Author: Oil & Gas Admins International

Definition of the Day – API Gravity

American Petroleum Institute’s gravity “API gravity” is a standard to express the specific weight of oils, computed as (141.5/sp g) – 131.5, where sp is the specific gravity of the oil at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The lower the specific gravity value, the higher the API gravity will be.

Light Oil, also known as “conventional oil,” has an API gravity of at least 22° and a viscosity less than 100 centipoise (cp).  It flows naturally and can be pumped without being heated or diluted.

Heavy Oil is asphaltic, dense (low API gravity), and viscous (thick and sticky) oil that is chemically characterized by its content of asphaltenes (very large molecules incorporating most of the sulfur and perhaps 90% of the metals in the oil). Although variously defined, the upper limit for heavy oils has been set at 22°API gravity and a viscosity of less than 100 cP.  Heavy oils typically require heat or dilution to flow into a well or through a pipeline.

Extra Heavy Oil is the portion of heavy oil that has an API gravity of less than 10°.

Extra-Heavy Oil Natural Bitumen is also known as “oil sands”, and it shares the attributes of heavy oil but is even more dense and viscous.  Natural bitumen has a viscosity greater than 10,000 cp.

API Gravity Chart

Definitions:

American Petroleum Institute (API) – the largest US trade association for the oil and natural gas industry.

 

 

2015 O&GA Leadership Team Announcement

It is with great pleasure that we announce new members of the 2015 Oil & Gas Admins International Executive Leadership Team.  These exceptional individuals bring years of leadership and diverse oil and gas experience to the organization, as well as an eager drive to help others succeed.

The primary responsibility of O&GA’s Executive Leadership team is to ensure the execution of the organization’s global initiatives and its mission to:

  • foster exceptional career and personal development and performance through education and networking
  • expose oil and energy administrative and support professionals to industry information and technologies required for career advancement
  • provide opportunities to gain a certifiable overall knowledge of the global and diverse oil and energy industry through the OGAP Certification Program

LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS

Debra Womack-Bourghs - Executive AmbassadorDebra Womack-Bourghs, CAP will serve as Executive Ambassador, a lead Executive Committee role with diverse leadership responsibilities for the global organization that also governs the Regional Ambassadors.  Debra will serve a two-year term as Executive Ambassador for 2015 and as Immediate Past Executive Ambassador for 2016.  Read Debra’s full biography >>
Gemlyn for AnnouncementGemlyn Coote, CAP will serve as Vice-Executive Ambassador, an Executive Committee role in charge of operations and staff activities for the global organization, as well as other diverse responsibilities.  The Vice-Executive Ambassador serves a one-year term.  Read Gemlyn’s full biography >>
Jill D. Alexander - Western Region Ambassador
Jill D. Alexander, CAP will serve as Western Region Ambassador with diverse responsibilities that include governing the region’s Corporate Ambassadors, its O&GA activities, and representing the region on the Executive Committee.  O&GA’s Western Region includes California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii.  Regional Ambassadors serve a one-year term.  Read Jill’s full biography >>

Please join me in welcoming and celebrating these outstanding individuals for their contributions and their commitment to the success of Oil & Gas Admins International.

La Donna Finnels-Neal
Founder and CEO
Oil & Gas Admins International, Inc.

Definition of the Day – O&G Employee Personal Safety and Security – Office

Most oil and gas companies require employees to use sophisticated security badges and visitor management systems to ensure unwanted guests do not enter the office building.  As a result, employees are instructed to NEVER allow someone to tailgate (follow behind them) into the office building.  Doing so may put all employees in the office building at risk for physical harm and may create opportunities for loss of company protected information.

Additional employee personal safety and security precautions include:

  • Preventing employees from carrying firearms and concealed weapons in office buildings and employee parking garages.
  • Creating guidelines for employees to recognize and report strange employee behavior and how to proceed in the case of a workplace incident.
  • Creating guidelines for employees to recognize and report strange objects and objects left unattended and how to proceed in the case of a bomb threat, etc.

Badge Access

Definition of the Day – Unconventional Oil

Unconventional oil is petroleum produced or extracted using techniques other than the conventional (oil well) method.  It consists of a wider variety of liquid sources including oil sands, shale oil, extra heavy oil, gas to liquids and other liquids.  Unconventional oil is a substitute for conventional oil, however it is typically harder and more expensive to produce than conventional oil.

Definitions:

Oil Sands (Tar Sands) – either loose sand or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and water,saturated with a dense and extremely viscous (thick and sticky) form of petroleum technically referred to as bitumen (or sometimes referred to as tar due to its similar appearance, odor and color).  It is most commonly found in parts of Canada.

oil sands

Oil Shale – fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which shale oil, a liquid hydrocarbon, can be produced. The US holds major deposits of oil shale.

oil shale

Extra Heavy Oil – a type of crude oil characterized by an asphalt-like, dense, thick and sticky nature (similar to molasses), and its asphaltene (very large molecules incorporating roughly 90 percent of the sulfur and metals in the oil) content. It contains impurities such as waxes and carbon residue that have to be removed before being refined. Extra Heavy Oil has an API gravity of less than 10°.

 

Heavy_Oil

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Life Cycle “Abandonment”

The end of the life of the field is when it is no longer economic for the operator to continue production, i.e. when the operating costs exceed the revenue from the sale of production. It is common around the world that operator might abandon the field prior to its depletion as a result of sale to other interested party. Such acquisition takes place between the super major operating company and independent oil company when production declines to the level not commercially attractive to the super-major.

It is becoming increasingly common around the world that offshore facilities must be dismantled and removed and the site restored to its original condition. The major activities during the decommissioning phase are:

  • plug and abandon wells by putting cement plugs into the wells at various depths and remove the well-head and casing to a depth of about 2 meters below the surface or seabed
  • dismantle and remove the jacket and all facilities from the site, ensuring that there is no contamination of the environment from any oil or waste material remaining in the process facilities
  • restore the site to its original condition
  • conduct a final environmental impact study

Well Abandonment

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Life Cycle “Production”

PRODUCTION phase is targeted at bringing the well fluids to the surface and preparing them for use in refinery or processing plant. All production and maintenance activities would be carried out to meet strict safety and environmental policies and procedures . The main activities in this phase are as follows:

  • Regulate production and injection to meet approved plans for the quantity and quality of product.
  • Monitor and record all information to manage the reservoir, wells and facilities.  This could lead to further reservoir development or modifications to the facilities
  • Plan and schedule all production and maintenance activities to minimize production deferment and operating costs
  • Carry out maintenance to safeguard the technical integrity of all wells and facilities and ensure their availability over the life of the field.

Production

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Life Cycle “Development”

Field DEVELOPMENT planning in the initial phase could involve the assessment of more than one development option.  Four components of a Development plan can be used to describe each option:

Reservoir:

  • number, location, type of wells;
  • assessment of oil recovery mechanism;
  • assessment of production over the development stage

Wells:

  • the design of wells to meet production requirements

Facilities:

  • process facilities
  • infrastructure
  • terminal/export facilities

Operating and Maintenance strategies:

  • manning level
  • daily production level
  • support requirements, for ex. helicopters, supply vessels

Development

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Life Cycle “Appraisal”

The exploration phase of the oil and gas life cycle closely intertwines with the next stage of the process which is APPRAISAL.  The objective of Appraisal is to obtain information about the reservoir to decide whether or not to proceed with development of the field. This stage is comprised of the following activities:

  • Planning and execution of a data acquisition program of additional seismic,
  • Reprocessing existing seismic data to obtain enhanced results and the drilling of
  • Appraisal wells
  • Evaluation of the results from the seismic and appraisal drilling activities
  • Using the information from the seismic and drilling programs to update the computer reservoir simulation models
  • Conduct initial conceptual field development planning and an environmental impact assessment (EIA) study of these conceptual plans

appraisal well1 appraisal well2

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Life Cycle “Exploration”

The oil and gas EXPLORATION process is to find oil and gas fields.  The main goal is to identify and deliver commercially viable field development opportunities.  The following geological and geophysical activities would take place:

  • Conduct seismic surveys
  • Process and interpret the seismic data and map the potential reservoir
  • Select exploration well locations
  • Drill and evaluate exploration well data:
  • Core analysis to establish porosity and permeability
  • Logging data to determine porosity, water and hydrocarbon saturation
  • Production test data to determine flow rates and maximum production potential
  • PVT to allow reservoir fluid analysis and ascertain oil/gas quality and the shrinkage or expansion factor
  • Build a computer model of the reservoir and identify and where possible remove major uncertainties by further data analysis, seismic reprocessing etc

Exploration Well

Definition of the Day – Oil & Gas Chemists

Chemists in the oil and petroleum industry work with crude oil and the products derived from it.  They have a broad spectrum of jobs such as:

  • “Fingerprinting” oil leaked in a spill
  • Process control at a refinery
  • Developing catalysts used in the refining process
  • Creating new polymers for fibers and resins

Definitions:

Fingerprinting – a process that refers to analytical chemistry techniques by which crude oil is defined into its components in such a way as to permit the identification of a particular sample of crude oil by the uniqueness of its composition.

Process control – an engineering discipline that enables mass production of continuous processes such as oil refining, paper manufacturing, chemicals, power plants and many other industries. Process control enables automation, with which a small staff of operating personnel can operate a complex process from a central control room.

chemist