Case studies in AppIntel AI

A blog about blogs, this story is about a case study.  In fact, all AppIntel blogs are case studies. 

Indeed, every application registered with the regulator is a case study.  Water floods, bitumen thermal operations, microbial injectant, polymer floods and diverters, sulphur plants, shale exploits: All the varied oil and gas technology operations are shown in case study form in regulatory applications.

This blog is courtesy of Proven Reserves, one of our information partners.

Without AppIntel, how do you find case studies in thermal bitumen recovery? With AppIntel, just type in the KiP box the type of case study you desire:  Microbial Bitumen  or  Duvernay Oil  or  Carbon Sequester.

One bitumen operator wants to change the way recovery factors are calculated to allow more flexibility in end of life operations. 

See his revised SAGDable Oil in Place in his application.

His application documents read like a SAGD primer – even the regulator holds it out as a great explanation of the technology. 

Download his regulatory documents now from our online web portal.

Department of Science – the old way of vetting technology

“Department of Science” is an industry phrase for the traditional method of vetting scientific advancements through public forum debate.  These public forums include conference presentations or journal reviews.

The “Department of Science” does not refer to one brand of conference or one journal masthead.  It refers to all these collectively however presented.

Examples:

Even though this method looks promising, we can’t trust it until it has endured the “Department of Science.”

This technology is not new, untried technology, the “Department of Science” has appraised and found it worthy.

The speed of technical advancement is accelerating.  Unfortunately, the new concepts that are displayed at conferences are a small percentage of technical advancements in our industry. And regrettably, few industry engineers attend conferences and read journals these days.

The disruptive shale paradigm shift

We live in a big paradigm shift – a product of the disruptive technology of horizontal wells and multi frack completions. Producing from horizontal wells in source rock is a disruptive technology that has upended the oil and gas industry. 

Horizontal wells and multiple fracturing techniques were developed for continuous accumulations. But now they are being used in semi-continuous facies plays that makes the industry unrecognizable to engineers of just twenty years ago.

Most of the tried and true elements of understanding oil and gas are useless in this new paradigm.  Volumetric analysis, material balance, Arps decline curves and 3D simulators don’t describe flow in ultra tight massively fracked shales unless fundamentally altered.

All technical advances are adjudicated elsewhere in the 21st Century

The forefront of oil and gas field technology can no longer be found in journals and conference papers.  Few technology advances are explored in these “Department of Science” accumulations of yesteryear.

Instead, the newest practical field technology crops up in applications to regulators.  If a technology has progressed to field application, it is found in a regulatory application.

Each regulatory application is a case study.

The regulator: a picky adjudicator

Advances are no longer being vetted by the “Department of Science” in peer reviews and conferences.  Regulators now see the newest technology implemented in field trials and documented in regulatory applications.  Because new technologies are difficult for regulators to approve, they require significant explanation and scientific proof.  All this vetting back and forth is included in the regulatory applications.

Each regulatory application is a case study.

Regulatory Sandbox

When a regulator receives an application with unfamiliar technology, they often create a regulatory sandbox.  The regulator staff object, examine, and question the proponent. 

Supplementary information requests hold up the approval process until the curiosity of the regulator is slaked.

All of this negotiation is found among the regulatory documents of the project.

Upon approving new field activity, the regulator allows a pilot and requires annual performance updates.  In this way a regulatory sandbox is created to observe the new technology. 

If the field trial is successful, subsequent applications become quicker to approve with less negotiation and restrictions.  The regulator allows approval outside the sandbox.

Before applying to the regulator, you should establish precedents and sandbox status.  That will help you understand how heavy your burden of proof will be.

Quick copy of oil sands development - An AppIntel Advantage

Be a quick copy of your competitor’s successes. Commercial scheme and experimental scheme applications are full of competitor intelligence. Just adding a simple idea from another operators application can add 20% recovery on an eight well pad adding more than $10 million in NAV to your project.

Tags: Tight, Thermal, AppIntel advantage

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