The Whole Process

[Jriad]

Hello,

I am a new grad and I have the petrifying task of being the only engineer for my small company. We use a third party eng. firm for some but I am trying to get a ballpark view on the entire process of o&g from prosepect to online production. Here's how I think it goes: (I am in Alberta btw.
1. Geo. presents play
2. Run econonmics on prospect to determine feasibility.
3. Post land for purchase
4. Obtain Surface lease & right of entry etc.
5. Get surveys done for proposed well site. (or is this b4 surface lease?)
6. Apply for well license.
7. Find available rig (easier said then done nowadays)
8. Drill & Case (vague)
9. Set up completion program based on logs and tests (if applicable)
10. Complete well including Frac (vague).
11. Flow test.
Now heres where I get a bit hazy
11. Process taken for tie-ins? applications etc?
12. Obtain/size/choose surface facilities (i.e separators)
13. Find someone to buy the gas/oil (generally how do you go about this?)

This is my vague general layout, can anyone help me out by filling in what I am missing in the process.

Thanks,

JR

 

[zdas04]

Good luck with that.

David

 

[zdas04]

Let me be slightly more helpful.

The way most of us learned all that is through discussions with peers. Since you're alone, you need to hire your peers. See if you can find a good consulting engineering firm in Edmonton or Calgary (or Farmington, NM for that matter) that can do a piece of the puzzle. Dog their steps, ask stupid questions, remember that they're being paid by the hour and if they give you any grief about preparing go-by's for future projects then fire them and get someone with some sense. That is the way a lot of us grey haired folks got started, I fired several engineering firms before I found one that understood that I was paying both for the project and the mentoring.

Keep in mind that the potential to find anyone who can do more than 2-3 of the things on your list (and do them competently) is very slim. The land acquisition will probably go to contract landman (I don't know of many engineers that even participate in that arcane science, I once had 3 landmen working for me and I never understood a word they said).

There are firms that specialize in drilling engineering.

The service companies will probably do 8-10 for you.

Production foremen generally do 11 & 12 (badly, but virtually no small companies have facilities engineers).

On number 13 just plan to get screwed on the first couple of deals--other people's go-by's are highly confidential and engineers that understand the issues are pretty rare.

You're missing a bunch of stuff, but the big one for me is reservoir evaluation and reserves booking. Also you need to think about field automation, gas measurement, and water disposal.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

http://www.muleshoe-eng.com

Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips Fora.

The harder I work, the luckier I seem

 

[Ashereng]

As usual, David has good advice.

To add to his posting:

There are many small engineering firms that will do #11, and #12. The production foreman may manage and sign off, but there is some engineering work in #11 and #12 beyond what a production foreman can do.

To do number 11, you need #13. Otherwise, once you tie-in, where do you flow to?

With regards to mentoring, that will be tough. It will more likely come down to you learning on your own as you go along. I would charge you sufficiently to mentor you, rather than just execute the technical job, that your boss probably won't pay for it.

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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[yimc]

Good advice. I would also suggest that you purchase one more book (yes, I know you have the textbooks your profs suggested) but I would add the Petroleum Engineering Handbook by Bradley. It's big, expensive, but I believe it is a great resource to really dig into some of the more arcane details of the business.

 

[Ashereng]

I have found Perry's Chemical Engineer's Handbook to be very common (on lots of people's shelves).

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[zdas04]

Perry's is more "on people's shelves" than "in use". Same with Marks Handbook for Mechanical Engineers. I have all three on my shelves and use Bradley the most (it is available from SPE). Pipeline Rules of Thumb from Gulf Press looks like it will be useful, but it is too advanced (focused) for the novice user and too elementry for the advanced user--I go to it in desperation and rarely find what I need.

At the end of the day you would have to be an extraordinarily talented individual to be able to cover all of the bases you need to cover using even the best books in the world--the books can help you evaluate alternatives, but only experience can tell you which disparate advice makes the most sense in a given real-world situation.

David

 

[MortenA]

The people at John Cambell is know to provide good training for people in the oil & gas industry:

http://www.jmcampbell.com/

I think the have a coupel of courses thats aimed at people how want ang overview from a non engineering - check it out yourself.

Best regards

Morten

 

[zdas04]

I've been to a couple of John Campbell introductory courses and at the end of them I felt like I could understand that there were issues that I wasn't equipped to handle. I don't know if any course would be able to take the place of a Production company's entire engineering department.

David

 

[Radionise]

I would also recommend their books, Gas Conditioning and Processing. I always find that Volume 2: The Equipment Module very handy.

They have 4 volumes.

By the way, do they organise course outside the US? In the UK perhaps?



PhD - Permanent Head Damage

 

[KernOily]

You got most of it right. The exact procedure varies by location, zone, landowner's interests, type of crude, etc. But you got the gist of it.

A lot of small O&G operators have their one or two engineers do most of everything, as you said. Most of the time they are degreed petroleum engr majors who then learn the surface side, rather than ChE's or ME's who learn the downhole side. Not sure why that is; I suspect it's sacred tradition.

The majors used to have these terrific cross-training programs where, out of college, you did six months in drilling, reservoir, and production when you got out of college (e.g. Tenneco), no matter what your engr degree was. Man those were the days. You learned to work hands-on with the geoscientists and the land people and the corporation commission and the railroad commission and the lawyers and the BLM and the landowners and the guy running the logging truck and the girl behind the counter at Grasshopper Junction on Hwy 76 just outside of Ratliff City.

Of course, those were also the days when you found a new pair of cowboy boots on your desk, or a prepaid green fee to Southern Hills, or a pair of tickets to a Sooners game, or a trip to Vail. Sigh...

Hang in there dude, you just gotta learn by doing. Ask a lot of questions as David said. A lot. The only dumb question is the one that doesn't get asked.

Thanks!
Pete