Department of Petroleum Engineering

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About Department of Petroleum Engineering

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Bachelor of Science
Major Petroleum Engineering

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Masters of Science
Major Petroleum Engineering

The founding of this postgraduate program goes back to the spring semester of 1992 as the first local program in the country offering an M. Sc. degree in Petroleum Engineering....

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Publications

Some of publications in Department of Petroleum Engineering

Determination of Optimal Well Spacing for an Oil Reservoir to Maximize Recovery Factor

Abstract The average recovery factor calculated for the whole reservoir is higher than the average recovery factor calculated from averaging the individual well recovery factor. The integrated recovery factor calculated from each well should be compared with recovery factor calculated for the reservoir as a whole using the material balance equation or the volumetric methods as a basis for the calculations. The difference between the two values is anindication of an inadequate well spacing for the reservoirIf (Np/N) each ≈ (Np/N)whole the distribution of the wells for the reservoir is adequate .If (Np/N) each < (Np/N)whole the distribution of the wells in the reservoir is inadequate .This indication of excess in number of wells .If (Np/N) each > (Np/N)whole the distribution of the wells in the reservoir is inadequate .This indication of the reservoir needs infill wells to be drilled.The number of infill wells depends on the relationship between recovery factor and number of wells. The infill wells location in the reservoir should be at high hydrocarbon pore volume and also it should be located in the trend of the easiest permeability path of oil movement.It was concluded that the number of wells existing in the Sharara field is not adequate therefore we recommend to increase the number of the wells as per the method enclosed in this study. The results of this study indicate that the calculated oil production decline rate constant is different from well to another which is an indication of variations of water influx into the reservoir.
مختار محمد غدير (2008)
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Formation Pore Pressure and Fracture Pressure Gradients versus Depth Correlations for Sirte Basin (Libya)

Abstract The accurate detection and confirmation of formation pore pressure and fracture gradient has become almost essential to the drilling of deep wells with higher than normal pore pressure. Generally, the formation pressure is the presence of the fluids “oil, gas or salt water” in the pore spaces of the rock matrix. Therefore, the fluid confined in the pores of the formation rock occur under certain degree of pressure, generally called formation pore pressure. Formation pore pressure is defined as the pressure acting on the fluids in the pore space of the rock, which is equal to the difference between the total overburden stress and grain to grain stress. Normal formation pressure is equal to the hydrostatic head of the native formation fluid or water exerting from the top of water table to the subsurface formation depth. Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure in a column of salt water or usually defined as the pressure exerted by a column of fluid, the pressure is a function of the average fluid density and the vertical height or depth of the fluid column. In most cases, the fluid vary from fresh water with a density of (8.33 Ib/gal) (0.433 psi/ft) to salt water with a density of (9 Ib/gal) (0.465 psi/ft). Consequently the hydrostatic pressure gradient of such system will be greater in terms of (psi/ft) than that of a fresh water system and will be displayed on pressure depth plot by pressure gradient line whose slope is greater than that of fresh water hydrostatic pressure. Indeed, formation pore pressure depending on the magnitude of the pore pressure, it can be described as being either normal, abnormal or subnormal. Whereas defined as follows, we had defined normal pore pressure which is equal to the hydrostatic pressure, abnormal pore pressure is defined as any pore pressure that is greater than the hydrostatic pressure of the formation water occupying the pore space, and sometimes called overpressure or geopressure. Subnormal pore pressure is defined as any formation pressure that is less than the corresponding fluid hydrostatic pressure at a given depth. The objectives of this study are:To determine the origin, nature, causes and the location of the subnormal and overpressued formations in part of Sirte basin area. To determine a graphical correlation relating formation pore pressure and fracture gradients to depth for selected areas extending fromfurther east to North West in the basin.This study is determining the pore pressure and fracture gradient, for selected fields from eastern, central and western Sirte basin, using existing correlations which utilize log and drilling data measured for the selected wells in these areas. The casing setting depths as well as the maximum and the minimum mud weight gradients to be used for future drilling activities in these selected areas in Sirte basin have been determined. The location and the magnitude of the lost circulation zones as well as the overpressured zones have been determined and correlated with depth depending on the location of the studied area in the basin. It was found that the lost circulation zones are located at depths of approximately in the range 3000 to 6000 ft from east toward west. It is concluded that the calculated pore pressure and the fracture gradients values obtained from the log data are in good agreement with the values obtained form the drilling data. It is concluded that the results obtained in this study for the eastern part of Sirte basin was satisfactory and can be used with good confident for future drilling activities in the area, where the obtained results for either the central or the western parts of the basin are not enough to draw final conclusions for future mud design programs in these areas. It is therefore recommended that further investigation and extensive study should be conducted for these two areas by gathering enough log and drilling data from different fields in these area which was not available during this study.
احمد خليفة رمضان طنيش (2009)
Publisher's website

Lifting Capacity in Drilling Horizontal Wells

Abstract It is found in the literature that correlations and methods used in the determination of the lifting capacity for vertical wells cannot be applied directly for calculating the lifting capacity for horizontal well section without modifications. It is therefore necessary to formulate a new experimental technique from which new lifting capacity correlation is deduced which will be applied for the determination of the lifting capacity for the horizontal well section.The phenomena of cuttings concentration accumulated in the bottom of the horizontal section which is present in horizontal wells, does not exist in the vertical sections of the well. This problem makes it necessary to conduct an experimental work in a horizontal well simulator, to exactly simulate the drilling operation in the horizontal section of the well, from which lifting capacity values are determined for different mud formulations containing different cuttings sizes, concentrations and different mud reheology circulation at different flow rates. The objective of this study is to investigate the behavior of whole cleaning in the horizontal well section and to determine the factors effecting the cleaning capacity of the mud in this section. Also to deduce correlations relating the lifting capacity of the mud in the horizontal section of the well with various drilling parameters and mud circulation conditions. This study is conducted in the laboratory using a horizontal well simulator consists of the circulating mud component similar to that present in actual drilling operations. The experimental work used consists of using four muds formulation systems mixed with different cutting sizes and concentrations. The returned cuttings are extracted from mud return line for selected given time increments and accordingly their weights and sizes are determined. It is concluded that there is an optimum cutting size for maximum lifting capacity for each cutting concentrations used. The lifting capacity observed form the experimental results is not only dependent on mud velocity, but it is also dependent on the cutting concentrations used. It was observed that when cleaning the system after each experiment, accumulation of rock cuttings were present in the bottom of the horizontal section of the model. In this study a lifting capacity correlation relating the lifting capacity with mud flow rate, cutting size, cutting concentration, mud density, and mud viscosity is generated for the horizontal section of the well. Therefore it recommended that cleaning of the horizontal section of the well should be conducted frequently (consecutively) after each drilling time increment, which means that the drilling operation is stopped and the mud circulation rate is set to maximum. A maximum mud circulation rate is needed in order to ensure that the cuttings generated by the bit are removed efficiently in the horizontal section. It is therefore recommended during drilling the horizontal section a sequential drilling and cleaning technique should be applied.
عادل محمد جالوتة (2010)
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