David Faulder - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by David Faulder

National Energy Technology Laboratory, Jun 1, 2004

... market issues and. A special thanks to our col-leagues DeAnn Craig and Robert Chaney for thei... more ... market issues and. A special thanks to our col-leagues DeAnn Craig and Robert Chaney for their contributions to this assessment. v Page 6. SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA NATURAL GAS STUDY ABSTRACT The south-central ...

SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA NATURAL GAS STUDY The south-central Alaska Natural Gas Study is a geologic, ... more SOUTH-CENTRAL ALASKA NATURAL GAS STUDY The south-central Alaska Natural Gas Study is a geologic, engineering, and economic assessment of the options to meet the intermediate- and long-term natural gas demand for the region. An abundant supply of low-cost natural gas from the Cook Inlet Basin was discovered more than 30 years ago as a by-product of oil exploration. This low-cost gas has supplied all of south-central Alaska’s residential, commercial, and industrial demand including manufacture and export of large quantities of fertilizer and liquefied natural gas (LNG) since the late 1960’s. Consumers and businesses throughout the region have also benefited from low-cost gas. The estimated ultimate recovery from existing Cook Inlet gas fields is approximately 8.5 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) and the proven reserves remaining on January 1, 2004 were 1.8 Tcf. Proven reserves in known Cook Inlet fields are forecast to meet demand until 2012, if the Agrium fertilizer plant is shut down in 20...

Includes bibliographical references.Includes illustrations (some color)

manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendati... more manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

The Geysers has undergone severe pressure decline in recent years, and reinjection of condensate ... more The Geysers has undergone severe pressure decline in recent years, and reinjection of condensate is thought to be one key to sustaining current steam production. Other methods of pressure maintenance include load cycling, or reduction of steam production during off-peak hours. It is likely that a combination of these two will prove to be optimum in providing pressure and fluid maintenance. This paper presents preliminary results of a study of various injection schemes for The Geysers. A number of injection scenarios are investigated, and an optimum scheme (based on specific parameters) is identified for two different quantities of reinjection.

Nasa Sti Recon Technical Report N, 1991

A conceptual geologic model of the Roosevelt Hot Springs hydrothermal system was devel oped by a ... more A conceptual geologic model of the Roosevelt Hot Springs hydrothermal system was devel oped by a review of the available literature. The hydrothermal system consists of a meteoric recharge area in the Mineral Mountains, fluid circulation paths to depth, a heat source, and an outflow plume. A conceptual model based on the available data can be simulated in the native state using parameters that fall within observed ranges. The model temperatures, recharge rates, and fluid travel times are sensitive to the permeability in the Mineral Mountains. The simulation results suggests the presence of a magma chamber at depth as the likely heat source. A two-dimensional study of the hydrothermal system can be used to establish boundary conditions for further study of the geothermal reservoir.

Reservoir simulation is an important tool in the development of a reservoir management plan. Hist... more Reservoir simulation is an important tool in the development of a reservoir management plan. Historically, simulation studies have been performed exclusively by large companies and on mainframe computers. Recent advances in microcomputer designs have led to the development of simulators that run on smaller machines. This places and important design tool in the hands of smaller firms and consultant. This

Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from... more Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document.

The Fetkovich production decline curve analysis method was extended for application to vapor-domi... more The Fetkovich production decline curve analysis method was extended for application to vapor-dominated geothermal reservoirs for the purpose of estimating the permeability-thickness product (kh) from the transient production response. The analytic dimensionless terms for pressure, production rate, decline rate, and decline time were derived for saturated steam using the real gas potential and customary geothermal production units of pounds-mass per hour. The derived terms were numerically validated using "Geysers-like" reservoir properties at initial water saturation of 0 and at permeabilities of 1,10, and 100 mD. The production data for 48 wells in the Southeast Geysers were analyzed and the permeability-thickness products determined from the transient production response using the Fetkovich production decline type curve. The kh results were in very good agreement with the published range at the Southeast Geysers and show regions of high permeability-thickness.

All Days, 2000

Despite massive improvements in productivity due to technology advances, the E&P industry has ave... more Despite massive improvements in productivity due to technology advances, the E&P industry has averaged a disappointing 7% return on net assets (less than its cost of capital). Its market capitalization relative to the S&P 500, even at recent high oil and gas prices, is about half what it was a decade ago. A small scale, very simple case study suggests that at least part of the reason for this disappointing performance lies in the conventional way that the industry allocates capital and selects portfolios of projects. Conventional ranking of projects by deterministic estimates of value significantly overstates value, understates risk, and misallocates capital by incurring unnecessary, uncompensated risks. Suggestions for improvements in the project selection/capital allocation prices are offered. Why Change? Petroleum exploration and production is enjoying a "golden age" in technology. Over the past two decades, finding costs have fallen more than three fold and lifting cos...

Proceedings of SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 1997

Geothermal Program activities at the INEEL include a review of the transient and pseudosteady sta... more Geothermal Program activities at the INEEL include a review of the transient and pseudosteady state behavior of production wells in vapor-dominated systems with a focus on The Geysers field. The complicated history of development, infill drilling, injection, and declining turbine inlet pressures makes this field an ideal study area to test new techniques. The production response of a well can be divided into two distinct periods: transient flow followed by pseudo-steady state (depletion). The transient period can be analyzed using analytic equations, while the pseudo-steady state period is analyzed using empirical relationships. Yet by reviewing both periods, a great deal of insight can be gained about the well and reservoir. An example is presented where this approach is used to determine the permeability thickness product, kh , injection and production interference, and estimate the empirical Arps decline parameter b. When the production data is reinitialized (as may be required by interference effects), the kh determined from the new transient period is repeatable. This information can be used for well diagnostics, quantification of injection benefits, and the empirical estimation of remaining steam reserves. rJfi MSTFIIBUTION O F THIS DOCUMENT I S U N U M m DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, make any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or proeess disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Refemnu? herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily conslitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof.

Proceedings of SPE Hydrocarbon Economics and Evaluation Symposium, 2003

Petroleum companies commonly use a "bottom up" approach for constructing and evaluating their pet... more Petroleum companies commonly use a "bottom up" approach for constructing and evaluating their petroleum portfolios, i.e. the "fill the data cube approach." Extensive information for each well is coded into the economic software including but not limited to rock and fluid properties, production profiles, operating and capital costs and then aggregated to fields, business units and finally the total petroleum asset base. This approach requires a significant commitment in technical, managerial and computer resources "to fill the data cube;" seriously limiting portfolio analysis to companies willing to commit to those resources. An alternative to the "bottom up" approach is the "top down" approach. Financial fund managers on Wall Street use this "top down" approach for the construction of financial portfolios. The financial analysts are first involved in making forecasts for the economy, then for industries and finally for companies. This same concept and process can be applied to the petroleum industry, greatly reducing the effort to prepare for and conduct portfolio analysis. One of the touted benefits of the "bottom up" approach is that it preserves the uncertainty in reservoir and economic properties and this uncertainty is included when conducting portfolio analysis. However, at some point in the analysis, one must realize all that is being manipulated are aggregated distributions of properties. The central limit theorem suggests that these aggregated properties all tend toward a normal/lognormal distribution. The "top down approach" recognizes and uses this insight in constructing portfolios. This insight is combined with advanced production decline curves methods to generate a production profile consistent with theoretical reservoir response. The advanced production decline curves include oil and gas phases for both radial and fractured flow regimes, thus assuring the modeled responses are based on sound reservoir engineering principals using probabilistic reservoir properties. The production response when combined with probabilistic economic calculation creates an integrated stochastic reservoir and economic model. These models can be combined to create a replicating portfolio of a company's asset base. Portfolio analysis is performed on this replicating portfolio, examining the current asset performance, as well as acquisition and divestiture candidates. Using this methodology significantly simplifies the process, reduces the staff and computing resources required, dramatically speeding the process. An asset class is further de-aggregated into subsets and portfolio analysis conducted on an expanded description of a company's asset portfolio for additional detail as required.

All Days, 2003

Two similar Tertiary gas fields in the North Sea produce relatively rich gas condensate with a hi... more Two similar Tertiary gas fields in the North Sea produce relatively rich gas condensate with a high proportion (4.5%–9%) of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the gas. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for CO2 sequestration in high permeability sandstone above the main reservoirs, estimate the ultimate storage capacity of the reservoir, and assess the risk of reservoir leakage. Only published data was used to create the hypothetical models discussed in this paper. NOTE: A great deal of information is in the public domain on the CO2 sequestration project underway since 1998 in the Sleipner field area in the North Sea. What follows is an investigation of two different models: the first model is a model of a homogeneous sand with properties of the Utsira sand in the Sleipner area; and the second model is a hypothetical faulted anticlinal model with high vertical permeability to the fault. Both models use reservoir properties from the available literature of the Utsira sand...

Journal of Petroleum Technology, 2001

Why Change? P e t roleum exploration and production is enjoying a "golden age" in technology. Ove... more Why Change? P e t roleum exploration and production is enjoying a "golden age" in technology. Over the past two decades, finding costs have fallen more than threefold and lifting costs by half or better (EIA, 1998). Three-dimensional seismic has improved exploration success rates by as much as 90% and development success rates by 30% (Bohi, 1997). Yet, at the same time, the re t u rn on net assets by the largest U.S.-based companies in the E&P sector has averaged 7% for both integrated majors and large independents. (Original analysis based on Simpson et al., 1999). This re t u rn is the result of projects selected because they all exceeded the minimum estimated internal rate of re t u rn "hurdle rates," generally set at 15% or more, and were all financed with capital that generally costs in the range of 9-12% or more. This would appear to indicate long-term destruction of shareholder value. The re c e n t period of high oil and gas prices has ameliorated these results but not enough to offset the long-term tre n d. Investors have noted these discouraging results and have responded accord i n g l y. Relative to the Standard & Poor' s 500 Index (the largest 500 U.S.-traded, nonfinancial companies), the Amex Oil Index (the 16 largest U.S.-traded oil companies) has fallen 50% between January 1990 and October 2000. This reflects re a l value loss relative to alternative directly comparable investments.