YoungPetro - 14th Issue - Winter 2015

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International Student Petroleum Congress & Career Expo6th Edition, 22nd - 24th IV 2015

Krakow, AGH UST

Call for PapersYoungPetro is waiting for your paper!

� e topics of the papers should refer to: Drilling Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, Fuels and Energy, Geology and Geophysics, Environ-mental Protection, Management and Economics

Papers should be sent to papers @ youngpetro.org

For more information visit youngpetro.org/papers

57

SUMMER / 2013

ISSN 2300-1259

WINTER/SPRING / 2012

ISSN 2300-1259

AUTUMN / 2012

WINTER / 2015

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3 3 Editor’s Letter 3

Dear Friends,Nowadays, we have to face one of the most se-rious crisis in the petroleum industry for many years. Due to economical and political problems, everybody can see some signifi cant changes in the branch of fuels. Random people enjoy the fact that they can refuel their cars spending even two times less money than half a year ago. But we are aware of its meaning for all the people involved in oil production. Many companies reduce employ-ment, the number of people looking for a job on the petroleum market is still increasing. And we, lacking much experience, have to face these ex-tremely diffi cult conditions, having our academic knowledge as the only help.

What can you do in such a situation? You have to prove that you are the best one and you are the exact person that your ideal company is looking for. Apart from this, you have to be fl exible, look for new opportunities and use them. You can learn how to do it by choosing an active way of study-ing, which is presented in the article “Let’s Or-ganize Your Studying Time” by Agata Gruszczak and Alina Malinowska. Th e authors present the review of organizations, with which we can get involved during our studies. I strongly encour-age you to take a look at it and get involved! You have to remember that studying is a magical time. Everybody who has spent a few years at universi-ty knows it perfectly well. It is not only a time of learning, att ending lectures and reading manuals. It is also a priceless opportunity to make lifelong

friendships and experience the best adventures ever. It is very important to know how to use the potential of study time. All experiences are impor-tant in the future work life: technical knowledge, foreign languages, practical courses, but also your interests and additional skills.

In this issue, a great portion of scientifi c articles is presented. One of them is a paper which gave our Editor, Alina Malinowska, and her friend, Patryc-ja Pęczek, fi rst prize during Poster Session of East Meets West Congress 2014. You cannot miss it!

Th is issue includes also a couple of reports from some very interesting events that took place over the last few months. Th e fi rst one – ATCE 2014 is the biggest annual conference of the season, which aft er a few years came back to Europe. Next – two im-portant conferences organized in Poland: Shale Gas World Europe 2014 and EuroPOWER, during which the most important matt ers of our branch were dis-cussed from the Central Europe’s point of view. And last but for sure not least – our Editor Jakub Pitera presents an international competition UPPP, which was organized in Hungary. Jakub, together with his two friends, won fi rst prize! Congratulations!

I wish all of you wonderful winter evenings! I hope that the reading of YoungPetro will be a part of them and it will help you to fi nd inspi-ration for developing your future career despite the recent crisis.

4 4

Editor-in-ChiefJoanna [email protected]

Deputy Editor-in-ChiefMaciej [email protected]

ArtMarek Nogiećwww.nogiec.org

EditorsAgata GruszczakNatalia KrygierAlina MalinowskaJakub PiteraEdyta StopyraKarolina Zahuta

Science AdvisorTomasz Włodek

Proof-readersPaweł GąsiorowskiAleksandra Piotrowska

ITMichał Solarz

LogisticsRadosław BudzowskiPatryk Szarek

MarketingBarbara PachAneta Maruszak

AmbassadorsAlexander Scherff – GermanyTarun Agarwal – IndiaMostafa Ahmed – EgyptManjesh Banawara – CanadaRakip Belishaku – AlbaniaCamilo Andres Guerrero – ColombiaMoshin Khan – TurkeyAhmed Bilal Choudhry – PakistanMuhammad Taimur Ashfaq – PakistanViorica Sîrghii – RomaniaMichail Niarchos – GreeceRohit Pal – UPES, IndiaUsman Syed Aslam – India

PublisherFundacja Wiertnictwo - Naft a - Gaz, Nauka i TradycjeAl. Adama Mickiewicza 30/A430 - 059 Kraków, Polandwww.naft a.agh.edu.pl

ISSN 2300-1259

Published by

An O�cial Publication of The Society of Petroleum Engineers Student ChapterP o l a n d • www.spe.net.pl

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AUTUMN / 2013

5

On Stream – Latest NewsRadosław Budzowski

Remembering the Ocean Ranger. Accident Investigation and Lessons Learned

Chris Ampiah

Various Vegetable Products as Natural Organic Sorbents for Oil Spills Removal

Alina Malinowska, Patrycja Pęczek

Nanotechnology and Nanosensors of Trends in Oil and Gas Industry

Pavani Vattikuti

Where is the Polish Energy Policy Headed?Alina Malinowska, Edyta Stopyra

The Most Important Issues of Energy Industry under WindmillsJoanna Wilaszek

European Shale Gas Needs New LegislationAneta Maruszak

UPPP 2014 CompetitionJakup Pitera

Let’s Organize Your Studying Time!Agata Gruszczak, Alina Malinowska

How it works?Maciej Wawrzkowicz

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WINTER / 2015

Radosław Budzowski 7

On Stream – Latest News

Radosław Budzowski

Egypt begins shale gas exploration

Th e Egyptian government decided to start the search for shale gas and signed the fi rst agreement regarding the performance of hydraulic fracturing with Shell and Apache companies. Th e Egyptian Ministry of Petro-leum announced that the agreement with Apache and the Egyptian branch of Shell, regarding the implemen-tation of hydraulic fracturing, involves investment of $30M–$40M. It assumes completing 3 wells and fractur-ing in shale gas exploration in the area of Abu al-Ghard-eeq, about 200 km west of Cairo.

The longest horizontal drilling on the Yamal Peninsula

In November 2014, Gazprom Neft company conducting exploration for oil, has done the longest horizontal drill-ing so far in the area of the Yamal Peninsula. Th e horizon-tal drilling carried out by the Russian company is 1,500 meters long. Th e total length of the wellbore has made 4,200 meters. Russians have also confi rmed the presence of crude oil in the well. Novoportovskoye deposit for-mation is characterized by high permeability rocks that provides a high level of petroleum fl ow without the use of hydraulic fracturing technology. Final data on the per-formance of the well will be announced aft er the end of the tests – at the beginning of 2015. Th e research that was carried out on the Novoportovskoye, provide execution up to 90 wells with horizontal sections. Th e develop-ment of this deposit will be continued until 2016.

The LNG terminal in Klaipeda is already running

Floating LNG terminal became operational on 1st January in the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda – BNS agency report-

ed, noting that this is the fi rst alternative to Russian gas. "Th e terminal is now beginning to operate as a regular source of gas for Lithuania" – said the president of the Klaipedos Naft a company (Klaipeda Oil), Mantas Bar-tuszka. He expressed confi dence, that the operation of the terminal in the fi rst year will soon convince partici-pants of gas market that the terminal works well and can multiply operations. Floating LNG terminal in Klaipeda is actually a special ship installations for the storage, han-dling and regasifi cation of liquefi ed natural gas. It was built in South Korea. In August 2014, the state-owned Lithuanian LitGas signed a contract with Norwegian Statoil for the supply of liquefi ed natural gas (LNG).

Th e contract for the delivery amounts to 540 million cubic meters of gas per year. Th us, Lithuania becomes much less dependent on supplies from Russia's Gaz-prom, increases its energy security and is more likely to negotiate with the Russian company lower prices – mark Lithuanian authorities. During the opening ceremony in October 2014, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite said that the terminal will be able to cover up to 90% de-mand for gas for all three Baltic countries, namely Lithu-ania, Latvia and Estonia.

Exxon Mobil success in Argentina

In December 2014, Exxon Mobil reported from Argentina, that the second exploration well in the Neuquén Basin gave good results. Th is basin is one of the world's largest shale resources. Th e well is located about 20 km from the fi rst hole, where also obtained very promising results – with the fi rst test, the fl ow rate was 448 barrels of oil and 1 million cubic feet of gas per day.

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WINTER / 2015

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For online version of the magazine and news visit us at youngpetro.org

10 Remembering the Ocean Ranger. Accident Investigation and Lessons Learned¸

¸ Remembering the Ocean Ranger. Accident

Investigation and Lessons Learned

Chris Ampiah

�Th e Ocean Ranger was the world’s largest mo-bile off shore drilling unit (MODU) when it de-veloped a severe list and sank off the coast of Newfoundland in February 15, 1982 taking with it the lives of all 84 crew members aboard. Th is loss of life and property was as a result of a com-bination of several preventable incidents ul-timately leading to a crescendo of fatalities. A timeline of how the events unfolded has been constructed to set the pace for further under-standing of the mechanism behind this acci-dent.

�It was established that the series of chain events was initiated by a vicious storm passing over the Newfoundland area at that time. So severe was the storm that, this engineering marvel lost its structural integrity, and coupled with a number of factors such as human error and other engineer-

ing errors, the rig succumbed to the pressures of the storm and sank. An event tree and fault tree constructed for the purposes of this study provid-ed further insight into the various paths available for the turn of events and the probability of such events occurring. A further root cause analysis confi rmed that the loss of the Ocean Ranger was the result of not any one factor alone but a dint of bad luck, several design fl aws exacerbated by lack of training and human errors. Following this epic accident that plagued the oil and gas industry, a new paradigm of health and safety improvement

�Fig. 1 – Geographical location of the Hibernia oil fi eld relative to St John’s, Newfoundland

* London South Bank University

Þ England

[email protected]

* University Þ Country E-mail

Chris Ampiah 11

WINTER / 2015

¸

regulations were instituted particularly in the global off shore industry. In conclusion, the Ocean Ranger disaster could have been prevented had there been a rigorous emergency plan instituted in conjunction with proper training and drills for all personnel on board, as well as the provision of life saving equipments.

Introduction�Th e Ocean Ranger was an engineering mile-stone achieved in the 1970’s and deemed the larg-est semi submersible Mobile Off shore Drilling Unit (MODU) in the world at time of its comple-tion in 1976. Owned by Ocean Drilling and Ex-ploration Company (ODECO), it was built by the Japanese fi rm Mitsubishi in Hiroshima, Japan and was designed to operate in the harshest of environ-mental conditions, or so it was claimed.

As the pride of the off shore industry breaking new frontiers, the Ocean Ranger was thought to be unsinkable at that time. However, this self-pro-pelled semi-submersible rig sank whiles drilling in the Hibernia oilfi eld in the Grand Banks area, 267 kilometres off St John’s, Newfoundland, Canada.

On Valentine’s Day the 14th of February, 1982, the submersible drilling rig was batt ered by a ferocious storm which broke a port light causing the ingress of water and the subsequent short circuiting of control equipment panels. Aft er about a 16 hours struggle to regain the control of the rig, it fi nally toppled forcing all 84 crew aboard to instinctively jump into the icy cold water for a chance of sur-vival. Unfortunately, all of these crew men have never been seen alive again despite a concerted eff ort made by nearby vessels to rescue them. Th is seemingly unsinkable marvel of technology had been overpowered by the forces of nature in the freezing North Atlantic Ocean.

History

�In the 1960’s Canada embarked on a quest to prospect oil reserves off its eastern sea boarders and this drive was well underway by the 1970’s. In

1979, increased exploration activities focusing on the Grand Banks discovered the Hibernia Oilfi eld off the coast of Newfoundland. Th e Ocean Ranger drilling rig was thus, contracted by Mobil Canada (MOCAN) to drill delineation wells to map out the Hibernia Oilfi eld beginning in 1980 (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, 1983).

Drilling Locations History

�Because the Ocean Ranger was a drilling rig rather than a production rig, it was normally de-ployed at drilling sites or in some cases at a stand-by location. Table 1 lists the period and geographic location, where the Ocean Ranger was engaged in off shore drilling operations (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, 1983).

YearGeographical

LocationNumber of days

198–1982Grand Banks off Newfoundland

465

198 Off coast of Ireland 126

1979/198 Baltimore Canyon 166

1977 Lower Cook Inlet 111

1976/1977 Gulf of Alaska 232

1976 Bering Sea 99

�Table 1 – Ocean ranger drilling location and days spent

Severe Weather History

�Th e US Coastguard Report (1983) laments, that weather and sea data recorded by the Ocean Ranger indicated the rig had experienced over 50 signifi cant storms whilst drilling at the various lo-cations indicated in Table 1. From the records, it was also retrieved that the rig had experienced the most severe weather from 16th to 20th January, 1982 while drilling in the Hibernia Oilfi eld. Th e report further states that this storm had negligible eff ect on the Ocean Ranger apart from altering its po-sition over the well due to lose anchor tensions. During the course of this 5 day severe weather pe-riod, the marine riser was disconnected on two oc-casions due to heaving of the drilling rig caused by

12 Remembering the Ocean Ranger. Accident Investigation and Lessons Learned

�Fig. 2 – Side elevation of the Ocean Ranger structure (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, 1983)

�Fig. 3 – Front Elevation of the Ocean Ranger structure (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation,1983)

Chris Ampiah 13

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the terrible weather, resuming drilling only when the weather and sea subsided, according to the US Coastguard Report (1983).

Incident History

�On 6th February, 1982, the Ocean ranger un-derwent a rather uncharacteristic list (tilt) to 6 degrees whiles receiving fuel and drilling fluid supplies. A general evacuation announcement was made over the public address system for all hands to don life jackets and report to the lifeboat sta-tions. The evacuation was eventually halted as the list was subsequently corrected to normal.

Unit DescriptionThe Rig

�The Ocean Ranger was a semi-submersible drilling rig capable of self-propulsion, designed for deepwater operations in water depths up to 3,000 feet. Its design and construction ensured it could withstand extremely harsh environmental conditions, including simultaneously occurring 100 knots winds, 3 knots surface current and 110 feet tall waves. The length and width of the rig was 398 feet 9 inches and 262 feet respectively. It stood at a height of 151 feet, 6 inches excluding the derrick. The blueprints of the rig consisted of a platform or upper haul, mounted on top of eight vertical col-umns which were in turn attached to a lower cat-amaran-type hull consisting of two oval pontoons parallel to each other (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). The upper haul served as a living and working quarters for the crew whilst the two pontoons were used to achieve the right level of structural flotation. Rig stability was achieved by the eight columns capable of ele-vating the platform above the normal effects of the sea. The entire rig weighed in at 14,913 tons gross, whereas its net tonnage was 12,097.

The platform was made up of the upper deck and the lower deck. The upper deck consisted of the drilling floor and derrick, the cranes, the anchor windlasses, the helicopter deck, storage racks for drilling pipes, casings and risers, the crew’s upper

living quarters, office space and work areas, and the lifeboat. The lower deck housed the generator room, the cellar areas, the mud system, storage ar-eas and the lower two floors of the crew’s quarters (Fig. 2 and Fig. 3).

Pontoons

�The two pontoons of the lower hull were ovular in cross-section with dimensions 398” long by 62” wide by 24” in depth. These pontoons carried on their topside, eight platform-supporting columns, arranged in a rectangular fashion and each was referred to as the starboard pontoon and the port pontoon respectively, each supporting four verti-cal columns. Apart from providing flotation to the rig structure, the pontoons also contained ballast water, fresh water, drill water and fuel oil tanks. In each pontoon there were 16 tanks and aft of these tanks was situated a pump room inside each pon-toon. Aft of each pump room was a propulsion room which contained two 3,500 Horse Power DC electric motors per pontoon. These electric motors together provided 14,000 total shaft Horse Power drive to two steerable ducted propellers for propulsion.

The Ballast Control Room located in one of the eight columns, controlled the rigs ballast system. From this room, personnel could remotely open and close valves and operate ballast pumps. By manipulating the ballast water, the control room operator could increase or decrease the draft (sinkage) of the rig, induce or remove trims and heels. Thus, the distance between the rigs water-line and the lowest point on the pontoon was con-trolled by varying the amount of ballast water in both port and starboard pontoons

Mooring system

�A 12-point mooring system consisting of twelve 45,000 pound anchors was used to maintain the Ocean Ranger in position at a drilling site as il-lustrated in Fig. 4.Theses anchors were normally housed on the rig by tensioning them up against the anchor bolster located at the base of the four corner columns. Anchor handling boats would


�Fig. 4 – Top elevation of the Ocean Ranger Mooring system (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, 1983)

�Fig. 5 – Top view of the Ballast control room layout (U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation, 1983)

Chris Ampiah 15

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run the anchors out from the rig and position them on location during deployment to a particu-lar well site (Fig. 4).

The Ballast Control Room

�This room was located in column SC-3, the third column aft, starboard side of the pontoon. The room deck was about 28 ft above the drilling draft water line. The general plan of the ballast control room is depicted in Fig. 5. There were four port lights (glass windows) built in the column, which allowed the operator in the room to visually observe sea conditions and the vessel draft. Each port light was permanently installed according to Japanese Standards Association and could not be opened. However, interior metal closures called deadlights were provided, which when shut, cov-ered the port lights from within. The ballast con-trol console was also located across the forward section of the ballast control room, such that the operator always faced forward when operating the console (Fig. 5).

Supply Ships

�The Canadian government required each oil rig to have a dedicated standby vessel stationed near-by in case of an emergency. These vessels also sup-plied food, water, and fuel to their respective units. The Seaforth Highlander served as the Ocean Ranger’s standby vessel and stood off approxi-mately five miles away from the Ocean Ranger in compliance with safety regulations.

Available Emergency Equipment�The primary lifesaving equipment on board the rig consisted of two 50-man totally enclosed life-boats, made of fibre glass reinforced plastics locat-ed on the upper deck. The lifeboats were designed to be self-righting provided all personnel were strapped in their seats with no significant accumu-lation of water inside. Additionally, there were 10 Coast Guard approved 20-man inflatable life rafts

onboard with a total capacity of 200 persons all lo-cated on the upper deck; four on the stern, two on the starboard side, two on the port side, and two on the bow. In addition, the Seaforth Highlander was also at the beck and call of the Ocean Ranger.

Mechanisms And Hypotheses�Event recollection is solely being based on ra-dio transmissions between the Ocean Ranger, two other semi-submersibles drilling nearby, (Sedco 706 and Zapata Ugland), Seaforth Highlander, and the MOCAN superintendent stationed in St. John’s due to the loss of all 84 crew. Post-accident investigation of the rig by ROV and divers was used to recover key components of interest, as well as to perform a comprehensive structural inspection according to the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation report (1983).

Ballast control room port light failure:

�The initial event that led to the loss of the Ocean Ranger was the failure of the port lights in the Ballast Control Room. The exact cause of fail-ure is unknown, but has been attributed to an im-pacting wave. It is of my opinion that the port light had initially suffered some structural integrity is-sues, ultimately failing to withstand the impact of the wave on that fateful night. Some argue that the deadlight (metal safety shutters) could have been secured earlier at the onset of the storm to prevent port light failure, but realistically, the port lights were needed open at all times so that the ballast room controller could observe directly, the rigs position above the sea. Plus the rig crew had also been made to believe that the rig was unsinkable and that nothing could go wrong.

Ballast control equipment failure:

�Following the port light shattering in the Ballast Control Room, a substantial amount of sea water immediately entered the room via avenues creat-ed by the broken port light. Even though the crew then shut the deadlight window immediately after sea water ingress, it was too late as the sea water


Event 1Vicous storm in Hibernia Field.

Event 3Large wave hits rig and breaks port light. Sea water �oods ballast control room.

Event 2Drilling halted with complications.

Event 4Loss of control. Rig begins to tilt due to uncontrolled valve openin and closure.

Event 6Rig tilts severely to the portside. All counter measures are ine�ective. First mayday call sent.

Event 5Routine checks with nearby vessels.

Event 7Standby vessel and aerial ecavuation requested.

Event 9Standby vessel arrives. A�empts rescue.

Event 8Last radio transmission. Crew headed for lifeboats.

Event 10Ocean ranger sinks. Rescue a�empts fail.

Event 11Damaged lifeboats found capsized by rescue vessels.

14:00

16:42

19:45

21:30

22:50

00:52

01:00

01:30

01:50

03:10

07:00

�Fig. 6 – Ocean Ranger distaster timeline

Chris Ampiah 17

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¸

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was sufficient enough to trigger a major electrical malfunction of the ballast control console.

Forward list develops

�As a direct result of this ballast room malfunc-tion, several valves in the rig’s ballast system lo-cated in the pontoons begun to open and close uncontrollably. This either allowed more sea wa-ter to enter into the rig’s forward ballast tanks or caused the onboard ballast water to drain towards the forward ballast tanks causing the rig to devel-op an initially forward list. The degree of list and the magnitude of draft increase were sufficient to allow for the ingress of flood water into the rig’s forward chain lockers through the pipe and wire trunk opening on the top corner columns.

Crew begins evacuation

�The exact reasons for this decision to abandon the rig is unknown since the rig remained afloat for approximately 1.5 hours before sinking. That the crew may have acted out of panic, despera-tion and the lack of in-depth knowledge regarding emergency procedures. Hence their only instinc-tive act was to ice of action. It is suspected that all crew members abandoned the rig by either jump-ing into the freezing turbulent sea or via lifeboats with only so much on as their regular clothes and life jackets.

List worsens until total submersion

�The immediate cause of the loss of the Ocean Ranger was the progressive downloading of the chain lockers in the forward columns and the sub-sequent flooding of the rig’s upper hull, resulting in the capsize of the rig by the bow. The capsizing motion caused the rig’s pontoons to make contact with the sea floor as it turned over, damaging the forward ends of both pontoons.

Rescue effort

�Amidst the torrential storm, The Seaforth High-land vessel was able to maneuver its way close to one life boat with several survivors on board.

Efforts to safely transfer the crew however, ended in a catastrophic capsize of the lifeboat as its stabil-ity was compromised by the efforts of the crew to transfer safely to the Seaforth Highlander. The life-boat was designed to have inherent self-righting stability only when the occupants were strapped into their seats. Thus, as the men frantically started to transfer, the boat lost stability plunging the crew into the icy cold sea. Rescue crews noted that vic-tims in the water were unable to help themselves when life rings and other devices were thrown at them out of the 84 crew on board the rig, only 22 bodies were recovered by search teams and all were found to have died from hypothermia, according to autopsy reports. Search teams were also able to recover 2 lifeboats and 6 life rafts, all in disarray, over the course of the next four days. In hindsight, the missing 62 crew most likely also died as a result of severe hypothermia.

Event Tree AnalysisEvent tree guide

1. Port light fails, water enters Ballast Control Room, equipments short-circuits in the Bal-last Control Room , forward list develops, all counter measures fail, forward chain lockers flood, rig list severely and the crew success-fully abandon the sinking rig. Crew ok. Rig is lost.

2. Port light fails, water enters Ballast Control Room, equipments disable in the Ballast Control Room, forward list develops, all counter measure fail, forward chain lockers flood, rig list severely and the crew fails to successfully abandon ship due to sever storm. Rig and crew are lost.

3. Rig does not continue to list severely, giving the crew time to evacuate successfully. Crew ok .Rig is somewhat ok.

4. Rig does not continue to list severely, but the crew are unable to evacuate due to sever storm battering them. Crew lost. Rig is ok.

5. Forward chain lockers do not flood due to a safety cover that seals them. Rig is ok. No need for evacuation.

Chris Ampiah 19

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�Fig

. 8 –

Fault

tree


6. Counter measures to save the rig proves effective to competence operators. The rig is saved from further listing and the crew re-main on board without evacuating. Crew and rig are ok.

7. Ballast control room equipment is water re-sistant and does not short circuit. Rig control is not lost. Rig is ok. Crew is ok.

8. Sea water fails to enter the Ballast Control Room. Room is dry and all equipments func-tion fine. Rig is ok. Crew is ok.

9. Deadlight secures the opening and port light does not shatter Rig stays afloat. Rig is ok. Crew is ok.

Root Cause Analysis�The loss of the MODU OCEAN RANGER was not the result of any action, but rather a disastrous chain of events as discussed already. It was the culmina-tion of several minor design flaws and several hu-man factors. It is quite probable however, that this could have been prevented or damages minimised. The contributing causes of capsize and the subse-quent sinking of the Ocean Ranger are listed below.

Human factors/errors:

È Lack of understanding of Ballast Control Room

È Lack of understanding of rig stability con-cepts

È Failure to properly address the listing inci-dent of February 6, 1982

È Operational issues: È Production pressures forcing the crew to con-

tinue drilling into the storm È Lack of detailed ballast control procedures in

the operating manual È Lack of personnel training and certification È Engineering/design issues: È Poor ballast control design È Poor position of the Ballast Control Room È Lack of watertight chain lockers È Absence of control instrumentation especial-

ly in the chain lockers È Inability to pump water out of chain lockers È Evacuation and Rescue issues: È Lack of insulated and waterproof suits to

complement life jacket È Lifeboat design flaws È Lack of proper equipments to transfer vic-

tims from lifeboat to standby vessel È Lack of equipment to recover unconscious

victims from the stormy sea such as drag nets and hooks.

Conclusion�The capsize of the Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), the Ocean Ranger , was a horrific disaster resulting in the loss of 84 lives. Initiated by a broken portlight, the chain of events that fol-lowed could have been prevented through proper personnel training, zero tolerance for production pressure at the expense of health and safety, prop-er emergency planning, and integrity in our daily engineering workings.

References1. Government of Canada (1984). Royal Commission on the Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster, 1&2.

Ottawa, Canada.2. The Canadian Encyclopaedia, Ocean Ranger. Retrieved May 15, 2014, from http://www.thecanadi-

anencyclopedia.com/articles/ocean-ranger3. U.S. Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation (1983). MODU Ocean Ranger, Capsizing and Sinking in

the Atlantic Ocean on February 15, 1982 with Multiple Loss of Life. United States Coast Guard. Washing-ton, D.C.

4. Cover image by: Vingh,C. (2014) Sunken Ocean Ranger. Retrieved August 22, 2014, from http://char-lesvinh.daportfolio.com/gallery/227981

Alina Malinowska, Patrycja Pęczek 21

winter / 2015

¸ Various Vegetable Products as Natural

Organic Sorbents for Oil Spills Removal

Alina Malinowska, Patrycja Pęczek

�In petroleum industry happen accidents which lead to oil spills. They ought to be removed in a short time to reduce pollution of the environ-ment and losses for the company. To remove spilt hydrocarbons, sorbents of different types are used, mostly synthetic.

�The sunflower and the rapeseed are the most popular plants used for production of veget able oil in Poland. Another well-known oily plant is peanut, which is very popular in a food industry all over the world. In Central Europe's forests there often occur deciduous trees, for example beech. By-products of these plants are mainly treated as wastes. Various vegetable fibers show good sorp-tion properties because of their large surface area. Therefore these products are been decided to be used as sorbents to remove oil spills.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the sorption properties of sunflower fibers, peanut shells, rape-seed residues, beech sawdust in raw form and after mechanical modification. Kinetics and maximal sorption capacity for different oil products were measured under static and dynamic conditions.

Hydrocarbons removal performance from liquid phase was obtained visually. Experiments showed high oil sorption capacity of applied materials. Us-age of various vegetable wastes as sorbents can be an innovative solution for oil industry due to easy availability and low purchasing cost.

IntroductionFor the removal of crude oil spills had been used different products. Some sorbents brought effec-tive results, and some did not show a sufficient sorption ability. A successful adsorption is related to the exposed surface area and its wetting proper-ties. All used materials should be both oleophilic and hydrophobic. The aim of this research is to

�Fig. 1 – Microscopic images of (a) sunflower fibers, (b) peanuts shells, (c) rapeseed residues and (d) beech sawdust

* AGH University of Science and Technology

Þ Poland

[email protected]

[email protected]

* University Þ Country E-mail

22 Various Vegetable Products as Natural Organic Sorbents for Oil Spills Removal

�Fig. 3 – Gasoline sorption of beech sawdust

�Fig. 2 – Oil draining from sawdust


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compare the sorption capacity of sunflower fibers, peanut shells, oil cake of rapeseed and beech saw-dust, all of them are oily plants in raw form.

Materials and methodsCrude oil with density of 0.85 g/cm3 was originat-ed from the Magdalena field, Gorlice, Poland. The remaining liquids were diesel oil with density of 0.84 g/cm3 and gasoline with density of 0.73 g/cm3 purchased at a local gas station.

Organic sorbents were originated from domestic manufacturing. Fig. 1 shows a microscopic image of fibers structure taken using a Delta Optical Smart Microscope.

Sorption capacity of the selected fibers for differ-ent oil products was obtained under static con-ditions. For this purpose, 100 g of liquid (crude oil, gasoline or diesel oil) and 1 g of sorbent were placed into a beaker. After a predetermined time each sample was filtered for 20 min and the weight of the sorbent was measured.

To complete sorption in a two-phase system of water-oil were used 190 ml water and 10 ml of oil to which was added 1 g of sorbent. After completion of the sorption (24h), the sample was filtered and the volume of the filtrate was read.

ResultsCrude Oil Sorption

The first experiment showed increasing trend of crude oil sorption with an increasing contact time. The best sorption properties were demonstrated by sunflower fibers, which sorption capacity after 24 hours was 37.91 g of oil per 1 g of sorbent. It can be observed that rapeseed residues, peanut shells, beech sawdust also adsorbed oil, but much less, only up to 10 g per 1 g.

Gasoline Sorption

In reference to previous experiment, all sorbents show an increasing gasoline sorption capacity with increasing contact time, especially sunflower

�Fig. 4 – Sorption behavior of sunflower fibers in a two-phase system

24 Various Vegetable Products as Natural Organic Sorbents for Oil Spills Removal¸

fi bers. Comparing measurements with crude oil sorption, it was noticed that sunfl ower fi bers sorp-tion capacity was lower than previously and it was from 17.7 to 20.41 g of liquid and for other materi-als it was increased even to 16.84 g aft er 24 hours.

Time [min]

Mass of sunfl ower

fi bers [g]

Mass of rapeseed residues

[g]

Mass of peanut shells [g]

Mass of beech

sawdust [g]

1 17.7 .52 4.9 5.27

3 19.24 3.84 6 6.63

6 19.76 5.16 8.3 9.31

1,44 2.41 12.46 15.53 16.84

�Table 1 – Sorption of different fi bers at various sorption times for gasoline

Diesel Oil Sorption

For diesel oil, sunfl ower fi bers still exhibit excel-lent sorption properties. Mass of other sorbents

aft er contact with diesel oil is lower than previous-ly and among them the highest sorption capacity was showed by peanut shells, which was 4.43 g of liquid aft er 24 hours.

Time [min]

Mass of sunfl ower

fi bers [g]

Mass of rapeseed residues

[g]

Mass of peanut shells [g]

Mass of beech

sawdust [g]

1 15.75 .75 3.32 2.59

3 18.23 1.97 3.99 2.8

6 19.68 2.22 4.13 2.67

1,44 21.4 3.36 4.43 3.24

�Table 2 – Sorption of the different fi bers at various sorption times for diesel

Two-phase Contact

Th e experiment in the two-phase system showed a high ability of the tested materials to remove oil from water surface. Sunfl ower fi bers absorbed

�Fig. 5 – Sorption of different fi bers at various sorption times in the static system

Sorp

tion

cap

aci

ty [g

/g]

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1 30 60 1440

Time [min]

sunflower rapeseed peanutsawdust


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both oil and water (up to 32 ml of water per 1 g of fibers), which means that it shows both oleophilic and hydrophilic properties.

Other sorbents showed good oil sorption capaci-ty with minimal water sorption, besides rapeseed residues, which sank during this experiment.

Type of sorbentCrude oil sorption

[ml]Water sorption

[ml]

sunflower fibers 8 32

rapeseed residues 2 12

peanut shells 5 2

beech sawdust 6 6

�Tab. 3 – Amount of adsorbed oil and water for particular sorbents

ConclusionsThe investigated materials showed very good oil sorption capacity. The results shown in Fig. 3 and Table 1 reveal, that the oil sorption properties vary for different sorbents and different oil products. Sunflower fibers are the most effective sorbent, which removes even 80% of oil from water. The spongy structure of sunflower fibers facilitates hydrocarbons sorption and prevents draining of liquid from the sorbent surface. The sorption time significantly affects the sorption performance. If the contact time is longer, the efficiency of hy-drocarbons removing is higher. Usage of various vegetable wastes as sorbents can be an innovative solution for oil industry due to easy availability and low purchasing cost.

�Fig. 6 – Volume for filtrate of sunflower fibers

26 Various Vegetable Products as Natural Organic Sorbents for Oil Spills Removal

References1. Abdullah, M.A., Rahmah, A., & Man, Z. (2010). Physicochemical and Sorption Characteristics of

Malaysian Ceiba Pentandra (L.) Gaertn. as a Natural Oil Sorbent. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 177(1–3), 683–691.

2. Annunciado, T.R., Sydenstricker, T.H.D., & Amico, S.C. (2005). Experimental Investigation of Various Vegetable Fibers as Sorbent Materials for Oil Spills. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 50(11), 1340–1346.

3. Cojocaru, C., Macoveanu, M., & Cretescu, I. (2011). Peat-based Sorbents for the Removal of Oil Spills from Water Surface: Application of Artificial Neural Network Modeling. Colloids and Surfaces A: Phys-icochem. Eng. Aspects, 384(1–3), 675– 684.

4. Lim, T.-T., & Huang, X. (2007). Evaluation of Kapok (Ceiba Pentandra (L.) Gaertn.) as a Natural Hol-low Hydrophobic–Oleophilic Fibrous Sorbent for Oil Spill Cleanup. Chemosphere, 66(5), 955–963.

5. Rajakovic-Ognjanovic, V., Aleksic, G., & Rajakovic, Lj. (2008). Governing Factors for Motor Oil Re-moval from Water with Different Sorption Materials. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 154(1–3), 558–563.

6. Rajakovic, V., Aleksic, G., Radetic, M., & Rajakovic, Lj. (2007). Efficiency of Oil Removal from Real Wastewater with Different Sorbent Materials. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 143(1–2), 494–499.

7. Rengasamy, R.S., Das, D., & Praba Karan, C. (2011). Study of Oil Sorption Behavior of Filled and Structured Fiber Assemblies Made from Polypropylene, Kapok and Milkweed Fibers. Journal of Haz-ardous Materials, 186(1), 526–532.

8. Suni, S., Kosunen, A.-L., Hautala, M., Pasila, A., & Romantschuk, M. (2004). Use of a By-product of Peat Excavation, Cotton Grass Fibre, as a Sorbent for Oil-Spills. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 49(11–12), 916–921.

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¸ Nanotechnology and Nanosensors of

Trends in Oil and Gas Industry

Pavani Vattikuti

�The petroleum industry encompassing the pro-duction and utilization of oil and natural gas has dominated the energy scene for a century and by all reasonable indications will continue to do so well in the 21st century. However, fulfilling worldwide energy demand in the 21st century is the most challenging problem. Current tech-nologies simply cannot meet these demands. Conventional resources, exploration and pro-duction techniques might not be sufficient to attend to this demand. Nanotechnology can of-fer some solutions to these challenges.

�Nanotechnology has had an enormous impact on almost every industry, from consumer elec-tronics to healthcare and telecommunications, but not in oil and gas exploration and production. The general aim is to bridge the gap between the oil industry and nanotechnology community us-ing various initiatives such as consortia between oil and service companies and nanotechnology excellence centers, research units inside some oil companies. Although nanosized catalysts have been used in refining and petrochemical process-es for many years, the use of nanomaterials and nanotechniques has only recently entered the upstream domain. Nanotechnology offers the promise of the intelligent oil field. Nanotechnolo-gy holds great promise, both for mapping out and manipulating fossil-fuel reserves, because of the small scales that characterize the cracks and pores where oil is stuck.

Introduction�The oil and gas exploration and production in-dustry faces difficult challenges, as it tries to meet

the growing energy demands of an increasing and more affluent population. Conventional methods of exploration and production might not be able to keep up with this growing demand; the indus-try needs technological innovations to successful-ly meet the energy challenge. Nanotechnology has had a revolutionary impact on many industries, from healthcare to aeronautics, and could poten-tially have a similar impact on the oil and gas ex-ploration and production industry.

Nanotechnology is not new. Nanoparticles have been used for hundreds and even thousands of years, even though their nature and properties were not fully understood until recently. The oil refining and petrochemical industries have used nanoparticle catalysts for almost 100 years. What has triggered a nanotechnology revolution was the development of techniques in materials sci-ence, chemical engineering and physical analytical methods, particularly the invention of the Scan-ning Tunneling Microscope and the discovery of Buckyballs that allowed a detailed understanding and manipulation of the properties of nanoparti-cles. In this article nanotechnology is defined as the understanding and control of materials and materials properties at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. The emphasis is on control –

ÞNorway

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Þ Country E-mail

28 Nanotechnology and Nanosensors of Trends in Oil and Gas Industry

the manipulation and engineering of materials at the nanoscale to obtain desired properties.

Recently, the oil industry has been approach-ing nanotechnologies as a potential solution to the above mentioned challenges, calling for the same break through effects that this relatively new branch of science has been gushing over the last 20 years in aerospace, biology and medicine. Prop-erties of nanomaterials such as lightness, corrosion resistance and mechanical strength are and will be significant enablers, for example, for drilling and completion activities. Nanotechnology could also represent a breakthrough element for prospection, thanks to the development of innovative monitor-ing techniques and smarter micro/nano sensors. Other emerging applications of nanotechnology are represented by the development of new types of “smart fluids” for water shut-off and improved/enhanced oil recovery.

Developing nanosensors for oil recovery can be used to detect the bypassed oil after a cycle of EOR, which is based on the identification and ex-citation of chemotaxonomic markers present in them since microbes thrive on oil water interface, wherever they will be detected it is a sign of oil be-ing present there. After any microbial, thermal or chemical recovery process microbial sensor tools can track oil directly by sensing H-C, H=C, etc. bonds present in oil.

Nanotechnology striving to help the oil and gas industry increase oil recovery by improving: chemicals used in recovery of oil, drilling mate-rials and reservoir surveillance. Nanocoatings are used in oil and gas industries: antiwear for drilling parts, anti-corrosion for pipelines and other ex-posed long term structures, lubricants and drilling mud, thermal coatings to lower deformation and anti-fouling for ships.

Literature Review�Nanotechnology continues to develop rapidly, driven by several different industries. The main objectives of this program are (i) to introduce

recent and emerging developments into the oil industry; (ii) to identify applications that could bring significant benefits to the upstream oil op-erations and oil recovery; and (iii) to carry out research that would enable the practical imple-mentation of these technologies within the oil in-dustry. Our current focus is on the use of various nano-scale materials ("nanoparticles") for certain processes that increase oil recovery and for more accurate determination of changes in fluid satura-tions and reservoir properties during oil and gas production.

The subsequent improvement should be the na-nosensors or nanosensors clusters localization. In that respect, the special electrical, optical and magnetic properties of nanometerials make them well suited for use as injected sensors and contrast agents. Several possible applications and exploita-tion schemes are currently under study with nano-devices injected in to a reservoir.

Based on the available technology the path to “slightly” smart nanosensors is shorter and could introduce significant advantages for reservoir in-vestigation. 100–1000 nm diameter passive nano-objects could be flushed with the injection fluids through the pores of the reservoir rocks to de-termine the formation characteristics. No active components (sensor, data storage or transmission, 3D location, power) would be on-board, but the presence of a proper structure (multi-wall nano-wires, core-shell particles) interacting with the reservoir could retrieve threshold information (maximum temperature and/or pressure, maxi-mum pH, salinity). The magnetic (through a mag-netic core) or electrical (as in the case of Carbon nanotubes) conductivity of such nanodust could be exploited for recovering information. Using a core-shell structure, for example, the quantity of oil present in a reservoir could be assessed based on the amount of material lost or retained during the travel time, or the extreme conditions (tem-perature, pressure, and salinity gradient) at which the nanoparticles were exposed and for how long, could be determined. The idea could be to pump nanosensors in the reservoir periodically so as to regularly monitor changes in the well/field condi-

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tions. In turn, this could result in improved pro-duction efficiency and trouble managing [11]. An interesting and extremely efficient property which could be exploited at the nanoscale is the shape memory effect.

Project DescriptionFirst we will talk about some basics regarding na-notechnology and why oil industry is so much in-terested in nanotechnology:

The incredibly small size of the nano-scale mate-rials creates opportunities for them to be inject-ed into oil and gas reservoirs. Geoscientists have analyzed the oil-bearing sandstones to establish that the pore throat openings commonly range be-tween 100 and 10,000 nanometers in width. That’s large enough for fluids like water, brines and oil as well as gas to flow through relatively freely. So if we could put nano-scale tracers or sensors down a hole, they would be small enough to flow through these pores, and we could gain a bunch of valuable

information about the rock and the fluid environ-ment where the oil and gas is found.

Sensors

According to Krishnamoorty [19], nanomaterials are excellent tools for the development of sen-sors and imaging-contrast agents due to the sig-nificant alterations in their optical, magnetic and electrical properties (in comparison to their bulk analogues) along with their ability to form (elec-trically and/or geometrically) percolated struc-tures at low volume fractions. Such nanomaterials, when combined with smart fluids, can be used as extremely sensitive downhole sensors for tem-perature, pressure and stress even under extreme conditions. The ultimate evolution of devices for prospection is represented by nanorobots, which should really provide an effective mapping of the reservoir. Nowadays, nanorobots still remain a dream, shared by the medical and oil sectors. But advances in nanosensor miniaturization are occur-ring rapidly and numerous theoretical and experi-mental investigations about the flow of multiphase

�Fig. 1 – The scale of things picture shows that one micron is at the dividing line between size ranges called the Microworld and the Nanoworld


fluids containing nanoparticles in porous media enrich the recent technical literature.

Coatings

Significant work is underway toward the transition of smart/multifunctional polymer coatings from laboratory curiosities toward the identification of commercial applications. Intelligent or smart coatings, which may combine the shielding aspect with sensor or actuator functions, rely on their ca-pabilities to respond to physical, chemical or me-chanical stimuli by developing readable signals. Nanomaterials are expected to be used not only as advanced functional materials but also as an inte-gral part of complete smart structures composed of various elements including sensors, actuators, control devices. Some of the key challenges in more advanced research areas are the understand-ing of corrosion protection mechanism imparted by conducting polymers and the advancement of Micro nanocapsulation as a means to impart self-healing [4]. Nevertheless, some innovative

applications seem to be ready for commercializa-tion in a very nearby future, such as a coating using carbon nanotubes to conduct a current for evenly heating surface, which could be used on pipelines to reduce gas hydrate formation or to de-ice the blades on wind turbines [20].

An innovative corrosion-resistant material solu-tion could also be represented by nanometric thin films and composites with nanostructured fillers. Apart from the economic aspect which is not strongly favorable yet, corrosion-resistant materials are surely the “just round the corner” nanotechnology-based applications, basically be-cause of the combination of several conditions: relatively low risk, high effectiveness and low com-plexity. Nano-coated, wear-resistant probes, made of tungsten carbide or boron nitride, enhance the lifespan and efficiency of the drilling systems, thus inducing remarkable cost savings. The same applies to the nano-layered corrosion inhibitors in pipes or tanks, which act through the creation of a permanent molecular layer on the surface of

�Fig. 2 – Logarithmic scale on left shows size range of selected natural objects. Objects are compared with size range of manufactured nanodevices, extending from MEMS devices (top) tobuckyballs (bottom)

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metals, thus eliminating or hampering corrosion induced by HCl or H2S.

Smartfluids and Nanofluids

Smartfluids and nanofluids can provide solutions for: Enhanced Oil Recovery, enhanced fluid vis-cosity and molecular modification. Nanosensors deployed in the pore space by means of “nanodust” to provide data on reservoir characterization, flu-id-flow monitoring, and fluid-type recognition. Exciting science referred to as nanotechnology is being introduced into reservoir characterization and monitoring. The sizes of devices and sensors that can now be fabricated to react in measurable ways when they contact a specific fluid, chemical or biological agent have been reduced so that they can be injected into some hydrocarbon reservoirs and become part of the fluid flow through the res-ervoir system. Common terminology appearing in descriptions of this new reservoir-monitoring science includes nanodevices, nanosensors and

nanorobots. Fullerene are a family of carbon al-lotropes, molecules composed entirely of carbon, in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, tube, or plane. Spherical fullerenes are also called bucky-balls, and cylindrical ones are called carbon nano-tubes or buckytubes.

Graphene is an example of a planar fullerene sheet. Fullerenes are similar in structure to graph-ite, which is composed of stacked sheets of linked hexagonal rings, but may also contain pentagonal (or sometimes heptagonal) rings that would pre-vent a sheet from being planar. The target mole-cule that initiates the desired reaction can, in the-ory, be tailored to be a wide range of molecules found in, or associated with, producing hydrocar-bon systems. NanoPhysics for Sensing, Modifying and Manipulating Oil-Gas Reservoirs; A Delve Deep/Deep Dive into the Nano Domain.

The demand for fossil fuels will increase in the decades to come, but the era of finding “easy oil” is

�Fig. 3 – Atomic structure of carbon nanotubes


coming to an end. Exploration increasingly needs to focus on hydrocarbon prone sedimentary ba-sins that are much deeper and more difficult to access. The detection of fossil-fuel reserves is com-plicated by the fact that the repertoire of methods to discover such reserves with a high probability of success is limited.

Drilling for hydrocarbons is expensive and neces-sarily provides only near-wellbore “local” infor-mation – there is a great need for exploring fos-sil-fuel reserves volumetrically.

To put the possibility of injecting nanodevices into reservoirs into perspective, a comparison be-tween reservoir pore sizes and diameters of nano-devices is helpful.

Because nanotubes can be designed to become efficient electrical conductors, electromagnetic (EM) measurements may be the branch of geo-

physics that first develops applications of nano-technology in reservoir characterization.

Nanodevices, perhaps, can initiate their prede-signed action after set periods of calendar time to measure how far they have progressed through a reservoir and to identify in which XYZ coordinates they reside after that time period.

A possible application is illustrated in Fig. 3.

In this hypothetical case, nanodevices are inject-ed into a reservoir, and at predesigned time delays (arbitrarily set at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 arbitrary calen-dar-time units in this example) the positions of the injected conductive nanodevices are measured by an appropriate crosswell EM or surface-based EM procedure. The objective is to determine, in three-dimensional space, the internal flow paths that exist within a reservoir system as that res-ervoir is being produced. If nanodevices can be

�Fig. 4 – One concept for use of nanotechnology in reservoir characterization. Nanodevices (N) are injected in perfs A through F and move through a reservoir. At calendar-delay times of 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 time intervals, spatial distribution of the nanodevices is measured

by EM or seismic methods to determine their XYZ coordinates, allowing inferences to be made about fluid-flow paths, compartment boundaries and reservoir connectivity

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designed to become miniature acoustic pingers, as some envision and hope, the progress of the nanodevices through a reservoir can perhaps be measured by crosswell seismic methods.

Nanotechnology holds great promise, both for mapping out and manipulating fossil-fuel reserves because of the small scales that characterize the cracks and pores where oil is stuck. Sensors that can access these pores to determine properties and content need to be small, and manipulation of the oil/water mixtures in these pores, for example emulsification or gelation to enhance oil recovery, also has to take place on small scales. On the one hand, the study, manipulation and production of increasingly sophisticated small “particles” with sizes ranging from less than one nm to several microns (functional colloids, janus and patchy particles, nanotubes, supramolecular complexes) has taken an enormous flight in recent years. On the other hand, nanotechnology is already finding applications in several areas related to the Oil & Gas Industry.

Nanostructured Coatings, Improved Proppants, Nanoenhanced elastomers, and new ceramics, etc. are already under development or in the testing phase. Although applications in reservoir sur-veillance and Enhanced Oil Recovery seem to be further away, it is these areas that Nanotechnology will probably have the biggest impact on.

Technologies like nanoscale sensors that could travel through the reservoir generating detailed maps of the reservoir properties would be game changing and would significantly increase oil re-covery. Other nano-based technologies aimed at directly manipulating subsurface conditions could significantly improve current EOR techniques.

Before these types of applications become pos-sible, a better understanding of fundamental aspects related to the flow and functionality of nanomaterials within the reservoir is crucial to develop Nano Physical approaches for Sensing, Modifying and Manipulation of (transport in) Oil-Gas reservoirs. Develop effective theory and model systems to capture these aspects of the flow and activity of (nano) particles. "Nanophysics for E&P" is to identify and study these fundamental issues necessary for exploiting the full potential of Nanotechnology for Reservoir Surveillance and Enhanced Oil Recovery. The themes addressing these fundamental challenges include: 1) Trans-port; 2) Trigger; 3) Sensing and 4) Manipulation.

Pores can be anywhere from 10 microns to one microns in diameter. Because of their size, once the initial high pressure of the reservoir has been reduced by releasing some of the oil, this porosity can impede the flow of oil or gas through the rock formation. It can take a lot of work to get the oil out of the rock.

�Fig. 5 – Rock properties/Petrophysics


The researchers believe that in addition to locating and mapping oil and gas nanoparticles might also be able to help to recover the fuels. The trouble is that the oil in the pores sticks to the walls, even when high-pressure steam is blasted into the rock. The hope is that with the right nanoparticles, the researchers might be able to free the hydrocarbons from the rock.

The twin goals of more score in pores

1. to develop innovative “in-situ” and “ex-situ” techniques”, as well as effective combinations of them, in order to assemble an innovative tool dedicated to the investigation and con-trolling of the evolution of the nanomaterial properties and to considerably expand the

�Fig. 6 – Micelle without nano-particle addition

�Fig. 7 – Micelle with nano-particle addition

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understanding of confinement phenomena in nanopores.

2. to advance the nano-manipulation of porous materials.

For VES (Visco Elastic Surfactant) type sur-factants when its concentration exceeds Critical Micellar Concentration (CMC) in presence of an electrolyte (like KCl, CaCl2 etc.) the surfactant molecule aggregate and form elongated rod like micelle. The rod like micelles can interact to form a network exhibiting viscoelastic behavior.

Nanomembranes

Inspired by the success of zeolites, which are mate-rials capable of separating small gases, such as oxy-gen and nitrogen, a new generation of large-scale, lightweight and sturdy nanomembranes is being developed and deployed. These nanomembranes will significantly enhance the exploitation of tight gas by providing efficient methods for removing impurities, separating gas streams and enabling GTL production.

By exploiting methods common in the microelec-tronics industry, the cost of manufacturing high-ly uniform and reproducible membranes is quite competitive [19]. Nanoporous and nanoparticular materials are also very promising to manage the environmental, health and safety risks deriving from the presence of CO2 and H2S in hydrocarbon mixtures.

Nanofluids and nanomaterials for drilling and completion

Drilling and completion sectors are other two oil branches where the benefits of nanofluids and nanomaterials application are already tangible. Nanotechnology has opened the door to the de-velopment of a new generation of fluids defined as “smart fluids” for drilling, production and stimula-tion related applications. Thanks to the exception-ally high surface to volume ratio, nanofluids and nano-based additives exhibit major interaction with the surrounding environment even at very low concentrations. Such smart fluids will further

enhance drilling by adding benefits such as wet-tability alteration, advanced drag reduction and sand consolidation [24].

One specialized petroleum laboratory has devel-oped an advanced fluid mixed with nanosized particles and superfine powder that significantly improves the drilling speed and can eliminate for-mation damage in near wellbore zone [12].

Prof. Tour’s Laboratory works with M-I SWACO’s to optimize the effectiveness of graphene additives to drilling fluids.

Thanks to the synthesis of a new class of elasto-meric composites filled with carbon nanotubes or other strongly anisotropic nano-objects, stronger, tougher and more resistant drilling tools and ap-paratus will be manufactured in the coming years. At the same time, these tools will ensure a signif-icant weight reduction and the potential to orig-inate self-sensing elements to be interrogated for the real-time monitoring of the most critical parts.

Another important technique in the develop-ment of super-hard materials is the use of nanos-tructured dispersed-hardened materials [21]. The superiority of physical-mechanical properties of diamond polycrystalline nanocomposites, boron nitrid nanocomposites [10] and 2WC/Co/dia-mond nanocomposites [17] in comparison with their traditional counterparts has been reported in the literature.

First generation of nanotech applications for im-proving hydraulic fracturing are represented by Baker Hughes’s nano-structured metal compos-ites, combined by magnesium, aluminum and other alloys, which offer both strength at lower weight and the ability to “dissolve” away under certain conditions. Another example is the prop-pant produced by Oxane Materials, constituted by nano-structured ceramic material which is as strong as but lighter as ceramic proppant.

A possible solution for mitigating fine migration problems is represented by the commercialized nanocrystals for treating hydraulic fracture prop-


pant packs to fixate formation fines. The mecha-nism of fixation of the formation fines depends on the high surface forces of the nanoparticles, such as Van der Waals and electrostatic forces, which also attach the nanoparticles to the surface of proppant during fracpacking and fracturing treat-ments [15].

ConclusionNanoscience & technology is an emerging tech-nology for petroleum industry. Applications of nanophysics is a revolutionary step for upstream/exploration & production of oil & gas. To enhance R/P ratio of nations, we have to pay much atten-tion to Enhanced Oil &Gas Recovery. It signifies to convert plentiful resources of mature oil & gas field as an asset to E&P sector. By applying nano-technology we can recover 90% of oil & gas from the reservoir in place of 40–50% recovery at pres-ent. Nanofluids score more from pore of core/sweet spot of the oil & gas reservoir. Nanofluids are being used in Ultra-Deep Drilling Fluids. Drilling fluids, commonly referred to as drilling muds, are

an integral part of drilling oil and natural gas wells. This action not only cools and lubricates the drill bit, but it also helps to convey rock debris and drill cuttings from the drilling area to the surface. The drilling fluids can also help to prevent blowouts and wellbore cavings by creating hydrostatic pres-sure that stops formation fluids from entering the well prematurely. By providing solutions for sens-ing and intervention nanotechnology can help to find and recover more conventional oil, improve oil field data, and diversity of sources of supply.

The future of nanotechnology seems to be bright. Nevertheless, several issues are to be considered and the following actions should be taken to trans-form a big opportunity into reality: favour mul-ti-disciplinarity, improve convergence between the top-down and the bottom-up approaches (namely, miniaturization and the creation of smart materials by exploiting their selforganisational ca-pacity), be careful with the “nano” hype (often nano erroneously comprises traditional physics and chemistry) and, finally, consider the usual long-term research and investment time frame for targeting business properly.

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tute Study, 30, 1–20.2. Berseth, P.A., Harter, A.G., Zidan, R., Blomqvist, A., Araújo, C.M., Scheicher, R.H., Ahuja, R., & Jena,

P. (2009). Carbon Nanomaterials as Catalysts for Hydrogen Uptake and Release in NaAlH4. Nano Lett., 9(4), 1501–1505.

3. Bhat, S., & Singh, P. (2006). Nanologging: Use of Nanorobots for Logging. SPE-104280-MS, SPE Eastern Regional Meeting, Canton, OH. October 11–13, 2006.

4. Boura, S.H., Samadzadeh, M., Peikari, M., & Ashrafi, A. (2010). Smart and Multi-Functional Coatings Based on Micro/Nano Sized Additives and Their Implementation. SPE-130972-MS, SPE International Con-ference on Oilfield Corrosion, Aberdeen, United Kingdom. May 24–25, 2010.

5. Chaaudhury, M.K. (2003). Complex Fluids: Spread the Word About Nanofluids. Nature, 423, 131–132.6. Cook, F.L., Jacob, K.I., Polk, M., & Pourrsdeyhimi, B. (2005, November). Shape Memory Polymer Fibers

for Comfort Wear. NTC Project M05-GT14.7. Cui, J.B., Sordan, R., Burghard, M., & Kern, K. (2002, October). Carbon Nanotube Memory Devices

of High Charge Storage Stability. Applied Physics Letters, 81(17), 3260–3262.8. Drexler, K.E. (1st ed.). (1986). Engines of Creation, pp. 298. New York, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday.9. Drexler, K.E., Peterson, C., & Pergamit, G. (1st ed.). (1991). Unbounding the Future: The Nanotechnology

Revolution, pp. 366. New York, NY: William Morrow/Quill Books.

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10. Dubrovinskaia, N., Solozhenko, V.L., Miyajima, N., Dmitriev, V., Kurakevych, O.O., & Dubrovinsky, L. (2007). Superhard Nanocomposite of Dense Polymorphs of Boron Nitride: Noncarbon Material Has Reached Diamond Hardness. Applied Physics Letters, 90(10).

11. Durham, L.S. (2009, August). Researchers are Thinking Small. AAPG Explorer. Retrieved 2014, from http://www.aapg.org/publications/news/explorer/emphasis/articleid/681/researchers-are-think-ing-small

12. Esmaeili, A. (2009). Applications of Nanotechnology in Oil and Gas Industry. Proceedings of the 2nd In-ternational Conference on Methods and Models in Science and Technology, Jaipur, India. November 19–20, 2009.

13. Freitas, R.A., (1st ed.). (2003). Nanomedicine: Biocompatibility, pp. 348. Basel, Switzerland: S Karger Ag.

14. Goa, T. (2002). Nanoscience – A Small Scale Revolution. Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, 10.15. Huang, T., & Crews, J.B. (2008). Nanotechnology Applications in Viscoelastic Surfactant Stimulation

Fluids. SPE 107728-PA. SPE Production & Operations, 23(04).16. Huang, T., Crews, J.B., & Willingham, J.R. (2008). Using Nanoparticle Technology to Control Fine Migra-

tion. SPE-115384-MS, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exibition, Denver, CO. September 21–24, 2008.

17. Jain, M., Sadangi, R.K., Cannon, W.R., & Kear, B.H. (2001). Processing of Functionally Graded WC/Co/Diamond Nanocomposites. Scripta Materialia 44(8–9) .

18. Kapusta, S., Balzano, L., & Te Riele, P.M. (2011, January). Nanotechnology Applications in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production. IPTC-15152-MS, International Petroleum Technology Conference, Bang-kok, Thailand. November 15–17, 2011.

19. Krishnamoorty, R. (2006, November). Extracting the Benefits of Nanotechnology for the Oil Industry. JPT, Society of Petroleum Engineers, 58(11), 24–25.

20. Rassenfoss, S. (2011, October). Nanotechnology for Sale: The Once-theoretical Becomes Practical. Journal of Petroleum Technology, 63(10).

21. Terranova, M.L., Piccirillo, S., Sessa, V., Rossi, M., & Botti, S. (1999). Microstructure and Properties of Nanocomposite Diamond Films Obtained by a New CVD-based Technique. J. Phys. IV France, 9(8), 365–371.

22. Wang, X.F., Xiang, J., Wang, P., Koyama, Y., Yanagida, S., Wada, Y., Hamada, K., Sasaki, S., & Tamiaki, H. (2005, June). Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Using a Chlorophyll a Derivative as the Sensitizer and Ca-rotenoids Having Different Conjugation Lengths as Redox Spacers. Chemical Physics Letter, 408(4–6), 409–414.

23. Wang, Z.L., & Song, J. (2006, April). Piezoelectric Nanogenerators Based on Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays. Science, 312(5771), 242–246.

24. Wasan, D.T., & Nikolov, A.D. (2003). Spreading of Nanofluids on Solids. Nature, 423, 156–159.

38 Where is the Polish Energy Policy Headed?

conference | XX Energy Conference EuroPOWER

µ Where is the Polish Energy Policy Headed?

Alina Malinowska, Edyta Stopyra

�Energy industry has an extremely strong influ-ence on the economic situation, security and life quality each of us. It is inextricably linked to the whole industry and therefore, its impact on competitiveness is crucial to solve the prob-lems associated with it. This is a challenge that Europe faces today: decisive action is needed to reduce emissions and stop climate changes. En-ergy sector is also the source of the most harm-ful effects on the environment and health. At level of the European Union we have to take co-ordinated action to reduce the harmful effects through the integration of energy policy with environmental policy.

�What are the development directions of Polish energy policy? Are the climate and energy policy of EU beneficial for the economy? Is it possible to diversify sources of gas for Europe? The answers to these and many other questions were trying to get participants of the anniversary EuroPOWER Energy Conference, which was held on 19th–20th November, 2014 in Warsaw, Poland. The theme of this edition was Polish Energy Policy 2050.

Participants of the 20th meeting were presidents, board members, directors and managers of energy and fuel groups, electrical power & heating plants, and companies providing services to the energy industry entities. Discussions in seven panels were focused on changes in the market, a common search for new models and an analysis of the lat-est trends. All these activities has one aim: help in the most efficient implementation of the adopted strategies.

"The EuroPOWER conference is a great occasion to meet people from the industry, to talk about that how energy production looks like today, what

are the challenges and what directions we need to change. Energy is a ground of the economy, there-fore, I think it is worth to meet, talk and somehow change this economy." – Michał Jarczyński, Chair-man of the Board of ENEA Operator

The aim of the conference was to expose and dis-cuss the most important problems of the sector and its environment. This was an opportunity to exchange knowledge and experience of authorities from Polish and European energy sectors, Polish Parliament and the major energy organizations.

EuroPOWER is the most important energy-relat-ed event in Poland, it is a platform for participants to exchange opinions about the future of energy market, and initiatives related to the constant im-provement of the Polish energy situation.

About Gas and Fuel Markets

�It is well known that natural gas is the most stra-tegic energy resource of the world, so we could not miss a related panel at the conference. The main topic of the discussion was the fact, that Polish economy tends to the deregulation of gas market. Speakers exchanged comments and outlooks on the current situation in Poland, from their compa-nies’ point of view. Repeatedly emphasized what aspects are missing in the Polish energy law that could make deregulation smoother and more ac-cessible. They also presented their hopes for the development of the transmission and storage of natural gas, as well as changes in the gas market.

On the second day of EuroPOWER, during the panel about the fuel market experts discussed about topics related to crude oil processing ca-pacity, consumption, inventory and fuel reserves

Alina Malinowska, Edyta Stopyra 39

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in Poland. The speakers expressed their anxiety about the so-called “grey economy” in which en-trepreneurs add bio-components to fuels in order to lower their price, simultaneously lowering their quality. Unfortunately, the loophole allows such action and the honest fuel producers lose. An im-portant issue was also biofuels – estimate of their use, new technologies and benefits to the econo-my.

During the debates, today’s changes taking place in the market were also discussed; there were pan-els including issues of the distributed energy and Polish energy on the capital market.

Summary

�Today's energy solutions involve fundamental challenges for the modern economy, therefore, it will be a subject of constant amendments in order to bring changes in markets, new raw materials and technologies. The speakers agreed that the priority is production of energy from own raw ma-

terials at favorable prices. Energy dilemmas which we face need to be resolved, therefore, the repre-sentatives of the different environments want to work together on that.

The presence of representatives from the biggest Polish energy companies and government dele-gates allowed the participants to gather valuable knowledge, get answers to the most important questions and obtain a clear picture of the situ-ation in the current energy system, significant assurances, eg. in terms of gas and fuel market relation. Reports from participants and the media confirmed, that the conference was an extremely effective platform for dialogue involving develop-ment of the energy sector at various levels.

The 20th edition of EuroPOWER is behind us, but the participants of the meeting are not idle, they actively prepare next meeting, which will take place in April this year. All interested in the energy industry are invited to participate in this extraor-dinary event.

40 The Most Important Issues of Energy Industry under Windmills

conference | SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition 2014

µ The Most Important Issues of Energy

Industry under Windmills

Joanna Wilaszek

Every year, in autumn, there are a few days when the whole petroleum world gathers together in one city, in one place. What attracts the brightest minds, the biggest companies and the most talent-ed people of the industry? It is the power of Annu-al Technical Conference and Exhibition organized by SPE.

I am almost sure that everybody who has ever had a chance to attend any edition of ATCE will agree with my statement. The atmosphere of the conference is a kind of magic. When you realize how huge the event is, when you think about the number of panels and sessions that go on simul-taneously, when you see the exhibit hall and the

biggest booths of the most powerful companies in the world, you are really impressed. And if you meet people known from the first pages of the industry magazines, you become even more thrilled.

Each edition of ATCE is a great feast of knowledge and science that gives an opportunity for organ-izing meetings and discussions during which the most important matters of the industry and of our Society are discussed.

This year, for the second time in its history, the event was held in Europe. ATCE was held in Am-sterdam, the Netherlands. From 27th to 29th Octo-

Joanna Wilaszek 41

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ber 2014, the city was the capital of the petroleum world.

Students’ opening

Traditionally, students begin the conference one day earlier. On the pre-day, the youngest attendees took part in Meet & Greet Session during which we could meet our friends from all over the world as well as see a lot of new faces. Organizers pro-vided us with some integration games and after that we took part in a soft skills training, whose aim was to recognize our own character features. The next event after Meet & Greet was the one which every student had been waiting for. It was Student Awards and General Session. During the meeting, representatives of the best SPE Student Chapters got prizes for their year-long work. Out-standing Student Chapter Award was given to the best chapter in every region. Apart from this, or-ganizers handed individual awards for the leading students, who received STAR Scholarships and Fellowships. The Session gathered the brightest young members of the industry and proved that today’s leaders do not have to worry about the fu-ture of the industry, because it will be in the right hands.

PetroBowl Game

The first day of ATCE was the second most im-portant episode of student activity during ATCE. That day, 36 best teams competed in a PetroBowl Game. It was played as a single-elimination tour-nament. Every team was composed of 5 students. Participants had to not only be smart and have a wide knowledge, but also had to be quick. They had to put in for the question that was being read by the host. But they also had to be careful, as points were subtracted if the wrong answer was given. The game was much easier for the native speakers of English, as it is hard to speak about some technical notions for people who use Eng-lish as a second language. Some of the games were very interesting and level-pegging. This time the team from the University of Tulsa became the champion. Congratulations!

A huge arena for thousands of meetings

During the next three days, Amsterdam RAI Center, Hilton Hotel and Mercure Amsterdam City Hotel became an arena for numerous meet-ings, lectures, discussions, workshops and many

42 The Most Important Issues of Energy Industry under Windmills

other sessions and panels. We could meet the pres-idents of the sections and chapters, the most influ-ential people of the industry and headquarters of the biggest international companies. Participants discussed the current problems and challenges, which we will have to face due to many econom-ical and political crises. Companies shared new technologies and innovative techniques. And us, the youngest attendees, listened to everything carefully and kept our eyes peeled, taking the best lessons for our future leadership.

Exhibition

This year in the exhibit hall we could visit booths of over 450 companies from all over the world. Their representatives were making big business, selling technologies, discussing contracts and sharing their knowledge. But for us it was a great occasion to talk about career opportunities in nu-merous companies representing so many branch-es of the industry and having offices in almost all

countries in the world. It is a very rare chance, which occurs only once a year, so we took advan-tage of it as much as we could.

Magic Amsterdam and surprising Netherlands

Apart from taking part in the conference, we also found some time for sightseeing. We were really surprised while discovering the unusual magic of the Netherlands. The canals of Amsterdam, wind-mills, polders and the mysterious seaside – all of that together with hospitality of the inhabitants and traditional food (like cheese or stroopwafels) created a wonderful atmosphere.

Next year in Houston

Next year ATCE goes back to the USA. The whole petroleum world will meet in Houston on 28th to 30th September 2015. I hope to see you there, dear YoungPetro Readers!

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conference | Shale Gas World Europe 2014

µ European Shale Gas Needs New Legislation

Aneta Maruszak

�From 25th to 26th November 2014, our team had an opportunity to participate in a great international conference, which took place in Warsaw. The main theme was the future of shale gas exploration in Europe.

�The conference program consisted of presenta-tions, series of lectures and a panel discussion. Speakers were focused mostly on industrial strate-gies, legislation issues and the public awareness of fracking. At the same time, there was an exhibition which was attended by the most important com-panies from unconventional exploration sector, such as Baker Hughes or Tenaris Global Services.

Presentations and discussion

�During the conference, much attention was paid to the legislation aspects of shale gas extrac-

tion. Representatives of European governments and companies presented current law regulations from their countries. Unfortunately, they are far from perfection and, as a result, often delay invest-ments. The regulations can even completely block the investor, who consequently is forced to with-draw and stop exploration activities. Such a situ-ation happened in 2009 in Hungary, from where ExxonMobil moved out because of strict law. For some countries it is a particularly big loss, since they have no other natural resources than shale. Therefore, most European countries conduct works in order to improve current legislation sys-tem or to introduce totally new regulations. And all of these efforts are to shorten the time required to obtain all the necessary permits and reduce bu-reaucracy. For example, in Poland it takes about 22 months to get all the permits needed to start drilling, including environmental decisions (!).

44 European Shale Gas Needs New Legislation

Exhibition

�Although it wasn’t a student conference but a ful-ly professional one, we were able to talk personally with the representatives of numerous companies which provided us with some industry novelties.

For instance, we became interested in a company specializing in ground-gas continuousmonitoring. It turned out that monitoring and examining the interior of the earth, in terms of spreading of nat-ural gas and other pollutants, is very important, especially in the areas of oil and gas extraction in order to ensure the safety of workers and the surrounding communities. We also enriched our knowledge about the newest materials, which are used during fracking – ceramic proppants. Nat-urally, we visited many more stands of shale gas

operators and solution providers who presented their companies offers, but, unfortunately, there is no place to write about all of them.

World Class Event

�The 5th edition of the Shale Gas World Europe conference was a fantastic occasion to debate about the current situation in the unconventional gas sector. It was an exceptional, perfectly organ-ized event, which gathered hundreds of represent-atives from many countries, also of many profes-sions, and allowed to establish new paths for the future shale gas industry.

Our participation was a great pleasure, we hope that YoungPetro will be a media partner also in the next editions and we will meet again soon!

Jakub Pitera 45

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UPPP 2014 Competition

Jakub Pitera

How many of our Readers have heard about UPPP 2014?

UPPP is a new competition from MOL Group, Hungarian descend oil and gas company. It took place during the fall of the last year and was de-veloped as addition and extension of company an-other big project called FRESHHH. FRESHHH in an unique way that combines all aspects of Oil & Gas Industry from Downstream to Upstream and has accomplished eighth successful editions. Re-cently, Upstream sector of industry became most crucial for MOL Group development scheme. Th e company considered possibilities to overcome growing challanges and a demand for innovative solutions and specialists. As an answer, new stan-dalone project focusing purely on Upstream was developed – thus, the name UPPP. Th e compe-tition is also a tool for promoting the company among E&P-related fi eld of study graduates.

Th e creator – MOL Group – is the 2nd largest Cen-tral & East European integrated oil and gas cor-poration, headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. Th eir countries of operation spread over 40 with 30,000 employed specialists worldwide. MOL Group produces 38 million barrels of oil equiva-lent per year along with 417 thousand barrels daily going through their refi neries. Due to their unique progress and innovation oriented strategies the company made astonishing expansion in the last 20 years which resulted in 24.1 billion USD Net Revenue in 2013.

So back to the beginning. UPPP is an international upstream competition dedicated for petrotechni-

cal and geoscience students. In current edition, students from 27 selected universities could regis-ter as a three-member team. Th e top 3 teams won a total of 20,000 EUR and the best participants can start building their future with MOL Group by entering 18 months world-class UPPP Technical Placement Program along with training participa-tion, site visits and summer internship possibility. Th e competition began with a simulation round via an online platform where the teams had to solve tasks and cases about exploration, fi eld de-velopment and production. Th e cases were from actual MOL Group E&P data in Pakistan. Contest-ants played 20 rounds. One round meant a year in the game and 24 hours in real world. In each turn players had a chance to perform exploration and development activities. Financial accounting, eff ects of decision and data analysis results were shown at a turn change. Th e fi nal results were judged purely and simply by cash generated by a participating team company. Th is year a number of 972 teams competed against each other in a sim-ulation round and the TOP 10 were invited to LIVE FINALS in Budapest.

UPPP 2014 Final challange tasked best partici-pants to provide a concept and actions how MOL Group should address today’s challanges in Up-stream and a changing world. Th e best teams were required to present prepared strategies to MOL Group Exploration & Production Top Manage-ment on Dec 11th, 2014 in Budapest. Th e presenta-tion was limited to 20 minutes sharply and then thoroughly examined in 10 minutes questions and answers session by the jury. However, grand fi nals went far beyond that. While TOP 5 teams could further compete for the prizes, latt er teams from TOP 10 were invited as guests to participate in an exceptional Live Final event, which was planned from Dec 8th to 12th with an unique, detailed, inter-esting and entertaining programme. MOL Group

46 UPPP 2014 Competition

covered all logistics, accommodation, travel costs and kept constant warm contact with finalist dur-ing preparation period. At Day 1 of the finals, par-ticipants traveled to Budapest and checked-in at the hotel. At Day 2 everyone met each other dur-ing highly entertaining BASE CAMP project where all teams engaged in a challenging intellectual mis-sion and met MOL Group Exploration & Produc-tion management at a dinner in Budapest Royal Castle District. Day 3 was planned for sightseeing and rehearsals at the live final venue. The venue – Várkert Bazár – is a 150 years old building, which was recently completely renovated and opened as a vast conference centre. The building is unique in the way it is connecting classical architecture of facade with a modern contemporary design of in-terior. And Day 4 was for the Grand Finals. When all participants, judges, competition masterminds and distinguished guests gathered in auditorium, the gala was opened by professional host – An-drew Hefler. Then for the next three hours best teams presented their strategies on stage and went

under the fire of judges. In the middle there was a refreshing coffee break in the lobby and a video recap from the Base Camp. After the final pres-entation, judges had closed the doors of the hall for more than an hour and privately discussed and evaluated appearance of the contestants. Then the award ceremony began. On the stage stepped Mr. Carl Grenz – MOL Group Exploration & Pro-duction Chief Operating Officer. Apart from ex-pressing gratitude for the competition organisers, Mr Grenz invited teams and separately handled them certificates. Subsequently, together with a gala moderator , they declared the winners of UPPP 2014. ONIONgas team, Polish students from AGH University of Science and Technology were announced the top team of competition. Second place went to Team Mechanical from NED Uni-versity of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan and third place went to OIL UP from University of Miskolc, Hungary. When all the created drama and pressure ceased, guests and participants could refresh and enjoy a talk at a cocktail party.

Jakub Pitera 47

winter / 2015

As a member of the winning team I believe that the competition can lead to the successful career. The opportunity to start the collaboration with MOL Group is opened for every participant of the finals. The event was magnificent. MOL Group used every source to guarantee unforgetable ex-perience to invited students. Apart from the ac-quiring top petrotechnical talents, such compe-tition is a great tool for the company promotion. The student-friendly and innovative profile of MOL Group is unique in the way it is uncommon in the conservative world of oil and gas industry. YoungPetro recommends staying up to date with

everything that company has to offer – from com-petitions like UPPP and FRESHHH to advanced graduate programs.

For more information visit:

È www.uppp.info È www.uppp.info/enterifyoudare È www.facebook.com/moluppp È www.facebook.com/molfreshhh È www.facebook.com/growww È www.youtube.com/user/molgroupinfo È www.molgroup.info

48 Let’s Organize Your Studying Time!

Let’s Organize Your Studying Time!

Agata Gruszczak, Alina Malinowska

�Students create the biggest group of young peo-ple. Beyond classes many students around the world organize themselves into diff erent groups and societies according to their interests and needs. Th ere are many international students’ organizations formed by students for students.

�Th e ideas are totally diff erent, as creating stu-dents’ exchange, sharing hobbies, organizing in-ternships, apprenticeships or doing research to-gether. Groups like these are created to off er help, guidance and other valuable information in order to let the student fi nd his role in the new environ-ment.

Th anks to it, students can participate in interest-ing extracurricular activities and integrate through diff erent meetings in both: formal and informal ways.

Popular professional scientifi c organizations have student chapters, which are formed for stu-dents who want to broaden their knowledge. As a member, they can take part in various congresses, conferences, present papers, reports, meet with professionals, att end workshops or even share ma-terials. Many of them exist in oil & gas sector.

Th e purpose of it is to gather students pursuing the degree in geology, geosciences, petroleum en-gineering and drilling together, and enable them easier access to the best sources.

We asked our friends from diff erent countries about their activities and as a result in this article you will fi nd valuable information about most popular oil & gas international student organiza-tions in terms of how to become a member, what opportunities this membership can bring, their popular projects and some useful words about each one from a single member.

Student Scientifi c Groups

�Every university creates scientifi c circles, that gather students who are passionate about the de-velopment of science. In each of them students expand their knowledge and skills in the specifi c statutory area. Th rough the scientifi c research and events such as educational trips or workshops, members wish to develop and improve technol-ogy in cooperation with scientists and industry. Membership depends on groups, but generally it consists of the individual application.

Th e example of actively working group is Student Scientifi c Group “Oil and Gas” which works on Faculty of Drilling, Oil and Gas at AGH Universi-ty of Science and Technology in Cracow, Poland. Piotr Żyrek, vice-chairman of this group, told us about it:

“Th e activity of Student Scientifi c Group ‘Oil and Gas’ is connected with the issues of reservoir engineer-ing , transmission, production and storage of hydro-carbons. Members of our organization take part in national and international conferences, including last edition of SPE ATCE and East Meets West. Moreover, together with professors of AGH University of Science and Technology, we participate in research imple-menting innovations to the Polish energy sector. Be-sides, ‘Oil and Gas’ is a group of several dozen people eager to develop themselves and broaden their minds every day.”

Agata Gruszczak, Alina Malinowska 49

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The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

�Society of Petroleum Engineers is the biggest petroleum organization which associates over 124,000 members in 135 countries. The main mis-sion of SPE is to collect, disseminate, and exchange technical knowledge concerning the exploration, development and production of oil and gas re-sources, and related technologies for the public benefit; and to provide opportunities for profes-sionals to enhance their technical and professional competence. Engineers, scientist, managers, econ-omists and students from the oil & gas industry have an exceptional opportunity to exchange their knowledge and experience.

This is possible by conferences, trainings cours-es, workshops, lectures and many others special programs or events organized all over the world and targeted at members. The biggest event organ-ized by Society of Petroleum Engineers is Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE), which presents new technologies, products, best practices and future trends for exploration and production each year. If you want to join to SPE, you must register at the main website spe.org as a student. Membership is paid $10–15 per year according to country of residence, but there is usually an option to fund the due by sponsor. In case problems you can watch the instruction vid-eo of the registration. For students there are many benefits of membership, for example a participa-tion in paper contests during conferences, men-tor programs, scholarships’ programs, etc. There are 295 students chapters, including over 37,000 young and future engineers around the globe.

As the example of SPE Student Chapter we are presenting the chapter from Mining University

of Leoben, which was described by the president Oliver Spenger:

“I regard the SPE Student Chapter Leoben mainly as a platform connecting students with the industry, professors and among each other. This is where most of our activities aim at. Leoben is a small town in a petroleum importing country, activities like field trips and conference visits focus the exchange with the worldwide SPE network on a scientific as well as a cultural and social level. One of our main goals is to launch projects like "students4students", where older students (or guest lecturers) share their knowledge and experiences with younger ones to bring all petro-leum engineers of our university together.”

The American Associations of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)

�American Associations of Petroleum Geolo-gists is an international geological organization gathering members who are geologists, geophys-icists, CEOs, managers, consultants, students and scientists. AAPG in its actions focuses on science of geology, especially as it relates to petroleum, natural gas, other subsurface fluids, and mineral resources. The organization bases on eight disci-plines of science: Structure, Geochemistry and Basin Modeling, Engineering, Geophysics, Sed-imentology and Stratigraphy, Business and Eco-nomics, Environmental, Petrophysics and Well Logs, about which members publish papers and articles. There are many programs that are creat-ed to promote and disseminate information about technology and geosciences among members. For students AAPG organizes annually Imperial Barrel Award Program (IBA), which is an annual


prospective basin evaluation competition for geo-science graduate students. Furthermore, members can take part in a large number of special events, from which you can learn a lot, such as work-shops, courses, conferences, seminars, etc. To be a member registration on website www.aapg.org is required. The due for students is in the amount of $10 per year, but is funded by sponsor.

The brilliant example of AAPG Student Chapter are students from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Szymon Belzyt, president, described for us the activity of his chapter:

“Today, after three years of activity, we can show off many events – the lectures held by experts, work-shops, courses and field trips which happened thanks to our members and advisor engagement. Moreover, we participate in conferences and workshops all over the world. We also popularize geosciences by taking part in science festivals and by providing workshops for high school students.

In March, 2014, we participated in European Finals of the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award and currently, we've been working on our first research project titled 'HMA application in petroleum geology'. I am pretty sure that the activity of AMU Poznań SC has an effect on individual development and successes of our mem-bers. Only during recent academic year, our members won IPTC Education Week 2014 competition and SEG Challenge Bowl 2014.”

The European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers (EAGE)

�The European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers is an organization which associates people involved, inter alia, in geophysics, petrole-um exploration, geology, reservoir engineering, mining and mineral exploration, civil engineering, tunneling and environmental matters. Experts from industry, scientists and students share their knowledge during numerous conferences, work-shops, exhibitions and education events.

The most popular event at universities, where student chapters of EAGE are, is Student Lecture Tour. It consists of a half day presentation on an absorbing science topic performed by specialist in geoscience.

This is a great initiative, in which experts share their intellectual development and knowledge with students. As you can see, there are many


WINTER / 2015

benefi ts of membership in this organization. If you want to join to EAGE, you must register at the website www.eage.org as a student or send fi lled application form to the EAGE Europe Offi ce. Th e membership fee is €25, but there is also a option of the sponsored student membership.

We are presenting the EAGE Student Chapter from the Institute of Earth Physics in Paris. Sébas-tien Rajeul told us:

“Th e IPGP Student Chapter of the EAGE was created a few years ago by Master students graduating in Geo-physics. One of its main goals is to develop innovative geophysical projects that help students to develop their technical knowledge and background, as well as their professional network. Th ese projects are aimed at con-tributing to the industry technology excellence, by rely-ing on the learning received during lectures taught by internationally renowned professors who are actively engaged in research fr om IPGP, Mines ParisTech, Shell, CGG, Schlumberger and Total. As a major worldwide oil & gas industry event, the EAGE annual conference & exhibition represents an outstanding occasion for our students to share their project results with the in-dustry and to help developing the links between the academic and professional world.”

The Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG)

Th e Society of Exploration Geophysicists is an organization that promotes the science of applied geophysics and the education of geophysicists. It consociates 33,000 members in 138 countries, in-cluding specialists and students of geophysics or a related scientifi c fi eld (such as, but not limited, to physics, mathematics, engineering, or geolo-

gy). Th e objective of SEG is fostering geophysical operations in the exploration and development of natural resources.

Th e International Exposition and Annual Meet-ing is organized, similarly as many other events, such as forums, workshops, conferences, courses, etc. where the experts around the world exchange their knowledge about actual and interesting top-ics concerning geophysics.

If you want to apply for membership, you have two options: online form with application from web-site www.seg.org or printable to send fax or mail to Membership department. Th ere is free associate membership dues for under graduated students and the fi rst year following graduation.

The Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts (SPWLA)

�Th e Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log Analysts aims to provide discussion and knowl-edge of the science of petrophycics and formation evaluation, through well logging and petrophysi-cal techniques. SPWLA is an organizer of sympo-sia and topical conferences, which are a place to discuss about new technique and new standards of formation evaluation. On every continent we can meet chapter of SPWLA.

As a member, you can publish papers in journals and during conferences, participate at local socie-ty meetings and make presentations.

If you want to join, you have to fi ll the Student Membership Application from website www.sp-wla.org and send it to the board’s of organization address.


American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE)

�AADE is first and only existing organization founded specially for Drilling Engineers.

The main purpose is to provide technical skills exchange for ones interested in the drilling indus-try. AADE chapters organize forums and annual technical conferences to offer the opportunity to present latest technologies. Furthermore, they publish a newsletter or news on a webpage to keep all members informed about new activities and drilling industry information.

To join AADE you have to complete membership application and return it to appropriate chapter. List of chapters can be found on http://www.aade.org/. Every chapter has its student section. By joining student section we will be able to join the forum for exchange of ideas in discussions among professionals and other students, precisely on drilling related subjects.

Penn State Student Chapter – http://www.eme.psu.edu/academics/student-orgs/aade

“American Association of Drilling Engineers at Penn State (AADE) is an up and coming student run club that has grown from an initial 40 members to now having over 200 registered members. Although, AADE was only recently established, AADE has provided stu-dents interested in drilling the opportunity to partic-ipate in several oil and gas field trips, listen to knowl-edgeable speakers, and meaningful networking events with industry professionals. AADE PSU strives to ful-fill each students interest and curiosity about drilling , completions, and the oil and gas industry as a whole.”

Abraham Dupla, fall 2014 – spring 2015 President

“As a chapter of AADE Appalachian Basin, AADE Penn State offers exposure of the oil & gas industry to students studying various disciplines. We have held a multitude of events, ranging from our annual mixer, conferences, to rig tours. The limited slots are selective-ly filled with candidates that are most involved with our organization.

This year, we plan on offering more events to members than ever before. As we continue to grow in numbers with over 200 members, we would like to maintain our ability to provide a smaller personable atmos-phere to our members while being able to provide op-portunities to engage in rewarding and exciting trips.”

Philip Kim, AADE Penn State President

Council for Undergraduate Research-Geosciences Division (CUR)

�The mission of CUR is to support and promote high-quality undergraduate student-faculty col-laborative research and scholarship. By joining CUR you get possibility to use CUR’s mentoring services, attend meetings and get access to publi-cations, you will get valuable advice on how to set up your program to enter undergraduates. CUR’s web site is full of information about presentation and research presenting opportunities for stu-dents, undergraduate journals and student events and conferences.

�Geoscience division describes itself as extreme-ly active and helpful to all researches to start their own work.

More you can find on its blog: http://geocur.org/


WINTER / 2015

The Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society (EEGS)

�Th e idea of EEGS organization is to promote geophysics especially in force to environmental and engineering problems and solutions, to share together interests of geophysics and promote fel-lowship and cooperation among people interested in this kind of science. It develops and distributes quarterly scientifi c journal and a newslett er, also publishes books, CD-ROMs on the use of geophys-ical technologies. Th ere are seven student chapters existing in several universities: Charles University in Prague, Clemson University, Kutztown Univer-sity, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Rut-gers University, University of Lagos, University of Wyoming. As only a few chapters exist, the board of EEGS encourage students to form a student chapter. To form a chapter there should be a min-imum of two students and a faculty advisor de-clared. More can be found on: htt p://www.eegs.org/student-chapters. Student membership is free and to join EEGS as a student member you have to fi ll online application.

Society of Women Engineers (SWE)

�Although not many women decide to enter technical specializations, there is an organization that unite them all. Society of Women Engineers organizes webinars for dynamic and eff ective learning soft skills, creates online platform for those who are looking for engineering job fi lled with hundreds of jobs posted monthly by SWE’s sponsors and allocates scholarships for female stu-dents with great achievements.

Aft er becoming a member, you become able to de-velop leadership abilities, publish articles in SWE Magazine, present technical papers at conferences.

To become a member you have to fi ll online form. More you can fi nd on: htt p://societyofwome-nengineers.swe.org/.

What about joining one of them and seizing an opportunity?

54 How It Works?

How It Works?

Maciej Wawrzkowicz

�Hello everyone! Today’s topic is quite well known to each of us. We will be talking a bit about natural gas. Yes, exactly, about natural gas. But not about the most known volatile form of natural gas as you might suppose. Th is time we will describe LNG.

First, let us say something interesting about natu-ral gas in general. As we all know, the main ingre-dient of "blue fuel" is fi rst in homologous alkane series – methane. Depending on conditions, both geological and technical, its content may vary. In the last 10 years, the annual consumption of nat-ural gas has increased by more than 30% and it is still rising. To the largest exporters of this fos-sil fuel belong such countries as the U.S., Russia and Canada. However, it is worth mentioning that the biggest natural reserves of “blue fuel” are doc-umented to be found in Russia (27,1% of global reserves) and in the Middle East (circa 72 billion cubic meters).

Back to the main topic of our article: what actual-ly is Liquefi ed Natural Gas (abbreviated as LNG)? In fact, taking into consideration its composition, it is the same gas as the one you may fi nd in gas pipelines at your home but in other state of aggre-gation – liquefi ed. Th e fi rst conversion of gas into liquid was performed by a well-known physician Michael Faraday. Th e fi rst large scale liquefaction of natural gas in the U.S. took place in 1918. Th e U.S. government liquefi ed natural gas in order to extract helium, which is a small component of some natu-ral gas. Helium was intended to be used in British dirigibles during World War I. Several years later in 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio, fi rst liquefaction facility designed for commercial purposes was built.

In order to convert natural gas from its volatile to liquefi ed form, there is a need to decrease its temperature to around −162 degree Celsius (−256 degree Fahrenheit). Furthermore, before this process takes place, natural gas must be very well purifi ed to avoid the threat of crystallization in the heat exchangers in the liquefaction plant. As a result, we obtain very "clean" natural gas with at least 95% methane in its composition. What is in-teresting, in its liquefi ed state natural gas takes up approximately 1/600 of the space, making it much easier to ship and store when pipeline transport is not feasible. With LNG gas is liquefi ed and trans-ported internationally via tankers. Once it has reached its destination, LNG is offl oaded from the tankers and either stored in special insulated ves-sels or regasifi ed. LNG is dehydrated into a gaseous state again through a process that involves passing the liquefi ed “blue fuel” through a series of vapor-izers that reheat the fuel. Th en natural gas is sent via established transportation methods such as pipeline systems to the end users.

Th e largest importer of LNG is Japan, while the larger exporter of this form of “blue fuel” is still Qatar.

To the main advantages of this kind of fuel belong: effi ciency, ecology and fl exible supplies. More-over, as a liquid, LNG is not explosive – its vapor will only explode in an enclosed space within the fl ammable range of 5–15%. Th erefore, LNG is a very safe fuel. Disadvantages? Natural gas in this form is still too expensive; however, its price is an-ticipated to decrease in the years to come. Maybe this is why energy experts predict that the LNG trade will grow in importance.

Call for PapersYoungPetro is waiting for your paper!

� e topics of the papers should refer to: Drilling Engineering, Reservoir Engineering, Fuels and Energy, Geology and Geophysics, Environ-mental Protection, Management and Economics

Papers should be sent to papers @ youngpetro.org

For more information visit youngpetro.org/papers

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International Student Petroleum Congress & Career Expo6th Edition, 22nd - 24th IV 2015

Krakow, AGH UST

Documents

YoungPetro - 14th Issue - Winter 2015