IOR2016 NEWS Volume 6, Number 1, 2016
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IOR2016 NEWS Volume 6, Number 1, 2016 Register NOW April 9-13, 2016, Tulsa, Oklahoma and $AVE TWENTIETH SPE IMPROVED see page 4 OIL RECOVERY CONFERENCE NEW CHALLENGES, NEW SOLUTIONS Five iOR 2016 PiOneeRs selected from crowded, distinguished Field There was an embarrassment of riches for the committee tasked with selecting the IOR Pioneer awardees for the 2016 SPE Improved Oil Recovery conference. As was the case in SPE IOR 2014, five candidates made the final cut to be named an IOR Pioneer and to be honored at the 20th SPE Improved Oil Recovery conference, scheduled for April 9–13, 2016, in Tulsa, Okla. In all, 19 distinguished nomi- nees were on the “short” list for SPE IOR 2016, compared with 11 for SPE IOR 2014—which itself was deemed a substantial number of candidates 2 years ago. The SPE IOR 2016 Pioneers are Richard Hutchins, Sada Joshi, Jenn-Tai Liang, Lanny Schoeling, and Ali Yousef. These five IOR Pioneers will be feted at a special recognition luncheon on April 11, 2016, at Cox Business Center in downtown Tulsa— also the site for the conference. Articles on each of the 2016 IOR Pioneers follow this one. The biennial conference, sponsored by the Mid-Continent Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, is the world’s larg- est gathering of petroleum scientists and oil and gas industry professionals focused on advancing knowledge and technology to improve and enhance oil and gas recovery. Since the inception of the IOR Pioneer award in 1984, “I think that improved oil recovery pro- when the inaugural Pioneer class of 10 was selected, there cesses will continue to be important for have been only five other instances when there were five the longer term. The selection of honorees—and only one such quintet occurred prior to deserving candidates, along with the 2000. Now it’s happened for two consecutive SPE IOR publicity that surrounds these awards, conferences—repeating the trend of 2006 and 2008, the will help to put a focus on IOR and only other time that trend has occurred. also encourage others in their involve- ment in the technology.” Over the past 32 years, 72 individuals have been recog- nized as IOR Pioneers, including this year’s group (see Dwight Dauben, Chairman IOR 2016 Pioneer Committee table, next page). Dauben Noteworthy is the fact that some of the 2016 Pioneers have performed groundbreaking work outside the confines of the more narrowly defined area of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) that historically has dominated the Pioneer awards. Advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, included under the broader umbrella term of improved oil recovery (IOR), have revolutionized the oil and natural gas industry by ren- dering hitherto intractable “tight” resources recoverable at viable rates. The five honorees will be recognized at IOR 2016 for their significant contributions to IOR and EOR, according to Dwight Dauben, chairman of the IOR 2016 Pioneer Awards committee. While the number of awardees typically ranges from three to five, the inclusion of 19 nominees apparently helped support a number of awards at the higher end of the range. “All of the 19 candidates had excellent credentials and will once again be considered for 2018, if he or she did not receive the award this time,” Dauben said. He noted that the award recognizes and expresses special appreciation to individuals who have pioneered and made signifi- cant advancement in the technology for improving oil recovery. “I think that improved oil recovery processes will continue to be important for the longer term. The selection of deserving candidates, along with the publicity that surrounds these awards, will help to put a focus on IOR and also encourage others in their involvement in the technology.” Volume 6, Number 1, 2016 Page 2 Award’s criteria Dauben, a Tulsa-based petroleum consultant and a 2002 IOR Pioneer honoree, described the basic criteria for being nominat- ed as an IOR Pioneer as early and long-term involvement in the development and/or application of IOR and EOR: “[The term] ‘IOR’ implies processes that improve oil recovery during the secondary and tertiary phases of recovery. It includes the classic…EOR processes that are designed to improve displacement or sweep. These EOR processes include the injection of chemicals, gas, polymers, or the generation of heat into the reservoir. IOR is a broader term that includes not only the classic EOR processes but also any process that results in the improvement of recovery beyond that achieved by standard methods. These include improved waterflooding techniques, use of horizontal wells to improve secondary recovery performance, pres- sure maintenance, gravity-assisted gas- or water-injection, water shut-off, cold production of heavy oil, and the in-situ upgrading of heavy oil. The drilling, logging, and completion of wells are excluded from consideration even though that can impact recovery.” Additionally, according to Dauben, nominees must be involved in and enjoy industry recognition for their involvement in one or more phases of IOR activity, including laboratory testing, software development or application, project design, field appli- cation, and monitoring of field performance. A prospective IOR Pioneer must also be a member of SPE during that IOR activity and generally have established two to four decades of their career to the development and application of leading-edge technology designed to increase recovery from older oil fields. 32 YEARS OF IOR PIONEERS Year IOR Pioneers 1984 Francis R. Conley, Lloyd E. Elkins, Ted M. Geffen, L.M. Holm, Howard A. Koch, Jr., Fred H. Poettmann, R. Vincent Smith, P.L. Terwilliger, L.W. Welch, Jr., Phillip D. White 1986 Robert J. Blackwell, Ben H. Caudle, Lincoln F. Elkins, Claude R. Hocott, Michael Prats 1988 E.R. Brownscombe, Elmond L. Claridge, H. Robert Froning, R.L. Reed 1990 W. Barney Gogarty, John P. Heller, Joseph J. Taber 1992 Ted R. Blevins, R.C. Earlougher, Henry J. Ramey, Jr., Arlie M. Skov 1994 J.C. Melrose, Necmettin Mungan 1996 Robert S. Schechter, Lowell R. Smith, Ben Sloat, Fred I. Stalkup 1998 William E. Brigham, C. Robert Fast, George J. Hirasaki, Thomas K. Perkins 2000 Bob Barnett, Larry W. Lake, Richard Nelson, Burton B. Sandiford 2002 Howard Ferrell, S.M. Farouq Ali, W.C. Hardy, W.L. Martin, George L. Stegemeier 2004 Philip J. Closmann, Harry Surkalo, G. Paul Wilhite 2006 Jae H. Bae, Don W. Green, Hossein Kazemi, Franklin M. Orr Jr., Gary Pope 2008 Dwight L. Dauben, Kishore Kumar Mohanty, Kenneth Sorbie, Randall Scott Seright, Michael R. Todd 2010 Wang Demin, Jeffrey A. Jones, Gordon Moore, David Zornes 2012 Chun Huh, Brij Maini, Malcolm Pitts, William Rossen 2014 Betty Felber, Sudarshan Mehta, Karl Miller, Ahmad Moradi, and Norman Morrow 2016 Richard Hutchins, Sada Joshi, Jenn-Tai Liang, Lanny Schoeling, Ali Yousef Volume 6, Number 1, 2016 Page 3 iOR PiOneeR PROFiles PiOneeR hutchins deemed a tOP exPeRt in wateR shutOFF, cOnFORmance Richard Hutchins, Technical Advisor in Schlumberger Ltd.’s Stimulation Fluids Engineering Group, has been lauded as a leading expert in water shutoff and conformance improvement by his peers. He has expertise in polymer and foam-fracturing fluids, fracture conductivity, fluid loss measurement, fracture cleanup, and both lab and field aspects of water control. “For many years, (Hutchins) has been, without question, one of the very top experts in the world in the area of water shutoff and conformance improvement using polymers and gels,” Randy Seright, Senior Engineer at the New Mexico Institute of Mining & Technology and a 2008 IOR Pioneer, wrote in his IOR Pioneer letter of nomination for Hutchins. “In my mind, he is certainly Schlumberger’s top asset in these areas.” Hutchins, who started his career at Unocal in 1975, made extensive advances in the development and application of gels for conformance improvement, especially for high-temperature applications, according to Seright. He also is the inventor of the HPAM-hydroquinone-HMTA gel system. Additionally, Seright noted, Hutchins’ development of delaying gelation of aqueous polymers at elevated temperatures using novel organic crosslinkers is widely respected throughout the industry. He has also published highly regarded papers in the areas of: • Polymer flooding. “For many years, Richard Hutchins has • Inter-well tracer studies. been, without question, one of the very • Fracture-face damage by polymers and fracture clean-up. top experts in the world in the area of • Use of foams for well stimulation. water shutoff and conformance improvement using polymers and “I have known Rick for 35 years, which is basically his ten- gels.” ure in the IOR area. He is a remarkably humble, open, and helpful person, Seright commented. “I have regularly sought Randy Seright, and appreciated his advice and knowledge in the area of IOR 2008 Pioneer using polymers and gels for enhanced oil recovery over the past 30+ years. He has also regularly played helpful roles in Hutchins organizing SPE conferences, forums, and workshops. “Most of Rick’s work has been directly relevant to field applications, and indeed, many of his papers report results of field application of his ideas. I know that Rick has been extensively involved in field applications throughout the world, both dur- ing his time at Unocal and at Schlumberger.” Career path In his 19 years with Unocal, initially in California, Hutchins focused on production chemistry and EOR research (foam, steamflooding, pressure transient measurements, inter-well and single-well chemical tracers, polymer flooding, and water shutoff). Of his Unocal tenure, he spent 2 years in technology support groups (Texas) servicing worldwide requests. Hutchins’ current projects for Schlumberger in Sugar Land, Texas, are in product development and include managing the water control portfolio, developing new products for water control and frac fluids, and mentoring in his areas of expertise.