YoungPetro - 8th Issue - Summer 2013

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…the cycle of transformation begins with an egg. A caterpillar is hatched out of it. After a few days the creature freezes and gradually turns into a chrysalis. Af-ter leaving it, an insect’s wings are still soft and short. It takes a few hours to let them become hard and plastic. That way an adult butterfly is created.

It’s just a quote from an encyclopaedia. How-ever, I think everyone will agree with me that the changes affect us all and do not over-look any aspect of our lives. The situation of YoungPetro is similar. The legendary founder, the first editor-in-chief, Wojtek Stupka goes into well-deserved retirement. As a result, the magazine changes hands. He hands it over to the young, committed and open to coopera-tion with people. The combination of differ-ent personalities, ideas and knowledge may result in changes. I assure you, that it will be a metamorphosis in the right direction!

In this issue, we touch upon the subject of women. It’s hard to believe that delicacy, grace, sensitivity, which are the attributes of fair sex, find a place in the oil industry. Their role is much bigger than we think. Nowadays, women make up a significant percentage of the workforce in the industry. As life proves, they often do better than men - learn faster, treat their duties more responsibly, organise

their time better. The stereotype of women as mothers and wives is slowly disappearing thanks to the brave, strong women who are not afraid of oil eruptions or storms on an oil rig. They exchange curl-papers for a helmet, suits and dresses for work uniforms and high heels for heavy boots. Lipstick and powder lose their importance in favour of the span-ners, drill pipes and drill bits. First aid and evacuation training are much more useful here than culinary knowledge and the latest fashion trends.

Do women really have a chance to take over the global oil industry in the future? Is pro-gressive feminisation the good sign for the development of the industry? This and other topics will be covered in the article “Wind of change” by Joanna Wilaszek. Besides, in this issue you will find: an interview with Karoli-na Głodek - MWD Engineer and the confer-ence reports from the farthest corners of the world. Enjoy!

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Editor-in-ChiefMichał [email protected]

Deputy Editor-in-ChiefJan [email protected]

EditorsIwona DereńKamil IrnazarowHubert KarońDominik Homer SkokowskiMichał SolarzPiotr TarczońGordon WasilewskiMaciej WawrzkowiczJoanna Wilaszek

Science AdvisorTomasz Włodek

Art DirectorMarek Nogiećwww.nogiec.org

Proof-readersKarolina KmakUrszula Łyszczarz

SalesAnna Ropka

MarketingBarbara PachJakub Szelkowski

LogisticsDawid WierzbickiKacper Żeromski

ITMaciej KędrońKacper Malinowski

AmbassadorsYurii Moroz - Ukraine

issn 2300-1259

Published by

An O�cial Publication of The Society of Petroleum Engineers Student ChapterP o l a n d • www.spe.net.pl

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Wind of Change – Women Entering the Petroleum IndustryJoanna Wilaszek

How to Be a Woman on the Rig?Barbara Pach, Joanna Wilaszek

Why Drill If You Can Dig?Maciej Wawrzkowicz

Numerical Study on Accidental Gas Release

of Natural Gas Transmission PipelinesQing Xu , Fan Zhang

Influence of Interconnectors on Transmission Operation SystemKacper Żeromski

Injectivity in Non-Newtonian Two-Phase FlowCiaran A. Latooij

Development of Gas Hydrate Reservoir in the Black SeaKostiantyn Ganushevych, Kateryna Sai

The Young at the Heart of AsiaMichał Turek

From the East to the WestIwona Dereń

Those Were Four Amazing Days in China!Dominik H. Skokowski, Jakub Jagiełło

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Oil companies suspected of price fixing in Europe

�From time to time oil and gas companies fall

under suspicion of conspiring to set the prices for

gasoline. This time European Commission raided

some of the major O&G companies in the old con-

tinent, including Shell, BP and Statoil. Main accu-

sation against listed firms is reporting false trade

prices. Creating even small distortions of prices

on the world market worth billions of dollars can

cause huge disruption. Apart from O&G compa-

nies there was also price reporting agency that

was raided – Platts. EC wants to look closer on its

methodology of handling data from various dis-

closed transactions and transforming it into public

announcements. Shell and BP are said to be coop-

erating with EC on the subject. There is no official

information of whether there are any other compa-

nies included in the investigation.

The United States to start fuelling the World

�Federal government authorities agreed on global

export of American natural gas. This essential deci-

sion gets historic importance in energy market di-

versification. Freeport LNG, Texas may be the first

facility eligible to become full played liquefying and

shipping terminal in the United States as if Energy

Department reviews its application. Terminal was

built four years ago and now modified for total $10

billion. Freeport LNG’s management has already

concluded preliminary agreements with Japanese

Chubu Electric Power and Osaka Gas and also with

BP. Initial overseas exports could start this Sum-

mer. Authorities set limit of 1.4 billion cubic feet

daily shipping over the next 20 years. More than

10 companies by this time requested permission to

export US-produced natural gas. Decision threat-

ens European gas monopolist and might change

everyday life of EU citizens.

Another natural gas deposit discovered in Israel

�Independent exploration and production firm

Noble Energy announced on Wednesday that they

made a new deep-water natural gas discovery off

Israel. The company founded by Lloyd Noble is the

operator of the license where the Karish well is lo-

cated, about 20 miles northeast of the Tamar field

in the Mediterranean Sea.

Noble said the well encountered 184 feet of net nat-

ural gas pay. Discovered gross resources, combined

with resources in an adjacent block, are estimated

to range between 1.6 trillion and 2 trillion cubic feet

of natural gas, the company said. The find marks

the seventh consecutive field discovery for Noble

Energy and its partners in the Levant Basin of the

eastern Mediterranean Sea.

Lundin Petroleum look for profit from Johan

Sverdrup field

�Lukas Lundin, investment manager for his bil-

lionaire Swedish family, said the oil stock bearing

their name should double in value in next 10 years

after its biggest North Sea discovery. Lundin Pe-

troleum, which is Sweden’s largest oil company has

become the most expensive European explorer

since it began trading in 2001. With value of $6.8

billion it may rise up to $16 billion now. Lundin

family owns about 30 percent of Stockholm-based

Lundin Petroleum. The company jumped in trad-

ing after discovering the Avaldsnes prospect

in 2010 and Aldous in 2011, which were later re-

named Johan Sverdrup. It holds about 3.6 billion

barrels of oil under the seabed and it’s Norway’s

largest field in almost four decades. Optimistic

plans can be stopped by pressure of Norway’s gov-

ernment, which plans to change oil and gas taxa-

tion this year.

On Stream – Latest NewsGordon Wasilewski

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å Wind of Change – Women Entering the Petroleum IndustryJoanna Wilaszek

�Petroleum industry is still very quickly de-veloping branch of world economy. It is also changing, not only in technological mean-ing, but also demographically. So far, this was considered to be a strictly masculine occupation, but nowadays more and more women are being hired in oil and gas com-panies, working not only on rigs and at re-fineries, but also joining the companies’ headquarters. They are strong, satisfied and happy, working with full professional-ism and commitment, gaining respect from their colleagues.

The best job for women? Petroleum engineer!�At the end of 2012 Laurence Shatkin, the author of “Best Jobs for the 21st Century” pre-pared a ranking of ten best jobs for women in the coming year. He took under considera-tion a wide range of aspects, like level of sat-isfaction, salary, projected growth and annual openings.

After analyzing occupations with the highest ratings, he came to very interesting conclu-sions. It occurs that one of ten best jobs which a woman can take is becoming a petroleum engineer! Why? National Survey of College Graduates shows that 52% of women working in petroleum industry report very high level of satisfaction (the 7th place on the ranking list). In 2011 a median salary of woman work-ing as petroleum engineer was $122,000 (the 1st place on the ranking list). What is more,

forecasted growth through 2020 comes to 17% (the 7th place on the ranking list).

We may conclude that the main aspect which attracts women to choose a career of a petro-leum engineer is salary. Women working in oil & gas companies had the highest earnings from all being analyzed in 2011.

There is always very high level of satisfaction reported by women employed in oil compa-nies. It may be surprising, as usually it is hard and dirty work. Laurence Shatkin believes that women, who so bravely oppose employ-ment gender norms have a string personality fit and a big talent for this job. This contrib-utes to high level of satisfaction.

Why are oil & gas companies interested in hiring women?�Surely, many of you wonder why compa-nies, which explore, produce and process oil and gas look for women employees. Most of the work is hard and requires physical strength, it is also considered as a non-fami-ly occupation. In spite of it, nowadays we can observe a growing number of women hired in E&P companies. According to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics of 3,900 positions added in oil and gas in the USA in the first quarter of 2013, almost half or 1,800, were occupied by women. The new jobs were not only in engineering, people

8 Wind of Change

were also hired to work on drilling rigs and pipelines and also for research, sales and mar-keting positions.

What brings these changes? Specialists in-terested in this trend show us a few reasons. Firstly, this is because countries’ leaders pres-sure to bring more women into the oil sector in order to provide a gender balance. This is because they would like to limit discrimina-tion and equalize the numbers of men and women being hired in this industry.

Secondly, different perspectives, being repre-sented by women may contribute to further development of companies, it usually brings new visions and positive changes for the in-dustry. Differences in way of thinking and approaching the business make that after combining them we reach better solutions to problems and more effective working. A num-ber of studies have shown clear correlation between gender diversity and higher profita-

bility. "The companies want them, and when we start to discuss a recruiting relationship, they always want to know the statistics about women. The companies want to have a bal-anced workforce; it's a big societal issue," said Don Shields, director at Pitt's Center for En-ergy in the Swanson School of Engineering.

Another reason is a demographical structure in the most of the oil & gas companies. The average employee in the oil patch is over 50 and a big percentage of the older workers will retire within a few years. It makes oil and gas companies have to recruit a lot of young, tal-ented and bright people to fill the void – this large demand is a chance for women, because the industry saw they are worthy employees, having skills and big potential which can be used in many fields.

Last, but not the least is technological devel-opment of petroleum industry. Computer-as-sisted exploration and advanced petroleum

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engineering have diversified the profile of oil and gas workers, displacing an image of dirty roughneck toiling on isolated rigs. Nowadays, petroleum engineer uses more advanced and sophisticated technologies, which do not require physical strength. Other skills and knowledge, available both for men and for women are needed.

Do E&P companies provide a positive working environment for women?

�Each graduate dreams about working in a company, which provides friendly envi-ronment and many chances of personal and professional development. This is even more important for women, who would like to avoid discrimination in any meaning. This is the reason for which editors of “Woman en-gineer’ Magazine asked their readers to name the employers, both in the private and pub-lic sectors, for whom they would most like to work or that they believe would provide

a positive working environment for women. Results were very positive for our branch, be-cause among 50 top employers we can find 6 connected with petroleum industry. It means that oil & gas companies make the workplace hospitable for women and they are not afraid of discrimination, being able to develop their careers in positive working environment.

What about a classic model of woman: wife and mother?

�For many years a lot of aspects and facts, remote working environments and hardly physical labour during long shifts contribut-ed to discouraging women (especially these having family and children to take care of) from working for the industry. Once energy companies’ headquarters had seen women are good workers and their attitudes bring positive changes into the team, they began to prepare conveniences which enable women to balance work and family demands. Most of

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the companies offer many opportunities to encourage women to choose this career path, there are for example:

È Flexible work packages È Parent-friendly work rosters È Onsite childcare È Extended maternity leave È Comfortable working conditions È Excellent pay rates È Gender-inclusive work environments È Breast-feeding facilities È Couples on-site housing È Female-appropriate uniforms

Many of the companies give a choice if you want to be a mobile worker and change loca-tions often or stay at the same place for a long time. It all helps women to play both profes-sional and life role.

Women breaking glass ceiling at oil and gas companies

�There many examples all over the world which prove the fact that nowadays women are not only workers of oil & gas companies, get-ting job on the field but also become managers and join companies’ boards.

The main reason for this tendency is the fact that companies should be directed by the best professionals, having appropriate skills and predispositions. So it is completely normal that women hired in oil and gas sector, gain-ing knowledge and experience within years of work, move up the ladder and become man-agers.

The only problem which may occur in this matter is connected with some stereotypes about women managing companies, which employees’ are mostly men. But even this is changing with time – women are being con-sidered as worthy, competent workers, learn-ing quickly and providing another approach-ing business matters. Another reason of this “revolution” in oil and gas companies’ man-

agement is demographical structure of the average company in petroleum industry. As I mentioned before, there are many workers, who will retire within next decade and they have to be replaced by younger qualified staff. There is no reason now to leave management positions only for men, while this is job for white-collar workers, requiring mainly intel-lectual skills.

Women fighting for their rights�All over the world we can find a lot of or-ganizations, committees and societies, which were founded just in order to protect women engineers, fight for their rights and aiming to limit gender imbalance.

The biggest one is Society of Women Engi-neers, gathering over 20, 000 members, offer-ing career center’s help, scholarships, courses and organizing international conferences. There are also some organizations and events created especially for women representing oil companies.

Some big conferences organize special pan-els and discussions giving an opportunity to discuss the matter of women’s position in petroleum industry. Participants often talk about ways of making it a hospitable place for women and limiting gender imbalance in this industry.

From one extreme to the other?�Many organizations fighting for wom-en rights in masculine environments have caused plenty of positive changes in oil and gas companies, making them more hospitable for women. But unfortunately we can observe also negative aspects of their activity.

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There are some surprising ideas, like creating parities, which could guarantee some percent-age of women being hired in oil companies.

Many specialists are afraid of such solution, arguing that it may cause employing more women, even these less qualified than men which could also apply for the same position.

It would cause some kind of paranoia, which is hard to be understood.

We will see what future brings us. For sure we will face up many further changes, some positive, some negative – but we can promise you one thing – we will never be bored with petroleum industry!

What is your opinion? What do you think about women employees in oil and gas companies, being bigger and bigger part of petroleum industry? Is it a step in the right direction? Share your opinion with us on

our website or contact us by e-mail. We are waiting for your messages!

Pictures È http://arabianbusiness.com È http://www.forbes.com

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For online version of the magazine and news visit us at youngpetro.org

14 How to Be a Woman on the Rig?

INTERVIEW | with Karolina Głodek

� How to Be a Woman on the Rig?Barbara Pach, Joanna Wilaszek

�It’s true that still more men than wom-en work in the petroleum industry. It’s claimed that it has become a “tradition” proved by the history of this industry. So where’s the place for a woman there? As ed-itors of the petroleum magazine and future potential female employees in oil & gas in-dustry, we wanted to know what is female point of view on this issue. We were talk-ing to Karolina Głodek, Measurement and Drilling Field Engineer (MWD Engineer) working offshore in the North Sea UK sec-tor in Schlumberger. We have asked her several questions to find out how it is to be a woman on the rig.

YoungPetro: Karolina, why have you cho-sen a career in the petroleum industry?

Karolina Głodek: The simple answer for this question is: why not? I am young, opened to experience the world, keen to gain new knowledge. We have one life so if you have a chance just take advantage of it.

Working in this though, dirty, manlike world is also a kind of challenge. This industry is a specific environment with its own proce-dures, restrictions, rules and if you do not fol-low them you won’t feel good here. It turned out that not only can men become petroleum engineers, but women are professionals in this field as well. Apart from amazing work, oil & gas industry provided me with the op-portunity to travel around the world, meet foreign people and learn more.

YP: So what’re your responsibilities as a petroleum engineer? Tell us more details

about your job. What is your typical work-day like?

KG: I am Measurement and Drilling Field Engineer (MWD Engineer) working offshore in the North Sea UK sector. First of all, you have to know that if you work offshore, you reach the installation by chopper/helicopter which is dependent on the weather condi-tions, availabilities of the heliport services etc. If everything is going right, you are on the rig, after safety inductions and pre-job briefing, handed over to you by the colleagues from the previous team. The typical working pattern for me is 2 or 3 weeks offshore, where shifts are 12 hours long, from 6 AM to 6 PM (on the semi-sub rigs) or from 7 AM to 7 PM (on the platforms). We work in pairs: MLWD Engineer and Directional Driller (DD) day and night shift. Then you go through normal stuff like: checking and answering the e-mails, pre-paring reports every midnight, controlling parameters, checking depth from our sen-sor with pipe telly from the driller, commu-nicating with DD, Com Man and informing them what is happening. Before drilling the well/sections, we need to prepare tools (that weight 1ton and are 12 meters long with electronics inside). Then we check if their re-sponse is fine and there are no issues. In this stage of preparation a lot of physical job is involved, especially when we load batteries into the tools, taking off the saver subs for programming. Alongside with these checks most of our job focuses on the IT staff, soft-ware and electronic devices. All our technolo-gies help us improve the services and deliver them to client in more efficient ways. When we reach the Total Depth of the section (TD),

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we prepare logs (the graphical way of request-ed measurements taken while drilling). When our shift is over, we go to the accommodation, eat, go to gym or watch TV and sleep.

YP: It sounds really interesting. You’ve told that you have to reach the installation by chopper/helicopter. What are the other differences between working onshore and offshore?

KG: The main difference is that onshore you are away but not isolated from the world. But when you work offshore you do not have many ways to spend your free time. You can’t do sightseeing, you spend less money. Work-ing onshore probably is less stressful than drilling offshore. Here, the whole rig activity depends on the weather conditions and the boat supplies as well as on the decisions made onshore, which sometimes can be changed minute after minute and we have to be pre-pared for such situations. Of course, there are also good sides of it. When you work offshore, you can save some money and gain experi-ence.

YP: Have you had a moment while you were thinking: „No, I won’t deal with it” and you wanted to give it up? What’s the most diffi-cult thing in your work?

KG: I don’t think there are so many difficul-ties, probably I can say that I’ve got used to it and take it as it is now. At the beginning when I had just joined the company there were a few moments when I was thinking that it is maybe not for me but after some time I real-ly enjoyed it. Now I am happy that I have the

kind of job which is different, not ordinary in many ways.

YP: We’ve already heard several advantages and disadvantages of your profession. But what do you like most about your job? What would you change if you had such a possi-bility?

KG: Changes, challenges… It is never boring, there is so much to learn and become good at what you do. So far, I have not been twice on the same rig. Sometimes, it is quite an-noying and frustrating because you have to learn about the rig, the equipment and peo-ple again but from the other side it is amazing to see new things, different drilling problems, technologies etc. It is also very enjoyable to learn new languages, to have all those oppor-tunities that help become more sophisticated and to work with young, multicultural crew–people that later become our friends. One thing which could be improved is the plan of the rotation, that would be nice to have it.

YP: „Work in petroleum industry is not for everyone”. What’s your opinion about it now while you have some experience in the petroleum industry?

KG: It is 100 % true, it’s not for everyone. Among the Scottish crew, there is a saying: “swim or sink” which perfectly describes if you can fix into the offshore life, if you can adapt it or not. It takes a lot of sacrifice and dedication. I think that the important part plays the person’s attitude and mentality, it depends on how fast you can get along in working environment. It’s hard and though

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but gives a lot of satisfaction when you can cope with all the issues that had occurred. What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.

YP: It’s claimed that women are treated worse than men by their employers – rare-ly do they become managers, they earn less than males, have fewer possibilities. Have you ever noticed such trends in your sur-rounding?

KG: Not really, we are treated in the same way as male engineers . But I’ve noticed that women want to get faster to office from the field where there are plenty of different job opportunities.

YP: That’s really good news. But have you ever felt discriminated because of being a woman?

KG: So far, I haven't. It has happened once or twice that some of the members of the rig crew or client representatives were surprised that I am working as Field Engineer. Slowly, the North Sea is changing from male work-ing environment into more balanced, but still during some of my offshore trips I was the only one on the rig.

YP: What piece of advice would you share with girls who want to start a career in pe-troleum industry?

KG: Go for it! As I said it is not for everyone, but if you are ready for not ordinary work

schedule, it will turn out that making lifestyle change in a place you would not even think of, is worth a try. From my experience I know that staying/working offshore is good for few years, but not for a longer period of time. Later on, you can find something else some-where else to do. As soon as you start you will be more experienced. Probably, many of you are worried about language barriers, but you should not as you will learn language easily when you will have to use it.

YP: Thank you for these advices! At the end of our conversation, we would like to ask about your plans for further development of your career.

KG: The closest plans are to go for my training of advanced tools, which I will be running af-terwards. Later on I will see, there are plans in the back of my head which are of course con-nected with oil & gas industry

YP: Karolina, thank you for the conversa-tion. We believe that your experience will be useful for each women reading our mag-azine and it will help girls develop their ca-reers in the field of petroleum industry.

Last advice from YP:Girls remember, if you are interested in the petroleum industry just follow that way of career and you will succeed! It’s not true that there’s no place for women on the rig. Be hard working, full of passion and confident – soon-er or later your dreams will come true!

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Become an Ambassador of YoungPetro magazine in your country and make the future now!Who are we looking for?

È Creative, open-minded, full of energy person, È Interested in broadly taken petroleum industry, È With excellent interpersonal skills and acquaintance of academic environment, È Speaking English fluently, È Willing to gain new experiences.

What are we expecting from Ambassador?

È Promotion and distribution of YoungPetro among the student society in ambassador’s country and during international conferences,

È Co-running YoungPetro profile in social media, È Translation of ‘About us’ section on YoungPetro website into ambassador’s native lan-

guage, È YoungPetro magazine presentation in front of Members of ambassador’s SPE Chapter, È New papers acquisition, È Availability (once in month video conference required), È Direct collaboration with the whole editorial board.

What do we offer to Ambassador?

È Work in fantastic atmosphere of international team, È Meeting new people, È Possibility of your own article publication, È Attractive note in CV, È Editorial board membership in the position of the YoungPetro Ambassador of your

country, È Gaining new experience, È Possibility of your language skills improvement, È Your SPE Chapter advertisement in one of the YoungPetro issues, È Being on time with news from petroleum world, È E-mail account on YoungPetro domain.

Don’t waste more time! Contact us now!

Your application should consist of short cover letter and be sent to:[email protected]

18 Why Drill If You Can Dig? Slightly More About Unconventional Oil Reserves

å Why Drill If You Can Dig? Slightly More About Unconventional Oil ReservesMaciej Wawrzkowicz

What is the difference between oil and… oil?�Following the definition, unconvention-al oil is petroleum produced or extracted by using techniques other than the convention-al method. Unconventional oil reserves are characterized by disadvantageous parameters of reservoir fluid and rock where they are trapped. In comparison with heavy oil, light or "conventional" oil flows naturally and can be pumped without being heated or diluted. In that case, It is not necessary to use specif-ic method of extraction. Considering crude, heavy oil, the process of automatical flow is impossible. This is why we use some methods which "help" our petroleum flow on the sur-face.

Types of unconventional oil reserves�Relaying on technology of extraction we can categorize unconventional oil reserves and distinguish three basic types of them.

Oil sands

�Oil sands which are called also as ‘tar sands’ due to its similar appearance, odour and col-our, consist of sand (83%), bitumens (10%), clays (3%) and water (4%). Oil occurs here as a dense, heavy emulsion and before refine-ment demands heat treatment. Because of

this form of occurrence, usually the only way of its exploitation is application of strip mine methods. One of the biggest open-pit mines where oil sands are exploited is Athabasca deposit, located across 54,000 square Miles in Alberta province in south-west Canada. The Canadian province of Alberta contains 81 percent of the world’s known recoverable bitumen. Production of oil there accounts for about 1,3 mln barrels per day.

Extracting the oil from the oil sands was con-sidered an economic impossibility about 50 years ago, but innovation overcame those barriers. Depending on depth of the reserves, producers used to deploy one of two methods of production oil from tar sands: Surface Min-ing and In Situ drilling.

First of them is using when oil sands reserves are close to surface. Huge mining shovels dig into formation, then transport sandy mixture to large trucks. During the transport, bitu-men begins to separate from the sands and other formations. Finally, the bitumen is re-moved and transported to refinery.

If reserves are deeper than 250 feet, the use of mining shovels is unprofitable. In that case, producers use second method called In Situ Drilling. Average depth of single well drilled into the ground is about 1,300 ft. Bitumen oil is too heavy to flow automatically without being heated or diluted. Therefore, in major-ity of in situ operations, steam is injected into the well to liquefy the bitumen, which is pumped to the surface through another well. To major ‘In situ’ methods belong inter alia:

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Vapour recovery extraction (VAPEX), Toe-to-heel injection (THAI) and Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD). Nowadays, even the use of geothermal energy is being explored for potential use in ‘in situ’ projects. It may relay on the heated layer in earth’s crust that could be used to heat the water to generate the steam used to get the bitumen flowing.

It’s worth to say that technology of produc-tion petroleum from oil sands is still being developed. As the evidence of that we may present Alberta companies which have spent more than half a billion dollars on research in recent year.

Heavy Oil

�The formation of heavy oil, like other forms of petroleum, derived from plants which had

lived millions years ago. When the plants and small organisms like plankton that fed on them died off, the sediments containing their remains were buried at the bottom of inland seas. In a highly simplified explanation, over time, the heat and pressure converted the car-bohydrates into hydrocarbons. Heavy oil char-acterizes lower content of light than heavy hydrocarbon’s fractions. Typically is the high content of paraffines and asphaltenes. Be-cause of relatively large mass of heavy oil, the mobility in reservoir rocks is bounded. Heavy crude oils have a density approaching or even exceeding that of water. This is the reason for all of the problems associated with heavy oil exploitation. To the most popular methods of extraction heavy oil from reservoir rock be-long: The steam and Gas Push (SAGP), Basal Combustion (BS) and the same methods used in the case of "In situ" drilling in oil sands: Va-

�Sample of tar sand: thick, dense bitumen trapped In the space between grains of sand. Photo: Tumblr.com


pour recovery extraction (VAPEX) and Toe-to-heel injection (THAI) . Furthermore, Some of companies deploy additionally method that is some modification of the SAGD process called as Expanding Solvent-SAGD (ES-SAGD). This way of extraction relies on injecting not only steam but also, low concentrated light hydro-carbons in the form of the solvent. Those hy-drocarbons, condensed and heated, flow and dissolve heavy oil comprised in reservoir rock affecting to its viscosity.

The largest known extra-heavy oil accumu-lation is Venezuela's Orinoco heavy oil belt. The reserve boasts 90 percent of the world's extra-heavy oil when measured on an in-place basis.

Shale oil

�Humans have used oil shale as a fuel since prehistoric times, since it generally burns without any processing.

Shale oil is type of oil deposit which is ac-cumulated in porous rock which contains trapped recoverable kerogen, it means or-

ganic bitumen material. Formation like this, is characterized by disadvantageous parame-ters of rock permeability. Usually, deposits of shale oil occurs on relatively low depths. Due to that, It is possible to exploit them using mining methods. In order to extract oil, there is need to perform heat treating of kerogen trapped in reservoir rock. In result of com-

�Illustration of sagd process. Source: rigzone.com

� Combustion of oil shale. Source: US Department of Energy

Maciej Wawrzkowicz 21

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bustion kerogen in temperature about 500°C engineers aquire exploitable oil. The most no-table methods of extraction petroleum from oil shale reveals picture below.

As the example of the European country which exploits its oil shales is Estonia. In 2005, this country was the largest shale oil producer in the world although it is expected that as of 2007, China has taken that position.

Worldwide Unconventional Oil Reserves�Resources of unconventional oil are not stated precisely. It’s known that these re-serves are considerably bigger than conven-tional deposits. Chart below presents com-parison of these kinds of resources.

Percentage comparison of two types of geo-logical petroleum reserves

In recent years we can observe growing de-mand to liquid fuels like oil. It’s certain that exploitation of unconventional petroleum reserves is able to satisfy this demand in the years to come. This is the reason why interest of unconventional oil deposit’s type are get-ting more and more in contemporary petro-leum business.

Reserves are often labeled "technically re-coverable" or "non-technically recoverable." This just means that technically recoverable reserves are known or estimated to exist and technologies exist to recover them. Non-tech-nically recoverable heavy oils are those that are known to exist but require more advanced technologies to remove the oil than current-ly exist. Picture underneath presents world-

�Oil shale extraction overview. Source: U.S. Department of Energy


wide arrangement of unconventional resourc-es of petroleum.

Heavy oils are found around the world, with an estimated 69 percent of the world's tech-nically recoverable heavy oil and 82 percent of the technically recoverable natural bitu-men located in the Western Hemisphere. The Eastern Hemisphere, however, contains an estimated 85 percent of the world's light oil reserves. Among the more notable unconven-tional oil reserves are: Venezuela's Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt, Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands, Russia's Volga-Ural Basin, Brazil's offshore Campos Basin, Alaska's Prudhoe Bay and Chi-na’s Luda field in Bohai Bay.

Resources of oil shale occur in many coun-tries, but only 33 countries possess proven de-posits of possible economic value. Estimates of global deposits range from 2.8 to 3.3 trillion barrels of recoverable oil. The most notable, well-explored deposits of shale oil, potentially classifiable as reserves, include the Green Riv-er deposits in the western United States, the Tertiary deposits in Queensland in Australia, deposits in Sweden, Estonia and the El-Lajjun deposit in Jordan.

Conclusion�In case of unconventional oil reserves, de-spite they didn’t exploited in the past for big scale, their evaluated quantity may indicate to gradually growing their role in contemporary exploitation of oil, also in countries where holdings are not as big as in major owners of them, like Canada, U.S. and Venezuela. In per-spective of far future, economists claims that the biggest role will be acting by oil shale re-serves which the peak petroleum production in year 2084 and will accounts for 88×106 bbl per day.

However, It’s certain that we shouldn’t focus only at unconventional oil reserves but on conventional oil deposits due to profitable economical ratings of production petroleum from them.

References1. Alboudawarej et al.: Highlighting Oil, Oilfield Review, Summer 20062. US Natural Gas: the Role of Unconventional Gas, Energy Bulletin 2008, http://www.energy-

bulletin.net/node/443893. IEA ETSAP – Technology Brief P02, www.etsap.org , May 20104. Shale oils of the World: Their Origin, Occurrence, and Exploitation by Paul L. Russel and UNI-

TAR Heavy Oil& Oil Sands database5. "Bibliographic Citation: Non-synfuel uses of oil shale", United States Department of Energy6. Rychlicki S. "Niekonwencjonalne złoża ropy naftowej", Przemysł naftowy w Polsce 20117. Mohr S. H., Evans G.M.: Long term Prediction of Unconventional Oil Production, Energy Pol-

icy, Vol. 38, Issue 1, Jan 20108. "Environmental Challenges of Heavy Crude Oils", Battelle Memorial Institute, 2003

Unconventional

Conventional

30%

70%

�World-wide arrangement of unconventional oil reserves

Qing Xu , Fan Zhang 23

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· Numerical Study on Accidental Gas Release of Natural Gas Transmission PipelinesQing Xu , Fan Zhang

�A study of accidental gas release from long-distance natural gas transmission pipeline into open atmosphere has been conducted. The influences of wind condi-tions on gas release have been investigated. Two models are established to simulate dif-ferent kinds of leaking process. Grids sys-tem is achieved by Gambit and the process of gas release is studied numerically by us-ing Fluent. Time-dependent gas diffusion region and safe region after the leakage has been investigated. The results show that wind has little effect on the concentration of released gas close to the ground, but the effect will be enhanced gradually with the increase of height.

Introduction�Natural gas has been more and more wide-ly used around the world due to its cleanness and substantial deposits. Although coal still makes up a large proportion of China’s do-mestic energy consumption at this stage, nat-ural gas consumption is rising rapidly with increasing environmental pressures. China’s total natural gas consumption is predicted to exceed 21 billion cubic meters by 2020.[7]

Pipeline has proven to be one of the easiest and safest ways to transport fluid fuels such as natural gas. By the end of 2011, the total length of long-distance gas transmission pipe-lines in China was over 20,000 kilometers. However, gas pipelines are often subjected to interference from third parties, corrosion, ac-cidents, human misoperation, etc. during op-

eration. [5] When they are damaged, natural gas within the pipes will be released through breaks or leaks, resulting in a hazardous sit-uation developing from possible explosion, fire, injury and damage. Accordingly, the study of accidental gas release in long-dis-tance gas transmission pipelines plays a key role in the overall integrity management for a pipeline system.

Gas Release Model�Gas inside the pipeline will exceed the limit of pipe wall and seep into the earth through the leak after the damage.[3] When the leak in the pipeline is relatively small, gas released from the pipe cannot directly carve its own path to the air. The gas leakage will diffuse into the earth and then into the air.[2] When coming to the complete break of a pipeline, the high-pressure released gas, which is able to form a tubular channel in the overlaying soil above the pipeline, has enough impulse to push away the overlaying soil and thrust di-rectly into open atmosphere. [10] The leakage and diffusion process of natural gas is com-plex and can be influenced by many factors, such as the shape of gas-leaking hole, physical properties of soil, surface terrain and wind velocity.[4,8]

* China University of Petroleum

Þ China

[email protected]

* University Þ Country E-mail

24 Numerical Study on Accidental Gas Release of Natural Gas Transmission Pipelines

Tubular diffusion model

�When the leak in the pipeline is relative-ly large, that is, the pipeline is completely broken, the jet of high-pressure gas inside the pipe has enough impulse to push away the overlaying soil and thrust into open at-mosphere.[10] The jet will form a tubular channel in the overlaying soil. The diffusion of released gas above the ground is a typical process of free jet. For convenient calculation, the tubular channel formed by the gas jet is reduced to a channel which is perpendicu-lar to the ground. The width of the channel equals to the diameter of the leak. The simpli-fied model is shown in Fig. 1.a.

Permeable diffusion model

�When the leak in the pipeline is relatively small, the impulse of the leakage is not strong enough to push away the overlaying soil.

Due to soil resistance, velocity of the gas release will decrease dramatically during its diffusion from soil cavities to open at-

mosphere.

The released gas can only spread slowly through soil cavities to the surface of earth and then into open atmosphere.[4] The sim-plified model is shown in Fig. 1.b. Due to soil resistance, velocity of the gas release will de-crease dramatically during its diffusion from soil cavities to open atmosphere. Diffusion of the released gas in open atmosphere is simi-lar to what presents in the tubular model, but the leakage will become driven by wind and buoyancy faster due to its low initial velocity.

The assumptions of calculations are as fol-lows:

È Typically, more than 90 percent of the flowing gas in transmission pipelines is methane, so the physical parameters of natural gas mixture that were used in the calculations are considered to be the physical parameters of methane.

È In order to reduce the computer-time, heat exchange between natural gas and environment has been ignored. In other words, the process of gas release from transmission pipelines to open atmos-phere can be considered as thermally insulated.

Natural Gas Transmisson Pipeline

Overlaying Soil Overlaying Soil

Open Atmosphere

Natural Gas Transmisson Pipeline

Overlaying Soil Overlaying Soil

Open Atmosphere

a) Tubular di�usion model b) Permable di�usion model

�Fig. 1 – Two Different Gas Release Model


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Grids System and Numerical Calculations�In this section, both tubular diffusion mod-el and permeable diffusion model are estab-lished for physical problems involving differ-ent gas-leaking process. Gambit is applied to obtain the grids system, while Fluent is em-ployed to simulate the gas-leaking process.

Tubular diffusion model

�A buried natural gas pipeline is taken as an example to achieve the process of gas release involving tubular diffusion model. The length and diameter of the pipeline is 4000m and

1.0m respectively and the depth of the buried pipeline is 1.5m. The diameter of the leak is 0.2m. In order to study whether the leaking process of natural gas is symmetrical or not, for convenience, the origin of the coordinate system is set to be the center of the leak. To enhance the accuracy of the simulation, local refinement is employed for grids near the leak, which can be seen in Fig. 2.a, and final-ly the grids system is obtained, as shown in Fig. 2.b. The total number of the grids is 0.7 million, which is dense enough to get the grid-independent solution.

Permeable diffusion model

�In permeable diffusion model, the leak in the pipeline is relatively small and the dif-

a) Local re�nement of grids around the leak

b) The grids system

a) Grids around the leak b) The grids system

�Fig. 2 – Grids System for Tubular Diffusion Model

�Fig. 3 – Grids System for Permeable Diffusion Model


fusion region of natural gas leakage is very confined. Thus, to accelerate the computation and convergence, the computational domain is narrowed compared with what in tubular diffusion model. A buried natural gas pipeline is also set as an example with the length of 300m, while other geometric and computa-tional parameters are the same with those in the tubular diffusion model. The grids system is shown in Fig. 3.

Results and discussion�The operating pressure of the transmission pipeline is set to 5.0MPa while atmospheric pressure is the standard atmospheric pres-sure. Soil cavities and open atmospheric are considered to be filled up with air.

Only two components including oxygen and nitrogen are considered in the air, where the volume fraction of the oxygen is 21% and the volume fraction of the nitrogen is 79%. The infiltration coefficient of clay soil is 0.1m/d, the internal resistance coefficient is 864000 and the inertial resistance coefficient is 0. The temperature of natural gas and atmosphere are considered to remain constantly at 15°C during the calculations.

In addition, the influence of the gravity on the diffusion process is taken into account with gravitational acceleration at 9.8m/s2.

Tubular Diffusion without Wind

�When tubular diffusion takes place in gas transmission pipeline without the influence of wind, high-pressure natural gas within the pipe will spurt from the leak and form an air-flow which is perpendicular to the ground.

Due to the resistance of still air, at a certain height, the diffusion region expands as the speed of released gas decreases gradually. The explosion limits of natural gas in air are 5%–15%, so the safe region can be obtained

through calculating the area overlaying by the 5% concentration curve.

After 60 seconds of gas release, the leak-age continues to go upward and forms an

air mass at the height of 120m

As shown in Fig. 4, when the leakage occurs, high-speed jet appears and high-pressure gas expands rapidly under large pressure differ-ence. The velocity of gas flow near the leak exceeds the velocity of sound.

Because of the high-speed jet, the gas leakage diffuses fast and reaches a height of 40m af-ter 10 seconds of pipeline damage while the diffusion distance in horizontal direction is less than 10m. After 20 seconds of gas release, the leakage reaches a height of 50m in vertical direction.

After 40 seconds of gas release, the leakage reaches a height of 80m in vertical direction and a width of 10m in horizontal direction. The safe region at this moment is the domain where x < −10 m, y<30 m and x > 10 m, y < 30 m.

After 60 seconds of gas release, the leakage continues to go upward and forms an air mass at the height of 120m while the diffu-sion range in horizontal direction is 20m. Af-ter 300 seconds of gas release, gas leakage at 5% concentration reaches 350m in height and 120m in width in horizontal direction.

After 300 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 350m in vertical direction and exceeds 120m in width in horizontal direction. After 600 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 460m in height, 120m in width in the upstream direction and 210m in the downstream direction. Thus the safe region at this moment is the do-main where x < −50 m, y<150 m and x > 80 m, y < 150 m.


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a) 10s without wind b) 10s with wind

c) 60s without wind d) 60s with wind

e) 600s without wind f) 600s with wind

�Fig. 4 – Tubular diffusion range after 10s, 60s, and 600s of gas release with and without wind


a) 10s without wind

c) 300s without wind d) 300s with wind

e) 900 swithout wind f) 900s with wind

b) 10s with wind

�Fig. 5 – Permeable diffusion range after 10s, 300s, and 900s of gas release with and without wind


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Tubular diffusion with wind

�The surface of earth is always exposed to certain environmental conditions such as wind, which has a direct effect on the diffu-sion of natural gas leakage in air. In this sec-tion, the tubular diffusion is simulated with wind at 10 m/s blowing from the left of the calculation area to the right.

After 10 seconds of gas release, the natural gas leakage reaches a height of 35m in vertical direction while the maximum upstream and downstream diffusion distance reach to 5m and 10m respectively as a result of wind. Af-ter 20 seconds of gas release, the vertical dif-fusion height of leakage climbs to 45m. After 40 seconds of gas release, the diffusion height

remains at 45m, but the upstream diffusion distance decreases while the downstream one increases rapidly and reaches 25m. Thus the safe region at this moment is the domain where x < 0 m and x > 30 m, y < 30 m and . After 60 seconds of gas release, the leakage contin-ues to go upward to form a new air mass up to 70m high, far below the 120m in the tubular diffusion simulation without wind. However, the downstream diffusion distance is over 70m, which is considerably further than that in the tubular diffusion without wind.

After 300 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 175m in height and the maximum diffusion distance in horizontal direction reaches 200m. After 600 seconds of gas release, the high point

a) 10s after gas releasewith soil in�ltration of 0.1m/d

b) 10s after gas releasewith soil in�ltration of 10m/d

c) 600s after gas releasewith soil in�ltration of 0.1m/d

d) 600s after gas releasewith soil in�ltration of 10m/d

�Fig. 6 – Diffusion ranges after 10s and 600s of gas release with soil infiltration of 0.1m/d and 10m/d


of the 5% concentration curve hits 250m in height and 300m in width in the downstream direction. After 900 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 330m in height and the maximum diffu-sion distance in horizontal direction reaches 350m. Thus the safe region at this moment is the domain where x < −10 m.

Permeable diffusion without wind

�When the leak in the pipeline is relatively small, the impulse of the gas leakage is not strong enough to push away the overlaying soil. The released gas can only spread slowly through soil cavities to the surface of earth and then into open atmosphere. The diffusion of gas in soil can be influenced by soil resist-ance. The kinetic energy of the gas release can be significantly reduced and the diffusion range is much smaller than the results in tu-bular diffusion simulations. Fig. 5 shows the simulation results of permeable diffusion af-ter 10s, 40s, 90s, 300s, 600s and 900s of gas release without wind.

After 10 seconds of gas release, the gas leakage gas just filled up the cavities of the overlaying soil above the leak. The diffusion distance in vertical direction and horizontal direction is 5m and less than 5m respectively. After 40 seconds of gas release, the natural gas leakage reaches a height of 15m in vertical direction and 10m in horizontal direction. The whole diffusion range is symmetric about the center of gas-leaking hole.

After 300 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 175m in height. The maximum diffusion distance in air in horizontal direction is 30m and maxi-mum diffusion distance in soil is 15m. After 600 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 340m in height and the maximum diffusion distance in horizontal direction reaches 120m. The safe region at this moment is the domain where x > 50 m, y<150 m and x < −50 m, y < 150 m.

Permeable diffusion with wind

�Fig. 5 shows the simulation results of per-meable diffusion after 10s, 40s, 90s, 300s, 600s and 900s of gas release with wind from left to right. The results show that the gas leakage holds a jet state within the height of 20m and can be less affected by wind. The impact of wind gradually increases with the increase of altitude above 20m.

After 10 seconds of gas release, wind has little effect on the diffusion of released natural gas because the gas leakage have just filled up the cavities of the overlaying soil above the leak. After 40 seconds of gas release, the natural gas leakage reaches a height of 15m in vertical direction. Because of the wind, the diffusion region is the area where is on the upper right of the leak. The gas diffusion region in hori-zontal direction is the domain where x > 50 m, y < 150 m.

After 90 seconds of gas release, the gas leak-age starts to spread in the form of an air mass, and diffuses towards upper right under the influence of wind instead of moving right above. The concentration of the center of air mass starts to decrease, and the released nat-ural gas starts to diffuse at a slower pace. A whirlpool begins to appear in downwind di-rection.

After 300 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 100m in height. The diffusion distance in air in horizontal direction is significantly in-creased. The maximum diffusion distance in horizontal direction is 80m.

After 600 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve hits 300m in height. The maximum diffusion distance in upstream and downstream direc-tion is 5m and 160m respectively. After 900 seconds of gas release, the high point of the 5% concentration curve remains at the height of 300m. The maximum diffusion distance in


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upstream and downstream direction is 5m and 250m respectively. The safe region at this moment is the domain where x < −5 m, and x > 150 m, y < 150 m.

The influence of soil infiltration on permeable diffusion

�Long-distance natural gas transmission pipelines often cross different regions with various soil types and environmental condi-tions.[6,1] Different soil types with different soil infiltrations can have great influence on the diffusion of natural gas leakage in soil. In this section, two typical cases are conducted with the soil infiltration of 0.1m/d and 10m/d respectively. The results are shown in Fig. 6.

After 10 seconds of gas release, the leakage both reach the earth’s surface with a lower soil infiltration (which is 0.1m/d) and a high-er soil infiltration (which is 10m/d). Gas that spreads through soil cavities with a higher soil infiltration diffuses further and reaches a higher altitude in air, but its diffusion region in soil in horizontal direction is narrowed as compared to the gas that spreads through soil with a lower soil infiltration.

After 60 seconds of gas release, gas that spreads through soil cavities with higher and lower soil infiltration reaches the height of 40m and 30m respectively.

After 600 seconds of gas release, although gas that spreads through soil with different infiltrations both reaches 240m in height and 120m in width, the air flow patterns formed by the gas leakage are quite different. There are various reasons for that. At the beginning of leakage, the residual velocity of gas release after the spread through soil layer determines the diffusion height, range and air flow pat-tern. After a period of diffusion, the resultant force of gravity and buoyancy plays a deci-sive role in the diffusion of gas leakage. The post-diffusion ranges are basically the same due to same gas release rate.

Conclusions�Two different gas release models of natu-ral gas transmission pipeline leakage are pro-posed in this paper. The geometric model is achieved by Gambit and the process of gas re-lease is studied numerically by using Fluent. Several conclusions can be drawn from the calculation results.

The diffusion of gas release in air can be seriously influenced by the velocity of

wind.

The gas release can spread into open atmos-phere and gradually expand into air mass, which will continue to diffuse to higher alti-tude under the influence of buoyancy after the long-distance natural gas transmission pipeline leakage. The diffusion of gas release in air can be seriously influenced by the ve-locity of wind. The gas diffusion distance in the horizontal direction is very short with-out wind disturbance, but the downwind diffusion range can be significantly increased when wind roils. The downwind gas diffusion region will be close to or even will reach the ground when wind speed increases to a cer-tain extent, and only the upwind area of the leak is safe by then.

At the beginning of leakage, the residual ve-locity of gas release after spread through soil layer determines the diffusion height, range and air flow pattern. After a period of diffu-sion, the resultant force of gravity and buoy-ancy plays a decisive role in the diffusion of gas leakage. The post-diffusion ranges are ba-sically the same due to same gas release rate.

Soil infiltration plays a very important role in gas diffusion in soil. A compact structure of soil means a low infiltration which is diffi-cult for the leakage diffuse into the cavities of soil.


Reference1. Anna Sun, Changgui Duan, Wei Zhou, etc. Diffusion Analysis of Leaked Gas during Accident

of Underground Gas Pipeline[J]. Coal & Heat, 2007, 27( 1):17- 20.2. Hongxi Yu, Zhenlin Li, Jian Zhang, Yongxue Zhang. Numerical Simulation of Leakage and

Dispersion of Acid Gas in Gathering Pipeline[J]. Journal of China University of Petrole-um(Edition of Natural Science), 2008, 38(2):119-123.

3. Jianlan Xiao, Baohe Lv, Mingxian Wang, etc. Study of Progress on Leakage Model for Gas Pipeline[J]. Gas & Heat, 2006, 26(2):7-9.

4. Jianmin Fu, Guoming Chen, Yuan Zhu, etc. Effects of Closure Delay for ESD Valve on Leaking Process of Natural Gas Pipeline[J]. CIESC Journal, 2009, 160(112):3178-3183.

5. Rui Liang, Chunyan Zhang, Feng Jiang, Guiren Wang. Comparative Analysis of Evaluation Models for Explosion Consequence Caused by Leakage of Natural Gas Pipelines[J]. China Safety Science Journal, 2007, 17(8): 131-135.

6. Shuqian Wang, Rongxian Qiu, Yuehua Zhong, Zheyi Xiao. Numerical Simulation of Pressure Influence on Diffusion of Natural Gas Due to Pipeline Failure[J]. Sichuan Chemical Industry, 2009, 12(6):34-37.

7. Wenyan Zhang, Anlin Yao, Youlv Li, etc. Study on Wind Influence on Gas Diffusion Process during Gas Pipeline Leakage Emergency[J]. Natural Gas Industry, 2006,26(12):150-152.

8. Yabo Xu, Xinming Qian, Zhenyi Liu. Quantitative Risk Analysis on the Leakage of Com-pressed Natural Gas Pipeline[J]. China Safety Science Journal, 2008, 18(1):146-149.

9. Youlv Li, Anlin Yao, Yongjie Li. Study on Diffusion Model of Gas Pipeline Leaking[J]. Natural Gas Industry, 2004,24(8): 102-104.

10. Yuan Zhu, Guoming Chen. CFD Modeling of High Sulfur-containing Natural Gas Pipeline Leak and Dispersion Process[J]. Journal of System Simulation, 2009, 21(20):6613-6616 .

Kacper Żeromski 33

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· Influence of Interconnectors on Transmission Operation SystemKacper Żeromski

�Nowadays the economic situation, market conditions and geopolitical agenda force in-dustry to apply interconnectors to ensure the security of gas supply. European Union as well as large part of Asia are facing the problem of lack of sufficient interconnec-tion of gas systems.

�Their constructions and operations could create place for completely new ways of us-ing the gas network, the diversification of gas suppliers and allow for implementation of different approaches to the issues related to the storage of gas. This could effect in more efficient storage management based on the demand.

�This option also gives a new meaning to the use of alternative methods for the transport of gas, for example, in the form of LNG. That kind of investment pulls together a number of activities in the technical, logistic and fi-nancial areas. Changes are related to the way of supplying gas, directions and intensities of flow in the transmission system, modifi-cations of existing network elements and the construction of new ones.

The paper explains effects of interconnectors implementation on gas transmission system based on case study. The study is focused on the potential problems that could arise dur-ing the modification of the network and their solutions. It explains the need for the con-struction of new network elements and their impact on the operation and a number of op-portunities offered by the interconnection of gas networks.

Introduction�Natural gas as a clean fuel has been used in industry and municipal sector for many years. Each country has developed and con-tinues to develop its distribution network to allow greater access to this resource. The cur-rent, stable political situation and strife for the development of the free market enables increased use of interconnectors. Intercon-nector is a gas pipeline that connects two gas transmission systems (transmission zones), what allows to transport gas in both direc-tions. The first of this type of gas transmis-sion pipelines were built in the late '90s–In-terconnector–linking the UK and Belgium. It allowed inter alia storage of natural gas in the reservoirs located on the continent during the summer and in the winter importing gas from storages towards the United Kingdom. Due to its length (235km) it has a large stor-age capacity. Today, as a result of lower natu-ral gas production volume, United Kingdom often uses the pipeline to import from other suppliers.

Currently, many countries in the world decide to build such connections following the var-

* AGH Univ. of Science and Technology

Þ Poland

[email protected]


34 Influence of Interconnectors on Transmission Operation System

ious reasons and taking into account many different aspects.

According to the SWOT analysis technique that is used in the evaluation of the project to build an interconnector should be juxtaposed with all their information considered in the particular case, talking about Strengths and Weaknesses as well as the Opportunities and Threats. This information during the project of construction of the interconnector often turns out to be universal because of the situ-ations faced by stakeholders, who are allowed to evaluate the construction and operation of an interconnector per se.

Strengths and Opportunities�A key argument in deciding to submit the evaluations of this project is to increase the energy security of the regions or countries linked by the interconnector. It results from the agreements concluded between involved countries, willing to cooperate and imple-menting common policy about economy of energy resources. Often, this situation opens up new possibilities, for example the usage of gas from inaccessible suppliers so far via the connection with the network of another country. Such investment may also affect the

energy security of countries through which the transmission pipeline with interconnec-tor connected to a network of different coun-tries that are not located in the immediate vicinity. This allows you to use the network to transfer fuel gas to a greater distance, which is the driver behind to support investment by neighboring countries also interested in receiving or sending gas. The aim of these activities is to diversify natural gas supply that provides increased energy security in the region. This effect was very visible during the Ukrainian-Russian gas crisis, in which the reduction of gas supplies from the east-ern Greece imported LNG and neighboring Bulgaria could not buy gas, since it was not possible to send it their way (lack of suitable infrastructure–despite the fact that there are connection by pipeline between the two countries was not possible to send the gas to Bulgaria).

With increasing number of potential suppli-ers, better preparation of the conditions for the growth of investment in industry, which is the recipient of gas follows. The greater guarantee of lack of supply disruptions and shortages of gas resource are giving the possi-bility of free-market competition and favora-ble conditions to starting new projects.

The Construction of an interconnector could allow for major overhaul of entire parts of the transmission network in industrialized are-as. There are cases in which such investment may not take place because of the recipients. As example shows, there might be a situation where the glassworks is the recipient of the natural gas. Due to the nature of the process of glass manufacturing, interruptions must be kept to a minimum so the renovation of gas supply fragment of the network is difficult or impossible. Otherwise happens in the case when the supply of gas can be ensured from another supplier, in a safe manner, without neglecting the needs of other customers and the maintaining appropriate network param-eters.

Fig. 1 – Location of the Interconnector–the first interconnection between the UK and Belgium. [6]

Kacper Żeromski 35

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Often, the plans of increasing the country's security are based on complex multi level solutions.

The building of a transmission corridor seems to be a modern solution for this situation. This construction allows simultaneous con-nections of gas and energy systems of the concerned countries, which may affect the lower cost of these investments than made separately.

Countries deciding to build an interconnector need to face many problems.

Weaknesses and Threats�Natural gas transmission system can be compared to the blood system. It extends to

the entire country in such a way that supplies gas into strategic places thanks to gas

pipelines, nodes, compressor stations and other network elements. Interconnectors were not planned in the long-term develop-ment of the network. With increasing dis-tance from the source the diameter of the pipeline reduces which results the smaller streams. This can be a problem in the case where an interconnector with a larger diam-eter would be connected to an existing net-work pipeline of smaller diameter. This will result in limited possibilities of transmission, as well as higher pressure drops. The solution would be to modernize the existing segments or build a new pipeline which in both cases results in increased costs. Another expense is the construction of new compressor stations, measuring stations and infrastructure.

Fig. 2 – Major existing and planned natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe [7]

36 Influence of Interconnectors on Transmission Operation System

Very often, the borders of countries run along natural boundaries–a river or a mountain range which in itself become a hindrance. Crossing the river is carried out very often, but mountain range is an issue forcing the other way plan of the network connections between the two countries.

Another problem arising from the fact that investment in interconnectors was not taken into consideration in the long-term extension plan of the network may be inconsistent pro-visions in force in the all concerned countries. The European Union seeks to unify standards for different areas of the industry, but today many countries have different guidelines for maintaining the pressure in the network, the parameters used in the construction of the pipeline as well as many other aspects. An example would be the type of measurement equipment used. Polish law does not allow the use of ultrasonic gas meters for billing, while the Czech Republic allows. Legal ar-rangements for transmission easement, ap-proaches to issues of interaction with the en-vironment during the project or a settlement amount of gas transported during the time changes from winter to summer. The Usage of

other solutions in the field of measurement and telemetry can be a problem also.

The biggest problem, however, remains a matter of financing. As a result of long ne-gotiations is the division of costs between partners, is announcement of the tender un-

der the common understanding in such a way that the connection will be consistent and en-sures the safe transportation of gas. It should also be determined in which way will shape the transmission tariff.

Moreover, in investments like this, there is al-ways political pressure. Monopolist does not want to lose their market. They are reluctant to agree to such a move by exerting pressure on the countries concerned or luring by offer-ing conditions better than ever. It seems that these two factors have the greatest impact on the realization of investments such as inter-connectors.

Interconnectors and LNG�Construction of interconnectors reshapes the LNG market. With the construction of LNG terminal in Swinoujscie (Poland) it is possible to receive liquefied natural gas for example from Kuwait, which thanks to the construction of the future expansion of inter-connections will be able to reach to countries located further in the continent. This opens up the possibility of gas that can be exported

from countries that do not have access to the sea or the ocean by providing their own gas, condense it and send in gas carrier.

This is equivalent to allowing the develop-ment of infrastructure related to the LNG market in the region. Well planned how to

Fig. 3 – Interconnector Poland-Czech Republic

Kacper Żeromski 37

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put interconnector may indirectly affect the development of other methods of transporta-tion of gas, and a whole sector of the economy connected with it.

Conclusions�Compiled strengths and weaknesses as well as opportunities and threats indicate an in-vestment profitability in the case where in the region there is a clear willingness to cooperate between the countries concerned. The efforts should be made to promote the interests of a common energy security of the country and to create better conditions for new invest-ments. The stable political situation in the region, together with the wise decisions made during contacts with current suppliers pro-motes diversification of natural gas. It Should be remembered that after the transmission systems connection in the interest of both countries is mutual assistance in achieving stable operation of both systems. Independ-ence from one supplier ensures lower gas

prices. Each of these types of investments must be carefully planned from the side of business, political, technical, formal and legal, including the impact on the environment and the social reaction.

The investment of this kind entails high costs. Care should be taken during planning because interconnector should be used efficiently and profitably for both parties.

For several years it may happen that countries dependent on one gas supplier are not able to develop in a satisfactory manner. However, the combined gas systems of many countries which can change the percentage of indi-vidual suppliers and customers will provide greater energy security, and will significantly affect the development of the entire region. Increasing number of countries around the world takes up the challenge of building inter-connectors, making the whole continent can be compared to a body with well-developed cardiovascular system providing blue fuel in an efficient manner wherever it is needed.

References1. A. Zawisza, "Czas gazowych interkonektorów", Gazeta Finansowa, nr 28-29, 20112. M. Radetzki, "European natural gas: market forces will bring about competition in any case",

Energy Policy 27 (1999) 17-24, Elsevier3. M.Futyan, "The Interconnector Pipeline. A Key Link in Europe's Gas Network" Oxford Insti-

tute for Energy Studies, 20064. A. Neumann, B.Siliverstovs, "Convergence of European Spot Market Prices for Natural Gas? A

Real-Time Analysis of Market Integration using the Kalman Filter" econstor.eu 20055. Zandcee, April 20106. Samuel Bailey, 15 listopada 2009

38 Injectivity in Non-Newtonian Two-Phase Flow

· Injectivity in Non-Newtonian Two-Phase FlowCiaran A. Latooij

�Injectivity is a key factor in the economics of foam EOR processes. Poor injectivity of low-mobility foam slows the production of oil and allows more time for gravity seg-regation of injected gas. The conventional Peaceman equation, when applied to a large grid block, makes two substantial errors in estimating injectivity: it ignores the rapidly changing saturations around the wellbore and the effect of non- Newtonian mobility of foam. When foam is injected in alternat-ing slugs of gas and liquid ("SAG" injection), the rapid increase in injectivity from chang-ing saturation near the well is an important and unique advantage of foam injection. Foam is also shear-thinning in many cases.

Introduction�Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes employing gas injection (miscible and im-miscible solvent or steam injection) can be very efficient in recovering oil where the gas sweeps. Unfortunately, gas injection has poor sweep efficiency (Lake, 1989) because of ge-ological heterogeneity, density differences between gas and oil or water, and viscous in-stability between the gas and the oil or water it displaces. Foam can address all three caus-es of poor sweep efficiency (Schramm, 1994; Rossen, 1996).

Simply injecting a very-low-mobility fluid can force a reduction in injection rate to

avoid fracturing the injection well.

The economics of any EOR process depends on maintaining sufficient injectivity. Injectiv-ity is especially problematic in foam EOR (see e.g., Namdar Zanganeh and Rossen, 2013). Simply injecting a very-low-mobility fluid can force a reduction in injection rate to avoid fracturing the injection well. Unintended frac-turing of the injection well has plagued some foam applications in the field (Martinsen and Vassenden, 1999; Kuehne et al., 1990). More-over, injection rate is crucial to the ability of foam to overcome gravity override of injected gas (Rossen et al., 2010). The good injectivity of a SAG process, in which gas and surfactant solution are injected as alternating slugs, is a major advantage for this injection method in overcoming gravity override (Shan and Rossen, 2004; Faisal et al., 2009; Kloet et al., 2009). In principle, the best foam process for overcoming gravity override is a SAG process with one large slug of surfactant solution fol-lowed by one large slug of gas.

Foam dries out and collapses abruptly as water saturation falls below a certain

value Sw*

Two issues complicate the correct prediction of injectivity in SAG foam EOR processes in

* Delft University of Technology

Þ Netherlands

[email protected]


Ciaran A. Latooij 39

summer / 2013

reservoir simulation, and in particular injec-tivity of the gas slug. The first one is the re-action of foam to changing water saturation close to the well. Foam dries out and collapses abruptly as water saturation falls below a cer-tain value Sw* (Khatib et al., 1988; Rossen and Zhou, 1995; Alvarez et al., 2001). This "dry-out effect" means that the mobility of gas increas-es enormously near the injection well and this greatly increases injectivity.

The second one concerns the fact that gas in foam is a non-Newtonian fluid, at least in some circumstances (Hirasaki and Lawson, 1986; Falls et al., 1989; Alvarez et al., 2001; Xu and Rossen, 2004). Its shear-thinning prop-erties reduce the pressure gradient near the well, which increases injectivity.

Saturation varies with position and time near the well, and mobility at each posi-

tion may be a non-Newtonian function of superficial velocity at that position

The Peaceman equation used to describe in-jectivity in reservoir simulators (Computer Modeling Group, 2006; Schlumberger, 2010) misses both these effects as it assumes a uni-form water saturation in the grid block con-taining the injection well and Newtonian mo-bility at that saturation:

ln

2e

ew r

rt w

rQP PHk rπ λ

− =

[1]

where Q is injection rate, H formation thick-ness, k horizontal permeability, and total rel-ative mobility λrt is determined by:

( )( ) frg wrw w

rtw g

k Sk Sλ

µ µ

= +

[2]

where water and gas relative permeabilities are assumed to depend only on Sw, not shear rate, and w and g are constant.

Lake (1989) gives an equation for injectivity of non-Newtonian power-law fluid at uniform saturation, but this equation is not common-ly implemented in simulations. Sharma et al. (2010) describe how to adjust the parameters of the Peaceman equation on an ad-hoc ba-sis to account for non-Newtonian mobility in the near-wellbore region. In reality, both effects occur simultaneously: saturation var-ies with position and time near the well, and mobility at each position may be a non-New-tonian function of superficial velocity at that position. This paper focuses on the effect of non-Newtonian viscosity on injectivity; Leeftink et al. (2013) also consider the effect of dry-out near the well.

Effect of Non-Newtonian Viscosity�Rossen et al. (2011) describe a method for modeling 1D dynamic two-phase displace-ments with non-Newtonian phase viscosities using the method of characteristics (MOC). For non-Newtonian fluids the characteristics are curved, and computation of the velocity of the shock front at the leading edge of the foam bank is complex. Rossen et al. show that, for SAG injection, a simple numerical solution using the MOC is possible behind the shock front, i.e. in the near-wellbore region. Although the method employs a numerical solution of equations derived from the MOC, these equations can be solved to an arbitrary level of precision, much more accurately than is feasible with conventional simulation.

To simplify the model and focus on non-New-tonian effects, Rossen et al. (2011) excluded the effect of water saturation on foam stabil-ity, specifically the abrupt collapse of foam at a limiting water saturation Sw* described in Leeftink (2013). Thus their study includes the simultaneous effects of changing water sat-uration and non-Newtonian viscosity, but it excludes by far the largest effect of changing


water saturation in a SAG process, the dry-out effect. In a SAG process foam is in the "high-quality" regime dominated by dry-out; rheology in this regime can be non-Newto-nian (Alvarez et al., 2001), but modeling this effect would require making Sw* a function of superficial velocity. This is allowed in the cur-rent STARS foam simulator (Coombe, 2012) but is not frequently used in simulation.

Mobility depends on water saturation weakly because of the dependence of

foam-free relative permeabilities of water and gas on water saturation.

In the foam model of Rossen et al. (2011), gas mobility is reduced by foam by a factor that is independent of water saturation but depends on total superficial velocity like a power-law fluid with power-law exponent ½. Mobility depends on water saturation weakly because of the dependence of foam-free relative per-

meabilities of water and gas on water satura-tion. Values of mobility below correspond to the "effective viscosity" of foam (inverse mo-bility relative to that of water in single-phase flow) of 24 to 530 cp. Our focus is not on the magnitude of injection pressure-rise, which is extraordinary given the low mobility of the foam here, but on the effect of non-Newtoni-an foam behavior on it. Details of the foam model are in Appendix A.

Rossen et al. (2011) note that an important implication of this model is the effect on in-jectivity, but do not calculate injectivity. In this paper we use the results of Rossen et al. for water saturation as a function of time and radial position to determine injectivity for shear-thinning foam in a SAG process.

Assumptions�The following assumptions are made for the Method of Characteristics:

0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 10,2

0,21

0,22

0,23

0,24

0,25

0,26

r/re

Sw

Water saturation around the well at dimensionless time tD = 10, long after the shock has passed beyond the region of interest;

10m wide grid block

�Figure 1. Water saturation around the well at dimensionless time tD = 10, long after the shock has passed beyond the region of interest; 10-m-wide grid block.


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1. All phases are incompressible, as is the reservoir, and components are soluble in only one phase.

2. The reservoir has isotropic and uniform permeability.

3. The surfactant concentration Cs is uni-form and constant in the region of in-terest.

4. There are only two phases flowing, though a third, immobile oil phase may be present. Oil saturation So is uniform and constant. For simplicity, we assume here So = 0.

5. The well radius is rw. Well skin factor is zero.

6. The reservoir is of uniform height H; the vertical injection well penetrates the en-tire interval.

7. There are no chemical or biological reac-tions affecting any of the components.

8. The effect of gravity is negligible in the region of interest.

9. Fluids (in this case, gas) are injected with a constant total volumetric rate Q re-gardless of injection pressure.

10. Foam properties immediately take their steady-state values corresponding to the local water saturation.

11. The 1D cylindrical reservoir extends from inner radius rw, where the fluids are injected, to open outer boundary re. In-jectivity depends on Darcy's law in radial flow and the variation of water satura-tion Sw with radial position.

12. Dispersive processes, including finger-ing, capillary diffusion and dispersion are negligible.

To obtain the rise in injection pressure we in-tegrate for pressure around the well numeri-cally using the positions of the characteristics at the given time:

2 rt

P Qr rHkπ λ

∂ −=

∂

[3]

with λrt dependent on both Sw and position r. Details of the calculations are in Latooij (2012).

We express dimensionless time in terms of grid-block pore volumes of gas injected, and dimensionless pressure rise relative to that for water injected into a formation with Sw = 1, for which total relative mobility λrt = 1/w = 1/(0.001) (Pa × s)-1:

2D

e

Qttr Hπ ϕ

= [4]

( ) 1

1000( , )

w

w reD

w re rt wS

P PPP P r Sλ

=

−= =

− [5]

The wellbore radius is 0.1 m, and the outer ra-dii are either 5 or 50 m. For a radius of 5 m, Fig. 1 shows water saturation around the well at a dimensionless time tD = 10.

Results�We compute injectivity at two times, one shortly after the shock at the leading edge of the foam bank has left the region of interest (tD = 1), and again at ten times this time (tD = 10). For a 10-m wide grid block (outer radius 5 m), at tD = 1,the dimensionless injection pres-sure PD is 87, reflecting the extremely strong foam assumed in this section (Appendix A). If however one used the Peaceman equation with the total relative mobility equal to that at r = 5 m at this time, the dimensionless rise would have been 210, i.e. 2.41 times larger. Ten times later, at tD = 10, the dimensionless rise in injection pressure is 83, again reflect-ing an extremely strong foam. If however one used the Peaceman equation with the total relative mobility equal to that at r = 5 m, the dimensionless rise would have been 190, i.e. 2.29 times larger.

We distinguish the effects of shear-thinning rheology and changing water saturation at the well as follows. First we examine the ef-


fect of non-Newtonian (shear thinning) rhe-ology alone. In this case we allow that the effective viscosity changes with radial dis-tance, but assume Sw is uniform throughout the entire region and is equal to its value at the well, i.e. 0.2. The total relative mobility λrt then depends only on radial position (Eq. A3). At the well (xD = 0) we find that λrt = 42.23 (Pa s)-1 (an effective viscosity of 23 cp) whereas at the outer radius λrt = 5.97 (Pa s)-1 (effective viscosity 167 cp). The total relative mobility is a factor of 7 lower at the wellbore compared to that at r = 5 m. As shown above, the result is injectivity over twice as large as that esti-mated using the mobility at the outer radius.

Next we allow for nonuniform water satura-tion but not non-Newtonian rheology. At tD = 1, at r = 5 m Sw = 0.31 and at the wellbore Sw = 0.2. Excluding the non-Newtonian ef-fects, the difference in total relative mobility at these two saturations is only 25%. At tD = 10, the difference in mobilities is about 13%. Thus, in this case, with foam dry-out exclud-ed, the effect of changing water saturation near the well is much less important than shear-thinning viscosity.

These results show that although the chang-ing water saturation does have an impact on injectivity in this model (13 to 25%), the effect of shear thinning-rheology on injectivity is much greater (i.e., by a factor of more than 2) and is therefore the more important effect. Moreover, as grid-block size increases, the ef-fect of shear thinning on injectivity increases.

For a 100-m wide grid block (outer radius 50 m), at tD = 1 dimensionless rise in injec-tion pressure is 183. If however one used the Peaceman equation with the total relative mobility equal to that at r = 50 m, the dimen-sionless rise would have been 618, i.e. 3.38 times larger. At tD = 10, the dimensionless rise in injection pressure is 177. If however one used the Peaceman equation with the to-tal relative mobility equal to that at r = 50 m, the dimensionless rise would have been 576, i.e. 3.26 times larger. As for the 10-m wide grid block, the effect of Sw alone in this case is much smaller: about a 17% difference in mo-bility at tD = 1, and 9% at tD = 10. The total relative mobility at the injection wellbore is 22 times greater than that at 50 m for both tD = 1 and 10. Although in this case the ef-fect of dry-out is much greater than that of non-Newtonian mobility, the effect of non-Newtonian mobility is still significant; ignoring it would lead to significant errors in computed injectivity.

ConclusionNon-Newtonian foam mobility is important to foam injectivity. In the example shown, the actual injectivity is about 2.3 and 3.3 times lower than that which would be estimated us-ing the Peaceman equation and the mobility at the outer radius, for 10-m and 100-m grid blocks, respectively. If one excludes the dry-out effect, then the effect of changing satura-tion on this result is relatively small.

References1. Alvarez, J. M., Rivas, H., and Rossen, W. R., "A Unified Model for Steady-State Foam Behavior

at High and Low Foam Qualities," SPE Journal 6 (Sept. 2001), 325-333.2. Cheng, L., Reme, A. B., Shan, D., Coombe, D. A. and Rossen, W. R., "Simulating Foam Process-

es at High and Low Foam Qualities," paper SPE 59287 presented at the 2000 SPE/DOE Sym-posium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, OK, 3-5 April.

3. Computer Modeling Group, STARS User's Guide, Version 2006, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.4. Coombe, D. A., personal communication (2012).


summer / 2013

5. Faisal, A., Bisdom, K., Zhumabek, B., Mojaddam Zadeh, A., and Rossen, W. R., "Injectivity and Gravity Segregation in WAG and SWAG Enhanced Oil Recovery," SPE 124197 presented at the 2009 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 4–7 October 2009.

6. Falls, A. H., Musters, J. J. and Ratulowski, J., “The Apparent Viscosity of Foams in Homoge-neous Bead Packs”, SPE Reserv. Eng. 4 (May 1989), 155-164

7. Hirasaki, G. J., and Lawson, J. B., "Mechanisms of Foam Flow Through Porous Media–Appar-ent Viscosity in Smooth Capillaries," SPE J 25, 176-190 (1985).

8. Khatib, Z. I., Hirasaki, G. J. and Falls, A. H., “Effects of Capillary Pressure on Coalescence and Phase Mobilities in Foams Flowing through Porous Media”, SPE Reserv. Eng. 3 (August 1988), 919-926.

9. Kloet, M. B., Renkema, W. J., and Rossen, W. R., "Optimal Design Criteria for SAG Foam Pro-cesses in Heterogeneous Reservoirs," SPE 121581 presented at the 2009 SPE EUROPEC/EAGE Annual Conference and Exhibition, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 8–11 June 2009.

10. Kuehne, D. L., Ehman, D. I., Emanuel, A. S., and Magnani, C. F., "Design and Evaluation of a Nitrogen-Foam Field Trial," J. Petr. Techol. 42, 504-512 (1990).

11. Lake, L. W., Enhanced Oil Recovery, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, USA (1989).12. Latooij, C. A., "Injectivity in Non-Newtonian Two-Phase Flow," BSc thesis BTA/PE/12-18,

Delft University of Technology, 2012; available at http://repository.tudelft.nl/.13. Leeftink, T. N., "Injectivity errors in simulation of foam EOR," BSc thesis BTA/PE/13-05, Delft

University of Technology, 2013; available at http://repository.tudelft.nl/.14. Leeftink, T. N., Latooij, C. A., Rossen, W. R., "Injectivity errors in simulation of foam EOR,"

presented at the 17th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, St Petersburg, Russia, 16-18 April 2013.

15. Martinsen, H. A. and Vassenden, F., “Foam-Assisted Water Alternating Gas (FAWAG) Process on Snorre,” presented at the 1999 European IOR Symposium, Brighton, U.K., 18–20 August.

16. Namdar Zanganeh, M., Kam, S. I., LaForce, T. C., and Rossen, W.R., "The Method of Charac-teristics Applied to Oil Displacement by Foam," SPE Journal 16, 8-23 (2011).

17. Namdar Zanganeh, M., and Rossen, W. R., "Optimization of Foam EOR: Balancing Sweep and Injectivity," accepted for publication in SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering (2013).

18. Orr, F. M., Theory of Gas Injection Processes, Tie-Line Publications (2007).19. Pickup, G. E., Jin, M., and Mackay, E.J., "Simulation of Near-Well Pressure Build-up in Mod-

els of CO2 Injection," paper B34 presented at the European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery, Biarritz, France, 10-13 September 2012.

20. Rossen, W. R., "Foams in Enhanced Oil Recovery," in R. K. Prud'homme and S. Khan, ed., Foams: Theory, Measurements and Applications, Marcel Dekker, New York (1996), pp. 413-464.

21. Rossen, W. R., van Duijn, C. J., Nguyen, Q. P., Shen, C., and Vikingstad, A. K., "Injection Strat-egies to Overcome Gravity Segregation in Simultaneous Gas and Water Injection Into Homo-geneous Reservoirs," SPE Journal 15, 76-90 (2010).

22. Rossen, W. R., Venkatraman, A., Johns, R. T., Kibodeaux, K. R., Lai, H., and Moradi Tehrani, N., "Fractional Flow Theory Applicable to Non-Newtonian Behavior in EOR Processes," Trans-port in Porous Media 89(2), 213-236 (2011).

23. Rossen, W. R., Zeilinger, S. C., Shi, J.-X., and Lim, M. T., "Simplified Mechanistic Simulation of Foam Processes in Porous Media," SPE Journal 4, 279-287 (Sept. 1999).

24. Rossen, W. R. and Zhou, Z. H., "Modeling Foam Mobility at the Limiting Capillary Pressure," SPE Adv. Technol. 3, 146-152 (1995).


25. Schlumberger, ECLIPSE* Reservoir Simulation Software, Version 2010.2, Technical Descrip-tion, 2010.

26. Schramm, L. L. (ed.) Foams: Fundamentals and Applications in the Petroleum Industry, ACS Advances in Chemistry Series No. 242, Am. Chem. Soc., Washington, DC (1994).

27. Shan, D. and Rossen, W. R., “Optimal Injection Strategies for Foam IOR,” SPE Journal 9, 132-150.

28. Xu, Q. and Rossen, W. R., "Dynamic Viscosity of Foam in Porous Media," Proc. EuroConfer-ence on Foams, Emulsions and Applications, Delft, The Netherlands, 5-8 June 2000.

29. Zhou, Z. H. and Rossen, W. R,. "Applying Fractional-Flow Theory to Foam Processes at the 'Limiting Capillary Pressure'," SPE Adv. Technol. 3, 154-162 (1995).

Appendix A. Foam Model Used in Non-Newtonian Injectivity Calculations

In this case we take the relative permeabilities used by Rossen et al. (2011), i.e.

4.20.20.20.6

wrw

Sk − =

[A1]

1.30.80.6570.6

o wrg

Sk − =

[A2]

where the superscript o indicates that this is the relative permeability in the absence of foam.

Water and gas viscosities in the absence of foam are 0.001 and 0.00002 Pa s. Foam does not affect water relative permeability or vis-cosity, but does greatly affect gas mobility. It is equivalent to describe this effect as an effect on relative permeability or viscosity. Described as an effect on gas relative perme-ability we use 1.3

(1 )/2 (1 )/2

0.80.657( ) 0.6

55000 55000500 500

worg wf

rg n n

Sk S

kr r− −

− = =

1.3

(1 )/2 (1 )/2

0.80.657( ) 0.6

55000 55000500 500

worg wf

rg n n

Sk S

kr r− −

− = =

[A3]

This corresponds to a foam with extreme-ly large mobility reduction (by a factor of 55,000, which is similar to the model fit of Cheng et al. (2000) to laboratory data without oil) at a radial distance of 500 m, and with the mobility reduction scaling like a power-law fluid with exponent n for shorter distances. We assume a power-law exponent of ½. Thus at the wellbore radius of 0.1 m gas mobility is reduced by a factor of 6,540 and at a distance of 1 m by a factor 11,631. The relatively small value of power-law exponent n here (½) is similar to behavior observed in the “low-qual-ity" foam regime (Alvarez et al., 2001) i.e., far from the dry conditions of foam collapse. Like Rossen et al. (2011) we assume a particularly simple foam model here to illustrate the ef-fects of shear-thinning rheology without the other complications of foam behavior.

Kostiantyn Ganushevych, Kateryna Sai 45

summer / 2013

· Development of Gas Hydrate Reservoir in the Black SeaKostiantyn Ganushevych, Kateryna Sai

Abstract�The importance of natural gas extraction

from the most prospective gas hydrate res-ervoir in the Black Sea is scrutinized. It is pointed out that such an energy resource development is really beneficial to Ukrain-ian economy. The examination of forma-tion mechanism and geological conditions of the considered gas hydrate deposit with various forms of its existence is carried out.

�The short review of possible gas recovery technologies based on various forms of gas hydrate deposits existence is given. Special attention is paid to the technology of CH4 exchange by CO2 within the gas hydrate de-posit. General conclusions and basic tasks requiring further research are given at the end.

Importance�The most importcant task in the modern world is search for both alternative and ad-dition-al sources of energy. One of the most prospective additional energy sources is a natural gas being in a gas hydrate state.

When talking about gas hydrate deposits in the Black Sea, it certainly can be stated that this type of fuel is the biggest future treasure, whose recovery will allow to solve the issue of energy provision not only in Ukraine but also in all countries bordering the Black Sea.

A remarkable property of gas hydrates is that 1 m3 of this compound releases more than 160 m3 of methane in gaseous state.

There are nearly 15 deposits located in the sea. Potential gas reserves in them are esti-mated to be 50×1012 m3 of methane [1].

Methane resources of gas hydrate deposits close to Crimea peninsula are calculated to be 20-25×1012 m3.

Fair amount of these deposits is allocated to Ukraine and Romania, less – to Turkey, Bul-garia, Russia and Georgia [2].

Fig. 1 shows one of the most prospective gas hydrate deposits. Its depth is around 2000 m [3].

The thickness of the gas hydrate layers of the Black Sea is, in average, equal to 300 m [2]. The density of deposits saturation with nat-ural gas hydrates increases with depth. Water tem-perature below seasonal fluctuations increases with depth as well and makes up +7…+8ºC at 400-500 m depth, and at 2000–

* National Mining University

Þ Ukraine

[email protected]

[email protected]


46 Development of Gas Hydrate Reservoir in the Black Sea

2200 m: +9…+9.5ºC. Pressure values are with-in the range of 5–20 MPa.

Types of Gas Hydrate Deposits�There are four possible ways of gas hy-drate formations in sea sediments: scattered cement components, thin interlayers (nods), veins and massive solid layers (Fig. 2).

In addition, there are two mechanisms of gas hydrates creation in the pore space of se-di-ments. First, gas hydrates are formed at the points of contact between rock grains (Fig. 3). In that case, hydrates play cementing role in sedi-ments. According to the second mecha-nism, the formation of gas hydrates occurs in pores outside the points of contact between grains, and hydrates have practically no effect or no effect at all on rock particles cohesion which reduces the porosity of sediment.

There are two mechanisms of gas hy-drates creation in the pore space of sediments. First, gas hydrates are formed at the points of con-

tact between rock grains. In that case, hy-drates cement sediments. According to the se-cond mechanism, the formation of gas hy-drates occurs in the pores outside the points of contact between grains, and hydrates have particularly no effect or no effect at all on joint-packing, which reduces the porosity of sediment.

Existing technologies. The selection of suita-ble technology of gas extraction is fully based on the geological conditions and properties of gas hydrate deposits.

At present only two basic methods for gas ex-traction from a hydrate layer are taken into account: heating hydrate-bearing formations above equilibrium temperature and inhibi-tors introduction into the gas hydrate layer. They are based on dissociation – a process during which a compound decomposes into more simple components: gas and water.

Heat carrier introduction method is based on heat delivery inside the gas hydrate crystal lattice to increase the temperature and speed up the dissociation process. During the heat-ing process an exothermal catalytic reaction

�Fig. 1 – Map-scheme of gas-bearing zones suitable for hydrates formation in the Black Sea trough: 1 – highly perspective zone of gas hydrate formation; 2 – Western Black Sea trough;

3 – Eastern Black Sea trough; 4 – The outline of the Black Sea trough


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occurs with specific heat liberation exceeding solid gas hydrate dissociation heat (Eq. 1).

CH4(H2O)n → CH4 + n × H2O × Hf = 54.49 [Eq. 1]

But, as the the results of the studies show, heat influence through the borehole face is low efficient [4].

It is connected with the fact that gas hy-drate dissociation process is followed by heat ab-sorption with high specific enthalpy 0.5 MJ/kg (for example, ice melting heat makes up 0.34 MJ/kg). As the dissociation front moves away from the borehole face more and more energy is spent to heat up host rocks hence heat influence zone on hydrate is calculated by the first meters [5].

When an inhibitor is introduced inside the gas hydrate its composition changes. In mul-ti-ple works it is established that a definite con-centration inhibitor injection into gas

hydrate leads to hydrates formation equilib-rium condi-tions shift, notably to equilibrium temperature shift leading to the dissociation and methane release. In this case, the notion of “inhibitor” denotes not only a matter that slows down any process but also a matter that can actually speed it up. Concentration is what plays the major role in establishing an inhibitor influence behavior.

The use of inhibitors has many disad-vantag-es: high toxicity (due to the harmful effects of vapors, contact with skin and internal body organs), high flammability risk.

In the authors’ opinion, the most pro-spective method of methane recovery from a solid gas hydrate is an injection of CO2 under a definite pressure and, as a result, the replace-ment of CH4 and its capture on the surface.

The scholars of underground mining de-part-ment have developed a technology of me-

dispersed cement nods veins massive layers

Fig. 2 – Possible ways of gas hydrate formations

hydrate shellaround the grains

cement at the grain contacts

water �lm on grains surface

clathrates in pores centers

Cementation Filling of Pores

� Fig. 3 – Mechanism of gas hydrates formation in porous medium


thane recovery from natural gas hydrate de-posits and received patent on the technology №65280 (Fig. 4).

It is a known fact that lower pressure and higher temperature is enough for CO2 hy-drate formation [6]. It is substantiated by com-position and physical properties of these

gases: carbon dioxide density is 1.97 kg/m³ that is three times higher than methane den-sity – 0.66 kg/m³. Molar mass of CO2 is almost 3 times higher than that of methane. In addi-tion, the intensity of CO2 gas hydrate accumu-lation is higher than CH4 gas hydrate that is explained by higher reactionary capability of CO2 compared to methane.

Laboratory Researches�At present, scholars of the department have been conducting researches on artificial gas hydrates on a new laboratory unit NPO-5 (Fig. 5).

Unit NPO-5 serves as a laboratory base of gas hydrates creation and research for their sta-ble existence under certain values of pressure and temperature. Formation conditions of methane hydrates and equilibrium parame-ters of their stable existence received by ex-perimental way under are presented in Table 1 and in Fig. 6.

Currently the authors have been conducting the experiments focused on CO2 injection into the preliminary created methane hydrate in order to model the gases swapping process together with technological parameters such as exchange rate, pressure of carbon monox-ide jet, its temperature, water pressure and temperature, time factor, etc.

�Fig. 4 – Technological scheme of methane extraction from natural gas hydrate via carbon dioxide

injection: 1 – reservoir for recovered methane

2 – reservoir for carbon dioxide 3 – floating platform

4 – pipe for methane extraction 5 – pipe for carbon dioxide injection

6 – gas hydrate dissociation zones

Temperature,°C Pressure, MPa

-10 1,8

-7 2,1

-2 2,4

0 2,7

+5 4,8

+9 6,8

+13 9,8

�Table 1 – Equilibrium parameters (P-T) of methane hydrate


summer / 2013

Conclusions�Development of gas hydrate deposits lo-cated in marine sediments of the Black Sea is a prospective way to increase Ukraine’s hy-drocar-bon crude volume. It is necessary to continue studying this body of water in order to develop maximally suitable technology of

gas hydrate extraction, considering its condi-tions;

Geological conditions and forms of gas hy-drate existence in the Black Sea together with consideration of possible technologies of nat-ural gas recovery are under examination;

In the authors’ opinion, the most effective and prospective technology of natural gas ex-traction from gas hydrates is carbon dioxide injection into the deposit with methane grad-ual removal on the surface. This method al-lows not only to recover methane but to fight global warming caused by CO2 emission.

�Fig. 5 – Laboratory unit NPO-5 for gas hydrate receiving,where: 1 – tank with methane; 2 – tank tap; 3 – reduction gear; 4 – high-pressure manometer; 5 – low-pressure manometer; 6 – fitting for methane injection; 7 – fitting for water injection; 8 – cylinder transparent glass; 9 – shaft transparent glass; 10 – LED cluster; 11 – shaft; 12 – coupling bolts with screws; 13 – battery; 14 – water pressure manometer; 15 – tap for water injection control; 16 – shaft of water pressure unit; 17 – cylinder of water pressure unit; 18 – water; 19 – rigid frame; 20 – shaft of hydraulic jack; 21 – body of hydraulic jack with pressure up to 5 MPa; 22 – guidance flange; 23 – climatic thermal unit; 24 – vessel of gas hydrates formation; 25 – unit for water pressurized injection

Pressure, MPa

Tem

pera

ture

,°С

0

-5

-10

-15

5

10

15

20

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

�Fig. 6 – Pressure and temperature correlation of gas hydrate formation


References1. Duchkov, A., Sokolova, L., Ayunov, D., & Permyakov, M.: “Assessment of potential of West

Siberian permafrost for the carbon dioxide storage”. Trofimuk Institute of petroleum and geophysics SB BAS, 2009, №9, P. 20-24.

2. Eliasson, B., Riemer, P., & Wokaun, A.: “Greenhouse gas control technologies”. Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, Pergamon, 1999, may.

3. Korsakov, O., Biakov, Y., & Stupak, S.: “Gas hydrates of the Black Sea trough”. Magazine Sovi-et geology, 1989, №12, P. 4-10.

4. Makogon, Y.: “Gas hydrates: Research history and development perspectives”. Magazine Ge-ology and mineral deposits of the World Ocean, 2010, №2, P. 5-21.

5. Matveyeva, T., Solov’yev, V., & Mazurenko, L.: “Method of gas recovery from marine accumu-lations of gas hydrates”. International industrial portal, 21.12.2011.

6. Schnyukov, E., & Ziborov, A.: “Mineral resources of the Black Sea”. Kiev: Scientific issues of NAS of Ukraine, 2004, 280 p.

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52 The Young at the Heart of Asia

CONFERENCE | Youth Oil and Gas Forum

´ The Young at the Heart of AsiaMichał Turek

�The rising sun lit the highest peaks of the TianShan Mountains and shortly after that its rays warmed faces and houses of Almaty residents. Awakened nature eagerly grasped every bit of heat in order to get rid of the morning dew as soon as possible. The heart of Asia, Kazakhstan's largest city, was coming to life ...

...and so were the participants of 10-th Inter-national Youth Oil and Gas Forum–"Offshore: Dive into the future"! The Forum took place on the 13th–14th of April 2013. It was organ-ized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Student Chapter under KazNTU named after K.I. Satpayev. This is the tenth time when stu-dents and the representative of the global and national societies from all over the world met at the Kazakh National Technical University

after K.I. Satpayev. Among those who were present, were the representatives of Roma-nia, Egypt, Poland, Austria, Qatar, Ghana, Italy, Russia, who have been sharing their ex-

periences, achievements and observations in the field of petroleum industry for two days.

"This is the tenth time in the walls of the main technical university of the country. By the in-itiative of the Society of Petroleum Engineers Student Chapter under KazNTU named after K.I. Satpayev, the youth discuss the most relevant issues connected with the oil & gas industry, the development of education, par-ticipation in the scientific field of action put forward by the President of the country called Kazakhstan 2050".–said the rector of KazN-TU, Zheksenbek Adilov, during the opening ceremony. The Forum was officially opened by both the rector and the President of the SPE Student Chapter, Almas Zhakulenov. For the next two days, Almaty has become the center of young petroleum engineers.

On the main stage of the university hall, we could watch, for instance, the struggle of participants in Oil Games. This form of rival-ry was very popular and the game aroused a

Michał Turek 53

summer / 2013

lot of emotions. What is important, not only registered teams joined the fun–also the au-dience got involved. At the same time, in the side rooms, the competitions of scientific works in more than seven categories were taking place. From each of these, three best works were selected and awarded prizes at the closing ceremony.

Thanks to the organizers, every foreign par-ticipant had the opportunity to experience Kazakh culture. At the Forum, we were de-lighted with the dance of Puzzle Crew danc-ing group. It was also nice to see the girls who were welcoming visitors in the traditional na-tional costumes. At every turn, you could feel the kindness and hospitality of the university hosts. The level of organization and care for the students were extraordinary. Thank you!

A nice gesture from the university students was the organization of an artistic competi-tion, which was attended by children from or-phanages. Young artists present at the closing ceremony could feel rewarded, and gifts from the sponsors gave them a lot of joy. For slight-ly older participants of the congress, Petrole-um Party was organized. On the last night of

the Forum, everybody was socializing in one of the Kazakh dance clubs.

YP Magazine was a general media partner of the Forum. The newest issue was put into hands of almost all students and profession-als. Certainly, many have published their works on its pages.

During Exhibition 2013, YP presented its ac-tivity and the possibility of cooperation. Fi-nally, the magazine was rewarded by the cer-tificate. It was a great honor for us to be the media patron of this event. Congratulations to the organizers for the successful meeting and we wish you continued success!

54 From the East to the West

CONFERENCE | East meets West 2013

´ From the East to the WestIwona Dereń

East Meets West 2013 International Student Petroleum Congress and Career Expo

For almost four years the East Meets West Congress brand, created an idea of the AGH UST SPE Student Chapter and have attracted almost a thousand students and E&P indus-try's greatest minds from over 15 countries around the world.

Technical Presentations, Paper Student Con-test, Poster Session, Workshops focus on Oil and Gas exploration and production. Panel Sessions taking part simultaneously with Ca-

reer Exhibition and Recruitment Sessions, all beautifully culminated with social events rich in polish cuisine and culture, making the Con-gress one of a kind.

The Venue�One of the first things that you notice about a conference is the venue that it's held in.

Kraków–the heart of Europe–the former cap-ital of Poland and the seat of former kings. The city was created by trade where the routes from the south to the Baltic converge with the

Iwona Dereń 55

summer / 2013

routes from the East to the West. Krakow is undoubtedly among those historical metrop-olises, where heritage not only substantially determines contemporary life, but also set-tles the matter of the city’s position in Eu-rope. The former Jewish quarter, Kazimierz has the charm of Montmatre in Paris and the endless, grey apartment blocks in the com-munist-built Nowa Huta have a climate taken straight from Orwell’s, ‘1984’. The AGH Uni-versity of Science and Technology–one of the best technical universities in Central Europe was established on 20th October 1919, until 1949 known as the Academy of Mining. The university cherishes its traditions and edu-cates its students to be honest and responsi-ble people both at work and as members of society. According to its motto: “Labore cre-ata, labori et scientiae servio”(Created in la-bour, I serve labour and science).

“I'm lucky because I have attended the EmW congress for two years in a row.

EmW is a great chance for people to set up acquaintances with collegues from all over the world and open new opportu-

nities for the future. I sincerely thank all the organizers for their hard work and I am grateful to all of the people that es-

tablished, supported and developed this wonderful society(SPE) and the unforget-

table memories of EmW...”

Yurii Moroz, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas

The Speakers�The big thing that any good conference needs is good speakers, speaking on good topics. Now, when I say good speakers I mean distinguished guests like: Fredrico Justus – Area Manager – Continental Europe & Cas-pian, Germany for Weatherford, Guido Van Den Bos – Business Development Director

– Europe for National Oilwell Varco and Toni Marszalek – Chairman at Schlumberger – Po-land. They had very inspiring, encouraging and motivating speeches, sharing their vi-sions, wisdom and experience.

The Attendees�Just as important as good speakers is good attendees, who make a conference more en-joyable. This year, 25-27th April in Krakow, the Congress attracted around 100 students from such countries as: Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Norway, Egypt, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Italy, Kazakh-stan, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Ukraine.

The participants were really respectful–asking fantastic questions related to the presenta-tions, had good and useful side conversations and overall made the experience much better. There was a very healthy mix of people from industry and students. The Congress gathered many professionals from different companies, such as ORLEN Upstream, Weatherford, Na-tional Oilwell Varco, United Oilfield Services and Schlumberger, who presented their latest technologies, explained the company policy, strategic plans and vision, mission goals.

Career Sessions and Career Expo Hall�During the Conference, there were recruit-ment sessions conducted by the companies that wanted to attract the brightest and best students and also to have a diverse student population. Besides the technical aspects of the Career Sessions, they were the best source of information about the companies.

At the same time, students and job-seekers had a chance to gather information about a career and training from the company repre-sentatives during the Career Expo Hall.

56 From the East to the West

Student Paper Contest and Student Poster Session15 research papers were presented by the best young minds from all over the world. Par-ticipants had the chance to show their work in front of an interested audience, discuss it with established researchers and win the award.

“EmW is the result of AGH UST SPE Stu-dent Chapter's hard work. All things

were considered. The organization team thought about everything from our ac-commodation to the scientific part of

EmW and entertainment. It was one of the best conferences I have attended! Cer-tainly, I have a great wish to be a part of

East meets West'14!”

Elizaveta Laputina, Tyumen State Oil and Gas University

The student poster session provided an op-portunity for students to share their research and receive feedback from both industry pro-fessionals and academic colleagues. Students had to use their research and conversation skills to convince the jury.

The topics of presentations varied from ge-ological and mineralogical issues, through consumption of energy, exploration and fracturing to the technical aspects of drilling

concerning equipment and safety rules. The awards for the best papers and posters were presented during the Official Closing Cere-mony.

Social Events�How to connect sightseeing with petro-leum? The answer is: PETROSIGHTSEEING! This great idea connected people, that came to Krakow at least one day earlier. Partici-pants had an opportunity to explore the won-

Iwona Dereń 57

summer / 2013

derful city of Krakow with other students by solving science problems, show their manual skills and what is the most important, spend-ing time in an international companionship. Every team had their own Polish caretaker, just in case of getting lost. Next, those who were still up to adventures, could take part in a Before Party, having fun on singing Karaoke and relaxing before the following days.

“I sincerely thank the organizers of this infinitely glorious event. Words cannot

describe the emotions that we felt by be-coming part of the EmW. Excitement, joy, inspiration, knowledge, friendship, love... EmW from year to year is becoming tradi-tion which brings together young talent-ed people. And I'm sure these people will

do a lot of good things together which will remain in history. Guys, you are mak-

ing history!”

Stepan Shpakov, Tyumen State Oil and Gas University

The Opening Gala held place in the Park Inn. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, talking to each other, laughing, playing table games and enjoying the live musical perfor-mances and dancing.

They say, Polish hospitality is the best. So on the next day in the evening our guests could taste a number of traditional polish delica-cies and spend some time chatting in a place called ‘Pod Wawelem’ Restaurant. It appeared to be true that nothing unites people like de-licious food does!

Final Party took place in Diva Music Club to celebrate the end of a set of brilliant days. It was a chance to rest and relax after three days

of hard work, diligence, stress, new experi-ences and lots of various emotions.

The Organizers and Sponsors�Good organization comes from smart and level headed people who are realistic about their expectations. According to feedback, the organizers did an absolutely tremendous job, creating a joyful community that fosters fun, togetherness, and personal growth through exchanging ideas.

"I'm very happy to have the opportunity to participate in EMW 2013 and find new

friends from all around the world. I didn't expect such an arrangement for a confer-ence organized completely by students. I would like to thank again from all the

students putted effort and dedicated their times to make EmW 2013 an unforgetta-

ble time."

Adel Mehrabadi, Politecnico di Torino

And at last, where would a conference be without sponsors? They not only made the Congress possible, but also made it enjoyable. They provided great educational, technical and social events.

The sponsors had tables set up in the main area, and were more than willing to talk to students, but they never pushed the issue.

I hope next year, we will meet again, with new fresh ideas and mindsets, generating and ex-ploring new possibilities and options that ex-tend beyond what we already know!

58 Those Were Four Amazing Days in China!

CONFERENCE | Future Petroleum Engineers Forum

´ Those Were Four Amazing Days in China!Dominik H. Skokowski, Jakub Jagiełło

�On the 15th day of May I took off from Kraków heading to Beijing with my mind full of thoughts about the days that will come. Though, when you fly for 10 hours and trav-el through 7 time zones, the natural thing to expect is to get some rest at the end. Well, not this time.

We had landed up and then we were picked up by the volunteers, taken to the hotel just to leave the bags and then we immediately hur-ried to Changping to see the surrounding of the China University of Petroleum. First steps I took on Chinese soil made me feel dizzy. There were completely new language and cul-

ture. I’ve got an impression that even the air smelled differently. The place was overwhelm-ing, but it only strengthened the urge to learn and explore it. First of all, we had some Chi-nese food which is really delicious and brings people together – everybody eats from the same plate! Just after, our hosts took us for

a short trip around the town. After 30 hours without sleep it was a real accomplishment! Hopefully, about 12 hours in bed managed to get rid of jetlag.

That’s how Future Petroleum Engineers Fo-rum in Beijing began. And as things went, I

Dominik H. Skokowski, Jakub Jagiełło 59

summer / 2013

already knew that this breakneck pace won’t slow down.

�On the first day of the Forum, there was SPE Chapters presentation in the morning that was connected with a brief introduction session between the participants during the round-table meeting. After some time de-signed to get everybody know each other, there was the opening gala where we met all the prominent representatives from the University and from the CUPB SPE Student Chapter. An outstanding Cultural Evening followed after. Our Chinese hosts showed us little of their culture, starting from an amaz-ing art of origami and famous Chinese callig-raphy, through the art of playing on the Chi-nese bamboo flute and the fine art of making Beijing Opera facial masks. This was the most amazing event of the day, and as I and my non-Chinese friends agreed, it really opened our eyes to the wonders of the East.

�The second day brought us a lot of joy and benefits. After a breakfast we headed to the Lobby of Zhoungyou Building at the Campus to learn about the sponsors of the Enterprise Culture Exhibition. There were about fifteen (15!) companies’ stands and we were able to talk freely with firm’s representatives about daily life in their companies or job outlook or hand in our CVs. Some of us took the chance to do so, others preferred to take part in Sports Culture Festival in the middle of the univer-sity campus. We could choose from Jianzi, jumping rope and tug of war. It made us really tired but brought huge smile on our faces as well. After a moment to catch a breath, one of the main events started – PetroBowl Con-test – an international petroleum engineer-ing knowledge competition. Over a dozen of teams, a lot of countries and universities–the only one winner. Three three-person teams from different universities simultaneously at the stage were competing against each other during multiple stages. Three teams made it to the final, two Chinese from China Uni-versity of Petroleum and third, an intercon-

tinental team "Roughnecks" from AGH UST Kraków, Poland (I was one of its members!) and Texas A&M, USA which won the game. This was definitely the most gripping part of the Forum. After all, nothing brings people together like good old rivalry! The workshop held by Karam Al Yateem – the representative of Saudi Aramco was the last event during that day. He gave us a lecture on "Innovative Aplication to Enhance the Performance of the Global Oil&Gas Industry" and a specific prob-lem to solve in teams afterwards . Great fun, great integration and fantastic education.

�The third day was really scientific to all of us. Some people were giving their speeches during Doctoral Forum, showing us the re-sults of their research and others got a chance

60 Those Were Four Amazing Days in China!

to participate in Giovanni Paccaloni’s Intrinsic Motivation Open Class. The Doctoral Forum was divided between two rooms and, also, the morning session and evening one. Those were quite some alternatives to choose from, but what was sad about it- we were unable to see all members of the interesting staff. Those, who have chosen Paccaloni’s class, could "investigate the roots of the huge amount of energy required to sustain the hard, yet highly rewarding journey toward excellence".

�The last day of the Forum, was so pleasant a day (for some of us even more exhausting than previous ones!). In the early morning we drove to the Great Wall of China. To say that it is huge would be an understatement, though I can’t think of a way to properly express on paper its hugeness. While going down those great stairs, we thought that making a race to

the top would be a great idea. Well, it wasn’t. Didn’t I say something about how huge is the Wall? We’ve painfully learned that it’s true not only to the length, but also to the height. Though, I must say that our climbing was worth the view from the top and some satisfaction we had afterwards. Nevertheless, the only thought we had in mind was "How could the guards do it every day in the ancient times?!" Later on we headed to the Olympic Sport Center and in the evening we could try to cook shrimps in our own hot pots! That was really a fantastic way to say good bye to us!

For most of the participants, this conference, culture and people were quite exotic- the same for me. The only words that come to my mind since I’m back in Poland are: hospitality, joy, excellence, friendship and delicious food! Thank you people, I just regret that we had so little time together!

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