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Upcoming Events:
Thursday, Dec 16th, 2004
December
GSA/AGSLuncheon
Meeting:
Gas
Hydrate Prospect Development and Production Modeling, Alaska North
Slope
by
Robert B. Hunter (ASRC
Energy Services) and Dr. Timothy S. Collett (USGS)
Anchorage Hilton, 11:30 AM- 1:00PM
$15 w/reservations or $20 at the door
For RSVP call Robert
Blodgett at 786-7416 or email
rblodgett@usgs.gov
Also: FREE PARKING
in the north and west lots of the Hilton. Indicate your
entitlement to free parking by leaving a note on your
dashboard reading: AGS Luncheon
Thursday,
Jan 13
Jan 2005 GSA Luncheon Meeting:
Mud Gas Isotope Logging (MGIL) – A
bona fide geochemical success story in contemporary hydrocarbon
exploration.
byLeroy Ellis, Ph.DIsotope
Logging, Inc. (ISOLOG)
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President’s Column
It snowed! Hopefully it’s still on the
ground when you read this. Amazing how it lightens up the town.
Now down to business. I received three
letters from the SEG this month that I want to share.
First, the SEG Foundation is requesting
Funding Proposals for 2005. For those of us who may not have known
that the SEG has a Foundation, its mission is as follows:
The SEG Foundation encourages and
supports scientific, educational and charitable activities of benefit
to the general public, to geophysicists, and to the geophysical
corporate community through solicitation of contributions.
Basically, they’re looking for proposals
on how to spend money in a way that supports that mission. Proposals
to be considered for 2005 should be sent by January 1, 2005.
If you have an idea for something to propose for funding, contact me
and I’ll get you the forms and addresses.
Second, SEG is soliciting nominations for
people to be honored at the 2005 Annual Meeting held November 6-11, in
Houston (the one in Texas. I think our Houston was a close second
choice!) Nominations are due by January 7, 2005. Contact me
if you’re interested in nominating someone, or just knowing more.
Details can be found at
http://www.seg.org/publications/yearbook/distinguished.shtml.
Third, since next year is the big big 75th
anniversary of SEG, they sent a letter to ‘invite and encourage the
Geophysical Society of Alaska to do one special thing next year to
mark this anniversary.’ Suggestions they had for this are: hold a
special lecture on the history of geophysics (they can help with
lecturers), make a historical display, or just have a party. They’re
hoping all the societies will do something, document it, and the SEG
will report on it in TLE. They also plan to create a montage of all
the activities to display at the annual meeting in Houston, and save
it for the 100th Anniversary celebration and beyond. It
would be neat to have our society represented. Please see me if you
have any ideas or would be willing to help out.
Our meeting this month will be combined
with the Alaska Geologic Society, and will be held in the Anchorage
Hilton downtown. Please plan to come and see Bob Hunter and Tim
Colette present a very interesting hydrate talk. Check out the bios
and abstracts in this edition of the Newsletter.
Diane Shellenbaum
GSA President
Diane.Shellenbaum@asrcenergy.com
(907) 632-5345
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Program and Luncheon for
Thursday, Apr 8:
Gas Hydrate
Prospect Development and Production Modeling,
Alaska North
Slope
by
Robert B. Hunter (ASRC
Energy Services) and Dr. Timothy S. Collett (USGS)
ABSTRACT:
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and BP Exploration (Alaska), Inc. (BPXA) collaborate
with the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of
Arizona, and the University
of Alaska Fairbanks to assess the energy resource potential of the
known gas hydrate accumulations in northern Alaska. Previous USGS
estimates indicate large volumes of in-place gas (40-100 TCF) exist as
hydrates beneath Alaska North Slope development infrastructure.
Seismic and well data interpretation within the Milne Point Unit alone
have revealed more than 15 significant gas hydrate prospects and more
than 10 associated free gas prospects within the shallow sands of the
fluvial-deltaic Sagavanirktok Formation. Gas may have migrated into
conventional hydrocarbon traps before regional geothermal gradient
depression, creation of gas hydrate stability conditions, and
conversion of gas and water into gas hydrate. Both structural and
stratigraphic compartmentalization of gas hydrate-bearing reservoirs
reduce lateral continuity of prospects and complicate the shallow
velocity field. Velocity pull-ups associated with high-velocity gas
hydrate prospects and velocity push-downs associated with low-velocity
free gas prospects likely affect seismic interpretation of deeper,
oil-bearing targets. Production models of gas hydrate prospects
indicate that significant volumes of gas associated with the gas
hydrates in northern Alaska could be technically recoverable. Gas
hydrate production modeling studies indicate the potential for
economical recovery, which will be aided in areas where local uses for
gas exist. Production methods involve in-situ dissociation of solid,
pore-filling gas hydrate into gas and water components through
reservoir depressurization, thermal stimulation, and/or chemical
stimulation. Production models indicate that depressurization of
in-situ gas hydrate from producing adjacent free gas can more than
double the expected ultimate recovery available from the associated
free gas alone. Gas hydrate prospects without an adjacent free gas
might also be depressurized by producing in-situ connate waters if
sufficient mobile waters co-exist with gas hydrate. Thermal and/or
chemical stimulation techniques are also under investigation as
methods to enhance gas recovery from gas hydrate-bearing reservoirs.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
Gary Pelka, Robert
Hunter, Scott Digert, Chuck Coulson, and Ken Konrad helped rekindle BP
Alaska interest in the potentially huge shallow gas hydrate and
associated free gas resources on the North Slope of Alaska. Dr.
Timothy Collett, USGS, continues to promote the importance of this
area to gas hydrate research and potential development. The gas
hydrate prospects presented
were developed
by USGS researchers, including Tanya Inks, consultant with
Interpretation Services, Tim Collett, Warren Agena, Myung Lee, David
Taylor, and John Miller, in collaboration with the DOE-BPXA gas
hydrate research. Detailed reservoir modeling was accomplished by
Scott Wilson, Ryder Scott Co., using CMG STARS. University of Arizona
reservoir characterization studies also benefit the research under the
leadership of Dr. Robert Casavant with Dr. Mary Poulton and Dr. Roy
Johnson. The University of Alaska Fairbanks leads the research in the
petroleum and reservoir engineering components of the project, led by
Shirish Patil with Abhijit Dandekar and others.
BIOGRAPHY:
Robert Hunter
Mr. Hunter has worked
18 years as a petroleum geologist, the last 15 years within many
Alaska North Slope fields and formations for BPXA, as a consultant,
and for ASRC Energy Services. He has constructed geologic reservoir
characterizations for detailed reservoir engineering, commercial, and
uncertainty assessments. His experience ranges across multiple
geoscience disciplines and crosses over into a practical application
of engineering disciplines. Bob completed and submitted the gas
hydrate proposal on behalf of BPXA to the DOE and leads the BPXA-DOE
Gas Hydrate Project.
Email:
robert.hunter@asrcenergy.com;
hunterrb@bp.com
Dr. Timothy Collett
Dr. Collett has worked
the past 20 years as a research geologist with the U.S. Geological
Survey. Much of that time has been devoted to gas hydrate research in
marine and onshore arctic regions. His experience includes designing
field programs and laboratory research to study the physical
characteristics and resource potential of gas hydrates. Tim leads
USGS gas hydrate research in Alaska in association with the BPXA-DOE
Gas Hydrate Project and with the BLM as part of the North Slope of
Alaska Gas Hydrate Assessment Project.
Email:
tcollett@usgs.gov
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