A Study of Compositions Relevant to Selective Water Isolation in Gas Wells

A hydrophobic composition containing water repellents and highly volatile solvents is shown in this study to isolate water from the bottom hole formation zone of gas wells and reduce as much as possible the saturation of pore spaces with water. During injection, this composition shows selectivity and mostly penetrates water-saturated porous media. The study shows that the injection of such composition into porous media has a high water-insulating effect, reducing the water permeability of water-saturated porous media by 35 times with a degree of water isolation of 97%.Moreover, while injecting, it has selective action, mainly penetrating water-saturated media rather than gas saturated media. As a result of injecting 0.91 to 0.99 pore volumes (pv) of the composition, the Qwater/Qgas ratio reaches 5.22 to 5.26, indicating high selectivity.

Migration to Cased Hole Petrophysics: Are We Ready?

In the present Oil & Gas business context, the uncertainties reduction for hydrocarbon production increase in an operational costs and risk reduction scheme, are among the main drivers in several operating companies in the northern region of South America (Colombia & Ecuador). Electrical logging and drilling tools stuck events due to differential pressures, fishing operations, high wellbore tortuosity, difficult geometries and unconsolidated formations affecting wellbore stability, are among the main problems increasing non-productive time and operating costs. Minimizing open hole operations with a full migration to cased hole data acquisition, providing inputs for petrophysical uncertainty reductions without jeopardizing well completion decisions or initial reservoir characterization, would constitute an attractive solution for operators. Following those initiatives, we start by achieving a complete open hole formation evaluation and then migrating to case hole data acquisition and petrophysical assessment while benchmarking against open hole results. Low and variable formation water salinity, complex mineralogy's affecting resistivity and radioactive minerals, are common petrophysical challenges in our reservoirs. We had to implement Archie and salinity-independent formation evaluation solutions with cased hole technologies and in absence of open hole logs. The open hole petrophysics consist on simultaneous assessment of matrix and fluids saturations, while evaluating the oil mobility and water cut with the incorporation of multi-depth of investigation sensors in single logging runs (spectroscopy, dielectric dispersion, and magnetic resonance). We then moved to cased hole formation evaluation, with spectroscopy & nuclear-based petrophysics in gas, light oil, and heavy oil-bearing reservoirs. By implementation of non-archie fluids volumetric computation (that relies on conversion of dry weight total carbon to oil saturation and fast neutron cross section to gas saturation- done through a simultaneous inversion by solving matrix-porosity-fluids volumes into an elemental analysis), we obtained a representative formation saturation range behind casing. We then discussed on the different scenarios were migrating to cased hole is sustainable and its potential limitations.

Effect of the ultra-low arsenic flux on characteristics of In(As) nanostructures formed during droplet epitaxy

In this paper, we present the results of an experimental study of the influence of the ultra-low arsenic flux on the parameters of In nanodroplets obtained by droplet epitaxy on the GaAs substrate. We demonstrate that the arsenic flux can be used to alter the size of droplets without changing their surface density. An increase in the arsenic flux leads to a reduction of the nanostructure size or their complete decay. However, we demonstrate that certain growth conditions allow providing saturation of the size of nanostructures (∼30 nm) which ensures good reproducibility of the process. The mechanism of ring and hole formation at various arsenic fluxes is also discussed.

The Cosmic Carbon Footprint of Massive Stars Stripped in Binary Systems

The cosmic origin of carbon, a fundamental building block of life, is still uncertain. Yield predictions for massive stars are almost exclusively based on single-star models, even though a large fraction interact with a binary companion. Using the MESA stellar evolution code, we predict the amount of carbon ejected in the winds and supernovae of single and binary-stripped stars at solar metallicity. We find that binary-stripped stars are twice as efficient at producing carbon (1.5–2.6 times, depending on choices regarding the slope of the initial mass function and black hole formation). We confirm that this is because the convective helium core recedes in stars that have lost their hydrogen envelope, as noted previously. The shrinking of the core disconnects the outermost carbon-rich layers created during the early phase of helium burning from the more central burning regions. The same effect prevents carbon destruction, even when the supernova shock wave passes. The yields are sensitive to the treatment of mixing at convective boundaries, specifically during carbon-shell burning (variations up to 40%), and improving upon this should be a central priority for more reliable yield predictions. The yields are robust (variations less than 0.5%) across our range of explosion assumptions. Black hole formation assumptions are also important, implying that the stellar graveyard now explored by gravitational-wave detections may yield clues to better understand the cosmic carbon production. Our findings also highlight the importance of accounting for binary-stripped stars in chemical yield predictions and motivates further studies of other products of binary interactions.

Revised Maximum Depositional Age for the Ediacaran Browns Hole Formation: Implications for Western Laurentia Neoproterozoic Stratigraphy

Constraining the depositional age of Neoproterozoic stratigraphy in the North American Cordilleran margin informs global connections of major climatic and tectonic events in deep time. Making these correlations is challenging due to a paucity of existing geochronological data and adequate material for absolute age control in key stratigraphic sequences. The late Ediacaran Browns Hole Formation in the Brigham Group of northern Utah, USA, provides a key chronological benchmark on Neoproterozoic stratigraphy. This unit locally comprises <140 m of volcaniclastic rocks with interbedded mafic-volcanic flows that lie within a 3500 m thick package of strata preserving the Cryogenian, Ediacaran, and the lowermost Cambrian history of this area. Prior efforts to constrain the age of the Browns Hole Formation yielded uncertain and conflicting results. Here, we report new laser-ablation-inductively-coupled-mass-spectrometry U-Pb geochronologic data from detrital apatite grains to refine the maximum depositional age of the volcanic member of the Browns Hole Formation to 613±12 Ma (2σ). Apatite crystals are euhedral and pristine and define a single date population, indicating they are likely proximally sourced. These data place new constraints on the timing and tempo of deposition of underlying and overlying units. Owing to unresolved interpretations for the age of underlying Cryogenian stratigraphy, our new date brackets two potential Brigham Group accumulation rate scenarios for ~1400 m of preserved strata: ~38 mm/kyr over ~37 Myr or ~64 mm/kyr over ~22 Myr. These results suggest that the origins of regional unconformities at the base of the Inkom Formation, previously attributed to either the Marinoan or Gaskiers global glaciation events, should be revisited. Our paired sedimentological and geochronology data inform the timing of rift-related magmatism and sedimentation near the western margin of Laurentia.

Open- and Cased- Hole Formation Evaluation Workflows Running Together for Reducing Uncertainties in Gas Reservoirs: An Acquisition Data and Evaluation Strategy in Dnieper-Donets Basin, Ukraine

Formation evaluation using cased-hole logs is a primary option for re-evaluating old wells in brownfields or contingency logging in new wells. Its consistency with a robust open hole evaluation is vital for its future implementation in field development. This work describes detailed open- and cased- hole evaluation workflows integrating different advanced subsurface measurements and alternative interpretation techniques to reduce the uncertainties of deriving the main petrophysical properties across the conventional and tight gas reservoirs in the Dnieper-Donets basin. Since not all open-hole measurements can be recorded behind casing and some of the cased hole logs are not characterized for open hole conditions, it is not always possible to implement the same evaluation techniques for measurements done in open hole and cased hole. Nevertheless, different measurements provide different formation responses that supplement their gaps from one another. A wireline data acquisition strategy has been elaborated to carry out formation evaluation workflows using open- and cased-hole data independently but learning from each other. The methodology is based on novel and non-standard evaluation techniques that use measurements from advanced wireline technology such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and advanced pulsed neutron spectroscopy logs. The methodology was applied to log data recorded on the Visean and Serpukhovian (Lower Carboniferous) productive gas zones, characterized by porosity (5-15pu) and permeability (0.1-100mD). The principal challenge for the formation evaluation of these reservoirs is deriving an accurate estimation of porosity, which requires removing the gas and matrix effects on the log responses. An inaccurate porosity estimation will result in an inaccurate permeability and water saturation, and the problem worsens in low-porosity rocks. In the open hole, the porosity computation from the Density-Magnetic Resonance (DMR) technique has proven to be more accurate in comparison with common single porosity methods. The same problem is addressed in cased hole conditions with the advanced pulsed neutron spectroscopy logs and a novel technique that combines the thermal neutron elastic scattering and fast neutron cross sections to obtain a gas-free and matrix-corrected porosity, as well as a resistivity independent gas saturation. The consistency of petrophysical properties independently estimated from the two separate workflows add confidence to the approach, and this is reflected in the gas production obtained from the perforated intervals. This script describes in detail the open- and cased- hole formation evaluation workflows and the wireline technology and methodologies applied. Actual examples illustrate the effectiveness of these quantitative approaches in the Dnieper-Donets basin.