1. Challenges for very deep oil and
gas drilling –
will there ever be a depth limit?
Issues on hydrocarbon generation
Associate Professor V.C. Kelessidis
2. Summary of presentation
• Explore the ‘depth limits’ of current wells
• Present world breaking cases, challenges
• Oil generation, biotic vs abiotic
• Summary
3. The issues
• Oil Demand increases and Oil Supply shows slow
growth
• Estimated Oil-In-Place ~ 1,258 Trillion Bbls
• Current production, 0,086*365=31 billion Bbls
• Will LAST? 42 years !!• Will LAST? 42 years !!
• Oil production – will reach plateau in 10 years
at 100 mBpD
• FUTURE ?????
• Better Recoveries & Deeper Wells in Ultra-
Deep Waters 3
4. Petroleum demand & supply
4
Source: www.yardeni.com
Peak Oil: Supply Data Doesn’t Lie
Aug 26th, 2009 | By Puru Saxena |
Category: Oil Investment & Alternative
Energy
6. Deepest Wells Today ?
• Gas Wells, Onshore USA Oklahoma, 1970s
– GHK-27, 9583 m & GHK-28, @ 9159 m
• Deepest oil producing offshore wells,
– @ ~8000 m
– Perdido field, GoM, Shell– Perdido field, GoM, Shell
– Tahiti field, GoM, Chevron
• Oil exploration continues
• Ultra deep waters
– Gulf of Mexico, Brazil, Angola
6
7. There's a hole in the bottom of the sea
Chevron's Jack #2 - depth of 20,000 ft (6.100 m)
..Finding oil at such a depth is not unheard of, but unusual
Byron W. King
Whiskey & Gunpowder / Energy Bulletin
Sep 13 2006
7
...Too deep for oil to maintain its properties. (Oil window)
...Deep wells commonly produce dry gas, with no or
almost no associated oil.
9. Is it always true?
• But still, oil window or no, oil is
where you find it.
• As recently as in 2000s, few
observers believed lower Tertiaryobservers believed lower Tertiary
sands in GoM would, if reached, yield
oil or gas from great depths.
• But apparently, there is oil down
there. Why? How does it work?
10. BP expects Tiber one of
richest finds in the GoM
similar to Thunder Horse
~300,000 BOD
half of Alaska's North Slope.
Very new !
1259 m water
9425 m well
10684 m TOTAL
~ 3 billion bbbls
10
12. Challenges – Salt domes
• Difficult to ‘read’ through salt
• Very difficult to DRILL through
• Significant finds underneath !
• Tupi field, Brazil• Tupi field, Brazil
• 8 – 10 billion Bbls
• Discovered in 2007, 240 million US$
• 2100 m water, 2100 m salt, 4900 m rock
• Will require investment of up to 5 billion US$
• First production, May 2009
• Full production in 2013 12
13. Challenges – Casing / disasters
9 GoM
4-5 conventional
Thunder Horse
Hurricane Dennis, 2005
13
9 GoM
Back in production, 2008
After 30 months !
14. A price to pay, April 18, GoM
The rig named "Deep Water Horizon" is
still on fire and the U.S. Coast Guard is
on the scene pulling workers off the
platform and out of the water
surrounding the rig. 8 workers have been
critically injured in the blast and are now
being airlifted to a local hospital. 120
people were on board at the time of the
explosion.
he incident occurred around 10 p.m.
Tuesday on the Deepwater Horizon. As of 5
a.m., officials said the fire continued to
burn on the water and on the rig.
The rig is in the Gulf of
Mexico Mississippi
Canyon block 252, 41 mi
(66 km) offshore
Louisiana.
15. Innovations for deep drilling
Advanced Geomechanics
Casing Drilling
Dual pipe drilling
15
Dual pipe drilling
New deep water drilling
ships To target
40.000 ft
16. Scientific drilling – Deepest holes
Oil Found ?
Traces of hydrocarbons
In all of them
16
In all of them
Equipment used ?
17. Where does the oil come from ??
• The organic theory - accepted
• The ABIOTIC THEORY of petroleum
generation –
• controversial but people still discuss• controversial but people still discuss
and study it !
17
18. Organic theory
• Plankton – organic matter, simple cell
organisms
• Accumulation in ocean floors
• Burial under sediments• Burial under sediments
• Anaerobic conditions, high P & T
• Kerogen
• Further burial & heat
• Cracking petroleum & natural gas
• Upward migration to reservoirs &
staying in traps
18
20. Oil is where you find it !
• Traditional
– sedimentary rocks
• Non-Traditional
– metamorphic rocks
– eg. White Tiger, Vietnam– eg. White Tiger, Vietnam
20
~ 1990s
350.000 bopd
~ 47 years
Biogenic origin
From under-
sedimentary rocks
21. Abiotic theory
• Hydrocarbons formed in the depths of earth
• Dmitri Mendeleyev, 1877
• Alexandrovich Kudryavtsev (1951)
• Thomas Gold, 1980
Wikepedia
• The Russian – Ukranian
theory of abyssal, abiotic petroleum generation
• Outgassing theory (Gold)
21
22. Russian-Ukraine theory
• R-U theory states that petroleum is
‘primordial’ == generated at the same
time as earth generation
• Of deep origin
• Transported via ‘cold’ eruptive• Transported via ‘cold’ eruptive
process into the crust
• There is extensive Russian body of
knowledge over the past years
• Little translated into English
22
23. The work of many people (Kenney, 1994)
• Kropotkin, 1956
• Vasiliev, 1959
• Kudryavtsev, 1959, 1963
• Porfir’yev, 1959
• Raznitsyn, 1963• Raznitsyn, 1963
• Krayushkin, 1965, 1984
• Markevich, 1966
• Dolenko, 1968, 1971
• Linetskii 1974
• Letnikov, Karpov, 1977
23
24. Russian-Ukraine theory
• At high pressures (< 5000 bars) and high temperatures
(500-1500 C) methane is produced from reduced calcite
• Thermodynamically sound – experimentally verified
Kenney, J.F. et al. 2002
The evolution of multi-component systems at high pressures:
VI. The genesis of hydrocarbons and the origin of
petroleum
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99 ,Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99 ,
10976-10981
36 Citations
24
25. Outgassing theory – Th. Gold
The deep- earth- gas hypothesis. Gold, T., Soter, S. 1980
Scientific American 242, 154-161
29 citations
Methane forms in the mantle
Migrates slowly upwards into Earth’s crust in areas of crustal
weakness (plate boundaries, meteor impact sites)
After cooling at some depths petroleum
25
The deep, hot biosphere
Gold, T. 1992 Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences of the United States of America 89, 6045-6049
188 Citations
The origin of natural gas and petroleum, and the prognosis for future supplies.
Gold, T. 1985 Annual Review of Energy. 10, 53-77
4 citations
Fluid ascent through the solid lithosphere and its relation to earthquakes
Gold, T., Soter, S. 1984 Pure and Applied Geophysics PAGEOPH 122, 492-530
25 citations
26. From Fischer-Tropsch type
Potter et al., Lithos 75, 2004, 11-330
Abiogenic Fischer–Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons in alkaline igneous
rocks
.. these hydrocarbons have an abiogenic, crustal origin ...
This would suggest that these data favour a model for formation of
hydrocarbons through Fischer–Tropsch type reactions involving an early
CO2-rich fluid and H2 derived from alteration reactions,
21 citations
26
CO2-rich fluid and H2 derived from alteration reactions,
21 citations
Hydrocarbons in Hydrothermal Vent Fluids: The Role of Chromium-Bearing
Catalysts
Foustoukos, D.I., Seyfried Jr., W.E. 2004 Science, 304 , 1002-
1005
62 Citations
…Generation of CH4 from CO2 rich hydrothermal fluids
28. How about Turkey?
Two possible sources
1. abiogenic process of serpentinization within
the Tekirova ophiolite,
2. Biogenic, from the Upper Paleozoic to Lower
Mesozoic organic-rich shales in which
methane to pentane hydrocarbons were
thermally generated.
30. Supporting evidence
• Methane and other hydrocarbons detected in
outer solar system and in comets
• Very deep gas reservoirs, to 10000 m
• Small amounts of hydrocarbons in deep scientific
holes
– Kola (Russia, part abiogenic and part biogenic)– Kola (Russia, part abiogenic and part biogenic)
– Sweden – Germany
• Thermodynamic computations and experiments
generated methane at high P & T in presence of
metal catalysts
• Generation of methane from CO2 bearing aqueous
fluids with metals as catalysts and CH4 detection
in hydrothermal veins
30
31. Opposing views – Several !
Recent publication – good overview
Abiogenic origin of hydrocarbons: An historical overview
Glasby, G.P. 2006 Resource Geology 56 , 83-96
5 Citations
31
5 Citations
A. Tsatskin, O Balaban,
Peak oil in the light of oil formation theories, Energy
Policy, 36, 2008, 1826-1828 , (in favour of abiotic
theory)
35. This artistic view shows hydrocarbons forming in
the upper mantle and transported to shallower
depths. The inset shows a snapshot of the
methane dissociation reaction studied in this
work.
Methane-derived hydrocarbons produced under upper-mantle conditions
Anton Kolesnikov , Vladimir G. Kutcherov & Alexander F. Goncharov
Nature Geoscience 2, 566–570 (1 August
2009)
36. Implications ?? Vladimir Kutcherov
• To identify where it is worthwhile to drill
for natural gas and oil, he has used his
research to arrive at a new method.
• It involves dividing the globe into a finely
meshed grid. The grid corresponds tomeshed grid. The grid corresponds to
fissures, so-called ‘migration channels,’
through underlying layers under the
surface of the earth.
• Wherever these fissures meet, it is
suitable to drill.
37. Discussion (1/2)
• Should look for all energy sources
• Hydrocarbons will continue to play
significant role
• Wells of the future – horizontal,
multilateral, smart wellsmultilateral, smart wells
• Operated by top notch, multidisciplinary
people
• ‘the world is full of resources, the Big
Question, is how to apply technology to
MAKE THEM Energy Resources’ (R. Ryan-
Chevron)
37
38. Discussion (2/2)
• Way forward, Creativity, Imagination,
Integration, People !
• Peak Oil will be reached when we reach peak
technology
• Peak technology will determine when will
reach peak oil !reach peak oil !
• Technological advancement, Ingenuity,
educating our people KEYS to extend oil
depletion window
BUT
• If abiotic theory is CORRECT ?
• Look for means to find oil – not to replace it !
38
39. Summary
• Analysis presented for hydrocarbon exploration
trends
• Challenges faced by oil industry
• Ultra deep waters and very deep boreholes
• Future breakthroughs – intelligent guidance,• Future breakthroughs – intelligent guidance,
integration drilling, completion, seismic
• Abiotic theory of hydrocarbon generation
• Thermodynamics and experiments show it is
possible
39
40. Summary
• Biogenic or Abiotic generation
• Requirements for Deep drilling
• Oil industry should face the challenge
• Develop innovative tools and techniques
• Rely on top quality people• Rely on top quality people
• Significant breakthroughs have been made
in the past 100 years
• More to come through team work and focus
on innovations
• Wonderful future for young graduates40
