How Smart Waterflooding Can Improve The Contemporary Recovery Processes Essay

All companies in today’s world need a disaster recovery plan in place to prevent risks of losing important information that may lead to loss of business, privacy issues and disruption in everyday operation. Each company, however, basing on the types of information housed and structure of the company can have different disaster recovery plans in place. There is not a one-size-fit-all plan out there that satisfies every company’s purpose. In this case, our client is a medium-sized federal contractor in need of a plan for system and network recovery with special stress on the need of natural disaster prevention measures. In the subsequent sections we will detail the objectives of the disaster recovery plan, scope and capability of the plan and

With the age of constant industrial and technological growth has come the necessity for not only cost effective and efficient methods for industry, but also the need for obtaining fuel for the machines that make the modern world possible. Oil has become as precious a commodity as gold, if not more so; its attainments constantly driving the world's largest businesses and governments across the world into action. Naturally, a "quick-fix" solution to this problem is constantly sought after by oil companies wishing to provide oil on a massive scale. One of these drilling methods is known as induced hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking).

Saturation trends in the Pronghorn and the upper Three Forks (Figure 21), indicates that hydrocarbons are being occluded from the lower Bakken into the Three Forks, but not entirely. Oil saturation gradually decreases from the top of the Pronghorn to the base indicating less hydrocarbons are being pushed into the upper Three Forks. However, the oil saturation never reach 0% and only decreases to approximately 60 to 70 % water saturation. The oil saturation then gradually increases from the top of the Three Forks to the top of the first claystone. This trend is observed throughout all the wells within Painted Woods, independent to the thickness of the Pronghorn. Even though there is less volume of generated lower Bakken hydrocarbons, oil is still able to be transmitted through the Pronghorn across Painted Woods. However, the quantities transmitted are likely less compared to other

Hydraulic fracturing in combination with advancement in directional drilling has made it possible to economically extract oil and gas from unconventional resources. The growth in U.S. oil and gas exploration and production made possible by the increase in use of hydraulic fracturing, has raised concerns about its potential to impact human health and the environment. Concerns have been raised by the public about the effects of hydraulic fracturing on quality and quantity of drinking water resources. The hydraulic fracturing water cycle includes five main activities: the withdrawal of ground or surface water needed for hydraulic fracturing fluids; the mixing of water, chemicals, and proppant on the well pad to create the hydraulic fracturing fluid; the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into the well to fracture the formation, the return of injected fluid and water produced from the formation to the surface; and the reuse, treatment and disposal of wastewater generated at the well pad, including produced water (U.S. EPA, 2015). With the water cycle being so massive and prolonged, the presence of potential negative impacts is greatly increased.

Slickwater consists of mostly water, sand, and organic compounds. The predominant chemicals include polyacrylamide (to decrease friction), benzene, toluene, and other volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. This solution can be pumped into the wells nearly two times faster than the fluid previously used in fracking. Additionally, this modern slickwater creates larger fractures in the shale, resulting in a higher yield of the retrieved gas (“Hydraulic Fracturing”).

Canada’s oil sands are among the largest oil reserves in the word. This is evident from the fact that Canada is ranked third for the largest oil reserve in the world, after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia (“Oil Sands,” n.d.). “Oil sand”, is a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, water and bitumen (Gosselin et al., 2010). It is a very dense and extremely viscous oil that must be treated before it can be used to produce usable fuels such as gasoline and diesel (Gosselin et al., 2010). In North America, high oil prices, growing demand, and diminishing oil reserves results in greater interest to mine local oil reserves. Increased production of oil generates significant economic benefits but, at the same time, the development of the oil sands

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking has been around since the 1940’s, (Choma, et al, 2016), additionally it involves a large amount of pressurized water that has also been mixed with sand and other toxic chemicals to force shale gas out of deep rock formations (Deveau, 2014). The sand and supplementary chemicals are used to ensure that the fractures will remain accessible, to ensure that the oil and gas can flow back to the surface (Wheeler, 2015). There are two main types of hydraulic fracturing: vertical and horizontal (Choma, et al, 2016). Vertical fracking is the conventional method of drilling straight down into the earth’s crust, compared to horizontal fracking which allows the well to take place laterally (Choma, et al, 2016). The mix

Hydraulic fracturing, or more commonly known as ‘fracking’ is a technique designed by engineers to open fissures deep within shale to extract oil and natural gas. The practice involves using large amounts of high-pressured water along with proppants, usually sand, and a small amount of a chemical solution. The diagram below pictures the process of hydraulic fracturing. In the last few years, hydraulic fracturing has become a popular topic of debate centering on whether the increase in amount of fossil fuels is worth the cost of possible environmental damage. Fracking is not simply a way of providing more fossil fuels, but should also be seen as a viable solution to the nation’s foreign oil

The Eagle Ford shale formation in south Texas has recently become the focus of many oil industry operators searching for new sources of hydrocarbons by using the latest technology in previously unexplored areas. This exploration enhances the development of even more advanced techniques as issues are identified and problems solved to address the unique properties of the formation and the surrounding surface environment. Even though a formation may be comprised of a single sedimentary layer from a similar geological time frame it is not a homogeneous block and has many features and anomalies that effect the pressure, permeability, type of hydrocarbons trapped and methods required to extract them. To understand these properties one must understand that shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock that forms from the compaction of silt and clay placing it in the mudstone category of rocks [1]. Shale is different from other rocks in this category because it has a fissile structure and is laminated. The black shale in the Eagle Ford formation (Fig 1.) has a special property such that it contained organic material when it was deposited and during compaction over a millennium, the organic materials were converted into trapped oil and gas hydrocarbon deposits. This oil and gas are very difficult to remove because it is trapped within tiny pore spaces and or adsorbed onto clay mineral particles that makeup the shale.

It has long been known that large amounts of natural gas reside in deep layers of sedimentary rock such as shale. However, this gas could not be extracted until recent years due to previous limitations of technology making it economically unfeasible. This is now possible due to developments in drilling technology that now allow drillers to drill horizontally. Millions of gallons of water and chemicals are then injected at extremely high pressure that fractures the rock surrounding the drill hole, allowing trapped gas to escape. This process is called hydraulic fracturing, but is known colloquially as “fracking.”

The mining processes of the Athabasca oil sands directly affect water resources surrounding the mining pits, specifically the Athabasca River and its tributaries. Water use has been identified by the Alberta Chamber of Resources as a top four challenge of oil sands mining processes (Raynolds et al., 2005). The extraction of bitumen requires freshwater in large quantities, on a scale of 2-4 barrels of water for every barrel of oil produced (Anderson et al., 2010).

The data and interpretation for this study were based upon a detailed petrographic examination of sixty (60) thin sections prepared from the core samples of the Kreyenhagen and Vedder sands from Mushrush wells 1, 2, and 5 of the Wasco oil field, California, and supplemented by textural and chemical analyses of twelve thin sections obtained using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive x-ray spectrophotometer (EDS). The thin sections were studied to establish the mineralogical, compositional, and textural properties of the Vedder and Kreyenhagen sandstones. The data collected were used to determine the diagenetic paragenesis including porosity development of the Vedder and Kreyenhagen sandstones of the Wasco oil field.

The oil industry in the United States is booming. However, not all oil or natural gasses are available by drilling. There are some oils and gasses trapped inside shale rock. To access these gases, a process called Hydraulic Fracturing, informally known as fracking, was invented. Hydraulic Fracking “is a controversial oil and gas extraction technique developed in the late 1940s to gain access to fossil energy deposits previously inaccessible to drilling operations. The process…literally involves the smashing of rock with millions of gallons of water- along with sand and an undisclosed assortment of chemicals in order to bring gas to the surface. (serc-carelton.edu).” This process combines water, sand, and chemicals

Hydraulic fracturing is a verified as well as well-regulated technology that was first used during the 1940s. Hydraulic fracturing has opened enormous new supplies of oil along with clean-burning natural gas that is from the dense deposits of shale. These supplies enhance the energy security of the U.S. and improve the nation’s ability to generate electricity for generations to come. Hydraulic Fracturing has been utilized in at least one million wells in the U.S., and it has securely produced at least seven billion oil barrels as well as natural gas that is about 600 trillion cubic feet (Gallegos & Varela 13). Hydraulic fracturing has a wide array of benefits that range from

Cenovus is a Canadian oil company with oil sands operations in northern Alberta that use specialized methods like steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) to drill and pump the oil to the surface (Cenovus Energy, 2015g). Cenovus currently has two producing SAGD projects in the oil sands – Foster Creek and Christina Lake; our project is based on the latter, as well as several emerging projects which are in various stages of development. Their advanced technology allows them to operate safely, efficiently, and in an environmentally friendly way, that is also cost effective (Cenovus Energy, 2015c).