New Breakthrough Device Finds Untapped Oil Reserves in Old Wells; Company Licenses Technology to Western Atlas, Schlumberger and Atlantic Richfield Company; To Form Partnerships for Low Risk, Low Cost Exploration for Oil and Gas.PALO ALTO Palo Alto, city, California Palo Alto (păl`ō ăl`tō), city (1990 pop. 55,900), Santa Clara co., W Calif.; inc. 1894. Although primarily residential, Palo Alto has aerospace, electronics, and advanced research industries. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1995--PML Inc. has announced the successful testing in a commercial well of its electrical resistivity Electrical resistivity The electrical resistance offered by a homogeneous unit cube of material to the flow of a direct current of uniform density between opposite faces of the cube. technology that enables petroleum companies to detect and map oil and gas reserves that may lie hidden behind the metal walls of old oil and gas wells. The result: a means to find previously bypassed oil and gas deposits right next to currently producing wells; lower risk and less money to find and produce new reserves; the ability to produce from the same wells with less impact on the environment; and improved monitoring of oil production processes. In a related event, PML PML - Parallel ML. ["Synchronous Operations as First-Class Values", J.H. Reppy <jhr@research.att.com>, Proc SIGPLAN 88 Conf Prog Lang Design and Impl, June 1988, pp. 250-259]. announced it has licensed this technology to its first commercial licensee, Western Atlas Western Atlas was formed in 1987 through the merger of Western Geophysical (owned by Litton Industries) and Dresser Atlas. The resulting company was a joint venture of Litton and Dresser Industries until it was spun off as a publicly traded company in 1994. Logging Services, a participant in the field testing. PML also announced that Schlumberger recently signed as a licensee. One of the most costly and risky aspects of the oil business is finding new reserves and bringing them into production. "Finding undiscovered reserves in oil fields This list of oil fields includes major fields of the past and present. The list is incomplete; there are more than 40,000 oil and gas fields of all sizes in the world[1]. right within existing wells is both a technical and economic breakthrough," claims Dr. Sheldon Breiner, Chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of PML. This technology has been sought for years to bring back into production older wells now far down in the production cycle in areas that have had prolific production histories. "In prospective areas, new production can now be brought on line using existing infrastructure at low cost and almost no risk, without even drilling new wells. It is like finding money in your pocket -- money you didn't even know was there," Breiner notes. "Tens of thousands of wells are being abandoned each year or purchased by the Independents from the major oil companies, most of which should be logged with this tool for possible commercial pay." This major breakthrough is made possible by a high-resolution device known as the Through Casing Resistivity resistivity Electrical resistance of a conductor of unit cross-sectional area and unit length. The resistivity of a conductor depends on its composition and its temperature. Tool (TCRT TCRT Twin City Rapid Transit (Minneapolis-St Paul) TCRT Time-Censored Ramp Test (reliability) ), patented by PML. The TCRT is a very precise oil logging tool that successfully measures the electrical resistivity of rock formations through the casing in a completed well -- previously considered an impossible task. "Resistivity is the single most critical logging parameter with respect to confirming the presence of oil, gas and associated water," said Dr. James Klein, Senior Principal Petrophysicist of ARCO Exploration and Production Technology Company. "To be able to log resistivity through casing is therefore a great advance for reservoir engineering Reservoir engineering is a branch of petroleum engineering, typically concerned with maximizing the economic recovery of hydrocarbons from the subsurface. Of particular interest to reservoir engineers is generating accurate reserves estimates for use in financial reporting and should produce very valuable information on the conditions that influence production." Nearly 10 Years of Research and Testing "It has taken nearly 10 years of extensive research and testing to get to where we are today," states Dr. W. Banning Vail, inventor of the TCRT, and president and chief operating officer Chief Operating Officer (COO) The officer of a firm responsible for day-to-day management, usually the president or an executive vice-president. of PML. "But the research and testing have paid off." PML's technology was demonstrated during joint testing with its first industrial partner, Western Atlas Logging Services, on a commercial wellsite in Colorado. "These tests proved -- without a doubt," asserts Dr. Vail, "that oil well logging Well logging, also known as borehole logging is the practice of making a detailed record (log) of the geologic formations penetrated by a borehole. The log may be based either on visual inspection of samples brought to the surface (geological of electrical resistivity of the rock formations is indeed possible through the steel walls of an oil well." The research was made possible through a contract with Gas Research Institute (GRI GRI Graduate, Realtors Institute GRI Global Reporting Initiative GRI Gas Research Institute GRI Gallaudet Research Institute GRI General Rate Increase GRI Geoscience Research Institute (Loma Linda, CA) ), by grants from the Bartlesville Project Office of the U.S. Department of Energy, financial assistance from Atlantic Richfield Company and early evaluation support by Western Atlas Logging Services. Licensing the Technology Further proving the value and need for this technology, PML has licensed its TCRT technology to Western Atlas Logging Services and more recently to Schlumberger which together represent more than 80% of the worldwide logging industry. Specific terms of the royalty arrangements are unavailable. In addition, PML has entered into a patent cross-licensing agreement with Atlantic Richfield Company and is in licensing discussions with other logging service companies. Details are unavailable. The TCRT is currently being redesigned and will be manufactured for commercial application by industry licensees who will employ the technology in their service offerings. How It Works The TCRT measures the electrical resistance Electrical resistance Opposition of a circuit to the flow of electric current. Ohm's law states that the current I flowing in a circuit is proportional to the applied potential difference V. of adjacent rock formations through the steel casing of the existing well. Electric current applied inside the casing flows along the casing, some of it "leaking" through the casing into the surrounding geological formations. The amount of this current, determined by extremely precise voltage measurements at specific points along the casing, provides an accurate measure of the resistance, or electrical resistivity, of the conducting formations. Oil resists the flow of electricity; salt water commonly underlying the oil conducts very well and the rocks are, electrically, somewhere in between. By measuring these electrical characteristics, geologists can more easily interpret the presence of gas or oil contained in the pore spaces in the rocks. "Measurements of the electrical resistance of rocks has been the primary oil well logging measurement for 70 years," according to Richard Woodhouse, Petroleum Consultant and previously BP's Manager of Reservoir Evaluation, London, England. "It was previously only possible to make these measurements in wells before the steel liners were installed. The new through casing resistivity technology will dramatically improve the oil industry's ability to increase oil production and efficiency and reduce costs." "Electrical logging through casing is a breakthrough that has been sought for many years. It promises to prove indispensable in monitoring hydrocarbon reserves in producing wells as well as providing a much improved means of locating overlooked pay in old wells," notes John Dewan de·wan n. Any of various government officials in India, especially a regional prime minister. [Hindi d , well-known logging consultant and author of a noted textbook on log interpretation. Oil Field Applications With the TCRT, hydrocarbons in previously drilled and cased wells can be detected. What this means is that companies can return to depleted de·plete tr.v. de·plet·ed, de·plet·ing, de·pletes To decrease the fullness of; use up or empty out. [Latin d oil and gas fields and possibly find new reserves missed by older, less sophisticated measuring techniques. This will reduce the need for drilling new wells, saving companies millions of dollars in exploration costs yet helping them find more oil. "TCRT measurements are an essential tool for detecting remaining hydrocarbons in mature fields such as the North Sea Brent and many other oil and gas fields," said Mr. Kees van Baaren Kees van Baaren (born 22 October 1906 in Enschede – died 2 September 1970 in Oegstgeest) was a Dutch composer and teacher. Van Baaren's early studies (1924-29) were in Berlin with Rudolph Breithaupt (piano) and Friedrich Koch (composition). , Manager Petrophysics Petrophysics (petro is Latin for "rock" and physics is the study of nature) is the study of the physical and chemical properties that describe the occurrence and behavior of rocks, soils and fluids [1]. , Shell UK Expro Ltd., Aberdeen, Scotland. "The new measurements will improve the recoverage factor, maximize oil recovery, extend field life, and reduce the cost of recovering remaining hydrocarbons." The TCRT can be used to improve the design of fractures, monitor the channels followed by water injected to promote increased production, determine how fast an active field's reservoir is depleting and where to perforate per·fo·rate v. 1. To make a hole or holes in, as from injury, disease, or medical procedure. 2. To pass into or through (a body structure or tissue). adj. Having been perforated. the casing when recompleting a well at a different depth. "The means to monitor in an operating well the various secondary and tertiary recovery processes should enhance production and allow industry to recover hydrocarbons that previously would not have been economic to recover and thereby squeeze more out of existing reservoirs," stated Mr. Mark Alberty, Petrophysicist, BP. It can even be used to help control the drilling process or detect oil or gas while drilling. Used in a nearby adjacent well, the TCRT can better assess the location and amount of oil that is left undrained in a given field using cross-well tomographic techniques. "This tool may be the most significant advance in logging in A colloquial term for the process of making the initial record of the names of individuals who have been brought to the police station upon their arrest. The process of logging in is also called booking. years," according to Dr. James Klein, of ARCO. "Together with other recently developed cased-hole tools, the industry will probably accelerate the trend to log more wells after casing is set." Bypassed Oil and Gas Ventures In addition to licensing its technology, PML will form joint ventures with independent oil and gas companies to earn an equity interest in discovered bypassed oil and gas reserves. PML will establish itself as an oil production company and, through private funds, plans to acquire, for its own account, properties selected as appropriate for finding bypassed pay zones. The reserves thus discovered through the use of the TCRT will greatly enhance the value of the acquired properties. Over time, the company anticipates this joint venture program to produce significant value through the production acquired. Moreover, the company anticipates substantial growth in the market for logging cased holes and will earn licensing revenues for such industry use. PML Inc. is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. that develops and licenses advanced technology to enhance oil and gas exploration and production. Technology development for the company is based in Woodinville, Washington. Administrative offices are in Palo Alto, California “Palo Alto” redirects here. For other uses, see Palo Alto (disambiguation). Palo Alto (IPA: /ˌpæloʊˈʔæltoʊ/, from Spanish: palo: "stick" and alto: "high", i.e. (1) -0- What Others Are Saying About PML's TCRT The Geological Survey has estimated that there are over 112 billion barrels of recoverable oil and over 1,000 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas in the U.S. (Oil & Gas Journal, March 6, 1995). -0- "I see its most important uses in recompletion, finding bypassed pay in older fields and monitoring numerous production problems," states Richard Woodhouse, Petroleum Consultant and previously BP's Manager of Reservoir Evaluation, London, England. "I anticipate its first use in the North Slope of Alaska and the North Sea major oil and gas fields where it will play a vital role in boosting production." -0- According to David Kennedy of Mobil Oil, "The TCRT's apparent resistivity response is comparable to -- or in thin resistive resistive /re·sis·tive/ (re-zis´tiv) pertaining to or characterized by resistance. beds better than -- the response of the industry-standard deep induction resistivity tool." -0- "Resistivity measurements through casing have always been a dream," cites S. Gianzero and B. Anderson, SPWLA SPWLA Society of Professional Well Log Analysts Reprint Volume, Resistivity Logging, Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, Houston, Texas, June 1992. -0- Industry References: Mr. Sheldon Breiner, Chairman, CEO ParaMagnetic par·a·mag·net·ic adj. Relating to or being a substance in which an induced magnetic field is parallel and proportional to the intensity of the magnetizing field but is much weaker than in ferromagnetic materials. Logging Inc. Palo Alto, California - 415/323-1133 Dr. W. Banning Vail, President, COO ParaMagnetic Logging Inc. Woodinville, Washington - 206/481-5474 Mr. David Kennedy Mobil Oil, Dallas - 214/851-8435 Mr. John Dewan, Consultant Houston - 713/781-0985 Mr. Paul Dougan, President, Equity Oil Company Salt Lake City - 801/521-3515 Mr. Richard Woodhouse, Petroleum Consultant London 44 1 932 342 677 Dr. James Klein, Sr. Principal Petrophysicist Atlantic Richfield Company, Dallas - 214/509-3000 Mr. Kees van Baaren, Mgr. Petrophysics Shell UK Expro Ltd. Aberdeen (U.K.) - 44 1 224 883971 Mr. Mark Alberty, Petrophysicist BP, Houston - 713/560-8500 Dr. Shambhu Tripathi, Director, Research & Development WRT WRT - with regard to, with respect to. Energy, Houston - 713/364-4044 -0- Note (1) Through Casing Resistivity Tools is a trademark of PML Inc. TCRT is a registered trademark of PML Inc. CONTACT: PML, Inc. Sheldon Breiner, 415/323-1133 |
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