Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Perth, has made a natural gas discovery offshore Myanmar with its first well, Shwe Yee Htun-1 (previously known as Saung-1). Source: News
FRP crude pipeline shows thermal superiority to steel
Thermal insulation properties of fiber-reinforced (FRP) plastic crude oil pipelines are superior to seamless steel pipelines. Operating a crude oil pipeline at too low a temperature can lead to wax precipitation, a major economic and safety problem. Source: News
LLOG Exploration says Delta House FPS achieves 80,000 b/d production
LLOG Exploration Co. LLC, Covington, La., and joint venture partner, Blackstone Energy Partners, announced the Delta House floating production system on Mississippi Canyon Block 254 achieved production of 80,000 b/d. Source: News
Swift Energy latest US producer to seek bankruptcy protection
Swift Energy Co., a Houston independent focused on the Eagle Ford shale of South Texas, filed voluntary petitions on Dec. 31, 2015, for relief under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code in US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The action includes eight of its subsidiaries. Source: News
Yearly refinery construction indexes listed for 85+ years
Here are yearly values for the Nelson-Farrar refinery inflation cost index since 1926. Source: News
Feed-monitoring strategy improves hydrotreater reliability
Syncrude Canada Ltd. has devised and implemented a feedstock monitoring strategy to prevent the reemergence of popcorn coke that previously caused several production outages of a light gas oil (LGO) hydrotreater at its 350,000-b/d oil sands operations in Fort McMurrary, Alta. Source: News
ESP pump selection, evaluation improve well inflow, volumes
Variable-frequency drives (VFDs), allow a much wider operating range on selected electric submersible pump (ESP) equipment than might otherwise be possible. This can be beneficial when an ESP is installed in a new well where the production range is uncertain. Source: News
China tight reservoirs perform better over time through MSF
Network fracturing horizontal wells is efficient at the beginning of production but its advantage over multi-stage fracturing diminishes over time. Source: News
MARKET WATCH: NYMEX oil prices end 2015 down for second consecutive year
Light, sweet crude prices for February on the New York market gained modestly on Dec. 31, 2015, to settle above $37/bbl, but US oil futures prices ended the year down about 30%. It was the second consecutive year that oil prices fell on the New York market. Source: News
New analysis unifies reservoirs in northeastern Sichuan basin
Recent exploration and development of the Carboniferous system in the northeastern portion of China’s Sichuan basin has improved the data available to researchers. Further study is providing solutions to problems of identifying connectivity within the region’s gas reservoirs. Source: News