Crisis! What crisis?
exxonmobil.com
Seismic surveys - listening to the earth.
Vessels towing long streamers of listening devices record low-frequency sound waves bounced off layers of rock far below the ocean floor. We process and interpret this seismic data with proprietary computer software to create high-resolution images that give us much more information than the images used by most of the industry.
ExxonMobil’s ability to produce sharp three-dimensional images of rock formations deep in the earth, including those in deepwater basins, is an important competitive advantage. It’s one way we have reduced our average cost of finding oil to less than $1.20 a barrel while adding billions of barrels to our resource base.
A laboratory technician cuts a core plug from a rock taken from an oil reservoir off the coast of West Africa. An analysis of how well fluids flow through the porous core plug will be used to predict the rate of production and the life expectancy of a new field.
Specks of liquid just four-millionths of an inch across trapped millions of years ago in this rock sample provide clues to the history of oil movements in the earth.
A geologic team studies an outcrop of rocks that holds clues about rock formations in distant deepwater basins. Using sequence stratigraphy - a technique we pioneered - we can predict the location and properties of rock layers in any basin in the world.
ExxonMobil geoscientists study this global gravity map to evaluate oil and gas prospects in new frontiers. (see link above for graphics/pictures)
Cores are cylindrical rock samples taken as a well is being drilled. This oil-saturated core came from an exploration well in deep waters off West Africa. The earth in 3-D Geoscientists peer miles into the earth via three-dimensional seismic pictures to interpret the secrets of geological formations that may lead to discoveries of oil and gas. ExxonMobil's ability to develop three-dimensional images of subterranean formations has helped raise its rate of discoveries in wildcat exploration wells to more than 50 percent.
1 Research is under way to develop new technology for drilling in water depths greater than 3,000 meters (10,000 feet).
2 Multilateral well
By drilling extensions off the main well, operators reach multiple oil-bearing rocks. Called multilateral drilling, this new technology lowers costs because it requires fewer wellheads, less casing and less drilling rig time.
3 Horizontal well
In some reservoirs, wells can be drilled horizontally for hundreds of meters through the oil-bearing rock, making the well as much as 10 times more productive than a conventional well.
4 Conventional well
Traditional vertical wells contact the rock bearing oil and gas only over the limited thickness of the reservoir in the immediate vicinity of the well.
Flexibility of the fleet
ExxonMobil's worldwide deepwater drilling program requires great flexibility in both the type of rigs we select and the terms of our drilling contracts. This flexibility lets us match a suitable rig to each new drilling program. With our current contract fleet, we can drill in almost any environment and in water depths approaching 3,000 meters (10,000 feet).
Deepwater mooring technology
Mooring lines are normally deployed from the drilling vessel, with help from an anchor boat that supports most of the weight. But in deep water, those lines can be 3.2 kilometers (2 miles) long and weigh more than 294 metric tons each.
If the anchor boat deploys the line too quickly, it pulls the drilling vessel along with it. If the anchor boat goes too slowly, both vessels drift with the ocean currents. To overcome these problems, ExxonMobil engineers developed a proprietary computer program that determines precisely how much weight can be shared between the drilling vessel and the anchor boat as they set out each line.
Designing Deepwater Tools
Structural design
ExxonMobil uses proprietary software to create computer models of deepwater platforms to ensure the integrity of their designs.
Depth in the basics
Our commitment to deepwater technology includes the engineering of advanced production systems and the underlying science it takes to design them. ExxonMobil has the tools to select the best production options to handle wind, currents, earthquakes, ice and heavy seas. With acreage in waters as deep as 3,500 meters (11,500 feet) in the Mer Tres Profonde Sud block, Republic of Congo, ExxonMobil believes it can continue extending the reach of deepwater technology.
Hydrodynamics
ExxonMobil researchers test models in a wave basin at the Offshore Technology Research Center at Texas A&M University to predict the stresses and motions that new deepwater structures are likely to encounter in the open sea.
Floating production vessels.
In 1981, we operated one of the first floating systems to process oil and gas from offshore wells. Two of our fields in the North Sea, Balder and Jotun, and the Zafiro field in Equatorial Guinea now use improved versions of this technology. In 2001, the largest floating production and storage vessel in the world will begin operations in 1,310 meters (4,283 feet) of water in Angola's Girassol field, where ExxonMobil is a co-venturer.
Deep-draft caisson vessel (DDCV).
ExxonMobil is a co-venturer in the Genesis DDCV (Gulf of Mexico, 1998) and operates a similar vessel in the Hoover-Diana field (Gulf of Mexico, 2000). The Hoover DDCV set a world water-depth record for a combined drilling and production platform.
Subsea production.
ExxonMobil is a leader in developing remotely operated production systems, including the Zinc template, a base of 10 wellheads in 451 meters (1,480 feet) of water (Gulf of Mexico, 1993). Zinc produces to a platform 9.6 kilometers (6 miles) away.
Tension-leg platforms (TLPs).
ExxonMobil holds the first patent for an oil and gas production tension-leg platform and has helped build three of them so far: Snorre (North Sea, 1992), Ram-Powell (Gulf of Mexico, 1997) and Ursa (Gulf of Mexico, 1999).
Managing Our Resources
Getting more from oil and gas reservoirs around the world
Bass Strait, Australia -increased oil recovery to more than 70 percent in several ExxonMobil-operated fields by applying advanced reservoir modeling techniques, reworking existing wells, drilling new wells, and upgrading surface processing equipment.
Jay Field, Florida - recovering more than 60 percent of the oil from a geologically complex carbonate reservoir with the aid of advanced reservoir modeling techniques and by injecting nitrogen gas.
Groningen Field, Netherlands - embarked on a program to keep facilities up-to-date with respect to safety, environmental requirements, technology and operating efficiency. We expect to recover 97 percent of the gas in this very large and mature field.
Ubit Field, Nigeria - increased the amount of recoverable oil by 500 million barrels through the application of 3-D seismic, advanced reservoir modeling techniques, horizontal wells, and by upgrading surface processing equipment.
Cold Lake, Canada - increased the recovery of heavy (tar-like) oil from 10 percent to more than 25 percent by injecting steam into the formation to heat the oil and make it flow toward the producing wells.
Arun Field, Indonesia - recovering about 94 percent of the gas and 67 percent of the condensate from a mature, lean gas condensate reservoir using compositional reservoir modeling to balance gas injection and maximize condensate recovery.
Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - increased the amount of recoverable oil by 4 billion barrels through the development of advanced geologic models, injecting gas to improve oil recovery, upgrading surface processing equipment, and by using horizontal wells.
Means Field, Texas - increased reserves by 66 million barrels in a mature field by drilling new wells and by injecting water and carbon dioxide to improve oil recovery.
Brent Field, North Sea - increased the amount of recoverable oil and gas by 400 million oil-equivalent barrels through the early reduction of reservoir pressure to liberate gas from residual and bypassed oil. The use of advanced reservoir modeling, reworking existing wells, drilling new wells and and upgrading surface equipment have contributed to the increase in reserves.
Topacio Field, Equatorial Guinea - installing electrically driven multiphase subsea pumps to increase production from four wells by 6,000 barrels a day (2000).
Three-dimensional reservoir imaging
ExxonMobil has the proprietary software and expertise to construct 3-D computer models that describe the geology and properties of the rock within a reservoir.
Reservoir simulation
ExxonMobil is the industry-leading developer of computer programs that model the flow of oil and gas through a reservoir to the wells and surface equipment. With these tools, we can quickly experiment with well spacing and flow rates to get the most oil and gas from a reservoir. Soon we will release EMPOWER®, our next generation of reservoir simulation software. It combines the best elements of Exxon's and Mobil's proprietary technology and adds unique new capabilities.
Reservoir management
The amount of oil and gas likely to be recovered from a new field depends partly on where the wells are drilled, the type of wells used (vertical or horizontal), the type of hydrocarbons being produced, and whether gas or water is injected to maintain pressure. ExxonMobil's reservoir engineers are known for their ability to get the most value from oil and gas resources. That is an important advantage in the high-cost business of deepwater development.
Looking deep into the future
To predict how reservoirs will perform 10, 20 or even 30 years from now, we conduct detailed studies using some of the same proprietary modeling tools that helped us find the oil and gas to begin with. These tools are an integral part of our reservoir management technology. They allow us to accurately describe the resource, select the best well locations and design the optimal depletion rate for the field..........
There is much more at the link provided above......
(My Note - technology is once again improving the ability to find new reserves & reduce the cost of extracting existing reserves. The supplies are there & new reserves are being found. The costs of finding & extracting it are going down while the price of oil goes up. What company/country with any notable amount of non performing known reserves now is going to sit on it at while oil sells for historically high prices? Why?)
Ö¿Ö |
