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Offshore Well Completion and Stimulation Using Hydraulic Fracturing and Other Technologies: Proceedings of a Workshop (2019) / Chapter Skim
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2 Advanced Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Development: Resource Recovery, Environmental Stewardship, and Safety
Pages 5-12

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
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From page 5...
... KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS From Exploration to Production: Offshore Oil and Gas Development and the Context of Unconventional Resources in the Offshore Environment Evan Zimmerman, Offshore Operators Committee Zimmerman explained that the primary impetus for offshore well completion design is sand control. He noted that high-volume hydraulic fracturing of unconventional formations, as is done, for example, for shales in the onshore, is not occurring offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
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From page 6...
... Emissions that fall under these reviews or permits include those from permanent and temporary engines, support vessels, flares, and other well completion activities. Water discharges are regulated and permitted by the EPA through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
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From page 7...
... A gravel pack uses sieved sand as a filter to prevent formation sand from entering the wellbore, while the frac pack combines the gravel pack with hydraulic fracturing to create wide fractures filled with sieved sand that aid in connecting the reservoir to the wellbore. Figure 2.2 Types of well completions in order of complexity clockwise from upper left.
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From page 8...
... Acid stimulation, another type of completion that has been used for decades, can be used to stimulate the formation. Acid stimulation can be achieved through matrix acidizing (i.e., pumping acid into the formation below fracture pressure to dissolve minerals in the rock and create flow path channels)
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From page 9...
... BOEM's oil and gas program begins with a 5-year national program of lease sales, moves to individual lease sales, reviews exploration and production plans, and then approves site development. Brown clarified that while BOEM leases blocks to companies and approves exploration, development, and protection plans, BSEE handles requests for facilities whose plans have already been approved by BOEM but that seek a permit to modify their wells.
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From page 10...
... He explained that in the offshore, production from a small group of large, modern facilities is managed effectively with careful inspection of potential release points. Brown acknowledged that the issue of emissions is worth further study and suggested the Gulfwide Offshore Activity Data System4 as a starting point for future discussions on pollutants, while Payne suggested that methane emissions could be the central focus of a future workshop.
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From page 11...
... Brown added that the OCS and the onshore environments are governed by different agencies and different laws, and Payne noted that onshore regulations can be especially difficult to navigate, owing to the high number of jurisdictions. Danenberger stated that BSEE reviews every completion program and reviews subsequent data, and he reiterated that quality control is an important and challenging issue in all environments.
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From page 12...
... now, it is imperative to find new fields to tie back to existing production sites instead of creating new platforms. In response to a participant's inquiry about the use of desalination operations on platforms to generate fresh water, Payne explained that every rig operating in deep water has a desalination unit on board to generate its own fresh water, though the units are small and can generate only a limited volume each day.
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Key Terms

  • participant asked
  • offshore environment
  • offshore oil
  • fresh water
  • frac pack

  • methane emissions
  • hydraulic fracturing
  • gas development
  • offshore environments
  • outer continental

  • ocean energy
  • gravel pack
  • continental shelf
  • cook inlet
  • injection pressures

  • water packs
  • sieved sand
  • completion activities
  • gas production
  • mexico outer

  • create flow
  • air emissions
  • handles permits
  • mitigation strategies
  • pumping acid

  • drilling contractor
  • flow path
  • lease sales
  • keynote presentations
  • path channels


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