protection in the short to middle term. During last
two years, It was clear that Saudi Arabia abandoned
its traditional role as the global oil markets swing pro-
ducer when they continued to increase oil production
regardless the decrease in demand in oil market.
Irans return to world oil markets
The return of oil from Iran following the nuclear ener-
gy deal with world powers will for sure affect the Oil
market. Iran plans to add somewhere between 0.5
and 1 million barrels of crude per day to an already
oversupplied market. There are concerns that Irani-
an return on the global oil market will pose further
downside risk for the prices.
U.S. oil boom
The U.S. pumped an average of 9.43 million barrels
per day last year, according to new government fig-
ures. Thats the highest level since 1972 and rep-
resents an impressive growth of 89% since 2008.
One can say that, the current world oil oversupply
has largely been created by skyrocketing U.S. output,
which surged from just 4.6 million barrels per day in
October 2005 to a high of 9.69 million last year.
Fig. 3 - U.S. Oil Output
Geopolitical and Economic Events
Crude oil prices react to a variety of geopolitical and
economic events. Given the past history of oil supply
disruptions emanating from political events, market
participants are always assessing the possibility of fu-
ture disruptions and their potential impacts. In addi-
tion to the size and duration of a potential disruption,
they also consider the availability of crude stocks and
the ability of other producers to offset a potential sup-
ply loss. Weather can also play a significant role in oil
supply. Hurricanes in 2005, for example, shut down
oil and natural gas production as well as refineries. As
a result, petroleum product prices increased sharply
as supplies to the market dropped. Other events such
as refinery outages or pipeline problems can restrict
the flow of oil and products, driving up prices.
However, the influence of these types of factors on
oil prices tends to be relatively short lived. Once the
problem subsides and oil and product flows return to
normal, prices usually return to previous levels.
Fig. 4 - Crude Oil Prices React to a Variety of Geopolitical and Economic
Events
Russia and Saudi Arabia Agreement
On March 2016, Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed to
freeze oil output at near-record levels, the first coor-
dinated move by the worlds two largest producers to
counter low oil prices. While the deal is preliminary
and doesnt include Iran, its the first significant co-
operation between OPEC and non-OPEC producers
in 15 years and Saudi Arabia said its open to further
action.
Fig. 5 - Crude Production in Millions of Barrels a Day
Finally,
As we can see, there are so many variables in the equa-
tion for oil prices, which makes it difficult to predict
the future crude oil price with high degree of certain-
ty. But one can conclude that Oil Prices in 2016 and
next few years will be determined by these 6 factors
1. US production rates,
2. Saudi Arabias ability to grow production,
3. Irans latent ability to produce more oil,
4. Chinese economic slowdown and its impact on
consumption,
5. Russias ability to add global production, and
6. OPECs strategy.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 29
 PETROLEUM FOCUS
Casing Failures Correlated with
Cementing Quality in Steam
Injection Wells
Recovering heavy and high-viscosity oils is more chal-
lenging than common oil reservoirs. Most heavy oils
are found in shallow reservoirs, and so they do not
follow easily or even flow at all. This means these res-
ervoirs are not recovered in the conventional meth-
ods, but are recovered using steam injection (Pershi-
kova et al. 2010). Steam injection has very specific
conditions so the well undergoes high thermal stress-
es that if exceeded will increase the likelihood of fail-
ure of the casing material during the cooling process.
During this recovery method, the probability of cas-
ing damage is extremely high if the ideal conditions
for the completion are not reached.
This includes suitable materials,
correct casing temperature and the
right combination of cementing ad-
ditives. Preventing casing damage is
extremely crucial, not only because
it would lead to decreased produc-
tion and expensive repair jobs, but
also because their failure can dam-
age adjacent wells or lead blowouts
(Maharaj et al.1996).
Steam injection has multiple meth-
ods, and other than the conven-
tional there is one that is advanced
known as the huff and puff meth-
od. While in conventional steam injection projects
steam is injected constantly from an injector well,
and production occurs from one or more production
wells in a pattern, huff and puff wells follow a differ-
ent approach. The method is basically a single well
procedure, where the oil is exposed to steam as long
as possible to increase injectivity. It is considered a
way to accelerate recovery of oil in steam injection
projects. As mentioned earlier, the injection and pro-
duction process occurs on the same well, and its
repeated consequently. Each cycle consists of three
stages: huff (injection), shut in, and huff (production).
The first is injecting high pressure steam into the full
thickness of the pay part of the reservoir at a constant
rate. This stage continues for an average time of two
weeks. Next, the well is shut in, in the stage known
as soak, to allow for the heat from the steam to prop-
agate into the oil in the reservoir. The oil viscosity is
then decreased considerably due to the heat (Matus
et al. 2005). This cycle is then repeated for as long as
the reservoir and well can handle till the reservoir is
depleted or well fails. Although this method acceler-
ates recovery, the drawback is a reduction in overall
recovery as well a high rate of casing failures.
Many things factor into the failure of the casing, be it
significantly high pressure, thermal stresses exceeding
the yield strength, poor cementing quality, or thermal
elongation. Generally, for parameters higher than 700
psi and 500 deg F, the production casing fails. This is a
result of the high thermal stress conditions and ther-
mal elongation. This means that when the well is un-
der the injection stage, the casing is undergoing very
high temperatures and pressures. Stress builds up on
the casing, causing the casing to become plastically
30 APRIL 2016
Ghaida Al Farsi
Field Engineer, Schlumberger
2014 Wining Middle East Paper
Contest, Dubai
deformed due to its yield strength being exceeded
(Turner et al. 2010).
A type of casing failure that is very common to wells
with poor cementing or which have casings that
have not been cemented to the surface properly is
buckling. Buckling is a serious problem and would
be caused by the aforementioned conditions, where
during the cooling process the casing joints will give
out. Another possibility is if one part of the casing is
not cemented properly, that one part of the casing
would elongate or change shape while the rest will
not. This is due to the rest of the casing still being
under the yield strength. Therefore,
the effectiveness of cementing has
a direct effect on the possibility of
failure in the casing, especially in
steam injection wells. The model
reservoir that will be used for this
study is based on Mukhaizna field in
Sultanate of Oman. Mukhaizna field
was discovered in 1975, and is now
the third largest oilfield in the south
of the country. The most important
property of the oil that was found
was its extremely high viscosity (14-
16 API). The targeted reservoirs
are sandstone and are found in the
Gharif formations, specifically the upper Gharif which
starts at 2600 ft (Al-Azkawi et al. 2002). Production
is through drilling horizontal and wells with vertical
steam injection wells and it uses Steam Assisted Grav-
ity Drainage as an oil recovery method.
The study will be based on the cement models associ-
ated with this field only.
Methodology
For this research, the drilling logs for wells that have
failed due to casing buckling, tearing and snapping
were collected. Also, to make sure the results and
Fig. 2 - Map of Mukhaizna Field in
Oman
Fig. 1 - Casing Failure Fig. 3 - How CBL Works
analysis was accurate, any failures due to corrosion
or sand control problems were not taken into consid-
eration. The data that was collected from those logs
were: dynamic and static losses, cement quality for
cement bond logs, CemNET use and finally cement
returns. First, dynamic and static losses are essential
values to keep track of because they indicate lost cir-
culation values. At lost circulation zones, the cement
slurry or drilling fluids would be lost to the formation
and so would put the casing in a vulnerable position
where it could fail easily. The depth at which the loss-
es started would be recorded, as well as the amount
of losses. A usually high amount of losses is above 20
bbl/hr. Next, to understand the integrity of the ce-
ment quality and integrity could be a challenge. There
are three different tests that can be done to test this
quality, but the one this paper will focus on is cement
bond log (CBL) interpretation (Boyd et al. 2006). Of all
these tests, CBL interpretation is the most efficient in
time and cost compared to the communication tests.
They also cover the entire depth of casing.
BL interpretation was used to determine the top of
cement for injectors that have failed.
Also, a system was designed to categorize the wells
that have been studied into poorly, fairly and reason-
ably cemented wells. Poor is for wells with more than
30% of poor cementing in the entirety of the well, fair
is for 10-30%, and good is for less than 10%.
After categorizing the wells using this system, other
possible factors were looked at and considered. Find-
ing out whether the well had dynamic or static losses
and at which depth is important. Losses that go over
20 bbl/hr are generally considered not acceptable, as
mentioned earlier, and must be spotted by lost circu-
lation material (LCM). Other factors that could pre-
vent failures include the use of CemNET. CemNET
is advanced fiber cement that is used to prevent ce-
ment from being lost in vugs or natural fractures into
the formation. Fig. 5 shows how CemNET works and
how it reduces excess cement returns and covers loss
zones during cementing operations. Basically, its main
function is sealing the loss in the zone and therefore
eliminates any un cemented segments.
Fig. 4 - Categorization System for
Well Cement Quality Fig. 5 - CemNET Circulation
Results
Cement Bond Logs
The results from the CBL records can be summarized
in Fig. 6. The second pie chart illustrates results from
wells that have not failed. Comparatively, it can be
concluded that the quality of cementing and how well
it is bonded to the casing and formation has a direct
effect on whether a wells fails or not, especially when
only 17% of the wells that have failed were cemented
well. CemNET Usage Based on the results compiled,
70% of the wells that have failed were not cemented
with CemNET added to the cementing mixture.
Fig. 6 - CBL Log Results Fig. 7 - CemNET Usage Results
Although CemNET usage seems to have an effect on
the wells that have failed, the wells that are consid-
ered to be good do not show a solid correlation. Dy-
namic and Static Losses
Based on the results and analysis, the losses data
seemed to indicate the most interesting results from
all the past tests. For this next graph, the process to
which the data was compiled is as follows:
Only data from the wells that have failed were con-
sidered.
The point of failure of each well was noted.
The point of losses during drilling was also docu-
mented.
For each well, these two points were compared to
see whether they were the same.
The data from this data was plotted and the following
graph was plotted (Fig. 8)
Fig. 8 - Vert. Injectors at Point of Failure
From the figure above, although there have been
wells that were cemented Good they still failed. So
the losses were looked at to see whether that could
have been due to losses and not overall cementing
quality. So, 80% of the wells that were cemented well
yet failed had the same point of failure and point of
losses starting. This means that at that depth the loss-
es caused the cement slurry to be lost to the forma-
tion, therefore causing poor cementing at that point.
This of course led to the failure of the casing at the
point.
Conclusions
The integrity of the cement will always be a very ef-
fective gauge of cement failures, since cementing
gives support to the casing as well as prevents many
other processes, such as corrosion etc. However,
it has proven that it is even more important in the
case of steam injection wells due to the high thermal
stresses and elongation, which could be avoided with
high support from the cement as well as higher steel
grades for the casing. Furthermore, it can be conclud-
ed that there is a direct correlation between losses
to lost circulation zones and the rate of casing fail-
ures. This is connected to the use of CemNET which
is supposed to prevent these losses by blocking the
fractures, given that it is used of course.
Unfortunately, no conclusions were able to be made
based on the cyclic wells due to lack of data. This re-
search can be extended to include more if data was
provided, so that the effect of the thermal stresses as
well as the toll that the cycles take on the casing and
cement could be studied further.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 31
 HR DISCUSSION
Current State of the Industry:
a Recruiting Agency's Perspective
The day after Thanksgiving, the oil and gas industry
was dealt a crushing blow. Already facing a downward
market, it was then met with news that members of
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-
tries had collectively made the decision to not cut
production, with Saudi Arabia leading the agenda. The
remainder of last year was throttled by plummeting
share prices from the publicly traded exploration and
production (E&P) companies and the continuation of
price slides on the oil indexes, both West Texas Inter-
mediate (WTI) and Brent. Through December and into
the New Year, companies were faced with an unfortu-
nate reality, which was to cut capital expenditures in
order to weather the storm of uneconomic oil prices,
an uncertain rebound forecast, and a correction to
profitable levels.
In an opinion piece, Who Will Rule the Oil Market?,
published in The New York Times on 23 January, re-
nowned analyst Daniel Yergin wrote, By leaving oil
prices to the market, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates
also passed the responsibility as de facto swing pro-
ducer to a country that hardly expected itthe Unit-
ed States. This approach is expected to continue with
the accession of the new Saudi king, Salman, follow-
ing the death on Friday [23 January] of King Abdullah.
And it means that changes in American production
will now, along with that of Persian Gulf producers,
also have a major influence on global oil prices.
Commenting on it, Reed Rogers, Parkwood Interna-
tionals executive vice president of downstream refin-
ing and chemical manufacturing practices, notes that,
The US does not have a cartel of oil producers who
will act in concert, so expecting the US to act as a
swing producer who will lower production to increase
price is not realistic. What is more likely is that low-
er oil prices will weed out higher-cost US producers,
which will be a random, rather than concerted, event.
In either case, higher prices would be the outcome.
However, we dont see many US producers being
weeded out so far so I agree with Barclays latest
survey that a USD 50/bbl price will be maintained for
much of 2015.
Low Oil Prices Lead to Leaner Companies
The direct and unfortunate effect of uneconomic pric-
es and 40% to 50% cuts in capital spending is that com-
panies will need fewer employees. In the first quarter
of the year, we have seen layoffs from Schlumberger
(estimated 9,000), Weatherford (8,000), and Baker
Hughes/ Halliburton (7,000) on the service side, and
Noble Energy (220), Chaparral (121), Sandridge (256),
and Apache in the operating category. Others have
closed regional offices, such as SM Energy in Tulsa
and Laredo Petroleum in Dallas.
Many others have similar circumstances and compa-
rable stories. Many, including our analysts at Park-
wood, believe we saw the bottom of prices when WTI
fell below USD 45/bbl. Despite this, there will contin-
ue to be layoffs and shutdowns through the rest of
the year even if prices improve to USD 65/bbl, largely
considered an economic price for most oil plays in the
32 APRIL 2016
Bodie Nowak
Senior Vice President of
Recruiting Business Division,
Parkwood International
US.
Our business is predicated on contracting with oil and
gas companies who have urgent and strategic hiring
needs and facilitates the efforts to search, vet, intro-
duce, and onboard the most qualified individuals for
those positions.
Since November, we have seen the majority of our
resource play/ unconventional shale clients cease all
hiring for their organizations. Most companies have
significantly decreased their needs for new employ-
ees and many others, as aforementioned, have al-
ready gone through initial rounds of layoffs.
Drilling and Completion Budgets Affected Most
Due to capital constraints, the lions share of expendi-
tures that have decreased are drilling and completion
(D&C) budgets. Oil shale D&C costs can range from
USD 5 million per well up to USD 10 million per well
on average. Resource play development is fiscally de-
manding, which can create difficulty for many opera-
tors in a USD 50/bbl market. The cost of drilling and
completing a well significantly diminishes any positive
internal rate of return. In addition, many shale opera-
tors have taken on significant debt in order to increase
their drilling efforts while chasing production goals.
The employees most affected in the current state of
the industry are the professionals tied to D&C proj-
ects. Last year, the US rig count was as high as 1,931
and as of 2 April, it was down to 1,028. It would be
shocking if that number did not continue to decrease
through the middle of the year and maybe even into
the third quarter.
As a result of the decline in rig count and drilling ac-
tivity, our unit has been inundated with calls and in-
quiries from drilling engineers, completion engineers,
operations geologists, inhouse landmen, drilling su-
pervisors, and countless field operations personnel
tied to the rig lines who are now without work and
seeking advice and assistance.
We witnessed a similar situation in 2009 when the US
rig count dropped from its height of 2,031 in 2008 to
876 in June 2009. Like then, it is now difficult to help
many who were sidelined in the wake of the slow-
down. Parkwoods agenda in these circumstances is
to make sure we are following the financial groups
that are associated with the upstream market in order
to be aware of any and all capital influence activity
that might suggest a need for a team of (D&C) pro-
fessionals.
Follow the Money to Find the Jobs
With pricing decreases from the service companies
and discounted acquisition opportunities, we contin-
ue to hear a buzz from private equity groups and in-
vestment banks about being opportunistic. We have
also had conversations with operators that received
backing last year and are now seeking purchases,
which will lead to development through the drill bit.
For example, a Bloomberg article in January reported
that Blackstone and its subsidiary, GSO Capital Part-
ners, have committed as much as USD 500 million to
fund oil and gas development for Linn Energy LLC
Under the 5-year agreement, Blackstone would fund
drilling programs at locations selected by the Hous-
ton-based Linn for an 85% working interest in the
wells.
We reached out to Linn immediately to promote our
services for hiring needs that would likely result from
the large capital influence from GSO. The same arti-
cle noted that Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR, and Apollo
had recently raised USD 15 billion in funds for energy
investments. If we follow the money, we will typically
find the jobs.
In 2010, during the recovery from the 20082009
price swing, we began seeing significant investments
from financiers, and operator budgets were direct-
ed toward the gas-rich Marcellus Shale window of
the Appalachian Basin. In turn, our company focused
business development there and successfully filled
the largest percentage of our 2010 jobs in that part
of the US. When gas prices started sliding and pro-
duction lessened demand on the East Coast, we de-
creased our activity there and looked for diversifica-
tion in other up and coming plays such as the Eagle
Ford and the Bakken.
A large portion of our work in the current market is
with private E&P operators that leverage convention-
al portfolios, work within cash flow, and carry little to
no debt. In this case, there is no real geographic pref-
erence given that conventional projects are still active
nationwide. For industry professionals, in these cases,
it is very important and beneficial to be flexible with
where one will consider working those who restrict
themselves to one city will find far fewer options and
much more difficulty.
Changing Market Type
Another result of the down market is the 180-degree
transition from what is called a candidate-driven mar-
ket to a client-driven market. In a candidate-driv-
en market, companies are faced with the reality that
the majority of prospective candidates are currently
working, well-paid and appreciated, and disinterest-
ed in considering a new career option. If someone is
open to making a move, he or she will typically meet
with five to eight companies and consider three to
four job offers simultaneously.
What we have seen over the past few months is that
companies now have only five to eight open positions
and are not usually in competition with more than one
or two other companies.
This is the direct result of layoffs or candidate con-
cerns about the stability of their current employer.
Things will likely change back to a candidate driven
market, but for post-2006 graduates, the job market
will still be competitive.
Robert Chase of Marietta College shared his compila-
tion of data on the US petroleum engineering gradu-
ates from 1972 to the current year:
1. Early 1980s had the highest graduation numbers
ever, with 1,529 new college graduates in 1986,
which is still the highest to date.
2. The downturn in the late 1980s through the 1990s
decreased the graduate numbers drastically, and in
1998, only 200 petroleum engineers graduated in the
US.
3. The numbers ramped up after 2006 with the suc-
cess of hydraulic fracturing such that 1,527 engineers
graduated per year by 2014, making the market much
more saturated for younger engineers.
Going forward in 2015, it will likely get worse before it
gets better. Companies net present value (PV10) will
decrease over the next two quarters and we will cer-
tainly see additional Chapter 11 filings, layoffs, and a
decrease in hiring activity. The PV10 is the present
value of a companys estimated future oil and gas
revenues, after the deduction of estimated expenses,
discounted at an annual rate of 10%.
The horizon, however, gives signs of optimism. The
cash-heavy private equity and investment banking
communities are poised and positioned to take ad-
vantage of the acquisition market and it is certain
that we will see an influx of capital, with billions of
new dollars backing E&P initiatives. For industry pro-
fessionals, it is very important to remember that the
only sustainable competitive advantage that an orga-
nization can have is the quality of its people. Great
companies understand that great talent is not expen-
siveit is priceless.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 33
 ENERGY4ME
Zunaid Ismail Jooma The objective of the Energy4Me programme is to educate students aged 10
to 17 about the energy industry, and engage them at a young age in order to
Energy Education encourage further studies in math and science to ensure that a countries future
Specialist, Society of workforce, servicing the Oil & Gas industry, consists of an that countries national
Petroleum Engineers majority.
Program Overview
Description
For decades, educating the general public about the
oil and gas industry and petroleum engineering ca-
reers have been important initiatives by Society of Pe-
troleum Engineers (SPE) members around the globe.
SPE has supported many initiatives over the years to
educate the public, particularly targeting pre-univer-
sity students about oil and gas, and about career op-
portunities in the petroleum engineering profession.
Project Background
In 2007, SPE launched an integrated, energy educa-
tional public outreach program called Enery4me to
highlight how energy works in our everyday lives and
to promote information about career opportunities in
petroleum engineering and the upstream professions.
Todays students are tomorrows industry profession-
als. Our message to students everywhere: We need
your help! Come join the energy industry and help
create the worlds energy solutions for today, for to-
morrow and for the future!
Objectives
SPEs Energy4me program values the role teachers
Curriculum Resources
Energy4me educational materials were created with
teachers and education institutions and have been
tested in the classroom environment across the globe.
The program is designed to make an impact with web-
site resources, teacher development, hands-on activi-
ties, and speaker programs.
Website
The Energy4me website (www.energy4me.org) pro-
vides factual information about all energy sources,
issues in energy, and an updated blog sharing cur-
rent industry news. For educators the site provides
appropriate, age-specific energy educational mate-
rials including lesson plans, hands-on experiments,
pre-made Power Points, and handouts. The site helps
teachers find industry career guidance, engineering
and technology schools, available scholarships, and
contacts for SPE Student Chapters. The materials are
translated in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic,
Russian, and Chinese.
34 APRIL 2016
and energy professionals play in educating young
people about the importance of energy. The program
recognizes the need to provide factual non-biased
information that can be easily used in classrooms
around the globe.
Energy4me educational materials were created by
teachers for teachers and have been tested in the
classroom environment. The program is designed to
make an impact with website resources, teacher de-
velopment, and speaker programs.
Energy4me is designed to:
Deliver online educational resources to educators
by providing appropriate, age-specific curriculum ma-
terials and industry career recruitment materials.
Help students of all ages find balanced information
about energy, in particular oil and gas; access E&P in-
dustry career guidance; and create a single database
listing petroleum engineering schools, SPE section
scholarships and local/regional resources for scholar-
ships; internships and summer jobs/camps, contacts
for SPE student chapters.
Oil and Natural Gas Book
Energy4me also provides an educational book that
explains the oil and natural gas industry in a rich,
graphic format with short text items. The Oil and
Natural Gas book was developed by a well-known
publisher of childrens books, and even adults will find
the content interesting and informative. SPE donates
books to classroom teachers, and provides lesson
plans to develop the books content in their schools.
Currently, the book is translated in English, Spanish,
French, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, and in progress for
Portuguese.
Energy4me Kit
The Energy4me Kit offers teaching aids, speaker re-
sources, sample presentations, classroom activities
and hands-on experiments for teaching energy in the
classroom in a fun, exciting way. Activities for every
grade level are included. Classroom presenters and
educators benefit from the kit. The full kit with print-
ed materials and CD is available in English only, but
most of its contents are available as downloads.
Kit contents include
Career Brochure* A resource for high school stu-
dents on petroleum engineering careers
Fact or Fiction Quiz Card Deck* Energy questions
for use as a game or icebreaker
Experiment Folder* Energy-related classroom ac-
tivities to promote hands-on learning and group inter-
SPE Volunteers
One of the key benefits of having the Energy4Me pro-
grams affiliated with the Ministry of Education will be
the opportunity to put students and teachers directly
in touch with the industry and bring practicing engi-
neers and university students into the classroom to
inspire and encourage the younger generations.
Energy4me engages SPEs 147,000+ professional
members worldwide to volunteer and serve as class-
room speakers, science fair judges, and career fair
Educator and Student Workshops
Currently Energy4me holds one-day teacher profes-
sional development workshops and student educa-
tion events at pre-selected SPE conferences globally.
Each event covers age-specific, hands-on energy les-
sons, and science activities.
Hands-on activities at teacher workshops provide
educators with interactive, age-appropriate experi-
ments using basic household items that illustrate en-
ergy concepts. The experiments are inexpensive and
can easily be done in the classroom with their stu-
dents. Teachers will be more likely to use the activity
in their classroom if they have the hands-on experi-
ence themselves.
With the support of the Ministry of Education, Ener-
gy4Me will hold standalone Teacher Training Work-
shops for teachers at times of convenience for the
different participating schools. Our Energy4Me in-
structors and Young Members Committee volunteers
will be able to assist in the training and we will bring
in specialized trainers from the USA to conduct the
training session.
Bringing the Industry to the Classroom
Previously SPE has held Education Days for High
School students which have focused around the Ener-
gy4Me programme. The agenda is full of experiments,
presentations, team building activities, and key note
speakers from the industry. The Energy4me work-
shop has trained over 500 teachers world-
wide and has gained access to more than
4000 students. By integrating SPEs
program with the Ministry of Educa-
tion, more Malaysian schools will
benefit from bringing these activ-
ities to the classroom.
SPE has worldwide members
who actively volunteer to
support our educational pro-
action for all ages
Oil Well Poster* A classroom, wall-sized poster
with more hands-on activities on the back
Energy4me CD Videos, PowerPoint presenta-
tions*, and much more
Smart Energy Choice Bookmarks* Bookmarks
with information about using energy wisely
Energy Sources of the World Booklet* A factual
tool for understanding renewable and nonrenewable
energy sources
exhibitors. Classroom presentations to pre-university
students are a way to provide facts about energy and
inspire students toward careers in the energy sector.
Energy4me prepares volunteers by offering ready-to-
go PowerPoint presentations and fun activities that
can be customized by individual presenters to give a
local and personal perspective. Plus, Energy4me do-
nates an Oil and Natural Gas book to the teacher at
the presentation.
grammes. Our Volunteers are from all stages in their
careers from University Students and Young Profes-
sionals, who are really able to connect with the stu-
dents, to more experienced industry leaders who can
provide technical knowledge, insight and inspiration
to the younger generation promoting the energy in-
dustry, as well as engaging students at the right age
and igniting a passion for math, science and engineer-
ing and developing the Engineers of the future.
Career and Scholarships
The energy industry employs people with a wide
range of qualifications, but the highest demand is for
people with science and engineering skills. Although
there are various job descriptions, all energy careers
serve one functionto provide the world with energy
while safeguarding the environment for future gen-
erations.
Energy4me encourages students to consider careers
in energy, including engineering, geology, and tech-
nology. SPE and many SPE sections offer scholarships
and grants as a method of educational outreach. The
Energy4me website provides students with available
scholarships, a cumulative list of worldwide engineer-
ing and technology university programs, and specific
information about energy careers.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 35
 INDUSTRY NEWS

Saudi Arabia and Russia Agree to Oil Production

Freeze in Qatar Meeting
Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed to freeze oil
output in a meeting in Qatar. Ali al-Naimi, the Sau-
di Arabian oil minister met with Alexander Novakin
Doha, his Russian counterpart, and representatives
from Venezuela and Qatar in Doha on Tuesday where
they agreed a freeze in the oil Production at Janu-
ary levels. Freezing now at the January level is ade-
quate for the market, said Saudi Arabian Oil Minister,
Ali al-Naimi. We dont want significant gyrations in
prices, we want to meet demand. We want a stable
oil price. The agreement fell short of cutting produc-
tion to shore up oil prices. The price of Brent crude
surged 6 per cent on Tuesday to trade at $35.22 a
barrel in anticipation of an agreement. It slipped back
from earlier gains after the announcement was made,
reflecting disappointment that production would not
be reduced. Many oil producers are already pumping Venezuela has been hit hardest from low oil prices. It
at full capacity. Oil has lost more than 70 per cent of had lobbied exporters including Russia, Iran and Sau-
its value in 18 months, wreaking havoc on the oil-de- di Arabia to arrange a meeting with OPEC to try and
pendent economies such as Saudi Arabia, which has reach an agreement.
been forced to make sweeping welfare cuts.
The deal is a huge turnaround from OPECs last
The kingdom insisted it wouldnt curb production meeting in December, when members were said to
unless other producers in the Organization of Petro- be hardly talking to one another. It now depends on
leum Exporting Countries agreed to co-operate. the agreement of Iran and Iraq. The nations will meet
Saudi Arabia has one of the most oil reliant econo- for further talks, but analysts suspect Iran will be re-
mies in the world, as shown by the above Statista in- luctant to freeze production because it has only just
fographic. King Salman said in a speech that the king- returned to the market following the lifting of sanc-
dom would seek to diversify its revenues in 2016. tions.

Eni Discovers a Supergiant Gas Field in the

Egyptian Offshore, the Largest Ever Found in the
Mediterranean Sea
Eni has made a world class supergiant gas discovery
at its Zohr Prospect, in the deep waters of Egypt. The
discovery could hold a potential of 30 trillion cubic
feet of lean gas in place covering an area of about 100
square kilometres. Zohr is the largest gas discovery
ever made in Egypt and in the Mediterranean Sea. Eni
will immediately appraise the field with the aim of ac-
celerating a fast track development of the discovery
that will utilise at best the existing offshore and on-
shore infrastructures. The discovery, after its full de-
velopment, will be able to ensure satisfying Egypts
natural gas demand for decades. According to the well
and geophysical data available, the field could hold a
potential of 30 trillion cubic feet of lean gas in place,
therefore representing one of the worlds largest nat-
ural-gas finds, located in a permit where Eni holds a
100% of the Contractors working interest. Enis CEO, discuss the new exploration success with the Egyp-
Claudio Descalzi, has recently travelled to Cairo to tian institutional leaders.

Egypt to Take Part in Oil and Gas Projects with Iraq

The Ministry of Petroleum seeks to expand its foreign activities through oil and gas production in Iraq, Al Bor-
sa reported. Egyptian public sector companies such as Petrojet and ENPPI will complete work in the country
in exchange for shares in production projects. Mohamed El Masry, Head of the Egyptian General Petroleum
Corporation (EGPC), said that Egypt had a plan to participate in several projects with Iraq in the fields of
crude oil refining, production, and imports. Tarek El Molla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and
Adil Abdul Mahdi, Iraqi Oil Minister, signed a memorandum of understanding to enhance mutual cooperation
between the two countries in the oil and gas industry.

36 APRIL 2016
 NEW TECHNOLOGY
Measurement While Casing and Cement
Drilling Tool Evaluation Service

NOV Wellbore Technologies introduced the BlackStar
II electromagnetic (EM) measurement-while-drilling
(MWD) tool, part of the InTerra family of sensors and
systems.
The BlackStar II EM MWD tool uses EM telemetry
to transmit data measurements even while making a
connection, enabling increases in survey speed and
accuracy that drive performance gains. EM systems
send information to the surface through the Earths
crust using low-frequency EM waves.
Information is received at a surface antenna, decod-
ed and processed by a computer, and distributed to
the drillers readout display without the encumbrance
of mud or wire transmission EM tools have no mov-
ing parts, allowing for use in air-drilling conditions or
high-lost-circulation-material environments where
mud-pulse tools are rendered inoperable.
The BlackStar II EM MWD tool transmits data mea-
surements from the bottom of the hole back to the
surface, allowing the driller to control and monitor
the location and orientation of the drill bit. Surveys
can be transmitted during connections, minimizing
the nonproductive time associated with conventional
mud-pulse tools. The flexibility of EM systems makes
them the preferred strategy in a growing number of
MWD applications, including underbalanced drilling,
underpressured formations, vertical-control drilling,
and coalbed methane.
Weatherford SecureView casing and cement evalua-
tion is a combination of services that assess and mon-
itor casing and cement condition on a single trip. Se-
cureView service helps minimize nonproductive time
and enhances data quality by delivering a complemen-
tary and independent set of measurements that facili-
tate log-quality control, confidence in data, efficiency,
and a comprehensive analysis by the interpreter.
The Ultraview ultrasonic radial-scanner tool uses a ro-
tating ultrasonic transmitter/receiver sensor to scan
the borehole and calculate casing and cement proper-
ties and an independent, newly patented, air-backed
chamber that measures mud properties to compen-
sate properly for fluid changes in the well.
The CalView multisensor-caliper tool uses an array of
40 or 60 precision-calibrated independent mechan-
ical arms to measure the casing inner diameter with
high accuracy and resolution. The FluxView magnet-
ic-flux leakage tool uses a powerful magnet to pro-
duce concentrated levels of magnetic flux in the cas-
ing wall, thus identifying inside- and outside-casing
anomalies.
The BondView cement-bond tool uses a shorter sonic
transmitter/receiver arrangement, thus allowing bet-
ter centralization to provide accurate variable den-
sity-log data used in the interpretation and analysis
of casing-to-cement and cement-to-formation bond.

Casing Annulus Packer

TAM International introduced its 22-in. casing-annulus packer, LongCAP. The new LongCAP
follows TAMs recent design and qualification of a 22-in. port collar. Together, the Long-
CAP and port collar offer operators improved cement integrity to meet higher well-safety
standards. TAM designed the 22-in. system for an international operators offshore project
as a fit-for-purpose solution. LongCAP uses high-strength stainless-steel slats to reinforce
the full length of the inflatable element from 3 to 10 ft. The 22-in. LongCAP is Interna-
tional Organization for Standardization 14310 V6 qualified. The rigorous testing program
involved multiple cycles of differential-pressure reversals from above and below the Long-
CAP packer set inside a 33-in. test fixture. The LongCAP element met or exceeded all test
requirements.

A PRI L 2 0 1 6 37
 CHAPTER NEWS
Explode 2 Conference

Explode is one of the most successful events that

happened not only in the BUE but in Egypt done by
SPE BUE SC with cooperation of EAGE SUEZ SC, Ex-
plode is a conference which aims to educate people
more about how to pursuit their career in the right di-
rection, how to make a CV and how to response in an
interview, Explode was a great success because the
attendance was more than high with 400+ attendees
from more than 10 universities with speaker from
more than 4 multinational companies.

Khalda Winter Training

SPE BUE SC Khalda Winter training is 4 days of train-
ing for 30 BUE petroleum students in Khalda field
AlSalam visiting production facilities and seeing it on
site and also visiting drilling rigs, Knowing more about
Khalda Petroleum company and how it operate, khal-
da is a Joint venture company between Egyptian Gen-
eral Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Apache Cor-
poration. The company main work area is located in
the Egypts western Desert where the main activities
of operations are done. The activities include drilling,
production, and process of oil and gas and shipment
as well.

Drilling Fluid School Halliburton Day

SPE BUE SC is happy because it served more than 90 students
to attend a drilling fluid school which is aimed to increase the
knowledge of petroleum student more about the drilling fluids
types and uses. This school consists of series of sessions that
lasted more than 5 weeks in order to properly educate students.
SPE BUE SC is proud to be working
in conjunction with Halliburton Pe-
troleum Company, to bring BUE Stu-
dents for attend a full day at Hallibur-
ton company in (Qatmaya). The visit
was conducting a series of technical
session on (Well Control Blowout
Preventions). Halliburton is one of
the largest Oil and Gas service com-
panies.

38 APRIL 2016
North Africa Technical Conference
SPE BUE SC is glad to have 15 places for students
from the BUE to attend North Africa Technical
Conference (NATC) and represent the BUE award-
ed from SPE international. Our chapters Members
SPE BUE Outing
SPE BUE SC is taking a break and going to an
outing in which they enjoyed playing team work
games like paintball and football, and fun games
like water fights.
More than 20 Technical Sessions
SPE BUE SC is cerebrating that it has completed
more than 20 Technical sessions in the academic
were able to attend different technical sessions and
E-posters throughout the conference, in addition to
meeting different representatives from oil and gas
companies.
Ras Shitan Trip
SPE BUE SC is taking a midyear vacation and tak-
ing the team to enjoy the beaches on one of the
best places with the beautiful natural in Sinai in
one of Ras Shitan Camps where you can enjoy the
nature and the beach.
year 2015/2016 in the BUE and with more than 100
benefiting students.
A PRI L 2 0 1 6 39
 PETROBUE BOARD

Mohamed Hindam Ziad Hassan Elkady

Ahmed El Sayed Saleh Shady
PetroBUE Chairperson PetroBUE CEO
Chapter Secretary Chapter Treasurer
Chapter President Chapter Vice-President

Mohamed Ahmed Ezz Abd El Razik

Fathy Research & Society Development
Development Head Head

Moustafa kandel Mohamed Shoukry

Hazem Abdullah Ahmed M. Hassan
Organizing & Logistics Public Relation
Human Resources Head PetroBUE Designer
Head Head

PARTNERS

40 APRIL 2016
 SPE BUE SC
WWW.SPEBUESC.ORG